Liu Bowen was passed down as a deity. What extraordinary achievements has he made?

Liu Ji, named Bo Wen, was the first counselor who helped Zhu Yuanzhang complete the great cause of reunification and establish the Ming Dynasty. It is called the three immortal great men of "virtue, merit and mouth" by later generations. People admire Liu Bowen very much, so they left a lot of Ming and Qing buildings to commemorate Liu Bowen, such as Liu Ji Temple, Political Participation Temple, Loyalty Festival Temple, Pangu Pavilion, Ciling Pavilion, Wuyang Pavilion, Liu Ji's former residence and Liu Ji's tomb.

Legend has it that Liu Bowen is fascinated and well-known in astronomy and geography. Qimen Liu Jia, everything is possible; Extraordinary strategy, unparalleled, and so on.

Although the folk legend about Liu Bowen is a bit fantastic, Liu Bowen is really proficient in astronomy, art of war, mathematics and so on. He is particularly proficient in poetry, poetry is simple and elegant, dare to attack corrupt politics in officialdom, and show sympathy for the sufferings of the people. Together with Song Lian and Gao Qi, he is called "the great poet in the third day of Ming Dynasty", and his Collection of Sincerity has always been highly praised by scholars.

Liu Ji and Zhu Yuanzhang (stills)

In fact, as far as historical contributions are concerned, Liu Ji is mainly known for his strategic thoughts. He left behind some strategic works, such as Li Yu Ion, Hundred Wars and Orangeman's Words, which are ingenious classics that later generations like to read.

Folk rumors Liu Ji said: "The world is divided into three parts, and Liu Bowen is unified; Former military Zhuge Liang, after the military Liu Bowen. " People usually refer to Sean, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bowen as the three great strategists in ancient China.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once said that Liu Ji compared Liu Ji to Sean in the early Han Dynasty and called him "my Zhang Zifang". He spoke highly of Liu Ji. He said: "(Liu Ji) runs through heaven and man, paying equal attention to literature and people;" His spirit is just and upright, and his talent is great. The breadth of discussion has crossed the times; During the interference, one party is in control. Generally speaking, first, Chen Yuanlve; After the outline of the country, use troops first. You can talk, I can judge, I can use, and the style is as far away as today. Everything is clear and effective. " ("Ming History, Volume 128, Biography 16")

Cai Yuanpei, a contemporary scholar, commented on Liu Ji: "The times make heroes, strategize and make contributions to the next generation." (See "A Generation of Great Men, Famous for Eternal Fame" and "China Liu Ji Net" 2008- 12-0 1)

Liu Ji has been gifted since childhood and likes to learn. Under his father's enlightenment education, at the age of 12, he was a scholar and was called a "prodigy" by rural elders. When I entered the county (official school) at the age of fourteen, I studied under the Spring and Autumn Annals, which made me memorize this Confucian classic, understand its meaning and have unique opinions. He left the official school at the age of seventeen and studied Neo-Confucianism under Zheng Fuchu, a famous scholar in Chuzhou. At the age of 23, Liu Ji went to the capital of the Yuan Dynasty to take an exam and was admitted to the Jinshi in one fell swoop.

After living in the middle, Liu Ji lived in seclusion for several years, and later became an official in the Yuan Dynasty. Finally, he resigned and returned to his hometown because he was dissatisfied with the corrupt and fatuous politics of the Yuan Dynasty. It was not until the twentieth year of Zheng Zheng (1360) that he was invited to enter Yingtian (now Nanjing) occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang and became his counselor.

Liu Ji's portrait

So after Liu Bowen entered Zhu Yuanzhang's camp, what contribution did Zhu Yuanzhang make to unify the world and establish the Ming Dynasty?

First offer a plan to actively fight against Chen Youliang, and ambush the invading enemy with Indiana Jones.

When Zhu Yuanzhang fought in the world, there were two counselors around him who contributed the most to Zhu Yuanzhang, one was Zhu Sheng and the other was Liu Ji.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the chaos arose, and various separatist forces wanted to seize the world, and wars were frequent. At the critical moment when Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to the world, Zhu Sheng, a famous counselor, put forward the fundamental strategic policy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain and slowly claiming the throne", which made Zhu Yuanzhang stronger gradually. Zhu Sheng's fundamental strategy can be said to be Zhu Yuanzhang's magic weapon. Without Zhu Sheng, Zhu Yuanzhang could only fall into war like other general separatist forces, and it was difficult for him to stand out.

If the contribution is mainly strategic strategy, then Liu's basic contribution lies in putting forward targeted and practical strategic suggestions according to the actual war situation at that time.

