Wu Han and Su Shuangbi in "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" Wu Han, formerly known as Wu Chunhan, courtesy name Chen Bo.Born in Kuzhutang Village, Yiwu County, Zhejiang Province in 1909, persecuted to death by the Gang of Four in 1969.Before his death, Wu Han served as a professor at Tsinghua University, vice chairman of the Democratic League Central Committee, member of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, president of the Beijing History Society, chairman of the Beijing Citizens League, and vice mayor of Beijing.Wu Han is a famous Ming history expert in our country. The surviving textual research articles on Ming history, "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", as well as other historiographical treatises and historical essays have unique ideas and words. His representative work "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" can be regarded as the quintessence of historiography , is a work with rigorous historical materials and important academic value.

Zhu Yuanzhang was the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty and an outstanding peasant war leader at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.The Ming Dynasty was an important dynasty in China.Therefore, it is of great significance to make a realistic and scientific evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang. It took a process for Wu Han to write the 1965 edition of "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang".In 1944, Wu Han wrote a book "From Monk Bowl to Imperial Power" in order to solve economic difficulties and vent political anger, which was published by Chongqing Zaichuang Publishing House. At the same time, it was edited by Pan Gongzhan and Yin Weilian. The "Story Collection of Famous Sages in the Past Dynasties of China" also decided to include this manuscript, and the title of the book is "Ming Taizu".Wu Han thought that one book with two was not good, so he asked his wife Yuan Zhen to write the book "Ming Taizu" and hand it over to Shengli Publishing House, and asked Yuan Zhen to sign it for publication. As a result, the publisher still used the original manuscript in the name of an advertisement. Published by the original title of the original author. When "From Monk Bowl to Imperial Power" was written, due to the turbulent current situation and unsettled life, there were limited historical materials for reference and insufficient scientific analysis.After the book was published, Wu Han always felt guilty. He said: Personally, the first two books were too bad, and I simply hated them.The only remedy is to rewrite "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang".After returning to Peiping from Kunming in 1946, he began to write "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang".He also said that "Zhu Yuanzhang's Biography" was written to distinguish it from the scrapped first drafts of "Ming Taizu" and "From Monk Bowl to Imperial Power".In 1948, Wu Han went to the Liberated Area of ​​Shijiazhuang and presented the manuscript of "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" to Mao Zedong.In his busy schedule, Mao Zedong carefully read the manuscript of "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", had two meetings with Wu Han, and finally wrote a letter to Wu Han himself regarding his opinions on the book.After the founding of New China, that is, in 1954, Wu Han re-edited "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", and Mao Zedong once again raised comments on this manuscript.To sum up, there are three opinions: first, Wu Han believes that Peng Yingyu, the leader of the Western Red Scarf Army, has not been successful, and has returned to the people after the successful revolution.Mao Zedong disagreed, and believed that a strong leader like Peng Yingyu should not have evasive behavior. Either he made a mistake or there were problems with historical materials; second, Mao Zedong believed that Wu Han had not yet fully accepted historical materialism as a methodology for observing history; third , Zhu Yuanzhang is the leader of the peasant uprising, it should be affirmed, it should be written better, not so bad.Articles 1 and 2 are comments on the 1948 draft.The latter article refers to the 1954 manuscript.

In all fairness, it is rare in Mao Zedong's history that an ordinary historical work has attracted such attention from Mao Zedong.Wu Han was very grateful to Mao Zedong for his concern for his writing "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", and re-read it angrily, and found historical materials that he hadn't paid attention to in the past. Peng Yingyu fought to the end and was killed by the Yuan army.From this, Wu Han pointed out that he made the mistake of transcending class views, and used this to spur himself.In fact, the question of Peng Yingyu's whereabouts is nothing more than a matter of historical materials. Once the historical materials are discovered, the problem will be solved.Mao Zedong's question about grasping historical materialism as an observation of history mainly refers to the question of Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation.

