Ming Taizu is a farmer, and he knows a thing or two about peasant life. After he ascended the throne, he also paid attention to the policy of rest and recuperation. He warned local officials: "Now the world is just stable, and the people are in financial difficulties, just like birds that have just flown, they can't pluck their hair;" A newly planted tree can't shake its roots. "He wants officials to be honest and law-abiding, not to take bribes and bend the law, and to increase the burden on the people. Later, he recruited exiled farmers, reclaimed wasteland and was exempted from labor and taxes for three years; It is necessary for all localities to station troops to reclaim land and wasteland to achieve food self-sufficiency. He also built water conservancy projects and rewarded the cultivation of cotton and marijuana. Therefore, the agricultural production in the early Ming Dynasty had obvious development. The rule of the newly established Ming Dynasty was also consolidated.

But Ming Taizu always distrusted those who helped him build his country. He set up a secret organization called the Royal Guard to monitor and spy on the minister's activities. He knows exactly what the minister is doing outside or at home. Anyone who is found to be suspected is in danger of being put into prison or even beheaded.

Ming Taizu is very strict with officials. The minister made him angry when he went to court. He was beaten to the ground in court and was called "Zhang Ting". Some of them were killed on the spot. This practice makes some ministers very nervous. When they go to court every day, they say goodbye to their loved ones in a sad way. If this day is safe and sound, when he returns home, his relatives will be glad that he lived another day.

1380, prime minister Hu was accused of treason and rebellion, and immediately took Hu to the door to investigate his accomplices. The investigation involved15,000 civilian and military officials. Ming Taizu was cruel and killed everyone who suspected Hu Gang.

Song Lian, a bachelor, was highly valued by Ming Taizu with Liu Jitong in the early Ming Dynasty. Later, he became the prince's teacher. Song Lian is cautious, but Ming Taizu is not at ease with him. On one occasion, Song Lian invited some friends to drink at home. The next day, Emperor Taizong of Ming Dynasty asked him if he had drunk wine yesterday, which guests he invited and what dishes he prepared. Song Lian answered truthfully one by one. Ming Taizu smiled and said, "You didn't lie to me." It turned out that Ming Taizu had secretly sent someone to watch Song Lian's dinner that day. Later, Ming Taizu praised Song Lian in court and said, "Song Lian has served me for 19 years, and never said a lie or spoke ill of others. What a saint! " Song Lian retired at the age of sixty-eight, and Ming Taizu also sent a brocade, saying:

"Keep it, 32 years later, make a hundred-year-old dress."

After the Hu case, Song Lian's grandson was also exposed as a Hu Party, so he went to Song Lian. Ming Taizu sent a security guard to take Song Lian from his hometown and put him to death.

This matter let Ma Huanghou know. Ma Huanghou advised Ming Taizu: "People's families hire a teacher for their children, but they are still respectful and friendly, not to mention the teacher of the emperor's family. Besides, Mr. Song has always lived in the country. How did he know about his grandson? "

Ming Taizu was too angry to forgive Song Lian. On the same day, Ma Huanghou accompanied Ming Taizu to dinner. She sits at the table and never touches wine or eats meat. Ming Taizu was surprised and asked her if she was sick. Ma Huanghou said sadly, "I'm sorry that Mr. Song committed a capital crime. I am praying for Mr. Song. "

Ma Huanghou is a husband and wife, who had a conflict with Mao when he was young. Ming Taizu usually treats her with more respect. After hearing what she said, she was also a little moved. She ordered the pardon of Song Lian's death penalty, and Song Lian, who was banished to Maozhou (now Maoxian County, Sichuan Province) in her seventies, was vulnerable. Coupled with the fatigue on the road, she died before she arrived in Maozhou.

Ten years later, it is said that Li Shanchang was in close contact with Hu, knowing that Hu did not expose the rebellion and took a wait-and-see attitude, thus committing a heinous crime. Li Shanchang was the first founding hero and Ming Taizu's in-laws. When Ming Taizu sealed the hero, he once gave Li Shanchang two iron coupons to avoid death. This year, Li Shanchang was 77 years old, but when Ming Taizu fell out with him, he put Li Shanchang and his family to death.

Then, Hu Dang was arrested again and more than fifteen thousand people were executed.

Since the Hu case happened, I felt uneasy about handing over the military and political power to the minister, so I cancelled the post of prime minister, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor, that is, the ministers of the official department, the household department, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Industry (official name, department director). It also abolished the governor's office, which was in charge of military power, and set up five governors' offices, namely left, right, middle, front and back, to train soldiers respectively. When war is needed, the emperor gives orders directly. In this way, the power of the Ming emperor was greatly concentrated.

Things didn't end there. Three years later, the Royal Guards reported the rebellion of General Aquamarine. Ming Taizu killed aquamarine, traced the accomplice, and more than 15,000 civil and military officials were collectively punished to death.

These two major cases almost swept away some heroes of the imperial court, and Ming Taizu's tyranny and cruelty were well-known in history.