In the thirtieth year of Hongwu (1397), Zhu Yuanzhang had been establishing the Ming Dynasty for thirty years, when he was 69 years old, his sons were able to serve him, and he sent several sons to guard the north to defend his Daming security.
Zhu Yuanzhang had a habit of observing the celestial signs at night, and if the celestial signs changed, he would be extremely cautious, examine the blessings and misfortunes of the celestial changes, and then take the next step. According to his lifelong experience of war, this change in the heavens is a kind of foreboding, and it has a great bearing on the victory or defeat of the war. Nongzi Shuo, there is an eclipse of the sun.
On the first day of May of that year, there was an eclipse, and at night, the town star violated the penalty star; On the night of the seventh day of the first month, Ying lu violated right law enforcement; On the night of the ninth day of the first month, there was a star the size of an egg, with a bright light on its tail, entering the Purple Micro Wall from the heavenly kitchen, followed by two small stars, until the swimming qi disappeared. (To be honest, these astrological changes, we really don't understand, friends who understand can explain)
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately noticed the changes in the heavens, and he believed that according to the changes in the heavens, there should be a military alarm in the north. Therefore, he hurriedly wrote letters to his sons Zhu Tang the King of Jin, Zhu Di the King of Yan, Zhu Gui the Dai King, Zhu Zhi the Prince of Liao, Zhu Quan the King of Ning, and Zhu Shu the King of Gu, informing them:
"Looking at the records of the past, there will be such celestial phenomena, and the border will be restless, and sooner or later it will be confirmed. Today's celestial phenomena are exactly the same as in the past, and we must not be cautious.
His verification may not be this year, but in a year or two, there will be foreigners on the side, so you should lay out your military horses and horses in the east and west, and defend their own places.
Now the places defended by several of you are no less than six thousand miles, and when the situation is urgent, it is difficult to gather quickly, and each of your military horses is no more than 10,000 or 20,000, but the hu people's military horses total 100,000, and if they do not send troops, they will already have to invade the south, and if they invade the south, the horses will be strong. So unconsidering, planning day and night, who can prevent the offense?
The Art of War says, 'To men is not to men.' More wins, less wins. And what about the uncounted for?
I am now old, my energy is weak, it is difficult to strategize, you are waiting to be sealed in the north, it is the imperial court screen domain, if you do not think deeply about the future, if you or miss the opportunity, not only do I worry, but the safety of you and so on is also of great importance, can you not be cautious?
I will now give you a brief plan, this year or two or three years, you and other large armies have not yet gathered, but the guards and the troops and horses of the Dusi and Xingdu divisions are each guarding their own land, no more than 10,000 or 20,000, and if you encounter a hundred thousand kobians in Huma, it is not appropriate to engage them, you should either enter the barrier, or occupy the dangerous place in the valley, and wait in ambush with infantry in the middle.
When they see that our army is not in a war, they will plunder in all directions, and when their arrogance is scattered and the ranks are not strict, I will intercept them with horsemen and infantry on the main road, and they will certainly defeat them. If, as soon as he saw Huma, he would easily engage him with three or five thousand or ten thousand soldiers and horses, and this would not only fail to win, but would also be defeated.
The focus is on hiding and designing, and when it is reckless, it can capture its leader in a battle. ”
He also wrote a special letter to Zhu Di, the King of Jin and Zhu Di, the King of Yan, who were stationed in Datong Province, saying: "This year, the water and grass outside the Saiwai are abundant, the land behind the mountains is high, and there is no scorching summer heat. You two should train the horses and horses to control the strings in order to be free. ”
After receiving instructions from their fathers, Zhu Di, the King of Jin, and Zhu Di, the King of Yan, were young and vigorous, they actually commanded their own troops and horses to patrol the border, from Kaiping (present-day Tangshan) to the north, hundreds of miles away.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard about it, he quickly sent someone to warn him and the two of them:
"Recently, some people have come to Beijing from the scrammed and know that your brothers are leading the army deeply. When the ancients talked about soldiers, you know yourself and know the other, and if you can know the other and know yourself, although you can't win, there is no danger, you don't know yourself and you don't know the other, and if you suddenly encounter the enemy, it is quite dangerous.
Take a confidant. I went from Liaodong to Gansu, more than 6,000 miles from east to west, only 100,000 warable horses, although there are horses in the Beijing Division, Henan, and Shandong, if you want to go to the border to fight, it is difficult to collect for a while, if the situation is urgent, the total number of horses outside The Beipingkou is only 20,000, if you encounter 100,000 horses, even the famous generals in ancient times are difficult to fight in the field, so we must know ourselves, even if there are so many horses in our army, even if there are infantry, but they can only be sandwiched in the horse army to help create momentum, it is impossible to let the infantry chase the enemy and capture the Kou.
