There are two most famous incidents of killing heroes in history: Zhu Yuanzhang killed heroes, and Zhao Zhuo killed Yue Fei. Although they both hold up a butcher knife to cut people, the two have essential differences and are not the same. Zhu Yuanzhang's killing of heroes not only has the purpose of stabilizing the world, but also has the elements of the heroes' own individuation. And Zhao Zhao's killing of Yue Fei stemmed from an unseemly deal. Therefore, the reputations of the two people in history are also very different.
Zhu Yuanzhang's biggest hammer to kill the chancellor - the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty
It should be said that in the early days of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang did not extend the butcher knife to the neck of the heroes. Except for Zhou Dexing, Feng Sheng, Fu Youde and a few others, most of the other heroes died well, and even Chang Mao, who did not know the severity and slashed the general Naha, was nothing more than "Longzhou Resettlement", allowing him to live to a good end. The reason why zhu Yuanzhang later had the impression of killing heroes was influenced by the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were four major cases, namely the Hu Weiyong case, the Guo Huan case, the empty seal case, and the Blue Jade case. Each of these four major cases involved more than 10,000 people, and in total, more than 100,000 people were killed! Saying that Zhu Yuanzhang was cruel to officials is indeed conclusive evidence. However, the main spearhead of the struggle between the Guo Huan case and the Empty Seal case is the increasingly corrupt officials, and only the Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case are directed at the meritorious group. Therefore, if we want to find out the inside story of Zhu Yuanzhang's killing of the heroes, we must find out these two cases.
The Hu Weiyong case was initiated thirteen years after Hongwu. According to the "History of Ming", once hu Weiyong, the chancellor, invited Zhu Yuanzhang to his home for a banquet. Before leaving the door, the eunuch suddenly grabbed Zhu Yuanzhang's horse's head and looked in the direction of Hu Weiyong's house. Zhu Yuanzhang felt something different, so he returned to the palace and looked upstairs, only to find that the smoke and dust in the direction of Hu Weiyong's mansion were billowing and seemed to have armored soldiers. So he immediately ordered the arrest of Hu Weiyong and punished him for treason.
In this record, it is obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang is planting stolen goods. With the military system of the Ming Dynasty, where can a single minister mobilize many soldiers and horses? With the ability of the Former Arch Guard Division of the Jinyi Guard, hu Weiyong would not be allowed to raise private soldiers. However, the direction of the ruling in the Hu Weiyong case was not wrong, and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to take this opportunity to crack down on the Huaixi Xungui clique, which was already covering the sky with one hand in the DPRK. This political clique, with Li Shanchang as the driving force behind the scenes and Hu Weiyong as the foreground, has become a cancerous tumor in the imperial court. Yang Xian, Liu Bowen and others who were not among them were all squeezed out of the bureau by the Huaixi Group. Moreover, Hu Weiyong has also become increasingly arrogant and indulgent, and he dares to act arbitrarily on many major matters. If allowed to develop, it would inevitably lead to chaos in the nascent Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang and his successors would become the objects of the Huaixi clique. Therefore, in this game of imperial power and political small groups, the first to strike is actually the political small group, and Zhu Yuanzhang is only fighting back. It's just that Zhu Yuanzhang's will not play with the false harmony of the Song Emperor and did not forgive them.
Then there was the Sapphire case. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, Jiang Yong, the Jinyi guard, exposed the rebellion of the great general Lan Yu, saying that he had contacted a bunch of officials and was preparing to raise an incident when Zhu Yuanzhang was out hunting. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, and the Blue Jade case was immediately launched.
It can be said that The blue jade conspiracy is slightly more reliable than Hu Weiyong, and there is at least a specific list of action groups. Moreover, although Sapphire could not move the army, there were hundreds of righteous sons, and there was indeed a possibility of practical operation. However, he did not have any follow-up political preparations in doing so, did Blue Jade really want to become emperor himself? Zhu Yuanzhang's clan kings who led troops, such as Zhu Di the King of Yan, Zhu Tang the King of Jin, Zhu Quan the King of Ning, and others, were not vegetarians, could he succeed? Hard. To put it bluntly, Blue Jade's so-called rebellion is at best an idea, and there is no possibility of implementation at all. Therefore, this case is also the conspiracy used by Zhu Yuanzhang to cut off the martial general clique.
The group of martial generals led by Blue Jade is actually the bottom card that Zhu Yuanzhang left to his son Zhu Biao. Lan Yu is Chang Yuchun's brother-in-law, Zhu Biao is Chang Yuchun's son-in-law, and the two are relatives, so Lan Yu has always strongly supported Zhu Biao as the crown prince. Similarly, as long as Zhu Biao is there, Blue Jade and other military generals will obey and follow the lead of their horses. However, in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, Zhu Biao suddenly fell ill and died. In order to maintain his concubine lineage, Zhu Yuanzhang could only make his grandson Zhu Yunjiao the legal heir.
