Zhu Di's Five Campaigns North of the Gobi: What Did They Accomplish?

[Zhu Di shouldn't have killed Tie Xuan. He should have given Tie Xuan a nominal post, found a decent residence, and confined his whole family there, providing them with good food and drink for appearances' sake. Show the world how I, Zhu Di, treat loyal officials. Let future generations continue to follow in their footsteps as loyal officials, one after another.]

[When Li Shimin dealt with loyal officials like Wei Zheng and Xue Wanche, not only did he spare them, he gave them offices and titles. Zhu Di couldn't compare to Li Shimin.]

The former officials of the Eastern Palace who had once followed Li Jiancheng saw people of later generations comparing Zhu Di and Li Shimin and realized that Li Shimin really had treated them well.

[Zhu Di wasn't a good man. When he attacked Jinan, he wanted to flood the city. Tie Xuan didn't want the people of Jinan to suffer that disaster, so he tried to trick Zhu Di into a trap and kill him. Zhu Di saw through it, and his humiliation turned to rage.]

[I'm dying laughing. Mindless short videos these days keep hyping one emperor after another as the greatest emperor of all time, as if every emperor with even a little fame in history deserved the title.]

[Emperors who rose to power through rebellion were ruthless. How many of them truly cared about the common people?]

Some emperors and officials thought those words made sense.

[TV dramas also do some whitewashing.]

People of ancient times: Were TV dramas the plays of later generations? Did whitewashing mean turning someone with a bad reputation into a good person through these so-called TV dramas?

The people of ancient times weren't fools. Their knowledge and habits were simply different from those of modern people.

[Most of the so-called prosperous eras of ancient times were inflated. A prosperous era just meant ordinary people had a bite to eat and didn't starve to death.]

The common people of every dynasty knew this all too well, especially those living in troubled times.

"Last year's drought was severe, and half the village starved to death. I can only hope Heaven takes pity on us and grants us favorable weather this year."

"People in later generations look so healthy. They probably don't have to worry about food and drink!"

Many emperors who had founded prosperous eras refused to accept the claim that those eras were inflated, especially Li Longji, who had brought about the prosperous Kaiyuan era.

[Some people always put themselves in the emperor's shoes and think this emperor was so domineering and mighty, but what did he have to do with us? We're ordinary people, among the weak. If you believe the strong deserve to rule and the weak deserve to die, then please bear it silently when the strong bully you.]

[Some people say Zhu Yuanzhang's Hongwu reign was a prosperous era, and Zhu Di created another one in the Yongle era. Never mind whether the Hongwu reign really was a prosperous era. Is it possible that, if Zhu Di hadn't rebelled, the Hongwu reign would have continued, and there would have been no need for the later prosperous Yongle era?]

[What do you mean?]

[He means that if Zhu Di hadn't rebelled, the people would have continued to live well. Once he rebelled, the population and economy suffered losses. A few decades later, the population and economy recovered to their original state, and then it was called the prosperous Yongle era.]

[It's like someone beating you half to death. After spending years or even more than a decade recovering, you finally heal and can walk around full of life again. Would you be grateful to the person who injured you so badly? If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have been gravely injured, much less needed to recover.]

Zhu Di couldn't bear to watch any longer.

The heavenly screen had no blocking function.

If it did, Zhu Di would have used it long ago.

He didn't want to see the comments from later generations, and he wanted the people of the world to see them even less.

[Zhu Di led five campaigns north of the Gobi and was the only emperor to seal Mount Langjuxu. He couldn't have been as bad as you say, could he? Where did you read this unofficial history?]

Seeing that comment, Zhu Di felt his eyes welling up with tears.

Someone in a later generation understood him!

[You've watched too many TV dramas.]

[The real history is that Zhu Di's five northern campaigns achieved little and cost a fortune. As for sealing Mount Langjuxu, if you had hundreds of thousands of troops at your command, you could march straight in and do it too.]

[Really?]

[If you don't believe it, see for yourself.]

Below that exchange was a short-video window.

The system took the opportunity to play the video.

[Zhu Di's five campaigns north of the Gobi: what did they accomplish? #history #Ming Dynasty]

The emperors who lived before the Ming Dynasty, as well as Zhu Di's father, Zhu Yuanzhang, all wanted to see how Zhu Di had conducted his five campaigns north of the Gobi.

