The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398.
In the mid-14th century, China suffered from epidemics, famines, and widespread uprisings under the Mongol Yuan dynasty. During this turmoil, the orphaned Zhu Yuanzhang briefly lived as a novice monk, begging for alms and gaining insight into common people's hardships, while developing a dislike for book-dependent scholars. In 1352, he joined the Red Turban rebels, soon proving his ability and rising to command his own army. He captured Nanjing in 1356 and made it his capital, creating a government of generals and Confucian scholars and rejecting Mongol rule. He adopted Yuan administrative practices and applied them to his territory as it expanded. After defeating rival rebels, most notably in his decisive victory over Chen Youliang at Lake Poyang in 1363, he declared himself King of Wu in 1364. Nevertheless, in 1367 he formally recognized Han Lin'er, the Red Turban leader who claimed Song legitimacy.
In early 1368, after successfully dominating southern and central China, Zhu chose to rename his state. He decided on the name Da Ming, which translates to "Great Radiance", for his empire, and designated Hongwu, meaning "Vastly Martial", as the name of the era and the motto of his reign. In the following four-year war, he drove out the Mongol armies loyal to the Yuan dynasty and unified the country, but his attempt to conquer Mongolia ended in failure. During the Hongwu Emperor's thirty-year reign, Ming China experienced significant growth and recovered from the effects of prolonged wars. The Emperor had a strong understanding of the structure of society and believed in implementing reforms to improve institutions. This approach differed from the Confucian belief that the ruler's moral example was the most important factor. The Hongwu Emperor also prioritized the safety of his people and the loyalty of his subordinates, demonstrating pragmatism and caution in military affairs. He maintained a disciplined army and made efforts to minimize the impact of war on civilians.
Early life
Zhu Yuanzhang, the future Hongwu Emperor, was born in 1328 in Zhongli (鍾離) village, in Haozhou (present-day Fengyang, Anhui), then under the rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. He was the youngest of four sons born to the poor peasant family of Zhu Wusi and his wife, Lady Chen. He was given the name Zhu Chongba (朱重八) at birth, but used the name Zhu Xingzong (朱興宗) in adulthood. Later, as a rebel fighter against the Yuan dynasty, he used the name Zhu Yuanzhang, with the courtesy name Guorui. Zhu's grandfather and father fled from place to place in the Huai River valley to avoid tax collectors. His maternal grandfather was a fortune-teller and seer who, in his youth, had served in the Song army resisting the Mongol invasion during its final phases in the 1270s. His mother frequently told him stories imbued with a spirit of Song loyalism, which left a deep impression on him. In 1344, during a plague epidemic, Zhu Xingzong's parents and one of his brothers died.
Zhu then entered a local Buddhist monastery. For the next three years, he wandered as a mendicant monk, becoming familiar with the landscape and people of eastern Henan and western Anhui. He returned to the monastery in 1348 and stayed for four years, during which he learned to read, write, and study the basics of Buddhism.
Rise to power
Joining the rebels
The harsh taxation policies, famine, and catastrophic flooding in the Yellow River basin, caused by inadequate flood control measures, led to widespread opposition to the rule of the Yuan dynasty. The presence of Taoist and Buddhist secret societies and sects further fueled this discontent, with the most prominent being the White Lotus society. In 1351, the Red Turban Rebellion erupted and quickly spread throughout northern China.
The initially disorganized Mongol troops were able to launch a counteroffensive and advance along the Grand Canal. In October 1352, the Mongols captured Xuzhou, causing the rebel commanders Peng Da and Zhao Yunyong to flee south to Haozhou, where the Yuan dynasty's power was declining. In Haozhou, Guo Zixing, Sun Deya (孫德崖), and three other leaders, with the support of the local elite, organized the army and took control in order to establish order in the surrounding area. Guo submitted to Peng, while his four colleagues submitted to Zhao.
