Zhu Yuanzhang led the revolution against the Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty and established Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, a great strategist and politician with a legendary life, reached his dream of emperor step by step. Zhu spend the rest of his life consolidating the new dynasty. The Ming dynasty he founded would last nearly three centuries.
Background
Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a poor peasant family in a village. He had a difficult childhood, having to pasture pigs and cattle for the rich landlord. In AD 1344, there was an outbreak of famine and plagues in Huaibei. Zhu Yuanzhang’s parents and siblings died of hunger or disease, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was 16 then, buried his family members with the help of his neighbours. He became a junior monk at the Huangjue Temple. When the plague worsened, the monks in the temple also had to beg food. Zhu Yuanzhang was sent away from the temple a few months later. He led the life of a wandering beggar, personally experiencing the hardships of the common people.
During the initial stage of her pregnancy, Zhu Yuonzhang's mother dreamed that a deity gave her a glowing pill, which she shallowed. After she woke up, her mouth was still full of fragrance. It was said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was born, the house was filled with red light. As it was night, the bright red light was so visible from outside the house that their neighbours thought the house was on fire.
Career
In the later years of the Yuan Dynasty, the government grew corrupt and incompetent Conflicts between the social classes and the different races Intensified. The people, who had been exploited, suppressed and discriminated against, formed insurgent forces in rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty. In AD 1351, Han Shantong and Liu Futong, together with the peasants, revolted. In AD 1352, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to his homeland and was invited to join the Haozhou revolutionary army. He thus joined the Red Turbans led by Guo Zixing. Because he was courageous and skilful, Zhu Yuanzhang soon became a troop leader. Guo Zixing, who placed great trust in Zhu Yuanzhang, married his adopted daughter to him. As Zhu Yuanzhang achieved military credit, he rose rapidly through the ranks of general and inspector general to finally become a commander.
Zhu surrounded himself with Confucian scholars and advisors who helped him to organize an effective administration. During his reign, the Hongwu emperor established a despotic tradition for the Ming dynasty, instituting administrative, educational and military reforms that gave the emperor personal control over all matters of state. As a consequence of the Hongwu agricultural reforms, more land was under cultivation in China during the Ming dynasty than at any other time in history.