Chapter 12 Section 10 Peasant Thrift

In addition to these profound influences on the character of the empire, Zhu Yuanzhang himself left a more profound imprint on peasant life.He maintained a strong peasant habit, peasant style and peasant style throughout his life. Chinese farmers are the most hard-working people in the world.When they calculate the cost of production, they never take their own labor into account, as if physical strength and energy are the least valuable things that can be spent at will.Backed by the hardships of rural life, Zhu Yuanzhang was one of the most diligent emperors in Chinese history, and he was never afraid to increase his workload.From enthronement to death, he hardly took a day off.In the posthumous edict, he said: "Thirty years and one year, worry about danger and worry about it, and work hard every day." According to historical records, from September 14th to 21st in the eighteenth year of Hongwu (AD 1385), eight days Within the period, Zhu Yuanzhang reviewed a total of 1,660 memorials from internal and external departments, and handled 3,391 state affairs. On average, he reviewed more than 200 memorials and handled more than 400 state affairs every day.From this end alone, one can imagine how hardworking he is.

In his own enjoyment the peasant is the most severe self-denial.Thousands of years of poor life have accumulated, and their desire to be frugal has even become a blind instinct rather than a means.Zhu Yuanzhang's frugality is also regarded as the pinnacle among the emperors of all dynasties. After becoming the emperor, he had breakfast every day, "using only vegetables, plus a dish of tofu" (Chen Wutong's "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang").If the bed he used had no golden dragon on it, it would be "no different from a couch in a middle-aged man's house".When he ordered his workers to make cars and sedan chairs for him, where gold should be used according to regulations, they were replaced with copper.Zhu Yuanzhang also ordered people to open a wasteland in the palace to grow vegetables to eat.

One day in the first month of the third year of Hongwu (1370 A.D.), Zhu Yuanzhang took out a quilt to pass on to the ministers.When everyone saw it, they were all Bainadans stitched together with small pieces of silk.Zhu Yuanzhang said: "This is the leftover material for making clothes. I have someone sew it into a piece of cloth so that it won't be a pity to throw it away. One day when he was leaving the court, he saw two eunuchs walking in the rain wearing new boots. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, and immediately stopped them and reprimanded them: "Although the boots are not worth much, it takes a lot of work to make a pair! Why don't you cherish them? Excuse me!" They ordered the two eunuchs to be pushed to the ground and beat them hard.

Another day, seeing a son of an official wearing gorgeous clothes worth five hundred guan, Zhu Yuanzhang was very uncomfortable, so he taught him: "Now you are under the light of your father and brother, and you grew up under the anointed dude. I heard that one piece of clothing cost five hundred guan! This is the income of a farmer's family for one year, and if you spend it on a piece of clothing, if you are so extravagant, wouldn't it be a waste of money? You should refrain from it from now on! " Like every farmer, Zhu Yuanzhang has a strong sense of the countryside.Most of his heroes are his fellow villagers.After ascending the throne, he felt that no place was as good as his hometown, and he missed the small village on the south bank of the Huaihe River more and more. "The Sacred Heart misses the emperor's hometown, and wants to live in Fengyang for a long time." Fengyang was originally a barren land, but at the beginning of the founding of the country, he insisted on making the country's capital here.Although the ministers advised him many times, they did not waver.Farmers save money again and again in their lives, but they spend all they have when building houses.Similarly, in order to manage Fengyang, the central capital, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always insisted on light labor and low taxation, also worked hard on people and money, spared no expense in manpower and material resources, and successively recruited hundreds of thousands of soldiers and craftsmen. Fill the cracks with iron juice.Unexpectedly, the craftsmen were overwhelmed with hard labor and expressed their anger with the words.Frustrated, Zhu Yuanzhang killed a large number of craftsmen, and his plan to return to his hometown fell through.Otherwise, the barren village on the south bank of the Huaihe River, where "nine out of ten years were famines", would have really become the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

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