Folk proverbs: "Three parts of the world Zhuge Liang , unify the country Liu Bowen ; military Zhuge Liang in the previous quarter, military Liu Bowen in the later generations."
Speaking of Liu Bowen, the first idiom that appears in most people's minds is probably "the magic trick". Cai Yuanpei, a modern Chinese educator, once commented on Liu Bowen: "The times create heroes, the tent is strange and the achievements are the Ming Dynasty."
Beggar Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was able to establish the Ming Dynasty with a national life of more than 200 years. Liu Bowen, who had a brilliant plan, made great contributions.
As " Ming Shi " says: "Taizu took Shicheng, attacked the Central Plains in the north, and then became the imperial career, just like a foundation."
Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Chen Youliang , collected Zhang Shicheng , and settled the Central Plains. Liu Bowen's role in it cannot be ignored. His magical tricks have repeatedly taken the lead in Zhu Yuanzhang and defeated the powerful enemy.
After Liu Bowen agreed to be Zhu Yuanzhang's counselor, he formulated a strategy for Zhu Yuanzhang to "avoid fighting on both sides and defeat each one", laying the strategic policy of Zhu Yuanzhang's later power. It was this strategy that made Zhu Yuanzhang, a beggar-born peasant uprising army leader, later defeat the heroes and established the Ming Dynasty with a national life of more than 200 years...
Liu Bowen not only made a brilliant plan during his lifetime, but his magic plan before his death was still amazing.
According to the inscription of the inscription on the Shendao Monument of Liu Chengyi, written by Zhang Shiche , the Minister of War in Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty, he left a last word to his family before his death. The four last words were fulfilled miraculously a hundred years later.
What did Liu Bowen say to his family before his death? How did his prophecy come true?
Talents in troubled times, their ambitions are hard to fulfill
Liu Bowen was born in Qingtian (now Wencheng County, Zhejiang Province). He became a family of officials in Northern Song Dynasty . He has been an official in Two Song Dynasty for generations:
Seventh generation ancestor Liu Yanqing . At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, he became the governor of Zhenhai Army, and followed Tong Guan beat Fang La , Jingkang Rebellion ,
Sixth Ancestor Liu Guangshi , In the early years of the Southern Song , he became the Grand Tutor and was named Duke Yang. Ningzong Dynasty posthumously named King Fu, and Qi Wang Han Shizhong , Xunwang , 2 Zhang Jun , Ewang Yue Fei, and Wang Yang Yizhong, Fuwang Wu Jie , Xinwang Wu Lin collectively known as the Seven Kings of the Southern Song Dynasty, ranking first among the Seven Kings;
Great-honor Liu Hao , in the late Southern Song Dynasty, he became the Hanlin master (in charge of documents and seal letters), Zeng Zhi saved Lin Rong, an anti-Yuan righteous man;
grandfather Liu Tinghun, Yuan Dynasty Taixue Shangshe (the student of the highest official school institution, Shangshe is the best among the students of Taixue );
father Liu Ji, the official position is Suichang teacher (responsible for educating Suichang County students).
As a child of aristocratic families, Liu Bowen received education far exceeding the majority of people since childhood. In addition to his excellent study genes, he has been called a "child prodigy" by his fellow villagers since childhood.
He can indeed afford the word "child prodigy". He was admitted to the scholar at the age of 12, passed the imperial examination at the age of 17, passed the imperial examination at the age of 23, and passed the imperial examination at the age of 50 or 60. In the era when there were still many young boys in their fifties and sixties struggling in the county examination, Liu Bowen was able to pass the imperial examination at the age of 23, which shows his outstanding talent.
However, living in the late Yuan Dynasty and a dynasty ruled by ethnic minorities, Liu Bowen's talents were destined to not get any opportunity to display. If it weren't for the later Red Turban Army uprising, I'm afraid that the only one who awaited Liu Bowen would have been the only one who waited for Liu Bowen.
After Liu Bowen took the imperial examination for the first time, he passed the Jinshi exam and was awarded the official position immediately with the old example of the imperial examination in the Yuan Dynasty. Although it was only a small official (" Yuan History " records that the Yuan Dynasty Jinshi list was divided into two left and right, Han Jinshi and Southern Jinshi were listed on the left, Mongolian Jinshi and Semu Jinshi were listed on the right, the Jinshi on the left, and the Jinshi on the left, and the Jinshi on the left, and the Jinshi on the left, and the Jinshi on the left, and the Jinshi on the right, and the Jinshi on the right, and the Jinshi on the right, and the Jinshi on the right, and the Jinshi on the Han and Southern Jinshi can only be small officials, and Mongolian and Semu people can become large officials after becoming Jinshi on the Mongolian and Jinshi on the Jinshi), but at least there are officials.