In 1352, when the Yuan army burned down Zhu's monastery after suspecting the monks of links to the White Lotus society, Zhu joined the rebels. On 15 April of the same year, he arrived in Haozhou. While Zhu was considered physically unattractive and he began as a rank-and-file fighter, his exceptional leadership, decisiveness, martial skill, and intelligence quickly earned him significant authority. He became the leader among 24 of his acquaintances who had already joined the rebels. These acquaintances would eventually become generals in the Ming army. By the spring of 1353, Zhu was leading a 700-man squad, and he became Guo's most trusted subordinate. Skilled in both military tactics and political maneuvering, he even married Guo's adopted daughter, surnamed Ma. Unlike other leaders of his time, Zhu had a small number of relatives who were appointed to important positions, at a time when family ties were crucial for ensuring loyalty and reliability.
The rivalry between Peng and Zhao escalated into a full-blown conflict. Guo was initially captured, but his sons and Zhu freed him. This increased Guo's reliance on Zhu. After Peng's death in 1353, Zhao emerged as the dominant leader in the region. He sent Guo to the east and Zhu with a small detachment to the south, hoping to divide and destroy them. However, Zhu successfully occupied several counties and bolstered his army to 20,000 soldiers, and Guo moved with Zhao's 10,000 men to join him.
Capture of Nanjing and rise as a regional power (1355–1360)
At the beginning of 1355, Zhu, Guo, and the eastern rebel Zhang Shicheng decided to leave the devastated northern territories and cross the Yangtze River into the still-prosperous south. Guo and Zhu entered into a dispute over Hezhou, a city situated on the banks of the Yangtze, leading Zhu to ally with Guo's old enemy Sun Deya; however, Guo died before the conflict escalated. Han Lin'er, the Red Turban leader who claimed the title of Song emperor, then appointed Guo's eldest son, Guo Tianxu (郭天敍), as his successor, with Zhang Tianyu (張天祐), Guo's brother-in-law, as first deputy and Zhu as second deputy. In July 1355, the Hezhou rebels obtained a fleet from rebels arriving from Chao Lake, allowing them to cross the Yangtze that same month. Zhu defeated the local Yuan commander Chen Yexian (陳野先), who surrendered to him, but Chen betrayed Guo Tianxu during an attack on Jiqing (present-day Nanjing) in September 1355. Chen, Guo Tianxu, and Zhang Tianyu all died in the subsequent fighting.
In March 1356, Zhu once again marched on Jiqing. Chen Yexian's nephew Chen Zhaoxian (陳兆先) had succeeded his uncle as the Mongol commander. He and 36,000 men surrendered to Zhu. In April 1356, Zhu successfully entered Jiqing, which he renamed Yingtian ("In response to Heaven"). In May 1356, Han appointed Zhu as the head of Jiangnan Province (江南行中書省), one of the five provinces of the Song state. Zhu soon had Guo's younger son executed, citing a breach of military discipline. This allowed Zhu to establish clear leadership and he immediately began to build his administration, but he faced instances of betrayal and defection to the enemy until the victory at Lake Poyang in 1363.
Zhu was now in command of an army of 100,000 soldiers, which was divided into divisions or wings (翼; yi). In Nanjing itself, there were eight divisions and one division per prefecture. From 1355 to 1357, he launched attacks against Zhang Shicheng in the direction of Suzhou and successfully occupied southern Jiangxi; after this, the border with Zhang's state was fortified on both sides and remained stable until 1366. In Zhejiang, from 1358 to 1359, Zhu controlled four impoverished inland prefectures, while Zhang held control over four prosperous northern coastal prefectures, and Fang Guozhen occupied the eastern coast of the province.
