Feng Sheng, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, was born into a military family. Since he was a child, he was influenced by the military of his father Feng Guoyong, and he practiced an extraordinary martial arts. Known for his straightforwardness and decisive decision-making, he demonstrated leadership like no other. In the brutal war in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, Feng Sheng witnessed countless misery and suffering, which strengthened his belief in seeking happiness for the people.
In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops in Jiqing (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) in response to the Red Turban Army. At this critical juncture, Feng Shengzheng led an armed force active in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. When he learned that Zhu Yuanzhang was in urgent need of a powerful general, he did not hesitate to contact his brother Feng Guoyong and led 500 cavalry to defect.
Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely interested in Feng Sheng's military talents and decision-making wisdom, and he immediately appointed Feng Sheng as his commander, and relied heavily on his military strategy. In the following battles, Feng Sheng, with his bravery and wisdom, helped Zhu Yuanzhang to achieve continuous victories, and finally defeated Chen Youliang's army in the Battle of Poyang Lake, making Zhu Yuanzhang the leader of the Jiangnan region.
Over time, Feng Sheng continued to build up meritorious deeds in the campaign with his outstanding leadership skills and courageous fighting spirit.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully captured Dadu and established the Ming Dynasty. When rewarding meritorious heroes, Feng Sheng ranked third for his meritorious assistance, second only to Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, and was named the Duke of Song. However, with the improvement of status and the accumulation of merits, the bad side of Feng Sheng's character gradually emerged. He became too straightforward and informal, and with his high merits, he gradually became too self-respecting and unruly. Every time after a victory, Feng Sheng liked to monopolize the results of the battle, and became arrogant and did not take other generals seriously, which made Zhu Yuanzhang feel very dissatisfied with him.
After the Battle of Dingxi in 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang originally arranged for Feng Sheng to stay at the front, while Xu Da was the first to return to the court. However, Feng Sheng felt that his merits were greater than Xu Da's and he should be rewarded at the same time, so he took his troops back to Beijing without authorization to ask for a reward, resulting in an empty border defense. The enemy took the opportunity to sneak attack, and our troops suffered heavy losses. Feng Sheng knew that his actions had brought losses to the army, and although he was at a loss, he had to quietly admit his mistake after returning to the court.
In 1387, the Jurchen leader Nahachu led tens of thousands of troops to disturb the border. Zhu Yuanzhang urgently ordered Feng Sheng to lead the army to the conquest. Feng Sheng led an army of 200,000 to Liaodong. He copied his previous successful tactics and sent his henchman and veteran Naijogo to persuade him to surrender.
Naijawu told Naha that the Ming Dynasty was powerful and persuaded him to surrender. Fearful, Naha finally led his people to submission. After Feng Sheng accepted the surrender, he held a grand banquet to celebrate. However, during the banquet, Nahachu had a dispute with the court envoy Lan Yu and suffered a minor injury to his arm. Feng Sheng quickly stepped forward to mediate, allowing the banquet to continue. However, Feng Sheng played the incident afterwards, causing Lan Yu to be punished. Lan Yu was dissatisfied with this, so he joined other courtiers to ** Feng Sheng's various misdeeds during his time in Liaodong.
Feng Sheng had a straightforward personality and a tough style, and because of his outstanding exploits, he shocked the imperial court. At this time, a political struggle was brewing in the DPRK and China, and Zhu Yuanzhang began to doubt the old and important ministers in order to ensure the smooth succession of the crown prince Zhu Yunwen. In this case, Feng Sheng was exposed for bad deeds and became the target of purge.
In 1392, Zhu Yuanzhang held a banquet to summon Feng Sheng, but asked the guards to change to poisoned wine halfway. Feng Sheng knew that the general trend had gone, so he didn't complain, took the wine glass and drank it all, and died young, after Feng Sheng's death, his daughters Feng Wenmin and Feng Xiumei also immediately went with him. Since Feng Sheng had no sons, his title of Duke of Song was permanently suspended in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu.