In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da conquered Dadu, and the Yuan Dynasty officially collapsed. Although Emperor Yuanshun defeated most of the capital, Yuanmeng's strength should not be underestimated. The Yuan Shun Emperor went around trying in vain to revive the Yuan Dynasty regime.
As long as Emperor Yuanshun did not die for a day, Yuanmeng was still a lingering threat to the Ming Dynasty.
In order to completely solve the troubles and consolidate the newly established Ming regime, Zhu Yuanzhang sent a large army to suppress the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty.
Xu Da, Tang He, and Feng Sheng led an army from Tongguan to Gansu, and Deng Yu led his troops from Lintao to attack Hezhou.
1. The Young General
Deng Yu's original name was Deng Youde, and he was born in Sichuan. His father, Deng Shunxing, was a local militia leader who once led his troops to ensure local peace. However, Deng Shunxing unfortunately died on the battlefield while fighting against the Yuan Dynasty army.
Soon after, at the age of sixteen, Deng Yu was promoted to the position of general.
Don't look at Deng Yue's youthful vigor, he does have some outstanding talents.
It is reported that Deng Yue was born with divine power and was quite far-sighted.
At the age of seventeen, Deng Yu turned to follow Zhu Yuanzhang and changed his name to Deng Yu.
At the beginning of his defection to Zhu Yuanzhang, Deng Yu was appointed as the chief of the Guan Army, which shows that Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to Deng Yu. After that, Deng Yu followed Zhu Yuanzhang around in battle.
From the conquest of Taiping to the capture of Jiqing, Deng Yu also made many military achievements, and then he was named the Marshal of Guangxing Wing by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Perhaps, all the battle achievements that Deng Yu had made before were not as important as a Confucian he had recommended for Zhu Yuanzhang.
This man who made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's deployment of military strategy was named Zhu Sheng.
He put forward a nine-character proverb to Zhu Yuanzhang, which made a great contribution to Zhu Yuanzhang's future establishment of the Ming Dynasty.
With the nine-character motto of "building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming a king", Zhu Yuanzhang gradually embarked on the road of pacifying the world.
At that time, there was another stumbling block on Zhu Yuanzhang's road to the emperor, and he was Chen Youyu.
In order to take Fuzhou, Chen Youyu ordered the destruction of the city wall. Stationed in the city, Deng Yu stepped up hell while repairing the city walls overnight.
Relying on a tenacious force, Deng Yu held out for eighty-five days.
When Chen Youyi's troops ran out of energy, Zhu Yuanzhang's reinforcements arrived.
It was in this battle that Deng Yue almost lost his life. Even so, he was still loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang. In the third year of Hongwu, Deng Yu was made the Duke of Weiguo.
At this time, he had just turned thirty-one years old, which was also Zhu Yuanzhang's highest praise for Deng Yu's past merits.
2. The Battle of Dingxi
Deng Yu pursued King Yuan Yu at Hezhou, and the two sides fought until the Yellow River. Finally, Deng Yu slaughtered the remnants of the old Yuan and recovered thousands of miles west of Hezhou and northwest of Gansu, a battle known as the "Battle of Dingxi".
Deng Yu not only wiped out tens of thousands of old Yuan elite soldiers, but also achieved a rare and huge victory.
At this point, the situation between the Ming Dynasty and the old Yuan forces has undergone a huge change. As for the newly established Ming Dynasty, after this battle, the military plan of the Ming Dynasty changed from a strong offensive strategy to a defensive strategy.
Compared with the incessant internal troubles in the past, all the hidden dangers are now gathered in the frontier areas.
In 1372, Feng Sheng, the Duke of Song, built a pontoon bridge west of Lanzhou in pursuit of the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the ninth year of Hongwu, Deng Yu, the Duke of Weiguo, lengthened the pontoon bridge by another 3 miles, and later generations called this bridge "Zhenyuan Bridge".
In order to suppress the old Yuan forces, the generals of the Ming Dynasty can be described as painstaking. Especially on the turbulent river, building a wavering bridge is quite difficult for the infrastructure of ancient times.
