Li Shanzhang

Also known as Zi Baishi

Li Shanzhang, courtesy name Baishi, was a well-read and resourceful man from Dingyuan. When Zhu Yuanzhang took Chuzhou in 1354 Li went to see him and was kept on as secretary, and for years afterward he handled the supply of grain and the paperwork of the growing regime. He was right chancellor when Zhu styled himself King of Wu, became left chancellor in 1368, and oversaw the drafting of the new laws and rites. In the great ennoblement of 1370 he was ranked first among the founders and made Duke of Han with an iron charter, but he retired on grounds of illness the following year. In 1390 he was accused of having known of Hu Weiyong's plot without reporting it; he was ordered to die at seventy-six, and more than seventy members of his family were executed with him. A year later the official Wang Guoyong submitted a memorial, drafted by Xie Jin, arguing that the charge made no sense, and the emperor did not punish him for it.