After years of hard work, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In order to further consolidate his political power, he often became suspicious of the meritorious people who assisted him in his hard work, and even suppressed and attacked them.

Liu Bowen made meritorious contributions to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty and fought in the south and the north, and became the founding father, but due to the slanderous words of Prime Minister Li Shanchang, Zhu Yuanzhang was always suspicious of him and suspicious of everything.

One day, Zhu Yuanzhang said to Queen Bigfoot: "Liu Bowen is full of poetry and books, he is eight buckets tall, and he is rich and rich, no one can compare, let him be a teacher for the prince, so as to train the prince into a generation of Ming Jun." ”

Although Empress Ma felt that this was a bit overkill, but after thinking about it, if the prince wants to be a good emperor in the future, he really needs to have a good teacher. In this way, Liu Bowen devoted himself to being a teacher for the prince.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was still not at ease with him, in order to find out Liu Bowen's thoughts, the prince finished studying every day, no matter how busy he was with court affairs, Zhu Wuzhang did not forget to interrogate the prince, what books he read and what words he wrote that day, what the master said, what things he did, and so on.

That night, after a day of study, Liu Bowen took the prince out for a walk, crossed the Peach Blossom Creek, and came to a nearby village, where the prince saw the farmer carrying a black, hairy creature to the bench and killing it. The prince had never seen such a situation, so he asked, "Teacher, what are they doing here?"

Liu Bowen said: "Kill pigs." ”

The prince did not understand, and asked, "Why did they kill the pigs?"

Liu Bowen replied: "Kill to eat meat." ”

The prince asked again, "Do you want to kill all the pigs?"

Liu Bowen said casually: "Only kill the big pig, not the small pig." ”

That night, after Zhu Yuanzhang heard the conversation between the prince and Liu Bowen, he was full of doubts, and he thought to himself: "Zhu and Zhu have the same sound, isn't the big pig alluding to the widow?

The kind-hearted Queen Ma heard Zhu Yuanzhang's angry words, and thought that the emperor had already had the heart to get rid of Liu Bowen, and now she just had an excuse, it seemed that Liu Bowen was in a catastrophe, and she had to quickly think of a comprehensive plan to save Liu Bowen. Queen Ma is also a smart person, and soon had a plan, and took advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's unpreparedness, quietly put a date and a peach in the box, and quietly asked the eunuch to give the gift to Liu Bowen.

Liu Bowen took the gift, thanked the eunuch, and opened it to see that there was only a date and a peach, and he was puzzled. But he thought that Empress Ma would not only give himself these two ordinary gifts for no reason, he thought of the emperor's suspicions about himself for several days, and suddenly understood that Empress Ma was reminding himself to flee early. He was secretly grateful to the queen for saving his life, and hurriedly led his family to escape from the capital overnight on a fast horse, and ran to Nanyang, thousands of miles away, and finally escaped the disaster of killing.

Liu Bowen, resourceful, thoughtful, and like a god, was Zhu Yuanzhang's first strategist to win the world and establish the Ming Dynasty. However, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen was only given a second-class title - Sincerity Bo. Although he enforced the law like a mountain and gained the upper hand in the battle with Li Shanchang, the leader of the Huaixi faction, he was eventually killed by Li Shanchang's henchman and traitor Hu Weiyong. And behind all this, there is always an invisible hand that controls his destiny until the end of his life.

After Zhu Yuanzhang solved the Northern Yuan Dynasty, he formulated a series of policies to restore production, which achieved good results, but at this time the contradictions within the imperial court became fierce again, and the ministers were divided into two factions, and began a new struggle based on regional distinction.

These so-called factions are actually hometown associations, and everyone speaks the same dialect. Zhu Yuanzhang's largest hometown association was the Huaixi Group, and the president should have been Zhu Yuanzhang, but considering that he was also the emperor, it was represented by Li Shanchang at that time. There are many people in this group, the main members are Li Shanchang, Guo Xing, Guo Ying, Tang He, Zhou Dexing, and the dead Chang Yuchun and others, it can be said that these people are the team of Zhu Yuanzhang, and people at that time were proud to be able to speak Huaixi dialect when they met.

