The life of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, can be said to be extremely controversial: in the first half, he recruited wise men to establish the Ming Dynasty, and after the country was stabilized, he massacred the founding heroes. Ministers who had made meritorious deeds were almost exterminated, and Tang He was one of the few representatives who was able to succeed and retire. Tang He made great contributions to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, but Tang He, who had outstanding achievements, was not knighted. Why is this? How did Tang He, who had successfully retired, die in the end? Why didn't Tang He make a duke? Portrait of Tang He

In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1370), the world was settled, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, made a large number of meritorious officials in Nanjing. Tang He, the general who had herded cattle with Zhu Yuanzhang since childhood and followed him for more than ten years to conquer the world, was not granted the title of a duke, but only a marquis. This made everyone feel strange. The court's explanation was that Tang He had both merits and demerits in the war. One of his faults was that he encountered a setback at Zhoushan Sea, resulting in the death of two generals. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and all the heroes came together. Eastern Zhejiang (Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou) was divided by Fang Guozhen for more than ten years. Changguo Prefecture was established in Zhoushan, which was also occupied by the Fang family. In October 1367, Tang He was appointed as the general of Zhengnan and led three armies to attack Fang Guozhen. Fang's headquarters in Ningbo was invaded, and Guozhen fled into the sea. After catching up with Panyu (now Panzhi Island in Dinghai), the national treasure was defeated again. In December, Fang Guozhen surrendered, and Tang He had to surrender 24,000 soldiers and more than 400 ships. Later, Daruga Qikulijis, the local official of Changguo Prefecture, also went to Tanghe to surrender, and eastern Zhejiang was settled. In the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Tang He to lead his troops to sail south and pacify Fujian. Modern Men: mrmodern Tanghe did not suffer any setbacks in the Zhoushan maritime battle. The most critical Battle of Panyu was "from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.). If defeated, all the warships, soldiers and baggage were taken away." This made Fang Guozhen, who had been "managing sea boats year after year" for more than ten years and thought he could compete with Zhu Yuanzhang at sea for a long time, suddenly lost confidence and had to surrender. Tang He's battle in Fujian was also very successful. In February 1368, he led his triumphant army back to the north from Fujian by ship. However, this time, he encountered trouble in the waters of Zhoushan. "When returning to the Cichang Kingdom, the Huihai bandits robbed Lanxiu Mountain" and "we were attacked and lost two command points, so we were not allowed to be granted the title of Duke." Lanxiu Mountain is the beautiful mountain of Daishan Mountain today. The Lanxiu Mountain incident seems to have angered the Ming court. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records military records. In December of the fourth year of Hongwu, "more than 110,000 soldiers from Wen, Tai, and Qingyuan (today's Ningbo) under Fang Guozhen's command and people without land and food in Lanxiu Mountain were sent to the army." "Each guard is an army." This is obviously a punishment. According to historical military records in "Zhoushan City Chronicles", in the second and third years of Hongwu, Fang Guozhen's remaining troops attacked Zhoushan County and attacked Ningbo and other places. This made Tang He's initial victory in quickly pacifying the sea greatly inferior, and Zhu Yuanzhang had reason to be dissatisfied.

However, the "History of the Ming Dynasty" believes that the real reason why Tang He was not allowed to be granted a public title this time was not because of this, but because he had complained once before, which made Zhu Yuanzhang resentful. At that time, Tang He defended Changzhou and faced off against his powerful enemy Zhang Shicheng. "I tried to ask Taizu to do something, but I didn't get it. I was so drunk that I complained. Taizu heard about it and named him." When it was time to appoint the meritorious officials, Zhu Yuanzhang gave Tang He a look. Eight years later, Tang He was finally sent to the Duke of Guo. Zhu Yuanzhang "still complained about his mistakes in Changzhou". Zhu Yuanzhang had great talents and great strategies. After he conquered the world, he became famous for his jealousy and harshness and massacred many heroes. According to history, Tang He and "Shen Min were very intelligent" but "quite drunk". The reason why I complained that time was because I spilled something while drunk, and someone made a report about it. Tang He will be careful about his behavior from now on. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, he was the first among many senior generals to ask to be relieved of military power. This won the favor of Taizu, who immediately allocated funds to build a house for him in his hometown of Fengyang, allowing him to return home in glory. The next year, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Tang He to come out to plan a coastal anti-Japanese strategy. Tang He was 60 years old this year. Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Although you are old, you are still strong enough for me." Tang He asked to go with Fang Guozhen's son Fang Mingqian as an adviser. According to Fang Mingqian's suggestion, Tang He built 59 cities along the coast. For those with more than four ding of people in eastern Zhejiang, one ding was taken from each household to garrison them, resulting in a total of more than 58,700 people. This year, more than 30,000 residents of 46 islands in Zhoushan, excluding the main island, were forcibly moved to the mainland. The next year, Changguo County was abolished and Zhoushan became a township in Dinghai County (now Zhenhai County). This matter is related to the large-scale naval anti-Japanese plan designed by Tang He.

