Story of China

But Hongwu's reign would be a turning point in Chinese history. It concentrated power in the person of the emperor himself. It would prove a dangerous legacy. In 1398 he died, and china was plunged into crisis. (banging and shouts) If a person of such authority, of such stature, dies, who takes over? And is the next person in line as able, with the same kind of vision? Could he do the job? (screaming) -

Michael Wood

As his successor Hongwu had named his grandson. But the boy's uncle rose against him. He took the excuse of weeding out disloyal ministers and staged uprising. And then, after three years of civil war, he took the throne and became the Yongle emperor. Yongle, it means perpetual happiness, and when a tyrant calls himself that, you have to watch out. Having done away with his nephew, he ruthlessly purged his enemies. Of course people knew he was a usurper, but there were rumors also that he was illegitimate, that he hadn't been the son of the first emperor Hongwu. So he ordered all the ministers of the previous ruler to swear allegiance to him or die. And among them was the chief minister, Fang Xiaoru, loyal, severe, honest. And he was ordered to write the edict proclaiming the legitimacy of the new emperor. He threw his brush down, "I would rather die", he said. "You are not the true emperor. "Where is your nephew?" The emperor ordered his death but with the most cruel

sentence that was possible under Chinese law

death by nine degrees. That meant that not only you'd die but your parents and your grandparents and your children and your grandchildren and your brothers and your cousins and your nephews to nine degrees of relationship. And the emperor paused and said, "But make it ten."