7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7misery that administrative corruption could engender,
and he savagely punished malpractices.
The Hongwu emperor felt that, after the Mongol
expulsion, the scholars were the most dangerous group in
country. Nevertheless, his interest in restoring traditional
Chinese values involved rehabilitating the Confucian
scholar class, and from experience he knew that effective
government depended upon the scholars. He therefore
encouraged education and purposely trained scholars for
the bureaucracy. At the same time he used methods to
deprive them of power and position and introduced the
use of heavy bamboo as a punishment at court, often beat-
ing scholar-officials to death for the slightest offense. He
felt that scholars should be mere servants of the state,
working on behalf of the emperor. Because of the emper-
or’s attitude, a great many members of the gentry were
discouraged from embarking on official careers.
In foreign relations the Hongwu emperor extended
the Ming Empire’s prestige to outlying regions. Southern
Manchuria was brought into the empire. Outlying states,
such as Korea, the Liuqiu Islands, Annam, and other
states, sent tribute missions to acknowledge the supreme
rule of the Ming emperor. Not satisfied with the expul-
sion of the Mongols, he sent two military expeditions
into Mongolia, reaching the Mongol capital of Karakorum
itself. Ming forces even penetrated Central Asia, taking
Hami (in the Gobi) and accepting the surrender of sev-
eral states in the Chinese Turkistan region. When Ming
emissaries traversed the mountains to Samarkand, how-
ever, they were met with a different reception. Timur
(one of history’s greatest conquerors) was building a new
Mongol empire in that region, and the Chinese envoys
were imprisoned. Eventually, they were released, and
Timur and the Ming exchanged several embassies, which
the Chinese regarded as tributary missions. The Hongwu