Xu Da (1332-1385), known as Tiande, was a native of Yongfeng Township, Zhongli, Haozhou (now northeast of Fengyang, Anhui), a founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, an outstanding military strategist and commander.

Due to his poor family background and the tempering of hard life, when he grew up, he was burly, resolute, and good at using his brains when he encountered problems. Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, in the war of flattening and separating the heroes, overthrowing the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and establishing the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da served as the supreme military commander for a long time, experienced a hundred battles, and made outstanding achievements. He made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang in founding the Ming Dynasty and was known as the "first founding hero" of the Ming Dynasty.

In June of the thirteenth year of Zhizheng (1353), Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his hometown to recruit soldiers, and the twenty-two-year-old Xu Da heard the news, resolutely joined the army with a sword, defected to Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates, and began to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's career in the south and the north.

In this year, Xu Da and others followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer Xintang, Sanxiahe, and Yangquan in Hezhou, keep Daluhua Chiying Village, and capture Xuguan Cangzhai, and Zhu Yuanzhang's troops were greatly invigorated. In May of the fourteenth year of Zheng, Xu Da conquered Quanjiao with Zhu Yuanzhang and conquered Chuzhou in July. In the first month of the spring of the fifteenth year of Zheng, Zhu Yuanzhang's troops stationed in Chuzhou attacked Hezhou (now Hexian County, Anhui) due to a lack of food and salaries in order to raise military rations. Xu Da led the army first, and together with Zhang Tianhu and Tang He, he captured Hezhou, and Xu Da was promoted and pacified for his exploits in attacking Hezhou.

Shortly after Xu Da was appointed as the suppressor, an extraordinary incident occurred in the rebel army: Sun Deya came to Hezhou because of the lack of food for his troops and asked Zhu Yuanzhang for funding. Guo Zixing was very angry when he learned the news because of the conflict with Sun Deya in the past, and personally rushed to Hezhou from Chuzhou to reprimand Zhu Yuanzhang. Sun Deya was very worried when he heard about it and wanted to slip away quietly. Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't keep it, so he had to see him off. About thirty miles out of the city: Suddenly someone in the city came to report that Guo Zixing had fought with Sun Deya, who had not yet left the city, and Sun Deya had been caught by Guo Zixing and detained in the city. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was taken aback and wanted to go back to the city to persuade Guo Zixing to let Sun Deya go. Sun Deya's subordinates mistakenly thought that this was a conspiracy planned by Zhu Yuanzhang, so they tied him up and threatened to kill Zhu Yuanzhang to avenge his boss. Xu Da heard in the city that Zhu Yuanzhang was detained by Sun's subordinates and his life and death were uncertain, so he resolutely asked to replace Zhu Yuanzhang as a hostage to quell the incident. After multi-party mediation, Sun and Zhu were both released by the other party, and the crisis was calmed down. However, in this incident, Xu Da's sacrifice to save him was deeply praised by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the relationship between the two became closer.

Soon after, Guo Zixing fell ill and died, and Zhu Yuanzhang became the de facto leader of this rebel army. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was difficult to realize his ambition by only owning Hezhou, and that he had to cross the Yangtze River to develop southward, and he suffered from the lack of ships. When he was hesitating, Zhao Pusheng, Yu Tingyu, Yu Tonghai, Liao Yongan, Liao Yongzhong, and other leaders of the Chaohu Water Army led the army to annex. Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and said to Xu Da and others: "Fang is planning to cross the river, and the Chaohu water army is coming to attach, I will do everything!" So, in June of the fifteenth year of Zhizheng (1355), Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to deploy a combat strategy: "Quarrying (now Ma'anshan Quarry Town, Anhui) is a big town, and its preparation must be solid." Niu Zhuji (now in the middle of the Yangtze River in the southwest of Ma'anshan, Anhui) is close to the big river, and it is difficult to prepare for it. If you attack it now, it will inevitably be overcome. (2) Xu Da and the generals obeyed the order, and each waved their troops to reach Niuzhuji. Chang Yuchun was ordered to be the vanguard and landed ashore first, and Xu Da and others led the army to rush up. After a fierce battle with hand-to-hand combat, the Yuan forces were outnumbered and fled in rout, and Xu Da and others occupied Niuzhu and Quarry (see Battle of Crossing the River). The soldiers along the river surrendered to the wind.

