The Secret Biography of Fu Hong Wu

By Dixon Kinqade

In every situation, there is an opposing force. 

A rebel who stands for what he believes is right. 

Such a man is Fu Hong Wu!

FROM THE JOURNAL OF:
FU HONG WU

It was a very long time ago. Barbarians from the north had ruled China for nearly one hundred years. With famine, plagues, and peasant revolts devastating the land, I became a leader of an army that swept across China, conquering the foreign invaders. With the seizure of the capital, Beijing, I ended the foreigner‘s reign and forced them back to their native land. Claiming the Mandate of Heaven, I established a new dynasty.

I am the great Fu Hong Wu and this is my story.

I was born in Henan, China. I was the youngest of four sons. My father was a great warlord. He had built a fortified village. It was known as "The Fortified Village of the Fu Family". That village no longer exists.

I was a child when a terrible disaster struck. The great river broke its banks and flooded the land. My family's home and the village were destroyed. My parents and brothers drowned. I was left nearly destitute.

With my father's death, Henan was left with no recognized central authority. His army quickly fragmented into various forces. Their generals each assumed the title of Warlord and each faction battled with the others for control. For this reason, my father became known as the Father of the Warlords.

It was a time of great hardship, not just for Henan, but for all of China. The country was plagued by famine, floods, swarms of locusts, and peasant revolts. The next year was hard. I traveled, begged for food, and saw firsthand the troubles of the people.

After that year, I found shelter in a Buddhist monastery. As a child, I had been given an exceptional education. My father had demanded that. 

It was his wish that I pursue a career in civil service. That one day, our family could overthrow the foreign rulers and rightfully return the government to the Han people. 

So during my time with the monks, I continued my studies. My aptitude for quickly assimilating knowledge did not go unnoticed. It was a gift that was encouraged by the abbot.

He insisted that I learn the teachings of Buddha. I did not become a Buddhist myself, but I valued the lessons. Buddhism, I learned, holds profound insights into the psychology of man.

I was also trained in Qi Gong and Gong Fu. I learned the secret arts of the temple protection monks. Occasionally, the abbot would send me away for a period of time to study and train with other masters at other temples. In addition to martial arts training, I was taught acupuncture, herbalogy, and traditional Chinese medicine.

I remained and studied at the temple for a long time. Until one day, the foreign army came to crush a local rebellion. In the process, the temple was attacked and badly burned. The temple was not destroyed, but the attack prompted my leave of the temple.

I had decided to aid the rebels in their fight. I joined the White Lotus Society. It was one of the many groups of local rebels who were appearing throughout China at the time. 

I made use of my natural abilities, my leadership, determination, skill as a warrior, and my brilliant mind. These qualities allowed me to rapidly gain a position of command within the group. My talents as an officer were recognized by superiors and I moved quickly through the ranks. Under my leadership, the White Lotus Society joined forces with the Red Turban Movement. That was the beginning of my army.

I positioned myself as a defender of the Han people and proposed the tenets of Confucianism. Knowing its conventions are conducive to maintaining a well-ordered and civilized social structure. In so doing, I was perceived as far more than simply another popular rebel.

In the process, I discovered the power of charisma. It was another hidden talent that I possessed. Previously unknown to me, I held the ability to influence and persuade others, to bend them to my will. I could make others do my bidding with little more than a few compelling words. I used this skill to attract talented, influential, and powerful followers from all over China. Thus, despite my humble origin, I would emerge as a national leader against the collapsing barbarian dynasty.

The Warlord Fu Hong Wu

My army quickly conquered Nanjing. This became my base of operations and was the official capital of my new empire. My government in Nanjing extended to the surrounding territory. It quickly became famous as a kind and righteous government. The city attracted vast numbers of people fleeing from other, more lawless, regions. The city grew tenfold.

The foreign government was nearly paralyzed by internal factions fighting for control. They made little effort to retake the river valley. Soon, nearly the whole of central and southern China was in the hands of different rebel groups. The Red Turbans themselves broke up, while the larger faction, under Warlord General Chen, controlled the center of the Yangtze River valley.