After Zhu Yuanzhang occupied Yingtian (Nanjing), the world was mainly divided up by three military groups. Zhu Yuanzhang took Yingtian as a strategic location and devoted himself to fighting for the world. At that time, he had two powerful opponents. One was Zhang Shicheng, who occupied Tongzhou (now Nantong, Jiangsu), Changshu, Songjiang, Changzhou and other places, and made Pingjiang (now Suzhou, Jiangsu) its capital, becoming a powerful power group in the south of the Yangtze River. The other is Chen Youliang, who occupied Anqing, Chizhou, Longxing (now Nanchang, Jiangxi), Ruizhou (now Gaoan, Jiangxi), Shaowu, Ji 'an, Fuzhou, Ganzhou, Xinzhou (now Shangrao, Jiangxi), Xiangyang and other places, and claimed to be the emperor in Taiping (now Fanchang, Wuhu, Anhui).

Of the two military groups, Chen Youliang is the stronger one. In the 20th year of Zheng Zheng (AD 1360), in May, Chen Youliang captured Taiping, where he founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor. At that time, Chen Youliang killed Hua Yun, commander of Taiping Garrison, and beheaded Wenshun Zhu, Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son. He thinks he must be someone who can occupy the world. He thinks he is very powerful, so he is arrogant. However, he was not confused when he was puffed up. After he knew that he proclaimed himself emperor, his primary opponent was Zhu Yuanzhang, who occupied Yingtian. So he claimed that even without Zhang Shicheng's support at Pingjiang, he could defeat Zhu Yuanzhang alone. So, he mobilized the most powerful navy division at that time, went down the river and headed for Yingtian. Chen Youliang aggressive, directly to find zhu yuanzhang set a high and low.

Chen Youliang's powerful navy forces Ying Tian, posing a great threat to Zhu Yuanzhang who occupied Ying Tian. In terms of strength, especially in the comparison of navy strength, Zhu Yuanzhang's power group at that time was in a relatively weak position compared with Chen Youliang. When the crisis came, the civil and military ministers around Zhu Yuanzhang were very nervous about how to deal with Chen Youliang's attack, and there was no unified coping strategy at the moment. Civil servants and military commanders have their own suggestions.

Someone put forward a plan, suggesting that Zhu Yuanzhang avoid the enemy's sharp edge, send troops around the enemy lines, recover peace, and let Chen Youliang Li rescue him to curb Chen Youliang's attack on the sky; Others said that Zhu Yuanzhang should personally lead the main force, take the initiative to meet the enemy outside Yingtian City and fight recklessly with the enemy.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not adopt such a surprise attack and reckless plan. He knows that Chen Youliang's power is relatively strong, and the enemy is attacking, and the momentum is flourishing. If he confronts it, he has little chance of winning; It is not easy to raid Taiping city. Taiping city wall is strong, easy to defend but difficult to attack. At that time, Huayun and Wenshun Zhu were guarding the city, and Chen Youliang fell in one fell swoop, which showed that Chen Youliang was very strong. If you lead an army to raid at this time, once you can't attack for a long time, you will be caught between Scylla and Charybdis. At this time, some people advocated making peace with Chen Youliang, even surrendering to Chen Youliang for a while and recognizing his title of emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang was at a loss and hesitated.

At this critical moment, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Liu Ji, who had just entered the camp, was silent and asked him what his good plan was.

Liu Ji has just joined the company and has no experience. He didn't want to refute the ministers' faces. Zhu Yuanzhang took the initiative to ask him, and he was confident. Therefore, he took the initiative to rudely put forward his own suggestion: "Kill those who surrendered to the master and those who wanted to escape first, so as to stabilize the morale and boost morale!" The ministers were stunned by his harsh opinions and were silent.

Liu Ji went on to say, "Chen Youliang claimed the title of emperor in order to conquer Yingtian. Today, the enemy went down the river with fierce momentum, high morale and prestige. They want to use their momentum to intimidate our army and force me to back down. Our army should never show weakness, but must be tit-for-tat and try its best to defend against the enemy in order to win. " Liu Ji's words aroused the courage of the minister of civil and military affairs.

Seeing that the ministers' attention was focused, Liu Ji went on to say: "The art of war goes, attacking the enemy after, so winning." Although Chen Youliang led the arrogant soldiers, he attacked from thousands of miles away. He is not only an unjust teacher, but also exhausted from long-term participation. Our army has long been prepared, waiting for the opportunity to move, and can ambush the attacking enemy with surprise soldiers by luring the enemy, which will undoubtedly win. This war concerns the overall situation, and we need to do our best to defeat the enemy. "(see You Ren's Liu Jichuan).

Zhu Yuanzhang listened carefully to Liu Ji's analysis and suggestions. He felt that Liu Ji's plan was quite reasonable and strengthened his confidence against Chen Youliang. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang accepted Liu Ji's suggestion and arranged for the army to attack Chen Youliang.

