Background of Longwan Battle

The background of the battle of Longwan in Chen Youliang was originally under the command of Xu Shouhui, the leader of the peasant uprising army in the late Yuan Dynasty. However, Chen Youliang was ambitious, killed Xu Shouhui, mastered the military power of Xu Shouhui's troops, and ascended the throne in Wuchang (now Wuhan, Hubei Province) on 1360, establishing the attack power of Chen Han.

Since the 18th year of Zheng Zheng (1358), Chen Youliang's power has become stronger and stronger, and it has seized many cities from Zhu Yuanzhang or the Yuan Dynasty court. First occupied Anqing (now Anqing, Anhui Province), then attacked Longxing (now Nanchang, Jiangxi Province) and Ruizhou (now Gaoan, Jiangxi Province). Then Chen Youliang divided his forces and captured Shaowu (now Shaowu, Fujian) and Ji 'an.

Soon, Chen Youliang successively conquered Jianchang (now Cheng Nan, Jiangxi), Ganzhou (now Ganzhou, Jiangxi), Tingzhou (now Changting, Fujian), Xinzhou (now Shangrao, Jiangxi) and Quzhou (now Quzhou, Zhejiang). In the northwest, Chen Youliang conquered Xiangyang (now Xiangyang, Hubei) with growing power.

In its heyday, Chen Youliang's influence extended to today's Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces and a small part of Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, equivalent to today's four provinces of China. Moreover, Chen Youliang is ambitious and bent on being an emperor, which is the strongest separatist force in the south of the Yangtze River.

In contrast, Zhu Yuanzhang's influence is only a small part of today's Jiangsu, Anhui and south-central Zhejiang, only a province in China, and not on the same level as Chen Youliang. Therefore, Chen Youliang was a strong opponent who could compete with Zhu Yuanzhang for the world at that time. How to attack or even destroy Chen Youliang was a big problem for Zhu Yuanzhang.

In the 20th year of Zheng Zheng (1360), Chen Youliang conquered Chizhou (now Chizhou, Anhui) in the lower reaches of Anqing. Then Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply threatened and sent Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to attack Chizhou. Chen Youliang was defeated by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun. Chang Yuchun took Chen Youliang alive with more than 3,000 foot soldiers.

For these 3,000 prisoners of war, the outspoken Chang Yuchun suggested to Xu Da: "These people are our strong enemies. If we don't kill them, I'm afraid it will be a future trouble. If our master knew about this, he would certainly not kill these people. "

As a result, 3,000 prisoners of war were killed by Chang Yuchun, which is equivalent to Chang Yuchun's cruel words to Chen Youliang: "I killed your people! What can you do to me?

However, although Chang Yuchun was almost invincible in the war, he recklessly made such a mistake when treating prisoners of war. In this way, Chang Yuchun angered Chen Youliang and directly pushed his master Zhu Yuanzhang to the brink of disaster and collapse.

Chen Youliang once crusaded against Zhu Yuanzhang, bypassing Chizhou (now Chizhou, Anhui) and heading straight for Taiping (now Dangtu, An Wei). Hua Yun, the valiant soldier of Zhu Yuanzhang, died in Taiping. After Chen Youliang assembled, he wanted to go straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's "lair" (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) and prepare to destroy Zhu Yuanzhang at one stroke.

Zhu Yuanzhang has reached a critical moment of life and death, and the battle of Longwan was launched under such a background.