Kang Maocai was originally the leader of the pro-Yuan rebel army, and after Zhu Yuanzhang crossed the river, the two fought for a while, and surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang after the fall of Nanjing.

It was a very coincidence that there was a servant in Kang Maocai's family who had served Chen Youliang and won his trust, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Kang Maocai to write a letter to Chen Youliang, asking the servant to send it to Chen Youliang, pretending to surrender, and promising him to send troops immediately.

The servant came to Taiping and presented the letter to Chen Youliang, in which Kang Maocai said that after Chen Youliang's sailor came, he would remove the wooden Jiangdong Bridge over the Sancha River, which led from the Yangtze River to the western city wall of Nanjing, and let the sailor pass through the Qinhuai River to the city wall of Nanjing.

Chen Youliang was overjoyed after reading it, once his fleet sailed under the city of Nanjing, he could repeat the scene of the Battle of Taiping, and let the soldiers jump directly from the stern of the ship to the city wall, so as to easily take the city of Nanjing, he asked the servant: "Where is Gong Kang now?"

Servant: "Now guard the Jiangdong Bridge." ”

Chen Youliang: "What is the bridge like?"

Servant: "It's a wooden bridge." ”

Chen Youliang: "Go back and tell Kang Gong that I will leave on time on the tenth day of the first month of May, and I will call Lao Kang as a code at Jiangdong Bridge at that time." The servant took the command and departed.

After listening to the report, Zhu Yuanzhang took measures to tighten his pockets and asked Li Shanchang to change the Jiangdong wooden bridge into a stone bridge overnight, Yang Jing was at Dasheng Pass, Zhao Desheng garrisoned at the mouth of the Xinhe River, and punched pointed stumps on the river bank to prevent the enemy from landing in these two places and approaching the Nanjing city wall; Kang Maocai led the main force to set up an ambush at the Jiangdong Bridge to annihilate Chen Youliang's main force.

While the plan was being implemented, Chen Youliang's vanguard came under the command of his younger brother Chen Youren, this vanguard force of about 10,000 people, the task was to open a landing point for the arrival of Chen Youliang's main force, they attacked the Ming army Shao Rong's troops in Longwan, and opened a stronghold here, waiting for the arrival of the army.

This incident shows that the cunning Chen Youliang is likely not to drill into the Jiangdong Bridge in one fell swoop, but reserved an exit in case of accidents. Zhu Yuanzhang adjusted the deployment in time, and sent the main force to set up an ambush in the Longwan area and sew new pockets.

Chen Youliang led the main force down the river, he first attacked Dasheng Pass, and after encountering the stubborn resistance of Yang Jing's troops, he drove towards Jiangdong Bridge, but he did not see the wooden bridge, only saw a stone bridge, Chen Youliang was very confused, and could not determine whether this was the joint location, so he shouted loudly: "Lao Kang, Lao Kang!"

But there was no response, so he led the army back and sailed towards Longwan, and after arriving at Longwan, he sent 10,000 people ashore to set up camp, and Zhu Yuanzhang saw them clearly at the top of Lulong Mountain. At this time, Chen Youliang had Chang Yuchun and Feng Guosheng's ambush in Lime Mountain and Zhang Desheng's boat division in the north, Xu Da's ambush in the south gate of Nanjing, and Zhu Yuanzhang's main force in Lulongshan opposite, which had become a turtle in the urn.

The general asked for an attack, and Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It's going to rain soon, let the soldiers eat first, and then attack by the rain when they are full." ”

After a while, it really rained heavily, and after the rain stopped, the soldiers were also full, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the drumming to attack. Chang Yuchun and Feng Guosheng 30,000 ambush troops, Xu Da and Zhang Desheng's troops then arrived, Chen Youliang landed in Longwan tens of thousands of troops died, surrendered, many people ran to the river bank to get back on the ship, but the battleship ran aground and could not move, so drowned, trampled to death, the Han army was killed 20,000 people, more than 7,000 people were captured.

The Ming army captured Chen Youliang's command ship and more than 100 large ships and hundreds of small boats, such as the Mixed River Dragon, the Saiduan River, the Knockdown Mountain, and the Jianghai Turtle, and Chen Youliang escaped in the small boat. The Ming army took advantage of the victory to cover up and kill from both water and land, not only recovering Taiping, but also conquering Anqing in one fell swoop.

