Is Zhu Di’s military ability very strong?

Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was a great emperor in Chinese history. There are also many descriptions of him: "He has a magnificent appearance, a beautiful beard, wisdom, courage and a great strategy." "Knowing people well and being good at tasks, insightful both externally and internally, and powerful in strategy, just like the great ancestor." I think this is not a euphemistic name, but him. There is indeed something extraordinary about it. What I admire most is his military talent.

According to the Huayun Collection WeChat official account! Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. He was first named King of Yan and guarded Beiping (today's Beijing). After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the throne was passed to his grandson Zhu Yunwen, with the reign name Jianwen. Zhu Yunwen was worried about the rebellion of King Zhu Di of Yan, so he successively arrested the king of Zhou, the king of Min, the king of Xiang, the king of Qi and the king of Dai and demoted him to common people in an attempt to weaken Zhu Di's power. In the first year of Jianwen, Zhu Di was forced to raise an army and claimed to be "Jingnan". Due to the misjudgment of Emperor Jianwen's subordinate Huang Zicheng, the extremely low military ability of the commander Li Jinglong, and the help of many famous generals and monks under Zhu Di's command, Yao Guangxiao, they captured the capital (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). He ascended the throne and changed his reign name to Yongle. In the 19th year of Yongle's reign, the capital was moved to Beijing, with Nanjing as the remaining capital. Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty worked hard to govern the country for 22 years and took many enlightened and powerful measures, which made the country strong and prosperous.

Because Ming Chengzu took a series of enlightened and powerful measures, and he was good at military affairs, in addition to lifting the military power of the vassal kings and consolidating the central power, he also personally conquered Mobei many times to fight against foreign aggression. Attacked the Mongolian aristocracy and won a great victory. The Nurgandu Division was set up to govern today's Heilongjiang, Ussuri River, Songhua River basins and Sakhalin Island, making China at that time quite prosperous. What made him even more famous around the world was Zheng He's seven voyages to the West, reaching as far as the east coast of Africa, connecting China with Southeast Asia and countries along the Indus River. During his reign, "we were so powerful and virtuous that guests from all over the world obeyed, and nearly thirty countries were ordered to pay tribute. The territory was so vast that it was as far away as the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty."

Zhu Di has been with the famous founding general of the Ming Dynasty since he was a child. He interacted with Li Wenzhong and others, learned from them with an open mind, and saw the fierce battlefields with his own eyes. The intrigues in the palace and the intrigues for "power" and "profit" made him mature and become the commander-in-chief of the army for the first time. The military expedition to Beiyuan Taiwei Nairbuhua fully demonstrated his military talents and strategies. He first ordered a few small teams of light cavalry to secretly detect Nairbuhua's position, advanced quietly, and then made a move in the sudden heavy snowfall. The decision to march. After arriving at the enemy's camp, he ordered the army to cook and camp, forcing Naier to surrender without spending a single soldier. When victory was in sight, he showed his opportunity. In the face of the glory he was about to receive, Zhu Di chose to give up temporarily, which is enough to show his endurance and restraint. "Simple possession is a little clever, but temporary giving up is great wisdom. " Mingyue said that back then.

During the period of Zhu Di's revolt, he designed to lure King Ning Zhu Quan and captured the strongest cavalry unit under King Ning, the Duoyan Sanwei - Mongolian cavalry mercenaries, which were recognized at the time. At the end of the Jingnan period, the two traitors in the capital, Li Jinglong and Gu Wang Zhu Su, surrendered. Zhu Di broke through the capital and ascended to the throne. Zhu Di's military ability during the Jingnan period was not very good. Prominent. The most exciting part should be his personal expedition to Mongolia.

In the seventh year of Yongle, the Mongolian Tatar tribe killed the Ming Dynasty envoy Guo Ji. Zhu Di sent Qiu Fu to lead an expedition of 100,000 troops. Qiu Fu rashly. The march was ambushed by the Tatar army, and the entire army of 100,000 was annihilated. So Zhu Di put on his armor and marched in person. He defeated Benya Shili and Arutai who had fled. After the Tatar army was defeated, the Mongols were defeated. Mahamu, the leader of the Waci tribe, publicly provoked the Ming Dynasty with his trump card - the cavalry. In order to eradicate the Waci tribe, Zhu Di once again led an army of 500,000 troops to fight. He also thought of a way to deal with the Waci cavalry and faced off against the Ming Dynasty's cavalry. He was bound to be defeated, so he brought a special force. After the expedition, Waqi was defeated one after another. Zhu Di got the news that Mahamu was in front, and knew that Mahamu must be ambushed, but he still chose Mahamu. This battlefield suddenly became cold. There were mountains nearby. Mahamu hid his cavalry on the mountains. When the Ming army arrived, they would rush down through the mountains and overwhelm the Ming army's formation. The Ming army would be ready. There is a lot of loose sand to be slaughtered, and the wishful thinking has been made. Unfortunately, Zhu Di will not come and stand at the foot of the mountain for nothing. Zhu Di has also observed the terrain.

