On the sixth day of July, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led 200,000 naval troops to rescue Hongdu. On the 16th, they arrived at Hukou, Jiangxi.
First, troops were sent to guard the mouth of the Jingjiang River (now south of Susong, Anhui), and another army was stationed at Nanhuzui (now northwest of Hukou, Jiangxi) to cut off Chen Youliang's return route; he also sent troops to guard Wuyang Ferry (now east of Nanchang County, Jiangxi) to prevent Chen Youliang's army.
Escape; Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the navy from Songmen (today's Duchangnan, Jiangxi) into Poyang Lake, forming a closed-door and dog-fighting trend.
When Chen Youliang heard that Zhu Yuanzhang's army was coming to help, he withdrew from the siege of Hongdu and went east to Poyang Lake to fight. A life-and-death battle of unprecedented scale and fierceness began on Poyang Lake.
On the 20th, the two armies encountered each other on the lake of Kanglang Mountain (in today's Poyang Lake, Jiangxi). At that time, Chen Jun's giant ships formed a joint formation and spread out for dozens of miles. "Looking like a mountain", the momentum was breathtaking. Zhu Yuanzhang aimed at the head-to-stern connection of his giant ships.
, unfavorable advance and retreat, divide your own ships into 20 teams, each team is equipped with large and small artillery, blunderbuss, rockets, fire caltrops, large and small muskets, magical arrows and crossbows, and order each team to fire their firearms first when approaching the enemy ship.
First use bows and 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 of the Zhu Army, took the lead and led a fleet to attack bravely, defeating the Chen Army's forward, killing 1,500 enemy soldiers, and capturing a giant ship.
Yu Tonghai took advantage of the wind and fired artillery fire, burning more than 20 ships of Chen Jun. Many Chen Jun were killed and drowned.
However, Zhu Jun suffered many casualties, especially Zhu Yuanzhang's ship, which ran aground and was surrounded, narrowly escaping the unexpected.
The battle was in a stalemate. From morning to dusk, both sides paid tribute and retreated their troops. The battle came to an end. Both sides suffered casualties, and there was no winner.
On the 22nd, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the navy to fight. However, the Chen ship was huge and the Zhu warship was too small to attack from above, and suffered setbacks one after another. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang promptly adopted the suggestion of his general Guo Xing and decided to use fire to defeat the enemy.
At dusk, a northeast wind blew on the lake. Zhu Yuanzhang chose brave soldiers to drive seven fishing boats filled with gunpowder and firewood, approached the enemy ships, and set fire to the wind. The wind was strong and the fire spread quickly.
For a moment, the flames soared and the lake turned red, burning hundreds of Chen Jun's giant ships in an instant. Chen Jun suffered more than half of his casualties. Chen Youliang's two brothers and General Chen Pulue were both burned to death.
Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the momentum and launched a fierce attack, killing more than 2,000 enemies.
On the 23rd, there was another confrontation between the two sides. Chen Youliang spotted Zhu Yuanzhang's flagship and launched a fierce attack. As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang moved to another ship, the original ship was destroyed by Chen Jun.
On the 24th, Yu Tonghai and others led 6 ships to break into Chen Jun's fleet, galloping bravely, as if they were swimming in a dragon, as if entering an uninhabited land. Zhu Jun's morale was greatly boosted, and he launched a fierce attack.
In the end, Chen's army was defeated and retreated. The abandoned flags, drums and weapons were floating on the lake. Chen Youliang had to gather the remaining troops and turn to defense, not daring to fight anymore. That night, Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the victory and entered Zuoli (today's northwest of Duchang, Jiangxi).
Taking control of the upper reaches of the river, Chen Youliang also surrendered to Zhuji (now south of Xingzi, Jiangxi).
The two armies were in a stalemate for three days. The Chen Army was defeated repeatedly, and the situation became increasingly unfavorable. Seeing that the situation was over, the two generals Chen Youliang surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang. The Chen Army's internal morale was shaken and its strength was further weakened.
Chen Youliang was angry and annoyed, and ordered all the captured prisoners to be killed to vent his anger. However, Zhu Yuanzhang did the opposite and returned all the prisoners, mourned the dead and healed the wounded, which undermined the morale of Chen's army, thus gaining great popularity.
Chen's army fell apart internally and its morale became even lower. Zhu Yuanzhang judged that Chen's army might break through and retreat to the Yangtze River, so he moved his army to Hukou, set up wooden palisades on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River, and placed large boats and fire rafts in the river. He also sent troops to capture Qizhou and rejuvenate the country.
Control the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, block the enemy's return route, and wait to annihilate the enemy.
After more than a month of confrontation, Chen Youliang was trapped in the lake, his army supplies were exhausted, and his plans were exhausted. So he made a desperate move and risked his life to break out.
On August 26, they broke through from Nanhuzui and attempted to enter the Yangtze River and return to Wuchang.
When they arrived at the mouth of Hukou in Jiangxi, Zhu's army attacked fiercely from all sides with boat divisions and fire rafts. Chen's army was unable to advance. They returned to the Jingjiang River and were blocked by Fu Youde's ambush.
They were defeated and more than 50,000 people surrendered.
This naval battle lasted for 37 days from July 20 to August 26. Its length, scale, number of troops and ships, and the intensity of the battle were all unprecedented.
The decisive battle ended with Zhu Yuanzhang's complete victory. This battle was regarded as the largest water battle in the medieval world.
It created a famous example in the history of Chinese water warfare in which a small number defeated a large number, which laid the foundation for the unification of the south of the Yangtze River, and created extremely favorable conditions for the subsequent Northern Expedition, the attack on the Yuan Dynasty, and the unification of the country. It is rumored that after the Battle of Longwan between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang.
Two days later, he went to a temple for a private visit. The abbot saw that his face was not kind and that he had a strong evil spirit, so he wanted to defuse him and asked his name. Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a poem on the wall of the temple and left laughing. The monk was shocked when he saw the poem.
I saw it written: After killing millions of soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, the sword on his waist was still bloody. The mountain monk did not know the hero and only asked his name.