This battle was of great significance to Zhu Yuanzhang, as it not only removed the threat from the western part of Nanjing, but also prevented Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng from forming an alliance, and initially reversed the strategic dilemma. The victory was attributed to Zhu Yuanzhang's foresight, he had insight into the laws of war, and neither sent the army to run long distances, nor sent sailors to go upstream, but induced the enemy army to start a battle at the designated place, turning the attack into a volley, and changing the guest army into the main army, occupying a favorable geographical position.

He chose to defeat Chen Youliang at the first time, thus breaking the alliance between Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng and occupying the time; he let the soldiers eat first and then fight, ensuring combat effectiveness, boosting morale, and occupying the people.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang in a short, frequent, and fast manner, and suspended the alliance between Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, he did not fundamentally remove this threat. Chen Youliang's main force still exists and will make a comeback, and Zhang Shicheng is still waiting, the two sides can closely collude at any time to form a situation of east-west attack, so Zhu Yuanzhang has to find a way to fundamentally solve the problem.

To solve this problem, Zhu Yuanzhang must maintain the victory over Chen Youliang, once there is a mistake, Zhang Shicheng will not hesitate to stab him in the back, and obscene people like Fang Guozhen will also take advantage of the fire to rob.

After a year of preparation, Chen Youliang sent Xiao to raid Zhang Dingbian and occupy Anqing, and the guard general Zhao Zhongzhong fled to Nanjing alone after the defeat, Zhao Zhongzhong was the old general of the Chaohu Water Division, for strict military discipline, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the pleas of Chang Yuchun and others, beheaded him, and let his younger brother Zhao Yong inherit his position.

Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the sailors to regain Anqing by going up the river, and the Ming army could not attack Anqing for a long time, so they crossed it and marched towards Jiujiang, where Chen Youliang was stationed, and Chen Youliang's generals Ding Pulang and Fu Youde who were stationed in Xiaogushan surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Ding Pulang and Zhao Pusheng were both brothers of the White Lotus Sect, and they had a very personal relationship, and they were very dissatisfied with Chen Youliang's murder of Zhao Pusheng and Xu Shouhui, so they surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang. Fu Youde was originally a subordinate of Liu Futong, followed Li Xixi west to Shaanxi, and after the defeat, he transferred to Sichuan, and the former Xu Shouhui, who seized Sichuan, could not accommodate Ming Yuzhen, so he had to defect to Chen Youliang, who sent him to assist Ding Pulang in garrisoning Xiaogu Mountain.

Fu Youde heard Zhu Yuanzhang's name for a long time, and intended to defect, just in time for Ding Pulang to fall in love with the war, so they surrendered together, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he was born with a big waist and a round waist, and he had been in battle for a long time, he liked it very much, and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, and later Fu Youde became a member of Zhu Yuanzhang's command.

The Ming army stormed Jiujiang from the river, using the captured Chen Youliang's big boat, and treated his people in his own way, and the soldiers climbed up to the city wall from the stern of the ship and conquered Jiujiang in one fell swoop, Chen Youliang fled with his wife and children the night before. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to lead a fleet to chase after him, Chen Youliang fled into Wuchang, and Xu Da stayed outside Hanyang City for a long time, blocking Chen Youliang's way out.

This victory allowed him to set foot in the whole of Jiangxi, and Zhu Yuanzhang stayed in Jiujiang for a while with the aim of subduing most of Jiangxi, which had originally belonged to Chen Youliang, especially the provincial capital city of Nanchang. His goal was partially achieved, and envoys were sent to surrender in Nankang, Raozhou, Jianchang and other places, and some cities in eastern Hubei followed suit, but these surrenders were only symbolic changes of flag, and they were still under the actual control of the former warlords.

Not only the undercurrent of Jiangxi's newly annexed land is surging, but the western part of Zhejiang is full of dangers, and the appeasement of the Miao army into the formation makes the rule of this area very unstable, just when the war on the western front broke out, the remnants of the Miao army who had surrendered to Li Wenzhong were suspicious and ready to take advantage of the provocation at any time, Zhang Shicheng continued to send spies to secretly agitate, and Hu Dahai, Geng Zaicheng and others, who were responsible for guarding this area, were in a very dangerous situation, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not fully understand this.