Who is Li Shanchang, and why is he the number one hero? This person is mainly responsible for logistics and government affairs, and if Liu Ji is compared to Zhang Liang, then Li Shanchang is Xiao He. He has been following Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world, and the logistics work is not easy to do, and the hard work is not pleasing to the people. Zhu Yuanzhang is an understanding person, so after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he took Li Shanchang as the first hero and appointed him as the prime minister.

Li Shanchang is characterized by a generous appearance, but he is narrow-minded, and whoever dares to get along with him must solve the other party. As the saying goes, the wicked have their own wicked grinding, and the Huaixi Group soon met an opponent, that is, the Zhedong Group, and the leader was Liu Bowen. The two groups started a struggle right under Zhu Yuanzhang's nose, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be very interested, and he was ready to watch a good show.

Li Shanchang was cited by Zhu Yuanzhang as the first hero and was named the Duke of South Korea, which is very remarkable, because at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang only had six dukes, and the other five people were Xu Da, Chang Mao, Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Deng Yu, they are all a generation of famous generals who fought in the blood, and surprisingly, Li Shanchang's ranking is still above these people, ranking first, and he is also the only civil servant among the dukes.

In contrast, Liu Bowen also made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's fight against the world, but he was only named Chengchengbo. What is intriguing is that his salary is also the lowest among the earls, with an annual salary of only 240 stones, while Li Shanchang is 4,000 stones, more than ten times more than Liu Bowen.

Liu Bowen strategized and won a decisive victory, and played an important role in many important decisions, why did he only get such treatment?

In fact, this problem is not so difficult to explain, Zhu Yuanzhang is a person with a very strong sense of locality, Li Shanchang is his fellow countryman, and he has only worked behind the scenes for many years, never stealing the limelight and working hard, such a person Zhu Yuanzhang is very relieved. On the other hand, Liu Bowen is a foreigner, and more importantly, Liu Bowen's judgment of things is often more accurate than him.

From the Battle of Longwan to the rescue of Anfeng, what Zhu Yuanzhang thought of, he also thought of, and what Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think of, he still thought of. If you were the emperor, would you allow such a person to be by your side? Moreover, these decisions are not a policy of peace for the people, but a strategy of power and conspiracy, and it is very useful to carry out a conspiracy and coup d'état, plus Liu Bowen has a deep foundation in black studies, Zhu Yuanzhang will think of him from time to time to persuade himself not to save Han Lin'er, who knows if he will do the same to himself in the future. It's good not to kill him, do you still want a reward?

Liu Bowen was smart all his life, but he also neglected this, which determined that it was difficult for him to become a winner in this struggle.

In the first year of Hongwu, the two sides met for the first time. At that time, the supervision agency was modeled after the Yuan Dynasty to establish the Imperial History Observatory, and Liu Bowen was the Imperial History Zhongcheng, that is, he was the leader of the Yanguan, and the advantage at this time was on Liu Bowen's side.

The fuse that caused the conflict was a man named Li Bin, who was a close confidant of Li Shanchang, who was arrested by Liu Bowen for breaking the law, and after finding out the crime, Liu Bowen decided to kill him. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang went out, and Li Shanchang hurriedly went to Liu Bowen to intercede, but Liu Bowen refused to eat it softly and hard, and reported the matter to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and ordered Li Bin to be executed immediately.

Unfortunately, this reply happened to fall into the hands of Li Shanchang, who did not dare to hide it, but he was also furious. In order to save the lives of his cronies, he thought of an excuse, and he believed that as long as he told this excuse, Liu Bowen would not refuse his request for intercession.

He found Liu Bowen and said to him: "It has not rained in the capital for a long time, and my husband is familiar with astronomy, so you should not kill people recklessly at this time." ”

Li Shanchang can be said to be an old treacherous and cunning, he knows that Liu Bowen is well versed in astronomy, and uses this as an excuse, if Liu Bowen insists on killing Li Bin, he can put the responsibility for not raining on Liu Bowen, and there was no weather forecast at that time, so the ghost knows when it will rain?

However, Liu Ji's answer was: "Kill Li Bin, it will rain!"

Li Bin was killed in this way, and Li Shanchang was enraged, and he began to prepare his first counterattack. Liu Bowen dares to say such a thing, it should be said that he is sure that he does understand astronomical meteorology, but the problem is that even today's weather forecast is inaccurate.

