On February 7, 1362, Hu Dahai died violently in Bayonglou while inspecting Jinhua. After hearing the news, Zhu Yuanzhang was grief-stricken, and personally ordered Xu Dazhu to kill ** Jiang Ying and comfort Hu Dahaiying. When talking about Hu Dahai, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't hide his sadness:
Hu Dahai is a martial artist and has never read a book, but he does not kill, loot, or burn, and is a good general that is rare in a century. ”
However, just four years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the opposition of his ministers and hacked Hu Dahai's eldest son Hu Sanshe to death. And after Hu Dahai's death, his second son Hu Guanzhu was also killed. So is Hu Dahai as Zhu Yuanzhang said, "rare in a century"? What does his death have to do with Zhu Yuanzhang? Why did Zhu Yuanzhang insist on killing his eldest son?
Hu Dahai's "bravery".
Hu Dahai and Deng Yu are fellow villagers, both from Si County, Anhui Province. In 1353, Zhu Yuanzhang led the twenty-four generals of Huaixi to the south and set up another mountain. After appeasing the Zhangjiabao stragglers, Hu Dahai came to vote.
Hu Dahai was a peasant and illiterate, but he was tall and burly, and extremely majestic. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw him for the first time, he greatly appreciated him and called him and Xu Da together. In less than two years, Hu Dahai became the "Marshal of the Right-wing Army" comparable to the "left-wing marshal" Xu Da.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang took Chang Yuchun and others to defeat Miao Daheng, captured Chuzhou, and was about to seize Hezhou. Hu Dahai volunteered to serve as the vanguard of the front, leading 3,000 troops to take the lead in the march. After reaching the halfway point, Hu Dahai suddenly used a clever plan to make the army change into the clothing of the Yuan army, and in the name of rewarding the soldiers under the city of Hezhou, deceived the guards of Hezhou, and successfully captured Hezhou.
What makes Zhu Yuanzhang even more excited is that Hu Dahai is an extremely broad-minded general. After Deng Yu joined, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hu Dahai as Deng Yu's deputy general and attacked southern Anhui. At that time, Deng Yu was only 20 years old, and compared with the veteran Hu Dahai, his qualifications were still shallow. However, Hu Dahai not only did not have any complaints, but did his best to assist Deng Yu.
In 1357, shortly after Deng Yu and Hu Dahai occupied Huizhou, the "Miao general" Yang Wanzhi led 100,000 troops to attack. As a famous general at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Yang Wanzhi made many military exploits in the process of quelling the rebellion of the Red Turban Army and defeated Zhang Shicheng many times. But under the city of Huizhou, Hu Dahai led the army to rush left and right, as if entering a no-man's land, he actually let Yang Wanzhi's 100,000 army break and flee for his life.
After defeating Yang Wanzhi in the Battle of Huizhou, Hu Dahai took advantage of the situation to storm the territory of the Yuan army, and once again defeated Yang Wanzhi in Jiande, capturing tens of thousands of Yuan troops. And Yang Wanzhi, under Hu Dahai's continuous attacks, was left and right, embarrassed, and hanged himself not long after.
Since Jiande, Deng Yu and Hu Dahai marched into Zhejiang, extending Zhu Yuanzhang's sphere of influence to eastern Zhejiang. Although Hu Dahai was illiterate, he admired the literati very much. After capturing Wuzhou, Hu Dahai looked around for talents in eastern Zhejiang, and after learning that Zhu Sheng was here, Hu Dahai immediately introduced him to Zhu Yuanzhang. And Zhu Sheng also provided Zhu Yuanzhang with the nine-character policy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming king", so that Zhu Yuanzhang could gain a firm foothold in the troubled times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and develop Xu Tu.
Died violently in the state
After capturing Wuzhou, Hu Dahai led his troops to occupy Zhuji. In the Battle of Zhuji, Hu Dahai captured 4,000 Yuan troops with only 3,000 men and horses, which shows his bravery.
At that time, Zhang Shicheng also coveted Zhuji. After Hu Dahai occupied Zhuji, Zhang Shicheng besieged Zhuji with Lu Zhen as a general, wanting to seize the fruits of Zhu Yuanzhang's victory. Although Lu Zhen is one of the three fierce generals under Zhang Shicheng, he has never had the upper hand in the competition with Hu Dahai.
So, Lu Zhen thought of a vicious idea, he secretly sent people to occupy the mouth of the river weir, wanting to follow Guan Yunchang's "flooded Seventh Army" and drowned Hu Dahai and his soldiers in Zhuji City. However, Hu Dahai had already seen through Lu Zhen's plan, and soon after Lu Zhen occupied the weir mouth, Hu Dahai set out at night, seized the weir mouth, and released water to backfill Lu Zhen's camp. Lu Zhen "lifted a stone to shoot himself in the foot", and was embarrassed after being flooded, and most of his subordinates drowned, so he had to ask Hu Dahai for peace.
Hu Dahai is bold and righteous by nature, never kills innocent people indiscriminately, and when he saw Lu Zhen folding arrows and suing for peace, he believed in his sincerity, so he no longer pursued it. However, his subordinate Wang Kai thought differently from him, in Wang Kai's view, Lu Zhen was treacherous and cunning, and had no faith at all, and the temporary peace was just to avoid the edge of the army, and he would definitely make a comeback in the future.
As the saying goes: "If you fight a snake, you will not die, but you will not be harmed." As a strategist, what Wang Kai said is true. But Hu Dahai said:
I have sworn with him that if I break my promise, I will not keep my promise, and if I strike again, I will not be virtuous. ”
Therefore, Hu Dahai ignored Wang Kai's advice and insisted on letting Lu Zhen go back. Born in troubled times, cunning and despicable people abound, Hu Dahai can put faith and righteousness first, which is both lucky and his misfortune. Although his subordinates greatly appreciated and admired his actions, in the eyes of the villain, this was the most suitable channel to defeat Hu Dahai.