I built high walls, stocked up rations, and refused to call myself king. Only then did I go to war with Warlord Chen for supremacy over the Red Turban territory. The pivotal moment in the war was the Great Battle of Lake Poyang. It was the largest naval battle in history. 

The battle lasted only three days. At the end of the third day, the larger navy of Warlord Chen retreated. Warlord Chen died in battle one month later. Leaving me, the most powerful leader in China.

I did not fight in battle again. From this point forward, my generals fought campaigns under my direction from the palace in Nanjing. My forces defeated the other major warlord, who was based in the old Song Dynasty capital of Hangzhou.

This conquest gave my government authority over the entire length of the Yangtze and much of the territory both north and south of the river. The other lesser warlords submitted to me. Next, my armies headed north to take on the foreign barbarians. Curiously, they gave up northern China without much of a fight and fled north into their homeland.

With the capital captured and claiming the Mandate of Heaven, I proclaimed myself the new emperor from my capital in Nanjing. I adopted the title Emperor Hongwu. The name Hongwu means "Vast Military". My family name of Fu, means "A Continuous Return".

Like a force of nature, spring, summer, fall, and winter in unending cycles, I shall always return with my vast army. I used the motto "Exiling the Barbarians and Restoring Han". I captured the last province loyal to the barbarians and China was unified again under my hand.

The Emperor Fu Hong Wu

So began my reign. Under my rule, the foreign bureaucrats, who had dominated the government for nearly a century, were replaced by Han Chinese. I redesigned the traditional Confucian examination system, which selected state bureaucrats or civil servants on the basis of merit and knowledge of literature and philosophy, mostly the Classics.

Candidates for posts in the civil service or in the officer corps of my 80,000-man army, once again had to pass the traditional competitive examinations, as required by the Classics. The Confucian scholar gentry, marginalized under the barbarians, once again assumed their predominant role in the Chinese state.

The rejection of things associated with the former foreign rulers continued into other areas. This included their manner of dress and names originating from their language. I purged foreign-associated items and places, even palaces and administrative buildings used by the Barbarian rulers.

The Reforms of Fu Hong Wu

I ordered the general release of all innocent people who had been enslaved during the barbarians' reign. I ordered officials to buy back children in the Henan province, who had been sold as slaves by their parents because of famine.

Having seen with my own eyes, I knew only too well how much farmers suffered. The gentry and the wealthy, relying on their influence with the magistrates, encroached unscrupulously on the land of farmers. They even contrived to bribe lower officials to transfer the burden of taxation to the small farmers. To prevent such abuses, I instituted two very important systems: "Yellow Records" and "Fish Scale Records". These systems served to guarantee both the government's income from land taxes and the people's enjoyment of their property.

From the beginning of my government, great care was taken to distribute land to small farmers. Public works projects, such as the construction of irrigation systems and dikes, were undertaken in an attempt to help farmers. Additionally, I reduced demands on the peasantry for forced labor. 

I issued an edict that those who brought fallow land under cultivation could keep it as their property without it ever being taxed. The people responded enthusiastically to my policies and cultivated land rose to 8,804,623 ching and 68 mou. That was a greater achievement than any other Chinese dynasty.

I encouraged the expansion of the scholar gentry and their growing prestige. This translated into more wealth. The gentry gained new privileges. I encouraged them to show off their wealth by lending money to those less fortunate.

Backed by the Confucian scholar gentry, I saw the merchants and traders as highly parasitic. I knew that agriculture should be the country's source of wealth. Trade was only a means of distributing products and diversifying wealth. As a result, my economic system emphasized agriculture and did not rely primarily on traders or merchants for revenues. Also, I encouraged the creation of self-supporting agricultural communities.

However, such policy did not diminish the number of traders and merchants. On the contrary, commerce increased significantly under my rule due to the growth of industry throughout the empire. This growth in trade was due in part to poor soil conditions and the overpopulation of certain areas, which forced many people to leave their homes and seek their fortunes in trade.

During my reign, there was rapid and dramatic population growth, largely due to the increased food supply resulting from my agricultural reforms. This was also stimulated by major improvements in agricultural technology. Under my tutelage, living standards greatly improved and the people prospered.

