Chapter 35 Section 5 Northern Expedition to the Central Plains

Zhu Yuanzhang was invincible in the war to unify the south, and he went very smoothly. He quickly pacified the vast south of China, leaving only Beiyuan as an enemy.And Bei Yuan was falling apart internally, and its combat effectiveness was not strong. Although Zhu Yuanzhang is known as the great national hero who expelled the foreign captives, he spent most of his fifteen-year military career fighting with the Han people.Up to this point, he hadn't formally fought against the regular Yuan army.However, the strength of the Yuan Empire has long been exhausted by the long war, and it has become a ripe fruit. All Zhu Yuanzhang has to do is reach out and pick it.

Due to successive victories, most of the generals advocated "go straight to Yuandu" and unify China in one fell swoop.But Zhu Yuanzhang was not dazzled by the victory.The cautious attitude of the peasants made Zhu Yuanzhang never rely on the courage of the moment like other refugee leaders when commanding battles. Zhu Yuanzhang's most prominent military personality is "serious".All Zhu Yuanzhang's activities, especially major military and political actions, were carefully planned and thought twice.He believes in playing steadily, accumulating small victories into big victories, and never pursues luck.It is said in history that Zhu Sheng's nine-character policy of "building high walls, accumulating food widely, and slowly becoming king" brought victory to Zhu Yuanzhang. Little did he know that this was also Zhu's own consistent thinking, but Zhu Sheng's strategy was exactly the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's. Its approved.

The Northern Expedition was a prominent manifestation of Zhu Yuanzhang's cautious personality.In this war, he was as cautious as ever, never neglecting to analyze every risk point.He analyzed that "the capital of the Yuan Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, and the city must be firmly guarded. If the suspended army goes deep and the troops are stationed under the fortified city, the food and pay are insufficient, and the reinforcements are collected four times, it is not in my interest." He resisted all opinions, and decisively proposed to take Shandong first, withdraw its shield, turn to Henan, cut off its wings, pull out Tongguan and defend it, according to its household threshold, the overall situation is under control, and then enter the Yuandu, "then the power will be alone, You can conquer the capital without a fight."

It should be said that at the time when we were strong and the enemy was weak, the possibility of conquering Yuandu in one fell swoop was still very high.But risks do exist.At that time, the Yuan Dynasty still maintained considerable military strength, but they were busy fighting for power and killing each other, and did not unite to deal with the Northern Expedition.Zhu Yuanzhang's military deployment minimized the risk, although the cost was greatly increased.Zhu Yuanzhang would rather make ten times more efforts than take the risk of only increasing by one tenth. On October 21st of the first year of Wu (1367 AD), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead an army of 250,000 troops from the Huaihe River to the Central Plains.On October 24, Xu Da's army arrived in Huai'an, and the guards Wang Xuan and Wang Xin of the Yuan Dynasty surrendered.On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang's troops fell into Dongping, and Kong Xixue, the fifty-sixth generation grandson of Confucius, Fengyan Shenggong Kong Xixue led Qufu County Yin and Zou County Chief Bookkeeper to surrender.On the seventh day of December, Xu Da conquered Jinan, and the whole Shandong entered Zhu Yuanzhang's territory.

After Shandong was pacified, although most of them were close at hand, Xu Da followed Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions and first took Henan from the west.In March of the first year of Hongwu, Xu Da led his boats up the Yellow River and headed straight for Bianliang.On the eighth day of April, he fought with Yuan general Tuoyin Timur in the north of Luoshui and won a big victory. After Henan was basically pacified, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Feng Shengxi to take Shaanxi, and fought with Xu Da to get rid of the remnants of Intimur.Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi were all included in Zhu Yuanzhang's territory, and there would be no surprises if he conquered Dadu.

It was precisely in accordance with Zhu Yuanzhang's strategy that the Northern Expedition gradually consumed the strength of the Yuan army step by step, and won the victory without any suspense. It only took ten months from the Northern Expedition to Ke Yuan.