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[Compared with the long prelude of the Hu Weiyong case, and the arrogance displayed by Comrade Hu after he monopolized power, the fall of this nominally last chancellor in the history of the feudal era came rather abruptly.
According to scholarly research, because Wang Guangyang died together with his concubine Chen, when the authorities verified the identities of the dead it was discovered that Chen had originally been a confiscated woman from the registry. As a result, Hu Weiyong was later charged with exceeding authority and violating regulations. Together with the Champa tribute envoy case and the private killing of a stable servant, he was ultimately imprisoned at the end of the ninth month of the twelfth year of Hongwu.
It was during the period of Hu Weiyong's imprisonment that Tu Jie, originally one of Hu Weiyong's confidants, defected on the second day of the first month of the thirteenth year and became a cooperating witness.
Only six days later, before the official Spring Festival holidays had even ended, Hu Weiyong, Tu Jie, and Chen Ning were all convicted and executed.
Five days after that, during the Grand Court Assembly, Zhu Yuanzhang finally revealed the dagger after the map was exhausted and impatiently announced:
I intend to abolish the Secretariat and the system of the Chancellor. Who approves, and who opposes?
At that moment Hu Weiyong's seventh-day mourning had not even passed yet. Who would dare oppose?
And this decision, which violated ancestral precedent, was evidently the true cause of Hu Weiyong's death.
As for the records in the History of Ming that speak of stone shoots emerging from the well of Hu Weiyong's ancestral home or flames blazing above his ancestral tomb at night as ominous signs, those are obviously nonsense.
The later claim that Hu Weiyong therefore intended to change the dynasty of Great Ming, gathering soldiers and recruiting desperadoes, seems to treat Zhu Yuanzhang as if he were a fool.
Later, the Qing scholar Gu Yingtai even wrote another tale called Yun Qi Reporting the Plot. It claims that a loyal eunuch named Yun Qi lived next door to Hu Weiyong. When he heard that Hu Weiyong had invited Old Zhu to visit his house to see sweet spring water emerging from a well, he risked his life to stop him.
The story then says Zhu Yuanzhang climbed a city gate tower and saw Hu Weiyong's residence filled with soldiers, whereupon he hurriedly mobilized troops and fought three hundred rounds before capturing the rebels.
This sounds even more like a work of fiction.
From our modern perspective as observers, the matter is actually quite clear. Under the feudal system, imperial authority and chancellor authority represented two different forces within the ruling class.
They complemented one another, jointly bringing the localities into governance and thereby ruling the empire.
Yet they also frequently erupted into contradictions and conflict, striking fiercely against one another.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the chancellor Tian Fen would sit for more than half a day every time he came to audience. Emperor Wu could only listen patiently.
Seeing that Tian Fen could easily promote a private individual to the rank of two-thousand-shi official made Emperor Wu keenly feel that imperial authority had been infringed.
Thus he spoke the somewhat ironic line:
"Have you finished appointing all the officials you wish to appoint? I too wish to appoint some officials."
Put simply, the central power pie was only so large. If someone ate more of it, someone else would inevitably receive less.
And Emperor Wu had never been the sort who excelled at enduring such things. In the end he raised the banner of strengthening imperial autocracy.
After the later developments of the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, the cards in the emperor's hand became more numerous, and naturally it became increasingly difficult to tolerate sharing power with a chancellor.
This can also be seen from the fates of chancellors throughout the ages. In the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, emperors either sidelined or divided the power of their chancellors. Even when removing an old chancellor they needed to pull one faction while striking another, slowly manipulating the situation.
But what about Hu Weiyong?
Among the four chancellors before and after the Hongwu reign, Hu Weiyong was the most domineering and arrogant.
He served as the sole chancellor, monopolized power, read all memorials from both inner and outer courts before they reached the emperor, and meritorious generals competed to visit his residence.
Such a chancellor could truly be said to hold power that overshadowed the entire court.
Yet before Zhu Yuanzhang, such a chancellor shattered with a single poke.