Zhu Yuanzhang was encouraged by this victory, so according to the situation at that time, he put forward a plan to continue to attack the surrounding prefectures and counties, and he said to Xu Da and other generals: "Today, we will cross the river, fortunately, and we should take the victory to take peace." If you listen to the army to take the property and return, it will be difficult to raise it again, Jiangdong is not mine, and the big thing will go! Xu Da and others agreed. In order to strengthen the determination of the soldiers to move forward, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the strategy of "putting death and resurrection", ordered the ferry cable to be cut, pushed the boat into the river, and floated down the river. The sergeants were shocked when they saw it, and Zhu Yuanzhang took the opportunity to say: "Those who become big things are not regular and small." This is very close, if you don't take this, will you be ridiculed? "The soldiers had no choice but to obey. After they had eaten enough, they marched from Guandu (near the quarry) to Taiping, and reached the city through the Taiping Bridge. The army attacked urgently, the Yuan army defending the city could not resist, and those who defended the city did not wait to abandon the city and fled, and the Yuan Wanhu Naha was captured.

In March of the following year, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led a large army to attack Jiqing (see Battle of Jiqing), and Xu Da was ordered to be the vanguard and lead the naval army soldiers to march together. To Jiangning Town, he broke through Chen Zhaoxian's camp, and Chen Zhaoxian surrendered with his headquarters and won more than 36,000 soldiers. After October, he attacked Jiqing again and defeated the Yuan soldiers at Jiangshan (now Zhongshan, Nanjing). Yuan Yu Shi Dafu Fushou supervised the troops out of the city to engage in the battle, and was defeated by Xu Da and others. Zhu Jun took advantage of the victory to attack the city, Feng Sheng led Chen Zhaoxian's troops to bravely climb first, and finally broke through the city gate and entered the city. Fushou died in battle, the barbarian Hague fled to Zhang Shicheng, and the naval marshal Kang Maocai led more than 500,000 soldiers and civilians to surrender. After occupying Jiqing, Zhu Yuanzhang changed Jiqing Road to Yingtianfu.

In the battle of crossing the river to attack Quarry, Taiping, and Jiqing, Xu Da fought bravely and made outstanding achievements, and became a capable general under Zhu Yuanzhang.

After the occupation of Yingtian, Zhu Yuanzhang had a base area, and the food problem was basically solved, but the military situation was extremely grim: there was a general in the east who was determined to hold Zhenjiang; Tsing Yi Army Zhang Mingjian according to Yangzhou; Zhang Shicheng occupied Pingjiang (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu), Changzhou, and parts of western Zhejiang. In the south, there are Yuan generals Ba Ener Buhua stationed in Huizhou (now She County, Anhui), right Mo Yisun stationed in Chuzhou (now Lishui, Zhejiang), Shi Mo Yisheng stationed in Wuzhou (now Jinhua, Zhejiang), and Song Boyan did not spend time guarding Quzhou; Tianwan Xu Shouhui captured Chizhou (now Guichi, Anhui). In order to get rid of the unfavorable military situation, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Xu Da as a general in the same month after occupying Yingtian, and led the troops eastward to attack Zhenjiang, the gateway of the eastern front.

Before the army set off, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to rectify the discipline of the army and prevent the soldiers from looting after entering the city, deliberately found Xu Da's fault and threatened to be punished according to military law. Secretly, Li Shanchang pleaded hard in front of everyone before he loosened the tie, and warned him in person: "I have raised my own army and have not tried to kill in vain." Now you and other generals will go, and you should be considerate of my heart and quit soldiers. No burning or killing will be done on the day under the city. Those who violate the order shall be punished by military law, and those who indulge in it will be punished without amnesty. The whole army was solemn, Xu Da and others led the army to attack Zhenjiang, and in less than two days, they defeated the Yuan army guarding the city and killed its defenders Dingding and Duan Wu. Xu Da led the army into the city from Renhe Gate, the troops were strictly disciplined, and the order was rectified, and the common people lived as usual, as if they had never fought a war, so they were very supported by the common people. When the news was heard in the vicinity, they were eagerly looking forward to their early arrival.

