The Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty (Chinese: 明初四大案; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 明初四大獄; pinyin: Míngchū Sìdàyù) refer to the following mass executions and persecutions perpetrated by the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) at the start of the Ming dynasty: As they occurred during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, they were also called the Four Major Cases of the Hongwu era (Chinese: 洪武四大案; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdà'àn / Chinese: 洪武四大獄; pinyin: Hóngwǔ Sìdàyù).
Shao Rong (邵榮), who was deemed the most skillful general in battle, was sentenced to death for his part in a 1362 coup attempt.
[7] It was said that Hu spoke of his fears to Li: once Yang Xian was appointed as the chancellor, the people belonging to the West Huai faction would be emasculated and marginalised.
In 1390, Zhu Yuanzhang further executed Li Shanchang, Lu Zhongheng, Tang Shengzong, Fei Ju, Zhao Yong, Jin Chaoxing, Ye Sheng, Mao Qi, Li Bosheng and Ding Yu for treason and colluding with Hu.
Hu Weiyong and right prime minister Wang Guangyang (汪广洋) concealed the arrival of these envoys from Zhu.
The eunuch Yun Qi (云奇) stopped Zhu half-way there and gave advance warning of Hu's attempted coup.
Zhu ascended the palace wall and noticed Hu's soldiers ambushed, confirming what Yun had warned.
Zhu then arrested and executed Hu Weiyong and Tu Jie for abuse of power and subverting the law.
In 1386, Lin Xian (林贤), commander of the Mingzhou guards, was investigated for his ties to Hu Weiyong.
It turned out that Hu Weiyong sent Lin Xian to attract Japanese pirates to amass his own army of horses against Zhu.
[21] "Collaborate with the Mongols": Feng Ji event In addition to asking for help from the Japanese, Hu Weiyong drafted a letter asking for help from Yuan dynasty nobles to oppose Zhu.
[21] In the 25th year of Hongwu, Ye Sheng (叶昇), Marquis of Jingning (靖寧侯), was executed for "communicating with Hu Weiyong".
[22][23] Lan Yu was a talented general who led an army of 150,000 people to pursue the Mongolians to Buir Lake.
Lan Yu had a lot of experience in battle, whereas the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang initially started as an illiterate beggar and bumpkin who knew nothing about warfare.
[25][26] The local officials in Yuan dynasty evolved a working method from which their successors had never departed, until 1376: the imperial court commanded that local governments send an official courier to report their figures about the items at year's end, with the stamped documents.
To avoid traipsing from their seats to the capital, these officials decided to carry spare prestamped documents.
Later, the emperor's Da Gao (大誥; [Grand Pronouncement]) proclaimed that Guo and his gang had actually embezzled 24 million piculs, while the huge discrepancy between the two accounts was justified to avoid broadly-based popular suspicion.