Chapter 26 Section 2 The First Actor in the Late Yuan Dynasty and Early Ming Dynasty

The first reason for the success of Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial career is that he is good at winning people's hearts. Although the peasant uprisings of the past dynasties are said to be representatives of the most advanced factors in history, most of them are not of high quality.We can see one or two from the nicknames of the leaders of the rebels in various places: such as "Banghu", "Master Han", "Sesame Lee", "Miss Jinhua"... They are generally born of rogue proletarians, and the reason why they become heroes in troubled times is that It is because they have bravery and cruelty that ordinary people do not have. Low cultural quality, narrow vision, and short-sightedness are common problems among them.The many heroes under the rule of these green forest heroes did not have a complete plan at the beginning of the army. After the army, they were keen to "walk across the county" and burn, kill and loot.They are not "robbing the rich and helping the poor" as in the legend, and they are dedicated to helping class brothers.They even robbed their class brothers, and even when the big families fled, they mainly lived by robbing their class brothers.Take Guo Zixing's team as an example, "Guo Zixing's team used to have very poor discipline. When they first rebelled, they occupied Haozhou and 'snatched and plundered the neighbors', often indiscriminately, not only depriving landlords and rich people, but also plundering the property of ordinary civilians. Sometimes they even set fire to the huts, so that the houses had no rafters, tiles, and walls. "It's not two months. Crossing the border and invading other towns is the same." The capture of Hezhou has not changed the old habit, "breaking the city They slashed, killed, looted, and robbed women at will, causing the people's wives to be separated, and the people's hearts were panicked" (Chen Wutong's "Biography of Emperor Hongwu").

However, Zhu Yuanzhang never indulged himself like those heroes. He sang and drank wildly today, and abandoned his corpse in front of the horse in the Ming Dynasty.He participated in the uprising not out of impulse, nor out of yearning for "a big piece of meat and a big bowl of wine".This is a prudent choice he made after careful consideration. What he wants is to settle down and make a fortune.People without thought, he must worry about.Only those who see the change of the game five moves away will have the last laugh. The man who later proved to be one of the cruelest emperors in Chinese history now put on a kind face to the people.He knew that the support of the people in war depends on the discipline of the army.He said to his general: "Every time I hear that you won't kill people randomly after conquering a city, I'm really happy. If there are eagles in the forest, other birds will not come. If your military discipline is not good, the people will Run away." Therefore, not long after leading the troops alone, he began to pay attention to military discipline.

In the fifteenth year of Zhizheng (AD 1355), after Zhu Yuanzhang captured Hezhou, his soldiers burned, killed and looted as usual.For the first time, Zhu Yuanzhang convened his chiefs, big and small, and solemnly announced: "After the city was broken, the brothers have robbed many women. I stipulate that in the future, only unmarried girls will be robbed, and those who are married will be released to me!" ("" "The Chronicle of the Dynasty") He summoned all the men in the city to gather in front of the state yamen, and sent out the married women who had been robbed in a line, so that the husband and wife could recognize each other.The people in the whole city rushed to tell each other, weeping with gratitude, Zhu Yuanzhang became a great benefactor of the people of Hezhou, and his kindness was praised by the people of Hezhou for a long time.

Zhu Yuanzhang fought across the river in order to lay the foundation for himself to seize the world.The previous struggle was for survival, but the future struggle is for development.To develop, we must base ourselves on the long-term.Therefore, he must establish a new trend, so that the people of the world can find everything new and fresh. Before the battle of crossing the river, the habit of Zhu Yuanzhang's troops was to grab a city for a few days after they captured it. However, starting from the battle of crossing the river, Zhu Yuanzhang made new regulations prohibiting looting after the siege.After the capture of Taiping, a soldier disobeyed the military order and started to rob, and was beheaded by Zhu Yuanzhang's personal army to show the public.Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang would not treat meritorious soldiers badly. The wealthy households on Taiping Road knew each other and "donated" a large amount of gold and silver, which Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to distribute to the soldiers.Although the soldiers did not go to the streets to plunder, their income was not much less than what they obtained from the robbery, and all of them turned their complaints into joy.This move became a custom in the future: after breaking the city, no more looting, but confiscating the property of the big households and distributing them equally.The common people were very grateful to Zhu Jun for this.

