Why do people in Fengyang say that since the birth of Emperor Zhu, there have been nine years of drought in ten years?
Fengyang’s geographical location is actually good, but it has never become a capital city. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, who came out of Fengyang, did not even build his capital here. According to ancient Feng Shui, Fengyang is not a permanent place. Many people have doubts, didn't Fengyang produce Zhu Yuanzhang? Why is it not the land of Longxing yet? In fact, when Liu Bowen was in power and Zhu Yuanzhang chose the capital, he actually considered Fengyang.
Fengyang can be used as the place where Zhu Yuanzhang buries his parents, but it is not suitable for becoming the capital. If we go to Fengyang, we can still see the tall imperial mausoleum in Fengyang. In fact, it was expanded and built by Zhu Yuanzhang in order to bury his parents. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, because his parents are buried here, he will have good luck and become the emperor. Therefore, we attach great importance to the construction work here. Zhu Yuanzhang himself was relatively frugal, but he had no intention of being stingy in the construction of the Fengyang Imperial Tomb. However, Fengyang is not suitable as a capital city.
First of all, Fengyang has never been a capital city. This has resulted in the poor infrastructure in the Fengyang area. Rebuilding everything will cost a lot of wealth. In addition, Fengyang's territory is too small and its population is too small. As a capital city, it is not grand enough. Moreover, the geographical limitations and historical reasons have caused this place to remain in a state of poverty. If it wants to become rich, it will take at least several decades of development. However, the matter of establishing the capital was urgent, so Liu Bowen suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang establish the capital in Jinling. This place has been an old capital since ancient times, and has developed quite well both in terms of culture and economy. Therefore, Fengyang was abandoned by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang built the Forbidden City in Jinling, built Xiaoling Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty, and focused on building Jinling City. That's why Nanjing became so grand later.
Why did Fengyang beg for food more after Zhu Yuanzhang was born? There is a very interesting legend here. It tells that Zhu Yuanzhang originally planned to set up his capital in Fengyang, but when he ran over and took a look, it was not as prosperous as when he fled. If you think about it, you will know that when Zhu Yuanzhang conquered the world, even a place like Yangzhou, which had been prosperous since ancient times, had few households. This shows how poor the Fengyang area was. So Zhu Yuanzhang began to learn from Qin Shihuang. After unifying the world, he moved the wealthy merchants from Jiangnan to the north to Fengyang area. He hopes that these wealthy businessmen can drive Fengyang's economy.
After Qin Shihuang unified the world, he actually did something similar. He moved all the wealthy people in the Six Kingdoms to Xianyang, as many as 100,000 households. On the one hand, it can monitor their movements, on the other hand, it can also stimulate the economic development of Xianyang. This was good for Zhu Yuanzhang, but for the wealthy businessmen, it was a source of bitterness. Because their houses, ancestral tombs, and ancestral halls are all in the south, no one can accept their sudden move to Fengyang. But this is Emperor Zhu's order. If it is an order, it must be implemented, otherwise it will be a matter of losing your head. Each of these wealthy businessmen went to Fengyang honestly.
However, they often miss their hometown, so they pretend to be beggars and go out to the city to beg for food. Since they are officially not allowed to return to their hometown, no one will stop them from going out to beg for food, right? Therefore, every year in Fengyang, a large number of wealthy businessmen disguise themselves as beggars and return to their hometowns to worship their ancestors. Over time, Fengyang Huagu wrote such a drama: Emperor Zhu was born in Fengyang, but there were nine years of drought in ten years. Summary: The opera lyrics were sung well, but Fengyang really failed to perform well. Zhu Yuanzhang provoked whomever he provoked. There were many people fleeing famine in Fengyang. Are they really all wealthy businessmen? Of course not, most of them are ordinary people. Because Fengyang is a place that often suffers from drought. Once there is a drought, the people will not live a good life. People who have no food left at home will organize themselves and go out to beg for food in disaster years. The Flower Drum Opera in Fengyang area is very famous. Seeing so many people fleeing famine, folk artists will naturally artistically process that period of history.
In fact, many years in Fengyang were indeed very difficult. The common people sang this kind of opera, and it all came true. But this matter has nothing to do with Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang gave up the idea of establishing a capital in Fengyang from the beginning, but this was the land of Longxing, so it must be properly protected. Under the auspices of Zhu Yuanzhang, the architectural specifications of the imperial tombs here were repeatedly expanded, but there were not many ordinary people. Without long-term political support, even if all wealthy businessmen move to Fengyang, it will be impossible to develop the local economy.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of improving the economy of his hometown people at first.
But one good thing about Fengyang people is that they don’t have to pay taxes. This was a very big discount in the farming era. It can be regarded as Zhu Yuanzhang's contribution to his hometown people. After Chongzhen came to power, Zhang Xianzhong's army entered Fengyang City, destroyed the old Ming Dynasty imperial mausoleum, and cut off the Ming Dynasty's dragon vein. Emperor Chongzhen cried bitterly over this, thinking that he was unfilial and could not even protect the tombs of his ancestors.