However, Liu Bowen did not grant any official position, and he was idle at home for three years. During these three years, Liu Bowen had ambitions but could only express his ambitions among the mountains and rivers, and enjoyed himself by drinking and writing poems.
Three years later, 26-year-old Liu Bowen finally waited for the Yuan court to be the eighth-rank magistrate of Gao'an County, Jiangxi.
At this time, Liu Bowen had no strange intentions. He wanted to give back all his life's learning to the Yuan court, and use his talents to bring back the Yuan court, who was heading to the end. Of course, with Liu Bowen's talent and his later performance in assisting Zhu Yuanzhang, he did have the ability to turn the tide and support the building to collapse, provided that the Yuan court fully trusted him and entrusted him with important tasks.
At the beginning of his tenure, Liu Bowen discovered that some gentry and landlords colluded with corrupt officials, slaughtered the people, seized their wives and daughters, and were full of evil deeds.
He made open and secret investigations, and after he grasped the real evidence, he quickly punished several gentry and landlords who had aroused the grievances of the people and severely punished them. During his tenure, Liu Bowen's decisive and decisive behavior in punishing corruption, revitalizing morality, punishing evil and promoting good, and changing customs made corrupt officials and gentry landlords in Gao'an County frightened, and also greatly improved the living conditions of the people in Gao'an County.
While punishing the tyrant and landlords, Liu Bowen also did not forget to punish corrupt officials.
As the saying goes, it is a good thing to treat severe cases. Liu Bowen will be tough on some officials who are corrupt and abused by law and have poor moral character, and will never turn a blind eye to or listen to them because of the feelings of his colleagues. During his tenure, he concentrated on rectifying the officials in the county government office, and soon removed several important county government officials who colluded with officials and businessmen.
Liu Bowen's integrity and integrity won him unanimous praise from the people of Gao'an County, and people at that time called him Liu Qingtian.
However, in the late Yuan Dynasty where the tyrant ruler was in power and corrupt officials were everywhere, the upright Liu Bowen was destined to be unreferred. Corrupt officials and honest officials have been hostile from ancient times to the present, and there is no possibility of reconciliation. Those corrupt officials who are greater than his official position will not give him the opportunity to step on his head, but will only try every means to rush him to step down, so that he will never have the chance to make a name for himself.
After five years as an official, Liu Bowen has always been on the spot. Although he has won the love of the people for his upright and honest official reputation, he also offended a large number of corrupt officials who are corrupt and abused. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, even the emperor was a foolish monarch, and most of the civil and military officials in the dynasty were corrupt officials. This is how Liu Bowen ended up - he resigned and retired.
was forced to resign, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to Liu Bowen, who was determined to use his talents to save the Yuan Dynasty.
Liu Bowen experienced the darkness of the Yuan Dynasty's officialdom for the first time, but this attack did not completely defeat Liu Bowen's desire to serve the Yuan Dynasty. He still had hope for the Yuan Dynasty and wanted to enter the senior management of the Yuan Dynasty and revived the Yuan Dynasty.
In the third year of Zhizheng (1343), the Yuan court summoned Liu Bowen to the court again, but Liu Bowen did not refuse and was appointed as the deputy director of the Confucian scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan court established the Confucian scholarship department in various provinces, similar to the current Provincial Department of Education. The Secretariat Office established one person from the fifth rank and one person from the seventh rank. The chief and deputy chief and deputy jointly took charge of the sacrificial and education affairs in schools in the jurisdiction.
Entering the court again as an official, Liu Bowen has not changed his previous upright personality. Seeing the corruption and inaction in the officialdom, he will still stand up and scold him.
If it were in the period when the wise ruler was in the court and the political clarity was clear, Liu Bowen would have a prosperous official career, and everyone in the court admired him and would definitely become the leader of the Qingliu in the court. In fact, this is true. During the period of Hongwu , Liu Bowen became the chief censor who Zhu Yuanzhang used to supervise all officials and purify the court. He was honest and upright and honest and unjust.
Unfortunately, Liu Bowen was not in of the Ming Dynasty, but in the late Yuan Dynasty.
