Chairman Mao once commented when reading the book "The Think Tank " compiled by Feng Menglong of the Ming Dynasty:
"Since ancient times, there has been no one to the right of Li Shimin , followed by Zhu Yuanzhang ." 5
Tang Taizong Li Shimin created many classic battles in which the weak defeated the strong, which was most in line with Chairman Mao's military wisdom characteristics; and the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang ranked second after Li Shimin was because his series of military strategies for conquering the world also won Chairman Mao's praise.
李世民
In more than ten years of war training, Zhu Yuanzhang used his extraordinary military talents to rise from an ordinary soldier to a commander-in-chief of the three armies, until he ascended the throne of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. And those heroes who had been in the war for a long time when he was still an unknown small school had all become his enemies or generals one after another. There is no doubt that Zhu Yuanzhang was an outstanding military strategist, and his military success was the main reason why he was able to conquer the world.
Chairman Mao said: "Strategic issues are things that study the laws of the overall war." It was in the complicated war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang correctly grasped the overall situation of the war, made full use of the favorable factors caused by the objective situation, and made correct strategic decisions at each stage of the development of the war.
Zhu Yuanzhang was appreciated by Guo Zixing because "whenever he was ordered to conquer, he was always victorious", and he was awarded the military command. In three years, he was promoted from a private soldier to the ninth commander, governor, general manager, and even the right deputy marshal who was conferred by King Xiao Ming Han Lin'er . It's a pity that the coach Guo Zixing was mediocre, Zhao Junyong and others were ambitious, had internal discord, killed each other, and were threatened by the Yuan army externally. It was all thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang's sole support that the Red Scarf Army was able to survive the internal and external difficulties. In 1355 AD, Guo Zixing died of illness, and Zhu Yuanzhang took charge of his army. Soon, he categorically gave up the Huaixi Army, which he had been operating for three years, and led a capable force of more than 10,000 people to cross the river south and establish a new Jiangnan base.
Why did Zhu Yuanzhang want to cross the Yangtze River and go south? There are three reasons for this: first, "Heyang is short of food, and he wants to cross the river" to ensure that the army will not be short of pay; second, to avoid a fight with Zhao Junyong and Sun Deya, which will weaken each other; third, "there is a clear foundation, and the Chuyang First Brigade will be established." At that time, the Chuzhou government had formulated a general strategic plan with Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong and other Confucian scholars to use Nanjing as the base and replace it with the Yuan Dynasty. The crossing of the river was the first major step in this grand strategy.
At that time, Jiangnan was not only rich in food, but the Yuan army stationed there was also isolated and scattered because it was divided by the heroes, which was conducive to defeating them one by one. So Zhu Yuanzhang seized this favorable opportunity and decisively decided to send his troops across the river. After crossing the river, he got rid of all kinds of restrictions. Although he was still nominally subordinate to Han Lin'er and Liu Futong, he just "read Lin'er's power and could rely on it, so he used his reign name to support the whole army." It was precisely because of the "defense" of the Song regime that the main force of the Yuan army "could not march to the left side of the Yangtze River with only horses." After Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Nanjing, he successively occupied large areas of land in Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and his power grew rapidly, becoming the most important military force in the late Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang
In 1360 AD, the peasant war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty began to transform into a large-scale feudal unification war. Zhu Yuanzhang faced a serious situation: the Song regime failed due to the main force of the Northern Expedition. Under the attack of the Yuan general Chahan Timur, the capital Bianliang fell and retreated to Baoanfeng (today's Shouxian County, Anhui). If Chahan Timur forces his troops south and the Song army cannot resist, Zhu Yuanzhang is likely to be threatened by the Yuan army. At the same time, more serious threats come from the east and west sides. Chen Youliang, the king of Han Dynasty, who dominated the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, "is straddling the Yangtze River and Han Dynasty, with a wide land and a sharp front, and is unique in the southeast. I admire his power and look for it between the spears and the big arrows." The downstream Wu Wang and Zhang Shicheng "cover Hangzhou and Shao in the south, and span Tong and Tai in the north" and have considerable strength. Zhu Yuanzhang lived in Nanjing, between the two powerful enemies in the east and west. At this time, Chen Youliang, relying on his strength, had gone down the river and occupied the important military towns of Jiujiang, Anqing and Taiping in the upper reaches of Nanjing, and sent envoys to form an alliance with Zhang Shicheng.In addition, Fang Guozhen in the south, although he was not a strong enemy, was also suspicious and waiting for the opportunity.
Zhu Yuanzhang conducted a prudent investigation and analysis of such a serious situation. The first thing he focused on was the battlefield in the Central Plains, but from the military intelligence he obtained, he concluded that due to internal fighting, the main force of the Yuan army would not have immediately arrived at the city. As for Fang Guozhen, who is determined to protect the land and has weak strength, sooner or later, he will be "a bird in a cage, and it will be like a sender." Therefore, he decided to temporarily take a defensive position on both sides of the north and south: the north and Chahan Timur were in harmony to gain time; the south and the other side had their own responsibilities to avoid being restrained. When facing the enemies on both sides of the east and west, he believed that "Wu and Han are enemies in the gates, and it is better to go quickly." However, Zhu Yuanzhang's decision-making group is very different whether to beat Zhang Shicheng first or Chen Youliang first.