Military

Despite having fought off the foreign invasion, I realized the barbarians still posed a threat to China. I reinforced the country's defenses against the barbarians and foreign invaders from the north. I decided the orthodox Confucian view of the military as an inferior class to the scholar bureaucracy must be reassessed. Maintaining a strong military was essential. I kept a powerful army organized on the military system known as Wei-so, similar to the Fu-ping system of the Tang dynasty.

Military training was conducted within the soldiers' own military districts. In times of war, troops were mobilized from all over the empire on the orders of the Board of War, and commanders were chosen to lead them. As soon as the war was over, all of the troops returned to their respective districts and the commanders lost their military commands. 

This system largely avoided troubles of the kind that destroyed the Tang Dynasty, namely, military commanders who had large numbers of soldiers directly under their personal control. The only disadvantage of my system was that for large campaigns, troops were placed under the control of a civilian official from the capital.

Consolidating Control

As time went on, I became paranoid. Increasingly, I feared rebellions and coups. I even made it a capital offence for any advisors to criticize an emperor. Once, a scholar who was fed up with my policies decided he would come to the capital and express such. I granted him audience. He brought his own coffin along with him. After delivering his speech, he climbed into the coffin, expecting my order to execute him. I was impressed by his bravery and spared his life.

I abandoned the practice of court eunuchs, castrated servants of the emperor, which had been so widely embraced under previous dynasties. Unfortunately, my aversion to eunuchs being in the employ of an emperor was not popular with my successors and eunuchs soon returned to the emperors' courts after my rule. Additionally, I never consented to any of my imperial relatives becoming court officials. This policy was fairly well maintained by later emperors and no serious trouble was caused by the empresses or their relatives.

I attempted to and largely succeeded in consolidating control over all aspects of government, so that no other group could gain enough power to overthrow me. As emperor, I increasingly concentrated power. It was my wish to concentrate absolute authority in my hands. To accomplish that, required the prime minister to be removed and his position abolished.

The opportunity to do just that presented itself when the senior grand councilor and a very close friend of mine, Hu Wei Yong, attempted to usurp the throne. His actions greatly disappointed me and validated my great distrust of high officials. 

I had my friend, Hu Wei Yong, executed for his betrayal. I completely eliminated all the prime ministers and established four advisors called the Grand Secretaries to work closely with me alone. They were intellectually able, but low ranking. Eliminating the office of the prime minister was the key that increased my autocracy in the new government.

It was unfortunate but necessary. Any new dynasty must be extremely strong to survive. To that end, power needs to be centralized. The Emperor alone must have complete and unquestionable authority. Otherwise, lesser officials will attempt to gather more power unto themselves and fight amongst themselves. That will tear a young government and a unified country apart.

Legal Code

Any civilized people require a uniform code of law to maintain a well-ordered society. The legal code drawn up in the time I was emperor is considered one of the great achievements of the era. This code was known as Da Ming Lu.

I devoted great personal care to the whole project. My instruction to the ministers was that a code of laws should be comprehensive and intelligible. Do not leave any loopholes for lower officials to misinterpret by twisting its language.

The new code emphasized family relations and was a great improvement on the code of the earlier Tang dynasty in regards to the treatment of slaves. Under Tang code, slaves were treated as a species of domestic animal. If they were killed by a free citizen, the law imposed no sanction on the killer. Under my rule, the law protected both slaves and free citizens.

Legacy

I was the most significant Emperor of China. Never, in the course of history, has China been influenced by a single personality so much as it was by me. Coming from poverty, my rise to power was stunningly fast. In five years time, I had ascended from being a penniless monk to the most powerful warlord in China. Five years later, I was the Emperor.

I was an adventurer, a man of action, a bold and shrewd tactician, a visionary mind, and a creative genius. I was also naturally cynical, controlling, cunningly manipulative, mercilessly cruel, and completely ruthless to my enemies.

Death of the Emperor

Over my reign of 30 years, I grew weary of politics, civic duty, and a life of public service. I had fulfilled my father's wishes and accomplished his dream of returning the rule of China to its rightful people. It was time for me to find a path of my own.

