Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was a rare iron-blooded emperor in history, and the bloody rain and wind of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty almost slaughtered the founding heroes, of which the most powerful ministers and nobles were implicated in the Hu Weiyong case, implicated in more than 30,000 deaths, and even Li Shanchang was not spared.
The Ming Dynasty Li Le's "Miscellaneous Records of Observations" and the late Ming dynasty beginner Gu Yingtai's "Ming History Chronicle" both invariably mention the Yunqi whistleblowing incident that led to the outbreak of Hu Weiyong's case, and the record in the "Ming History Chronicle at the End" is particularly detailed:
"On the first day of the first month, Wei Yong came out of the liquan because of the trickster, and invited the emperor to be lucky. Emperor Xuzhi. Driving out of the Xihua Gate, yun qi rushed to the road, Lema's title, qi fang's tongue, can not reach the intention. Taizu was angry at his disrespect, and when he slammed left and right, Yun Qi's right arm would be folded and he would die, pointing at the thief and shrinking in pain. ”
Probably the meaning is that in the first month of the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), hu Weiyong, the minister of state, said that the old mansion well gushed out of the liquan spring, so he invited Zhu Yuanzhang to come to see, in fact, secretly buried ambush troops wanted to attack Zhu Yuanzhang, when he went to the Xihua Gate, the eunuch Yunqi stopped Zhu Yuanzhang from dying and did not let him go, even if he was beaten half to death, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that there was a difference and returned to the city to climb the city wall, and it turned out that the wall in Hu Weiyong's old mansion had been repaired, and there were heavily armed armored soldiers hiding in it, so Hu Weiyong's conspiracy against the crime was clearly revealed. This is the fuse that triggered the Hu Weiyong case.
However, under careful consideration, the so-called Yunqi whistleblowing incident is actually full of loopholes:
First, Yunqi's identity is in doubt
Since Yun Qi was a eunuch, if he rarely went out, what way could he learn about Hu Weiyong's rebellious deployment in advance? If it was a eunuch who was ordered to go to Hu Weiyong's mansion to send an edict, how could such a secret matter be discovered by Yun Qi as soon as he arrived?
If it was an undercover agent sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to Hu Weiyong's side, it was difficult to conceal the identity of a Yunqi eunuch, second, Zhu Yuanzhang should know him, and why did he beat him half to death, and the third Jinyi guard was pervasive, so why did Zhu Yuanzhang send a eunuch to go undercover in one fell swoop, in short, Yunqi's warning itself could not withstand scrutiny.
Second, even if Hu Weiyong's old mansion was near the imperial city wall, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyesight was so good? At a glance, you can see the armor hidden in the wall, and you can be seen casually, so doesn't that mean that you can see it in any place near Hu Weiyong's house that is higher than his old house? Hu Weiyong was also too careless, even if he wanted to rebel, how could he hide the soldiers more secretly?
Zhu Yuanzhang can see, others can also see, the soldiers stationed on the city wall can also see, just turn a blind eye?
Third, killing Zhu Yuanzhang can lead to a successful rebellion? Hu Weiyong Hongwu served as the Right Chancellor in the sixth year (1373), and in 1377, he entered the Left Chancellor and ranked first among the hundred officials, and the political wisdom was so low. Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, and the crown prince Zhu Biao was already in his twenties at the time, and he was deeply popular with the people, so how could the rebellion succeed? Hu Weiyong could not even see this.
Fourth, the "Records of Ming Taizu" records that a few days before the Yunqi whistleblowing incident, Yu shizhong, who was originally a conspirator with Hu Weiyong, secretly accused Hu Weiyong of plotting against Chen Ning, the imperial master, and under the circumstances that Zhu Yuanzhang knew in advance, how could he risk going to Hu Weiyong's old residence to visit Liquan?
It is precisely because the Yunqi whistleblowing incident is full of loopholes, so the "History of Ming" and the "Records of Ming Taizu" are not mentioned, and many scholars in later generations believe that the Yunqi whistleblowing incident is nonsense: "The matter of Yunqi, the history of the country and the history of the wilderness, has nothing to examine." ”
In fact, the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong was nothing more than two main reasons:
First, in the struggle between xiangquan and imperial power, the iron-blooded Zhu Yuanzhang would never allow Xiangquan to challenge his imperial power, and Hu Weiyong's arbitrary behavior and arbitrary administration of power intensified the contradictions and conflicts between the two.
Second, he used the Hu Weiyong case to achieve his own political goals, that is, to implicate and eliminate the powerful ministers and nobles.
In fact, Hu Weiyong's dictatorship is there, and plotting rebellion is a bit far-fetched, and even the "History of Ming" says: "Although Yong yong is dead, his reaction is still not revealed." But for Zhu Yuanzhang, none of this mattered, all he needed was an excuse.