Zhoushan’s “Sea Ban” lasted until the early Qing Dynasty, lasting 300 years. This not only artificially interrupted the normal socio-economic development path of Zhoushan, but also brought great suffering to the villagers of Zhoushan at that time. It also weakened the coastal defense. Later, Japanese pirates became rampant, often first attacking Zhoushan and then invading the mainland, causing harm to all parts of the southeast. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province, said in his article "On Zhoushan" that "Xin Guo Gong Tang and Jingluo Hai were well-organized, and there seemed to be some imperfections in Zhoushan." Tang He later "became respectful and prudent", and Hongwu He died in August of the twenty-eighth year (1396) at the age of seventy. How Tang He died in the end Tang He was born into a poor peasant family in Guzhuang Village, Zhongli, Haozhou (now Fengyang, Anhui) in 1326. Not only was he the same hometown as Zhu Yuanzhang, but he also grew up on a small street. In his childhood, Tang He had great ambitions. When playing, he liked to lead a group of children and practice horseback riding and archery. As an adult, Tang He is seven feet tall, has a free and easy manner, is calm and agile, and is good at strategy. In 1352 (the twelfth year of Yuan Zhizheng), he participated in Guo Zi's uprising and granted thousands of households. In the battles of crossing the Yangtze River with Zhu Yuanzhang, capturing Jiqing (today's Nanjing), and capturing Zhenjiang, he repeatedly defeated the Yuan army and was promoted to marshal of the unified army.

In 1357 (the seventeenth year of Yuan Zhizheng), he guarded Changzhou and defeated Zhang Shicheng's troops many times. In 1367 (the 27th year of Yuan Zhizheng), he served as a general in the southern expedition and defeated Fang Guozhen's tribe in eastern Zhejiang. Afterwards, he led his troops into Fuzhou via the sea route and captured Chen Youding who occupied Yanping (now Nanping, Fujian). Then he led the army with Xu Da to conquer Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and other places. In 1378 (the eleventh year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty), he wrote a letter to the Duke. In 1388 (the 21st year of Hongwu), Zhu Yuanzhang was already old and he did not want his generals to lead the army for a long time, but he had not taken any public measures yet. Tang He discerned Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention, so he looked for an opportunity and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "I am old and can no longer command the army on the battlefield. I hope to return to my hometown and find a place for my future death." After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very excited. In order to be happy, Tang He was relieved of his military power and began to build a mansion for Tang He in Fengyang, the central capital. Portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang

At that time, Japanese pirates often harassed the coastal areas. Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Tang He and said to him: "Although you are old, please come and accompany me!" After Tang He went to inspect the field, It was decided to build 59 cities along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. One year later (1389, the 22nd year of Hongwu), the city was finally built. Tang He returned to Beijing and resumed his duties, and Fengyang's new house was built. Tang He took his wife and children to bid farewell to the emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and gave him three hundred taels of gold, two thousand taels of platinum, three thousand ingots of paper yarn, and more than 40 sets of colorful coins. He also gave his wife Hu the same number of items. , and issued edicts and commendations, no one among the meritorious officials could compare with him. From then on, Tang He went to Beijing to see him once a year. On the first day of the first lunar month in 1390 (the 23rd year of Hongwu), when Tang He went to the capital to pay New Year's greetings to Zhu Yuanzhang, he fell ill and could not speak. Zhu Yuanzhang visited him in person today, and after sighing for a long time, asked him to return to his hometown. When Tang He was a little better, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered someone to take him to the capital, let him enter the inner hall by car, held a banquet to express his condolences, showed great care, and gave him gold, cloth, imperial meals, French wine, etc. In 1394 (the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu), Tang He's condition worsened day by day and he could no longer stand. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see Tang He, so he ordered him to go there by car. Zhu Yuanzhang touched him with his hands and talked with him in detail about his hometown and the difficulties of raising troops in recent years. Tang He could no longer answer and just kept kowtowing. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he burst into tears and gave generous gifts of gold and cloth as funeral expenses. In the eighth month of the lunar calendar in the summer of 1395 (the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu), Tang He died of illness at the age of seventy. Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict and named Tang He the King of Dongou, with the posthumous title of Xiangwu. He was buried at the southern foot of Caoshan Mountain in Bengbu, Anhui Province.