今年是元未明初政治家、思想家、軍事家、文學(xué)家劉基誕辰700周年。讓我們紀(jì)念這位為國家的統(tǒng)一作出重大貢獻(xiàn)的歷史名人，緬懷這位“三不朽偉人”吧！

2011年7月10日，青田的太鶴山下，剛剛重建落成的劉府祠前，鋪上了紅色地毯。祠內(nèi)祠外，彩旗飄揚(yáng)；人來人往，氣氛熱烈。彩色氣球懸掛高空，大幅標(biāo)語垂天而下，上寫“千年古縣青田，千古人豪劉基”；祠前的橫幅上“隆重紀(jì)念劉基誕辰700周年”金字閃耀，特別醒目。

傳奇的一生

公元1311年農(nóng)歷6月15日，在浙江青田縣南田鎮(zhèn)武陽村，一個(gè)劉姓的書香人家，一個(gè)男孩呱呱落地。他就是日后成為明朝開國元?jiǎng)?、三不朽偉人的劉基?/p>

劉基，字伯溫，小時(shí)候，因父親劉爚任遂昌縣教諭，在外工作，母親富氏便成了他的啟蒙老師。劉基天資聰慧，5歲時(shí)能將半部《國風(fēng)》背誦得滾瓜爛熟。

劉基一生好學(xué)，年輕時(shí)就讀石門書院，22歲中舉人，23歲考上進(jìn)士。劉基對元朝政權(quán)的腐敗無能有著深刻的認(rèn)識，看穿元朝的無可救藥，于是，1358年辭官歸隱青田，將自己滿腹經(jīng)綸和對社會(huì)的憤慨，以及自己的理想和希望，熔鑄于筆墨，寫出閃爍著智慧火花的寓言《郁離子》。劉基對時(shí)局十分關(guān)注，看準(zhǔn)朱元璋是各派勢力中的佼佼者，便于1360年接受應(yīng)聘，成了朱元璋開創(chuàng)明王朝的第一謀臣。洪武初年，劉基授御史中丞兼太史令，封誠意伯。洪武四年，告老還鄉(xiāng)。劉基在青田山中，雖言行謹(jǐn)慎，口不言功，但仍遭朝中胡惟庸等人的陷害，誣他在家鄉(xiāng)爭奪有“帝王氣”的墓地，為朱元璋猜疑而被奪去俸祿。1373年63歲時(shí)，不得已入朝向當(dāng)權(quán)者解釋，直到1375年病重時(shí)，朱元璋才派人護(hù)送他回家，不久便辭世，終年65歲。

劉基敢于與元政權(quán)決裂，是他人生轉(zhuǎn)折的關(guān)鍵。此一步，成了他走向輝煌的起點(diǎn)。

不朽的功績

劉基的歷史功績在于與時(shí)俱進(jìn)，順應(yīng)歷史潮流，為朱元璋出謀劃策，勇敢地承擔(dān)起統(tǒng)一中國的任務(wù)。他的功績是多方面的。

朱元璋曾三次派人請劉基出山。劉基出山后，初次見朱元璋時(shí)，曾陳事務(wù)“十八策”，就當(dāng)時(shí)的天下大勢、戰(zhàn)略對策和治國方略、用人原則等方面，提出自己的看法，內(nèi)容涉及政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)、軍事、外交、文化、教育，共計(jì)十八條款，后人稱之為“十八策”。這對幫助朱元璋認(rèn)清形勢、樹立信心、統(tǒng)一全國起到至關(guān)重要的作用，有“與君一席語，勝讀十年書”的感覺。對劉基來說，“十八策”金聲玉振，在朱元璋心中，他的“帝師”地位初步確立。后人常說“前有諸葛隆中對，后有劉基十八策”，指的是“十八策”的非同一般。

為朱元璋制訂“西征東戰(zhàn)大計(jì)”是劉基最突出的功績之一。朱元璋起兵于淮河，渡江后，勢如破竹，但只限于浙江一帶，而且東有強(qiáng)敵張士誠，西有勁旅陳友諒。當(dāng)時(shí)，許多人認(rèn)為張士誠據(jù)有蘇湖富饒之地，宜先攻取。但劉基自有看法，認(rèn)為：“張士誠只能自守，不必顧慮；陳友諒劫持主人，名聲不正，他地?fù)?jù)上游，時(shí)時(shí)刻刻想滅我們，我們應(yīng)先對付他。陳滅后，張勢孤，一舉可破，然后北圖中原，這樣，王業(yè)可興?！敝煸安捎昧藙⒒膽?zhàn)略決策，終于成功了。