In the battle of Zhenjiang, Xu Da was promoted to the marshal of the unified army with his military exploits and guarded his place. On the one hand, he pacified the people and supervised the farming, and on the other hand, he divided his troops to fight back and captured Jintan, Danyang and other places, so as to consolidate Zhenjiang, the easternmost outpost, and prevent Zhang Shicheng's westward invasion.

In July of the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang set up his own administrative organization in Yingtian, called himself Wu Guogong, and at the same time set up his own military management body, the Jiangnan Privy Council, and appointed Xu Da as a member of the Privy Council. Xu Da, who was a fellow of the Privy Council of Jiangnan and the commander of the Zhenjiang Army, took advantage of the victory to besiege Changzhou after repelling the attacks of Zhang Shicheng's army again and again.

However, Changzhou defended the enemy and refused to surrender. In addition, the soldiers in the city had sufficient food, and Xu Da and others could not attack. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately used military law to demote Xu Da and his subordinates to one level as a punishment, and wrote a letter to reproach Xu Da, saying: "Abuse and surrender led to rebellion, and the teacher was useless. Otherwise, there will be no forgiveness! Xu Da was anxious that Changzhou could not be attacked for a long time, and he also pondered Zhu Yuanzhang's reproach, and he had to deal with Zhang Shicheng's army's counterattacks again and again. However, Xu Da was not alarmed and calmly commanded the troops to meet the battle, making it difficult for Zhang Jun's attempt to succeed. At the same time, Chang Yuchun, Liao Yongan, Hu Dahai, and others, who were stationed thirty miles away from the city, led their troops to rush to reinforcements, attacked inside and outside, defeated Zhang's army, and captured the enemy general Zhang De. The remnants of the enemy fled into the city. Seeing that Changzhou was in danger, Zhang Shicheng sent his subordinate Lu Zhen to sneak into the city at night to strengthen his defensive capabilities. Xu Da's overseers attacked in turn, and Lu Zhen saw that his morale was low and it was difficult to support, so he had to abandon Changzhou and flee alone. In March of the seventeenth year of Zhizheng (1357), the battle of Changzhou, which lasted for half a year, finally ended in victory. Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Changchun Privy Council in Changzhou, appointed Xu Da as the Privy Council, and Tang He as the Privy Council, commanding the army to defend the city.

Then, Xu Da and others took advantage of the victory to move their divisions to attack Ningguo (now Xuancheng, Anhui), with more than 100,000 soldiers and 2,000 horses, and then attacked Yixing, Changshu, Jiangyin Madasha (now Jingjiang, Jiangsu) and other places, and the line from Yixing to Jingjiang was owned by Zhu Yuanzhang.

After more than two years of hard work, Zhu Yuanzhang's Jiangnan regime with Yingtian as the center has gradually stabilized, and generally controls the areas of present-day Jiangsu, southern Anhui, and northwestern Zhejiang. Xu Da, as the main general under Zhu Yuanzhang, has made great achievements.

In April of the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363), Chen Youliang was "angry that his territory was declining", built a huge ship several feet high, gathered an army of 600,000 people, poured out of the nest, and entered the siege of Nanchang. Zhu Wenzheng, Deng Yu, Zhao Desheng, and Xue Xian, the defenders of the Zhu army, led the soldiers of the whole city to fight to the death and held on for 85 days, so that Chen Youliang was unable to move forward under the fortified city. The defenders of Nanchang fought bloodily and won valuable time for Zhu Yuanzhang to calmly transfer troops and prepare for a decisive battle with Chen Youliang.

