In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, there was an old man named Chen Pucai in Qiuyang, Hubei Province, who made a living by fishing. Chen Pucai gave birth to five sons, the third of whom was named Chen Youyu, who learned martial arts from an early age and became a small official in the county town. Chen Youyu has always wanted to do a vigorous cause, coinciding with the Red Turban Army uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Chen Youyu joined the rebel army and gradually rose to the ranks in the army, and one day, Chen Youyu's ambitions were exposed, he killed Xu Shouhui, the "Emperor of Heaven", established himself as the King of Han, established the "Chen Han" regime, and became the hegemon of one side.
In the process of Expanding Chen Youyi's territory, he met Zhu Yuanzhang, an old enemy in his life. Zhu Yuanzhang was also a man of great talent and strategy, and at that time their spheres of influence were bordered, and they often attacked each other. At that time, Chen Youyu had already claimed the title of emperor, known as "supporting millions of troops", and Zhu Yuanzhang's development momentum was booming, in order to prevent Zhu Yuanzhang's power from increasing, Chen Youyu decided to eliminate Zhu Yuanzhang. Chen Youyu descended the river from his base camp Jiangzhou (Jiujiang) and directly approached Nanjing, zhu yuanzhang was defeated and retreated, but when he arrived in Nanjing, Chen Youyu was ambushed by Zhu Yuanzhang in the Battle of Longwan and returned with a big defeat.
Three years later, Zhu Yuanzhang's sphere of influence had expanded to Jiangxi, Chen Youyi regained his strength, and attacked Hongdu (Nanchang), Zhu Wenzheng (Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew) and Deng Yu, two fierce generals, who were dead set on defending Hongdu, zhu Yuanzhang heard that Hongdu was besieged, and led 200,000 troops out of Nanjing to come to the rescue. Chen Youyu held an army of 600,000 in his hands, and the ship was high and wide, and waited in a line at Poyang Lake. Zhu Yuanzhang was arrogant and dry, and he was sharp. The two sides fought the largest water war in ancient Chinese history at Poyang Lake. The result of the war was that Chen Youyi was killed in battle, and Zhu Yuanzhang won a great victory.
The Battle of Poyang Lake lasted more than 40 days, and the process was complicated, with heavy losses on both sides. Zhu Yuanzhang not only lost 21 generals, but was also once forced into a desperate situation by the enemy general Zhang Dingbian. Chen Youyi's two younger brothers were killed in battle, and Zhang Dingbian was also hit by several arrows. In the final battle, Shi Zai:
When our division camped on land and water, the north and south banks of the South River, set fire boats, the middle of the raft of fire, and martial law was imposed.
Because Chen Youyu's warship was larger and in the mouth of the headwind, Zhu Yuanzhang used the fire ship to continuously impact, and finally won a big victory. In the process of retreating, Chen Youyu was chased and beaten by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the arrows were like rain, the war was raging, and the casualties were heavy. At this time, there was a strange person in Zhu Yuanzhang's formation, named Zhang Tieguan, whose original name was Zhang Zhong, who was called Tieguan Daoren. He suddenly laughed at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Chen Youyu is dead!" Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked and couldn't believe it.
The "Ming Chronicle" records:
It was Zhang Tieguan who laughed and congratulated: "Friendship forgives death!" Taizu yue: "No nonsense! "Liu Jinai sent people with livestock wine in the basket and offered sacrifices to friends. And he said, "If he is born, he who goes before will return, and if he does not return, his friends will die." ”
That is to say, although Zhang Tieguan said that Chen Youyu was dead, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't believe it. Liu Bowen thought of an idea, he put wine and meat and other sacrifices in a basket, and sent emissaries directly to Chen Youyi's camp. And prophesied: "If Chen Youyu is still alive, he will definitely let the messenger come back; if the messenger cannot come back, it means that Chen Youyu must be dead." ”
As a result, as Liu Bowen had predicted, the emissaries sent out did not return for a day, and Liu Bowen expected that Chen Youyu was dead, and the next day, several surrendered soldiers came across the water and said:
"Yu Yu died in the middle of the vessel, through the eyes and the skull!" (Chen Youyu was on another boat when he was shot in the eye by a random arrow, which went straight through the head and died.) ）
Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, shook his arm, announced that Chen Youyu was dead, and won the final victory. Next, Chen Youyu's soldiers came to surrender one after another, and Zhang Dingbian fled Poyang Lake with Chen Youyu's son Chen Li, and the battle ended.
Liu Bowen sent an emissary to the past, why could he determine Chen Youyi's life and death? Because Liu Bowen knew that if Chen Youyu was still alive, he would definitely have to prove his existence to Zhu Yuanzhang, and it was the best choice to let the emissary come back to pass on the message. If Chen Youyu died, his accomplices would certainly not want the matter to spread out, and could only kill the messenger. Although Liu Bowen's thinking was meticulous, it was a pity that he gave the messenger's life in vain.