In the summer of 1359, the Mongol warlord Chaghan Temur drove Han Lin'er from Kaifeng. With only a few hundred soldiers left, Han survived in Anfeng, a prefectural city in the west of Anhui, while Chaghan Temur turned to Shandong. After this retreat, Song authority collapsed rapidly; aside from Zhu's effectively autonomous Jiangnan, no Song province remained after 1362. In 1361, Han appointed Zhu as Duke of Wu (Wu Guogong) and acknowledged his control over conquered territories. Fearing a Yuan advance toward Nanjing, Zhu initially sought cooperation with Chaghan Temur, but after the latter was assassinated in 1362, the Yuan ceased to be a threat and Zhu rejected their offer to make him governor of Jiangxi.
Zhu did not embrace Red Turban ideology; instead of building a new elite based on White Lotus Manichean-Buddhist beliefs, he aligned himself with Confucian scholars. This shift transformed him from a sectarian rebel into a political leader seeking traditional legitimacy, though he still relied on officers devoted to White Lotus teachings.
Zhu's political base strengthened through his collaboration with Li Shanchang, a landowner from Dingyuan who managed civil administration as Zhu expanded. In 1360, after repeated requests, leading scholars such as Song Lian and Liu Ji joined him. Known as the Jinhua school, they envisioned a unified state with a small but efficient bureaucracy, opposed the corruption of late Yuan rule, and believed that state institutions could improve public morals. Though their motives differed from Zhu's, they shared his commitment to reform through a strong state and active monarchy.
As an independent ruler, Zhu promoted moderate taxation, unlike other rebel leaders and generals who frequently seized peasants' grain for military needs. He emphasized orderly governance and peaceful life for the population, working with local elites and understanding villagers' needs due to his own peasant background. Zhu's principles strengthened the economy of his territories: he began minting coins in 1361, created monopolies on salt and tea, and resumed collecting customs duties in 1362. These policies increased tax revenues and helped finance his military campaigns.
Conquest of Han (1360–1365)
In the beginning of 1360, Zhu controlled the southwestern part of Jiangsu, all of Anhui south of the Yangtze River, and the inland of Zhejiang. By 1393, these territories had a population of 7.8 million. Zhang Shicheng's state of Wu had comparable power with a larger population but worse organization. Chen Youliang's state of Han had a similar situation. The state of Han, located west of Zhu's territory, included the provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei. Zhang, based in Suzhou, controlled the lower reaches of the Yangtze, from the eastern borders of Zhu's dominions to the sea. While Zhu, Zhang, and Chen divided up the Yangtze River Basin, the rest of southern and central China was largely under the control of "one-province" regimes. Fang Guozhen controlled the eastern Chinese coast, Ming Yuzhen ruled in Sichuan, and a trio of Yuan loyalists (Chen Youding, He Zhen, and Basalawarmi) controlled Fujian, Guangdong, and Yunnan. These provincial regimes were unable to threaten the states of Song, Wu, and Han, but they were strong in defense.
The war between Song and Han from 1360 to 1363 had a devastating impact on the balance of power in the Yangtze River Basin. This conflict increased Zhu's prestige and gave him a significant advantage over his rivals. The fighting began when the Han army attacked Nanjing in 1360, but Zhu quickly defeated them. In 1361, the war spread to the Han province of Jiangxi, which changed hands multiple times. By 1362, Zhu had gained control of Jiangxi.
In January 1363, Zhang Shicheng's army launched a surprise attack on Anfeng, the residence of Song emperor Han Lin'er, resulting in the death of Han Lin'er's minister Liu Futong. Zhu offered his army to assist Han, who was still highly respected among the troops. As a result, the powerless Han was relocated to Chuzhou, west of Nanjing on the opposite side of the Yangtze River. However, the army remained stationed in the north until August 1363.
The departure of Zhu's main forces to the north presented Chen Youliang with an opportunity to turn the tide of the war. He quickly raised an army of 300,000, outnumbering Zhu's remaining forces. Chen planned to capture Nanchang and rally the local leaders in Jiangxi to join his cause and attack Nanjing, but the Nanchang garrison, led by Deng Yu, held out until early June 1363. In mid-August, Zhu's army and fleet finally set out from Nanjing with approximately 100,000 soldiers. Zhu's fleet defeated Chen's fleet in the battle of Lake Poyang in September 1363, and Chen was killed during the fighting.
