Have you ever heard of the Battle of the Kruren River? This cavalry battle that took place during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty not only determined the pattern of the confrontation between Ming and Mongolia, but also a microcosm of the decline of the "handsome talent" of the Ming Dynasty. Five famous generals were killed on the banks of the Krulun River, and the entire army of 100,000 was wiped out by the Mongol cavalry.
During the Ming Dynasty, the generals were like clouds, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, Deng Yu, Mu Ying, and Lan Yu were all well-known fierce generals, and they swept the Mongolian iron cavalry thousands of miles as soon as they struck. But in 1409, during this expedition to the Krulun River, the handsome talents of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have suddenly dropped out en masse.
Emperor Zhu Di sent the so-called "first hero of Jingnan" Qiu Fu to go out with an army of 100,000, but the result was not only full of "fighting landlords" skills, but also a little difficult to use. Zhu Di repeatedly told Qiu Fu not to take the enemy lightly, but Qiu Fu was stubborn, did not listen to the advice of other generals, and charged alone. As a result, they were ambushed by the Mongol cavalry, and the soldiers were surrounded in the middle and turned into a pot of porridge, and finally all the five main generals were killed, and the 100,000 troops were all wiped out.
There were still quite a lot of generals in the Ming Dynasty at that time, but Zhu Yuanzhang, the tyrant, was too slaughtering in the early stage and eliminated many famous generals. In the Zhu Di period, there were only two famous generals who were good at offensive operations, Qu Neng and Guo Ying, but unfortunately they died in battle and died of illness one after another. Other "heroes of the appeasement" such as Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng also died in battle or died of illness halfway. Looking at the rest, there are only young generals such as Xue Lu, Liu Sheng, Li Bin, and Wang Tong, which can't play a big role at all.
At a critical time, Zhu Di himself couldn't spare his hands to personally command, he had too much work on his hands. not only has to deal with the government affairs, but also has to find Emperor Jianwen who is under house arrest everywhere, and at the same time worry too much about the three princes Zhu Gaochi and others. At that time, Zhang Fu, the most outstanding general of the Ming Dynasty, was also in a foreign land, leading troops to conquer Annan. In this case, Qiu Fu jumped out to ask for help, and Zhu Di could only let him take charge.
Zhu Di's concerns were quickly fulfilled, and Qiu Fu's lone army went deep into the enemy formation, which was simply an outright act of giving people heads. The battle was defeated all the way, and at the last critical moment, it was surrounded alive by the Mongol cavalry of Benjami and Arutai, all 5 famous generals were killed, and the 100,000-strong army was annihilated. The whole process is like a black humor out of a play, it's really life-threatening.
This can make Zhu Di angry. The fiasco in the Battle of the Krulun River not only caused the morale of the Ming Dynasty to plummet, but also severely damaged the pride of the Ming army. Zhu Di immediately decided to take command in person and sweep away the arrogance of the Mongolian iron cavalry.
In the spring of 1410, Zhu Di personally led 60,000 elite cavalry to embark on the journey to Mobei again. To tell the truth, this time the army is claimed to be as high as 500,000 troops, but this is obviously a cruel word to scare people. After all, there was not much combat power left in the Ming Dynasty at that time, and if he really had an army of 500,000, Zhu Di would not need to conquer it himself.
However, 60,000 elite soldiers alone are enough for Zhu Di. After all, he is the first commander in the world, and his subordinates are full of generals, and he has won a great victory in the Battle of Jingyan before, and his combat effectiveness should be first-class. This time, Zhu Di was full of confidence.
Sure enough, the two Mongol nobles of Benjami and Arutai were not Zhu Di's opponents at all. As soon as they saw Zhu Di's personal conquest of the army pressing the border, they were already like seeing a ghost, and they fled for their lives. Zhu Di saw that the momentum was so good, how could he stop there? The pro-army was immediately ordered to divide the troops into two directions to pursue.
The cavalry pursued Benjamin all the way, and defeated his army by the River of Trouble, and in the end Benjamin was left with only seven or eight of his relatives fleeing for their lives. The other cavalry went straight to Arutai, although Arutai was dying and struggling, but Zhu Di seized the opportunity to catch him off guard, and finally collapsed.
In this way, Zhu Di won a victory in Mobei and swept away the threat of the Mongolian iron cavalry in one fell swoop. The morale of the imperial army was greatly boosted, and the Mongols never dared to make a mistake against the Ming Dynasty again. Qiu Fu's fiasco was finally completely washed away by Zhu Di's battle.
The Battle of the Krulun River was indeed a great shame for the Ming Dynasty, but it also reflected the helpless situation of the Ming Dynasty's handsome talent. Fortunately, in the end, Zhu Di turned the tide of the war with the power of one person, which not only re-established the majesty of the Ming army in the north, but also laid the foundation for the later development of the Ming Dynasty. From this incident, we can see that the strength of a country depends in the final analysis on whether it has a real leader and commander. Therefore, the road to rejuvenating China still has a long way to go. #头条首发大赛#