The Battle of Poyang Lake was a strategic decisive battle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang in the late Yuan Dynasty to compete for the waters of Poyang Lake. The decisive battle ended with Zhu Yuanzhang's complete victory. This battle is considered the largest water battle in the medieval world.
In this battle, Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of Chen Youliang's army's long attack on the fortified city and was frustrated. He divided his troops to defend the mouth of Poyang Lake and cut off his retreat first. Then he concentrated his forces and skillfully used fire attacks to annihilate his main force. Then he intercepted Chen Youliang's force by land and water and completely annihilated it. The army was on the verge of breaking through. It created a famous example in the history of Chinese water warfare in which a small number defeated a large number, and laid the foundation for the unification of Jiangnan.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the government was weakened, social unrest, and peasant uprisings were in full swing. In 1352 AD, Guo Zi rose up in rebellion and occupied Haozhou (now Fengyang, Anhui). After Guo Zixing's death, Zhu Yuanzhang became the leader of the rebel army, recruiting talents, reorganizing the army, and growing in power. In 1360 AD, Chen Youliang killed Xu Shouhui, proclaimed himself king, named his country Han, and controlled the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the suggestions of Liu Ji and others and formulated his own strategic plan: first capture Jinling (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), use it as a base to pacify the south of the Yangtze River, and finally attack the Yuan Dynasty, seize the north, and unify the country. If Zhu Yuanzhang wants to pacify Jiangnan, he must have a fierce battle with Chen Youliang. Because Chen Youliang was located in the upper reaches of Jinling, he controlled the three strategic towns of Anqing, Jiujiang, and Wuchang. He occupied a vast area and was powerful. His naval force alone was 10 times that of Zhu Yuanzhang. Therefore, the existence of Chen Youliang was the biggest obstacle for Zhu Yuanzhang to pacify Jiangnan. The battle between them was not only related to each other's life and death, but also would be a strategic decisive battle for southern China.
Just as Zhu Yuanzhang was preparing to attack Chen Youliang, Chen Youliang was also actively planning to eliminate Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1360 AD, Chen Youliang led a powerful navy from Caishi down the river to attack Yingtian Mansion, hoping to annex the territory occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly summoned his subordinates to discuss ways to deal with the Han army. Some said that the strength difference with the Han army was too big, so it was better to surrender as soon as possible; some advocated fleeing to Zhongshan (in today's Nanjing) to defend; others advocated fighting to the death, and if failed, it would not be too late to escape. Everyone was talking and talking. Only counselor Liu Ji stood aside and said nothing.
Zhu Yuanzhang was hesitant. After the meeting, he left Liu Ji alone and asked him what he had in mind. Liu Ji said: "I think those who advocate surrender and escape should be killed!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Sir, what can I do to defeat the enemy?"
Liu Ji said:? The enemy comes from afar to invade, and we are waiting for work, but are we afraid that we will not win? If you reward the soldiers with more property, use a few ambushes, and seize the weaknesses of the Han army to attack them, you will have great hope of defeating Chen Youliang. ?
Zhu Yuanzhang liked Liu Ji's words wholeheartedly. The two discussed for a while and decided on the plan.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s general Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang were old acquaintances. Zhu Yuanzhang found Kang Maocai and said to him: "This time Chen Youliang comes to attack. I want to lure him to the bait. I can't do it without your help." Please write a letter to Chen Youliang, pretend to surrender, and agree to be his internal correspondent; give him some false information, and ask him to divide his troops into three groups to attack Yingtian and disperse his forces. ?
Kang Maocai said: ?This is not difficult. There is an old servant in my house who works as a gatekeeper for Chen Youliang. Send him to deliver the letter, Chen Youliang will not doubt it. ?
Kang Maocai returned home and wrote a letter according to Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions. He asked his old servant to rush to the quarry overnight and asked to see Chen Youliang. When Chen Youliang saw the letter sent by the old servant, he did not doubt it and asked the old servant: Where is Mr. Kang now?
The old servant replied: Now he has brought a group of troops to garrison Jiangdong Bridge. , waiting for the king to go. ?
Chen Youliang quickly asked: "What does Jiangdong Bridge look like?"
The old servant said: "It is a wooden bridge, easy to recognize." ?
Chen Youliang talked with the old servant for a while, ordered the food and wine to be placed on the left and right, and let the old servant have 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 immediately. When I get to the bridge, I will call "Lao Kang" several times and ask him to come over immediately. ?
After the old servant returned, he reported all Chen Youliang's words to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang applauded repeatedly and sent people to demolish the wooden bridge in Jiangdong that night and replace it with a stone bridge.