劉伯溫深諳韜略，通天文地理，在重大戰(zhàn)役中，運(yùn)籌帷幄，或親臨前線指揮戰(zhàn)斗。公元1360年，陳友諒率精兵30萬，戰(zhàn)艦5000艘，攻下太平，進(jìn)駐采石磯，直逼金陵，勢甚囂張。當(dāng)時(shí)，朱元璋駐金陵守兵僅10余萬，雙方力量懸殊。朱元璋軍心動(dòng)搖，有的主張投降，有的主張放棄，有的主張決戰(zhàn)。只有劉基一言不發(fā)。朱元璋把他請到內(nèi)室，征求意見。劉基說：主張投降和放棄的，應(yīng)該殺頭治罪，因他們不看大好形勢，散布失敗情緒。實(shí)際上，陳友諒自以為兵強(qiáng)馬壯，又打了幾次勝仗，自以為了不起，目空一切。我們可以利用他的驕傲情緒，設(shè)下埋伏，誘敵深入，一鼓可破。

朱元璋請劉基制定作戰(zhàn)方案，首先派人詐降，誘陳友諒夜來劫城，約定到江東木橋呼“老康”為聯(lián)絡(luò)信號。陳友諒不知是計(jì)，點(diǎn)精兵30萬依約前往，結(jié)果伏兵四出，又逢暴雨，被迫退至江邊。誰知原有的戰(zhàn)船被劉基用計(jì)拘掠，只留下300艘于江邊。陳軍爭先逃渡，又遭朱元璋軍火炮攻擊，破船連人沉沒一半多，結(jié)果全殲陳友諒主力軍，挫敗了陳軍的銳氣，乘勝收回太平，攻下安慶、信州、袞州。陳友諒倉惶逃回漢陽。

三年后的1363年7月，陳友諒重整旗鼓，再度與朱元璋決戰(zhàn)鄱陽湖。鄱陽湖大戰(zhàn)，劉基始終與朱元璋在一起。一次，他忽然見一群水鳥驚起。劉基預(yù)感大事不妙，急忙拉朱元璋一起轉(zhuǎn)移到另一條船。他們?nèi)宋醋ǎ瑪橙说呐诨鹨褜⒃瓉碇煸白拇虻梅鬯?。此消息傳出，朱元璋部下都以為自已有天助，于是士氣大振，殺敵更猛，最終大敗陳友諒，陳也在這次水戰(zhàn)中戰(zhàn)死，劉基指揮的這次戰(zhàn)爭是以少勝多、以弱勝強(qiáng)的典型戰(zhàn)例，歷史上稱為“鄱陽湖之戰(zhàn)”。

勝利之后，劉基多次提醒朱元璋居安思危。明朝開國前夕，1366年，劉基受朱元璋之托，卜地拓建南京城；1367年授太史令，并與李善長、楊憲等人一起定律令。平定張士誠后，朝廷里有大臣上書贊頌朱元璋功德，勸其及時(shí)行樂。劉基當(dāng)即指出：“此欲為趙高也?！辈⒓皶r(shí)提醒朱元璋要“居安思?！?。

劉基還奏立《軍衛(wèi)法》，提出“寬以待民與嚴(yán)懲貪吏”的主張，肅綱紀(jì)，整吏治，法辦貪腐。

劉基于61歲告老還鄉(xiāng)后，勸朱元璋“霜雪之后，必有陽春，今國威已立，宜少濟(jì)以寬大?！迸R終前，留遺囑給次子仲璟，待胡惟庸敗后，上奏朱元璋：“夫?yàn)檎捗晚氀h(huán)，當(dāng)今之務(wù)在修德省刑，祈天永命，諸形勝要害之地，宜與京師聲勢聯(lián)絡(luò)?！?/p>

