The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, who reigned from 1368 to 1398. The Hongwu reign was noted for his unprecedented political reforms. He abolished the position of chancellor, drastically reduced the role of court eunuchs, and cracked down on corruption with draconian measures. He also established the Embroidered Uniform Guard, one of the best-known secret police organizations in imperial China. In the 1380s and 1390s, a series of purges were launched to eliminate his high-ranked officials and generals, in which tens of thousands were executed. The emperor encouraged agriculture, reduced taxes, incentivized the cultivation of new land and established laws protecting the property of peasants. He also confiscated land held by large estates and forbade private slavery. Meanwhile, he banned free movement in the empire and assigned hereditary occupational categories to households. Through these measures, Zhu Yuanzhang attempted to rebuild a country that had been ravaged by war, limit and control social groups, transform the people with orthodox values, and eventually create a rigid society of self-sufficient farming communities.