The ancient peasant revolts all had a weakness, for them the rebellion was because they could not eat, cultivate land, and marry a wife, rather than establishing a new dynasty. So they all have a kind of idea in their hearts that small wealth is safe, once they eat the taste of mountains and seas, buy good land, and marry three or five beautiful daughters-in-law, then they will immediately transform into staunch supporters of the times, not destroyers.
As a result, the vast majority of peasant uprisings were either recruited or destroyed after losing the momentum that swept the world in the early days. This is why peasant uprisings often lacked foresight – they didn't think that far at all.
Zhu Yuanzhang stills
But Zhu Yuanzhang was different.
In ancient times, from the bottom of the uprising, there were only two people who could unify the world, one was Liu Bang, and the other was Zhu Yuanzhang. They all have a commonality - they are cruel and tolerant in the face of the enemy, and they are eager to cut off their own flesh and fry them for those who can really help themselves. Of course, it is also a commonality to kick these people away after reunification, but this aspect will be described later.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established a base area centered on Ying Tian, although the territory was large and stable, and the soldiers had enough food, they were still far from being able to dominate the world. At that time, there was Chen Youyu in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Fang Guozhen in the southeast, and Chen Youding in the south. Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding's goal was to protect the territory, while Zhang Shicheng did not have much ambition for both ends of the Yuan Dynasty. Chen Youyu was the strongest and was the most dangerous enemy That Zhu Yuanzhang encountered after occupying Yingtian.
Chen Youyi stills
Chen Youyi was originally a subordinate of Xu Shouhui's general Ni Wenjun. Later, he killed Ni Wenjun and in 1360 he took Xu Shouhui hostage and captured Taiping and Quarry. Chen Youyu thought that Ying Tian was within reach, so Chen Youyu asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Ying Tian from east to west, dividing Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally, and Ying Tian was greatly shocked. Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to summon the generals to discuss countermeasures, and for a while there were many opinions, but Liu Jimo was silent. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Liu Ji had a proposal, so he asked for his opinion. Liu Ji believes that the most dangerous enemy at present is Chen Youyu, and he must concentrate on eliminating him. Although Chen Youyu's forces were strong, he killed the king and stood on his own, the people were centrifugal, and the people were tired, so it was not difficult to defeat, as long as they went deeper, and then ambushed them, it was not difficult to win. Zhang Shicheng looks strong, but when he really fights, he must adopt a wait-and-see attitude, thinking that he is sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, but in fact, he is raising a tiger.
Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy deeper and build fighters. Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates Kang Maocai and Chen Youyu were old friends, so Kang Maocai wrote a letter and sent someone to Chen Youyi's camp, asking Chen Youyu to attack Ying Tian, and saying that he was willing to do internal response at Jiangdong Bridge.
On the morning of June 23, Chen Youyu led the main force of the fleet to jiangdong bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian, and found that the topography here was not at all what Kang Maocai said, which was mostly a trap, so he led the army to withdraw, but unfortunately it was too late, Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush troops rose up to attack, and Chen Youyu was defeated. Zhu Yuanzhang took Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youyi fled to Jiujiang in defeat and captured Anqing in August of the following year, so Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to take Chen Youyi's old lair Jiangzhou. Chen Youyu fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.
At this time, the Central Plains Red Turban Army split and weakened its strength. In February 1363, Zhang Shicheng took advantage of the danger of the people and sent his troops to attack Anfeng with Lü Zhen, and Liu Futong asked Zhu Yuanzhang for help. By the time Zhu Yuanzhang arrived at Anfeng with his army, Liu Futong had been killed by Lü Zhen, and Zhu Yuanzhang only rescued Han Lin'er, the King of Xiaoming, and arranged for him to live in Chuzhou.
When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue King Xiaoming, Chen Youyu believed that the time had come to counterattack, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu (洪都, in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi). Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Zhu Wenzheng led his soldiers to hold out for 85 days. In July, Zhu Yuanzhang commanded an army of 200,000 people and marched to Hongdu, and after Chen Youyu learned of this, he withdrew his siege army to meet Zhu Yuanzhang, and the two sides launched a decisive battle at Poyang Lake.
Chen Youyu also had an advantage until this time, his boats were big, many and tall, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a bunch of small boats. Generally speaking, it's like a cannon against a rifle, and there's almost no suspense about winning or losing. But alas, if only the war could be converted so simply. The Poyang Lake water battle lasted for 36 days, starting on August 29 and ending on October 3. Zhu Yuanzhang's army gave full play to the advantages of the small boat's flexibility, attacked Chen Jun, and finally won, Chen Youyi was killed by random arrows.