劉基臨死還關(guān)注朝政，其心何等忠節(jié)！

劉基博學(xué)多才，著述等身。有《誠意伯文集》20卷，其中散文323篇，詩詞1613首，賦騷23篇，雜著百余篇，還有《百戰(zhàn)奇略》《黃金策》等書問世。散文名著《郁離子》是一部寓言集，寫的是小故事，講的卻是治國、治軍、倫理、道德、經(jīng)濟(jì)、社會(huì)、自然等大道理。他是明代與宋濂齊名的杰出的文學(xué)家。他的作品教育和影響著一代甚至幾代人。

明朝的建立，結(jié)束了長達(dá)30年的戰(zhàn)爭混亂局面，統(tǒng)一了中國，社會(huì)開始穩(wěn)定，生產(chǎn)得到發(fā)展，人民生活得到改善。這就當(dāng)時(shí)來說，是推動(dòng)了歷史前進(jìn)，是利國利民的好事。而促進(jìn)此種好事的是劉基，所以，他也是為統(tǒng)一祖國作出巨大貢獻(xiàn)的大功臣。

永恒的精神

劉基的道德人品，一直受到后人推崇。

劉基不計(jì)名位，不貪爵祿。朱元璋分封官職時(shí)，劉基堅(jiān)辭公爵，一再辭讓相位。洪武三年所封的37位功臣中，劉基列為第36位，其他功臣都被封為公爵或侯爵，只有他和汪廣洋兩人封伯爵，他的年俸為240石，封為忠勤伯的汪廣洋年俸是500石，而李善長的年俸是2400石，是劉基的10倍。這里要提到的是，不是劉基智不如他人，也不是奉獻(xiàn)不如他人，而是他“堅(jiān)持辭讓”。這充分表現(xiàn)了他不計(jì)利、不謀私的崇高品質(zhì)。

劉基剛正不阿，不畏強(qiáng)暴。劉基在元朝四次任官，三次辭職，一次被罷職，原因并不是他犯錯(cuò)，而是因?yàn)樗那辶畡傊?。在明朝，他身為御史中丞，敢于不顧宰相李善長的情面，依法奏斬他的義子、中書省都事李彬。這種不畏權(quán)勢、嫉惡如仇、秉公執(zhí)法的精神，高山仰止，垂范千秋。

劉基忠公護(hù)國，不結(jié)黨營私。據(jù)《明史·劉基傳》載：丞相李善長得罪了朱元璋，朱元璋想撤換丞相，與劉基商量。劉基卻說：李公豐功卓著，而且能調(diào)和諸將，不可以罷。朱元璋反問劉基:李善長多次想加害于你，你卻為他說好話？劉基說：“調(diào)換棟梁，必須先得大木，如果用小木捆扎起來代理?xiàng)澚?，大廈馬上會(huì)倒塌?！笨墒?，朱元璋不聽劉基忠言，還是罷了李善長的丞相之職。朱元璋想用劉基好友劉憲為相，劉基說：“憲有相才而無相器。夫宰相者，持心如水，以義理為權(quán)衡，而已無與者也，憲則不然?！庇謫?，汪廣洋可否任相？劉基回答說，汪比楊憲更狹隘淺薄。再問到胡惟庸，劉基說：“如小牛拉車，會(huì)僨轅破犁，誤國敗事?！敝煸奥犓f這個(gè)不行，那個(gè)不好，就說：“我之相，誠無逾先生？”劉基急忙回答“我不敢貪天之功，我嫉惡太深，工作又不耐煩，我若為相，會(huì)辜負(fù)皇上的恩德。國內(nèi)人才眾多，只要皇上細(xì)心尋訪，一定能求得賢才的?！眲⒒t讓相位，對話皇上，敢于直言，不計(jì)個(gè)人恩怨，不搞打擊報(bào)復(fù)，不搞結(jié)黨營私，為的是忠公報(bào)國。

劉基去世多年后，一次，朱元璋對劉基次子說：“你父在時(shí)，滿朝都是同黨，只他一個(gè)不從，你應(yīng)多行好事，休污了你父親的好名聲?！?/p>

劉基的道德操守、崇高品質(zhì)，千秋萬代，為世敬仰。

今年，值劉基700周年誕辰之際，人民以各種不同形式紀(jì)念這位立功、立德、立言三不朽偉人是理所當(dāng)然的。

行文至此，筆者言猶未盡，特撰一聯(lián)，為本文做結(jié)：

立德、立功、立說，問五千年華夏，誰能三不朽；

通天、通地、通人，數(shù)九萬里江山，公系一全才。

A Unique Advisor to a Founding Emperor

By Li Qingbao

Year 2011 marks the 700th anniversary of the birthday of Liu Ji (1311-1375)， a unique advisor to Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398)， the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). He ranked 36th of the 37 men that received rewards and recognition from the emperor for their services in the founding of the dynasty. Many seemingly made greater contributions to the dynasty in the making. Nevertheless， Liu Ji goes down in history as a man admired for his wisdom， deed， and virtue. In this regard， no one in that dynasty could have stood up to challenge him.

