In the second year of Hongwu (1369), the Ming Dynasty's unification war was carried out to the final stage. Zhu Yuanzhang sent Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead the Northern Expeditionary Army north, and the troops pointed directly at the Yuan capital. The once invincible Yuan Dynasty has now become a corrupt and ruined dynasty, unable to resist at all, the Yuan Shun Emperor had no intention of fighting, rushed north, and fled to the desert grasslands. In order to eliminate evil, Chang Yuchun personally led a crack army, and starry night and Cheng directly attacked The Yuan Dynasty in Kaiping, another strategic point in the Saiwai grassland.
In July of the second year of Hongwu, Chang Yuchun once again won a great victory in the Battle of Kaiping, "receiving 10,000 soldiers such as Emperor Qingsheng and Pingzhang Dingzhu, 10,000 cars, 3,000 horses, 50,000 cattle, and the children's treasure goods were called ", and the victory was won. Unfortunately, when Chang Yuchun returned to the army on the way to Liuhechuan (Longguan County, Hebei), he died of a violent illness at the age of forty, which can be described as a lifelong bloody battle for the Ming Dynasty, and then died.
The "History of Ming" has a very high evaluation of Chang Yuchun, "Yuchun is bold and courageous, good at caring for soldiers, destroying the front, and not losing the north." Although he does not study the history of books, he uses soldiers and ancient cooperation", "Yu Chun tastes self-proclaimed that he can bring 100,000 people and run amok in the world", is a rare fierce general and military wizard, and has made great contributions to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang was very recognized by Chang Yuchun's loyalty and talent, and was deeply saddened by Chang Yuchun's death, and posthumously named him the King of Kaiping, with infinite sorrow and glory.
However, what is puzzling is that Chang Yuchun is loyal to the country, but his son Chang Sheng wants to fight with Zhu Yuanzhang and join forces with a group of people to rebel and overthrow the Ming Dynasty and establish himself as king. Why is the contrast between father and son so great? This matter also has to start with another Ming Dynasty general, Lan Yu.
Blue Jade, a native of Dingyuan, Anhui, has a great appearance and heroic martial arts, "a long body, a brave and courageous man, and a great general". Among the founding generals of the Ming Dynasty, Lan Yu was younger and belonged to the second echelon, and in his early years he had been following Chang Yuchun as the governor of the Guan Army, and had made great achievements in battle bravery, gradually gaining fame and winning the attention of Zhu Yuanzhang. After the death of Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu's status rose rapidly, becoming Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted general, leading troops on many occasions and making many achievements in the battles of pacifying Yunnan and attacking the Northern Yuan.
However, Lan Yugong was a high lord, with heavy troops in his hands, but he did not pay attention to small sections in peacetime, arrogant and arrogant, and was secretly regarded as a major threat by Zhu Yuanzhang. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393), Lan Yu was killed by Zhu Yuanzhang for the crime of rebellion, and his relatives and friends were also killed, "there are innumerable people below the Marquis" and "15,000 people of the clan".
The death of Blue Jade caused a great shock to the Chang Yuchun family. Because Sapphire is closely related to Chang Yuchun, the former is the latter's brother-in-law. In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, both changlan families were people in the same boat. Moreover, at this time, Chang Yuchun had been dead for more than 20 years, and the Chang family had no big tree to shield the wind and rain, so the people of the ChangYuchun family were in danger.
At this time, the eldest of the Chang family, Chang Mao, had already been convicted in Hongwu for twenty years, and was sent to Guangxi Longzhou and died, and the top pillar of the Chang family was the second elder Chang Sheng. Although Chang Sheng held the titles of Right Pillar State and Founding Duke, he completely relied on his father Yu Yin, and he himself had no weight in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, killing him was like stepping on an ant.
Worried and uneasy, Chang Sheng already felt that the sword of destiny was hanging high above his head, and he didn't know when it would fall. In April of the 26th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a holy decree that Chang Sheng was "ordered to transfer the kilns in Sanshan and other places", but went to the construction site as a supervisor with the honor of the founding father, and Chang Sheng already felt that danger was imminent.
In order to protect himself, Chang Sheng decided to make a desperate bet. He privately received the old ministry and his friend Wang Cheng, the governor of the Right Army, and other military generals, and secretly conspired: "What an insight to avoid this great difficulty", "The relatives of this day and the deceased have all been killed, and I will not stop for a long time", "When I want to do a career now, I am just no one". He began to mobilize soldiers and horses, collect ordnance, grain and grass, and prepare to rebel in the Three Mountains outside Jinling City, and he wanted to fight with Zhu Yuanzhang.
Where did he know that Zhu Yuanzhang's Jinyi guards and secret agents of the Punishment Department had already set their sights on him, and his every word and deed and every move Zhu Yuanzhang could see. Before Chang Sheng's preparations were ready, his gang was swept away by Zhu Yuanzhang and killed everything. The Chang Yuchun family suffered a catastrophe at this point, leaving only a grandson, Chang Yuchun, Chang Jizu, and was sent to Yunnan. It was not until the Hongzhi Emperor rehabilitated the heroes during the Hongzhi period, visited from Yunnan to Chang fu, a descendant of the Chang family, and revived as the commander of the Jinyi Guard in Nanjing, that the Chang family was completely liberated from this disaster.
References: Records of the Rebels, History of the Ming Dynasty