In 1399, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, raised troops in Beiping to "Jingnan", and after several years of war, he finally won the victory in 1402. In the process of the battle of "Jingjing", there were two people who played a very significant role and were highly praised by Zhu Di. One is the "black-clothed prime minister" Yao Guangxiao, and the other is a famous general who can fight habitually. This person was originally a general of the Yuan Dynasty, but later became the first military general in Jingnan, and his daughter was married to Zhu Di. So, who is this person?
1. Yan Wang's henchman
This person's name is Zhang Yu, the word Shimei, is a native of Xiangfu (now Kaifeng, Henan). Zhang Yu originally served the Yuan Dynasty and served in the Privy Council. In the leap month of 1368, the Ming Dynasty general Xu Da led the Northern Expedition army to the capital. Emperor Yuan Shun saw that the situation was not good, and led some of his cronies to flee north in a hurry, and Zhang Yu also fled to Mobei at that time. It was not until 1385 that Zhang Yu returned to the Central Plains and submitted to the Ming Dynasty. Three years later, Zhang Yu accompanied Lanyu to the north and participated in the Battle of Yuerhai. Because of his merit, he was awarded the title of Jinan Wei Deputy Thousand Households.
Soon, Zhang Yu was promoted to the commander of An Qingwei and participated in the war against Yuanshun and Sanmao Zhudong. In 1391, Zhang Yu was ordered to "chase the Yuan people from the north to disturb the border", and then he was transferred to the left guard of Yanshan and served under Zhu Di. After that, Zhang Yu followed Zhu Di out of the fortress many times, "and from the barbarian tribes". Because Zhang Yu was both wise and brave, he soon gained Zhu Di's respect and became one of Zhu Di's main confidants and generals, which can be called his right-hand man.
Second, it is difficult to conquer Jingjing
In 1399, Zhu Di raised an army to appease, and Zhang Yu led the soldiers of Yanwangfu to quickly seize the nine gates of Beiping, "to appease the inside and outside of the city, and it will be decided in three days". Then, Zhu Di adopted Zhang Yu's strategy and sent Zhu Neng to "attack Jizhou in the east, kill Ma Xuan, and surrender to Zunhua", and at the same time divided his troops to "Xia Yongping and Miyun", and controlled the military towns near Beiping. After the news reached Nanjing, Emperor Jianwen sent the general Geng Bingwen to lead an army of 300,000 to the north to conquer.
Zhang Yu believed that the enemy generals Pan Zhong and Yang Song were "brave and unplanned, but they could attack and capture." So, Zhang Yu led his own soldiers as the vanguard, and took advantage of the night to "gallop through Xiongxian County", and then captured Pan Zhong and Yang Song, who came to help. After that, Zhu Di adopted Zhang Yu's suggestion, "Arrive at Zhending, break the Bingwen Army", and "behead 30,000". Then, Emperor Jianwen sent Li Jinglong to lead the army north. Zhu Di set up the Fifth Army, with Zhang Yu as the main general of the Chinese army, and broke the Ming army in the Battle of Zhengcunba.
3. Died in battle in Dongchang
After that, Zhang Yu followed Zhu Di to fight, "attacking Guangchang, Ulzhou, and Datong", and defeated Li Jinglong again in the Battle of Baigou. The Yan army went south, and Zhang Yu followed Zhu Di to "pull out Dezhou, chase to Jinan, besiege its city for three months, and return the siege". It didn't take long for the Yan army to fight again, and Zhang Yu charged into battle, "breaking Cangzhou and capturing Xu Kai". During the attack on Dongchang, he encountered Sheng Yong's army. Zhu Di led dozens of horsemen to "go around behind", but was besieged by the Ming army.
After Zhang Yu got the news, he immediately "broke into the battle and killed dozens of people". At this time, Zhu Di had already broken out of the encirclement, but Zhang Yu didn't know it, but he fell into the encirclement instead, and finally died in battle at the age of fifty-eight. After the war, Zhu Di was very sad, "because he couldn't stop crying, all the generals wept." A year later, Zhu Di won the victory of the Battle of Jingyan, he did not forget Zhang Yu's merits, and said: "Zhang Yu is wise and brave, and he should be the first in terms of Jingyangong." "Posthumously presented Zhang Yu as the right pillar of the country and the prince of Rongguo. Zhang Yu's daughter was also included in the harem and named a noble concubine. In addition, Zhang Yu's son Zhang Fu also became a famous general.
References: 1. "Ming Shilu"; 2. "History of the Ming Dynasty"