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Hu Weiyong
Ming chancellor whose execution for treason in 1380 led the Hongwu Emperor to abolish the Secretariat and the office of chancellor
Mural of the event “Chancellor Abolished”, which this person took part in.
Early Ming, Taizu deeply guarded against meritorious officials, and deeply worried that the traditional chancellor system held too much power that would seriously threaten centralization of his descendants' imperial power. The power-game between the Central Secretariat and the Six Ministries reached white heat.
Also known as Zi Zizhong
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Hu Weiyong, from Dingyuan, joined Zhu Yuanzhang's camp at Hezhou as a headquarters clerk, then served as county magistrate in Ningguo, assistant prefect of Ji'an and surveillance official in Huguang. In 1370 he entered the Secretariat as an assistant councillor, in 1373 became chancellor of the right, and later chancellor of the left. The History of Ming (Ming shi) says he ran the Secretariat alone, often deciding appointments and punishments without reporting to the throne, and that when Liu Ji fell ill Hu brought a doctor on the emperor's orders and had him poisoned. In 1379 a Champa tribute mission went unreported and the emperor was enraged; the next year the censor Tu Jie accused Hu of plotting rebellion, and he was executed with Chen Ning. Zhu Yuanzhang then dissolved the Secretariat, ended the chancellorship and had the Six Ministries report to him directly. The purge of Hu's alleged faction ran on for years, killing Li Shanchang in 1390 and some thirty thousand in all.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1380 CE
- 1380Chancellor AbolishedTook part
- 1380Hongwu Abolishes Central Chancellery Organ