268.
The Dragon of Jiangnan — The Age of Zhang Shicheng張士誠*
*Zhang Shicheng (張士誠, 1321–1367) was a rebel leader of the late Yuan dynasty who rose from a background as a salt-transport laborer and went on to found the state of Great Zhou (大周國).
He launched his uprising in 1353, expanded his power base across what is now Jiangsu Province, and established Suzhou as his capital.
He later competed with Zhu Yuanzhang for dominance, but was ultimately defeated and took his own life.
Jiangnan had always been a land of abundance.
Yet above that abundance, blood had long been spilled.
When Toqto'a's great army marched south, lakes and rice fields were crushed beneath hooves.
The people abandoned their homes and scattered into mountains and plains.
Amid that chaos, Zhang Shicheng clung to a single city and endured.
Within towering walls, among pavilions and silk banners, he held his ground.
Night after night, he remained upon the ramparts.
As Tal Tal's forces won victory after victory, despair began to seep even among Zhang's own men.
"General, we can hold no longer.
Raise the banner of surrender. It would be enough."
Zhang Shicheng's voice was low, unyielding.
"I did not come here to defend a city.
I came to claim this land.
Surrender—do not even speak of it."
The hard days dragged on.
There was no visible way out.
The first fracture of fate did not begin on the battlefield, but in the court of Dadu.
Yuan Emperor Huizong, listening to treacherous counsel, stripped Tal Tal of command while the war still raged.
On the day the news arrived, Zhang Shicheng laughed.
"Heaven has not yet abandoned me."
At once he opened the city gates.
The army that had crouched in humiliation poured forth like a flood.
They struck the withdrawing Yuan forces, and the battlefield was drenched in blood in an instant.
Tal Tal's army scattered, collapsing with alarming ease under Zhang Shicheng's assault.
His banners once again caught the wind.
From that day on, it seemed as though the waterways of Jiangnan lay within his grasp.
Riding his momentum, he advanced south.
After seizing Pingjiang Circuit, he renamed the city Yongping Prefecture and proclaimed it his capital.
That night, atop the terrace of the newly claimed palace, he seated himself slowly.
"This is my capital.
The north has already tilted.
The south shall be the root of a new realm."
He no longer stood as a mere general.
He stood as a man who dreamed of kingship.
Yet the world did not move by his will alone.
Another power rose—Zhu Yuanzhang, once under Guo Zixing.
The banners of Ming moved south along the Yangtze.
Zhu sent Yang Xian to seek alliance.
Zhang Shicheng did not send him back.
"He lacks the strength to confront me, so he seeks a road through words."
He detained the envoy.
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xu Da to attack.
The plains of Longtan were dyed red once more.
In that battle, Zhang Shicheng suffered a crushing defeat.
Only then did he reflect upon his choice.
The favorable current had already passed him by.
"Seek peace.
Offer two hundred thousand bushels of grain, along with gold and silver."
The reply that returned was heavier still.
"Send five hundred thousand bushels of grain each year, and return Yang Xian."
Zhang Shicheng sent no reply.
It was not the resolve of a king, but pride that could not swallow humiliation.
Thereafter, he was defeated by the Yuan general Yang Wanza.
Zhangxing and Jiangyin were lost.
The world began to speak openly of his fall.
It seemed as though it must end.
But Zhang Shicheng did not collapse.
He lowered himself before the Yuan court.
He received the rank of Grand Preceptor.
Outwardly he showed loyalty; inwardly he sharpened his blade once more.
He joined forces with Timur and attacked Yang Wanza.
After the battle, Yang took his own life.
Zhang Shicheng seized Hangzhou.
Standing atop a pavilion within the city, he said quietly,
"Jiangnan has returned to my hands."
Power rotted alongside desire.
He petitioned the Yuan court for kingship—and received no answer.
Anger and unease consumed him.
At last, he tore down the Yuan banners and proclaimed himself King of Wu.
"The Yuan realm has fallen.
I shall raise it anew."
Zhang Shicheng's forces once again swept across Jiangnan.
The age began to turn around his name.
The Three Heroes of Jiangnan
There were three heroes in Jiangnan.
Chen Youliang—who rose from Huguang, founded Great Han, and dreamed of ruling all under Heaven.
Zhang Shicheng—who renamed Pingjiang as Yongping and crowned himself king.
Zhu Yuanzhang—who seized Jinling and quietly built his power.
The Chronicle of Chen Youliang
When the world sank into ruin, he rose.
The order of the Yuan dynasty had rotted, and regional warlords raised their own banners.
From the heart of chaos emerged Chen Youliang of Huguang.
His origins were uncertain.
Some claimed he was the son of a fisherman from Kaiyang in Hubei.
Others said a descendant of the Southern Song Shi clan had entered the Chen family and changed his name.
Where he came from did not matter.
What mattered was that he was a man who raised himself.
As the Yuan faltered, Chen Youliang lifted a red banner by the waters of Hong Lake.
Under the standard of the Western Red Turbans led by Xu Shouhui, he took up the sword.
Soon he rose as a commander of coldest judgment and swiftest decision.
His gaze was always fixed farther than others'.
He left no enemies behind.
When Xu Wenjun betrayed him, Chen personally cut him down and absorbed his forces.
When Zhao Pusheng showed the slightest doubt, he too was eliminated.
At last, Chen even slew his teacher and lord, Xu Shouhui himself.
At dawn, with the stench of blood still thick in the air, Chen Youliang sat alone and said,
"He who founds a nation must bear sin.
Only one who can endure that weight may change the world."
Great Han was established.
He proclaimed himself King of Han.
Generals such as Zhang Dingbian and Qiu Pusheng knelt before him.
His armies spread across all of Jiangnan.
In the fields of Huguang, the people called him king.
He was not a ruler who relied on force alone.
He released grain to relieve famine.
He granted land to his soldiers.
A realm where one can eat and clothe oneself.
A realm that fights, yet does so with cause.
This was the outline of the new Heaven he sought to raise.
Yet his ambition did not stop there.
Wherever the waterways of Huguang converged, his banners flew.
He fixed his gaze upon the Central Plain.
"To the north, Yuan yet remains.
To the west, Ming Yuzhen has proclaimed himself emperor in Zhongqing.
The south lacks cohesion.
My road lies east—into the lands of Wu."
The strategy was clear.
First, crush Zhu Yuanzhang in the east.
Then Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen.
After that, the remnants of Yuan.
At the end of that road, the realm would lie in his hands.
Thus he led a great army eastward.
Hundreds of thousands crossed Poyang Lake, shaking the flow of the waters themselves.
Cavalry pushed to the outskirts of Nanjing.
Many believed the war's conclusion was at hand.
There, the tide turned.
Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush was revealed on the plains of Jiangdong Bridge.
Fire arrows and explosives erupted in succession.
The formations of Great Han collapsed in an instant.
That day, the King of Jiangnan tasted defeat for the first time.
— Excerpt from the Chronicle of Chen Youliang