Hongwu

Hongwu (born Oct. 21, 1328, Haozhou [now Fengyang, Anhui province], China—died June 24, 1398, Nanjing) was the Chinese emperor (reigned 1368–98) who founded the Ming dynasty that ruled China for nearly 300 years. During his reign, the Hongwu emperor instituted military, administrative, and educational reforms that centred power in the emperor.

Early life

The future Hongwu emperor was born in 1328 as Zhu Chongba, a poor peasant of Haozhou (about 100 miles [160 km] northwest of Nanjing, near China’s east coast). Orphaned at 16, he became a monk at the Huangjue monastery near Fengyang to avoid starvation—a common practice for the sons of poor peasants. As a wandering mendicant, he often begged for food at Hefei (some 100 miles west of Nanjing) and surrounding areas, where no constituted authority existed. Indeed, all of central and northern China was suffering from drought and famine, and more than seven million people starved, a situation that encouraged the popular rebellions that started from around 1325. Led by plebeian bandits, the rebels attacked the rich, distributing their wealth and goods among the people.

Emergence as general

One such rebel was Guo Zixing, who in 1352 led a large force to attack and take Haozhou. Zhu joined the rebel forces and changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang, rising from the ranks to become second-in-command. Guo Zixing, a mere bandit leader, became jealous of Zhu Yuanzhang, who distinguished himself as a military leader. These problems were later mitigated when Zhu Yuanzhang married Guo’s adopted daughter, the princess Ma, who was influential in reconciling the two men.

In 1353 Zhu Yuanzhang captured Chuzhou (now in Anhui province, northwest of Nanjing). Subsequently he received important commissions, gaining a following of outstanding men, some of whom later became officials under the early Ming dynasty. In 1355 Guo Zixing died, and Zhu Yuanzhang took over the leadership of the rebel army.

Zhu Yuangzhang attacked and captured towns and cities in eastern China and, on reaching the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta, encountered educated men of the gentry class. Some decided to join his movement, and Zhu had the foresight to seek their guidance. From them he learned the rudiments of the Chinese language and studied Chinese history and the Confucian Classics. More significantly, he learned the principles of government and built up an effective administration in local areas alongside the military structure. Moreover, he was persuaded by his scholars to present himself as a national leader against the Mongols rather than as a popular rebel. His choice of advisers and his shrewd ability to adopt sound governmental measures ultimately made him the most formidable leader against the Mongols.

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Now determined to overthrow the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (1206–1368), Zhu marched toward Nanjing and captured it in 1356. Nanjing was a strategic point, close to the rich lands of the Yangtze delta. Proclaiming himself duke of Wu, Zhu established an effective administration over the Nanjing area with the help of the scholars and on their advice refrained from roaming aimlessly from place to place to plunder. He also encouraged agriculture by granting unused land to the landless peasants, but, in spite of his successes, he was still reluctant to proclaim himself king (wang). At that time he acknowledged the Song dynasty pretender, Han Lin’er, as his superior, even though Han was ineffectual.

Meanwhile, the northern provinces were as restless as the south, and, when various rebels defied the Mongols, the capable Mongol minister Tuotuo personally led troops to subdue them. The north, thus, had a semblance of peace, whereas the south could not be controlled by the Mongol authorities.

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National military leadership

Zhu now emerged as the national leader against the Mongols, though he had other rivals for power. Chief among them were Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng. Chen Youliang was the self-proclaimed emperor of the Han dynasty and was based in Wuchang (in Hubei province, about 400 miles [650 km] west of Shanghai), controlling a large portion of central China. Zhang Shicheng, the self-proclaimed prince Cheng of the Zhou dynasty, operated at Pingjiang (now Suzhou, in Jiangsu province adjoining the east coast and including Nanjing) in the east.

In 1363 a decisive naval battle at Lake Poyang (south of the Yangtze in the north of Jiangxi province) was fought between Chen Youliang’s huge fleet of war junks and Zhu’s small but swift barges. The three-day battle ended with Chen’s death and the destruction of his fleet. Wuchang, Chen’s stronghold, was captured in 1364, followed by the capture of Hubei, Hunan (a large province west of Jiangxi), and Jiangxi provinces. In the same year Zhu proclaimed himself prince of Wu.

With the death of Chen Youliang, events moved quickly to a climax. In 1367 the Song pretender Han Lin’er felt so threatened by the Mongols at his headquarters at Chuzhou that he decided to flee to Nanjing for protection. Escorted by one of Zhu’s men during the trip, Han died by drowning when his boat capsized—an event perhaps contrived by Zhu. In the same year Zhang Shicheng was captured and brought to Nanjing, where he committed suicide. Other rebels decided to submit or were eliminated. One such was Fang Guozhen, one of the first to rebel against the Mongols, who had operated as a pirate along the coast; when he surrendered to Zhu, he was given honours and a stipend but no real power. On the other hand, Chen Youting, a Yuan loyalist who protected Fujian province (on the southeast coast, opposite Taiwan), was captured and brought to Nanjing for execution.

Reign as emperor

With the south pacified, Zhu sent his generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead troops against the north. At the beginning of 1368 Zhu finally proclaimed himself emperor of the Ming dynasty, establishing his capital at Nanjing. Hongwu (“Vastly Martial”) was adopted as his reign title, and he is usually referred to as the Hongwu emperor, though Taizu is more strictly correct.

The troops sent to conquer the north were highly successful. Shandong and Henan provinces submitted to Ming authority. By August 1368, Ming troops had entered the Yuan capital of Dadu (later renamed Beijing). The Mongol emperor Shundi fled to Inner Mongolia, and, although Mongol power was not immediately destroyed, historically the Yuan dynasty now came to an end. The rest of the country fell easily as Ming troops subdued first the northwest, then the southwest (Sichuan and Yunnan). Unification was completed by 1382.

The Hongwu emperor was cruel, suspicious, and irrational, especially as he grew older. Instead of eliminating Mongol influence, he made his court resemble the Mongol court, and the despotic power of the emperor was institutionalized for the rest of the dynasty.

One of his political acts was to grant principalities to all his sons, ostensibly from fear of another Mongol invasion, so that the imperial princes could be given military powers to aid the regular armies. A contributing factor was his interest in maintaining personal control over the empire through his sons’ principalities.