This time Liu Bowen's luck was not good, it didn't rain for a long time, and as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang came back, Li Shanchang's long-accumulated energy burst out, and he incited many people to attack Liu Bowen. Zhu Yuanzhang is an understanding person and does not embarrass Liu Bowen, but Liu Bowen himself knows that he can't stay here, so in August of that year, he asked for leave and returned to his hometown.

Before leaving, Zhu Yuanzhang was hot-headed at that time, and wanted to build the capital in his hometown of Fengyang, Anhui, and at the same time actively prepared for an expedition to the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Liu Bowen gave Zhu Yuanzhang the last advice, it is absolutely impossible to build the capital Fengyang, and the Northern Yuan still has strong strength, it is inappropriate to send troops easily, and later facts have proved that he is right again. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang understood Liu Bowen very well, and he said to Liu Bowen's son: "Now the Manchu Dynasty and the civil and military are all forming parties, only Liu Bowen is not with them, I am an understanding person, and I will not treat him badly." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang was really deceived by Liu Bowen this time, Liu Bowen is not a good man and a woman, he had already laid his own chess piece - Yang Xian before leaving. Yang Xian was Liu Bowen's sworn friend, and he was instructed by Liu Bowen to take over as Yushi Zhongcheng and prepare for a counteroffensive against the Huaixi group.

This Yang Xian is not simple, he keeps his head open, supports Gao Jianxian and others, and uses the power of the official to constantly collect Li Shanchang's black materials, and often makes small reports in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that Li Shanchang has no talent and no virtue, and cannot be entrusted with important tasks.

Zhu Yuanzhang is not a stupid person, he knows what Yang Xian's purpose is in saying these words, he was not moved by it at first, and he still trusts Li Shanchang very much, but after a long time, he also slowly has an opinion on Li Shanchang and has many accusations against Li Shanchang. In November, he recalled Liu Bowen and entrusted him with important tasks, and the Huaixi Group was completely suppressed, and the Zhedong Group began to gain the upper hand.

Li Shanchang was very worried when the Zhedong clique was about to become the victor, he understood that he had become a target, the Huaixi clique was in danger, and it was inconvenient for him to go into battle in person to openly argue with the Huaixi clique; he thought about it, why not learn from Liu Bowen? Find a spokesperson, but this person should not be too prestigious, and it should be easy to control. So he took a fancy to Hu Weiyong, but what he didn't expect was that this choice finally made him embark on the road of no return.

Hu Weiyong is Li Shanchang's hometown, he followed Zhu Yuanzhang very early, but he has always been unhappy, and always does some petty officials such as magistrates, but he is indeed a capable person. With Li Shanchang's approval, he became the new leader of the Huaixi clique, and the struggle would finally end in his hands.

There is a saying: people are not as good as heaven, just when the Zhedong Group was proud of the spring breeze and was ready to defeat Huaixi in one go, things changed again. Because Liu Bowen's words were too direct, many people began to speak ill of him in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang was also suspicious of this resourceful first strategist.

On this day, Zhu Yuanzhang talked to Liu Bowen alone, and the two sides started a conversation with Yila's homely routine, just when the atmosphere gradually became harmonious, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly changed his face and asked Liu Bowen in a serious tone, if Li Shanchang is replaced, who can be the prime minister?

Liu Bowen was very vigilant and immediately said, "This is up to Your Majesty to decide." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's face looked a little better, and he then asked, "What do you think of Yang Xian?"

This is another trap, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Yang Xian was Liu Bowen's person, so he first proposed this person to test Liu Bowen.

Liu Bowen only now understands that this is an extremely dangerous conversation, and if he is not careful, his head will fall to the ground. He immediately replied: "Yang Xian has the talent of the prime minister, but he doesn't have the strength of the prime minister, so he can't." ”

But the test is far from over, Zhu Yuanzhang then asked: "How is Wang Guangyang?"

This is the second trap, Wang Guangyang is not a member of the Huaixi group, Zhu Yuanzhang suspected him of colluding with Liu Bowen, so the second proposed him.

Liu Bowen saw the move and replied: "This person is very shallow, no." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Liu Bowen with admiration, this is a shrewd person. He said the third candidate: "How is Hu Weiyong?"

