Recently, the popularity of the costume TV series "Daming Fenghua" has made many viewers have a strong interest in the history of the Ming Dynasty. In the play, Zhu Di led the Ming Dynasty's elite northern expedition to the Wara, Wuliangha, Tatar and other Mongol tribes in the war scenes made the audience feel thrilled. By episode 32, Zhu Di was overconfident in leading his army deep into the Mongolian steppes, but he fell into the trap set by the enemy, causing him to be unable to extricate himself. So the question is, did the real history Zhu Di also experience such a dark moment in the process of the Northern Expedition to Mongolia? The end result?
To answer the question raised above, it is first necessary to explain the actual situation of the various departments on the Mongolian steppe at that time. Since the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols have retreated to the northern steppes and soon split into tribes. The main forces were The Tatars (Eastern Mongolia) led by Benjamini (descendants of Genghis Khan), the Tatars (Eastern Mongolia) led by Arutai, and the Wala (Western Mongolia) led by Mahmu.
In history, Zhu Di personally conquered Mongolia five times in his lifetime. The first took place in March–August 1410 and was directed against the Mongol Tatars. Zhu Di personally led an army of 300,000 people to the banks of the Hunan River, and the Tatar Khan Ben yakuri and Taishi Arutai were beaten by the Ming army and abandoned their armor and fled. Zhu Di's first Northern Expedition was a resounding victory.
Zhu Di's second northern expedition took place in April 1414. The Tatar Khan Benjamin, who had previously been defeated by the Ming army, was assassinated by the warrior chief Mahamu during his escape, after which Mahamu marched east to attack Arutai, apparently with the aim of reunifying Mongolia. Arutai asked the Ming Dynasty for help in distress, and the Ming Dynasty did not want to see a reunified and powerful Mongols, so it decided to send troops to help its former enemies. This time, Zhu Di led his army to a decisive battle with the Wala army in the upper reaches of the Tula River (present-day Mongolian Tula River), and the casualties on both sides were heavy. However, the Ming Dynasty, relying on its numerical superiority, eventually forced the Wallachians to retreat. In August of the same year, the Ming army returned to the Dynasty.
In 1416, the wara chief Mahamu died, and the wallachia lost the momentum to expand outwards for a short time. However, Arutai, who controlled the Mongol Tatars at this time, thought that he was now strong enough, so he continued to do things on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, and also used force to subdue the Wuliangha Sanwei who blocked the northeastern border of the Ming Dynasty. In April 1422, Zhu Di again marched in person, this time leading his army directly to the Arutai base camp in Duolun, and quickly defeated it, and Arutai once again fled north with the remnants. Zhu Di did not intend to pursue him, so he returned to Beijing in September of the same year.
Zhu Di's Fourth Northern Expedition took place in August 1423, when Zhu Di received a report from the front-line army that Arutai was preparing to attack the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, so he went out to meet the battle. However, the Ming army wandered the Mongolian steppes for two months before learning that Arutai had been defeated by the Wallachians, and in December of the same year Zhu Di led his army back to Beijing, a time without success.
In April 1424, Zhu Di began his Fifth Northern Expedition. From the perspective of time nodes, Zhu Dibei's expedition in "Daming Fenghua" refers to this time. However, the object of engagement is not the same as in the TV series. In "The Style of Daming", Zhu Di's crusade is a mongol coalition of Mahmu, Tetsu Buhua and others. But in real history, maham had been dead for many years, and in 1424, he was only 2 years old.
In fact, zhu Di's fifth northern crusade was still aimed at Arutai. This time the Ming army arrived north of Kaiping, but did not encounter the main force of Arutai, some generals requested to take some of the men and horses deep into the enemy territory, Zhu Di was worried that too deep would be detrimental to the Ming army, so he planned to withdraw the army, which is also different from the "Great Ming Style". Zhu Di's military talent in history is very outstanding, and he can never commit a major mistake of obstinate behavior, which leads to the main force of the Ming army in a desperate situation.
On August 12, 1424, Zhu Di died of illness at the yumu River north of Duolun during his fifth northern expedition at the age of 64.
When later generations talk about the merits of Zhu Di's life, they often praise him for his pioneering and expanding the territory. However, to be fair, the results of Zhu Di's five northern expeditions were not as brilliant as many people imagined. Although all five battles were won, they did not deal a fatal blow to the Mongol forces, nor did they limit their invasion of the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Zhu Di also dismantled several key garrisons located outside Saiwai, causing the Ming Dynasty's defensive positions to retreat to the Great Wall and completely lose control of Saiwai. In addition, the five northern expeditions consumed a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, making the lives of the Daming people in the late Yongle Dynasty extremely difficult.
However, Zhu Di's Northern Expedition was not all useless. Under the continuous blows of the Ming Dynasty, the various departments of Northern Mongolia could not be reunified. Therefore, during Zhu Di's reign, although the problem of border troubles in the north was not effectively solved, it did not get worse. From the perspective of border stability, the Five Expeditions to Mongolia still achieved certain results, but the price paid was too expensive.
References: History of the Ming Dynasty, Yongle Emperor's Expedition to Mongolia