In 1364–1365, Zhu focused on conquering and absorbing the Han's territories. Numerous Han prefectural and county commanders surrendered without resistance. By early 1365, Chang Yuchun and Deng Yu had gained control over central and southern Jiangxi, and Xu Da had pacified Huguang. This annexation of territories provided Zhu with a significant population advantage over his adversaries. The main threats to Zhu at this time were the Mongol warlord Köke Temür in northern China and Zhang Shicheng, who was based in Suzhou.
Expansion of the army with former Han troops required a reorganization of the military. Therefore, in 1364, Zhu implemented the Weisuo system, which involved the formation of guards (wei) comprising 5,600 soldiers. These guards were further divided into 5 battalions (qianhusuo) of 1,120 soldiers each, with 10 companies (baihusuo) in each battalion. After 1364, the army was made up of 17 guards consisting of veterans who had previously served before 1363. The older veterans were demobilized, while the others were assigned to the garrison in Nanjing where they worked as peasants, using their production to provide food for the army. Additional soldiers with shorter periods of service were acquired during the conquest of southern Anhui and central Zhejiang. They were stationed in the former Han territory, with field armies concentrated in Nanchang and Wuchang and garrisons scattered across Jiangxi and Huguang. The remaining soldiers, mostly former Han soldiers, were joined by some veterans in the field armies sent to fight against Zhang's state of Wu under the leadership of Xu and Chang.
Conquest of Wu and establishment of the Ming dynasty (1364–1368)
After Chen Youliang's defeat, Zhu used the title of King of Wu (Wu wang) starting from the new year (4 February) of 1364. Zhang Shicheng had used the same title since October 1363. Zhu still acknowledged his subordinate status to Han Lin'er and used the Song era of Longfeng as long as Han was alive, but he ran his own administration, following the model of the Yuan dynasty.
In 1365–67, Zhu conquered Zhang's state of Wu. Zhang attempted to attack in late 1364, before Zhu could exploit the potential of the newly conquered territories, but Zhu repulsed Zhang's offensive in the spring of 1365. Before launching a final attack on Zhang's heartland, the Suzhou region, Zhu and his generals decided to first "cut off the wings" of Zhang's state by occupying the territory north of the Yangtze and the Zhang-controlled part of Zhejiang. Zhu appointed Xu Da as the supreme commander of the attacking troops, and the attacking army easily captured the area due to its superiority. The ten-month siege of Suzhou began in December 1366.
In January 1367, Han Lin'er drowned in the Yangtze River. Zhu's state of Wu declared its official independence and proclaimed the year 1367 as the "first year of the Wu era". A year later, in 1368, Zhu proclaimed himself emperor and changed the name of the state. He followed the Mongol tradition of elevating titles and named the empire "Great Ming" (Da Ming; 大明). He also designated 1368 as the "first year of the Hongwu era" (洪武).
Southern campaigns and northern expeditions (1367–1382)
In the autumn of 1367, Zhu's troops launched an attack against Fang Guozhen. By December of that year, they had successfully taken control of the entire coast. In November 1367, Hu Mei's army, along with the fleets of Tang He and Liao Yongzhong, began their journey south. By February 1368, they had easily conquered Fujian, and by April 1368, they had taken control of Guangdong. In July 1368, with the reinforcement of Yang Jing's army from Huguang, Guangxi province was also occupied.
At the same time as the southern campaign, Zhu sent a 250,000-strong army, led by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, to conquer the North China Plain. By March 1368, both land and naval forces had successfully captured Shandong. In May, Henan was also occupied. A pause was taken for agricultural work, during which the Hongwu Emperor met with his generals in the captured city of Kaifeng to confirm plans for the campaign. The Ming army resumed its march in mid-August and reached Dadu (present-day Beijing) in early September. They defeated the Mongol army outside Dadu and then occupied the city, while the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür fled north to Shangdu. The Chinese renamed Dadu to Beiping (Pacified North). The campaign then continued with an attack on Shanxi.