On June 10， 2011， a ceremony took place at the newly restored Liu Residence and Memorial at the foot of Taihe Mountain in Qingtian County in southern Zhejiang Province. Colored flags fluttered in winds， balloons suspended in the air above the memorial， hometown people and guests gathered to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the unique imperial advisor.

He was born on June 25， 1311 on lunar calendar into a family of scholars in a village in Qingtian. While father worked in the education department in a neighboring county， the mother acted the son’s abecedarian. A genius， the boy made amazing progress in his academic studies. At five， he was able to recite many poems from the Book of Songs. At 23， he became a metropolitan graduate， the top honor in the natural examination. He served as a government official for the Yuan Dynasty. Sensing the inability of Mongolian rulers to rule China wisely， Liu Ji resigned from the government and retired to Qingtian.

Two years later， he accepted an offer from Zhu Yuanzhang and came out of retirement to help the rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty. A wise man， he knew when to retreat from dangerous court infighting. In 1370， four years after the founding of the new dynasty， Liu retired to Qingtian again and kept a cautious and extremely low profile. He never talked about his achievement at all. Because some people in power accused him of trying to grab a burial ground that showed auspicious signs for an emperor in the future generations of the family， he was deprived of all the retirement privileges. In 1373， the sixty-three-year-old was summoned to the capital to explain himself. He had to stay in the capital for two more years until 1375. When he became seriously ill， the emperor sent him home and he died at 65.

Liu Ji is remembered largely because of his stratagems， deeds， and virtues. He declined Zhu Yuanzhang’s offer twice before he accepted the third offer to come out of retirement. He did so because he did not want to show eagerness. When he finally met with Zhu， he had a long talk with the man who would be founding a dynasty. In the long talk， Liu touched upon eighteen issues concerning the understanding of the national situation， strategies to handle the situation， lay the foundation for the future dynasty， and attract useful people. Liu’s ideas are historically called “Eighteen Stratagems” that helped build an empire. The talk with Liu helped Zhu specify exactly what he wanted: he wanted China and he wanted to be the ruler of the great nation.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not the only ambitious man with the military power to conquer and rule China. He was flanked by Zhang Shicheng in the east and Chen Youliang in the west， the largest rivals that wanted to grab the country too. Liu Ji formulated a military strategy. The military strategy gave first priority to Chen in the west and left Zhang alone because the man posed no immediate threat to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the strategy. Over two campaigns with four years apart， Chen’s army was utterly routed and destroyed with the assistance of Liu Ji’s advice.

After the founding of the Ming， Liu Ji advised the emperor to mind hidden dangers that might undermine and threaten the foundation of the empire. On many occasions， he advised the emperor to stay away from glorification， from carnal pleasures， from cruel rule by law， from unwise construction projects， from warlords lurking in the distance. He advised the emperor to give people rooms to relax. Liu Ji’s retirement is considered a wise step to protect himself from vicious infighting at the court. His advice to the emperor is considered showing loyalty to the emperor.

Though some scholars disregard Liu’s political performance and achievements in the founding of the Ming， there is unanimous agreement that Liu Ji is indeed a proliferate scholar. A complete collection of his literary works runs to 20 volumes， including 323 essays and 1，613 poems among other things. Two essays by Liu are in “The Ultimate Anthology of Ancient Essays”， a popular textbook compiled in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that contains 220 prose masterpieces created over a period of 2，800 years from the ancient times up to the Ming Dynasty.

The founding of the Ming put a close to the 30-year wars and unified China， paving way to political and social stability and economic prosperity. Liu Ji played a crucial part in the founding and ruling of the empire. He is considered an excellent strategist， statesman， and man of letters. Seen in another light， he is also considered a man that contributed equally to the founding and the ruling of a great empire. This appraisal is a glory， given the Chinese history that shows many founding emperors and kings were clueless about running a state.