On the sixth day of July, Xu Da followed Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions and returned to the division to rescue Nanchang. Zhu Yuanzhang swore an oath in Longjiang (now outside the Xingzhong Gate in Nanjing, Jiangsu) and personally led an army of 200,000 to attack Chen Youliang. Chen Youliang heard that Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to arrive, so he relieved the siege of Nanchang and returned to the battle from Poyang Lake in the east. This is a decisive battle related to the survival of both sides, known as the "Battle of Poyang Lake" in history. Xu Da, as the main attacking force, led the army first, and first met Chen Youliang at Kanglang Mountain (now Kangshan, Nanchang, Jiangxi), and the two armies faced each other by the lake. Chen Youliang's soldiers were numerous, and the ships were tall and imposing. Xu Da was not afraid, and the generals risked their lives to break into battle, and his subordinates were greatly encouraged, and they all rushed to kill bravely with one as ten. Xu Dabu defeated Chen Youliang's vanguard in one fell swoop, killed more than 1,500 people, captured a giant ship, and won the first battle. Then Yu Tonghai and others took advantage of the wind to fire artillery, burned more than 20 enemy ships, and burned and drowned many enemy soldiers. Xu Da fought hard in the enemy formation and fought continuously. The fire burned from the enemy ship to Xu Da's warship, and while directing the soldiers to put out the fire, he continued to fight with Chen's army, becoming more and more courageous, and commanded the warships to advance in the enemy formation. The two sides fought fiercely at Kanglang Mountain for a whole day, the lake was stained red with blood, and the sky was dark and dark under the smoke of artillery fire. The Zhu army, under the leadership of Xu Da and other brave generals, fought to the death and repelled Chen Youliang's attack. In this battle, Xu Da defeated the enemy's front for the first time, strengthened the prestige of the whole army, and laid the foundation for Zhu Yuanzhang to win the decisive battle. That night, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to prevent Zhang Shicheng on the eastern front from taking advantage of the opportunity of the Battle of Poyang Lake to enter the army, ordered Xu Da to withdraw from the battle and return to Yingtian. After Xu Da left, Zhu Yuanzhang commanded the generals and soldiers to continue the bloody battle with Chen Youliang on Poyang Lake, and finally killed Chen Youliang, annihilated the main force of Chen's army, and won the victory in the Battle of Poyang Lake.

After Xu Da returned to Yingtian, he strictly trained the troops and strengthened the garrison on the Eastern Front. Investigating spies and repairing the city, Zhang Shicheng was seamless and did not dare to invade rashly. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang praised Xu Da and said: "I let Xu Da return to Shou Yingtian is the most reassuring, no matter what problems he encounters, he can deal with them properly." It can be seen how much Zhu Yuanzhang trusts Xu Da.

After the Battle of Poyang Lake, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Yingtian, and Xu Da and others led the army to conquer Luzhou. Soon, he was ordered to return to the Huguang front. Xu Da successively led his troops to capture Jiangling, Yiling (now Yichang, Hubei), Xiangtan Prefecture (now Xiangtan, Hunan), Chenzhou (now Yuanling, Hunan), Hengzhou (now Hengyang, Hunan), Baoqing (now Shaoyang, Hunan), Jingzhou (now Jingxian, Hunan) and other places, completely purging the remnants of Chen Youliang and occupying the Huxiang region. In order to commend Xu Da's merits, Zhu Yuanzhang called Queen Wu in the first month of the 24th year of Zhizheng, and appointed Xu Da as the Zuo Xiangguo, with a status above the generals.

In October of the twenty-fifth year of Zhizheng (1365), Xu Da and others were ordered to lead the Ma Buzhou Division to advance by land and water to capture Huaidong, Taizhou and other places. The army crossed the Yangtze River, conquered Hai'an Dam in Taizhou (now Hai'an, Jiangsu) in one fell swoop, and besieged Taizhou. After more than a month of bloody battles, Taizhou was finally conquered, and more than 5,000 people were captured by the defending general Yan Zaixing. After that, Xu Da captured Tongzhou, Xinghua, Haozhou and other places. In these battles, Xu Da was swift and ever-changing, showing outstanding command skills.