From imprisonment to execution and the abolition of the chancellor system, the entire process took less than three and a half months.
If counted from the official prosecution of Hu Weiyong's crimes, it took only eleven days, not even half a month.
Not only were his followers uprooted entirely, but the very grave of the chancellor system itself was dug up.
Such an operation would have been unimaginable in the Han, Tang, or Song.
Accordingly, the ancestral instructions of the Zhu family gained another clause:
"Successor rulers must never discuss establishing a chancellor. Any minister who dares to propose it shall be punished with the severest penalty."
Since the chancellor system had already been abolished, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to complete all related matters in one stroke.
He also announced that the Chief Military Commission, which had controlled all military forces both within and outside the capital, would be restructured.
It would be divided into five offices: the Front, Rear, Left, Right, and Central Military Commissions.
Thus it is less accurate to say that Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the nearly two-thousand-year-old chancellor system because he felt the chancellor's power had grown too great.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say that Zhu Yuanzhang felt the emperor's power was still not great enough.
Hence the events of the thirteenth year of Hongwu ultimately resulted in the emperor holding all authority entirely in his own hands.
Of course the price of this arrangement was enormous.
Aside from the daily court assemblies, each day required reviewing more than one hundred forty memorials and handling over four hundred matters of state.
He truly rose earlier than chickens and slept later than dogs.
Yet even so, it was still difficult to feel satisfied with the handling of government affairs.
This kind of 996-style monopoly of power might have felt quite exhilarating for Zhu Yuanzhang, whose physical endurance was astonishing.
But the exhausted Zhu Biao likely did not find it nearly so pleasant.]
Zhu Yuanzhang and his eldest son exchanged a glance.
Then the two of them tacitly turned their eyes away.
There was little estrangement between father and son. With Empress Ma mediating between them, Zhu Biao knew how much effort his father had invested in him, and Zhu Yuanzhang also knew how hard his son worked in order to win his approval.
Sometimes Zhu Yuanzhang would imagine the form in which he might hand Great Ming over to his son.
Having been carefully cultivated, how might Biao'er bring the empire to its greatest flourishing?
If the histories could later compare their father and son to wise rulers like Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of Han, that alone would be enough to leave him without regret.
But now such imaginings could only end with Biao'er's premature death.
The Crown Prince of Great Ming whose body was worn down by state affairs, whose illness took advantage of his exhaustion, and who would die before he could even ascend the throne and realize his ambitions.
A white-haired father sending off a black-haired son.
Father and son felt different emotions, yet neither spoke.
Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang, attending for the first time, were somewhat curious, though they only dared whisper among themselves.
Earlier they had heard that their father had suddenly ordered their departure from the capital postponed indefinitely. Zhu Shuang felt a slight headache.
"When will Father finish writing these ancestral instructions?"
Zhu Gang nodded.
"Do you even need to ask? Whatever he learns, he will probably record…"
Seeing their father's head tilt slightly in their direction, Zhu Gang hurriedly added,
"Of course Father does this out of sincere concern. Everything he writes concerns the methods of governing the realm, hoping that Elder Brother's descendants in future generations may follow them and become wise rulers."
Yet after saying this, Zhu Gang felt a faint sigh rise in his heart.
Anyone could see that their father treated the Crown Prince differently from the rest of the brothers.
Combined with their father's strict discipline and the fact that their elder brother commanded the respect of all the younger siblings, none of them had ever entertained improper ambitions.
They had accepted their princely fiefs quite readily.
But now?
Their father's earlier anger, and the clear discussion by later generations of their elder brother's death, caused Zhu Gang to develop certain thoughts about the succession of the throne.
Yet these thoughts were not improper ambitions.
They were filled instead with endless fear.
The reason was simple.
Their father was still vigorous and sharp as a drawn blade, and many years still remained before the end of the Hongwu reign.
If among the brothers someone truly committed an act as vile as that of a beast,
how would they face their father's towering fury?