The political soil of the late Yuan Dynasty was corrupt, and only corrupt officials could survive, and no piece of soil could survive by honest officials. After only one year of office, Liu Bowen was forced to resign and retire again because he was discussing the censor's dereliction of duty.
After retirement, Liu Bowen accepted the invitation from his friend Ouyang Su and came to Dantu (now Dantu District, Jiangsu) with Ouyang Su to live in seclusion, teaching the children in the village to study to support their lives. During
, he drank and wrote poems with his friends in his spare time, traveling around the mountains and rivers. Although his ambitions were not fulfilled, his life was comfortable.
Just as Liu Bowen was enjoying the comfortable life of the idle clouds and wild cranes, the world of the Yuan Dynasty suddenly changed drastically and ushered in the countdown to the end.
In the eighth year of Zhizheng (1348), Fang Guozhen, a native of Huangyan, Taizhou, raised an anti-Yuan army in Taizhou, opening the curtain for the world's anti-Yuan. After Fang Guozhen raised his army, his troops claimed that they occupied Taizhou, Wenzhou , Qingyuan (now Ningbo ), and the Yuan court was shocked.
Faced with the fierce attack of the peasant uprising army, officials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province were helpless and had no choice but to recall Liu Bowen, known as the "No. 1 talent in Jiangnan", again.
Liu Bowen, who was repeatedly hit by the attack, still did not give up. He accepted the enlistment of the Yuan court again and took office as the capital of the Marshal's Office of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. He is similar to today's chief of staff of the provincial military region, responsible for helping the local area to pacify the thieves in the eastern Zhejiang area, especially Fang Guozhen.
After Liu Bowen took office, he offered plans to build a city to resist. Fang Guozhen's unfavorable momentum was indeed hindered and he was defeated at the city. After the Yuan army won the great victory, the Yuan court, who was determined not to fight but wanted to be safe, was eager to recruit Fang Guozhen and asked him to lead his troops to fight other rebel troops.
At this time, Liu Bowen stood up and firmly opposed it. He believed that Fang Guozhen was the first person to raise an army to fight against the Yuan Dynasty and could never attract him. Otherwise, all those with dissentful intentions in the world would rise up and defeat Fang Guozhen in one fell swoop. He told the people in the world who dared to fight against the Yuan Dynasty and were stubborn. Only when the people in the world were afraid can the rebellion be completely quelled and the Yuan Dynasty could win a chance to breathe.
Liu Bowen's strategy is not unvirginal. If Fang Guozhen, the first anti-Yuan person, was wiped out, the rebel army in the world would be shocked, and the Yuan Dynasty could at least survive for a while.
However, the demise of the Yuan Dynasty was destined. The tyrants were in the court and the court officials were incompetent. They did not care whether the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, but only whether they had money. In their eyes, Zhongyuan was not their Mongolians , and the life and death of the people in the Central Plains had nothing to do with them. If the Central Plains was lost, at most they could go back to Mongolia, and that was their territory.
Liu Bowen is indeed very talented. If the Yuan court really made up his mind to reuse him, perhaps the Yuan Dynasty would last for at least a few decades, but the Yuan court would have no intention of governing the Central Plains after all.
When Fang Guozhen learned about Liu Bowen's vicious plan, he immediately understood how dangerous his situation was. Once the Yuan court adopted Liu Bowen's opinion, he would definitely not be able to resist the full-scale attack of the Yuan army, and at that time he would be destruction.
In order to change his situation, Fang Guozhen asked someone to bribe Liu Bowen with a lot of money, hoping that he would change his views and say something good for him to accept the amnesty. But how could Liu Bowen not know Fang Guozhen’s true thoughts, and did he not know that if he was not wiped out, he would be in trouble, so he refused to accept Fang Guozhen’s bribe.
Seeing that Liu Bowen was not good, Fang Guozhen simply asked him to take a lot of money to the capital to bribe important officials of the dynasty. After accepting the bribe, the important official awarded Fang Guozhen's official position while scolding Liu Bowen for being domineering and rescinding his position.
However, what the Yuan court did not expect was that shortly after Fang Guozhen accepted the recruitment and got a chance to breathe, he raised an army to fight against the Yuan Dynasty again. The Yuan court was caught off guard and threw away several major cities one after another.
At this time, the Yuan court finally understood Liu Bowen's good intentions and immediately appointed him to be responsible for the suppression of bandits. Although Liu Bowen was re-appointed, the Yuan court still did not trust him, but asked him to give advice but did not intend to give him military power.
