Xu Da
From cowherd boy to Zhu Yuanzhang's right-hand man
Xu Da, whose real name is Tiande, is a native of Yongfeng Township in Zhongli, Haozhou. When Xu Da was a child, his family was poor, and Zhu Yuanzhang spared cattle. They have been close since childhood.
In the summer of the 13th year of Yuan Shundi, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his hometown for conscription. Xu Da responded positively and enlisted as the leader of Zhu Yuanzhang.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang belonged to the peasant uprising army led by Guo Zixing, while Guo Zixing was narrow-minded, greedy and indecisive. Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Guo Zixing couldn't achieve great things, so he wanted to play a strongman, expand his territory and develop his power.
This year, Xu Da and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered many places together, and Zhu Yuanzhang's army was magnificent. In fifteen years, Xu Da was promoted to town governor because of his outstanding exploits in attacking states. On June 1st of the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, Tanghe, Li Shanchang, Feng and others led 30,000 troops, crossed the river by boat, defeated the south bank and conquered Taiping City in one fell swoop. The Yuan Army fought back, and Xu Da and Deng Yu led elite cavalry to ambush in the southwest of the city. They suddenly attacked from behind, and the Yuan army was defeated and fled. Then, Xu Da led thousands of people out of Taiping City, captured Liyang and Lishui and surrounded Qing Ji from the south. In March 356, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Qing Ji and changed its name to Yingtianfu. He decided to take this as the center, establish a base area, and then make a distant map.
Zhenjiang, east of Yingtian, is still in the hands of Yuan Army, which poses a great threat to Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Xu Da as general and sent troops to attack Zhenjiang. Xu Da lived up to his mission and captured Zhenjiang in one fell swoop. Then divide troops and plunder Jintan, Danyang and other counties. Zhu Yuanzhang appointed him commander-in-chief of the army and stationed in Zhenjiang. In April of the same year, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and other generals occupied Ningguo under the personal command of Zhu Yuanzhang. In July, Xu Da sent forward general Zhao Desheng to attack Changshu and captured Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shide alive.
In 65438+358 10, Xu Da and Shao Rong and others captured Yixing. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang successively captured many cities around Yingtian, blocked Zhang Shicheng's road to the west in the east, and adopted the strategy of defending Xu Shouhui in the west.
1960 In May, Xu Shouhui was killed by his subordinate Chen Youliang. Chen Youliang claimed to be the emperor, occupying a large area of Jiangxi and Huguang, and was the most powerful in the uprising department. Chen Youliang formed an alliance with Zhang Shicheng and attacked Zhu Yuanzhang from east to west, advancing step by step. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the generals to ambush in various dangerous places inside and outside Yingcheng to lure Chen Youliang into the ambush circle. As a result, Chen Youliang was defeated and fled to Jiangzhou.
In July 363, Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to Poyang Lake and fought a decisive battle with Chen Youliang. On the first day of the war, Xu Da took the lead, defeated the enemy's forward troops, killed more than 1500 people and captured a large ship. The battle of Poyang Lake lasted for more than a month. Zhu Yuanzhang finally attacked the enemy with fire, and Chen Youliang was killed by an arrow.
/kloc-in the first month of 0/964, Zhu Yuanzhang established himself as the king of Wu in Yingtian, set up officials and a secretariat province, with Li Shanchang as the right country, Xu Da as the left country, and Chang Yuchun and Yu Tonghai as the official department of Pingzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang has three right-hand men, the first is Xu Da.
A bloody battle at Pingjiang swept Jianghuai.
After Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Chen Youliang, his strength increased greatly, and his next goal was to destroy Zhang.
Xu Da quickly conquered Taizhou, and then divided his forces to attack Xinghua and Gaoyou. Worried that Xu Da was alone, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to return to Taizhou and capture Huai 'an, Haozhou and Sizhou first. At this time, in order to contain Zhu Yuanzhang's army in Jiangbei, Zhang Shicheng sent troops to attack Yixing in Jiangnan. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to fight back by crossing the river, repelling Zhang Shicheng's attack and capturing more than 3,000 people. Then, Xu Da returned to Jiangbei, attacked Gaoyou and quickly conquered Gaoyou.
In April 366, Xu Da raided Zhang Shicheng, a water town in Xu Yi, and fled by boat. Xu Da invaded the city and besieged the city, and Huai 'an garrison commander Mei Sizu and others surrendered in Kaicheng, sacrificing four states. Subsequently, Xu Da invaded Xinghua, making Huaidong the territory of Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Jiangnan in two steps. Take Huzhou and Hangzhou first and break its wings. The second step is to surround Pingjiang from the north, west and south. In July, Xu Da as a general, Chang Yuchun as a deputy general, led the troops of two hundred thousand. He started from Taihu Lake and went straight to Huzhou. At the same time, we divided our forces to attack Hangzhou and Jiaxing.
