Why did Liu Bowen give Zhu Yuanzhang a basket of fish before his death? What is the meaning of this basket of fish?
In Chinese history, Liu Bowen is a super intelligent figure. Liu Bowen was not only an excellent strategist, but also proficient in Feng Shui and good at prophecy. His masterpiece "Shaobing Song" is even more miraculous. It has the reputation of "five hundred years of knowledge beforehand and five hundred years of knowledge later", and is called the "divine book" by later generations. As the saying goes, "Zhuge Liang divides the world into three parts, and Liu Bowen rules the country." Liu Bowen was Zhu Yuanzhang's number one adviser in conquering the world and establishing the Ming Dynasty.
However, after the Ming Dynasty was truly established, Liu Bowen was suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang. After Zhu Yuanzhang established the dynasty, he only granted Liu Bowen the title of second-class earl, and his salary was also the lowest among all earls. Zhu Yuanzhang not only suppressed Liu Bowen, but also massacred the founding heroes through the "Lanyu" case and the "Hu Weiyong" case. Fortunately, Empress Ma's help saved him from death. Although Liu Bowen left the court due to illness, he was recalled to the court again because of Hu Weiyong's instigation.
During the Hongwu period, Liu Bowen fell ill. Zhu Yuanzhang sent Hu Weiyong to visit, but Liu Bowen fell seriously ill and died soon after. According to legend, before Liu Bowen "died unjustly", he asked his son to take out a book from the study and asked him to give a basket of fish earned in the tank to Zhu Yuanzhang, and then passed away. Zhu Yuanzhang took the book Liu Bowen gave him, and after looking at the basket of fish, he still couldn't understand what it meant.
Until many years later, Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son Zhu Biao passed away. He was very sad and painful. At the same time, he was also troubled by the issue of his successor. It wasn't until he accidentally saw Liu Bowen's book and thought of the basket of fish that he suddenly realized it.
Liu Bowen’s gift actually has a special meaning. The meaning of his gift of "book" is that Zhu Yuanzhang won the world and lost the people's hearts. When the basket of fish was placed in the water tank, because the bamboo basket was too small, the big fish swam around very ferociously and refused to let anyone go. In the end, all the fish died because the living space was too small. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but admire Liu Bowen's intelligence.