First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Yuan Chaoting to defect from Zhu Yuanzhang's water village marshal Kang Maocai to write a letter to Chen Youliang, saying that he didn't like vulgar Zhu Chongba and wanted to help Chen Youliang catch Zhu Chongba. Chen Youliang and Kang Maocai have friendship, and the emissary is an old subordinate of Chen Youliang. The two sides agreed to meet in Jiangdong Bridge. Chen Youliang had long known that Jiangdong Bridge was a wooden bridge, and he led the warship attack with confidence, because he thought that even if Kang Maocai cheated, he would not be afraid, and his warship could break through the wooden bridge and go straight ahead. However, Chen Youliang was cheated, and Jiangdong Bridge has been demolished by Li Shanchang, which is a solid defense barrier.

Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, who were fighting abroad, and led the army to cooperate with the garrison. Then, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Feng and Chang Yuchun to lead the First Fifth Wing Army with 30,000 men and lie on the edge of Lime Mountain. Xu Da led the elite troops to gather outside the South Gate, An Lushan won the victory over Hong Kong, Zhang Desheng and Zhu Hu led the navy out of Longjiang Pass, and various armies were ready to meet them.

Chen Youliang led the troops to approach Jiangdong Bridge, only to see that the bridge has become a stone bridge, but there was no sign of Kang Youcai. He knew that he had been cheated by Kang Youcai, and he dared not cross the solid stone bridge. So I went ashore in Longwan, trying to raid Yingtian by land and catch Zhu Yuanzhang. But Longwan is exactly the ambush site set by Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Ji, and it is a set ambush circle.

Chen Youliang's troops entered Longwan, long and narrow, and Chen Youliang's soldiers could not leave their positions. All the soldiers on the ship haven't landed yet, and the front has been piled up together. At this point, Feng, Chang Yuchun and others led the ambush to attack quickly while the enemy was in chaos. Chen Youliang's army was quickly defeated in the chaos, and most of them could not return to the ship after landing in the ambush circle. Most of them became prisoners, but those who had just landed quickly withdrew from the ship and fled quickly. At this time, the tide ebbed and the ship ran aground in panic. Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush was exhausted, and Chen Youliang's soldiers were killed, captured and fell into the water. Chen Youliang led a trusted general to escape by the clipper. Zhu Yuanzhang not only captured many prisoners, but also got hundreds of warships.

Liu Bowen's active response and ambush strategy enabled Zhu Yuanzhang to win a great victory in the defense of Yingtian. He not only successfully held Yingtian City, but also pursued it. When Chen Youliang was defeated and unable to defend, he successfully recovered Taiping, destroyed Chen Youliang's lair, changed the state of power contrast, and made Zhu Yuanzhang take the lead in the struggle with Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng.

Second, put forward the strategy of "Chen before Zhang" to destroy Chen Youliang and force Zhang Shicheng to commit suicide.

Chen Youliang was badly hit in the defense of Yingtian. However, Chen Youliang's strength is much higher than that of Zhu Yuanzhang. Although its strength has been greatly weakened, its combat power is still not to be underestimated. Even if Yingtian is damaged, the strength of Chen Youliang is still stronger than that of Zhang Shicheng downstream.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had stronger strength and began to shift from strategic defense to strategic attack. Of course, he faced strong enemies such as Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng.

Then, in the face of two forces with different strengths, how to fight? Which enemy should Zhu Yuanzhang, who has offensive strength, give priority to? The civil and military ministers around Zhu Yuanzhang have different opinions on this.

Most courtiers around Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhang Shicheng was weak at that time, and he occupied Pingjiang and Jiangnan in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. If Zhu Jiajun goes down the river and attacks Pingjiang, it will be relatively easy to defeat Zhang Shicheng. As the saying goes, "Soft persimmons are easy to pinch." If we attack the weak enemy first, our chances of winning will be even greater. Moreover, although Chen Youliang has experienced the defeat due to the weather, its strength is still relatively strong. If Zhu Jiajun goes upstream and pursues Chen Youliang with a relatively strong force, if there is a stalemate, once Zhang Shicheng comes to attack Yingtian, it will be attacked from both sides, which is very dangerous.

According to the situation at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang also tended to adopt this strategy and attack Chen Youliang first.

