this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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The best thing is that Ye Boju criticized the emperors harsh punishment of officials:
"The emperor himself solicited criticism of his harsh treatment of the officials in the prestamped documents case. Responding to unusual and inauspicious activity by the stars and planets, in a conventional gesture, he announced on 22 October 1376 that he would accept straightforward criticism of his rule from officials. Yeh Po-chii's response was the most detailed and the most devastating. Yeh was then serving in P'ing-yao, southwest of T'ai-yiian in Shansi. When the emperor read Yeh's criticisms, he became furious and ordered him brought in chains to Nanking. Yeh died of starvation in prison not long afterward. His criticisms dealt with three major problems in Ming rule: the enfeoffment of the princes of the blood and their command of military forces; the emperor's reliance on extremely harsh punishments; and the excessive haste with which the emperor moved to establish the institutions of his rule."
The book uses an older romanization of Chinese than the Wikipedia article.
Twitchett, Denis (1998), The Cambridge History of China Volume 7 The Ming Dynasty, 1368โ1644, Part I, Cambridge University Press, Page 135f.