Now you two are leading thousands of troops and horses, leaving Kaiping for three or four hundred miles, stationed in the wilderness outside Sai, and there is no fast riding long-distance detective, knowing the enemy situation in detail, if there are tens of thousands of Hu soldiers, sneaking day and night, hiding in the woods or reeds, once they suddenly meet, he has tens of thousands, I only have thousands, how to stop? If the horse retreats quickly, how can the soldiers of the whole army be saved?
At present, the number of horses in our army is small, and we can only go to a distance of thirty or twenty miles from the city, march and garrison, send people to reconnoiter from afar, set up beacons and cannon signals, and know immediately in case of emergency.
When the Hu people move, they have 100,000 troops and horses, and the troops are all ready, if you want to fight, can you stop them? You can't think deeply, raise troops and go far, and it is a fluke not to meet the enemy, if you encounter it, can you not be dangerous?
Now our army has few horses and relies entirely on infantry, so it is necessary to always attach itself to the city fortress, and if there is an accident, we can also stick to it for security and wait for reinforcements.
Alas! Since I left in the cold, due to the chaos in the world, I had no choice but to join the army, and within two years I would be like a cloud, but I still had to obey the orders of those who had strong troops. Two years later, our commander-in-chief crossed the river in the east and trained soldiers and horses in Jianye (Nanjing) to watch the changes in the world, and those who started up were all unscrupulous and rogues, even if they were rogues, the Yuan court could not be pacified.
Therefore, I ordered Xu Da, the king of Shanwuning, and The king of Kaiping Zhongwu, Chang Yuchun, to march together with the Qunxiong, and after more than ten years, the Qunxiong was destroyed, and only then did the soldiers and the people stop and the world be at peace.
When Yu Qunxiong was fighting, Zhang Shicheng called Wang Yugusu (present-day Suzhou), Chen Youding controlled the Eight Fujian Dangerous Fortress, Fang Guozhen issued orders to Zhen Yue, Du Zundao and Liu Taibao were founded in the Central Plains, and Xu Zhenyi and Chen Youyu also successively founded the country with the title of Jianghan, these soldiers were undisciplined and couldnibalistic.
The Yuan court sent Richard Khan (Chakhan Timur) and others to quell the rebellion in Heluo, Liu Taibao could not resist, and the liang was pacified, and then, Richard Khan's army marched into Shandong, and the Chaoxiong Mao clan and others were destroyed, and although his generals were able to hold the city firmly, they were all defeated as soon as they engaged Richard Khan.
At this time, Richard Khan was arrogant and arrogant, and his heart was crazy, so he finally died at the hands of his own people. Soon, Richard Khan's nephew Wang Baobao was still acting according to his uncle's practice and could not convince the public, so that his subordinates declared their allegiance to the imperial court and asked the imperial court to order the murder of Wang Baobao, and since then there has been discord between the court and the contradictions. The first general leads the army to dominate the outside, and the minister has the power to the inside.
I saw this opportunity and sent troops to fight, and since the first year of Hongwu, the soldiers crossed the River, drove Shandong, swept Through Henan, and then entered Tongguan, and then sent a general from Yicheng (present-day Linzhang, Hebei) to Zhending (present-day Zhengding, Hebei) to Tongzhou (present-day Tongzhou District, Beijing), the Yuan Shun Emperor abandoned the city and fled north, and all the Areas of You (Zhou) Ji (Prefecture) were pacified; Then the army marched westward, pacified Jinji, Jinji and Hebei pacified, the large army crossed the Yellow River in the west, and pacified Guanzhong, and in less than three years, the world was unified.
Alas! I commanded the generals with my army, and I did not lose or lose my sergeants. At this time, he was trying to recuperate his strength to watch Hu Yuan change, but the generals requested every day to go deep into the desert and sweep away the remnants of the Yuan, so they had to go out of Helin again, and even lost. This is because of the credulity of the unscrupulous words, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties.
Now that the two of you have entered the outside of the cyprus and raised your troops to travel far, if you encounter the enemy, can you avoid danger?
From ancient times to the present, Hu Yu has long been a problem for China, and the key to defending the border in the past generations has not been to plan first as an urgent task, so I am more cautious about the northern border.
If you can listen to my teachings, understand the situation, and do not slacken off day by day, even if you cannot win, he will not be able to cause me misfortune, this is a good idea.
The good overcomes the enemy better than the invisible, and you should be careful. ”
Writing letters to his sons several times in a row, summing up the lessons of his life, and teaching his sons how to fight, how to defend the border against the enemy, and how to protect themselves. Here there is his overall plan as the king of a country, and as a loving father,000 years and worries about his sons, he earnestly teaches and speaks deeply and righteously, which is indeed rare!
When did he ever give such meticulous and prudent instruction to his general? No, never.