Song Sheng, a famous general in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, was one of Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted advisors. His military talent and political skills are highly praised, but what is even more amazing is that Ming Chengzu Zhu Di actually sent two princesses to marry his son within a year. Zhu Di, as a generation of Ming monarchs, must have a deep meaning for the Song family so favored. Is it just to win over the Song family? Or does the Song family have something unique that no one knows?
1. The Song Dynasty defected to Zhu Yuanzhang with his son
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the dawn of the Ming Dynasty appeared. Song Sheng's father, Song Chaoyong, led his sons Song Sheng and Song Guoxing to defect to Guo Zixing, the leader of the Haozhou Red Turban Army. Song Sheng, who was only 10 years old at the time, had a bad fate, but he was not crushed by the ordeal, but received rigorous military training early in the smoke of war.
The following year, Zhu Yuanzhang also joined Guo Zixing's command, he was mighty and extraordinary, and he was soon appreciated by Guo Zixing. With his extraordinary wisdom and bravery, Zhu Yuanzhang married Guo Zixing's daughter and formed an indissoluble bond with the Song family. In 1355, Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to attack Jiqing, Song Sheng's elder brother Song Guoxing was killed, Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked, and personally promoted the 13-year-old Song Sheng to the small commander and took over the position of his brother, which shows that the children of the Song family are very important.
"History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Song Sheng" contains: "The father used the dynasty, the brother prospered the country, and crossed the river, all accumulated merit to the marshal." It can be seen that the Song family participated in the whole process of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty and made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's victory. In particular, Song Sheng has followed the footsteps of his ancestors since he was a child, and has repeatedly performed miraculous feats, which can be described as a talent in the early Ming Dynasty.
In 1358, Zhu Yuanzhang left the front line in Nanjing, left the Song Dynasty in Nanjing, and at the same time ordered Song Sheng to replace his father as Marshal Tianning Yi, and the superior leader was the famous general Deng Yu. Although Song Sheng was only 16 years old, his talent for leading troops and fighting had begun to emerge, and Deng Yue praised it and recommended Song Sheng to Zhu Yuanzhang for important command positions many times. In the 1367 Expedition, Song Sheng led his army to conquer Jianning and contributed to the pacification of the Jiangxi region.
After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Nanjing in 1368 and became emperor, he named Song Sheng as the general of Wude and the guard of Jianning, and was responsible for guarding Jianning. Three years later, Song Sheng was transferred to the command of the Jiangxi capital, until 1376, when he was transferred to Datong, an important town in Shanxi. Along the way, Song Sheng has made many military exploits, and Zhu Yuanzhang fully trusts him, which can be described as "brave and brave, and famous".
Soon, the news that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to reuse Song Sheng spread throughout the Beijing Division, and even the famous Lan Yu in the early Ming Dynasty also clearly asked Song Sheng to be his deputy general when he conquered Handong. It can be seen that Song Sheng was already one of Zhu Yuanzhang's most powerful celebrities at that time. For a long time after that, whenever the Zhu dynasty faced a major military operation, Song Sheng must have been among the core generals.
2. Guarding Liangzhou for 20 years
Liangzhou was the lifeblood of the northwestern frontier of the Ming Dynasty and a key fortress for the defense of nomads. However, before Song Sheng arrived, the Ming Dynasty had successively sent 9 commanders of Liangzhou, of which 4 were killed, 3 were removed by the imperial court, and 2 were killed by soldiers in rebellion.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had realized the importance of Liangzhou, he had to hand over the heavy responsibility to Song Sheng because no one could control it. After Song Sheng took office, he immediately strengthened his defense, organized soldiers to inspect the battlements, and repaired the ruins. At the same time, he found that Liangzhou had been in war for many years, the fields were barren, the people were displaced, and food was scarce. In order to solve this dilemma, Song Sheng personally deployed the army and civilians to dig canals to divert water and irrigate farmland, and finally restore Liangzhou to life.
Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang learned of the gratifying changes in Liangzhou and praised Song Sheng for his "courage and commendability". In 1382, Song Sheng's father, Song Chaoyong, died, and he returned to his hometown to guard filial piety for three years. As soon as the filial piety period expired, Zhu Yuanzhang once again entrusted the important task to Song Sheng and ordered him to continue to guard Liangzhou.