Liu Bowen breathed a sigh of relief and said the most accurate judgment in his life: "Hu Weiyong is a calf now, but in the future he will definitely get rid of the shackles of the ox plow." ”

After saying this, Liu Bowen knew that the test had passed, but he was wrong, and the next problem was fatal. Zhu Yuanzhang finally showed his killing, and he said in a meaningful tone: "My phase can only be taken by Mr." ”

After Dafan is extremely nervous, people's minds will relax, and Liu Bowen is no exception, he finally made a mistake, but this time the mistake was fatal. He replied to Zhu Yuanzhang: "It's not that I don't know that I can, but I'm a jealous person, so the emperor will choose slowly." ”

This sentence is very inappropriate, he doesn't say it when he claims to be the prime minister, but also says the so-called jealousy and hatred, as Liu Bowen said, who is evil?

Liu Bowen's faintness had not passed, and he added another sentence: "These people now, in my opinion, are not suitable." Zhu Yuanzhang broke with Liu Bowen on this.

After that, Liu Bowen no longer got Zhu Yuanzhang's trust, although he understood that his status was not as good as before, but he still insisted on being an official in the DPRK and supporting the Zhedong Group, but Zhu Yuanzhang was not so easy to dismiss.

In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang personally wrote to Liu Bowen and said to him: "You are so old, you should accompany your wife and children at home, why bother to accompany me here?"

This means, I want to fire you squid and leave, Liu Bowen had no choice but to return to the countryside.

At this time, Yang Xian, another cadre of the Zhedong Group, lost the help of Liu Bowen, and was soon squeezed out by the Huaixi faction, and his life was not guaranteed, so he was killed by Hu Weiyong under an excuse. In this struggle, the Huaixi group finally won a big victory.

Liu Bowen understands that he has failed, and his only wish now is to retire at home and spend his life. But in this struggle, those who lose will pay the price.

Hu Weiyong became the prime minister, he did not let Liu Bowen go, and instructed his subordinates to sue Liu Bowen, at this time Liu Bowen no longer had an official position, what else could he sue him? But if you want to add to the crime, there is no excuse, it is really a wise saying. Liu Bowen's crime is to occupy a piece of land with royal spirit, the so-called royal spirit is really an indescribable thing, saying that there is, saying that there is nothing, and saying that there is not, it only depends on what the purpose is.

So Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict again to punish Liu Bowen, and the officials were gone, so what else could he be punished? Zhu Yuanzhang had a way, and he deducted Liu Bowen's pension. Liu Bowen fell into despair, but his wisdom came into play again, and instead of waiting for death in place, he unexpectedly returned to the capital.

This is really a very unique move, he understands that the fundamental reason for Hu Weiyong to deal with him is Zhu Yuanzhang, as long as he returns to the capital, under Zhu Yuanzhang's nose, let him rest assured, his life will be guaranteed. But this time, he was wrong again.

In the eighth year of Hongwu, Liu Bowen fell ill, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Hu Weiyong to visit Liu Bowen, and Hu Weiyong's doctor prescribed medicine to Liu Bowen. After Liu Ji took the medicine, his condition became more and more serious, and he died soon after.

Regarding the cause of Liu Bowen's death, after Hu Weiyong's case was discovered, the doctor confessed that Hu Weiyong instructed him to poison Liu Bowen, which also became one of Hu Weiyong's crimes.

Many people know that Hu Weiyong and Liu Bowen have a grudge, and Zhu Yuanzhang also knows it, but he sent him to visit Liu Bowen. And Liu Bowen is such an influential person, Hu Weiyong would not dare to do it casually, otherwise he would not let Liu Bowen be free for five years under his nose, he got Zhu Yuanzhang's tacit approval, and Zhu Yuanzhang was responsible for Liu Bowen's death.

Liu Bowen was resourceful throughout his life and made great contributions to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he judged the situation accurately, thought carefully, and was able to predict the direction of development. Although he himself does not really have the ability to call the wind and rain as folklore, judging from his judgment and prediction ability, it is not an excessive comment to predict things like a god. He, like Zhuge Liang, has been remembered by the common people as a symbol of wisdom.

Hu Weiyong won, he defeated the Zhedong Group with the help of Zhu Yuanzhang and got rid of Liu Bowen, the world's number one strategist. He is in power, and Li Shanchang has to give him some face, but is he really the final winner?