Most people think: "Zhang Shicheng is rich but weak, so it should be first." Liu Ji believes: "Youliang is in the upper reaches and his reputation is not upright, so it should be attacked first. After the Chen family was destroyed, Zhang is the object in his pocket." After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, Zhu Yuanzhang believed: "Youliang is rude and light, and his ambition is arrogant; the sincere and his ambition is cunning and cowardly, and his arrogance is small. Ambition is fond of trouble, and a small ambition is not far-reaching. If you attack Shicheng first, you will definitely come to empty the country, which will make me tired of responding to the enemy and have difficulties in doing things; if you attack Youliang first, you will definitely not be able to help Gusu." So he adopted Liu Ji's opinion and decided to attack Chen Youliang first.
Zhu Yuanzhang's strategic decision not only showed his military ability to control the overall situation of the war in extremely complex situations, but also showed his fearless courage to defeat the strong with the weak. At that time, Chen Youliang had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength and strategic position. Many of Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers were frightened by the strength of the Chen army and were afraid of fighting with the Chen army. Even when the main counselor Li Shanchang heard that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to lure Chen Youliang to come quickly, he asked in panic: "Someone is worried that the enemy will come, what is the inducement?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was confident. On the one hand, he "sent envoys to bring letters to surrender to the insider" to lure the enemy into deeper; on the other hand, he sent general Hu Dahai to lead elite troops to attack the enemy's back. Chen Youliang jumped into the trap set by Zhu Yuanzhang, causing Zhu Yuanzhang to wipe out his main force in Longwan. The Longwan Battle not only defeated Chen Youliang, but also greatly shocked Zhang Shicheng. Since then, Zhang Shicheng has remained silent in several major battles between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang. Especially in the decisive battle of Poyang Lake, Zhu Yuanzhang shook the country and Nanjing was almost empty. Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself had no worries. When the war was in full swing, he sent general Xu Da to return to Nanjing. However, Zhang Shicheng still hurried in Gusu City and did not dare to come out to help Chen Youliang. Zhu Yuanzhang first defeated Chen Youliang's strategic decision, breaking the possibility of Wu and Han establishing a military alliance, thus freeing himself from the military crisis of fighting at the same time on both the east and west, and finally defeating them one by one.
Another example of Zhu Yuanzhang's extraordinary military talent was the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition showed that he was able to remain clear-headed and calmly responded in the face of major victories.
After Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, he decided to fight the Northern Expedition in October 1367. Due to the successive victory, many generals have underestimated the enemy. At the military meeting to study the route of the Northern Expedition, many people advocated "directly attacking the Yuandu". Zhu Yuanzhang, in view of the fact that "the capital of Yuan Dynasty was established for a hundred years, the city would be strong. If the army was hanging deep and stationed troops under the strong city, the salary was insufficient, and the reinforcements were gathered in four groups, which was not my benefit." He opposed the opposition and decisively proposed to take Shandong first and remove its shield; to lead Henan, cut off its wings; to pull Tongguan and guard it, and follow the threshold of its household. If the overall situation is in hand, then advance to Yuandu, "there will be no support and no war will be able to overcome the capital." The Northern Expedition was achieved in accordance with this strategic arrangement of Zhu Yuanzhang. It took only ten months from the Northern Expedition to the Yuan Dynasty. When summarizing the experience of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "Scholars cannot rely on a wide range, and people cannot rely on their masses. Since I started the army, I have competed with the heroes. Every time I face a small enemy, I am like a big enemy, so I can win."
Zhu Yuanzhang's military thought also has some flaws. The prominent point is that he is not transformed in the past and sticks to the so-called "do not pursue the enemy" in ancient military tactics, which has repeatedly missed the opportunity to fight and led to losses that could have been avoided.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang's strategy of the Northern Expedition was correct, the dogma of "not chasing the enemy without chasing the enemy" still caused major mistakes. The Northern Expedition Army pacified Qi, Lu, and after the sweeping rivers and Luo, Xu Da, the general of the expedition, had already predicted that Emperor Shun of Yuan would abandon the capital and flee north, and reminded Zhu Yuanzhang: "The army went forward and rushed north, and he would not spend his entire journey, so he would worry about the future." But Zhu Yuanzhang retorted: "The Yuan Dynasty has been replaced, and he will be exhausted from the end of the year, so why bother me to do the army." He ordered Xu Da to "after going out of the border, he would defend the border and prevent it from invading." As a result, after Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty fled north, he still preserved complete political and military institutions, so he was able to reorganize forces in the northern part of the border and continuously invade south on a large scale, which became the biggest disaster in the early Ming Dynasty, forcing Zhu Yuanzhang to mobilize troops repeatedly after the founding of the country. He fought with him, and suffered heavy losses in manpower and financial resources.
If Zhu Yuanzhang could decide to eliminate all evil, plow the courtyard and sweep the cave, and destroy the bureaucratic machinery and military forces of the Yuan Dynasty in one fell swoop, how could he suffer twenty years later?
Chairman Mao always advocated that "it is better to pursue the poor enemy with courage." He commented that Zhu Yuanzhang's military talent was "second" to Li Shimin, and implied a tactful criticism of his mistakes such as his adherence to the military dogma of "not chasing the poor enemy with no pursuit".
Chairman Mao studied Zhu Yuanzhang's experience very carefully, and even some historical details were not spared. When he read the records of " Ming History " about the spring of the 24th year of Zhizheng in Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led his troops to conquer Wuchang after ascending the throne of Wu, and defeated the Han, Mian, Jing, Yue and other regions in one fell swoop, and criticized:
"It is a mistake to not allow all descendants to lead troops to fight."
In Chairman Mao's view, Zhu Yuanzhang should allow all descendants to undergo training in the gun forest and swords, and they cannot let them enjoy their success. In this regard, Chairman Mao, the leader of the proletarian revolution, far surpassed the feudal emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. He sent his beloved son Mao Anying to the battlefield of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, and even sacrificed heroically!
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