Zhu Yuanzhang

Biodata

Background / History

Zhu Yuanzhang rose from humble beginnings to establish the Great Ming. He attributes his understanding of ordinary people’s suffering to his own early hardships and presents popular support as the foundation of his rule. His officials privately question this self-assessment, recalling the abuse and killing of commoners by his sons in their fiefdoms 7.

The heavenly screen credits him with defeating Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, and other separatist forces before launching a northern expedition. It describes him as the only emperor to conquer successfully from south to north. Zhu Yuanzhang also takes personal pride in recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, contrasting his success with the Song emperors’ failures 23 24.

Personality

Zhu Yuanzhang is ruthless toward perceived threats to his dynasty. Learning that the Jianzhou Jurchens will overthrow the Ming and massacre his descendants leads him to order the extermination of every Jurchen tribe, explicitly including women, children, and the elderly. His court officials likewise understand that his punishments can extend to an offender’s entire family 2 19.

His attachment to his family sharply contrasts with his treatment of officials. He remains loyal to Empress Ma and openly acknowledges Zhu Biao as his favorite son. Even when Zhu Di’s future actions provoke murderous anger, Zhu Yuanzhang restrains himself because Zhu Di is still his own child 21 22.

He is deeply possessive of the Ming as the Zhu family’s realm. Although he wonders whether republican government might bring ordinary people peace, he recognizes that he and other emperors would not willingly surrender their families’ rule 31.

Repeated revelations gradually change his outward reactions. By Chapter 45, he can conceal his anger, but comments about Zhu Di leave him feeling that the later Ming belongs to Zhu Di rather than to himself 45.

Abilities & Skills

Military Leadership

Zhu Yuanzhang’s conquests make him a prominent subject of the heavenly screen’s comparisons of military emperors 23.

• Defeated Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, and other rival forces before undertaking his northern expedition 23.
• Recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun 24.
• Ranked second behind Li Shimin and ahead of Genghis Khan in one later-generation commenter’s list; viewers dispute the ranking rather than accept it as definitive 23.
• Questions whether a hypothetical late-Ming army of 100,000 cavalry could remain loyal or obtain sufficient supplies 41.

Political Deduction

Zhu Yuanzhang extracts information about the Ming succession from jokes, names, and comments rather than relying solely on direct explanations 19.

• Compares Zhu Qizhen’s name against the generation names assigned to his sons’ descendants, identifying the later imperial line as Zhu Di’s 19.
• Infers that Zhu Yunwen will lose the throne to his fourth uncle, Zhu Di 19.
• Recognizes the insulting implications of Zhu Qizhen’s nicknames, including “Oirat exchange student” and “War God of Great Ming” 19.

Governance & Institutions

Agricultural and Commercial Policy

The heavenly screen explains that Zhu Yuanzhang’s policies addressed a country depleted by the founding wars, with extensive farmland needing cultivation. It distinguishes their original purpose from later generations’ refusal to adapt them to changing conditions 30.

Ancestral Institutions

Zhu Yuanzhang establishes rules governing law, offices, imperial conduct, officials, and the harem. Severe violations can bring execution by a thousand cuts and punishment of an entire family 31.

• Principal texts: Ancestral Injunctions of the August Ming, Great Ming Code, and Official Duties under Zhu are identified as the three most important collections 31.
• Selective enforcement: Later emperors disregard numerous restrictions, while officials invoke useful provisions as a shield for their interests 31.
• Limits on imperial power: Zhu Yuanzhang becomes furious when he learns that later civil officials use his institutions to restrain emperors 31.
• Imperial clan support: He enfeoffs princes both to strengthen the dynasty and to provide comfortable lives for his descendants. The screen makes him reconsider earlier warnings from Liu Bowen and Tang He about the clan’s growing financial burden 31.

