In the ancient history of China,

The biggest water war

Poyang lake decisive battle

Chen Youliang heard that Zhu Yuanzhang's army came to help, that is, he withdrew from the siege of Hongdu and went east to face Poyang Lake. An unprecedented life-and-death battle was launched on Poyang Lake.

On 20th, the two armies met on the lake in Kang Langshan (now Poyang Lake in Jiangxi). At that time, Chen Jun's huge ships were connected and deployed for dozens of miles, "looking at the mountains and sighing", ready to go. Zhu Yuanzhang divided his ships into 20 teams, each equipped with large and small artillery, ware, rocket, fire tribulus, large and small muskets, arrows and crossbows, and ordered each team to fire firearms first, then use crossbows, and then use short weapons to fight when approaching enemy ships.

The next day, the two sides launched a fierce battle. Xu Da, the general, led the fleet to attack bravely, defeated Chen Xianfeng, killed 1500 people and seized a huge ship. Yu Tonghai fired against the wind, burning more than 20 Chen Jun ships, and Chen Jun was killed and drowned. However, Zhu Jun suffered heavy casualties, especially when Zhu Yuanzhang's ship ran aground and was besieged. The battle is in a stalemate. From morning till night, the two sides sounded the golden bell to retreat, and the battle came to an end. Regardless of the outcome, there are casualties on both sides.

On the 22nd, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the navy. However, Chen's ship was huge, and Zhu's ship was too small to attack and suffered setbacks one after another. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted Guo Xing's suggestion in time and decided to break the enemy with fire.

At dusk, the northeast wind blows on the lake. Zhu Yuanzhang selected brave soldiers and drove seven fishing boats full of gunpowder and firewood to approach the enemy ships. They set fire to the wind, and the wind was strong and spread quickly.

At that time, the flames were blazing and the lake was completely red. In an instant, hundreds of huge ships of Chen Jun were burned, and Chen Jun was killed or injured more than half. Chen Youliang's two brothers and General Chen Luopu were burned to death. Zhu Yuanzhang launched a storm and killed more than 2000 people.

23, the two sides again, Chen Youliang eyeing zhu yuanzhang's flagship onslaught. Zhu Yuanzhang had just moved to another ship when the original ship was shattered by Chen Jun.

On the 24th, Yu Tonghai and others led six ships into the Chen fleet, rushing like Youlong, like nobody's business. Zhu Jun's morale was greatly boosted and he launched a fierce attack. Finally, Chen Jun gave up, abandoned the flag and drum, and built the lake. Chen Youliang had to pack up the areas and turn to defense, afraid to fight again. That night, Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Zuo Li (now northwest of Duchang, Jiangxi Province) and took control of the upper reaches of the river. Chen Youliang also surrendered to the rocky area (now Xingzi South, Jiangxi Province).

After three days of stalemate between the two armies, Chen Jun suffered repeated battles and defeats, and the situation became increasingly unfavorable. Chen Youliang's two generals saw that the tide was gone, so they surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Chen's internal morale was shaken and his strength was weaker.

Angry and annoyed, Chen Youliang ordered all the prisoners to be killed to vent their anger. Zhu Yuanzhang, on the other hand, did the opposite, returning all the prisoners, helping the wounded and dying, disintegrating Chen Jun's morale and winning the hearts of the people.

Chen's internal division made his morale even lower. Zhu Yuanzhang judged that Chen Jun might break through and retreat into the Yangtze River. Instead, they moved to the mouth of the Yangtze River, set up fences on the north and south sides of the Yangtze River, and placed large ships and fire rafts in the river. He also sent troops to seize qi zhou and rejuvenate the country, control the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, block the enemy's retreat, and stand by and annihilate the enemy.

After more than 1 month of confrontation, Chen Youliang was trapped in the lake and ran out of rations. So I put all my eggs in one basket and risked my life to break through.

On August 26, he broke through the south lake mouth and attempted to enter the Yangtze River and return to Wuchang. On the way to Hukou, Jiangxi Province, Zhu Jun took a captain and a fire-fighting raft and stormed in all directions. Chen couldn't move forward, so he had to return to Jingjiang and was blocked by Fu Youde's ambush. He waited left and right, but he couldn't open the door. Chen Youliang was killed by an arrow, the army was defeated, and more than 50,000 people surrendered. "Youde fuck canoe swing its front, the body was robbed, the profit, hand killed hundreds of people, and ao invited it to Jingjiang mouth (now Susong South, Anhui Province), Chen Youliang was defeated.

Chen Youliang failed?

In the 24th year of Zheng Zheng (1364), in February, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Wuchang, and Chen Li, the son of Chen Youliang, surrendered, and Zhu Yuanzhang's influence expanded to the original area of Chen Youliang.

This water war, which lasted for 37 days from July 20 to August 26, was unprecedented in its length, scale, troops, ships and fierce fighting.

What is the significance of the battle of Poyang Lake?

The Poyang Lake water war, the key battle of Zhu Chenhao Campaign, directly led to the end of the decisive battle stage, which in itself led to a series of key events in the development of the Ming Dynasty. ?

Chen Youliang's death and most of his fleet were destroyed or captured, which made Zhu Yuanzhang achieve a complete victory that was not achieved in the setback of 1362. Before that, the Ming army had been fighting against the Han army, which occupied the actual or potential advantage, and at the same time had to deal with the danger of the Dongwu army's attack.

Now that Chen Youliang has been destroyed, the Ming army can immediately start annexing Jiangxi and finally win Hunan and Hubei. As a result, the population of the Ming Dynasty tripled, and the long-standing pacification in the Yangtze River valley was eliminated in 1360. ?

In this campaign, Zhu Yuanzhang was frustrated because Chen Youliang could not attack the city for a long time. He divided his troops to defend the intersection of Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River and cut off his retreat first. Follow the concentration of forces, skillfully attack with fire, and annihilate its main force; After the amphibious interception, adowa Chen broke through. It created a famous war example in the history of China water war, which laid the foundation for the unification of Jiangnan. It also created extremely favorable conditions for the later Northern Expedition, the demise of the Yuan Dynasty and the reunification of the whole country.