Zhu Yuanzhang obtained information from Chen Youliang's deserters and figured out their attack route, so he ordered generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to ambush the troops at several important passes along the river. Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the army to guard Lulong Mountain (today's Lion Rock in Nanjing), arranged his soldiers to prepare red and yellow flags, and stipulated signals: raising the red flag was to notify the enemy that the enemy had arrived, and raising the yellow flag was to order the ambush to attack. Everything is ready, just waiting for Chen Youliang to throw himself into the trap.
Since the old servant left, Chen Youliang immediately ordered all the naval forces to set off, led by him personally, and sail directly to Jiangdong Bridge. Unexpectedly, when we arrived at the agreed place, there was no wooden bridge, only a stone bridge. Chen Youliang's generals all became suspicious. Chen Youliang thought, it doesn't matter whether it is a stone bridge or a wooden bridge, as long as he finds Kang Maocai. He went to the stone bridge and called "Lao Kang" several times, but no one answered. Chen Youliang then realized that he had been fooled and hurriedly ordered the fleet to retreat.
Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that the enemy had fallen into the trap, and immediately asked the soldiers to raise the yellow flag and launch an attack. In an instant, the war drums were beating, the ambush soldiers on the shore rushed out together, and the navy in the waterport also joined the battle.
Chen Youliang was suddenly attacked. Tens of thousands of troops were suddenly in chaos. Countless people were killed and drowned. 20,000 soldiers and more than a hundred warships were destroyed by Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers. captured. Under the protection of his generals, Chen Youliang snatched a small boat and finally escaped with his life.
This battle severely weakened Chen Youliang. Zhu Yuanzhang's momentum became stronger and stronger. Chen Youliang was not willing to give in. He gathered all his energy and was determined to take 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 withdrew all the naval forces to Poyang Lake. Zhu Yuanzhang blocked the exit of Poyang Lake to block the enemy, and decided to fight Chen Youliang in the lake.
The next day, at dawn, war drums sounded from Kanglang Mountain in Poyang Lake. Kanglang Mountain was Chen Youliang's temporary command post. He ordered the ships to cook at the third watch. After the soldiers had a full meal, he directed the warships to move to the mouth of the lake. The challenge begins. Chen Youliang united with the giant warships to surrender. The sculls were more than ten feet high. The fleets were lined up and connected with iron chains. They were more than ten miles long, like a Great Wall on the water. However, Zhu Yuanzhang's naval forces were all small boats, and some of the soldiers turned pale in fright at Chen Youliang's momentum. Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting in the command boat, calm and composed. He looked at the soldiers on the left and right, suddenly burst out laughing, and said to Liu Ji: "I think Chen Youliang is really stupid. He connected so many big ships prow and stern. This is not conducive to advance and retreat. It is difficult to advance or retreat." Breaking it is easy. ?Liu Ji knew that Zhu Yuanzhang said this deliberately to boost morale, so he smiled and said: ?How capable is Chen Youliang? At this time, if there is a brave man wearing strong armor and taking a small boat to restrain him, his formation will immediately be in chaos, and the people on the big boat will fall into the lake one by one to feed the fish! Dismissed.
Seeing that all the generals had gained courage, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Liao Yongzhong and others to lead 20 fleets of ships to attack Chen Youliang. Chen Youliang paid no attention to these small boats and ordered the large ships connected together to advance together. The momentum was overwhelming and overturned more than a hundred small boats. On the first day of the battle, Zhu Yuanzhang suffered a defeat. The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship rushed ahead and organized each fleet to shoot arrows at the big ship.
Chen Youliang discovered Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship and ordered Zhang Dingbian to besiege Zhu Yuanzhang and capture him alive at all costs. Xu Da, who was fighting fiercely with the enemy, saw that the situation was not good and quickly transferred his fleet to defend Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not afraid and commanded the battle flexibly by boat.
Just as the fighting between the two armies was intensifying, Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship suddenly ran aground on a beach, and the bottom of the ship seemed to be stuck and unable to move. Zhang Dingbian was overjoyed and shouted loudly: "Zhu Yuanzhang can't run away. Brothers, I will reward you with a thousand taels of gold for capturing Zhu Yuanzhang alive!" The soldiers shouted in unison and gathered around Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang commanded the generals Song Gui, Chen Zhaoxian and others on the ship to resist with their lives. They were shot dozens of times and fell to death on the bow of the ship. Seeing that the whole ship was going to be taken captive, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but become frightened, and bursts of cold sweat broke out on his back. At this critical moment, the general Han Cheng, who looked exactly like Zhu Yuanzhang, said to Zhu Yuanzhang: Song Gui and Chen Zhaoxian are both dead. I am willing to die to save the lord from danger. Please take off your shirt quickly and let me wear it. superior. ?Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated and did not answer. At this time, the enemy's cries for Zhu Yuanzhang's surrender were heard. Arrows were flying at the bow of the ship. Han Cheng said anxiously: "Princess, please listen to me and take off your shirt. Otherwise, all the soldiers on the ship will perish together." , what's the benefit of everyone dying? Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to take off his shirt and let Han Cheng put it on. Han Cheng put Zhu Yuanzhang's banner on his head, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang affectionately, and said: My lord, respect yourself, Han Cheng has gone! He goes.
