Hu Weiyong

Hu Weiyong (died 1380) was a Chinese official of the early Ming dynasty and a close adviser of the Hongwu Emperor. In the second half of the 1370s, he headed the civil administration of the empire. However, in 1380, he was accused of treason and executed. The subsequent purge cost the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Hu Weiyong was from Dingyuan County (present-day part of Chuzhou in Anhui Province). He was one of the first followers of the Hongwu Emperor, who participated in the Red Turban Rebellion, becoming an officer and then a general of the rebel forces, and eventually the founder and first emperor of Ming dynasty, which took control of China after the rebellion.

With the support of his relative, Li Shanchang, he rose through the ranks until he was appointed Grand Chancellor (丞相). In this capacity, he headed the Central Secretariat (中書省) and directed all civil administration of the Ming dynasty; in modern terminology, he was the Prime Minister.

At the end of 1379, he was removed from office and at the beginning of the following year, the deputy censor accused him of attempting to overthrow the emperor. Investigators soon constructed a picture of a conspiracy led by Hu, which, with the support of part of the army, as well as the Mongols and Japanese, aimed at a coup d'état, including the assassination of the emperor. He was executed on 12 February 1380, along with the Censor-in-chief Chen Ning. However, the purge continued; even distant relatives of the accused, their helpers and protégés, relatives of these protégés, and so on, a total of 30,000 to 40,000 people were killed.

The fall of Hu Weiyong was accompanied by a reorganization of the highest state administration bodies. The Central Secretariat was abolished and six ministries were directly subordinated to the emperor. The Chief Military Commission, which stood at the head of the armed forces, was divided into five independent commissions, and the Censorate was reorganized.