Just when Song Sheng was in good hands, a sudden attack once again proved the importance of Liangzhou. In the autumn of 1384, the Northern Yuan general led 20,000 cavalry to raid Liangzhou on the occasion of the autumn harvest, intending to quickly plunder and leave.
After Wang Baobao, another famous Northern Yuan general in the Central Plains, he had defeated the Ming Dynasty army many times before, and was known as the "invincible opponent in the northwest". However, just when the Red Soldiers were approaching the city and getting carried away, Song Sheng had already laid a net to surround the enemy legions.
It turned out that Song Sheng had long foreseen that the Northern Yuan army would come to plunder, so he secretly sent secret agents to accurately locate the enemy's whereabouts. Once the fighters matured, Song Sheng quickly set up a heavy ambush to lure the enemy deep into the encirclement. In the end, Du Tingchi and tens of thousands of heroes were all captured alive and escorted to Jingshi for trial.
"History of the Ming Dynasty" recorded: "Capture the Yuan State Duke Wu and other people, capture 18,000 people, and send the chieftain Jingshi." After Zhu Yuanzhang received the good news, he promoted Song Sheng several levels in a row, and worshiped him as the commander of the capital and the governor of the right army. Since then, Song Sheng has been a favorite general in the eyes of Zhu Yuanzhang, and he has obeyed all the calls.
Although it is difficult to defend the frontier, Song Sheng has repeatedly performed miraculous feats in the past 20 years. In 1391, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to make an expedition to the Hami region of Xinjiang to defeat the remnants of the Wuna. Extremely arrogant, he was stationed in Hami for a long time, plundering merchants and travelers on the Silk Road, causing heavy losses to the economic development of the Ming Dynasty.
In the face of a strong enemy, Song Sheng did not take the old-fashioned path of frontal charge, but carefully deployed and bluffed to lead the enemy to relax his vigilance. When the enemy was painstakingly guarding against Song Sheng's "army", he led the elite to raid Hami in an urgent situation, and finally annihilated all the people in the Wuna. This surprise attack not only eliminated the worries of the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, but also opened up important trade routes and won great economic benefits for the Ming Dynasty.
3. Guarding the important towns in the northwest
Song Sheng won Zhu Yuanzhang's appreciation for his outstanding military exploits in Liangzhou. So when the worries of the government and the opposition about the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty reached their peak, Zhu Yuanzhang resolutely appointed Song Sheng as the governor of Xi'an, responsible for guarding Xi'an, an important town in Guanzhong.
Xi'an has been a military key point in the northwest since ancient times, controlling the choke point to the interior. Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty has declined, there are still princes and nobles who fled to Shaanxi with their people, and sometimes harassed the frontier. Zhu Yuanzhang hopes to completely sweep away the remnants of the northwest so that he can consolidate the foundation of the country without distractions.
Embarking on a new journey, Song Sheng first set out to rectify the defense of Xi'an City, repair the battlements, and reserve military supplies. At the same time, he carefully controlled the surrounding dynamics and focused on exploring the traces of the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. For a time, Song Sheng's unstoppability made the frontier rumorous, but it also attracted a strong concubine force.
It turned out that in Shaanxi, there was a Northern Yuan important minister Dangxiang Heku, who had followed the Yuan ancestor Kublai Khan on an expedition to Goryeo, and was a battle-hardened general. Although he is now over the age of sixteen, he still has thousands of brave men under his command, who have repeatedly harassed the rich land in Guanzhong and plundered the unreasonable.
He Ku had already taken a look at the fat of Xi'an, trying to take it in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, Song Sheng took all precautions, and although He Ku tried to sneak attack repeatedly, none of them succeeded. Finally, Heku was furious and decided to crush the whole army and kill the killer.
