Chapter 43 223 Battle of Poyang Lake

When Zhu Yuanzhang's power developed to the south, the first strong enemy he encountered was Chen Youliang.Chen Youliang was originally a general of Xu Shouhui's uprising army. Later, he murdered Xu Shouhui and proclaimed himself king with the name of Han.He occupied Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, with a large area and many soldiers, and established a powerful separatist regime.In 1360 A.D., he led a powerful naval force to attack Yingtianfu from quarrying along the river to the east, hoping to annex the territory occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly summoned his subordinates to discuss how to deal with the Han army.Some said that the difference in strength from the Han army was too great, so it was better to surrender as soon as possible; some advocated fleeing to Zhongshan (in present-day Nanjing) to defend to the death;

Everyone was chattering and discussing.Only the new counselor Liu Jiji stood by, silent. Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated, broke up the meeting, left Liu Ji alone, and asked him what he thought.Liu Ji said: "I think those who advocate surrender and escape should be killed!" Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Excuse me, sir, is there any way to defeat the enemy?" Liu Ji said: "The enemy came from afar to invade, and we waited for work with ease. Aren't we afraid we won't be able to win? If you use more money to reward the soldiers, and use a little more ambushes to attack the weak points of the Han army, there is great hope for defeating Chen Youliang."

After hearing Liu Ji's words, Zhu Yuanzhang liked it very much.The two discussed for a while, and decided on a plan. Zhu Yuanzhang's general Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang are old acquaintances.Zhu Yuanzhang found Kang Maocai and said to him: "Chen Youliang came to attack this time, and I want to lure him into the bait without your help. Please write a letter to Chen Youliang, pretend to surrender, and promise to be his internal response; give him a little more fake According to the information, he is asked to divide his troops into three groups to attack Yingtian and disperse his troops."

Kang Maocai said: "It's not difficult. There is an old servant in my house who guards the door, and he worked for Chen Youliang. If you send him to deliver a letter, Chen Youliang will definitely not doubt it." Kang Maocai returned home, wrote a letter according to Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions, and asked the old servant to rush to the quarry overnight, begging to see Chen Youliang.When Chen Youliang saw the letter sent by the old servant, he really didn't doubt it, and asked the old servant, "Where is Mr. Kang now?" The old servant replied: "Now he has brought a team to guard the Jiangdong Bridge, waiting for the king to go."

Chen Youliang hurriedly asked again: "What does Jiangdong Bridge look like?" The old servant said, "It's a wooden bridge, so it's easy to recognize." Chen Youliang chatted with the old servant for a while, and ordered the left and right sides to serve the food and wine so that the old servant had a full meal before sending him back. Before leaving, Chen Youliang said to the old servant: "Go back and tell Mr. Kang that I will go to Jiangdong Bridge right away. When I get to the bridge, I will call 'Old Kang' a few times, and ask him to meet him immediately."

After the old servant returned, he reported all Chen Youliang's words to Zhu Yuanzhang.Zhu Yuanzhang applauded repeatedly, and sent people to tear down the wooden bridge in Jiangdong that night and replaced it with a stone bridge. Zhu Yuanzhang got information from Chen Youliang's deserters, figured out their attack route, and asked generals Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others to ambush the troops at several important passes along the river.Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to guard Lulong Mountain (now Nanjing Lion Mountain), arranged soldiers to prepare red and yellow flags, and stipulated signals: raising the red flag is to inform the enemy that they have arrived, and raising the yellow flag is to order the ambush to attack.Everything is ready, just waiting for Chen Youliang to throw himself into the trap.

After the old servant left, Chen Youliang immediately ordered all the navy to set off, and he personally led them to go straight to Jiangdong Bridge.Unexpectedly, at the agreed place, there was no wooden bridge, only a stone bridge.Chen Youliang's generals became suspicious.Chen Youliang thought, it doesn't matter whether he is a stone bridge or a wooden bridge, as long as he finds Kang Maocai.He went to the side of the stone bridge and called "Old Kang" several times, but no one answered.Only then did Chen Youliang realize that he had been fooled, and hurriedly ordered the fleet to retreat.

When Zhu Yuanzhang found out that the enemy had been tricked, he immediately asked the soldiers to raise the yellow flag and launch an attack.In a blink of an eye, the war drums sounded, the ambush soldiers on the shore rushed out together, and the navy in the water port also joined the battle. When Chen Youliang was attacked suddenly, the tens of thousands of troops were thrown into chaos, and countless people were killed or drowned. Twenty thousand soldiers and more than one hundred warships were captured by Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers.Under the protection of his generals, Chen Youliang snatched a small boat and escaped with his life.

This battle hurt Chen Youliang a lot.Zhu Yuanzhang's momentum is getting bigger and bigger.Chen Youliang is not willing to be reconciled, he recharges his energy and is determined to avenge this revenge.Three years later, he built a large number of warships and led an army of 600,000 to attack Hongdu (now Nanchang, Jiangxi). Zhu Yuanzhang personally led an army of 200,000 to rescue Hongdu, and Chen Youliang withdrew the siege and all the water troops to Poyang Lake.Zhu Yuanzhang blocked the exit of Poyang Lake to block the enemy, and decided to fight Chen Youliang in the lake. Chen Youliang's navy has a large number of warships, tall and big, and they are more than ten miles long in a row; Zhu Yuanzhang's navy is full of small boats, which are much weaker than Chen Youliang in terms of strength.The two sides fought for three consecutive days, and Zhu Jun failed.

The general Guo Xing said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "The military strength of the two sides is too far apart. It is impossible to rely on tough battles. We must attack with fire." Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered seven small boats loaded with gunpowder, each with a light boat at the stern.That evening, when the northeast wind blew, Zhu Yuanzhang sent a death squad to drive the seven small boats, set fire to them, and head straight for Chen Youliang's big boat. The wind was so strong that it burned all the big ships of the Han army at once, and the flames flew into the air, making the lake red.The soldiers under Chen Youliang were either burned to death or captured.

Chen Youliang took the remnants of the defeated generals to break through the encirclement at the mouth of Poyang Lake.But the Hukou had already been blocked by Zhu Yuanzhang.When Chen Youliang broke through, Zhu Jun shot Chen Youliang to death with a burst of arrows. After Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated Chen Youliang, the largest separatist force in the south, he called himself King Wu. Since Liu Futong's sacrifice, Zhu Yuanzhang took King Xiaoming to Chuzhou, and he still accepted the leadership of King Xiaoming in name.At this time, his idea of ​​being an emperor swelled, and he felt that keeping Xiao Ming Wang was an obstacle to him.In 1366 A.D., he took King Xiaoming to Yingtian by boat, and while King Xiaoming was crossing the river in Guabu (southeast of Liuhe, Jiangsu today), he sent someone to scuttle the boat secretly and drown King Ming to death. In the second year, Zhu Yuanzhang wiped out Zhang Shicheng's separatist forces, and then ordered Xu Da to be the general who conquered the captives, and Chang Yuchun to be the deputy general, leading an army of 250,000 in the Northern Expedition.Two months later, Xu Da's army was victorious and occupied Shandong.In the first month of 1368 A.D., Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Yingtian and was called the emperor, and the name of the country was Ming.He is Ming Taizu. The Ming army took advantage of the victory to advance, but the Yuan soldiers retreated steadily.In August of this year, Xu Da led an army straight to Dadu, and Emperor Yuan Shun fled to Shangdu. The Yuan Dynasty, which ruled China for ninety-seven years, was finally overthrown.