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Zhu Yuanzhang soon captured Chuzhou, and his nephew Zhu Wenzheng and brother-in-law Li Zhen brought their nephew Bao'er (later named Li Wenzhong) to take refuge. From them, Zhu Yuanzhang learned that the second brother, third brother, and sister had all died. At that time, there was also Mu Ying, an orphan in Dingyuan, so Zhu Yuanzhang adopted these three children as adopted sons and changed his surname to Zhu. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted more than 20 sons. [50] When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Chuzhou, Guo Zixing was squeezed out by Zhao Junyong, Sun Deya and others, so not long after Zhu Yuanzhang captured Chuzhou City, Guo Zixing also came to Chuzhou. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately handed over the military power, the team of 30,000 people, the discipline was strict, the army was neat, and Guo Zixing was very happy to see it.

Filial piety and high queen Ma

Filial piety and high queen Ma

In the fifteenth year of Zhizheng (1355), Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Hexian in one fell swoop. Guo Zixing immediately appointed Zhu Yuanzhang as the chief military officer to guard Hezhou. [52] Once, when Zhu Yuanzhang went out, he saw a child crying, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him why he was crying, and replied that he was waiting for his father. Zhu Yuanzhang inquired carefully and learned that the child's father and mother were in the barracks, and the father raised horses in the camp, and the mother and father did not dare to recognize each other, so they had to be called brother and sister. Zhu Yuanzhang realized that there was a problem with the military discipline of the troops, and after they broke through the city, they disturbed the people and made trouble, and abducted women, and if this continued, the troops would lose the support of the people. So, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the generals, affirmed discipline, and ordered the return of the husband's wife in the army, so that many separated couples in the city could be reunited. This matter was widely praised, and Zhu Yuanzhang won the hearts of the people. [53-54]

In the middle of this year, Guo Zixing died of illness, and Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, appointed Guo Zixing's son Guo Tianxu as the marshal of the capital, his wife and brother Zhang Tianyou as the right deputy marshal, and Zhu Yuanzhang as the left deputy marshal. Nominally, Marshal Du is the master of the army, and the status of the right deputy marshal is also higher than that of the left deputy marshal. However, the armies of Chuzhou and Hezhou were mostly recruited and incorporated by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang was braver and more resourceful than Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyou, and he had talents under him. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang actually became the coach of this team. Zhu Yuanzhang was unwilling to be subject to King Xiaoming, but considering the strong power of the Han and Song dynasties, he could use his power to order the army with the dragon and phoenix era. [55-56]

Zhu Yuanzhang was stationed in western Zhejiang for six years[57] and pursued the strategy of "building high walls, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king" proposed by Zhu Sheng, a strategist in Huizhou,[58] and rapidly and secretly expanding his own strength, these three strategies were the guiding ideology of Zhu Yuanzhang in the early stage of development.

Capture Yingtian

After Zhu Yuanzhang was stationed in Hezhou for several months, the food supply became a problem. Opposite Hezhou, Taiping and Wuhu, which are close to the south bank of the Yangtze River, are rich in rice, but there are no ships. At this time, it happened that the Chaohu water army of the two Red Turban Army came to join him, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally handled the merger. In July, more than 1,000 warships of the Chaohu Navy broke through the blockade of the Yuan army and arrived in Hezhou. Zhu Yuanzhang's infantry army boarded the ships of the Chaohu Naval Army and crossed the Yangtze River from Hezhou to the east. When he arrived at the quarrying on the opposite bank, Chang Yuchun led the army to rush and kill, conquer the quarry, and obtain a large amount of grain. The soldiers wanted to transport the grain and booty back to Hezhou to enjoy it slowly. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang decisively ordered someone to cut the ship's cable, let the boat go down the river, and cut off the way to retreat. Seeing that there was no way to retreat, the soldiers worked hard to conquer Taiping under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang. Entering Taiping, Zhu Yuanzhang reaffirmed military discipline and strictly prohibited plunder, and some soldiers violated the prohibition and were immediately executed, so Zhu Yuanzhang's army was supported by the local people. Zhu Yuanzhang then placed the Marshal Mansion of Taiping Xingguoyi, made himself the marshal, and appointed Li Shanchang as the capital of the Marshal's Mansion. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang began the work of stabilizing the base area. [59]

