It is Zhu Yuanzhang that from a wandering monk to the supreme ruler of Ming Dynasty. No one except Liu Bang, who is the founder of Han Dynasty, had similar experiences as Zhu.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s success was not accidental. In order to overthrow Yuan Dynasty, he had changed the war strategy many times to meet the interests of all social strata at the end of Yuan Dynasty.
When Zhu Yuanzhang just revolted, he did not like landlords very much. But as the war progressed, he changed his original mind. In order to call for more people to support him, he began to recognize and protect the interests of landlords and scholar-bureaucrats.
That was why he was able to win the war with less loss. Unfortunately, not all landlords and scholar-bureaucrats supported him, even after the establishment of Ming Dynasty.
Among interest groups supporting Zhu Yuanzhang, scholar-bureaucrats were the most worried group by Zhu because this group includes not only the landlord elites but also the erudite scholars.
Once these people could ‘t be controlled by Zhu Yuanzhang, he would not be able to ensure the stability of regime at all. Fortunately, although Confucianism advocates not serving two masters throughout their lives, there are still many scholars who could ‘t comply with it.
Faced with the irreversible disintegration of Yuan Dynasty, more and more people saw the future and began to support Zhu Yuanzhang. However, there were still some scholar-bureaucrats who couldn’t forget Yuan Dynasty and even didn’t know which side to support.
Support
Rome was not built in one day and Zhu Yuanzhang could not found Ming Dynasty only by himself. Behind him, there was a think tank and Li Shanchang was the chief.
Li Shanchang was a learned scholar-bureaucrat who had a close relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang because they both came from Haozhou, Anhui. In 1353, Li joined Zhu’s rebellion and served as a military adviser.
In the group of scholar-bureaucrats who supported Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang belonged to the veteran level. In the process of overthrowing Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had repeatedly adopted Li Shanchang’s suggestions and won many battles.
After the establishment of Ming dynasty, Li Shanchang became the prime minister of Ming Dynasty when Zhu rewarded him for his significant contributions. Apparently, Li was the most successful scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor could control him completely.
Neutral
Compared with Li Shanchang, there were a large number of scholar-bureaucrats with a wait-and-see attitude at the beginning of Ming Dynasty because they were worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would infringe their interests after becoming emperor.
On the other hand, it was very difficult for scholar-bureaucrats with a neutral attitude to forget rewards that Yuan Dynasty had given them. Therefore, the feelings of them were contradictory.
If Yuan Dynasty’s army defeated Zhu Yuanzhang’s rebels, these scholar-bureaucrats would definitely support Yuan Dynasty. If Yuan Dynasty could not resist the peasant uprising army, these scholars would stand up at the right time to show their support for Zhu Yuanzhang.
In fact, Liu Bowen was the most typical member of neutrals. At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, although he had felt that the collapse of Yuan Dynasty was inevitable, he still had hope for Yuan Dynasty in his heart.
When Zhu Yuanzhang’s strength continued to grow and Zhu repeatedly ordered people to invite Liu Bowen to join the advisory group. Liu Bowen finally changed his position. To a certain extent, Liu Bowen was forced to serve as Zhu Yuanzhang’s consultant.
Resistance
Scholar-bureaucrats who resist to the end were very brave. Because Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature, he could not bear the disrespect of scholar-bureaucrats. As a result, most of them who refused to give in to Zhu Yuanzhang were purged.
From the perspective of Yuan Dynasty, these scholar-bureaucrats who did not compromise with Ming Dynasty were heroes and did not lose their character.
However, as long as scholar-bureaucrats who did not recognize the legitimacy of Ming, they will be regarded as potential enemies by Zhu Yuanzhang. And Zhu Yuanzhang demonstrated his determination to defend the legitimacy of the new regime with action shortly after the establishment of Ming Dynasty.
A large number of scholar-bureaucrats who did not submit to Zhu Yuanzhang were wiped out, and the survivor felt more frightened every day. Even if there was the feeling of missing Yuan Dynasty in their hearts, they dared not express it easily.
In Conclusion
Scholar-bureaucrats were the basis of social morality. Although some of them chose different ways, this did not change their role in guiding the moral standards of ordinary people.
Unfortunately, the spirit of scholar-bureaucrat like Japanese Bushido had become less and less. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang controlled the power of material resource distribution. As long as he was a scholar-bureaucrat who opposed Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu would never let him live a safe life.
It is exactly the tragedy of ancient Chinese intellectual elite. Because if they offend the emperor, they will suffer brutal political revenge. This is an unknown aspect of scholar-bureaucrats.