In January 1369, the main army, led by Xu Da, captured Taiyuan, while Köke Temür retreated to Gansu. In the spring of 1369, Ming troops also began to occupy Shaanxi. They had fully captured the province by September 1369, but border skirmishes with Köke Temür's troops persisted until 1370.
In 1370, the Ming government launched a two-pronged attack on Mongolia. Li Wenzhong and Feng Sheng led an attack from Beijing to the north, while Xu Da attacked from Xi'an against Köke Temür. In early May 1370, Köke Temür was defeated and fled to Karakorum. The Ming forces captured over 84,000 of his troops and continued to advance westward along the Yellow River. At the same time, Li's forces advanced to Shangdu, while Toghon Temür retreated further north to Yingchang and died in May 1370. His son Ayushiridara then assumed the imperial title. In June, Li conquered Yingchang. Ayushiridara escaped, but the Ming army captured his wife and son, Maidilibala, along with more than 50,000 soldiers. Ayushiridara continued to flee until reaching Karakorum, where the remnants of Köke Temür's army joined him.
After successfully defeating the Mongols, the Ming government shifted its focus to the Xia state in Sichuan, which maintained positive relations with the Ming but refused to submit. The Emperor ordered Fu Youde to lead an attack from the north in 1371. Simultaneously, Tang He and Liao Yongzhong advanced with a fleet up the Yangtze River. Although they initially faced resistance, they were able to push forward with the help of artillery and the enemy's decision to send part of their defenders north against the Ming army's successful advance. By September 1371, Sichuan had been conquered. This victory ensured stability in the southwestern border for the next ten years, until the Ming conquered the pro-Mongol Yunnan in 1381–1382.
In 1372, the Emperor launched a massive attack on Mongolia, with Xu Da leading a 150,000-strong army from Shanxi through the Gobi to Karakorum. In the west, Feng Sheng was assigned to conquer the western part of the Gansu Corridor with 50,000 cavalrymen, while Li Wenzhong was tasked with attacking eastern Mongolia and Manchuria with another 50,000 soldiers. Although Feng's forces were able to successfully complete their mission, the Mongols defeated Xu and Li's armies.
These failures in 1372 shattered the Hongwu Emperor's dream of becoming the heir to the entire Yuan Empire, both in China and on the steppe. Furthermore, Japanese piracy increased and rebellions broke out in the provinces of Guangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, and Shaanxi. As a result, the Chinese forces in the north shifted their focus to defense, and two years later returned the captured prince Maidilibala to Mongolia.
1370s: reforms, consolidation, and stability
Goals and law
The Hongwu Emperor demonstrated sympathy for the peasants in his public statements, and held a deep distrust of the wealthy landowners and scholars. He often referred to himself as a villager from the right bank of the Huai River. His difficult upbringing never left his mind, and even as emperor, he held onto the ideal of a self-sufficient village life in peace. He made every effort to make this dream a reality for his subjects. The ultimate goal of the Emperor's reforms was to achieve political stability for the state. All policies, institutions, and the social and economic structure of society were designed to serve this purpose. The chaos and foreign rule that led to the establishment of a new dynasty only reinforced his determination to maintain order.
The Emperor was meticulous in his efforts to establish a new society after the fall of the Yuan dynasty. He was a dynamic and innovative legislator, constantly issuing, revising, and modifying laws throughout his reign, but these frequent changes sometimes sparked protests from officials. The Emperor's legislation focused on four main themes: the restoration of order and morality in society, the regulation of the bureaucracy, the removal of corrupt and unreliable officials, and the prevention of the natural decline that comes with time. As the patriarch of the family, he aimed to prevent the decay of society and the dynasty in the future, as well as any changes to his laws.