However, it was obvious that Zhu Yunjiao was young, politically hairy, and his ideas were frivolous and unrealistic, and he could not suppress Lan Yu and other military generals at all. And Blue Jade also became more and more arrogant, daring to openly destroy the imperial court Guancheng, encroach on the land of the people, and raise a large number of zhuang slaves. In the court, he also felt that his official position and title were too small, according to the "History of Ming", Blue Jade "Jade was not happy to live under the Song and Ying, saying: 'I can't bear Taishiye!'" 'Don't listen to more than you play things'. There was a hidden posture that even Zhu Yuanzhang did not obey.
It is conceivable that if Zhu Yuanzhang did not deal with the group of martial generals headed by Blue Jade, the consequence would be that the heirs could not control the military generals, and finally evolved the Ming Dynasty into a chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. At that time, those who suffered, in addition to Zhu Ming's royal family, were bound to include the people. Therefore, although Zhu Yuanzhang's launch of the Blue Jade case seems cruel, he is also forced to be helpless.
In short, although Zhu Yuanzhang purged a large number of heroes and military generals, his intention was still to eliminate the instability in the imperial court for the stability of his home country and the world. This is also the reason why the world is still relatively stable in the case of such a large-scale killing. However, when Emperor Gaozong of Song killed Yue Fei, it was another matter entirely.
Emperor Gaozong of Song killed Yue Fei, a shameful political bargain
The Song Dynasty was the most benevolent era in history. Now people know that the Song Dynasty emphasized literature over military force, and civilian officials suppressed military generals, but many people do not know that in fact, the Song Dynasty's attitude towards military generals was the same tolerance as that of civil servants. In the Song Dynasty, very few martial artists were killed by the emperor's direct order. Whether it was the demotion of Yang Ye, or Li Jilong, who was shelved because of his sister's fall out of favor, or the hegemonic side of The Sect Shiheng, or Di Qing, who was alone against the civilian official clique, the imperial court was good to them. Even the Song Dynasty's tolerance for military generals had reached the point where soldiers were defeated without punishment and disobeying orders. Therefore, when quelling the rebellion of the ethnic minority Nong Zhigao, Di Qing used military law against the military generals who violated the order, which made many people feel incredible.
Well, here's the problem. Why would the benevolent Song Dynasty not be able to tolerate a super martial artist with the greatest military achievements? Is there really something wrong with Yue Fei himself?
Yue Fei did have his own problems. He was a man who was not good at making a living, and he had once committed the emperor's great taboo - please make the crown prince. Even the most benevolent Song Renzong was angry about this matter, let alone Song Gaozong; moreover, from Yue Fei's poem, he also revealed the meaning of welcoming back the Second Emperor Hui Qin, which was also a taboo thing, because it meant disloyalty to his current monarch; moreover, Yue Fei wantonly sought out the land merchants in order to feed the Yue family army, and had a lot of money, grain, and wealth in his hands, which was also a taboo thing.
However, none of this posed a mortal threat to Yue Fei. Because during the Ten Years of Northern Expedition in Shaoxing, after Yue Fei's victory at Zhuxian Town, he did not ignore the emperor's orders and was transferred back to the dynasty under the circumstances of a good situation. After that, he was made a privy councillor, but equivalent to an idle official, the army and money and grain had long been handed over, and he no longer posed a threat to the Song emperor. If according to the personal development of military generals in the history of the Song Dynasty, this seems to be the old way to go, Yue Fei will stay in a prominent position for a few years, and then be trampled down by civilian officials and die in the people. Han Shizhong, another famous anti-Gold general, is indeed taking this road.
However, before the Shaoxing Peace Agreement was signed, Yue Fei was inexplicably killed. His accusation was actually a wordless "nonsense." Moreover, when the presiding judge He Zhu was aware of the grievances in the case, Qin Ju directly moved out of Song Gaozong, saying that killing Yue Fei was "Shangyi".
The emperor had to unjustly kill Yue Fei's pillar, was he crazy? He was not crazy, he just calculated his political account and chose to be reckless and steal. Once Yue Fei and the others succeeded in the Northern Expedition and really took back the Second Emperor Hui Qin, what position would they be in? Even though Song Qinzong had said that he would not compete with him for the throne, but time changed, who could guarantee anything? Even if the "Second Saint" was not welcomed back, the group of martial generals would take the opportunity to increase its prestige, and sooner or later it would be a threat to his throne. Therefore, Zhao Zhao would rather be a nest of partial peace than restore his homeland.
Then, all the conditions for agreeing to Jin Guohuihe were Zhao Shuo's only choice. However, in addition to the requirements of money and territory, Jin Guo also had a condition, which was written in the letters of Jin Wushu and Qin Ju: "Yue Fei must be killed, and then he can be made." That is to say, killing Yue Fei is itself one of the conditions for negotiating peace, and if Zhao conceives of peace, he must kill Yue Fei.
It can be seen from this that Zhao Zhuo killed Yue Fei only so that he could be a prince of partial peace and security, and for his own selfish interests. In this way, the color of his killing of Yue Fei was much worse than Zhu Yuanzhang's creation of Hu Lan's prison. This is also the reason why Zhao Zhuo was forever nailed to the column of shame of history.