According to historical records, when the pontoon bridge was built, Deng Yu and Feng Sheng built a total of four iron pillars.
These four iron pillars are thick and long, and they are all erected on both sides of the Yellow River.
At the same time, the iron pillar is tied with one hundred and twenty iron cables to secure the pontoon bridge.
In order to ensure the safety of the pontoon bridge, each iron pillar is eight feet long and weighs several tons.
However, the pontoon bridge built on the Yellow River is used seasonally. In other words, before the Yellow River floods, these pontoon bridges must be demolished to ensure the safety of the officers and men of the carriages and horses crossing the ice.
In the second year, it was necessary to rebuild the pontoon bridge, which was very troublesome.
Although the pontoon bridge built by Feng Sheng, the Duke of Weiguo, was long, wide and strong, it still could not escape the fate of being demolished.
In order to completely solve the problem of crossing the river, a wide and strong stone bridge was built on the Yellow River in Lanzhou, all of which was already the afterword after Deng Yu.
3. The Son inherits the Father's throne
In the tenth year of Hongwu, Deng Yu entered Sichuan and Tibet, killed the enemy bravely along the way, and regained another piece of territory for Daming. However, Deng Yu fell seriously ill on the way back to the dynasty and unfortunately died.
Zhu Yuanzhang, whose mind was like a rock, heard that Deng Yu had passed away and cried sadly for a long time.
After that, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Deng Yu's son Deng Zhen to inherit the position of Duke of Weiguo of Deng Yu.
Deng Zhen was a young man heroic and had the style of Deng Yu.
What is even more rare is that Deng Zhen once followed Deng Yu on the battlefield and also followed Xu Da's Northern Expedition.
Twenty-three years after Hongwu, The Korean Gong Lee Sun-chang was found to have involved Hu Weiyong's old case. Li Shanchang was a founding hero of the Ming Dynasty and was promised by Zhu Yuanzhang to avoid death three times.
But this time, Li Shanchang's entire family of more than seventy people was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang.
In addition, Li Shanchang's old ministry was also affected.
Originally, Hu Weiyong's case had nothing to do with Deng Zhen, but he was Li Shanchang's granddaughter-in-law, and according to Zhu Yuanzhang's will, Deng Zhen was also implicated.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Deng Zhen had been wronged, but he still did not stop the massacre.
What is even more sad is that Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow anyone to intercede for the people implicated in the Hu Weiyong case.
Only Li Shanchang's eldest son, Li Qi, was Zhu Yuanzhang's son-in-law, and no one escaped Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment list except for being spared death.
Even though many people interceded for Deng Zhen, Zhu Yuanzhang still ignored it. The Son of Heaven was threatening and bloodied. Zhu Yuanzhang only had hatred for Li Shanchang in his heart, and had long forgotten Deng Yu's battle achievements.
Twenty-three years after Hongwu, under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, dozens of members of Li Shanchang's family were executed.
After Deng Zhen was executed, Zhu Yuanzhang also revoked the title of Duke of Weiguo.
The Deng Yu family, which was originally valued by Zhu Yuanzhang, gradually declined.
It was not until many years later that the descendants of the Deng clan appeared in the court, which was also a little comfort to Deng Yue's military achievements in the past.
4. Summary
Since Deng Zhen was executed, there have been several generations of Deng descendants who have not emerged in the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the ninth generation of the Ming Dynasty that Deng Yu's grandson made achievements in military affairs.
Although the status of the status is far inferior to That of Deng Yu, the descendants have also improved.
Until the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Jiajing Emperor began to reward the ming dynasty's former merits in order to show his imperial power
。 Unexpectedly, he suddenly remembered Deng Yu, one of the "Six Founding Princes", and the Jiajing Emperor began to send people to look for Deng Yu's descendants, but he did not expect to finally find his heirs.
The Jiajing Emperor made Deng Yu's descendants the Marquis of Dingyuan, a title that lasted until the fifth generation. Until the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the fifth dingyuan marquis Deng Wenming shed the last drop of blood for the Ming Dynasty.
The story of Tang Shi also followed the fall of Daming and gradually disappeared into the dust of history.