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[In truth, during the early Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang was clearly still in the stage of being a novice emperor.
After all, Old Zhu had risen to power with nothing but a broken bowl. Saying that his family learning was shallow would already be putting it kindly. Whether it was his wandering in his early years or his rise after joining Guo Zixing, the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's transformation is actually very clear.
The same was true of being an emperor. One naturally needed a period of learning and adjustment. His wishful hope that his old brothers would help him establish a hereditary realm for his house was simply one of the lessons he had to pay for.
In fact, even before the great distribution of rewards in the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang had already announced in the second year of Hongwu that he intended to move the capital back to his hometown in the future. He personally made a trip there to select the site and name the city Zhongdu, and he also launched a massive effort to relocate wealthy families from Jiangnan and Shanxi to fill the city and stimulate its development.
To set the capital in his hometown, grant his old hometown brothers honors that would last for generations, and place his sons as princely vassals guarding the four directions. This was the structure of rule Zhu Yuanzhang had originally envisioned for governing the realm.
So did Zhu Yuanzhang know about the conflict between Huai-xi and Eastern Zhejiang?
He probably did.
But did he care?
Who cared?
Those Huai-xi men were my cloth-clad brothers. What kind of shrimp soldiers are you Eastern Zhejiang fellows?
Yet as the saying goes, in life nine out of ten things fail to go as one wishes. Even becoming emperor does not change that.
In the eighth year of Hongwu, the Zhongdu city personally chosen by Zhu Yuanzhang was basically completed, and the plan to move the capital from Yingtian Prefecture to his hometown of Haozhou could finally be placed on the agenda.
In February of that year, Zhu Yuanzhang went there to inspect the construction progress. In high spirits, he even wrote a ceremonial text titled Sacrificial Prayer to Heaven and Earth for Zhongdu, in which he officially renamed his hometown Fengyang.
However, soon afterward, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Yingtian Prefecture in April. He then issued an edict declaring that moving the capital would exhaust the people and waste resources, and the plan to make Fengyang the central capital was abandoned, effectively slapping his own face.
In truth, "exhausting the people and wasting resources" was obviously just an excuse.
After all, the new city of Fengyang had already been under construction for five years. If you suddenly say the capital will no longer be moved, what about the five years of labor already invested? And what about the wealthy households who had been lured there with promises of prosperity?
Old Zhu should probably explain what exactly he meant by "wasting resources."
Moreover, not long after issuing the April edict, Zhu Yuanzhang began large-scale construction of a new imperial palace in Yingtian Prefecture in September of that same year, apparently forgetting his earlier claim about exhausting the people.
As for the abandonment of the capital relocation, the explanation given in the History of Ming is that when Zhu Yuanzhang inspected Fengyang, Li Shanchang reported that artisans had used apotropaic sorcery. After Zhu Yuanzhang executed the craftsmen involved, the relocation project was quietly dropped. This became known as the "Suppression Talismans Case" of the eighth year of Hongwu.
But can this explanation really stand on its own?
Perhaps it can, but it is still insufficient.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang did show some superstitious behavior in historical records, one cannot ignore that he was also an extremely pragmatic politician. Abandoning five years of investment solely because of superstition would be rather absurd.
However, if we widen our view around the eighth year of Hongwu, a basic timeline begins to emerge:
Second year: Fengyang construction begins, with plans to move the capital.
Third year: old cloth-clad brothers are enfeoffed and granted Iron Certificates of immunity.
Fourth year: Li Shanchang, leader of the meritorious nobles, retires from the position of Left Chancellor due to illness.
Fifth year: the Iron List is issued to restrain illegal behavior among the meritorious nobles.
From this sequence it becomes quite clear that because of the arrogance and misconduct of the meritorious nobles, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually drifted further and further away from the founding nobility.
At the same time, when some people withdraw, others step forward.
Another line of development was advancing in parallel, and the central figure in that line was the man later involved in the Hu case, Hu Weiyong.]
