Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral home is Zhu Jiaxiang, Tongde Township, Jurong County, Jiangsu Province (now Jurong County, Nanjing), and his ancestors have been farming for generations. Because my grandfather Zhu Chuyi couldn't bear the exploitation of landlords and Mongolian rulers, his family fled to Sizhou (now Xuyi, Anhui) on the bank of Huaihe River to open up wasteland. After Zhu Chu's death, his family was poor, so Zhu Yuanzhang's father Zhu had to move east and west. At the age of fifty, he settled in Dongxiang, zhongmou county (now Fengyang, Anhui), where Zhu Yuanzhang's mother gave birth to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Due to malnutrition, Zhu Yuanzhang was frail and scrawny when he was a child. Zhu Yuanzhang's parents are superstitious and believe that only Guanyin Bodhisattva can save his life and bless his safe life. So they sent the young Zhu Yuanzhang to the nearby Huang Jue Temple and invited him to worship the old monk Gao Bin in the temple.
When Zhu Yuanzhang/Kloc-0 was 0/0 years old, his father Zhu Shizhen moved again to avoid heavy taxes. Later, he cultivated land for the landlord Liu De in a remote village in Taiping Township, and Zhu Yuanzhang became the cowherd of Liu De's family.
In the process of herding cattle, Zhu Yuanzhang met Xu Da, Tanghe, Zhou Dexing and others, and became good friends. Later, Xu Da, Tanghe, Zhou Dexing and others made contributions and became the founding fathers of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was clever and naughty since he was a child, and he studied for a few days, so he was very thoughtful. His favorite game is playing the emperor. In rags, Zhu Yuanzhang often tore brown leaves into strands, glued them to his mouth as a beard, put a spoke on his head as a flat crown, then sat on the mound, pretending to be the emperor, and told his partners to pick up a piece of wood, hold it in both hands, kneel three times and knock nine times, and shout long live.
When Zhu Yuanzhang herded cattle, he was not only scolded by his master, but also often did not have enough to eat and herded cattle on an empty stomach. One night, Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, Tanghe and Zhou Dexing, who were herding cattle on the mountain, were so hungry that they couldn't sleep. So Zhu Yuanzhang had an idea, killed a calf and prepared to cook beef. They didn't have a pot, so Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to steal a big pot. Soon, the beef was cooked and everyone wolfed it down. After a while, only a piece of cowhide, a pile of bones and a cow's tail were left. After eating the beef, they wanted to send the pot back, but it was already dawn, and no one dared to send the pot for fear of being seen. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said, "It will be dark soon." Suddenly it was already dawn and dark, so they took the pot away in the dark. I never thought that from then on, there will be a phenomenon of "dark for a while" every day. The cow was eaten. What will they tell the landlord when they go back? Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions were very worried, so they complained to each other. Zhu Yuanzhang finally stood up and said, "I have a good idea. Let's bury the cow's bones and cowhide, cover the blood, and then insert the cow's tail into the crack in the rock on the mountain, saying that the calf can't pull it out by itself. " Although all my friends thought this idea was not very good, they certainly couldn't fool the landlord Liu De, but because they couldn't think of any other good way, they had to listen to Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement. They packed up the bones, cowhide and blood, and then inserted the cow's tail into the cracks in the rocks on the mountain. Then they sent someone to tell the landlord Liu De: "No, last night, a calf got into a crack in the rock on the mountain and left a tail outside." No matter how hard we pull it, it won't come out. " Liu De hurried with several servants to the crack where the oxtail was inserted. He sent some strong men to pull the oxtail out. Unexpectedly, every time a few people pull the oxtail, the cow cries "Cleisthenes" in the cracks, but the cow never comes out. Finally, the landlord Liu De really thought that the calf got into the crack himself, so he didn't blame the cowboys. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang and his friends ate a calf of the landlord for nothing. Because of the voice of "It's getting dark" and "Cleisthenes" Niu Jiao, the partners are convinced that Zhu Yuanzhang will achieve great things in the future and will willingly and wholeheartedly follow Zhu Yuanzhang to farmland in the future.