Wu Han doesn't seem to really understand this point.Because, at that time, the historians were correcting a tendency that after the founding of New China, some progressive historians, including Guo Moruo, Fan Wenlan, Jian Bozan, etc., and of course including Wu Han, all reviewed their history in the 1940s. It is unscientific to use writing history as an allusion to criticize Chiang Kai-shek. It is not advisable to think that doing so occurred under special historical conditions. From the perspective of academic research, it is not advisable.Because, in the chapters of Wu Han's 1949 edition of "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", he once changed the original wandering youth into a hooligan, and portrayed Zhu Yuanzhang as a hooligan to a tyrant.This is of course not realistic.Therefore, when Wu Han re-edited "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", he paid great attention to the accuracy of the use of historical materials and the scientific nature of the analysis.And use this as a guiding ideology to revise "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", thinking that it is correct to be loyal to historical facts and make a historical evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang based on historical facts.The "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" published in 1965 basically made efforts in this regard, so the scientificity of theoretical analysis and the accuracy of historical data analysis have reached a new level.However, politically, the three opinions put forward by Mao Zedong, especially the third one, seem to have not been well understood.Because, in the evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang, the 1965 edition is not much different from the 1954 draft.

Zhu Yuanzhang was one of the leaders of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which lasted for more than 200 years. He was a historical figure with great influence in the late feudal society of China. "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" more realistically describes Zhu Yuanzhang's miserable life when he was young.He suffered from disasters in his hometown, caught the plague, ruined his family, and became desperate. He became a monk and lived a life of extreme poverty and low suffering. He was finally forced to go to Liangshan and embarked on the road of peasant revolutionary war. "Zhu Yuanzhang's Biography" pointed out that class oppression and ethnic oppression were overlapping on the people of all ethnic groups in Hannan. The heavier the oppression, the greater the resistance of the Hannan people.The working people of all ethnic groups in southern Han are opposed to class oppression and ethnic oppression, and must use resistance to lift this oppression. [Su Note: Wu Han. "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", Joint Publishing, 1965 edition, page 39.Where this book is cited below, the source will not be indicated. ] This analysis clarifies the historical characteristics of the peasant wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, ethnic contradictions and class basis.Times make heroes, and Zhu Yuanzhang can become a representative of peasants' resistance to oppression and exploitation in the late Yuan Dynasty.It was he who personally experienced the national and class contradictions at that time, and mastered the means to resolve these two contradictions, that he was able to be promoted from an ordinary soldier in the peasant army to a generalissimo relatively smoothly.Wu Han vividly and briefly described Zhu Yuanzhang's growth process, especially Zhu Yuanzhang's wit, bravery, extraordinary strategy, and solid mass foundation, which shows that Zhu Yuanzhang's success is by no means accidental. "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" fully affirms Zhu Yuanzhang's major contribution in overthrowing the brutal rule of Mongolia and the Semu people.

Of course, the evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang should focus on his various performances after he became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.Since Zhu Yuanzhang had personally participated in the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was very familiar with the corruption of the feudal regime at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the ways in which the people rose up against the Yuan Dynasty.Therefore, after he took power, he focused his energy on consolidating the power and preventing the resistance struggle of the people.Regarding these problems, "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" has made a realistic and dialectical analysis.

