Chapter 54 Chapter Four

Once the powerful enemy Chen Youliang is eliminated, Zhang Shicheng of the Eastern Wu and Fang Guozhen of the Western Wu are just around the corner. During this period, two major events happened to Zhu Yuanzhang. One is to kill Xiao Ming Wang Han Lin'er with tricks. King Xiaoming has been leading the main force of the Red Turban Army to resist the Yuan army's attack tenaciously on the northern front.Zhu Yuanzhang was subordinate to him, bowed his head and proclaimed himself a minister, appearing respectful.However, with the mutual consumption between King Xiaoming and the Yuan army and Zhu Yuanzhang's growing strength, his attitude also changed significantly.

In February of the ninth year of Longfeng (AD 1363), King Xiaoming was besieged in Anfeng when his army was weakening and the situation was becoming more and more embarrassing.The Red Turban Army was in a critical state of running out of food and aid, so they hurriedly sent someone to Zhu Yuanzhang for help. Once Anfeng is lost, Yingtian will lose his barrier, and because of his status as a monarch and minister with King Xiaoming, Zhu Yuanzhang decides to lead his troops to help him regardless of the dissuasion of his subordinates.After Anfeng was rescued from the siege, Zhu Yuanzhang set up a luan to welcome King Xiao Ming to live in Chuzhou.On the surface, he was extremely respected, built a palace for him, and had sufficient support, but in fact put him under house arrest. Even the servants in the palace were replaced by Zhu Yuanzhang's cronies, and his every move was under his strict supervision and control.

At this time, King Xiao Ming's Red Scarf Army no longer existed, and the generals were all dead. He really became a veritable "lonely man".Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang still had doubts about King Xiao Ming.He used to be a general of King Xiao Ming, and as long as King Xiao Ming lived, there would be a "tightening curse" engraved on his head that was hard to get rid of.How can Zhu Yuanzhang, who is powerful and full-fledged, continue to be willing to live under others?Even if it's just a formality, he can't accept it. After some planning, Zhu Yuanzhang sent General Liao Yongzhong to Chuzhou to meet King Xiaoming with great fanfare.Liao Yongzhong followed the order and followed the plan. When crossing the river in Guazhou, the boat was in the middle of the river, and secretly cut through the bottom of the boat. King Xiao Ming was doomed and drowned in the river.

When King Xiao Ming died, Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long breath unconsciously, as if a heavy rock had fallen on his head last year.Only at this time, he also felt that he had reached the end of his life, and no one could tell him what to do and do whatever he wanted, even in a formal way.Then, he becomes "I am number one in the world", he wants to control the fate of others, and he wants to pour out the depression, pain, and hatred that have been suppressed in his heart for a long time.He didn't act immediately, he was still waiting, choosing the best time. Since then, Zhu Yuanzhang has been very taboo about the history of his belonging to the Red Scarf Army. He deleted all the dragon and phoenix year titles and dragon and phoenix historical materials about King Xiaoming.Even the book "Records of Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty" didn't say a word about the affiliation relationship he had with King Xiaoming.

In order to show his majesty, he wanted to erase all past humiliation from his heart. He wanted to let future generations know through relevant records that Zhu Yuanzhang had always been "lawless" and did whatever he wanted. The second major event was that during the battle for Zhuji when Zhang Shicheng was attacked, Xie Zaixing defected to the enemy. Xie Zaixing is a Huaixi veteran and the father-in-law of Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Zhu Wenzheng.Zhu Yuanzhang learned that two generals under Xie Zaixing brought prohibited items to Yangzhou for sale. He not only killed them, but also hung their heads on Xie Zaixing's hall. Xie Zaixing naturally couldn't bear it.Then, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to marry his second daughter to Xu Da without consulting Xie Zaixing's opinion. Xie Zaixing was even more upset, saying that the married daughter "has the same distribution".Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Li Menggeng to control Zhuji's soldiers and horses, and demoted Xie Zaixing to the rank of deputy general.Xie Zaixing endured it again and again, and finally became so angry that he led his army to surrender to the enemy in a fit of anger.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also extremely annoyed when he learned of this: "Xie Zaixing is my in-law, and it is unforgivable to betray me and descend to the Zhang family." It was with this as a starting point that Zhu Yuanzhang developed serious suspicion of his subordinates and closely monitored their words and deeds.Later, the enactment of strict military and health laws and the massacre of heroes, if traced back to the source, seem to be related to this matter. Once Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen were wiped out, Zhu Yuanzhang pacified Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi without stopping.Then, concentrate human and financial resources, and make a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was far from what he had been in the past. More than ten years of combat life and hard training had trained him to be a military and political commander who was both bold and careful, who paid attention to the local area and was able to take a macro view.The Yuan army had lost its vitality in the attack of the Red Scarf Army and the internal struggles. The Yuan Dynasty was like a mansion with hollow beams and pillars, which would collapse with just a slight push.Despite this, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take it lightly, but carefully planned and formulated a set of rigorous and clear Northern Expedition strategies that can be advanced, offensive or defensive:

It can be seen from the above that Zhu Yuanzhang's tactics are to fight steadily, step by step, and gradually expand the results of the battle.His accurate analysis of China's military and geographical situation and his well-thought-out strategic intentions are far from comparable to other reckless warlords in the late Yuan Dynasty.Even if you can't be sure of winning, you can make yourself invincible.It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang's success is not accidental, and there are some inevitable internal factors in it. The Northern Expeditionary Army followed the established strategic policy. Wherever it went, the Yuan army surrendered without fleeing.

When the emergency documents of the guards from all over the country flew to Dadu like a snowflake, the Yuan army was in conflict with each other, and the fight was fierce.The Northern Expeditionary Army occupied Shandong and went down to Henan, seized the favorable opportunity, and directed at Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, in one go. Emperor Yuan Shun was worried about repeating the mistakes of Emperor Hui and Emperor Qin who were captured in the Song Dynasty, so he led his prince and concubine to flee in a hurry in the middle of the night, passed through Juyong Pass, and headed for their birthplace - Shangdu in the vast grassland.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, the Northern Expedition seemed to be fought easily and easily, and it was far less intense than the Poyang Lake battle.Except for the only time to go to the Bianliang General Assembly to study the new battle situation, he does not need to go to the front line to take command. On the second day of August in the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.), the Northern Expeditionary Army, led by General Xu Da and others, marched into Dadu with little resistance.With this as a sign, the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted 98 years (one said 118 years), officially came to an end and withdrew from the stage of Chinese history.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang is often praised by people in later generations is largely because he is a national hero against the Yuan Dynasty.It was the peasant army led by him that completely defeated the Mongolian army, overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty imposed on the people of the Central Plains, and ended a century of humiliation that had been bullied.