The decisive battle is coming! When Mahamu discovered that the Ming army was led by infantry, he burst into laughter. Needless to say, the cavalry restrained the infantry, so Mahamu immediately ordered: the whole army charges! Thirty thousand cavalry were dispatched together, and suddenly the dust was flying and the shouts of killing shook the sky. Just when the cavalry was about to charge into the Ming army's formation, the Ming army's front infantry retreated on the left and right wings. Another unit of the Chinese army appeared. They were the soldiers. Aim the blunderbuss at the Shenji Battalion of the Watt Cavalry! But the cavalry did not stop and continued to charge. The horseman who was watching from a distance noticed something strange, and shouted at the top of his lungs at the cavalry: "Shenji Camp! Retreat quickly!" The cavalry who were so excited could not hear it, and even if they did, it would be too late. . Liu Sheng, the commander of the Shenji Battalion's Central Army, gave the order, and the soldiers pulled the triggers one after another. The first round of volley fired the Waqi Cavalry and knocked them off their feet. The cavalry behind simply rushed forward with all their might! The Shenji Battalion stopped after only one round of shooting. The cavalry were overjoyed, but the Shenji Battalion retreated directly. A large number of cavalry rushed out from three directions, left, center and right, and swarmed directly towards the Waqi Cavalry. They started a fierce battle and the Waqi Cavalry was captured. The Ming army attacked in three directions, and the formation broke up immediately. Mahamu never dreamed that his cavalry would become a piece of loose sand and flee. The Ming army took advantage of the victory to pursue them. It's okay for the Waqi cavalry who are still riding horses. They are being chased by the Ming army cavalry and will not be able to catch up for a while. It will be miserable if they are knocked off their horses. Waiting for you are all the soldiers except the Shenji battalion and the cavalry battalion. One hundred thousand infantry! It is their task to wipe out the remaining defeated generals. Seeing that the situation in the rear was not good, Mahamu immediately took the lead in escaping, and all the Waqi cavalry collapsed. The Ming army pursued them relentlessly, and Waqi turned around and counterattacked midway. He bumped into the Ming army and was defeated again. He turned around and ran away again. Mahamu left the others behind and ran away the fastest.

The Ming army won a complete victory in this battle and returned in triumph. After analyzing this battle, we can understand Zhu Di's military talent. The first is the protagonist of this battle-the Shenji Battalion. This was a branch of arms that did not exist in the early Ming Dynasty. It was a special forces organization set up by Zhu Di that specialized in using firearms, such as muskets and artillery. It had a very high status at the time. There were also some Ming Dynasty generals who were good at using firearms, such as Deng Yu and Mu Ying. Deng Yu only used firearms earlier, and it was Mu Ying who really showed the power of firearms. Although the fire cannons at that time were very powerful, they also had a fatal flaw - they could not be fired continuously when loaded with gunpowder, and the reloading took a long time, so the early fire cannons were not taken seriously. Mu Ying was the garrison general in Yunnan, and his infantry could not fight the elephant soldiers of the local ethnic minorities, so he developed a set of tactics using fire guns. In fact, the method is also very simple. The soldiers are arranged in three rows. The first row retreats to the end after shooting, the second row shoots, then retreats to the end, and the third row shoots. In this way, the firing and loading are alternated, so that the fire gun troops have a continuous Firepower output, beat all incoming enemies into sieves. Such tactics did not spread to the military immediately because Mu Ying was guarding remote Yunnan, but its value cannot be denied. This method of warfare was also discovered by the King of Prussia hundreds of years later, and he used it to dominate Europe. Mahamu originally took the initiative and set up an ambush to ambush the Ming army. However, he was defeated by the enemy. It was not all due to the Shenji battalion. The reason for the success should be Zhu Di's tactics of "joint tactics of the three armies". "Joint tactics of the three armies" were simply from the Ming Dynasty. There are three major camps: Three Thousand Battalion, Fifth Military Battalion and Shenji Battalion. They represent three arms: cavalry, infantry and musketeers. Zhu Di reasonably allocated the three arms, allowing them to exert great power. The method is briefly described as follows: the musketeers shoot with guns and bombard with artillery, then the cavalry comes up to overwhelm the enemy formation, and finally the infantry uses the tactics of a sea of ​​people to clear the battlefield. The powerful Watt Cavalry was defeated by this tactic. According to research, the cavalry of the Ming Army at that time did not use machetes or sabers, but maces. The mace has a long shaft and a large attack range. It is originally a blunt weapon. It can be attached with nails, barbs, etc. Even if it is beaten to death, a layer of skin will be scraped off, not to mention the target of the cavalry. It's not about killing the enemy, but making it impossible for them to escape or lose their ability to fight, because the ones who kill are the infantry behind them, and a group of people can trample them to death even if they rush up and trample on them. This victory of the Ming army is the culmination of the sweat of our Comrade Zhu Di and countless military researchers. Mingyue, the author of "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", also admired this tactic very much. He named it "Three Axes to Kill You Combat System" with a simple and clear meaning. Having said this, it may not be enough to show the greatness of this set of tactics and Zhu Di's military talent. Let me come up with some sufficient reasons. This set of tactics is not unprecedented. Many people have studied it since, and they are all similar. For example, Napoleon's tactics more than three hundred years later were slightly more advanced, and most of the spearmen were replaced by artillery bombardments.

With this tactic, he captured most of Europe. There is a stronger one, that is Nazi Hitler. The result of his joint research with General Guderian: first use planes to bomb, then use tanks to attack, and finally use gunmen to attack. They won many battles and occupied most of the territory. Europe, North Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific Islands gave this tactic a more pleasant name "Blitzkrieg." It's a pity that when Napoleon attacked Russia and Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, the gods were unfavorable. During the severe cold, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers decreased, and some even froze to death. The snow impeded progress, and the essence of tactics was lost - speed. Moreover, Russia is too vast. Today, By capturing this city, the second city will have defenses tomorrow and there will be no surprise. Both of them failed here. Of course, this tactic was very useful in the Ming Dynasty. If the city was lost, others would have been defeated by the time you reported it. The tactics invented by Zhu Di had a huge impact on future generations. This alone is enough to show that Zhu Di is a military genius!

To sum up, Zhu Di grew into an outstanding military commander under the guidance and actual combat of many loyal ministers and generals. His military abilities in terms of strategy, adaptability, etc. were not inferior to that of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. , Ming Chengzu can be described as a generation of heroes with numerous achievements, our great Yongle Emperor!