Chapter 74 Liu Bowen's Crime and Punishment

In folklore, Liu Bowen is a seer, a prophet who predicts things like a god, and he is also a god-man. According to legend, Liu Bowen was originally a god beside the Jade Emperor.At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and wars were raging all over the country. There were people who starved to death and soldiers who died in battle everywhere.The Jade Emperor couldn't understand the chaos in the world, so he ordered Liu Bowen to reincarnate to assist Ming Jun, so as to stabilize the world and benefit the common people.Moreover, the Jade Emperor also bestowed upon Liu Bowen a Sword of Slaying Immortals, which can command the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.However, the Dragon Kings were already old and weak, and there were many internal affairs in the Dragon Palace, so they sent their 9 sons to obey Liu Bowen's dispatch.The 9 sons of the Dragon King all have boundless mana, and they followed Liu Bowen in the battlefield for many years, thus helping Zhu Yuanzhang win the Ming Dynasty, and then helping Zhu Di successfully win the throne.When they were ready to return to the Heavenly Court after completing their meritorious deeds, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, an ambitious emperor, wanted to keep them by his side forever, to rule the country with peace and dominate the world.So he borrowed the name of building the Forbidden City, took Liu Bowen's Sword of Immortal Slaying, and commanded the Dragon Nine Sons.

However, although the Dragon Nine Sons were commanded by Liu Bowen's Slashing Immortal Sword, they were still divine beasts. I saw that the nine dragons exerted their divine power a little bit, and immediately called the wind and rain, and thunder and lightning suddenly raged.Zhu Di saw that the sword of cutting immortals could not shake the nine sons, so he decided to use tricks. He said to the boss of the nine sons: "You are so powerful that you can carry ten thousand catties. If you can carry away this monument of the ancestors' sacred skills and virtues , I’ll let you go.” Seeing that it was a small stone tablet, Bixi carried it on his back without hesitation.But no matter how hard he tried, he was still unable to move an inch.It turned out that this stele of divine merit and virtue recorded the meritorious deeds done by the "True Dragon Emperor" in his previous life, and the meritorious deeds are immeasurable, so even if he has great power, he cannot carry the stele.

Moreover, there are also seals of two generations of emperors' seals printed on the Stele of Divine Merit and Virtue. It is said that these two seals can calm the gods and ghosts in all directions.Seeing that their elder brother was crushed under the stele, the remaining eight Longzi couldn't bear to leave, so they decided to stay in the world together, but they swore that they would never reappear in their real bodies.In this way, Long Jiuzi will stay in the world forever. But although Zhu Di kept the nine sons, what he got was only nine statue-like beasts.After Liu Bowen learned of this incident, he also voluntarily abandoned Zhu Di, left his body and returned to the heaven.Zhu Di regretted it so far. In order to warn future generations not to repeat his mistakes, he let the nine sons each hold a position, so as to spread the eternal fame.

In this mythical story about Liu Bowen, although the protagonist is not Liu Bowen himself, it is possible to infer Liu Bowen's boundless divine power by insinuating.Therefore, it is not surprising that he was able to write all kinds of prophecies about the afterlife.Although Liu Bowen in reality is not born out of a fairy possessed, his own experience is enough to write a legendary story. Liu Ji, courtesy name Bowen, posthumously named Wencheng, was born in Nantian Township, Qingtian County, so people at that time also called him Liu Qingtian.Liu Bowen was a military strategist, statesman and poet in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. He was not only proficient in a subset of classics and history, but also had an in-depth study of astronomy and geography, and Liu Bowen was also an out-and-out expert in the art of war.In the history of literature, Liu Ji, Song Lian, and Gao Qi are collectively known as the "Three Masters of Poetry and Prose in the Early Ming Dynasty".

Liu Bowen is well-known all over the world for assisting Zhu Yuanzhang to complete his imperial career, create the Ming Dynasty and try his best to maintain the stability of the country. He was even compared to Zhuge Wuhou by later generations.Zhu Yuanzhang also called Liu Ji many times: "My son's house." Liu Bowen was famous in the village for his intelligence and studious in his youth.It is said that Liu Bowen can reach the speed of ten lines at a glance when reading a book. He was a scholar at the age of 12, and he is known as a child prodigy in the market. At the age of 14, he entered the government school to study. The bibliography taught by the teacher was "Spring and Autumn", the most obscure book in Confucianism. Other schoolchildren only knew how to shake their heads and study hard, but Liu Bowen could recite it fluently after reading it twice, and he was able to read it word by word. Explain the meaning of the book, and be able to say some points that the predecessors did not realize.The teacher was very surprised, thinking that he had read this book before, so he used other sentences to test. Unexpectedly, Liu Bowen could never forget it every time.The teacher had to admire and said: "He is a genius, and he will definitely not be an ordinary person in the future!"

At the age of 17, Liu Bowen began to learn the Confucian thought of being practical and practical from Zheng Fuchu, a famous scholar at that time.When Zheng Fuchu visited Liu Bowen's father once, he said: "Your ancestors accumulated profound virtues and sheltered future generations; this child is so outstanding, he will surely make your family's lintel brighter in the future." At this time, Liu Bowen had already begun to read widely.He has a glimpse of all kinds of schools of thought, especially astronomy, geography, art of war and mathematics, and he has a special interest in it.

Once, Liu Bowen couldn't put it down after seeing a book about astronomy, so he read it in one sitting in the bookstore.Unexpectedly, the next day, when he came to the study again, he was able to recite everything back and forth in front of the boss.The boss was very surprised. In order to show his love for talent, he was willing to give this book to Liu Bowen.But no one thought that Liu Bowen would answer like this. He said: "This book is already in my chest, and the book is useless to me." The 22-year-old Liu Bowen took part in the general examination and passed the Jinshi examination in one fell swoop.Since then, he has entered a political career of governing the country and the world.

After helping Zhu Yuanzhang establish the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang always wanted Liu Bowen to be prime minister, but he repeatedly declined.In fact, among all the founding fathers of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen deserved the most credit.Liu Bowen also rescued Zhu Yuanzhang several times. It can be said that if it were not for the existence of Liu Bowen, Zhu Yuanzhang would have died many times before he became emperor.Faced with the temptation of the prime minister who is "below one person, above ten thousand people", Liu Bowen thought over and over again. He knew that his character was too upright and would definitely be excluded by treacherous officials. His desire to do something good for the people would be difficult to realize of.So he finally chose to retire and return to his hometown, leaving the place of right and wrong in officialdom.

Liu Bowen, who was already in his later years, occasionally felt the wind and cold. After Zhu Yuanzhang knew about it, he sent Hu Weiyong to bring the imperial doctor to visit.The imperial doctor prescribed the medicine, and after he took the medicine and decocted it, he felt as if some uneven stones were squeezed together in his stomach, which made him feel even more painful.When Liu Bowen reported the situation to Zhu Yuanzhang with his illness, he got a lukewarm answer from the pilgrimage.Liu Bowen's passion for serving the country was instantly frozen, and it seemed that at this moment he understood the fable of floating life like a dream.

In the end, Liu Bowen died at the age of 56.The imperial court bestowed upon him the title of Taishi, posthumously titled Wencheng.However, it was not until the tenth year of Emperor Shizong's Jiajing period in the Ming Dynasty that the court discussed Liu Bowen's achievements again under the suggestion of Li Yu, a doctor of the Ministry of punishment, and decided that Liu Bowen should be entitled to the Taimiao like Xu Da and other founding heroes. So far, history has given him a fair enough evaluation and treatment.