Chapter 57 Zhu Yuanzhang's Intent to Kill

Chapter 57: Zhu Yuanzhang's Intention to Kill

Liu Bowen was shocked when he heard this, and a look of surprise appeared on his face for a moment.

Now that Yang Xiang had just died, the post of Left Prime Minister of the Secretariat had been vacant for only a few days. Even though all officials needed to be without a leader, Zhu Yuanzhang should not be so anxious.

In other words, Zhu Yuanzhang was not really asking for his opinion, and it is very likely that he was just testing himself.

Who was Liu Bowen? Later generations evaluated him: Zhuge Liang divided the world into three parts, while Liu Bowen unified the world.

Needless to say, he was very smart and said carefully and respectfully, "The position of Prime Minister is a matter of great importance to the safety of the country. Your Majesty still needs to make a decision in front of you. I dare not speak nonsense."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded secretly in his heart. It seemed that Liu Bowen was not yet arrogant and complacent to the point where he felt he could rule the country.

Originally, he was going to let it go, but since they were talking about the choice of prime minister, Zhu Yuanzhang asked casually, "My dear, you are my number one adviser. When I started the rebellion, it was thanks to your help. There is no need to be so modest."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the subject and said, "But the officials cannot be without a leader for a day, and the affairs of the court cannot be without a trustworthy and capable minister for a long time."

"What do you think about letting Hu Weiyong be the left prime minister?"

Historically, Hu Weiyong did become the Left Prime Minister of the Secretariat, but he was the last one.

After him, the position of prime minister was abolished by Zhu Yuanzhang and replaced by a cabinet system.

Hu Weiyong became known as the Hu Weiyong case, one of the four bloodiest cases in the early Ming Dynasty, and was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang on the charge of abusing his power and perverting the law.

Hu Weiyong was a man who defected to Zhu Yuanzhang in the 27th year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty. He could be considered a meritorious official who helped Zhu Yuanzhang conquer the country.

He was also one of the key figures of the Huaixi faction and had close relations with Li Shanchang and others.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt at ease to appoint him as prime minister.

However, Liu Bowen showed disdain when he heard this. After Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly questioned him, he said contemptuously: "Although Hu Weiyong is talented, he is a man who is ambitious. I think he is quite ambitious."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned instantly and felt a little unhappy.

Although Hu Weiyong had some ambitions, he had followed Zhu Yuanzhang in fighting for so many years and was one of the core figures of the Huaixi Party, Zhu Yuanzhang's "old fellow villager". No matter how ambitious he was, how far could he go?
Do you still want to be emperor?
Zhu Yuanzhang obviously did not agree with what Liu Bowen said that Hu Weiyong was ambitious.

But since the intention was just to ask for opinions from the beginning, it would be inconvenient for Zhu Yuanzhang to argue with his ministers, as that would be lowering his status.

He frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Since you think Hu Weiyong is not up to the task, then what about Wang Guangyang?"

Speaking of Wang Guangyang, he is neither as aggressive as Yang Xian, nor as ambitious as Hu Weiyong.

He also followed Zhu Yuanzhang in the rebellion very early on, and was also Zhu Yuanzhang's fellow villager.

He is very steady in handling official affairs. Although he has not made any great achievements, he has never made any mistakes.

Zhu Yuanzhang once praised him for "handling confidential matters and offering loyal advice repeatedly", and even compared him to Zhang Liang and Zhuge Liang. It can be seen that although Wang Guangyang was not well-known in the court of the early Ming Dynasty, he was very trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang.

But even such a person could not escape Zhu Yuanzhang's murderous hands in the later period. He was implicated in the case of Hu Weiyong poisoning Liu Bowen and was suspected of being one of the accomplices and was executed.

From this we can see that being an official under Zhu Yuanzhang is really dangerous.

Having said that, when Zhu Yuanzhang asked this question, the contempt on Liu Bowen's face was even more intense than before.

"Wang Guangyang has no ambition and little talent. He might be a clerk, but I'm afraid he doesn't have the talent to be the left prime minister."

As soon as Liu Bowen said this, Zhu Yuanzhang became furious.

If Liu Bowen's rebuttal had been reasonable and well-founded when Zhu Yuanzhang proposed Hu Weiyong before, then his rebuttal to Wang Guangyang made Zhu Yuanzhang furious.

You have to know that Wang Guangyang has worked under Zhu Yuanzhang for many years. How could Zhu Yuanzhang not know whether he has talent or not?

But Liu Bowen directly said that Wang Guangyang's talent was only good enough to make him a clerk at best. Wasn't this a disguised mockery of Zhu Yuanzhang for not having good judgment in judging people?
And most importantly, although Wang Guangyang was also Zhu Yuanzhang's fellow villager from Huaixi, he neither joined the Huaixi Party headed by Li Shanchang nor defected to Liu Bowen's Zhejiang East Party.

It can be said that he was a rare neutral faction in the court, which was undoubtedly precious in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

He never used his status to form cliques or factions, but just did his own thing honestly.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, this was undoubtedly a capable minister who could not be more honest.

If we say that Liu Bowen opposed Hu Weiyong before, it can also be said that it was because Liu Bowen deliberately did not want the Huaixi Party, his mortal enemy, to come to power. Then, logically speaking, Wang Guangyang, who is not affiliated with any party, should be able to do so!

But the result was that the comments were not even as high as Hu Weiyong's.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang feel that Liu Bowen was targeting him and mocking his poor vision as an emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was holding back his anger, asked directly: "Sir, what do you think if you were made prime minister?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought, since you look down on everyone, you should have nothing to say about yourself.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bowen said with a serious face: "I hate evil and hate evil. I can't be like other old officials who muddle through. If I were to become the prime minister, I'm afraid it would cause discord in the court. This is absolutely not allowed!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was so angry that he laughed. It seems that only you can do it when no one else can, right?
Although Liu Bowen also refused, his reason for refusal was that he was too jealous of evil and could not tolerate the atmosphere of officialdom where people just sit in office and do nothing, so he was not suitable to be the prime minister.

Listen, is this human talk?
It seems that all my officials are just sitting there doing nothing but eating and drinking. It would be difficult for you to be the prime minister, right?
This is a blatant rejection, but in reality, how is it any different from praising yourself for being upright?
Zhu Yuanzhang was holding back his anger, and waved his hand to suppress his displeasure, saying, "Since you, my dear minister, are unwilling to serve as prime minister, then let me think about it carefully."

As he said this, he signaled Liu Bowen to step back.

As soon as Liu Bowen left, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand and called Yunqi over, saying, "Summon Mao Xiang to see you."

Yun Qi's heart skipped a beat, knowing that someone was going to be in trouble again, and he quickly took the order and left.

After a while, Mao Xiang arrived.

Before Mao Xiang could even kneel and pay his respects, as soon as he entered the Wuying Palace, he heard Zhu Yuanzhang suppressing his anger and saying coldly, "Immediately dispatch capable personnel to secretly monitor Liu Bowen, the Minister of the Imperial Censorate. If they find any illegal behavior, arrest him immediately!"

(End of this chapter)