On August 12, the 26th year of Zhizheng, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Xu Da as the general and Chang Yuchun as the deputy general, leading an army of 200,000 to attack Zhang Shicheng. Xu Da used a counter-strategy to win, leaving Zhang Shicheng's hometown of Pingjiang completely isolated (see Battle of Pingjiang). In the following year, Xu Daqin led his soldiers to break through Fengmen, and the army swarmed up and entered Pingjiang City. Zhang Shicheng led his troops to fight in the streets, but his soldiers had no fighting spirit and surrendered one after another. Zhang Shicheng saw that the general trend had gone, set fire to his wife and children, hanged himself behind closed doors, and was rescued by his generals, and Xu Da escorted him to Yingtian. On the day of the destruction of the city, Xu Da strictly restrained his subordinates and issued a military order: "Those who plunder people's property die, those who destroy people's houses die, and those who leave the camp twenty miles die!" "Led the army into the city, disciplined, did not commit any crimes in the autumn, and was very popular with the people. Xu Da's meritorious letter to the Duke of the Kingdom is the highest title of this reward.

On October 21 of the first year of Wu (1367), Xu Da led 250,000 troops from Huai into the river and north to the Central Plains in the north (see Battle of the Ming Dynasty and Yuan). In December, he conquered Jinan (see the Battle of Shandong in the Ming Dynasty) and captured 3,855 Yuan troops and 429 horses. In the victory of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Yingtian in the first month of the following year, and the founding name was Daming, and the founding name was Hongwu. Xu Da was named the right prime minister of Zhongshu and the young master of the prince.

Emperor Yuan Shun fled to the capital and still maintained a set of government institutions, and still had a certain strength militarily. In February of the second year of Hongwu (1369), Xu Da commanded a large army to capture Shanxi (see the battle of Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty) and Qin Long (see the battle of Ganshan in the Ming Dynasty). In the whole process of sweeping away the right side of the mountain and sending troops to Qinlong, Xu Da seized the opportunity of expanding Timur's north out of Yanmen Pass and attacking Beiping, and took advantage of the weakness to attack Taiyuan, overturning the nest of the expanded mountain, causing it to advance and retreat, and pacifying Shanxi in one fell swoop. Seize the opportunity of Li Siqi and Zhang Sidao of the Shaanxi Yuan Army to patrol and watch, and dare not take the initiative to attack, go straight to Fengyuan, enter Lintao, and besiege Qingyang. Xu Da used surprisingly endless troops, expected the enemy to win, and showed extraordinary courage and command ability.

After Xu Da went out of Qinlong and pacified Guanlong, the northern territory of the Ming Dynasty had reached the north and south of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu. However, Timur was still stationed in Shen'eryu (now northwest of Dingxi, Gansu), Huo'er Huda was stationed in Yunzhou (now Yunzhou Town, North Chicheng, Hebei), Naha was stationed in Tunjinshan, and Lahan was stationed in Xiliangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu). Expanding Timur's activities in the northwest were rampant, taking advantage of Xu Da's pacification of Guan Long's division to triumph in Beijing and besiege Lanzhou. In the spring of the third year of Hongwu (1370), Xu Da was appointed as the general of the expedition, and led Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Deng Yu, Tang He and others to divide their troops into two routes to sweep away the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty that invaded the north (see Ming Taizu's First Northern Expedition to the Desert). Xu Da marched west from Tongguan, went out of the west road to pound the west, and attacked and expanded. Xu Da led the army to the north this time and won a great victory, forcing the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty to retreat north to the front line of Yingchang and Dingxi. From then on, the defense of the northern side of the Ming Dynasty tended to stabilize.