Jin Hua Miao Jiang Ying was determined to launch a mutiny, he personally invited the coach Hu Dahai to watch the archery competition in the Eight Wing Tower, Hu Dahai readily agreed, and when he was about to get on the horse, a servant named Zhong Xiaozi suddenly knelt in front of the horse and told Jiang Ying that he was plotting against him, Hu Dahai was about to ask, Jiang Ying suddenly pulled out an iron whip from his sleeve and slammed Hu Dahai's head, Hu Dahai's brain collapsed, and he fell to the ground.

Jiang Ying cut off Hu Dahai's head, mounted his horse and left, the rebels killed Hu Dahai's son Hu Guanzhu and Langzhong Wang Kai, occupied Jinhua, and four days later, Li Youzhi, the Miao army of Chuzhou, also killed the defender Geng Zaicheng and rebelled.

Overnight, Zhu Yuanzhang rebelled in two of the four prefectures controlled by western Zhejiang, and the whole western Zhejiang was in danger, and on the second day of the rebellion in Jinhua, Zhang Shicheng sent his younger brother Zhang Shixin to launch an attack on Zhuquan close to Jinhua, which was a typical robbery by fire.

Zhu Yuanzhang left Nanchang in a hurry, leaving Deng Yu to guard, after returning to Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his nephew, Yanzhou guard Li Wenzhong to recover Jinhua, general Shao Rong to recover Chuzhou, Li Wenzhong quickly recovered Jinhua, Miao will abandon the city and flee, but the situation is very dangerous, Zhang Shixin led 100,000 troops to attack in turn.

Guard general Xie Zaixing to Li Wenzhong urgent, Li Wenzhong sent Hu Dahai's son Hu Deji to lead the division to support, this is obviously a drop in the bucket, Xie Zaixing is still difficult to support, waiting for help, Li Wenzhong has no troops to send, he falsely claimed that Xu Da and Shao Rong will lead the army to rescue, but this lie has received unexpected results, Zhang Shixin's army discipline is loose, to eat, drink and have fun as a thing, no intention to fight, heard that Xu Da, Shao Rong is coming, frightened, as a result of being flanked by the Ming army outside the city, was defeated and fled.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng, and Xu Shouhui were able to eat and compete for food calmly in the south of the Yangtze River was mainly due to the blessing of the righteous army of Liu Futong's department in the north.

Liu Futong's department began a large-scale Northern Expedition, and the Northern Expeditionary Army called for the anti-Yuan and Song Dynasty to oppose the Song Dynasty, and the military flag read: "Three thousand tigers, straight to the land of Youyan, the dragon flies for nine days, and the day of the Great Song Dynasty is reopened." ”

Mao Gui captured the prefectures and counties of Shandong, and then went north, all the way to the vicinity of Tongzhou, which frightened the Yuan court to move the capital. Liu Futong captured Kaifeng, Henan, and the rebel army led by Mr. Guan and Potou Pan Suo fought from the south of Shanxi to the north, and then from the northwest of Shanxi, to Inner Mongolia, captured the capital of Yuanshang, and set fire to the palace, captured Liaoyang, and fought all the way to Goryeo; Bai Buxin, Dadaoao, Li Xixi, and others fought from Guanzhong in Shaanxi to Ningxia.

However, the smooth march of the righteous army was not entirely due to the military excellence, but the Yuan army had been peaceful for too long, and there was no garrison in Sichuan County. On the other hand, the rebel army did not form a unified leadership, fought separately, and its forces were scattered. Once the Yuan army jumped over the wall in a hurry and bit back, the righteous army would encounter great difficulties, and the righteous army of Mao Guibu was defeated by the Yuan army in the suburbs of Beijing, retreated to Shandong, and although the righteous army attacking Shanxi and Shaanxi captured many cities, it could not gain a foothold under the counterattack of the Yuan army, showing a situation of mobile combat.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng, Xu Shouhui and others took the opportunity to occupy a large area of territory in the south of the Yangtze River, but they lacked the concept of the overall situation, were keen to compete for territory in the south, and did not support the righteous army in the Central Plains in time, resulting in the failure of the Northern Expedition.