The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398.
Born in 1328 into a peasant family in Anhui, Zhu Yuanzhang grew up during a period of epidemics, famines, and widespread uprisings in China under the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. When he was 16, his parents and brother died in an epidemic. The orphaned Zhu briefly lived as a novice monk, begging for alms and gaining insight into the hardships of the common people. He also developed a dislike for book-dependent scholars. In 1352, he joined the Red Turban rebels, a movement that sought to overthrow Yuan rule, and quickly rose to command his own army. He captured Nanjing in 1356 and built a powerful regional regime in southern China. He adopted Yuan administrative practices and applied them to his expanding territory. Although he nominally acknowledged the authority of the Red Turban figurehead Han Lin'er, Zhu increasingly acted independently and, after defeating rival rebels, declared himself King of Wu in 1364.
After successfully dominating southern and central China in early 1368, Zhu decided to rename the Kingdom of Wu to Da Ming, which translates to 'Great Radiance'. He adopted Hongwu, meaning 'Vastly Martial', as his era name. In the following four-year war, he drove out the Mongol forces loyal to the Yuan dynasty and unified the country, but failed to conquer Mongolia. During the Hongwu Emperor's 30-year reign, Ming China experienced significant growth and recovered from the effects of prolonged wars. The Emperor had a strong understanding of the structure of society and believed in implementing reforms to improve institutions. This approach differed from the Confucian belief that the ruler's moral example was the most important factor. The Hongwu Emperor also prioritized the safety of his people and the loyalty of his subordinates, demonstrating pragmatism and caution in military affairs. He maintained a disciplined army and made efforts to minimize the impact of war on civilians. He died in 1398 and was succeeded by his grandson, the Jianwen Emperor. In 1402, the Hongwu Emperor's fourth son, Zhu Di, overthrew the Jianwen Emperor following a civil war and took the throne as the Yongle Emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the future Hongwu Emperor, was born in 1328 in Zhongli (鍾離) village, in Haozhou (present-day Fengyang, Anhui), China, then ruled by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. He was the youngest of four sons born to the peasant family of Zhu Wusi and his wife, Lady Chen. He was given the name Zhu Chongba (朱重八) at birth, but used the name Zhu Xingzong (朱興宗) in adulthood. Later, as a rebel fighter against the Yuan dynasty, he used the name Zhu Yuanzhang, with the courtesy name Guorui, and posthumously renamed his father Zhu Shizhen. Zhu's grandfather and father fled across the Huai River valley to avoid tax collectors. His maternal grandfather was a fortune-teller and seer who, in his youth, had served in the army of the Song dynasty during its final struggle against the Mongols before the dynasty fell in 1279. His mother frequently told him stories imbued with a spirit of Song loyalism, which left a deep impression on him.
In 1344, Zhu's parents and one of his brothers died during a plague epidemic. Zhu then entered a local Buddhist monastery. For the next three years, he wandered as a novice monk, begging for alms and becoming familiar with the landscape and people of eastern Henan and western Anhui provinces. He returned to the monastery in 1348 and stayed for four years, during which he learned to read and write and studied the basics of Buddhism.
The harsh taxation policies and famine, together with catastrophic flooding in the Yellow River basin caused by inadequate flood control measures, led to widespread opposition to the rule of the Yuan dynasty. The presence of Taoist and Buddhist secret societies and sects further fueled this discontent, the most prominent being the White Lotus society. In 1351, the Red Turban Rebellion erupted and quickly spread throughout northern China.
The initially disorganized Mongol troops were able to launch a counteroffensive and advance along the Grand Canal, a major waterway linking northern and southern China. In October 1352, the Mongols captured Xuzhou, causing the rebel commanders Peng Da and Zhao Yunyong to flee south to Haozhou, where the Yuan dynasty's power was declining. In Haozhou, Guo Zixing, Sun Deya (孫德崖), and three other leaders, with the support of the local elite, organized the army and established order in the surrounding area. Guo joined Peng, while his four colleagues joined Zhao.
Zhu joined the rebels in 1352, as the Yuan army burned down his monastery after suspecting the monks of links to the White Lotus society. On 15 April, he arrived in Haozhou. He began as a rank-and-file fighter. While he was considered physically unattractive, Zhu's exceptional leadership, decisiveness, martial skill, and intelligence quickly earned him significant authority. He became the leader among 24 of his acquaintances who had already joined the rebels. These acquaintances would eventually become generals in the Ming army. By the spring of 1353, Zhu was leading a 700-man squad, and he became Guo's most trusted subordinate. Skilled in both military tactics and political maneuvering, he married Guo's adopted daughter, surnamed Ma. Unlike other leaders of his time, who often appointed many relatives to important positions to secure loyalty, Zhu appointed only a few relatives.
The rivalry between Peng and Zhao escalated into further conflict. Zhao captured Guo but Zhu freed him, increasing Guo's reliance on Zhu. After Peng's death in 1353, Zhao emerged as the dominant leader in the region. He sent Guo to the east and Zhu with a small detachment to the south, hoping to divide and destroy them. However, Zhu successfully occupied several counties and bolstered his army to 20,000 soldiers, and Guo moved with Zhao's 10,000 men to join him.
Capture of Nanjing and rise as a regional power (1355–1360)
At the beginning of 1355, Zhu, Guo, and the eastern rebel Zhang Shicheng decided to leave the devastated northern territories and cross the Yangtze River into the still-prosperous south. Guo and Zhu entered into a dispute over Hezhou, a city situated on the banks of the Yangtze, leading Zhu to ally with Guo's old enemy Sun Deya; Guo died before the conflict escalated. Han Lin'er, the Red Turban leader who claimed the title of Song emperor, then appointed Guo's eldest son, Guo Tianxu (郭天敍), as his successor, with Zhang Tianyu (張天祐), Guo's brother-in-law, as first deputy and Zhu as second deputy. In July 1355, the Hezhou rebels obtained a fleet from rebels arriving from Chao Lake, allowing them to cross the Yangtze River that same month and capture Taiping (present-day Dangtu County, Anhui), a Yuan stronghold on the river's southern bank. The local Yuan commander Chen Yexian (陳野先) attempted to retake Taiping but was defeated and surrendered to Zhu. Two months later, Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyu launched an attack on Jiqing (present-day Nanjing) using Chen's forces, but Chen betrayed them at a critical moment and all three were killed in the ensuing fighting.
In March 1356, Zhu once again marched on Jiqing. Chen Zhaoxian (陳兆先), Chen Yexian's nephew, had succeeded his uncle as commander. He and 36,000 troops surrendered to Zhu. In April 1356, Zhu successfully entered Jiqing, which he renamed Yingtian ('In response to Heaven'). In May 1356, Han Lin'er appointed Zhu as the head of Jiangnan Province (江南行中書省), one of the five provinces of the Song state. Zhu soon had Guo's younger son executed, citing a breach of military discipline. This allowed Zhu to establish clear leadership and he immediately began to build his administration, but he faced instances of betrayal and defection to the enemy until the victory at Lake Poyang in 1363.
Zhu now commanded an army of 100,000 soldiers, which was divided into divisions or wings (翼; yi). In Nanjing itself, there were eight divisions and one division per prefecture. From 1355 to 1357, he launched attacks against Zhang Shicheng in the direction of Suzhou and successfully occupied southern Jiangxi; after this, the border with Zhang's state was fortified on both sides and remained stable until 1366. In Zhejiang, from 1358 to 1359, Zhu controlled four impoverished inland prefectures, while Zhang held control over four prosperous northern coastal prefectures, and Fang Guozhen occupied the eastern coast of the province.