Seeing the Huzhou crisis, Zhang Shicheng constantly sent troops to reinforce. Seeing that the reinforcements were defeated, he simply went out to save himself, but Xu Da was defeated in Zaolin. In September, Zhang Shicheng sent Xu Zhijian to reinforce by canoe, which was also defeated. By June 1 1, Huzhou, Hangzhou and Jiaxing had been conquered.
After Zhu Yuanzhang achieved the first strategic goal, he began to implement the second strategy, which was to capture Pingjiang. Xu Da led the army forward and surrounded Pingkiang. There are no reinforcements inside and outside Zhang Shicheng, and the city is short of food and grass. Several breakthroughs failed. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to surrender several times, but Zhang Shicheng refused to surrender and defended the city.
1February 367, due to the siege of Pingjiang for a long time, Xu Da sent someone to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for instructions. Zhu Yuanzhang personally wrote a letter: "In the future, everything in the army will be decided by the general himself." By the end of the war in September, there was no food in Pingjiang, so they had to eat hay rats. Xu Da commanded the army to attack the city violently, and Zhang Shicheng collapsed. Xu Da's army invaded the city, and Zhang Shicheng attempted suicide and was sent to heaven. Later, Zhang Shicheng hanged himself in prison.
After Pingjiang was breached, Xu Da issued a military order: "Those who plundered the people's wealth died, those who demolished the house died, and those who left the camp for 20 miles died." He ordered his troops to be stationed separately to appease the people. Subsequently, Xu Da led the generals to return to their destiny, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally greeted them at the gates of Hebei, rewarding the soldiers, and Xu Dajin became a public letter.
Defeat Megatron's border fortress
After destroying Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to destroy Yuan in the Northern Expedition. 10, in 367, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Xu Da as the general to attack Lu, and Chang Yuchun as the deputy general, leading 250,000 troops to the northern expedition of the Central Plains.
Xu Da led the northern expedition, starting from Huai 'an and entering Shandong first. Where the Northern Expeditionary Army passed, Zhang Qian's campaign of "expelling Land Rover and restoring China" was for the Yuan Dynasty. Many counties surrendered one after another, and the Northern Expeditionary Army was smooth sailing. In November, Xu Da led the army to conquer Yizhou. Later, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions, Han Zheng was ordered to guard the natural barrier of the Yellow River, Zhang Xingzu attacked Dongping and Jining, and led the army to conquer Yidu. In December, the army arrived in Jinan, guarding city Yuan surrendered to Kaesong. Xu Dafu returned to Yidu and attacked Dengzhou and Laizhou. Three months after the Northern Expedition, Shandong was basically pacified.
On the fourth day of the first month in 368, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne in Yingtian, and changed his country name to Ming and Hongwu. When the new dynasty is established, it is natural to reward those who have made meritorious deeds and set up officials. The left and right prime ministers appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang are Li Shanchang and Xu Da respectively. Zhu Yuanzhang did it.
In February this year, the Northern Expeditionary Army marched westward along the Yellow River into Henan, and successively conquered Yongcheng, Guide and Xuzhou, reaching Chen Qiao. Shoujiang of the capital of song dynasty went out of the city to surrender, and Xu Da led the army to Henan. In April, after fierce fighting, the Yuan army abandoned the city and fled, and Henan was conquered. Xu Da continued westward, conquered Shanzhou and reached Tongguan. Yuan army fled, Xu Da entered Tongguan, and went west to Huazhou. At this point, Xu Da's army has successively occupied most areas of Shandong and Henan, and occupied Tongguan, forming a crescent-shaped encirclement of most areas of the Yuan Dynasty. In May, Zhu Yuanzhang rode a horse in the capital of song dynasty, consoled the soldiers and discussed the plan for the next step. Xu Da suggested that he immediately send troops to capture Dadu. Zhu Yuanzhang took Xu Da's advice and ordered Xu Da to attack Dadu.
In July, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Yingtian. Xu Da and Chang Yuchun led their troops to Yin He, and then marched into Hebei. In July, Xu Da called Linqing generals to deploy specific marching strategies. Subsequently, Chang Yuchun first captured Texas, and then successively captured Luchang and Guinness. When Yuan, the prime minister guarding Tianjin, fled Haikou, most people were shocked and uneasy.