From what the people of later generations said, Zhu Di's five campaigns north of the Gobi and his sealing of Mount Langjuxu were as fake as the history books he had written himself.

["What exactly did Zhu Di's five campaigns north of the Gobi accomplish?"]

["Many people keep boasting about how incredibly impressive Zhu Di's five campaigns north of the Gobi were."]

["But in fact, if you look at the ratio of investment to return, the actual results of Zhu Di's five campaigns north of the Gobi were very limited. You could even say they were extremely unsuccessful."]

["Zhu Di's first campaign was in the eighth year of the Yongle reign. He claimed to have sent out 500,000 troops, though that probably included the logistics personnel."]

["Zhu Di then spent three months searching the vast desert for the enemy. Along the way, he caught wild horses, rabbits, Mongolian gazelles, and other animals, and killed some scattered soldiers and stragglers, a little over a hundred in all. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he had brought his men to the grasslands for a hunting trip."]

Five hundred thousand men had killed a little over a hundred people in three months. What was the point?

"Zhu Di, that unfilial son..."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been furious, was stunned by what Zhu Di had done.

["On the ninth day of the sixth month, Zhu Di finally encountered Bunyashiri, the great khan of the Tatar Tribe, and won a major victory at last. Zhu Di led his army in pursuit for over a hundred li, forcing Bunyashiri to flee with only seven men."]

["Next, Zhu Di turned around and attacked Arughtai to the east, but by then the Ming army's provisions and logistical support couldn't keep up, so he could only bring the campaign to a hasty end."]

["In the seventh month, Zhu Di successfully completed his first northern campaign and led his army back to the capital."]

["Zhu Di's second northern campaign took place in the twelfth year of the Yongle reign."]

["The second northern campaign could be said to have produced the greatest results. Once again, Zhu Di personally led an army of 500,000 and encountered Mahamu, leader of the Oirat Tribe. They killed several hundred enemies and more than ten princes, but Mahamu commanded with composure and didn't fall behind in the slightest. Instead, the Ming army lost several senior generals."]

["In the end, Zhu Di had to rely on the power of the Divine Engine Division's firearms to extricate himself. The Oirat Tribe suffered heavy losses in this battle, but the Ming army's losses were just as severe, and provisions and reinforcements couldn't reach them in time. Zhu Di had no choice but to lead his army back to the capital."]

At this point, many emperors shook their heads, and Zhu Yuanzhang laughed in anger.

Five hundred thousand men had killed several hundred enemies, needed firearms to extricate themselves, and ended up with both sides badly battered.

That record... was hard to speak of.

["Starting with the third northern campaign, Zhu Di went into sightseeing mode."]

["The second northern campaign had dealt the Oirat a blow, but Arughtai began to stir, repeatedly harassing the Ming Dynasty's borders and killing its border generals. It was truly a case of pressing down one gourd only to make another pop up, and the flustered Zhu Di flew into a rage. In the twentieth year of the Yongle reign, he personally led an army of 300,000 north to the grasslands once more. Zhu Di began his advance in the third month and searched the vast desert for Arughtai until the eighth month, but he couldn't find so much as a hair on Arughtai's head."]

["This northern campaign was accompanied by 340,000 donkeys, over 177,000 carts, more than 235,000 laborers, and 370,000 shi of grain. In the end, Zhu Di, who had nowhere to vent his anger, attacked the Uriankhai Tribe, which was dependent on Arughtai's Tribe, on his way back and killed several hundred people."]

["The third northern campaign came to a hasty end."]

"This Emperor Chengzu of Ming, Zhu Di, is truly interesting!"

"Five campaigns north of the Gobi and the sealing of Mount Langjuxu really were just a bluff!"

"More than 300,000 donkeys, over 100,000 carts, more than 200,000 farmers, and 370,000 shi of grain, wandering the grasslands for five or six months, spending so much, only to kill a few hundred people?! Even if Great Ming had mountains of gold and silver, it couldn't withstand his spending like that."

One emperor after another sighed in his own plane.

"I finally understand!"

Zhu Yuanzhang, in Emperor Taizu of Ming's plane, had understood something.