But Liu Bowen didn't agree with Zhu Yuanzhang and most of his officials. He put forward a completely different strategy. Liu Bowen explained his views to Zhu Yuanzhang. He thinks that although Zhang Shicheng has its capital at Pingjiang and become the overlord in the south of the Yangtze River, it is timid by nature and has no ambition. He just wants to stick to Jiangnan and defend himself, and will never send troops to heaven on his own initiative. There is no need to send troops to deal with Zhang Shicheng. He is a staunch advocate, and we will take care of him in the future. Chen Youliang, on the other hand, is relatively strong and has always wanted to win the world. Now it occupies the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and is eyeing Zhu Jiajun. He also wants to avenge Tian's defeat, which directly poses a great threat to Tian. If Zhu Jiajun led his troops south to attack Zhang Shicheng at Pingkiang, Chen Youliang would certainly take advantage of Zhu Jiajun's departure to attack the sky. Therefore, to pursue Chen Youliang first, Zhang Shicheng may not dare to pounce easily.

Based on the above analysis, Liu Bowen strongly advocates that getting rid of Chen Youliang first is the best policy. When Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng's troops in Pingjiang were destroyed, they would be unable to support themselves, and their life and death would be decided by Zhu Yuanzhang. When the time comes to destroy Zhang Shicheng, we can get rid of two powerful enemies, and then, we can send troops north to sweep the land of the Central Plains and achieve the great cause of emperors.

This is the operational strategy of "Chen first and Zhang later" put forward by Liu Bowen. Zhu Yuanzhang very much agreed with Liu Bowen's strategy. Without hesitation, he immediately decided to adopt Liu Bowen's suggestion. It is said that Liu Bowen's eighteen policies on current affairs were Liu Bowen's strategic advice to Zhu Yuanzhang. If we can still find the 18 strategies of current politics, this proposal of "introducing the past before opening" must be one of the important strategies. Liu Bowen's foresight, comparable to Zhu Sheng's strategy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain and slowly claiming the throne", is a strategic strategy to help Zhu Yuanzhang pacify the great powers, seize the world and establish the Ming Dynasty.

In the twenty-first year of Zheng Zheng (A.D. 136 1), Zhu Yuanzhang led the land and water army up the Yangtze River in accordance with Liu Bowen's strategic deployment, and began his key battle of westward expedition to Chen Youliang. Zhu Jiajun attacked Anqing first, and Anqing defended well, but it was difficult to attack for a long time. At this point, Liu Bowen already knew that Chen Youliang was heavily stationed in Anqing, and the new nest Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province) occupied after the War of Heaven was inevitably weak. Therefore, Liu Bowen offered Zhu Yuanzhang an idea, suggesting that he should temporarily abandon the siege of Anqing and lead the troops to attack Jiangzhou.

Indeed as expected, as Liu Bowen expected, Jiangzhou troops are few. Jiangzhou was quickly breached under the fierce attack of elite soldiers of Zhu Jiajun. Chen Youliang was defeated and did not dare to stay long, so he led down archers to Wuchang. At this point, the generals in Chen Youliang's camp had no intention of fighting again, so Jiangxi Prime Minister Hu Tingrui secretly contacted Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that if Zhu Yuanzhang could let him keep his troops, he would be willing to defect. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately agreed to Hu's conditions. Hu Tingrui's downfall triggered a chain reaction, and Jiangxi soon became Zhu Yuanzhang's territory.

In April of the 23rd year of Zheng Zheng (1363), Han Liner, Wang Xiaoming was besieged in Anfeng, Zhu Yuanzhang went north to rescue, Chen Youliang took the opportunity to fight back, raided Hongdu, and tried to recapture Jiangxi. Zhu Wenzheng, the garrison commander of Hongdu, resisted desperately, but Chen Youliang could not attack for a long time. Chen Youliang withdrew to Poyang Lake.

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang saw the opportunity of decisive battle. He led the main force to Poyang Lake and fought against Chen Youliang in Poyang Lake. The two sides fought to the death and suffered heavy casualties. At the critical moment of the war, Liu Bowen offered Zhu Yuanzhang a plan in time, suggesting that he send heavy troops to guard the exit around Poyang Lake and trap Chen Youliang in the lake. Chen Youliang was trapped in Poyang Lake, so he had to lead troops to break through everywhere, but they were all stopped. Chen Youliang died while resting, putting an end to his dream of being an emperor.

Chen Youliang's down archers saw that the coach was dead, and immediately suffered a crushing defeat. Zhu Yuanzhang soon pacified Chen Youliang's territory, leaving the generals guarding Jiangxi, and he dispatched troops to the sky. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang went down the river and captured Pingjiang, the capital of Zhang Shicheng, in September of the 27th year of Zheng Zhi (AD 1367). Seeing that Pingkiang had fallen, Zhang Shicheng hanged himself.

The above analysis shows that in many key battles of Zhu Yuanzhang, it was because of Liu Bowen's suggestion that he turned the corner and won a great victory. Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng not because of Liu Bowen's brilliant plan, but because Liu Bowen was Zhu Yuanzhang's first strategic hero at the critical moment of major battles.