Nanjing Stone Town

Nanjing Stone Town

In March of the sixteenth year of Zhizheng (1356), Zhang Shicheng launched an offensive in the Yangtze River Delta and attacked the Jiangnan Yuan army. Taking this opportunity, Zhu Yuanzhang personally commanded the land and water army and attacked Jiqing for the third time. On the third day, Chen Zhaoxian's army camp outside the city was breached, and 36,000 of his troops surrendered. However, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the army was suspicious and uncertain. [60] So Zhu Yuanzhang selected 500 warriors from the surrendered army to be his pro-army and guard them at night, while only Feng Guoyong, the commander of the pro-army, was left by his side. [61] The next day, when the army learned about this, they were very moved, their doubts were all gone, and they were willing to follow Zhu Yuanzhang. As a result, the war went very smoothly, and in less than ten days, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Jiqing. After Zhu Yuanzhang entered the city, he ordered to appease the people and change Jiqing to Yingtianfu. [62] After Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, received the report, he promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to the Privy Council, and soon he was promoted to Jiangnan and other places in the province of Pingzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang set up Tianxing to build the Generalissimo Mansion of Kangyi in Yingtian, with Liao Yongan as the marshal of the unified army, and Li Shanchang as the left and right Shilangzhong. [63-64] In the seventeenth year of Zhizheng (1357), Geng Bingwenke Changxing, Xu Dake Changzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally led an army to capture Ningguo. Subsequently, Zhao Jizuke, Jiangyin, Xu Dake, Changshu. Hu Dahai Ke Huizhou, Changyu Chun Ke Chi Zhou, Miao Daheng Ke Yangzhou. [65] In the nineteenth year of Zheng (1359), Zhu Yuanzhang successively conquered the rest of eastern Zhejiang, often encountering Chunke Quzhou and Hu Daike Chuzhou, so that Zhu Yuanzhang's department controlled all parts of Jiangzuo and Zhejiang, and was adjacent to Chen Youliang's department to the west. [66] In May of that year, King Xiaoming promoted Zhu Yuanzhang to the post of Zuo Cheng of Yitong Sansi and Jiangnan Province, and in the first month of the twenty-first year (1361), Zhu Yuanzhang was named the Duke of Wu. [67]

Liu Bowen

Liu Bowen

At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had 100,000 troops, he still occupied very little territory, and he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. To the east and south is the Yuan army, to the southeast is Zhang Shicheng, and to the west is Xu Shouhui, although they are both anti-Yuan forces, but Zhang and Xu are hostile to each other with King Xiaoming. However, the main force of the Red Turban Army led by King Xiaoming and Liu Futong in the north greatly contained the Yuan army, and the strength of Zhang Shicheng and Xu Shouhui was not enough to annex Zhu Yuanzhang. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang is temporarily facing a good development opportunity. [68-69]

In the twentieth year of Zhizheng (1360), Liu Ji was invited by Zhu Yuanzhang to Yingtian (now Nanjing) and appointed him as a minister. In view of the situation at that time, Liu Ji proposed to Zhu Yuanzhang to avoid two-front battles and break through each other, which was adopted. After completing the deployment of "building a high wall", Zhu Yuanzhang began to implement the "extensive accumulation of grain". In order to solve the grain problem, in addition to mobilizing the people to carry out production, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to implement the Tuntian Law, vigorously develop the army's tuntian, and appointed Marshal Kang Maocai as the envoy of the capital water camp, responsible for the construction of water conservancy, and assigned generals to cultivate and farm land in various places. After a few years of work, Xingtun was everywhere, the treasury was full, and the military rations were sufficient. In the twentieth year of Zhizheng (1360), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that the "village grain" should no longer be levied to reduce the burden on the peasants. [70] In order to accumulate grain, Zhu Yuanzhang explicitly banned alcohol, but Hu Sanshe, the son of his general Hu Dahai, violated the ban with others and made profits from brewing wine privately. Someone admonished that Hu Dahai was attacking Shaoxing at this time, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang could put Hu Sanshe on Hu Dahai's face. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and resolutely strict with military discipline, so he killed Hu Sanshe by himself.