The Ming army advanced into Hexi, defeated the Yuan army, advanced into Tongzhou, and ambushed the Yuan army in the fog. The defenders of the Yuan Army were defeated and died. When the news of the fall of Tongzhou reached the metropolis, Yuan Shundi panicked and fled Jiande Gate with the queen and prince in the middle of the night on July 27th. On August 2nd, Xu Da led an army to Qihuacheng, where soldiers filled trenches and besieged the city. Xu Da boarded the Qihuamen Gate Tower and was escorted by the left and right prime ministers guarding the city. These people would rather die than surrender, and Xu Da ordered the death. Xu Da allowed others who were willing to surrender, and no one was killed indiscriminately. Xu Da ordered the confiscation of treasures in the city and sent 1000 soldiers to guard the palace. At the same time, all soldiers are prohibited from disturbing the people. Because of Xu Dajun's strict discipline, most people settled down quickly and the shops in the market opened as usual.
After receiving the good news of conquering Dadu, Zhu Yuanzhang announced an Amnesty to the world and ordered that Dadu be changed to Beiping County. He ordered Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others to lead troops to capture Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, thus eliminating the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty.
In September 368, Xu Da entered Shanxi with a great army. In February of 65438, Taiyuan and Datong were captured, and Shanxi all became the sphere of influence of the Ming army. In the first month of the third year of Hongwu, Xu Da was once again appointed as the general of Peking University and sent troops to the northwest. In April, through Tongguan to Dingxi, the Yuan army was defeated. In November, Xu Da returned to Beijing in triumph, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally greeted him in Longjiang. Then, Xu Da was promoted to Wei Guogong. In the spring of Hongwu four years, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to guard Beiping. In the second year, in order to completely eliminate the northern frontier, Xu Da was ordered to go out again, which dealt a heavy blow to the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty. In the sixth year of Wu Hong, Xu Da stayed in Beiping. In November, the Yuan army invaded Datong and was repelled by Xu Da. In the 14th year of Hongwu, Xu Da led the army to the northern end of the Yellow River, defeated the Yuan Army and returned home in triumph.
Hongwu defended Xu Da in Peiping for four years. After more than 10 years, he led troops to the frontier several times, which made the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty dare not go south easily and effectively defended the northern border of Daming. Zhu Yuanzhang sincerely praised Xu Da as the "Great Wall of Wan Li".
Modest and prudent, aboveboard.
During the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da opened Jianghan Basin, cleared Huai and Chu, captured western Zhejiang, swept the Central Plains, and became famous beyond the Great Wall. He surrendered to the princes and captured countless generals, but he was never proud and was especially respectful and cautious in front of the emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang often summoned Xu Da to hold banquets and drink, and people called him "Brothers in Cloth".
According to the etiquette system of the imperial court, Xu Da is the prime minister, and he has a considerable number of Weah guards when he goes out. But he often goes out in ordinary chariots and horses and returns home. He leads a simple life. He never lavishes and wastes, nor does he put on a song and dance banquet to show off his nobility. Zhu Yuanzhang once said to Xu Da, "Generals have fought for decades and worked hard, and they have never been at peace. Give you the old house where I used to live, and you can enjoy your family. " Zhu Yuanzhang's old house is the mansion when he proclaimed himself the king of Wu. Xu Da resolutely refuses to accept. One day, Zhu Yuanzhang took Xu Da to Lao Wang Wumi, aiming to get Xu Da drunk, then carried him to bed and covered him with a quilt, trying to force him to accept a reward in this way. Xu Da woke up, panicked, and hurriedly got out of bed to apologize to Zhu Yuanzhang. Seeing that Xu Da was so humble, Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and no longer forced him to accept the old palace.
In addition to being modest and prudent, Xu Da has made remarkable achievements. More importantly, he is loyal and upright, with clear love and hatred, and does not form a party for personal gain. Zhu Yuanzhang once praised Xu Da in front of the court ministers, saying, "He was ordered to lead an army to war, won a great victory and returned home in triumph. He never pretends, loves nothing, takes no treasure, is impartial, and is as aboveboard as the sun, moon and sky. The general is such a person! "
Xu Da was very successful in the imperial court and won the trust of the emperor. Naturally, someone wants to climb on him and use his reputation for personal gain. Prime Minister Hu tried to woo Xu Da and make friends with him, but Xu Da turned a deaf ear to Hu's character.
Hu wanted to make friends with Xu Da and was left out in the cold, so he tried to buy off Fu Shou, the janitor in Xu Da, and wanted Fu Shou to fabricate charges against Xu Da. But Fu Shou is loyal to his master, and if he doesn't buy that set, Hu can't help it.
Long-term military career made Xu Da's body gradually unable to support, and finally broke down from constant overwork. 10, in 384, Xu Da was seriously ill in Beiping, and Zhu Yuanzhang sent messengers to recall Do-Yeong Seo. He died in Yingtianfu on February 20th of the following year at the age of 54.
After Xu Da's death, Zhu Yuanzhang made him King of Zhongshan and named him Wuning. Buried in Zhongshan, enjoying the ancestral hall, ranking first among heroes.