Han Cheng rushed out of the cabin, stood at the bow of the ship, and shouted loudly: "Chen Youliang, listen! I, Zhu Yuanzhang, am defeated in your hands today, and I can only die." Don't you stop working hard for the sake of you and us, and let all the innocent beings in the world be killed? I'm going to make you proud today, I admit defeat, you see, you see, you read the words, and with a plop, you actually threw yourself into the water.
Zhang Dingbian thought that Zhu Yuanzhang was defeated and committed suicide, so he quickly ordered the recovery of the body so as to show his merit to Chen Youliang, and the offensive slowed down slightly. At this time, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others heard that Zhu Yuanzhang threw himself into the water and came to take revenge. Zhang Dingbian only paid attention to the soldiers salvaging the bodies. Chang Yuchun was unprepared for Chang Yuchun's bow and arrow, and he hit him with an arrow. forehead. Zhang Dingbian screamed and fell down. When the soldiers saw that their general was injured, they immediately panicked and had no intention of fighting anymore. They protected Zhang Dingbian and retreated. Xu Da and others took the opportunity to approach Zhu Yuanzhang and saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was not dead. Overjoyed, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his soldiers to dig sand into the water, push the boat out of the shoal, and finally survived. At this time, it was already dusk, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the gongs to be sounded to withdraw the troops.
After the battle of Kanglang Shanshui, Zhu Yuanzhang calmly considered the overall situation. In order to prevent Zhang Shicheng, who was separatist in Suzhou, from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the base Yingtianfu, he ordered General Xu Da to return to Yingtianfu and made a correct and appropriate strategy in time. Disposal. After the rear was settled, he discussed with military advisor Liu Ji and the generals how to reverse the defeat and win victory. General Guo Xing offered his advice and said: "During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang used fire to attack Cao Cao's chain ship. Why don't we use fire to destroy Chen Youliang's iron chain ship?" Zhu Yuanzhang said: "This is a good method." However, the fire attack depends entirely on the wind, and the tailwind is just right. If there is a headwind, wouldn't it burn our own ship!? Liu Ji said with a smile: "My lord, don't worry, I have been observing the sky for a long time, and there will be a northeasterly wind at dusk today." Get up! Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and said: "The military advisor is really the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang, borrowing the east wind!" He decided to use fire to defeat the enemy.
One evening, a northeasterly wind blew on the lake. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the navy generals Liao Yongzhong and Yu Tonghai to lead the sailors and set off in seven fishing boats. The boat was filled with reeds and firewood, with gunpowder in the middle and a straw man on top, pretending to be a navy soldier, while the real sailors hid behind the baffle under the straw man. Then tie a light boat to the stern of each boat, prepare to light it and then take the boat to evacuate. The seven fishing boats followed the wind and the current and rowed towards Chen Youliang's big boat. Chen Youliang's sentry stood on the tall bow. They were nervous for a while. Later, they saw that there were only a few soldiers standing on the fishing boat holding arms. They relaxed. They didn't pay attention to the small fishing boat at all. They waited patiently for the fishing boat. Get close so that you can be captured alive.
Someone reported the matter to Chen Youliang. Chen Youliang rushed to the bow of the ship to observe and found that the fishing boat was getting closer. He felt suspicious and ordered his soldiers to shoot arrows. Unexpectedly, the soldiers on the fishing boat stood upright and couldn't shoot any of them. By the time Chen Youliang discovered that the soldiers were all straw men in armor, the fishing boat was already close to the big ship. Dozens of iron hooks were thrown over from the fishing boat, firmly catching the big boat.