Chinese people are so easily satisfied.In troubled times, they will be grateful if those who have violence do not try their best to kill them.In the later battle of Zhu Yuanzhang's attack on Zhang Shicheng, Zhang Shicheng ran out of troops and food, had no way out, and committed suicide by setting fire to himself.Because he only burned his own palace and did not burn down the houses of the people in the city, the people in the city were extremely grateful to him and respectfully called him "King Zhang". For a long time, on the evening of July 30th, Zhang Shicheng’s birthday, people in Suzhou burned Jiusi incense (Zhang Shicheng’s original name was Jiusi) and lit lamps to commemorate him.Therefore, among the armies at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's army was "not bloodthirsty", and soon won the heartfelt support of the people, laying a good foundation for Zhu Yuanzhang to build a base.

Zhu Yuanzhang grasped military discipline, often set an example, and even staged the story of Lenin and the guards.When Zhu Yuanzhang went to Wuzhou personally, he couldn't sleep and went for a walk in the middle of the night.Patrolling soldiers on the street came forward to stop them according to the curfew order.The accompanying small pioneer Zhang Huan told the patrol that he was an "adult" and asked to let him go.The patrol army refused to agree, saying: "I don't know who it is, but I only know that those who commit crimes at night will take it." The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded the patrol army with two stones of rice, "I will never leave at night."

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely strict with himself, with a fresh and upward spirit.His subordinates offered saddle bridles decorated with gold and jade from the war, and he withdrew them back, saying: "We have affairs in all directions, we need civil and military talents, and we use grain, millet, cloth and silk, and other treasures are not good!" He seized a carved gold bed used by Chen Youliang, and he ordered it to be destroyed, saying: "This is no different from the Qibao drowning vessel!" When the scholars heard this, they were all moved and said, this is really beyond the reach of ordinary people!

Of course, this display of self-control inevitably oozes banditry at times. "Stories of the Beginning of the Country" contains: "Taizu personally conquered Wuzhou. There was a nephew, a man, and a woman, who was about twenty years old, who could write poetry. Taizu said: "I take the world, but I have women's sex as my heart. I punish them in the city and offer them absolutely." " Zhu Yuanzhang finally ordered that the talented woman be pushed to the street and beheaded in public.The purpose is to tell other generals in this way that there is no need to offer such "things" anymore.Originally, it should be his nephew who was killed or punished instead of this woman, but Zhu Yuanzhang and people at that time didn't think so.That's why the "Deeds of the Early Years of the Republic of China" recorded it publicly in this way, and took this as evidence of Zhu Yuanzhang's "wise and great".

In front of Zhu Yuanzhang's military discipline, there is no special person.No matter how high the rank of the general violated military discipline, Zhu Yuanzhang would not tolerate it.Hu Dahai led troops to besiege Shaoxing. His sons Hu Sanshe, Wang Yong and others were banned from drinking. So spare him." Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and said, "I'd rather Hu Dahai turn against me than my orders!" He immediately drew his sword and killed Hu Sanshe and the other three. Even family affection has no effect in front of discipline.His nephew Zhu Wen was the only family member left after the famine, and he fought with Zhu Yuanzhang and made many military exploits.However, he relied on his relatives and merits and acted mischievously. He "specially seeks folk girls, and they will use them for dozens of days. If they are not used, they will be thrown into the well. There are many of them." Zhu Yuanzhang was very annoyed.

He ordered to kill Zhu Wenzheng's subordinates Guo Zizhang, Liu Zhongfu, and Wei Da on the charge of "not admonishing and dissuading", and cut off the tendons of more than 50 of his entourage leaders, and even planned to execute Zhu Wenzheng.It wasn't until Mrs. Ma came forward to dissuade him that he was saved from death and sent to Fengyang to guard the graves of his ancestors.Zhu Wenzheng couldn't bear the loneliness, so he fled "seeking to go to the enemy's country (referring to Zhang Shicheng)". After being captured, he was beaten to death by Zhu Yuanzhang with a whip.

After resolute rectification, Zhu Yuanzhang's team finally became a team with neat military appearance, strict discipline, obedience to dispatch, and obedience to command. Dare to do anything wrong. These distinctive features of Zhu Yuanzhang not only made the people at the bottom feel grateful, but also made the local elites keenly discover that he is the master they can rely on.Therefore, after he banned robbery in Taiping, Tao An, an old Confucian on Taiping Road, visited Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "I have a master now." Why?Because Zhu Yuanzhang let them see a glimmer of hope for establishing orderly politics in the chaotic and disorderly world.As a result, elites from all over the world came to vote one after another, and Zhu Yuanzhang's name became more and more popular.