At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops in Haoliang and eventually established the Ming Dynasty and became a great emperor. During his career, Zhu Yuanzhang encountered many enemies, including Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, Chen Youding, Kuangkuo Timur (Wang Baobao), etc., as well as some small characters, such as Chen Yuxian, Fushou, Wanzhi Buhua and others.
These people brought many difficulties and dangers to Zhu Yuanzhang in the process of establishing the Ming Dynasty. But there is one enemy among them, which Zhu Yuanzhang still can't forget, he once swore that if he didn't kill this person, he would no longer be a human being.
This enemy's name is Zhang Mingjian, and like Zhu Yuanzhang, he was born in a peasant family. He was able to leave his name in history because he fed on the living.
Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops in Huaixi, crossed the Yangtze River, captured Nanjing, and then recovered all the way to the southeast. Yangzhou has been a prosperous place since the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it is a battleground for Zhu Yuanzhang.
He first sent Deng Yu to attack Huizhou, and sent Chang Yuchun to attack Chizhou, so as to contain the Yuan army in southern Anhui. Then Xu Da was sent to attack the military fortress Zhenjiang along Changshu. After Zhenjiang was conquered, it formed a horn with Nanjing, and it was only a matter of time before Yangzhou was captured.
However, at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang received a news that surprised him.
The envoy sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to Yangzhou to surrender was solved by Zhang Mingjian, the marshal of the Yangzhou Tsing Yi Army, and it was resolved. Generally speaking, the warring parties will not kill the envoys, and even if there are messengers, they will not eat them.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang sent two more bold messengers over, and the result was still the same, they were all cooked. In order to understand the situation, Zhu Yuanzhang had to inquire in many ways, and it turned out that Zhang Mingjian not only ate the messengers, but also the people in the city.
According to the record of the "Chronicle of the History of the Ming Dynasty", Zhang Mingjian, the marshal of the Qing Army, occupied Yangzhou and lived every day to satisfy his appetite after the southern king of Zhuyuan Town.
Originally from Yangzhou, Zhang Mingjian's nickname Zhang Bal'er was born into a farming family, and his family suffered from hunger during the locust plague, and he ate his parents and two older brothers in order to survive.
When he grew up, he formed the Tsing Yi Army by chance, and this army was very brave, captured the city of Yangzhou, and established a stronghold there. It is worth mentioning that the marshal of Yangzhou City, Polophua, was a member of the Mongolian ** family and had an excellent talent for war, but was finally defeated by Zhang Mingjian and fled.
After occupying Yangzhou, Zhang Mingjian and several of his fierce generals ate human flesh and drank human blood every day, and behaved extremely cruelly.
Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply angry at Zhang Mingjian's brutal acts, and he made an oath that he would never be willing to be an ordinary person if Zhang Mingjian was not brought to justice.
In order to fulfill his oath, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately dispatched the fierce general Miao Daheng from Nanjing to Yangzhou to attack, and at the same time ordered Xu Da and Tang He to lead 150,000 soldiers and horses in eastern Zhejiang to attack Yangzhou, and Yangzhou must be captured.
Under Zhu Yuanzhang's strong attack, Zhang Mingjian was frightened back and decided to surrender. However, since Zhu Yuanzhang did not kill the enemies who surrendered, Zhang Mingjian thought that as long as he surrendered first and waited for the opportunity, he could rebel again.
However, as soon as he surrendered, he was escorted to Nanjing, where he died at the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang.
According to the Records of Ming Taizu, Yangzhou Road was attacked by Miao Tycoon in the winter and October, and Mingjian and others could not resist, so they surrendered and arrived in Yingtian, only to be executed by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
Surprisingly, after Zhu Yuanzhang's army entered Yangzhou, when the households were counted, there were only 18 residents in the city. The Ming History Chronicle adds that Zhu Yuanzhang renamed Yangzhou Road Huaihai Mansion, with Geng Zaicheng and Zhang Delin as guards, and that there were only 18 registered residents in the city.
The three towns of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yang were densely populated places in ancient times. However, there are only 18 residents in the city, and the rest of the residents have gone? There are two possibilities, the first is that he was eaten by Zhang Mingjian, and the second is that he was afraid of being eaten by Zhang Mingjian and ran away.
It can be seen that Zhang Mingjian's ** degree has reached the extreme. Unlike other ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang did not kill Zhang Mingjian, because he had already surpassed the boundaries of ordinary people's actions and deserved it.