In the spring of 1397, He Ku personally led 3,000 iron cavalry to storm the city of Xi'an. How could Song Sheng be afraid of him? He had already set up a heavy ambush, set up a lookout tower at the head of the city, and waited for Heku to show his horse's feet. Sure enough, Heku's army was not far from the city when it was attacked by Song Sheng's artillery. Immediately after the ambush was killed, the front and back were flanked, and in just half a day, Heku's army was defeated under the city of Xi'an.
Song Sheng sent all the captured He Ku and his cronies to Jingshi to correct the dynasty. After Zhu Yuanzhang won the news of his victory, he couldn't help but sigh, "Song Sheng is really bright." Since then, the northwestern frontier has been completely pacified.
After pacifying Xi'an, Song Sheng did not stop there. He carefully deployed and carried out a thorough sweep of the rest of the Northern Yuan. In 1398, Song Sheng personally led a large army to the distant Ningxia region and annihilated the remnants of the Hara Tiger that had been roaming here for many years. For a time, in Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang, the nomads were all frightened and attached to the Ming Dynasty.
In this year, Song Sheng instigated a far-sighted operation. He took advantage of the trend and wrote to the imperial court, suggesting that the Northern Yuan generals be recruited to compile the households, but unexpectedly obtained Zhu Yuanzhang's approval. So Song Sheng smashed Huanglong and persuaded Mu Geli, Chaolu and others, who were important ministers of the Northern Yuan Dynasty who were opposed to the Ming Dynasty in the past, to return to the Ming Dynasty with their people.
For a time, these former stubborn enemies were reorganized into the Ming army, and even more were given important positions to guard the frontier areas. "History of the Ming Dynasty" recorded: "The Northern Yuan Dynasty decayed and remnants, and Song Sheng opened up his strength. In this way, Song Sheng surrendered without a fight, and won a strong force for the Ming Dynasty.
Fourth, refuse to work hard to resist the marshal
After Zhu Yuanzhang died, his son Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne as Emperor Hui of the Ming Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Hui, the government and the opposition had different opinions and contradictions. One of the biggest controversies is the question of whether to fight against the Yuan.
King Qin's proposal to resist the Yuan was first advocated by the general Xu Youren. Xu Youren believes that Emperor Jianwen has been besieged by the Northern Yuan people three times and twice, and now the Northern Yuan has collapsed, which is a good time for King Qin to crusade against the Northern Yuan. The ideas of Xu Youren and others soon caused an uproar in Beijing, and even the crown prince Zhu Gaoxu strongly advocated adopting them.
However, Song Sheng, as a highly decorated general in the early Ming Dynasty, had little ambition to make up for his merits and opposed this proposal. First of all, the Northern Yuan Dynasty is indeed dilapidated and withered, but the remnants of the brave still occupy a large hinterland, and the troops are by no means idle. Moreover, the Northern Yuan garrison in the four fields, there is no way to attack, and a large number of soldiers, horses, grain and grass will be consumed, and the gains outweigh the losses. The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty has been fighting for more than 100 years, and it is urgent to restore national strength and rebuild water conservancy in order to achieve long-term peace and stability.
Song Sheng's opinion was agreed by Zhu Yunwen. Emperor Hui personally vetoed King Qin's resistance to the Yuan, and was in an uproar by the government and the opposition. Xu Youren even suspected that Song Sheng was plotting against him and wanted to hinder the Ming Dynasty's dominance, so he would slander Song Sheng and bring down Xu's mansion, and at the same time admonish Zhu Yunzhang's opinion. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yunwen actually issued an order to reward Song Sheng with the title, but turned a blind eye to Xu Youren.
This is undoubtedly a great trust in Song Sheng, and it is also a conclusive signal that the Ming Dynasty gave up King Qin. However, Zhu Gaoxu did not stop there, but continued to lobby and strongly advocate the expedition to the Northern Yuan.
Song Sheng was obviously well prepared for this situation. He calmed down and quickly mobilized the garrisons of the frontier towns to prevent any accidents. At the same time, he openly and honestly explained the pros and cons to Zhu Yunwen, even if there was pressure from the government and the opposition outside, and the prince lobbied inside, Zhu Yunwen still took a firm position and insisted on not sending troops to crusade against the Northern Yuan.
