The background and deeds of Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising.

In the eleventh year of Emperor Shun’s reign (1351), the Red Turban Peasant Revolt broke out. The following year, Zhu Yuanzhang surrendered to Guo Zixing's subordinates on the first day of the third month of the twelfth year of Zhizheng. Zixing saw that Yuanzhang's appearance was very majestic and different from ordinary people, so he retained him as a trusted soldier. He led his troops on many expeditions, and he was sure to conquer any attack. Zixing was overjoyed and appointed the governor of the town. He gave his adopted daughter Ma to Yuan Zhang as his wife, and later became Empress Gao. In March of the 15th year of Zhengzheng, Guo Zixing died of illness, and his son Guo Tianxu led the people on his behalf. At that time, Han Lin'er issued an edict and appointed Tianxu as the marshal of the capital, Zhang Tianyou as the deputy marshal on the right, and Zhu Yuanzhang as the deputy marshal on the left. Zhu Yuanzhang said with emotion: "A real man would rather be controlled by others!" So he refused. However, Nian Lin'er was powerful and could be used to become an emperor, so he used his reign title to command the army. In September, both Guo Tianxu and Zhang Tianyou were killed in battle, so all Guo Zixing's troops returned to Taizu. Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to cut off the cable and cross the river, collect quarries (southwest of today's Ma'anshan, Anhui), and go to Taiping (now Dangtu, Anhui). In the following year, he captured Jiqing (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) and renamed it Yingtian. After that, Zhu Yuanzhang took Yingtian as his base and successively captured Changzhou, Jiangyin, Changshu, Huizhou (today's She County, Anhui), Yangzhou and other places; he also accepted the suggestion of Zhu Gaosheng, an old scholar in Huizhou, to build walls, accumulate grain and slowly claim the throne. In Yingtiantuntian, water conservancy projects were built and agricultural production resumed.

After Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated the isolated Yuan army in the southeast, he began to compete with various separatist forces in the late Yuan Dynasty. In February of the 23rd year of Zhengzheng (1363), Zhang Shicheng sent general Lu Zhen to surround Anfeng and kill Liu Futong. Han Lin'er sent someone to seek help from Zhu Yuanzhang, but Liu Ji (Bo Wen) warned Zhu Yuanzhang not to send help. Taizu said: "King Xiao Ming was surrounded very urgently. I gave him the title of Dragon and Phoenix. I couldn't bear to stand by and watch, so I had to rescue him." Then he led Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to rescue him, drove Lu Zhen away, and welcomed Lin'er back. Chuzhou. At this time, King Xiao Ming had become Taizu's puppet, but Zhu Yuanzhang still gave him the title of Dragon and Phoenix to make use of the topic. In the 23rd year, he fought a decisive battle with Chen Youliang at Poyang Lake, and Youliang was defeated and died.

In the first month of the 24th year of Zhengzheng (1364), Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself the King of Wu, established a hundred official subordinates, used all the titles and titles, and had official certificates, and he was called Emperor Yun (little prince). King Ming)'s imperial edict, King Wu's (Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang)'s edict. In the 27th year, Zhang Shicheng was captured. In December of the 26th year of Zhizheng (1366), Liu Jimi reported to Taizu that he ordered Liao Yongzhong to go to Guabu and overturn Lin'er's boat in the name of welcoming Lin'er to the south. It sank in the water and was drowned. . The peasant uprising military regime was destroyed.

After Han Lin'er died, Zhu Yuanzhang became the supreme leader. So Zhu Yuanzhang changed the next year to the first year of Wu (1367). After that, while he was conquering Dongfang Guozhen in Zhejiang Province and Chen Youding in Fujian Province in the south, he sent a large army to the north to conquer the Central Plains and issued a proclamation to the officials and people in the north. The proclamation put forward the program of expelling the barbarians, restoring China, establishing a program of discipline, and relieving the people of Sri Lanka, which was very appealing to the people of the north to resist national oppression. During the smooth march of the Southern and Northern Expeditions, on the fourth day of the first lunar month in the 28th year of Emperor Shun's reign (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as emperor, with the country name "Ming" and the Jianyuan "Hongwu". Ancestor. Zhu Yuanzhang's founding title was: "Da Ming". In July, the Northern Expedition led by Xu Da approached Dadu. Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty fled to Shangdu with his concubines and the prince in a panic. The Yuan Dynasty, which had ruled China for 98 years, was destroyed. After that, the unification campaign continued. In the same year, the Southern Expedition Army led by Tang He destroyed Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding, and Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi were included in the territory. In the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Sichuan was pacified. In the fourteenth year, Yunnan was leveled. By the 20th year, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Northeast China were pacified and the country was unified.

While Zhu Yuanzhang flattened the heroes and unified the north and south, he also learned from historical experience and lessons, set out to stabilize the rule of the newly established dynasty, and formulated a series of policies and systems to further strengthen and develop the centralization of authoritarianism. In the central government, the ministers and prime ministers were abolished, and the government was returned to the six ministries. The six ministers directly obeyed the emperor's orders. The Yushitai was renamed the Ducha Yuan, and together with Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment, they were collectively known as the Three Laws Division. In the local government, Zhongshu Province was abolished, and the Department of Proclamation and Administrative Affairs was established, as well as the Department of Prosecution and Prosecution, and the Department of Capital Command and Envoys. They were collectively called the Du, Bu, and Press departments, each of which was directly under the central government. He also established the Wei Suo system. In order to weaken the military power of the generals, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army was established in the 13th year of Hongwu.

This was something Zhu Yuanzhang could not have expected at the beginning of the feudal era.