Liao Yongzhong and Yu Tonghai, who were hiding behind the baffle, ordered the soldiers to light the oil-soaked reeds, gunpowder and sulfur in the boat. Then, they jumped into the light boats behind the boat and evacuated as fast as smoke. The reed gunpowder in the fishing boat ignited a huge flame and soon burned the big boat. Chen Youliang hurriedly ordered his soldiers to put out the flames, but the wind was fierce and the flames were burning on all sides, making it almost impossible to put them down. Their ships were all chained together, making it difficult to separate them in a hurry. The fire spread and the whole army was in chaos. At this time, the warships led by Chang Yuchun came over from both sides again. The ship's mast was carrying a monster on a bamboo pole. It was shaped like a large bucket for people to hold food. It was wrapped with reeds and cloth and contained gunpowder and fire caltrops. It's called "Nothing to do". When he got close to Chen Youliang's ship, he lit the fire line and burned the suspension rope. He had no choice but to fall into the enemy ship and explode, destroying the ship. Chen Youliang's warship burned on all sides and turned into a fire dragon. It was already dark, and the raging fire reflected Poyang Lake red, better than the sunset glow. Zhu Yuanzhang lost no time and led the main force of the warships in a full-scale attack, defeating Chen Youliang, burning hundreds of the opponent's giant warships, and beheading more than 2,000 people. Chen Youliang's two brothers and general Chen Pulue were burned to death. Chen Youliang himself was frightened and panicked.
Chen Youliang was so angry that he gritted his teeth. That night he discussed with his subordinates and said: "Zhu Yuanzhang is too cunning and has defeated countless of our troops with fire. This revenge must be avenged." I saw his ship with a white raft. I will go to battle tomorrow. When I saw the white raft, everyone besieged him with all their strength. Only by killing him can I relieve the hatred in my heart. ?The people of the tribe took orders. In the early morning of the next day, another water battle broke out, and the two sides fought fiercely for three or four hours without deciding the winner. Chen Youliang commanded the navy to attack the ship with white rafters. Unexpectedly, the rafters of the warship Zhu Yuanzhang rushed in front were all white, making it impossible to tell that the ship was Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship. This is Liu Ji's strategy. The purpose is to confuse the enemy's sight and protect the command ship. However, since it was a command ship, there would always be clues. Chen Youliang found it anyway and ordered the soldiers to watch the command ship and fire the artillery. All this was discovered by Liu Ji, who was watching the enemy's every move vigilantly. He jumped up and shouted: "No, my lord, please change the boat quickly!" Zhu Yuanzhang had no time to ask, and hurriedly jumped onto another boat, but heard a loud noise. Noise, it turned out that the ship had been shattered. In order to save the crisis, two navy generals, Liao Yongzhong and Yu Haitong, led six warships directly into the enemy's formation. They climbed onto the enemy's ship, killed everyone they encountered, and burned everything they saw. In a short while, they bypassed Chen Youliang's fleet without even a trace. be injured. Their bravery inspired all Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers and doubled their courage to besiege the ship desperately. Chen Youliang's warship was tall and slow in movement. It could not withstand Zhu Yuanzhang's soldiers and killed them for a while, burned them for a while, and then collapsed. The soldiers were either burned to death or fell into the water and drowned. At this point, Chen Youliang was in an extremely embarrassed state. Thanks to Zhang Dingbian's desperate rescue, he was able to break out of the siege. He had no choice but to pack up the remaining warships and retreat, not daring to fight again.
After that, the two armies began to confront each other, and neither one launched an attack easily. Soon, two of Chen Youliang's generals surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang, resulting in internal instability and weakened strength. Chen Youliang was so angry that he ordered all the prisoners captured in the war to be killed. After Zhu Yuanzhang heard the news, he did the opposite and returned all the prisoners and gave good medicine to the injured, which won people's hearts. Chen Youliang's army fell apart internally.
The two armies have been facing each other for a month. Chen Youliang's fleet was trapped in the lake, his military supplies were exhausted, his plans were exhausted, and he was in danger. Chen Youliang made a desperate attempt to break out of the encirclement from Hukou, turn to the Yangtze River, and then rush to the Wuhan base camp.
Zhu Yuanzhang had already been prepared, and Chen Youliang rushed left and right, unable to find a way out. Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that Chen Youliang would escape, so he personally directed the pursuit. As Chen Youliang retreated, he fired arrows intensively at Zhu Yuanzhang's command ship. One arrow hit Zhu Yuanzhang's seat, and Zhu Yuanzhang subconsciously screamed. Chen Youliang thought he had shot Zhu Yuanzhang, so he stuck his head out of the cabin to look around, but was shot to death by Zhu Yuanzhang's general Guo Ying. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Chen Youliang was shot and killed by an arrow, he said happily: "The goose is dead and the world is stable!"
In February 1364, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Wuchang, and Chen Youliang's son Chen Li surrendered. Zhu Yuanzhang's forces finally took control of the area where Chen Youliang originally belonged.