In 1367, after pacifying the forces of Chen Youyu in the south, Zhu Yuanzhang led a large army to start the Northern Expedition to the Yuan Dynasty. Faced with Zhu Yuanzhang's northward advance, the Yuan Dynasty quickly retreated, and in only ten months, it invaded the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and drove the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty back to the northern desert region.
The rapidly defeated Yuan Dynasty still had a strong military force in the retreat to Mobei, and conquered other forces in the Mobei region and re-established the political power, which later historians called "Northern Yuan", and the Northern Yuan dynasty was the biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty.
In the face of the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, which had a strong power, why didn't Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, who were presiding over the Northern Expedition at the time, take advantage of the situation to eliminate them in one fell swoop? This question is really confusing. In fact, it was Zhu Yuanzhang's proposition not to make a devastating blow to the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not make this decision out of carelessness, but a major strategic decision made by a detailed analysis of the situation in the world at that time.
Although the Ming army expelled the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty and began to rule the world, the Ming Dynasty was not stable. The first is that the Northern Yuan forces are still strong. According to the historical records of the Northern Yuan:
"The land of the bow, no less than a million people, and the tribes to which they belong." No less than thousands of miles also. ”
Although the Yuan army here claims to be no less than a million people and has an element of boasting, it cannot be denied that the Yuan army is still strong at this time and has the strength to start a war again.
At that time, although the Ming army occupied Beiping, it did not eliminate the Northern Yuan forces around Beiping. The north of Beiping is the Lingbei Province of the Yuan Dynasty, and it is also the area facing the Northern Yuan, the left side of the Northern Yuan is the Liaoyang formation of the Yuan Dynasty, and the left side of Beiping is the Shaanxi Province and Gansu Province of the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Beiping could be said to be attacked on three sides, and Beiyuan could attack Beiping on three sides at any time.
If you rush into the north of the desert at this time, it is a lone army going deep, it is very likely that the sheep will enter the tiger's mouth, and the Northern Yuan forces may quickly counterattack and threaten the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
The Northern Yuan controlled a large amount of territory around Beiping, as far away as Yunnan, and the Liang King, a descendant of the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, the ruler of this region, still claimed to be subordinate to the Yuan Shun Emperor.
In the face of the Northern Yuan, which still had some powerful forces, Zhu Yuanzhang judged the situation and decided not to continue to attack the Northern Yuan with the theory of fate and luck, but to focus on strengthening the rule of the areas already occupied.
Zhu Yuanzhang gave up taking advantage of the victory to destroy the Northern Yuan, but the Northern Yuan did not give up the counterattack against the Central Plains. In 1369, after two years of preparation, when the Ming army helped to move to other regions, more than 40,000 cavalry who could lead good battles rushed to Beiping.
In the face of the cavalry offensive of the Northern Yuan, the Beiping defenders took correct defensive measures and dealt a heavy blow to Yesu with firearms. In the same year, the Ming army that moved to Shaanxi eliminated the Northern Yuan forces in Shaanxi Prefecture and incorporated Shaanxi Province into the Ming Dynasty Notice.
When the Ming army was running Shaanxi, it also quickly led the army to counterattack again. Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly ordered Chang Yuchun and Li Wenzhong to lead an army back to defend Beiping, not only repelling the Yesu army, but also sending troops into the north of the desert and driving Emperor Yuan Shun to the northerner region.
At the same time, the famous general Xu Da led the Ming army to launch a fierce attack on Wang Baobao, who was retreating to Gansu, and eliminated Wang Baobao's forces in one fell swoop, and the Ming army was able to hold both sides of the Taihang Mountains and solve the most direct threat to Beiping.
In order to consolidate his rule in the newly occupied areas, Zhu Yuanzhang set up a wide range of guardhouses in these areas, and at the same time, he also assigned his three sons to these areas as the kings of the domain, of which the third son Zhu Di was made the King of Yan, and the town guarded Beiping, and the most powerful force was established.
After Zhu Yuanzhang occupied Beiping, he focused on cleaning up the Northern Yuan forces around Beiping. After years of efforts, national defense was finally stabilized, and the Ming Dynasty's national strength gradually became stronger, zhu Yuanzhang decided to send Xu Da, Li Wenzhong, and Feng Shengbing to try to completely eliminate the Northern Yuan in three ways.
Due to the Ming army's incompatibility with the climate and unfamiliarity with geography, coupled with the depth of the lone army, the large army led by Xu Da and Li Wenzhong was fiercely attacked by the Northern Yuan Army, with heavy casualties, and only Feng Shengjun won a certain victory.
After the defeat, Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the experience, changed the battle plan, and adopted the avoidance of the main force of the Northern Yuan, while bypassing both sides and attacking its two wings. Although the Northern Yuan won the victory, it also paid a great price, and was unable to launch an attack on the Ming Dynasty for a while, so it had to wait for the restoration of strength.
During this period, Northern Yuan not only did not recover its strength, but due to the successive deaths of Wang Baobao and Yuan Zhaozong, its strength was greatly damaged.
Faced with the decline of Northern Yuan's strength, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to launch another attack on Northern Yuan. In 1382, the Ming army attacked the Liang forces in Yunnan, in 1387 the Ming army surrendered to Naha chu, and in 1388 the Ming army confronted the Northern Yuan in a decisive battle, and the result was a complete victory, destroying the Northern Yuan regime.
After the fall of the Northern Yuan regime, the northern desert steppe fell into chaos, so when Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingnan in 1402, the Mongol tribes were too busy with civil war to go south to fight back against Beiping, and Beijing was strong under Zhu Di's management, and the Mongol tribes did not dare to go south.