The situation is temporarily flattened, but this is not Song Sheng's ultimate goal. With his keen political sense, Song Sheng had foreseen the beginning of the confrontation between the crown prince Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di. Therefore, before Zhu Gaoxu succeeded to the throne, Song Sheng decided to preemptively move closer to the new general Zhu Di.
Although Zhu Di is the younger brother of the crown prince, he is very dissatisfied with Zhu Gaoxu's dirty and arrogant behavior in private, and has the ambition to inherit the unification. Knowing Song Sheng's attitude, he immediately shook hands and celebrated, agreed to all the conditions proposed by Song Sheng, and formed an alliance.
After Zhu Yunwen died, Zhu Gaoxu succeeded to the throne as he wished, and he was for Ming Xianzong. But as soon as the position was secured, Xianzong was subjected to a military coup by his younger brother Zhu Di. At this time, Song Sheng's role was particularly crucial: he instigated the officers and soldiers of the important towns in the northwest to fully support Zhu Di, cutting off the possibility of Xianzong's transfer of troops, causing the latter to have to abdicate. In this way, Zhu Di finally ascended the throne for Ming Yingzong.
Fifth, Rong Ma has been old all his life
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he praised Song Shengzeng. He once personally wrote the title of "Song Dudu" for Song Sheng's handwriting. After that, Song Sheng continued to serve as the general of the important town in the northwest, and guarded the frontier as always.
Although Zhu Di inherited the unification, the front of the government and the opposition never stopped. Li Jinglong, Hu Zhen and others, who opposed Zhu Di, gradually became his new enemies. In 1407, Li Jinglong gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to rise up, intending to support Zhu Gaoxu's restoration.
Zhu Di should have fought bravely, but it was undoubtedly difficult to win. Song Sheng paid attention to Zhu Di's predicament, and immediately dispatched the border army to increase troops to solve the urgent need. Just when Zhu Di was in urgent need of help, Song Sheng's elite troops had arrived behind the enemy, flanked back and forth, and quickly captured Li Jinglong and other rebel leaders.
Such an achievement shows that Song Sheng was indispensable in the Ming Dynasty. In order to thank him, Zhu Di canonized Song Sheng as the governor of Shaanxi, and gave Huangma Jiatun and other lands to nourish the museum.
However, in the same year, Song Sheng was already in his seventies, and he began to notice the signs of aging. In order to prevent Zhu Di from being caught off guard, Song Sheng then asked the court to recommend his confidant Wang Tiren Zhong as his successor. After review, Wang Tiren was officially appointed as Song Sheng's successor.
However, Zhu Di did not let Song Sheng retire prematurely, and he still hoped that the veteran would continue to sit in the northwest. So in the next few years, Wang Tiren has been Song Sheng's deputy, responsible for handling military affairs in the northwest. It was not until 1410 that Song Sheng could not defend the torture of advanced age and illness, so he asked the imperial court to hand over the power of the northwest and live in seclusion in his hometown.
On the occasion of parting, Zhu Di gave Song Sheng the title of "Marquis of Wuxun" and renamed his hometown "Wuxun" to show his outstanding military achievements. The imperial court also specially canonized the descendants of Song Sheng, the hereditary Marquis of Wuxun, and forever commemorated the founding hero.
After retirement, Song Sheng did not live in seclusion. He still gave advice to Zhu Di and dealt with military affairs. Even when he was nearly ninety years old, Zhu Di begged him to continue to serve in the Military Aircraft Department and preside over military politics. Until his death at the age of 86 in 1424, Song Sheng never stayed away from the battle and military career in his life.
Zhu Di personally wrote a memorial for Song Sheng, praising him for "60 years of fighting horses on the battlefield, and the country has no scruples". Ming History: "Song Sheng, wholeheartedly supporting Zhu Di, singing the first phase and resisting Yuan." At that time, everyone in Beijing was moved, and they had the reputation of "good ministers through the ages".
In this way, Song Sheng died in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but it is still passed on by word of mouth among the royal family and the people. Whether it is the period of peace and turmoil, or the expansion of territory, Song Sheng has made outstanding contributions and made a lot of achievements. It can be described as a generation of famous generals, a real hero through the ages.