I was born to privilege, only to have it stolen from me. I had worked hard to reclaim my birthright. I had fought for everything I had acquired. My success was earned by the work of my hands, the sweat of my brow, and paid for with the blood from my wounds. I created a new era of peace and a time of new prosperity. Perhaps it was a time of too much affluence.

Looking around, I saw those who did not work hard and still they prospered. This angered me greatly. The people took for granted those blessings which I had been deprived of for so long, the blessings bestowed upon them by my hand.

It is true that people were happy, but they did not appreciate the sacrifices and efforts I had made to provide that happiness. I knew it was only a matter of time before they began to overindulge themselves. They would develop a sense of entitlement and expect everything to be handed to them. They would become decadent, lazy, and immoral. They would engage in gambling, prostitution, and thievery.

So, I faked my death. My descendants carried on the dynasty as the rightful heirs to the throne and I became a recluse. I was old and weary, but not ready for death.

Alchemy and the Black Arts

So began my education in alchemy. In a search for the elixir of immortality, I traveled throughout China, Tibet, India, Arabia, Persia, and Egypt. I studied and learned from the greatest chemists in the world. Many had been working on such a thing for many centuries.

Each had varying degrees of success and failure. Few had much success and most were pursuing paths that would lead nowhere. They worked with toxic elements and compounds. That was sheer folly.

I learned of potent chemical derivatives from plants. I learned to produce narcotics, sedatives, and painkillers. I learned of anatomy and physiology. I learned many black arts involving venoms, poisons, and toxins.

After twenty years, I had met with limited success. After another ten years, I had even greater success. That was enough to put time on my side.

I had taken the project as far as science and technology of that time would allow. Over many years, I have made slow progress and small improvements. Unfortunately, to this day, it is not perfected. With regular treatments, it is enough to keep me youthful and healthy.

A New Beginning

Having met with some success in my work on life extension, I found a new sense of purpose. Time was on my side. I had long lived a life out of the public eye.

I had maintained certain alliances. I still had influence and a modicum of wealth, but I was no longer a recognizable public figure. My connections to powerful figures had been maintained in secret. 

I found myself in the unique position to work in shadows. I had become the unseen puppet master pulling the strings. It suited me far better than my previous positions of power.

I once again desired to live a life of luxury, to rule an empire, but this time from behind the scenes. I had a new lust for life. I wanted to indulge my every desire. I wanted to eat the best food, drink the best wine, and love the most beautiful women.

The first order of business was to rebuild my wealth. The world had changed. It used to be landowners, warlords, and nobility who controlled the wealth.

It was clear that merchants, traders, and business owners now held the wealth. That would be the most expedient means of replenishing my financial holdings. It was also apparent that deceitful, dishonest, evil men and merciless criminals thrived in the world.

All others struggled or perished. Good men were trampled on by evil men. Good men suffered at the hands of evil men. One man's success always meant another man's loss. It has been said that "all is fair in war" and trade had become war.

It was obvious the most financially rewarding endeavors were illicit in nature. I did not hesitate to establish gambling parlors, houses of prostitution, and engage in the opium trade. With brutal efficiency, I quickly assumed control of similar interests held by rival businessmen, local gangs, and secret societies. 

As my army had once swept through China, my new army swept through the unseen criminal empires with the same unyielding ruthlessness. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of his own pyre, I was reborn!

Since then, I have learned much. I have learned to see beyond the illusion of duality. I have risen above such questions of good and evil, right or wrong, moral and immoral.

Over the years, I have witnessed history as it unfolded. I have seen the rise and fall of empires. I have watched the world change, but mankind seems to be much the same as he has always been. I have seen the best in man and the worst.

Names

I have been known by many names.

• My temple name is Ming Tai Zu (Great Ancestor of the Ming).
• I have been called the Wang Gai (Beggar King) an allusion to my early poverty.
• Wang Da Han (Emperor of the great Han)
• Wang Da Ming (Emperor of the Great Ming)
• Fu Da Ming (Return of the Great Ming)
• Fu Da Han (Return of Great Han)
• Fu Ming Wang (Return of the Ming Emperor)
• Fu Han Wang (Return of the Han Emperor)
• The Elusive Shadow
• The Ghost

For all these are the mystique of the legend who is "known by many names", but whom the world calls… Dr. Fu Hong Wu.