While winning the hearts and minds of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang also continued to recruit talents, especially intellectuals, and Zhu Yuanzhang also built a special Lixian Hall in Yingtian to receive them. These people played an important role in Zhu Yuanzhang's process of unifying the whole country. Zhu Yuanzhang respected Confucian scholars very much, and he summoned the Confucian scholar Tang Zhongshi in the eighteenth year of Zhizheng (1358) to ask Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, and Yuan Shizu on the way to pacify the world[71], which also showed that Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to create a new dynasty. [72]

Break Chen Han

Zhu Yuanzhang established a base with Yingtian as the center, with Chen Youliang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches, Fang Guozhen in the southeast, and Chen Youding in the south. Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding's goal was to protect the land and divide the territory, while Zhang Shicheng did not have much ambition for the two ends of the Yuan Dynasty; Chen Youliang was the strongest, and he was the most dangerous enemy that Zhu Yuanzhang encountered after occupying Yingtian. [73]

The situation of the Battle of Poyang Lake

The situation of the Battle of Poyang Lake

Chen Youliang was originally a subordinate of Ni Wenjun, a general under Xu Shouhui. [74] Later, he killed Ni Wenjun and held Xu Shouhui hostage in the twentieth year of Zhizheng (1360), capturing Taiping and Quarrying. So Chen Youliang thought that Yingtian was within reach, so he killed Xu Shouhui, called the emperor in quarrying, the country was called Han, and changed the righteousness of the Yuan. [75-76]

Then, Chen Youliang asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Yingtian from east to west, divide Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally, and Yingtian was shaken. [76] Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to convene the generals to discuss countermeasures, and for a while there were different opinions. [77] However, Liu Ji remained silent, so Zhu Yuanzhang asked for his opinion, and Liu Ji believed that the most dangerous enemy now was Chen Youliang, and that he must concentrate his efforts to eliminate him. Although Chen Youliang's power is strong, he kills the king and stands on his own, his troops are separated, and the people are tired, so it is not difficult to defeat, as long as they go deeper, and then attack them with ambushes, it is not difficult to win. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy deep and build fighters. Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinate Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang were old friends, so he repaired a letter and sent someone to Chen Youliang's camp, asking Chen to attack Yingtian, and said that he was willing to respond at Jiangdong Bridge. [78] [79]

On the morning of 23 June, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to the Jiangdong Bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian, only to find that the bridge was a stone bridge instead of a wooden bridge. But it was too late, Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush troops rose up to attack, and Chen Youliang was defeated. [80] Zhu Yuanzhang collected Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youliang was defeated and fled to Jiujiang, and captured Anqing in August of the following year, so Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to take Chen Youliang's old Chaojiang Prefecture, Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang,[81] and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei. [78] [82]

Zhu Yuanzhang's battle to destroy Chen Han

Zhu Yuanzhang's battle to destroy Chen Han

At this time, the Central Plains Red Turban Army split and weakened. In February of the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363), Zhang Shicheng took advantage of the danger and sent his troops to attack Anfeng, and Liu Futong asked Zhu Yuanzhang for help. Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to Anfeng, rescued Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, and arranged for them to live in Chuzhou. When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue King Xiaoming, Chen Youliang thought that the time for a counterattack had come, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu. [83] Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, Zhu Wenzheng, led his soldiers to hold out for 85 days. [84] In July of the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363), Zhu Yuanzhang commanded 200,000 troops and marched to Hongdu. The Poyang Lake Water Battle lasted 36 days, which began on 29 August and ended on 3 October. Zhu Yuanzhang's army gave full play to the advantages of the small boat's agility and attacked Chen's army with fire, and finally won,[85] and Chen Youliang was killed by random arrows. [86]