First, it is about preventing the resistance struggle of the masses.At that time, we mainly did two things: one was to quickly heal the social wounds that had gone through the catastrophe.Zhu Yuanzhang adopted tax reductions and exemptions, cleared the acres of land, cultivated land with the people, reclaimed wasteland, and built water conservancy to promote the development of rural productivity. The "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" pointed out: the tax revenue has decreased, and the labor force is seriously insufficient. The situation is very serious.In order to quickly change this dilapidated appearance and increase fiscal revenue, Zhu Yuanzhang could only make concessions to farmers.He ordered that in the areas under his control, all mulberry, hemp, grain, millet, tax grain, and corvee should be exempted for three years.He concentrated his efforts to revitalize agriculture. He used the method of immigrating to farmland and reclaiming wasteland to adjust the shortage of labor force. He used the method of building water conservancy and planting mulberry and cotton to increase the income of agricultural production. Taxation, rent-free grain in case of famine and other measures to solve the difficulties of farmers.Zhu Yuanzhang took these measures because the fiscal revenue of the feudal regime mainly came from the countryside, and the grain, cotton, cloth, and labor were all supplied by farmers. If agricultural production did not recover and develop, the regime would not be able to support it.Another measure Zhu Yuanzhang took to prevent mass rebellion was to order the banning of all cults, especially the Bailian Society, Daming Sect, and Maitreya Sect.Those who think these are leftist ways to confuse the public will be executed.Wu Han pointed out: Zhu Yuanzhang did this because the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty advertised the birth of King Ming and the birth of Maitreya. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that such prophecies were very inspiring.He himself succeeded in adhering to Mingjiao and Maitreyaism, so he would never allow others to use this form to influence his rule.Some people accused Zhu Yuanzhang of betraying the White Lotus Sect, but Wu Han pointed out analytically: The peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was launched through the organization of secret religions, with the purpose of overthrowing the ruling class of the Mongolian and Han landlords. The purpose of religion is to maintain and consolidate the rule of Ming feudal dynasty.In other words, Zhu Yuanzhang's banning of cults is justifiable, and it is necessary to consolidate the political power.But just saying this is not enough, so Wu Han further pointed out: However, as long as the oppression of the feudal landlord class still exists, the resistance struggle of this secret religious organization among the people will continue to exist, and the ban will never end.

Second, measures to adjust the internal contradictions of the landlord class are an important means of consolidating the ruling foundation.Wu Han believes that landlords have two sides to the feudal ruling group and peasants.On the one hand, they support the current rule and rely on the power of the dynasty to protect themselves and establish their careers.Zhu Yuanzhang asked the Ministry of Households to recommend landlords who paid a lot of rent and appointed them as officials and food chiefs.On the one hand, he accused the wealthy people of being rich and powerful, bullying the ordinary people, and arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily arbitrarily affected.He moved some landlords to the capital, weakening the power of the landlords in various places.At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also saw that the greedy nature of the landlord class would never give up any opportunity to increase the occupation of land and manpower. Pass it on to the common people, making the rich richer and the poor poorer.Zhu Yuanzhang called these landlords the families of the rich and treacherous, and used severe laws and severe punishments to eliminate them.In addition, the influence of the landlord class was adjusted by sorting out the cadastre and household registration.At that time, due to the war, most of the land had no records to check, and the big landlords took the opportunity to hide their fields and escape the royal tax.Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the method of measuring land and surveying and registering the population generally.Through the census of fields and household registration, the Ming Dynasty formulated the fish-scale atlas and yellow book, and promulgated the taxation and corvee system.A large number of missing farmers.Fixed through registration, the dynasty thus increased its manpower and material resources, and stabilized and consolidated the economic foundation of its rule.Wu Han believes that through these rectifications, the landlord class became the ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty more docilely, making Zhu Yuanzhang's regime stronger, centralized, stable, and complete than any other dynasty in the past.

Third, the unlimited strengthening of the centralization of feudal absolutism.Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the policy of governing the country with violence to strengthen the centralization of power.In order to consolidate the regime and follow the rule of officials, he adopted severe punishments for corrupt officials.He said that in the past, among the people, when they saw that officials were not sympathetic to the people, and ordinary people were suffering, they were indifferent and hated it.Now we must strictly enforce laws and regulations, and we will never forgive officials who corrupt and harm the people.He believes that if this malpractice is not corrected, it will be impossible to achieve good governance.For this reason, a very strict law was enacted, stipulating that officials who have embezzled more than sixty taels of money to show their heads to the public will still be punished by flaying.In some yamen, human skins are placed next to the public seats, and straw is stuffed inside, so that the officials are shocked and dare not do bad things.Zhu Yuanzhang denounced these corrupt officials as traitors who harm the people, like tigers and wolves.It should be admitted that the period when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power was the most intense period in history when the feudal regime fought corruption and killed the most corrupt officials.Therefore, the administration of officials is also relatively clean, but this can only be a temporary phenomenon.So Wu Han wrote here and pointed out sharply: In fact, corruption still existed in the early Ming Dynasty, which was determined by the social system. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was the most authoritative emperor, he could kill people, but he could not change the social system and Not of a social nature.This is why after Zhu Yuanzhang, especially after the mid-Ming Dynasty, the administration of officials became very corrupt.Analyzing the problem in this way is really penetrating, when it comes to the essence.

