Zhu Yuanzhang (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Zhu Sujin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the court was corrupt, and rebel armies rose in various regions, plunging the country into chaos. On a mountain, Zhu Zhoubai climbed up a large stone amidst the shouts of cowherd children, ordering them, "I—Emperor Zhu—will reward each of you with a big cake once I ascend the throne!" Meanwhile, his parents had already starved to death at home. To bury his parents, Zhu Zhoubai entered a temple as a monk. A month later, he traveled around, begging along the way. One day, he escaped death at the hands of the Yuan army but was captured by a peasant rebel army and sentenced to death as a spy. At his wit's end, he was saved by a girl.
As a newcomer to the rebel army, Zhu Zhoubai adapted quickly to the battlefield, achieving numerous remarkable feats and earning the deep favor of the leader, Guo Zixing. Guo Zixing not only married his daughter, Ma Xiuying, to him but also gave him the official name Zhu Yuanzhang—"Yuan" signifies the primordial beginning, and "Zhang" refers to jade, a symbol of state power. From then on, a man named Zhu Yuanzhang stepped onto the stage of Chinese history, performing a series of dramatic and tumultuous chapters.
Meticulous in his thinking, he gathered talented generals like Xu Da and Tang He around him and treated scholars such as Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen with great respect. In the Battle of Poyang Lake, Zhu Yuanzhang defeated his formidable enemy, Chen Youliang, with fewer forces, overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty and establishing the Ming Dynasty.
He implemented reforms, severely punished corrupt officials, and created new governance laws, reviving the nation swiftly. However, to secure the stability of the Zhu family's realm, he unleashed mass executions. His only true love and the woman he revered, Ma Xiuying, passed away. The crown prince, Zhu Biao, whom he had painstakingly nurtured, suddenly died, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang grief-stricken. In the end, he too followed the setting sun into the end of his life.