---
When his own name was mentioned, Li Shanchang did not feel particularly pleased.
On the one hand, these events were things he had personally experienced. Strictly speaking, they were only about ten years in the past. His memory of them remained very clear, and he had no need for a descendant several centuries later to remind him.
On the other hand, among the meritorious ministers rewarded in the third year of Hongwu, he was one of only three civil officials, and the emperor himself had once compared him to Xiao He. Li Shanchang naturally possessed a sharp mind.
From the tone of the later narrator's account, Li Shanchang faintly sensed a trace of danger.
He was already aware of the Hu Weiyong case. The "Lan" mentioned likely referred to Lan Yu. Combined with what the later narrator had said about the true destruction of the remaining Yuan forces, and considering the matter of the Iron List, it seemed possible to infer a few things.
Yet even if the two cases were combined, it would probably only involve seven or eight meritorious nobles and a dozen or so old ministers.
But listening to the narrator's tone, Li Shanchang could not help feeling a chill along his back.
Why did it sound as though the Huai-xi meritorious nobles would all be wiped out?
When this thought surfaced in his mind, Li Shanchang's heart trembled for a moment, but he soon mocked himself for such a thought.
Even if some Huai-xi nobles had acted contrary to the emperor's wishes, it was also true, as the narrator had said, that the capital now lay in Eastern Zhejiang. The Huai-xi faction remained the emperor's foundation. Punishment might occur, but who would ever sever his own roots?
Still, following the principle of acting cautiously, Li Shanchang rose and bowed in apology.
"I recommended him for the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. From that began the seeds of disaster. I am ashamed."
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, signaling Li Shanchang to sit down again.
"This matter was not something you could have anticipated, nor something you could have known. If I were to blame you for it, should I not first confess my own guilt to the realm?"
The meaning of his words was very clear.
Hu Weiyong might indeed have entered the central government through Li Shanchang's recommendation, but who was it that ultimately approved that recommendation?
Moreover, if Hu Weiyong had truly wished to advance, as a Huai-xi man who had joined them as early as the fifteenth year of Zhizheng, he would have had no difficulty finding a patron in a capital where, as the saying went, "half the tall hair buns in the city belonged to men of Huai."
Thus the Son of Heaven had no intention of assigning blame at this moment. Instead, hearing the later narrator's speculation, which matched closely with his own earlier intentions, he could only sigh.
"Indeed, in life nine out of ten things fail to go as one wishes."
To grant his old companions hereditary wealth and status and have them forever guard the Great Ming was already the greatest sincerity he could offer them.
Yet his old companions were clearly not satisfied with that sincerity. From the moment the Iron Certificates were issued, they had begun testing the limits step by step.
Before the founding, the old Huai-xi companions in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes had been men of courage, of unyielding spirit, men willing to risk their lives with loyal hearts.
But once they bore the titles of duke and marquis, he discovered for the first time that the greed upon those same men appeared unbearably glaring.
Seeing her husband's somewhat disappointed sigh, Empress Ma grew concerned and clasped Zhu Yuanzhang's hand.
"Even if Zhongdu cannot serve as the capital, it is still your native land, Chongba. Why not follow Biao'er's example and appoint scholars to manage affairs there, so that when you have time you may return to Fengyang to visit?"
The Son of Heaven pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
"The land may have north and south, but the people do not harbor two hearts. One who sits upon the great treasure must treat all under Heaven equally. The realm itself is the Son of Heaven's homeland. How could one place be different from another?"
These were words he would only speak many years later when refuting arguments about north and south, yet he felt they were equally suitable here.
Although he still had twenty years of life ahead of him, Zhu Yuanzhang already had a faint sense that the trip back to Fengyang in the eighth year of Hongwu would likely be the last time he returned to his hometown.
Yet thinking of it this way unexpectedly lifted his spirits.
"Then let us see how later generations judge last year's events."