On the New Year's Day of the twenty-fourth year of Zheng (1364), Zhu Yuanzhang was elected as the king of Wu by hundreds of officials, and built a hundred officials. [87] Because in the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363), Zhang Shicheng had already established himself as the king of Wu, so Zhang Shicheng was called Eastern Wu and Zhu Yuanzhang was called Western Wu in history.

In March of the twenty-fourth year of Zhizheng (1364), Zhu Yuanzhang went to Wuchang again to supervise the siege of the city, and Chen Li finally surrendered out of the city. [88] After annexing Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang's next target was Zhang Shicheng.

Dominate Jiangnan

After Chen Youliang was killed, Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen in the east became the next target of elimination. In his early years, Zhang Shicheng sold illicit salt as a business. [89] At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the salt rebellion was launched, and in the fourteenth year of Zhizheng (1354), he was called King Cheng in Gaoyou, and the founding name was Zhou, and the Jianyuan Tianyou was born. [90] In the sixteenth year of Zhizheng (1356), the capital was built in Pingjiang. After eliminating Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Zhang Shicheng in October of the 25th year of Zhizheng (1365), and captured Tongzhou, Xinghua, Yancheng, Taizhou, Gaoyou, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Suzhou, and Anfeng counties in one fell swoop, driving the forces of Eastern Wu out of the Jiangbei region. [69] [91]

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the situation of secession in various places

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the situation of secession in various places

In May of the twenty-sixth year of Zhizheng (1366), Zhu Yuanzhang issued a document to denounce Zhang Shicheng. [92] In November of the same year, Hangzhou and Huzhou surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Pingjiang became an isolated city. [93] So Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded Pingjiang with heavy troops and launched the Battle of Pingjiang. At the same time as besieging the city, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Liao Yongzhong to Chuzhou to pick up Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, to Yingtianlai, but when he crossed the river in Guabu, he quietly chiseled the bottom of the boat, and the king of Xiaoming sank to the bottom of the river. Then, Zhu Yuanzhang announced that he would no longer take the year of the dragon and phoenix, and called the twenty-seventh year of Zhizheng (1367) as the "first year of Wu". [94-95]

At the beginning of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang built a wall to besiege the city, and built a three-story wooden tower, higher than the city wall, with bows and crossbows, fire guns to shoot into the city, and also set up Xiangyang artillery to bombard day and night. There was a panic in the city, and Zhang Shicheng failed to break through several times. Zhang Shicheng is capricious, greedy for enjoyment, and very indulgent to his subordinates. On the last day of the siege of Pingjiang, Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shixin supervised the battle at the head of the city, but he still did not forget to have fun, sat on the silver chair and drank, and the people who served on the left and right handed him peaches, but before the peaches arrived, he happened to be hit by a cannon and his head was shattered. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to persuade him to surrender many times, but Zhang Shicheng refused. Zhang Shicheng defended the Pingjiang River, and after the grain was exhausted, he fed on rats and dry grass; After the arrows are exhausted, the roof tiles are used as bullets. Until the eighth day of September in the twenty-seventh year of Zheng (1367), Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to attack Pingjiang City, and Zhang Shicheng launched a street battle to resist. [96-97]

In the first year of Wu (1367), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Tang He to be the general of the southern expedition to defeat Fang Guozhen, who had been in eastern Zhejiang for many years. [98] Later, he ordered Hu Tingrui to be the general of Zhengnan and He Wenhui to be the deputy general to attack Fujian. In the same year, Fang Guozhen surrendered.