Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 798 Alone
"Hu Weiyong's universe... This Hongwu Emperor has a great hand."

In the Guangzheng Hall, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu had already put aside their past grudges, so they were not very concerned about what happened to Emperor Xuan of Jin.

But as the emperor of the Song Dynasty, what Zhao Kuangyin saw was an autocratic monarch who could make things happen at the touch of a button.

Universe is not a new word. Although it was later added with "big", we can still vaguely understand its meaning through the use of Chinese characters.

A major case handled by an iron-fisted emperor with swift and decisive action, and the rapid rise of a new empire, in which the arrogant nobles and the foreign threats that were ready to make trouble were intertwined and were ultimately ruthlessly eliminated one by one by the emperor.

In this process, the three words "Hu Weiyong" became the best weapon.

It was at this moment that Zhao Kuangyin clearly felt the awe-inspiring power of the Ming Dynasty, which made him feel cold all over.

Zhao Pu also thought of this, so he shook his head and said:
"I just hope that the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty does not invite all the old brothers to come and visit."

Imagine inviting brothers to watch together, and then watching the screen slowly tell the story of how Emperor Hongwu convicted and punished the nobles one by one. If that were the case...

Zhao Pu unconsciously moved his gaze between Master Kong Jiong and the emperor for a while, but finally he lowered his head with a hint of unspeakable regret in his heart.

However, for both Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu, the world scenes displayed on the light screen were commonplace.

But for Zhao Dezhao, even though he had seen these before, he still couldn't help but feel fascinated when he heard people in later generations casually talking about the countries surrounding China.

If it is really as my father said, there are so many things that the Song Dynasty can do.

[It is said that Sima Yi was fully responsible for Li Shanchang's death. The underlying logic of this cognition by peers is actually a genetic issue.

From this point of view, you can see it more clearly by just flipping through Lao Zhu's family tree.

The father of Emperor Hongwu, Zhu Shizhen, died at the age of 63, and Li Shanchang died in the 23rd year of Hongwu, when Zhu Yuanzhang was 62 years old.

Moreover, if you scroll a little further, you will find that among Zhu Yuanzhang's 72 sons, only three lived to be over 71 years old, including Prince of Dai at 70, Prince of Min at , and Prince of Ning at . From this point of view, the Zhu family may indeed have no longevity genes.

In terms of age, Li Shanchang was fourteen years older than Zhu Yuanzhang, so Zhu Yuanzhang probably did not have such worries in his early years. He even wanted to leave behind a good story for his old ministers, just like Li Erfeng and Fang Xuanling.

But as time went on, Zhu Yuanzhang was getting closer to the age when his father would die. However, Li Shanchang, who should have been lying in the coffin and creating a good story between a monarch and his ministers, was instead alive and kicking, as if he could still hold on.

Therefore, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, Li Shanchang became less and less like "Li Xiaohe" or "Li Xuanling", and more and more like "Sima Shanchang".

In addition, before Li Shanchang changed his surname to Sima, Zhu Yuanzhang actually treated this old minister with all his heart. In the first major case of Hongwu, the Hu Weiyong case, Li Shanchang's brother Li Cunyi was very close to Hu Weiyong, which is a fact that can be corroborated by many parties. As for Li Cunyi, it is also difficult for Li Shanchang to distance himself from the relationship, but Zhu Yuanzhang killed other people involved in the Hu Weiyong case, such as Tu Jie, a censor who had a good attitude of confessing his guilt, but ended up with his body and head separated.

As Hu Weiyong's close comrades-in-arms, the Li brothers did not even say a harsh word to him, let alone blame him.

However, although Li Shanchang had left his position as prime minister, he was young at heart. He was unwilling to cut off his own wings like Xiao He, nor to devote himself to his work like Fang Xuanling, nor to shut himself away from visitors like Li Jing and devote himself to creative work. Instead, he consolidated his position as the leader of the Huaixi Group.

The direct cause of Li Shanchang's eventual downfall was that at the age of 77, Li Shanchang, who showed no signs of dying, went to Tang He to borrow 300 guards, intending to use them to help renovate the courtyard. After Tang He agreed, he secretly reported it to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Among the enlightened nobles, Tang He's civil and military skills were not the most outstanding, but he was definitely the most special one. As a childhood friend, brother, entrepreneurial mentor, and a candidate for the title of Duke, he could be said to be Zhu Yuanzhang's close confidant. Li's move somewhat showed that he did not regard himself as a foreigner from the Ming Dynasty.

And if we look back at the four words "和密以闻", they are quite meaningful. If Tang He had not informed on the matter, whether Zhu Yuanzhang would have known about this matter or not, the possibilities implied therein are quite intriguing.

Then, a month later, the Ming capital began to exile the guilty to the border. Li Shanchang pleaded for his relative Ding Bin in the hope of getting him pardoned, which ultimately angered Zhu Yuanzhang, who punished him. As a result, Ding Bin confessed that Li Cunyi was Hu Weiyong's close comrade-in-arms, which eventually implicated Li Shanchang and led to his death.

Li Shanchang was Hu Weiyong's guide and the head of the Huaixi Group. There must have been some so-called "conspiracy" between the two of them, but it probably had nothing to do with treason. However, the content of "ganging up to attack dissidents, excluding dissidents, and manipulating the court" was indispensable. To Zhu Yuanzhang, these were actually equivalent to treason, and there was not much difference.

The other most important thing is of course age. For Zhu Yuanzhang, even if he was confident that he could live longer than his father, he would only be a few years older. After all, the Hongwu Dynasty had entered its twilight years, and he needed to consider his funeral.

Li Shanchang was still alive and well at the age of 77. Zhu Yuanzhang did not dare to bet that Li Shanchang would not live to be 87 or 97. Due to a change of mentality, he finally killed him.

It needs to be clarified here that the statement that all 77 members of Li Shanchang's family were killed has no verification in the Ming Veritable Records, and the number 77 also seems to be fabricated. This news is more like a fabrication by a late Ming Dynasty joke teller to satirize Zhu Yuanzhang, and was eventually copied in the Qing Dynasty's Ming History.

The source of the jokes created by the joke makers should be that Li Shanchang's younger brother Li Cunyi was executed along with his entire family for his crimes, but this punishment actually did not involve the brothers' side branches.

Li Shanchang died in his mansion in full clothes. It is not clear whether he committed suicide or drank poison, but it is certain that he lived well. There are records of court officials proposing to restore the Li family's inheritance of the title during the reigns of Yongle, Jiajing and Chongzhen, but nothing came of it in the end.

Let's talk about Li Shanchang's death again. From this point of view, there is nothing wrong with being implicated by Sima Yi. After all, if it were not for historical records, who could have imagined that an old and frail man in his seventies, who was dying and had been a loyal minister of the Wei Dynasty all his life, could fight hard and become Emperor Xuan of Jin?

But if you say that Sima Yi is really to blame for everything, that is not entirely true. It can only be said that starting from the Sima family, more and more negative examples have emerged over the past thousand years.

Sima Zhao killed the puppet emperor, Liu Yu further massacred his close relatives, Xiao Daocheng massacred Liu Yu's entire family, and most of his own children and grandchildren were slaughtered by his nephew Xiao Luan. In the end, Xiao Yan killed Xiao Luan without leaving any relatives or friends. Yang Jian went a step further and killed all the descendants of the Yuwen brothers.

These examples all show that there can be no vacuum of power, which resulted in the emperors of later times being trapped in a prisoner's dilemma and unable to extricate themselves. As their power grew, they became more and more isolated in the true sense of the word.

(End of this chapter)