In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and Zhu Yuanzhang raised an army to Haoliang, and eventually went all over the world to establish the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang expelled the Yuan yu and recovered Yanyun, making great contributions to history. Zhu Yuanzhang was able to gain the world, and the civilian and military generals behind him were indispensable. Zhu Yuanzhang's military generals were like clouds, such as Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Feng Sheng, Li Wenzhong, and so on, but when it came to Zhu Yuanzhang's courtiers, there were not many famous, only Liu Bowen and Li Shanchang. In fact, when Zhu Yuanzhang was fighting the world, there were dozens of civilian strategists under him, the most important of which were 4 major strategists, namely: Li Shanchang, Tao An, Zhu Sheng, and Liu Ji (Liu Bowen). The protagonist of this article is Tao An.
Among the 4 great strategists, Liu Bowen and Li Shanchang are very famous and do not introduce much. Zhu Sheng and Tao An, although not famous, also played a crucial role. After Zhu Yuanzhang crossed the river, he went all the way south, took Huizhou, and after Deng Yu's recommendation, personally went to ask Zhu Sheng to come out of the mountain. After serving Zhu Yuanzhang, he put forward the nine-character policy of "building high walls, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king" for Zhu Yuanzhang, so that Zhu Yuanzhang could develop in a low-key manner in the chaotic world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and did not become a "target" of the Yuan Dynasty. If the nine-character policy put forward by Zhu Sheng is indispensable, then a suggestion made by another strategist, Tao An, is also very important, because Tao An suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang set the base camp in Nanjing.
Zhu Yuanzhang initially raised an army from Hao prefecture (古凤阳), then captured Dingyuan and Chuzhou, then attacked Hexian County, and then began to plan to cross the river. At this time, just as Yu Tonghai, Liao Yongzhong and others led the Chaohu water army to defect, Zhu Yuanzhang was like a tiger, planning carefully, crossing the river to capture the quarry, and then attacking Taiping (Anhui Dangtu). In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, all the tyrants were like bandits, and every time they attacked a city, they plundered more and more. Only after Zhu Yuanzhang's army was in the capital, Qiu did not commit any crimes. There was a highly respected Confucian in Taiping named Tao An, who saw Zhu Yuanzhang's strict military discipline and sighed:
"Fang jin is boiling in all directions, haojie is fighting together, besieging the city and slaughtering the city, and growing strong with each other, but his ambition is in the children's jade, and he does not have the heart to disturb the people and save the world."
Tao An means that other Haojie are attacking each other for money and children, and only Zhu Yuanzhang is to disturb the people, which is the master of saving the world. Therefore, Tao An led Taiping's father and fellow villagers to personally greet Zhu Yuanzhang and expressed his willingness to serve Tao An. Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy, not only promoted Tao An to the position of counselor of the shogunate, but also took the initiative to ask Tao An for advice. Tao An gave Zhu Yuanzhang a very decisive suggestion, that is, to take Jinling, Zhu Yuanzhang asked why this was so, Tao An explained:
"The capital of the Jinling Emperor, the dragon and the tiger, are limited to the dangers of the Yangtze River." If according to its form, we will win and send troops to the four directions, then why should we not conquer!
Tao An believes that if there is chaos today, there is Zhang Shicheng in the east, Xu Shouhui in the west, Han Lin'er in the north, Fang Guozhen in the south, and Zhu Yuanzhang in the middle, if you want to stand on your heels, you must find a base area that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Nanjing is a perfect place. Because Nanjing is dangerous according to the Yangtze River, the water system is complex, and it can send troops to the four directions in time, which is a foothold.
Zhu Yuanzhang heard of the great joy, took Tao An's advice, and began to seek Nanjing. Since then, Tao An has repeatedly received heavy responsibilities, and Zhu Yuanzhang has asked Tao An to settle the hearts and minds of the people every time he conquers a key place. On the one hand, Tao An stabilized the people, on the other hand, he raised grain and grass to replenish military supplies for Zhu Yuanzhang, and his contribution was great. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he had Tao An as the head, supplemented by Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, and the three of them jointly compiled the "Great Ming Law", and also let Tao An also revise the history of the country. Later, the people of Jiangxi were unstable, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Tao An to Jiangxi to pacify the people, Tao An's political achievements were remarkable, but in September of that year, he fell ill and died in Jiangxi. History:
(Hongwu) In the first year, An went to Jiangxi and made great achievements. Died in the official. Tell the sons: Don't love money! The emperor sacrificed for Wen and posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Gushi County.
After Tao An's death, Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad, not only personally wrote a tribute, but also posthumously named Tao An the Duke of Gushi County, and gave Tao An an an evaluation: "The national dynasty strategy is unparalleled, the first Hanyuan article." There is a detail that before Tao An died, he said 4 words to his son: Don't love money! Tao An hoped that his sons, as officials, would not covet money, but unfortunately, his sons did not listen.
According to historical records, Tao An had two sons, the eldest son Tao Yu and the second son Tao Sheng, who were both killed for corruption during the Hongwu years, and Tao An was killed. Tao An said 4 words when he was dying, but the sons did not listen, which is a pity.