Relationships

• Empress Ma — His wife, whose position he protects. He agrees with comments praising him for remaining loyal to the woman who shared his hardships 22.
• Zhu Biao — His eldest son, crown prince, and acknowledged favorite. Zhu Yuanzhang rejects claims that he wished to depose him and reassures him when a Yongle-era account alleges a patricidal conspiracy 20 22.
• Zhu Di — His fourth son. Revelations about Zhu Di’s usurpation and treatment of Zhu Biao’s reputation severely damage Zhu Yuanzhang’s view of him, although paternal attachment prevents him from killing him 20 21.
• Zhu Yunwen — Zhu Biao’s son and Zhu Yuanzhang’s future successor. After watching criticism of Zhu Di’s campaigns, Zhu Yuanzhang speculates that dissatisfaction with Zhu Di explains his own future choice of Yunwen 22 28.
• Lan Yu — An early-Ming general who volunteers to attack the Jurchens. Zhu Yuanzhang initially approves, but news that he will eventually execute Lan Yu makes him unwilling to entrust him with command 2 19.
• Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong — Officials named alongside Lan Yu among Zhu Yuanzhang’s future victims. He wants to discover why he will have them killed 19.
• Chongzhen Emperor — His dynasty’s final ruler and the target of a later-generation imagined rebuke. Chongzhen takes the screen’s portrayal of Zhu Yuanzhang’s harsh treatment of ministers as an example to follow 18 19.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Learning the Ming’s Fate

• Comments reveal that the Jianzhou Jurchens will establish the Qing, overthrow the Ming, and massacre a million Zhu descendants. Zhu Yuanzhang responds by approving an extermination campaign against all Jurchens; Zhu Biao does not object 2.
• The exposure of Du Fengzhi’s brutal tax collection prompts him to threaten severe punishment for corrupt officials 3.
• A hypothetical confrontation between founding and final emperors portrays him condemning Chongzhen’s failures. Zhu Yuanzhang recognizes the imagined speech as something he might say, while its references to future executions alarm his court 18 19.

The Succession and Zhu Biao’s Reputation

• Later-generation comments first allow him to infer that the throne will leave Zhu Biao’s line. A subsequent video explicitly reveals that Zhu Biao dies early 19 20.
• He angrily rejects the Veritable Records of Emperor Taizong of Ming account portraying Zhu Biao as incapable and claiming that he considered deposing him 20.
• When Record of the Jingnan Campaign in Heaven’s Name accuses Zhu Biao of recruiting 3,000 men to murder him, Zhu Yuanzhang helps his kneeling son up and affirms his trust in him 20.
• A later account of Tie Xuan’s fate leads Zhu Yuanzhang to reject the suggestion that officials should remain neutral when members of the imperial family fight over the throne 26.

Reassessing Zhu Di’s Achievements

• He watches the screen scrutinize the cost, logistics, and limited results of Zhu Di’s five northern campaigns 27 28.
• Following this criticism, he tells Zhu Biao that he now believes his future rejection of Zhu Di as successor must reflect Zhu Di’s shortcomings. This is his interpretation, not a confirmed explanation of his historical decision 28.
• A dynasty-swapping video imagines him inheriting Qin’s accumulated resources and sending Meng Tian on a campaign against Europe. The actual Zhu Yuanzhang enthusiastically remarks that he has never commanded such abundant resources 28.

Reform and Republican Government

• The screen’s examination of Ming finances forces him to confront the later consequences of his economic policies, ancestral institutions, and support for the imperial clan 30 31.
• He learns that Sun Yat-sen and officials visited his mausoleum in 1912, where a proclamation honored him and announced the Republic. He considers whether government belonging to the people could provide peace and prosperity 31.

Becoming a Subject of Later-Generation Satire

• The sorrowful song Half a Lifetime Away, nicknamed the “Great Ming Ominous Song,” brings tears to his eyes while accompanying jokes about his family’s losses 32.
• A mock video claims he passed the throne directly to Zhu Di in Hongwu’s thirty-fifth year. Comments expose the claim as erasing Jianwen’s reign and joke about Zhu Yuanzhang returning from the dead to perform the succession 34.
• He initially welcomes a post asking whether 100,000 cavalry could save the late Ming, only for its author to declare an intention to restore the Han instead 40 41.
• A fabricated comment depicting him, Empress Ma, and Zhu Biao kneeling before Yongle leaves him outwardly composed but increasingly alienated from Zhu Di’s Ming 45.

Notable Quotes

“I rose from humble beginnings and know full well how the common people suffer.” 7

“Zhu knows Biao’er you would not do this!” 20

“My other sons are still my sons. Biao is just my favorite. My dear wife is the empress, so naturally she’s my only wife.” 22