This situation made Liu Bowen completely give up on the Yuan Dynasty, resigned from office and never come back. It was not until Zhu Yuanzhang asked someone to invite him to come out again.
came out again, showing great success
Liu Bowen came out again and joined Zhu Yuanzhang's camp, half of whom were invited and half forced to go.
Zhu Yuanzhang has long heard of Liu Bowen.
He once ordered his general Hu Dahai (after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he posthumously named Duke of Yue ) to force Liu Bowen to come out and bring him to Jinling . Unfortunately, Liu Bowen was beaten to death and was unwilling to stay in Nanjing to serve Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was fighting for the world with Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and other heroes at that time. It would be no benefit for him to rashly kill Liu Bowen, so he could only let him go.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang, a talented person like Liu Bowen, was always unwilling to give up. Soon Zhu Yuanzhang sent his adviser Sun Yan to invite Liu Bowen out.
Sun Yan is unknown in history, but that's because he died early. If he lived until Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he would be a person who could leave a strong mark in history books.
At that time, many important counselors under Zhu Yuanzhang were recruited by Sun Yan for him. In addition to Liu Bowen, there were also chapters of Yi , Ye Chen and others.
historical records, Sun Yan "talk about the debate, eloquent and unfair economy" , what does it mean? In a simple sentence, he is good at eloquence, and not many people can talk about him.
Under Sun Yan's "sexy" and Zhu Yuanzhang's power is booming, and he had to make a choice at that time when the heroes were separatist. Liu Bowen was finally persuaded and agreed to come out to help Zhu Yuanzhang complete his career.
Liu Bowen first met Zhu Yuanzhang, and immediately stated the eighteen strategies for the current affairs to Zhu Yuanzhang, which laid a deep foundation for Zhu Yuanzhang to establish the capital in Nanjing and establish the Ming Dynasty.
The main contents of the Eighteen Policies are to destroy Chen (Youliang) first and then Zhang (Shicheng) and then Fang (Guozhen), to station troops and support themselves, do not disturb the people excessively, strictly enforce military discipline, recruit talents, etc.
When we first met, Liu Bowen planned for Zhu Yuanzhang how to do the future battle for hegemony, and every sentence was a good word. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bowen first met and immediately relied him as his confidant. After
, Zhu Yuanzhang had another very important conversation with Liu Bowen, which later generations called it the "Longzhong Pair" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Bowen how to deal with the heroes in the world. Liu Bowen advised Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Zhang Shicheng is just protecting himself, and it is not worth worrying. Chen Youliang usurped the leadership of the Red Turban Army, and his reputation was not right, but he occupied a rich land and was eyeing us. He was our biggest enemy, so he should be eliminated first. Once Chen Youliang is eliminated, Zhang Shicheng can destroy it in an instant. After Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng are destroyed, they can lead their troops north and unify the world."
Zhu Yuanzhang's future path to hegemony was based on this strategy, and it was finally done. This shows how great Liu Bowen's achievements are.
On the way to founding the country, Liu Bowen served as the military advisor.
Liu Bowen accomplished every plan, and was deeply respected by Zhu Yuanzhang.
At that time, whenever there were major military and national affairs or hesitant things, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely invite Liu Bowen to discuss it, and said in a sincere tone: "Sir, do not regret it."
How much does Zhu Yuanzhang respect Liu Bowen? He never called Liu Bowen the name, but respectfully called him "old man", completely treating him as his teacher.
Liu Bowen did not disappoint Zhu Yuanzhang's respect, and his existence promoted Zhu Yuanzhang's dream of emperor.
governing the country and maintaining peace and prosperity, and is famous in history
In the 28th year of Zhizheng (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang announced the establishment of the Ming dynasty in the Northern Expedition to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.
In order to establish the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen worked hard and did several major events that were recorded in history:
First, he chose Jinling as the capital for the Ming Dynasty and built a new capital; second, he proposed that Zhu Yuanzhang set the "Ming Dynasty" as the country name of the new dynasty; third, he proposed and participated in the formulation of the original laws of the new dynasty, which was the prototype of the later "Ming Dynasty Law"; fourth, he presided over the formulation of the Ming Dynasty's military system-the ward system; fifth, he designed the imperial examination system- Eight-legged sect .
Whether it is the choice of Xindu, the determination of the country name, or the formulation of the law, military system, and imperial examination system, Liu Bowen played an important role in it.
