朱元璋

Born a destitute peasant in Anhui during a famine that killed most of his family, Zhu became a begging monk, joined the Red Turban rebellion, and ended up expelling the Mongol Yuan from Beijing in 1368 — the only emperor in Chinese history to rise from a peasant background to found a major dynasty.

As emperor Hongwu, he abolished the prime minister position, founded the 锦衣卫 (Embroidered Uniform Guard) secret police, and purged tens of thousands of officials — the Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu cases alone killed over 40,000 people. The paranoid late-Hongwu style became a Chinese shorthand for the perils of absolute rule.