The compilation of the new code, known as the Great Ming Code, began in 1364. This code, which was heavily influenced by Confucian principles, was largely based on the old Tang Code of 653. The initial wording was agreed upon in 1367, and the final version was adopted in 1397. It remained unchanged until the fall of the empire, although additional provisions were later added.
Capital city
The capital of the empire was Nanjing (Southern Capital), which was known as Yingtian until 1368. In the 1360s and 1370s, Nanjing underwent extensive construction. A workforce of 200,000 individuals surrounded the city with walls that were almost 26 km long, making them the longest in the world at the time. Additionally, an imperial palace and government quarter were built. In 1368, the Emperor resided in Kaifeng during the months of June–August and October–November, leading to the city being known as Beijing (Northern Capital).
In 1369, the Hongwu Emperor proposed a debate on the relocation of the capital. In August of that year, it was decided that the capital would be moved to Fengyang (then known as Linhuai), his hometown in northern Anhui. Construction of the future capital, named Zhongdu (中都; 'Central Capital'), began with grand plans. The area had been largely abandoned since the famine of the 1340s, so landless families from the south were resettled in Fengyang. In 1375, the Emperor ultimately abandoned the idea of relocating the capital and the construction was halted.
Central government
Upon ascending to the throne, the Hongwu Emperor appointed his wife, Lady Ma, as empress and his eldest son, Zhu Biao, as his heir. He surrounded himself with a group of military and civilian figures, but the civil officials never attained the same level of prestige and influence as the military. In 1367, he granted the title of duke (gong) to three of his closest collaborators—the generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun and the official Li Shanchang. After establishing the Ming dynasty, he also bestowed ranks and titles upon a wider circle of loyal generals. These military leaders were chosen based on their abilities, but their positions were often inherited by their sons. As a result, the generals became the dominant ruling class, surpassing the bureaucracy in power and influence. The officials had little political autonomy and simply carried out the emperor's orders and requests. This system mirrored the one established during the Yuan dynasty, with the ruling class of Mongols and Semu being replaced by families of distinguished military commanders. These families were often connected through kinship ties with each other and with the imperial family. The Emperor initially restricted the number of palace eunuchs to 100, but he later allowed their number to increase to 400, with the condition that they were not allowed to learn to read, write, or interfere in politics.
The administrative structure of the Ming dynasty was modeled after the Yuan model. The Central Secretariat led the civil administration and was headed by two grand chancellors who were informally known as Prime Ministers. The Secretariat was responsible for six ministries: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and (Public) Works. The Censorate oversaw the administration, while the Chief Military Commission was in charge of the army, but under later emperors, the civil administration, which was the core of the government, became primarily focused on supporting the army financially and logistically. Initially, the provinces were under the control of generals, with the civil authorities also reporting to them. In the 1370s, the military's influence decreased as ministers were appointed to leadership positions in the provinces. Regional military commanders were then responsible for managing the affairs of hereditary soldiers in the Weisuo system.
The Weisuo system was introduced in 1364 and stabilized in the 1370s. Soldiers under this system were obligated hereditarily to serve, with each family required to provide one member for military service in each generation. The army was self-sufficient thanks to the production of these hereditary soldiers. By 1393, the empire's armed forces consisted of 326 guards and 65 battalions, but after 1368, the army may have been larger than necessary, as the government feared the consequences of widespread demobilization.
The state administration was reformed based on Confucian principles. In February 1371, the Emperor made the decision to hold provincial and county examinations every three years, with the provincial examinations already taking place in March, but in 1377, he cancelled the civil service examinations due to their lack of connection to the quality of the graduates. Despite his support for Confucianism, the Emperor had a deep distrust for the official class and did not hesitate to severely punish them for any wrongdoing. After the resumption of examinations in 1384, he went as far as executing the chief examiner when it was revealed that he had only awarded the jinshi degree to applicants from the south.
