Chapter 38 Section 2 Our Peasant’s Own Emperor

One issue that historians debate endlessly is when Zhu Yuanzhang betrayed the peasants and became the spokesman for the interests of the landlord class. If Emperor Taizu knew about it, he would definitely be furious. Liu Bang, another peasant emperor in Chinese history, was essentially a hooligan rather than a peasant.In this sense, Zhu Yuanzhang can be called the only "peasant emperor" in Chinese history.He maintained the peasant taste, peasant style and peasant style all his life.Zhu Yuanzhang cared about, understood and sympathized with farmers all his life. More importantly, in Chinese history, he was the only uprising leader who did not betray the "peasant ideal". Throughout his life, Zhu Yuanzhang struggled hard to realize the peasant utopia.From this point of view, we can even say that he is "our peasant's own emperor".

During his thirty-one-year career as emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang never denied his origin.In the edict, he repeatedly said that he was a "farmer": I am a farmer, and I am well aware of the sufferings of the people. I am a farmer, and I know that farming is difficult. He told the ministers many times how difficult the life of the peasants was, and educated them to care and love the peasants: Among the four occupations of scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce, farmers are the hardest.They work hard all year round with little rest.In a year when the weather is good, a family of several people can still have enough food, but unfortunately, there will be floods and droughts, and if the grain of the year is not harvested, the whole family will be hungry and impoverished... Husbands work hard on all fours, work on the five grains, stay close to the farmland, and never let go of the rice paddies until the end of the year Hardworking, no rest, no more than a thatched couch to live in, no more clothes to wear than ordinary clothes, no food to eat but vegetables, soup and boiled rice, and all the state funds are spent by him... You must think about the labor of agriculture, get it in a controlled way, and use it There is restraint, so that it will not be hungry or cold... If it is further suppressed, the people will suffer unbearably.

As Zou Pan said in "Tianhuang Yujian", Zhu Yuanzhang "loved the people sincerely throughout his life, especially sympathized with the poor and weak. When he talked about the hardships of farming, he often cried for it; Ruinous officials extract money from the people, and they are deeply vicious and sick, and those who commit crimes will be punished by all laws."In history, there is no other emperor like him who loves and hates peasants and landlords. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang's concern for farmers is not only reflected in language.In his imperial blueprint, "peasant ideal" is the most fundamental guiding ideology.In every aspect of his measures to govern the country, all of them reflect the fundamental concern for the interests of farmers.