Chapter 92 Section 3 Considerations Behind the Favor to Heroes

Zhu Yuanzhang never let emotion overwhelm reason in his life.In addition to emotional factors, he treats heroes so favorably because of the following considerations: On the first floor, Zhu Yuanzhang was full of confidence and ambition at the beginning of the founding of the country, and he wanted to surpass the Han ancestor Tang Zong and become the greatest emperor in Chinese history.Therefore, he wants to be a model and a good story for future generations in every move.He wants to use his generosity to create a beautiful image of himself who is affectionate and righteous, with a beginning and an end.

On the second level, although the world is at peace for the first time, these heroes are still his right and left hands.At the beginning of the founding of the country, uprisings and rebellions continued all over the country. He still had to rely heavily on these comrades-in-arms to govern the country. The third level is his consistent principle of generous rewards for meritorious deeds and heavy punishments for those who have done too much.Only by establishing an effective incentive mechanism can the subjects of the Ming Dynasty be motivated to sacrifice their lives for the emperor. This meaning is clearly stated in the imperial decree issued by Zhu Yuanzhang.He said that he formulated the iron coupon system, "To make the heroes succeed in the future generations, not the descendants of disciples, but the descendants of Guan Miao, to repay the virtues and merits, to be diligent and conscientious, so that, in order to admonish future generations, the ministers who use their lives will die. No regrets."That is to say, a virtuous circle is formed between the monarch and his ministers, between merit and reward, so as to protect the Ming Dynasty from generation to generation.

However, as time passed, Zhu Yuanzhang found that his initial assumptions were a bit naive. The founding emperor and his heroes are one of the most difficult relationships in history.The miserable fate of the heroes is not entirely due to the ignorance of the emperors, it is indeed inevitable. Over the past dynasties, this group of heroes in the early Ming Dynasty may have the lowest average quality.They all started from the grassroots, with little ink, no culture, and no self-cultivation.Nothing but martial prowess.After becoming the founding fathers, their small-scale peasant consciousness and hooligan nature remained the same. They were all complacent, greedy and savage, short-sighted, and arrogant.In the war, they were the destroyers of the Yuan Empire.After the war, they became the disruptors of law, discipline and order of the new dynasty.Relying on the privileges in their hands, they greedily grab every copper coin, occupy land everywhere, take slaves privately, rob people's wealth, oppress good people, drive soldiers, greedy and unscrupulous.Soon after the founding of the country, the violations of law and discipline by the ministers began to be reflected in front of Zhu Yuanzhang one by one, one by one:

Zhao Yong went to Yingchang with Li Wenzhong, privately occupied slaves and maidservants, and abolished the national law; and even killed Wu Fu.Guo Ying "killed five men and women" and killed civilians casually.Huai'an Hou Huayunlong lived in the mansion of the former Prime Minister Tuotuo in Beiping, and used things that could only be used by the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty in a big way. There is no doubt about using it.” Later, he thought it was not good to get rid of the mansion, so he recruited soldiers and common people to cover it for him without compensation. Moreover, their relatives and friends did not take the law of the country seriously.The relatives, family members, and even tenant servants and fire fighters of many heroic officials also took advantage of the situation and acted like the law, tyrannizing the village and oppressing the people.For example, Xi, the uncle of Xin Guogong Tang He, took advantage of his power to despise the law and discipline, "concealing Changzhou's land and not paying taxes and grains."Hu Weiyong's family members were "for the sake of treachery and profit, and the officials of the pass were humiliated by the list".

Zhu Yuanzhang found that his gold medal for avoiding death has become a booster for the heros to be so arrogant that they "may commit permanent punishments, and they will not be punished if they are punished."As long as they don't rebel, no one can take them.