It can be said that half of the foundation of the Ming Dynasty was built by Liu Bowen, and all these things prove one thing without exception - Liu Bowen has the outstanding talent of "a capable minister in governing the world".
These achievements have also made Liu Bowen famous in history. As long as the history of the founding of the Ming Dynasty is mentioned, it is inevitable that Liu Bowen will be the man.
However, it was such a founding hero who made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang. After the founding of the country, he received far less rewards than the same period, even later than that of Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the third year of Hongwu (1370), Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of minister, and Liu Bowen was only awarded the throne of earl, and there were two titles of Duke and Marquis above him, and he had neither iron certificate nor hereditary.
You know, at that time, the ministers tied him with Li Shanchang . Li Shanchang was the first duke of the founding country, but Liu Bowen finally got only a small earl.
Why was Liu Bowen despised by Zhu Yuanzhang after the founding of the People's Republic of China?
There are many reasons, and I can't explain it clearly for a while. Simply put, Zhu Yuanzhang was an extremely self-centered emperor, with a strong sense of self-esteem and a strong suspicion.
It is true that Liu Bowen helped Zhu Yuanzhang win the world, but his personality is too straightforward. As long as he thinks it is wrong, even if Zhu Yuanzhang proposed it, he will stand up and say a few words. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build a capital in his hometown Fengyang, but no one else said anything, Liu Bowen stood up and said that your hometown is not suitable for being a capital.
For example, after Li Shanchang retired, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to find another person to be the prime minister. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang had several candidates in his mind, but he was hesitating who to choose. He asked Liu Bowen to discuss it. After Liu Bowen heard the few people Zhu Yuanzhang said, he looked down on none of them, and proposed several others to choose for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Of course, Liu Bowen was also a smart person. Since he was awarded the throne of earl, he realized that Zhu Yuanzhang was already very dissatisfied with him. If he did not leave, he would not be far from death. So in the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Liu Bowen resigned from his post and returned home.
From then on, he devoted himself to his studies, stayed silent and retired with peace of mind.
The last words of death were magically fulfilled
In May of the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), Liu Bowen was critically ill.
According to "Huang Mingwen Zheng·Volume 69", Liu Bowen left his last words: "Nine generations will prosper."
means that after his death, the Liu family will soon fall into the family, and it will not rise again until the ninth generation grandson.
History proves that Liu Bowen’s prediction is correct, and the consequences will come true in a century.
1392, Liu Bowen and Sun Liu Fu were demoted by Zhu Yuanzhang for the incident. Since then, the title of Liu's family's sincerity is gone.
1402, Zhu Di ascended the throne as emperor, and Emperor Jianwen whereabouts are unknown. After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he cherished the talent of Liu Bowen's second son, Liu Jing, and ordered him to become an official in the capital. Liu Jing refused to obey, and Zhu Di issued an order to capture him to Beijing and persuade him to serve. Liu Jing swore to refuse to obey and said bluntly: "Your Highness will not be able to escape the word "ushelmed" after a hundred years." Soon after, Liu Jing hanged himself in prison with a braid at the age of 52, and since then, Liu's family has fallen into the house.
Time flies in a flash, and it is the Jiajing Dynasty a hundred years later. At this time, the Liu family has already passed down to its ninth generation grandson.
ninth generation grandson Liu Yu was given a contribution to the court, and Jiajing ordered him to inherit the title of Zhenyi Bo and inherit his inheritance. As Liu Bowen said in his last words, the Liu family ushered in the generation of the ninth generation grandson Liu Yu.
Later generations have visited Liu Bowen’s tomb poems: “The dragon’s name is the Great End of Loess” .
The general idea is that no matter how smart the counselor is, he can't escape the fate of a piece of loess.
However, unlike ordinary people who have become silently famous after turning into a piece of loess, Liu Bowen also left behind extraordinary achievements, beautiful names in poetry and prose and countless myths and legends in this world for future generations to appreciate.
References:
[1]xiongzhan . See all the hibiscus flowers in the west wind - remember the old gentleman Liu Bowen (Part 1)
[2]xiongzhan . See all the hibiscus flowers in the west wind - remember the old gentleman Liu Bowen (Part 2)
[3]Quan Jin. Liu Bowen's wisdom and unwise
[4] Cai Jianjun. Liu Bowen_With both wisdom and courage as the country
[5] Zhou Li. Liu Bowen: It was time to take action
[6] Peng Yong. Shenji military advisor Liu Bowen did not calculate the miserable evening
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