in the 1300s.)
The new dynasty consolidated its power during the Early Ming Period (1368 1424) under the forceful leadership of Taizu (1368 1398) and, after a four year interregnum, Yung Lo, who engineered a successful palace coup against Taizu's young grandson, and led China from 1403 to 1424. These first emperors, especially Taizu, ruled in a highly autocratic manner, suppressed the secret societies and eliminated other internal rivals. The Mongols had established a strong, centralized imperial administration, on which Taizu built. Fairbank says that Taizu virtually "decapitated the civilian bureaucracy" (Fairbank 130). To offset the power of the Confucian scholar mandarins, Taizu relied on castrated eunuchs who formed his palace guard or Inner Court. To gain control over the gentry and the villages, he instituted the li jia system, which involved a network of informers, compulso
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