Every three years, provincial examinations were held, and those who passed were awarded the title of juren. This title was sufficient for starting an official career in the early Ming period, and also qualified individuals for teaching positions in local schools until the end of the dynasty. Following the provincial examinations, metropolitan examinations were held. Upon passing, candidates advanced to the palace examinations, where the Emperor himself read their work. Successful candidates were awarded the rank of jinshi, with a total of 871 individuals granted it during the Hongwu period.
There were fewer than 8,000 civil servants, with half of them in lower grades (eighth and ninth), not including the approximately 5,000 teachers in government schools. During the early Ming period, the examinations did not produce enough candidates, and positions were often filled based on recommendations and personal connections. The bureaucratic system was still in its early stages, and the introduction of examinations primarily had symbolic significance as a declaration of allegiance to Confucianism.
Local government and taxation
The villages were self-governing communities that resolved internal disputes without interference from officials, as the Hongwu Emperor did not recommend their presence in the countryside. These communities operated based on Confucian morality rather than laws. The Yellow Registers recorded households and population, while the Fish-Scale Registers recorded land parcels, their quality, tax quotas, and ownership. County authorities appointed wealthy individuals as regional tax captains (liangzhang; 糧長) responsible for collecting taxes. In 1371, the lijia system of local self-government was introduced in the Yangtze River basin and gradually expanded throughout the empire. Regular state expenses, except for land tax, were covered through mandatory services and supplies from the population. In the lijia system, one jia always provided services, and after a year, it was replaced by another. This form of taxation was progressive, unlike the land tax. Large infrastructure projects, such as road and dam construction or canals, were funded through additional ad hoc requisitions.
Taxes were low, with a fixed amount for each region, intended for peasants to pay 3% of their harvest. These taxes were often collected in kind, with the population responsible for delivering goods to state warehouses, but the transportation of these goods, often over long distances of hundreds of kilometers, placed a heavy burden on taxpayers. The cost of transporting grain to Nanjing was three to four times higher than its price, and even six to seven times higher for supplies to the army on the northern border. The Ministry of Revenue was responsible for collecting taxes and benefits from peasants, while the Ministry of Works oversaw artisans. Artisans were required to work in state factories for three months every 2 to 5 years, depending on their profession. The Ministry of War kept records of hereditary soldiers and also collected taxes and benefits from them. As state income and expenditure were managed through orders for the population to deliver specific goods to designated locations, large warehouses were not necessary. However, officials were not always able to effectively direct supplies to the necessary places, leading to local supply crises.
Society
The Hongwu Emperor promoted parsimony and simplicity, aiming to restore a basic agricultural economy with other industries in supporting roles. To preserve social cohesion and the state's economic foundations, he restricted the consumption of the wealthy, fearing that displays of luxury would damage society. Rooted in Confucian morality, the privileged were expected to practice self-restraint, and the Emperor set the example by living with simple food and furnishings. He regarded comfort, luxury, and property as signs of selfish corruption. His orders included replacing flower gardens in his sons’ palaces with vegetable gardens, banning exotic pets in favor of useful animals like cows, and prohibiting rice varieties used for making rice wine. The government also regulated consumption standards for food, clothing, housing, and transportation. These controls extended to everyday life, such as standards for greetings and writing style, restrictions on personal names, and bans on symbols connected to the Emperor's monastic past.
The Emperor believed that providing every man with a field and every woman with a loom would alleviate the people's hardships, but this ideal was not reflected in reality as the wealthy held a disproportionate amount of land and often found ways to avoid paying taxes. In fact, during the last years of the Yuan dynasty, the land tax yield dropped to zero. In response, the Hongwu Emperor confiscated land from the wealthy and redistributed it to the landless. Those who had abandoned their properties during the wars were not entitled to have them returned, but were instead given replacement plots of land on the condition that they personally worked on them. The government punished large landowners and confiscated their land. While Emperor Taizu of Song saw the wealthy as the gateway to prosperity for the entire country, the Hongwu Emperor sought to eliminate them. As a result of his reforms, there were very few large landowners left.