Zhu Yuanzhang engaged in feudal centralization. In addition to establishing a huge standing army, another important measure was to abolish the prime minister system.In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang killed the powerful prime minister Hu Weiyong on the charge of arrogating power and perverting the law, and ordered the abolition of Zhongshu Province, and the emperor directly managed state affairs.Zhu Yuanzhang's reason is that since ancient times, the three princes have discussed Taoism, the six ministers have divided their duties, and since the Qin Dynasty, the prime ministers have been set up and died without a hitch.When I dismissed the prime minister, I set up five government offices and six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Department, Dali Temple and other yamen to handle the common affairs of the world and all the affairs of the imperial court are in charge, so it is safe.Wu Han pointed out that all the great powers are controlled by the emperor alone. From Zhongshu Province’s general administration of power to the emperor’s personal management of common affairs, the feudal autocratic regime has been more centralized since then, concentrated in the hands of one person, and the emperor has become a dictator who takes care of all political affairs. the ones.The execution of Hu Weiyong is of great significance to Zhu Yuanzhang's feudal centralization. This is the need of political struggle. It doesn't matter whether Hu Weiyong must be punished for his crime.Therefore, the "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" clearly pointed out: since Hu Weiyong was killed, the Hu case has become a convenient weapon for Zhu Yuanzhang to carry out political struggles. All civil and military officials and rich landlords who harbor resentment and domineering actions that are dangerous to the royal rule, They were all successively regarded as criminals of the Hu Party by Luo Zhi, and executed and ransacked their homes.Hu Weiyong's crimes also developed with the development of the internal contradictions of the ruling class and expanded at any time.At first, the crime was added to the crime of liaison with Japan, and then to liaison with Mongolia, and later it developed into collusion with Li Shanchang in rebellion, completely destroying the main force of the Huaixi Group.However, this series of collaborating with the enemy and conspiring against the enemy has no real evidence in history.

In order to engage in feudal centralization, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted very cruel means.After Hu Weiyong was executed, General Lan Yu was executed for the crime of treason. Tens of thousands of people were involved in the two cases, and almost all the heroes in the early Ming Dynasty were killed.As the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had many achievements praised by historians, but the killing of heroes left a disgraceful page in history.After Wu Han wrote about Zhu Yuanzhang's murder of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu, he wrote this paragraph vividly: Not only was the general killed in the first place, but he even held on to Nanchang for seventy-five days to reject Chen Youliang's adoptive son and nephew Zhu Wenzheng, who also used to be close to Confucian scholars. , Heart of resentment was flogged to death.Li Wenzhong, the adopted son's nephew, made great contributions in the Southern Expedition and the Northern Expedition. He was also poisoned to death because of many Confucian scholars and respectful corporals.Xu Da was the number one hero in founding the country, and Hong Wu suffered from back acne in the eighteenth year. It is said that this disease is the most forbidden to eat steamed goose.When he was seriously ill, Yuanzhang specially gave steamed goose.Xu Da ate it in front of the envoy in tears, and died within a few days.Between the lines, there is great dissatisfaction with Zhu Yuanzhang's killing of the hero, but obvious sympathy for the hero. Secret agent rule is another important means for Zhu Yuanzhang to engage in feudal centralization. In Chinese feudal society, the spy rule by Zhu Yuanzhang is the most prominent.In "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", Wu Han vividly described the situation where Zhu Yuanzhang's spies are everywhere.There is such a passage: Qian Zai was conscripted to compile "Mencius Jiewen", and he recited poems after the court: four drums, drums, clothes, it is too late to meet at the Meridian Gate, when will you have fun in the pastoral, and sleep until the food is cooked in the world.The next day, Yuan Zhang said to him: "I wrote a good poem yesterday, but I don't dislike it. How about changing it to worry?"Qian Zai was so frightened that he was sweating all over, kowtowed to apologize.Song Na, the son of the state, sat alone and was angry, with an angry look on his face.During the court meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him why he was angry yesterday. Song Na was taken aback and told the truth.Yuanzhang asked someone to show the portrait he had secretly painted for him, and he understood.It can be seen from this description that Zhu Yuanzhang's purpose was to