The Making of a Founding Statesman

When Li Shanchang sat in his prime ministerial office in 1368, he felt an overwhelming sense of pride—one so potent it seemed to make the sun tremble. As one of Zhu Yuanzhang’s earliest and most trusted advisors, Li had earned his place at the pinnacle of the newly established Ming Dynasty. A master of human psychology, he intuitively grasped Zhu Yuanzhang’s preferences and aversions, ensuring his unwavering favor. His administrative brilliance kept the rebel army’s coffers full during the chaotic final years of the Yuan Dynasty, earning him comparisons to Xiao He, the legendary chancellor who stabilized the Han Dynasty. “Liu Bang had Xiao He,” Zhu once declared, “but I have Li Shanchang.”

Li’s appointment as the Ming’s first chancellor was uncontested. Even Liu Bowen, the polymath strategist known for his sharp critiques, acknowledged Li’s talent for managing bureaucratic affairs. Under Li’s leadership, officials felt valued and efficient—yet Liu also noticed a troubling undercurrent: regional factionalism.

The “Huaixi Clique” and the Birth of a Dynasty

Li Shanchang and Zhu Yuanzhang shared more than a working relationship—they were fellow natives of Huaixi (modern Anhui and adjacent regions). To Li, the Ming’s triumph in 1368 was a Huaixi achievement. The imperial court teemed with officials from this region: generals like Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, senior ministers like Tang He, and even Zhu himself. This phenomenon mirrored historical precedents—Liu Bang’s Han Dynasty relied on his “Fengpei clique,” while the Tang Dynasty was built by the “Guanlong Group.” Power, it seemed, flowed through networks of regional loyalty.

In Nanjing, the Ming capital, Huaixi dominance was unmistakable. Zhu, as emperor, stood above factional labels, leaving Li to act as the clique’s de facto leader. Li reveled in this role, deliberately flaunting his dialect in meetings with non-Huaixi officials—a not-so-subtle reminder of who held real influence.

The Rivalry with Liu Bowen: Law vs. Loyalty

Beneath Li’s polished exterior simmered resentment toward Liu Bowen, whose meteoric rise since joining Zhu’s camp in 1360 had unsettled him. Liu’s genius for military strategy and celestial divination (a prized skill in imperial courts) overshadowed Li’s administrative contributions. Though their roles rarely overlapped—Li managed logistics, Liu handled warfare—tensions erupted when Liu, as Censor-in-Chief, began prosecuting corrupt officials, many of whom were Huaixi protégés.

The breaking point came with the “Li Bin Affair.” Li Bin, a Huaixi insider and Li Shanchang’s favored subordinate, was arrested for extortion, theft, and murder. When Liu Bowen secured Zhu Yuanzhang’s approval for Li Bin’s execution, Li Shanchang retaliated with desperate arguments: Bin’s past merits, the risk of alienating officials, even the superstition that his death would prevent rainfall. Liu, unmoved, carried out the sentence at the imperial ancestral altar—a move Zhu later condemned as sacrilegious.

The Fall of the Yuan and a Shifting Political Landscape

While Li and Liu clashed, Zhu Yuanzhang’s armies crushed the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty. By August 1368, Beijing had fallen, and the Mongol rulers fled north. Yet Liu, ever the strategist, warned of lingering threats—particularly the Mongol general Wang Baobao, still entrenched in Shanxi. His caution went unheeded amid celebrations.

The victory exposed deeper fractures. When Zhu proposed moving the capital to his hometown (a boon for the Huaixi clique), Liu openly opposed it, citing poor geography and inauspicious feng shui. Li seized the moment, accusing Liu of disloyalty and “nostalgia for the Yuan.” Zhu’s trust in Liu, already strained by the altar incident and a failed rainmaking ritual, evaporated.

The Bitter End of an Alliance

In the sweltering summer of 1368, Liu Bowen—now grieving his wife’s death and politically isolated—requested retirement. Zhu, swayed by Li’s dismissive remark that “a failed rainmaker is useless,” granted it. As Liu left Nanjing, he mused on his eight-year service: the meteoric rise, the unraveling, and the emperor’s fickleness. “Farewell, Zhu Yuanzhang,” he whispered, though adding cryptically, “But who knows? The future is uncertain.”

Legacy and Lessons of Ming Factionalism

The Li-Liu conflict foreshadowed the Ming Dynasty’s enduring struggle with regional factions and bureaucratic infighting. Li Shanchang’s initial effectiveness gave way to parochialism, while Liu Bowen’s principled rigidity cost him his position. Zhu Yuanzhang, for all his brilliance, failed to reconcile meritocracy with the loyalty networks that birthed his empire.

Historians debate whether Liu’s warnings about Wang Baobao or the capital’s location were prescient—the Ming later faced Mongol incursions and eventually moved the capital to Beijing. Meanwhile, Li Shanchang’s fate took a darker turn: in 1390, Zhu accused him of treason and executed his entire clan. The chancellor who once made the sun tremble learned too late that in the Ming court, no victory was permanent.

Their story remains a cautionary tale about power’s corrosive allure—and the peril of mistaking regional solidarity for statecraft.