After occupying eastern Zhejiang, Hu Dahai was still looking for good men for Zhu Yuanzhang. Liu Ji, Song Lian, Ye Chen, and Zhang Yi, the four famous men of eastern Zhejiang, were able to defect to Zhu Yuanzhang and serve him, all of which came from Hu Dahai's contributions. Especially when Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu Ji not to move and wanted to give up, it was Hu Dahai who continued to persuade him, so he induced Zhu Yuanzhang to send someone to visit for the second time.
Therefore, Hu Dahai, who served under Zhu Yuanzhang, has always been an "alternative" compared to other generals. He charged forward on the front line, and after capturing the city, he played the role of a literati, recruiting talents and recommending them. It was precisely because Hu Dahai had continuously sent Wenchen and strategists to Zhu Yuanzhang for seven years that he was able to plan the conditions for victory before the Battle of Poyang Lake.
In 1358, Deng Yu was transferred from eastern Zhejiang, and Hu Dahai was alone in Huizhou, Zhuji and other six prefectures. And he took the opportunity to capture Chuzhou, drove away the guard Shi Mo Yisun, and controlled Xinzhou, a tax-heavy land, under his command, realizing the encirclement of Zhang Shicheng.
However, it was the military powerhouse of Chuzhou that took Hu Dahai's life. In the past, when Hu Dahai captured Yanzhou, Jiang Ying, Liu Zhen, and Li Fu took the opportunity to surrender to Hu Dahai. Although Hu Dahai was delicate, he was bold and generous, and saw that Jiang Ying and the three of them were powerful and took the initiative to surrender, so they stayed by his side without a detailed investigation.
But Jiang Ying and others have long colluded with Zhang Shicheng and have been secretly plotting for many years. They took advantage of Hu Dahai's generous personality for their own use and penetrated into the army. When Hu Dahai inspected Jinhua, Jiang Ying took the opportunity to invite Hu Dahai to go to the Eight Wing Tower** crossbow. On the way to Hu Dahai, Jiang Ying secretly ordered his subordinate Zhong Short to kneel on the ground and accuse Jiang Ying of murder. Hu Dahai didn't know why, and when he wanted to inquire in detail, Jiang Ying suddenly took out a prepared hammer from his sleeve and slammed Hu Dahai's head, causing his skull to shatter and die on the spot.
Hu Dahai's second son, Hu Guanzhu, and his advisor Wang Kai were also killed in this rebellion. Since Hu Dahai was in charge of the entire eastern Zhejiang, his death was a huge blow to Zhu Yuanzhang. If Li Wenzhong hadn't made a surprise attack on Jinhua, the eastern part of Zhejiang would have been completely annexed by Zhang Shicheng.
Kill his son
Hu Dahai had two sons, his second son Hu Guanzhu died in Jinhua with him, while his eldest son died at the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, Hu Dahai led the army to conquer Shaoxing, and his eldest son Hu Sanshe stayed in Wuzhou. But during the period of stay, Hu Sanshe ignored Zhu Yuanzhang's order and openly brewed alcohol, causing a huge uproar in the army.
After hearing the news, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately arrested Hu Sanshe and brought him to Yingtian, and sentenced him to death. However, his advisers strongly advised Zhu Yuanzhang not to do this on the grounds that Hu Dahai was supporting troops outside. However, despite everyone's opposition, Zhu Yuanzhang still insisted on going his own way and hacked Hu Sanshe to death. After Hu Sanshe's death, Zhu Yuanzhang once said:
It is better to betray me than to violate my military orders. ”
What Zhu Yuanzhang did was just borrowing Hu Sanshe's head to "kill chickens and monkeys", after all, as Hu Dahai's son, the deterrent effect of his death was far greater than that of ordinary soldiers. And he knows that Hu Dahai is a person, and he will never resent him because of Hu Sanshe's death.
Therefore, under the joint control of Zhu Yuanzhang and Jiang Ying, Hu Dahai is no heir. Soon after Hu Dahai's death, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to encircle and suppress Jiang Ying, capture him alive, and kill him with a rod in front of Hu Dahai's tomb to sacrifice the hero's soul.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor and built a temple of heroes in Jilong Mountain, and built stone statues for those heroes and celebrities who fought the world for future generations to worship. In the Hongwu period, many famous generals were removed from the temple for various crimes, and there were only 21 people left, Hu Dahai ranked 7th, and in front of him was the posthumously awarded the Ming Dynasty "Founding Six Kings".
Zhu Yuanzhang has been hard-hearted all his life, but when he talks about Hu Dahai, Feng Guoyong, and Liao Yongan, tears fall like rain every time. He has repeatedly quoted Hu Dahai's words to warn his descendants:
I am a warrior and I don't know books, but I know three things: I don't kill people indiscriminately, I don't loot women and children, and I don't burn houses and farmland. ”
Many years later, Hu Dahai's adopted son Hu Deji followed Xu Da's northern expedition to the Mongol Yuan, but he was afraid to move forward on the way to encounter the Yuan army, resulting in a crushing defeat. At that time, Xu Da killed Hu Deji's deputy general and joined the army, but sent Hu Deji to the capital. Because Hu Deji was Hu Dahai's only relative in the world, Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not dispose of him, but transferred him to Shaanxi as the commander of the capital. It can be seen that in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, Hu Dahai is still one of his most trusted generals.