use the spy network to form a deterrent force among the ministers, so that they would not dare to do things that would harm the imperial power behind his back.He also used the method of personal investigation to achieve both kindness and power; for example, Luo Furen was an old minister of Chen Youliang. After he surrendered, he was officially a bachelor of Hongwenguan. Suddenly ran to Luo's house. Luo's house was in a small alley outside the city. It was dilapidated and dilapidated with several old houses.Honest Luo was lying on the ladder to paint the walls. When he saw the emperor coming, he panicked, so he quickly asked his woman to hold a small stool and ask the emperor to sit down.When Yuanzhang saw that he was really poor, the boss was not satisfied, and said: How can a good scholar live in such a dilapidated house!Immediately reward him with a large mansion in the city.However, Zhu Yuanzhang's spy network played a much more powerful role in the Ming Dynasty than the examples cited above.The spy network is composed of the inspector and Jinyiwei. The inspector is a special agent specially set up by Zhu Yuanzhang.The most famous spy chief Gao Jianxian and others specialize in collecting and reporting on other people's privacy.It made the officials feel insecure, and they were very afraid of them. Zhu Yuanzhang said: "With these few people, for example, if someone raises a vicious dog, people will be afraid."Indeed, when Gao Jianxian and others gained power, even Zhu Yuanzhang's confidant Li Shanchang was afraid of them and worried day and night. Of course, the spy rule has a bad reputation, plus the big and small secret agents used the imperial power to do a lot of evil, especially when the capital was moved to Beijing and evolved into Dongchang, becoming a corner of the dark forces of the Ming Dynasty, leaving a bad reputation to future generations.However, it cannot be generalized. After Wu Han reprimanded Zhu Yuanzhang's spy rule, he also used spy rule against Zhu Yuanzhang to strengthen feudal centralization, and established the Luyin and Lijia systems, which played a certain role in social security. The "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" made an insightful evaluation of this: To organize such a force and institution to conduct nationwide investigations, registrations, quotations, and cross-examinations requires great efforts, well-prepared plans, and necessary supervision. Work.After nearly 30 years of constant struggle, Zhu Yuanzhang and his assistants have accumulated rich experience, and gradually developed and consolidated their own ruling institutions and deterrent forces, making them more complete than previous generations. As for the literary prison, "Zhu Yuanzhang's Biography" also has unique insights.Wu Han believes that this historical phenomenon is caused by the internal contradictions of the ruling class.It is the struggle of some literati of the old landlord class against the subordinate relationship of the emerging imperial court.Their class stance was very firm, thinking that how could rebellious poor peasants be emperors and rule the landlords, so they refused to cooperate with the new dynasty.Guixi Confucian scholar Xia Boqi, Suzhou natives Yao Run, and Wang Mo all refused to cooperate with the new dynasty, and would rather die than serve the new dynasty.It is understandable that Zhu Yuanzhang launched a literary prison to punish those who were hostile to the new dynasty: From the perspective of historical progress, Zhu Yuanzhang's overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty, which was defeated by Jiang, is a manifestation of historical progress.Landlord literati who refuse to cooperate are not advisable in terms of their standpoint and attitude. The "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" pointed out that this group of people held a deep hatred for the Red Army, and of course they also resisted the new dynasty and refused to cooperate.Although the number of these people was not very large, they had considerable influence on the society and politics at that time.Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang could not ignore it.Regarding the nature of this struggle, "Zhu Yuanzhang's Biography" believes that some scholar-bureaucrats refused to be used by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang used special laws, prisons, the death penalty, and even ransacked their families and exterminated their families to force them to become officials. On the one hand, some people refused to cooperate. On the other hand, the new government must force them to come out and cooperate. This has launched a long-term bloody struggle within the ruling class.As for Zhu Yuanzhang's use of literary details and the taboos of his own life experience to promote literary inquisition, and turned this struggle between old and new forces into killing a large number of intellectuals on trumped-up charges, that exposed Zhu Yuanzhang's brutal side.Wu Han pointed out: Zhu Yuanzhang used his own political standards and cultural level to read various genres of writing, and in a fit of rage, he ordered the literati who wrote these writings to be killed.It should be condemned