In November of the same year, Xu Da and other teachers returned to the dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally went to Longjiang to greet the soldiers of the Northern Expedition. Subsequently, the great meritorious hero, Xu Da was awarded the founding of the country and the auxiliary movement to promote the Cheng Xuanli military minister, and the special entry into the Guanglu doctor, the left pillar country, the Taifu, and the right prime minister of the Zhongshu participated in the military and state affairs, and was named the Duke of Wei, with five thousand stones at the age of Lu, and the descendants were hereditary.

In order to further crack down on the remnants of the Yuan army, in the first month of the fifth year of Hongwu (1372), Xu Da once again led his army to the north as a general (see Ming Taizu's Second Northern Expedition to the Desert). It was a large-scale military operation, divided into three routes, to "clear the desert" (referring to the use of troops against the Mongols). Xu Da went out of the Yanmen Pass and went straight to Helin, as the middle route army. In March, Xu Dashi arrived at the Shanxi border, sent Lan Yu as the vanguard, and marched north out of Yanmen Pass. Lan Yu defeated the mobile troops of the Kuangkuo at Yema River, and Xu Da led his army to the Tura River (Tula River in the present-day Mongolian People's Republic), and then defeated the Kuangkuo army. After the defeat and escape, he merged with He Zongzhe into an army and set up a position in Lingbei to block Xu Da's troops. The combined forces of Kuangkuo and He attacked desperately, and the Ming army suffered setbacks, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded. Xu Da was not surprised, shrunk the front, and held the camp to avoid a big defeat. Then, Xu Da returned with the whole army and gathered troops to defend the fortress. Seeing this, the Kuangkuo army did not dare to pursue rashly.

As the Mongol military power was difficult to destroy for a while, the Ming Dynasty's strategy towards the north shifted from attacking to defensive. Since then, Xu Da has been training troops in Beiping and Shanxi for a long time, and has been guarding Beiping for more than ten years.

During his tenure in Beiping, Xu Da migrated Shanxi peasants to Beiping three times to farm in Beiping to strengthen Beiping's defenses. Xu Da dispersed them to various guards along the Great Wall and taxed them according to their household registration. Those who belong to military households shall be given clothes and food to make them errand to the army; Those who belong to registered households shall be given land, cattle, and seeds, and shall pay taxes. More than 35,000 households and more than 190,000 people were immigrated before and after, more than 250 tuntian sites were established, and more than 1,300 hectares of cultivated land were cultivated. These measures by Xu Da greatly alleviated the problem of food supply for the northern army and stabilized the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, Xu Da strictly trained his soldiers, regulated the city, strengthened the garrison, and was strict with Fengsui, always guarding against the invasion of the Mongol army. Xu Da is regarded as plugging the Great Wall. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, with the improvement of the status of civil ministers, the military ministers who had made great contributions in the past were gradually treated coldly, but Xu Da was always reused by Zhu Yuanzhang to defend the safety of the north of the Ming Dynasty.

After a long career as a horseman, Xu Da's body gradually became unable to support it, and he finally became ill and couldn't afford to get sick. In the 17th year of Hongwu (1384), in the leap October, Xu Da was seriously ill in Beiping, and Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy to summon Yingtian. He died on February 20 of the following year at the age of 54. Posthumously crowned the king of Zhongshan, Zhen Wuning. Buried in Zhongshan Mountain, worthy of enjoying the Taimiao, ranked first among the heroes.

Regarding the cause of Xu Da's death, some historical books record: "(Xu) Da fell ill, recovered, gave steamed goose, and died of runny nose." "Although these materials are not entirely reliable, they are not fabricated at will. After Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, in order to ensure that the Zhu Ming Dynasty was "one line for all generations", he tried every means to strengthen the imperial power, and all those who he thought hindered the dictatorship, whether they were ministers or generals, were all eliminated. Hu and Lan were imprisoned, and almost all the heroes and old generals were wiped out. The year before, Li Wenzhong, the nephew of his righteous son who had fought in the south and the north and made great contributions, was secretly poisoned to death. Although Xu Da is the first to make great contributions to the founding of the country, and has always been loyal, but thinking of his prestige, Zhu Yuanzhang's "giving steamed goose" may not be a fool.