On New Year's Day 1364, Zhu Yuanzhang called himself "King Wu"—eleven years had passed since he joined the rebel army—and jianbai was subordinate to the hundred lawsuits, still issuing orders in the name of "Emperor's Holy Will, Wu King's Decree". Because Zhang Shicheng had already established himself as the "King of Wu" in 1363, Zhang Shicheng was called "Eastern Wu" and Zhu Yuanzhang was called "Western Wu" in history.
In 1364, Zhu Yuanzhang again went to Wuchang to supervise the siege of the city, and Chen Li, the son of Chen Youyu, finally left the city and surrendered. After the annexation of Chen Youyu, Zhu Yuanzhang's next target was naturally aimed at Zhang Shicheng - the inevitable end of the wall grass, no matter who Won Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youyu, Comrade Zhang Shicheng would be a tragedy.
Portrait of Zhang Shicheng
Zhang Shicheng was a native of Taizhou (present-day Caoyan Town, Dafeng City, Jiangsu Province), and in his early years he sold salt for business. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he launched the Yantu Rebellion and was proclaimed king at Gaoyoucheng in 1354, with the founding name "Zhou". In 1356, the capital was established in Pingjiang (present-day Suzhou). After eliminating Chen Youyi's father and son, Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Zhang Shicheng in October 25, and in one fell swoop captured Tongzhou, Xinghua, Yancheng, Taizhou, Gaoyou, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Suzhou, and Anfeng counties, driving Eastern Wu forces out of jiangbei.
In May of the 26th year, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a statement denouncing Zhang Shicheng. The text lists eight major crimes against Zhang Shicheng, except for the fourth and eighth paragraphs related to Western Wu, all of which are accused of Zhang Shicheng's betrayal of the Yuan Dynasty. Not looking at the beginning and end is very easy to mislead people into thinking that it is the crusade order of the Yuan Dynasty. This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang has assumed himself as a king who has inherited the mandate of heaven and is ready to inherit the orthodoxy of the dynasty- the peasant revolt has begun to have a new dynasty atmosphere at this point, or to show his strength and desire to open a new era. Once this is shown, the icing on the cake will naturally come.
Zhu Yuanzhang's army attacked rapidly, and by November 1366, Hangzhou and Huzhou had surrendered, and Pingjiang had become an isolated city. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded Pingjiang with heavy troops and launched the Pingjiang Campaign.
At the same time as the siege of the city, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Liao Yongzhong to Chuzhou to pick up Xiaoming King Han Lin'er to Yingtianlai, but when crossing the river in Guazhou, he quietly chiseled the bottom of the boat, and Xiaoming King sank to the bottom of the river. This is almost what Chen Youyu did at the beginning. If the ancient people who had become great things did not have such cruel means, then the throne would naturally not be his turn. Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang announced that he would no longer use the Dragon and Phoenix Chronicle, calling 1367 the first year of Wu. At the beginning of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang built a wall to surround the city, and built a three-story wooden tower, which was higher than the city wall, firing at the city with crossbows and fire bolts, and also set up Xiangyang cannons to bombard day and night. There was panic in the city, and Zhang Shicheng's several breakthroughs ended in failure.
Zhang Shicheng was capricious, covetous of enjoyment, and very indulgent to his subordinates. On the last day of the siege of Pingjiang, Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shixin was supervising the battle at the head of the city, still not forgetting to enjoy himself, sitting on a silver chair and drinking, and the people who served left and right handed him peaches, and as a result, the peaches had not yet arrived, and just when a cannon hit, the head was shattered. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to persuade him to surrender many times, but Zhang Shicheng refused.
Zhang Shicheng stubbornly guarded the Pingjiang River, and after the grain ran out, he fed on rats and dry grass; When the arrows were exhausted, they used the roof tiles as bullets. Until September 1367, Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to attack Pingjiang City, and Zhang Shicheng launched a street battle to resist. In the end, Zhang Shicheng was captured and sent to Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang asked, he did not pay attention; Li Shanchang asked him, and he broke out insults. In desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang had to order his guards to beat Zhang Shicheng to death with a stick. At that time, Zhang Shicheng was 47 years old, and Eastern Wu perished.
After the annihilation of Chen and Zhang, Zhu Yuanzhang had occupied a large area of southern China. Although there is a huge empire in the north that once dominated the world, unfortunately, the descendants of the empire cannot inherit the glory of their ancestors. When the forces of the South were rapidly consolidating, they behaved more like pure spectators.
At that time, the situation in the south was that Fang Guozhen occupied eastern Zhejiang, Chen Youding had Fujian, and Ming Yuzhen controlled Sichuan, while Guangdong and Guangxi were still under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Towards the end of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang had sent zhu Liangzu to lead an attack on Fang Guozhen, and then ordered Tang He to attack Fang Guozhen from Ningbo, and Fang Guozhen surrendered in December 1367. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated Chen Youding.
The South was finally completely unified, and the rest of the matter was, of course, the Northern Expedition!