for causing a catastrophe to intellectuals. In the process of consolidating the regime of the Zhu Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted various means, which had their meritorious side and their cruel side.He used the blood of countless heroes, innocent literati, officials, and common people to consolidate his regime. "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" made such a general description of this period of history: Zhu Yuanzhang used severe punishments and punishments to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Officials of various divisions, servants of prefectures and counties, Jinshi, Jiansheng, Jingsheng, Confucian scholars, literati, scholars; .He carried out a long-term internal cleansing work by means of bloodshed, implemented the policy of governing the country with violence, and consolidated the rule of the Zhu family dynasty.It is relatively objective to analyze Zhu Yuanzhang's means of consolidating the regime in this way. Excessive accusations and unanalyzed beautification of Zhu Yuanzhang are not a realistic attitude. So, what is the appropriate evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang in general?At the end of the book "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", Wu Han made such a summary evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang.He believes that Zhu Yuanzhang is a relatively outstanding figure among the feudal emperors in the history of our country.Its credit lies in the unification of the whole country and the end of more than 20 years of war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. After the founding of the country, it was able to learn from historical lessons and made some concessions to farmers. The number of self-cultivating farmers was increased, slaves were liberated, the backward situation of bureaucrats in the Yuan Dynasty owning a large number of slaves was changed, and the labor force for agricultural production was increased.Zhu Yuanzhang also protected commerce, abolished taxes on books and field utensils, and prospered the market.He also changed the artisan household system of the Yuan Dynasty and promoted the development of folk handicrafts.In terms of severely punishing corrupt officials, the bad political atmosphere in the late Yuan Dynasty was greatly changed.These measures are conducive to the development of agricultural production and the advancement of society, and laid the foundation for the prosperity and stability of the early Ming Dynasty, which should be affirmed.Regarding Zhu Yuanzhang's deficiencies and faults, Wu Han summed up the following four points, namely: 1. His policy of governing the country with violence, excessive use of spy organizations, caused many bloody cases, brutal and cruel punishments, and massacres. points, the point where good and evil cannot be distinguished.Many outstanding and honorable generals and literati were brutally murdered for no reason. The two malpractices of Jinyiwei and Tingzhang had extremely bad effects during the entire Ming Dynasty, and they were all initiated and established by him; Second, political measures must be changed with changes in society and times.However, Zhu Yuanzhang set the emperor's ancestral precepts and set many methods for his descendants' rule one or two hundred years later, and he was not allowed to change, which constrained and restricted any subsequent political innovations and hindered the progress of the times; three, The stereotyped essay system he stipulated only allowed parrots to learn what the ancients said, but did not allow intellectuals to have their own thoughts and opinions, which seriously played a harmful role in suppressing new ideas and destroying scientific and cultural progress; Fourth, although he himself Do not believe in gods and retribution, but in order to convince the subjects, publicize many absurd miracles, deceive and poison the people, this method is also very bad.Wu Han's conclusion is: Zhu Yuanzhang has many merits, but also many shortcomings. Judging from his achievements and shortcomings, his merits outweigh his demerits.He played a role in promoting the development of social production and the advancement of society, and is a historical figure that should be affirmed.Wu Han's evaluation of Zhu Yuanzhang's merits and demerits is relatively fair and objective, based on a large amount of historical data and theoretical basis. In addition, "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" is relatively accurate and concise in terms of the use of historical materials, the text is also concise and vivid, and has greater readability. Its publication is widely welcomed by readers.However, because Wu Han was faithful to the historical materials and evaluated Zhu Yuanzhang realistically, such as Zhu Yuanzhang's feudal centralization, Zhu Yuanzhang's prohibition of concubine interference in politics, etc., he offended Jiang Qing and his gang. As soon as Jiang Qing got the book , he became furious and threatened to criticize the book.Therefore, "The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang" became one of the important evidences of Wu Han's brutal persecution during the Cultural Revolution.