Statue of Chen Youcheng
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was out of order, people's hearts were in chaos, and the heroes were chasing the deer. By around 1360, among the Jiangnan powers, Zhu Yuanzhang's power was becoming stronger and stronger, and in addition to aiming to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, how to deal with relations with other armed forces and seize favorable opportunities in troubled times was something he had to face.
Among the various teams at that time, the rebel army that believed in the White Lotus Sect was called the "Red Army" or "Red Turban Army" because of its red scarf wrapped in its head, and the one headed by Liu Futong was the Northern Red Turban Army, which was mainly active in the Jianghuai area; Led by cloth dealer Xu Shouhui, blacksmith Zou Pusheng and monk Peng Yingyu were the Southern Red Turban Army, which was mainly active in the Jianghan area.
In addition, the main people who did not believe in the White Lotus Sect were Fang Guozhen, a salt seller who started in Qingyuan (present-day Ningbo, Zhejiang), and Zhang Shicheng, a salt seller who started in Gaoyou (present-day Jiangsu). These forces fight separately and can echo each other; Their goals against the Yuan dynasty were similar, but their composition was complex, especially among the leadership. With the development of the current situation, the strength of their strength gradually emerged, and the contradictions between each other began to exceed their support and cooperation.
Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang's strength continued to increase and he gradually revealed the atmosphere of king, in order to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty regime, he had to directly face the forces of Chen Youcheng and Zhang Shicheng in order to conquer the Central Plains.
Chen Youcheng, a native of Chuyang (present-day Xiantao, Hubei), was born in 1320 to a fishermen's family, learned martial arts as a child, and served as an official in the county office.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he was strongly dissatisfied with reality and devoted himself to the turbulent activities to overthrow the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. In Xu Shouhui's department, he made repeated combat merits, rose rapidly like Zhu Yuanzhang, and his strength continued to grow, and he was one of the most important forces that overthrew Meng Yuan's rule at that time. In the leap month of 1360, Chen Youcheng killed Xu Shouhui, proclaimed himself emperor, established the state of Han, and asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Berwyn Meter Breaks Chen Youcheng", from "Emperor Ming Heroic Martyrs". Chen Youcheng claimed to be the empress, led an elite water army to attack Yingtianfu, and after Zhu Yuanzhang consulted Liu Bowen, he used the strategy of luring the enemy deep and defeated Chen Youcheng.
In the face of the huge threat of Zhang Shicheng in the east and Chen Youcheng in the west, how to deal with it?
There were different views among Zhu Yuanzhang's army, and most of the generals advocated that it would be easy before difficult, that is, first Zhang Shicheng and then Chen Youcheng. The strategist Liu Ji (Zi Bowen) argued the opposite, believing that Zhang Shicheng was cowardly by nature, had no big ambitions, and only sought self-preservation, and did not need to worry. Chen Youcheng is based in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, ambitious, the strongest strength, and the greatest threat, if he fights Zhang Shicheng first, Chen Youcheng will definitely take advantage of the void to attack, or join forces with Zhang Shicheng; If Chen Youcheng is cut first, Zhang Shicheng may not dare to act rashly, so he should hit Chen Youcheng first.
Zhu Yuanzhang adopted Liu Ji's advice and placed his main forces on the western front, setting up an ambush at Longjiang near Yingtian, and defeating Chen Youcheng's troops in one fell swoop. In this battle, Zhu Yuanzhang not only won the victory in the defense of Yingtian, but also captured more than 20,000 people, obtained hundreds of warships, and a large number of Chen Youcheng's generals came to surrender. Taking this opportunity, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to use troops to restore Taiping, Xia'anqing, and Kexinzhou. In just two years, Zhu Yuanzhang occupied Longxing (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi), Yuanzhou, Ruizhou (present-day Gao'an, Jiangxi), Linjiang, and Ji'an, and his strength increased greatly. The time for a decisive battle with Chen Youcheng has come.
During this period, Liu Ji's strategizing and ingenuity not only made his colleagues and subordinates admire, but also won Zhu Yuanzhang's trust and respect.
In July and August of the 23rd year of Zheng Zheng (1363), Chen Youcheng took advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's troops to rescue the siege of King Xiaoming and Liu Futong by Zhang Shicheng's general Lü Zhen, and devoted all his strength to besiege Hongdu (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi) with an army of 600,000, and Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the division and led an army of 200,000 to rescue.
Zhu Yuanzhang judged that Chen Youshu would definitely abandon Hongdu when he learned that reinforcements were coming. He assigned generals to guard the mouth of the Jing River and the mouth of Nanhu respectively, cut off Chen Youliang's retreat, and then sent troops to guard Wuyang Du to prevent Chen Youcheng from escaping to the west, preparing to trap Chen Youlian's hundreds of thousands of sailors in Poyang Lake, and then wait for the opportunity to eliminate them. Chen Youshu heard that Zhu Yuanzhang's army had arrived, and sure enough, he solved the siege of Hongdu and led his army east out of Poyang Lake to meet Zhu Yuanzhang. In this way, the two sides faced off on Poyang Lake.
Because Chen Youcheng's giant ships were connected, poor mobility, and mobility was inconvenient, Zhu Yuanzhang used fire attack tactics. Chen Youcheng's younger brothers Youren, Yougui, and Pingzhang Chen Pulio were all burned to death, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties and suffered a serious demoralization. At this time, it had been many days since Chen Youcheng's army besieged Hongdu, and now he was fighting in the Lake District for several days, and the time of collapse was not far away. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to guard the main exit roads of Poyang Lake, cut off Chen Youcheng's retreat, and looked for an opportunity to eliminate him.
In this way, Chen Youcheng's hundreds of thousands of troops were trapped in Poyang Lake, the grain gradually ran out, morale became more and more depressed, and some sergeants surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang one after another. On August 28, Chen Youshu risked death to break through the siege, and in the chaos, he was killed by an arrow from the general Guo Ying. The 36-day Battle of Poyang Lake ended with Zhu Yuanzhang's complete victory. After eliminating the strongest opponent, Zhu Yuanzhang also had a reliable guarantee for the unification of Jiangnan.
Ming Dynasty "Poyang Lake Water Battle" painting
Among the heroes at the end of the Yuan, Zhu Yuanzhang had the last laugh, and it can also be said that the disadvantaged Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the powerful Chen Youcheng.
The key to Zhu Yuanzhang's victory is, first, when the world is in chaos, he has a big pattern, a clear mind, can grasp the situation, focus on breakthroughs, first solve Chen Youcheng, and then deal with Zhang Shicheng; Second, when analyzing the situation, he can listen to the suggestions of Liu Ji and Zhu Sheng, the advisers around him, know people well, and make decisive decisions. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang's early experience of poverty still had a positive impact on how he coped with complex situations in a difficult and difficult environment.
Soon after eliminating Chen Youcheng, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Wuchang and captured Chen Youcheng's son Chen Li. He then marched eastward, conquering Pingjiang in September of the 27th year of Zhizheng (1367), destroying Zhang Shicheng and forcing Fang Guozhen to surrender. At this point, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the most fertile and richly populated area in the country, have all belonged to Zhu Yuanzhang. The establishment of the Zhu regime is just around the corner.
"Marshal Xu Pingding Gusu", from "Emperor Ming Heroic Martyrs". After Zhu Yuanzhang pacified Chen Youcheng, he planned to attack Zhang Shicheng, ordered Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead an army, and Xu Da led his army to capture Huzhou and Hangzhou, capture Pingjiang, pacify Suzhou, and capture Zhang Shicheng alive.