In the following four-year war, he drove out the Mongol armies loyal to the Yuan dynasty and unified the country, but his attempt to conquer Mongolia ended in failure.

[27] In the beginning of 1355, Zhu, Guo, and Zhang Shicheng, who was located further east, made the decision to leave the war-torn territories and cross the Yangtze River to the prosperous southern regions that had not yet been affected by the war.

However, other rebel leaders and his own generals prioritized military needs and often confiscated grain from peasants to feed their soldiers or prevent it from falling into the hands of their enemies.

While Zhu, Zhang, and Chen divided up the Yangtze River Basin, the rest of southern and central China was largely under the control of "one-province" regimes.

[51] In January 1363, Zhang Shicheng's army launched a surprise attack on Anfeng, the residence of Song emperor Han Lin'er, resulting in the death of Liu Futong, the de facto leader of the regime.

[80] Although they initially faced resistance, they were able to push forward with the help of artillery and the enemy's decision to send part of their defenders north against the second army's successful advance.

In the west, Feng Sheng was assigned to conquer the western part of the Gansu Corridor with 50,000 cavalrymen, while Li Wenzhong was tasked with attacking eastern Mongolia and Manchuria with another 50,000 soldiers.

Though adjoining states be within sight of one another The Hongwu Emperor's public statements were filled with sympathy for the peasants and a deep distrust of the wealthy landowners and scholars.

[87] His difficult upbringing never left his mind, and even as emperor, he held onto the ideal of a self-sufficient village life in peace, a dream that was unattainable in his youth.

He was a dynamic and innovative legislator, constantly issuing, revising, and modifying laws throughout his reign,[90] but these frequent changes sometimes sparked protests from officials.

In August, his suggestion to move the capital to Fengyang (then known as Linhuai), the emperor's hometown in northern Anhui, on the south bank of the Huai River, approximately 100 km north of Nanjing, was approved.

[102] This system mirrored the one established during the Yuan dynasty, with the ruling class of Mongols and Semu being replaced by families of distinguished military commanders.

[107] Unlike later years in the early Ming period, there were not enough candidates obtained through examinations, and positions were often filled based on recommendations and personal connections.

Only qualified Confucian-educated officials held management positions in the state administration, while routine tasks and paperwork were handled by rank-and-file employees and helpers from the local population.

[127] The emperor believed that providing every man with a field and every woman with a loom would alleviate the hardships faced by the people, but this ideal was not reflected in reality as the wealthy held a disproportionate amount of land and often found ways to avoid paying taxes.

[132] To increase the labor force, slavery was abolished (only members of the imperial family were allowed to own slaves), the number of monks was reduced, and the buying and selling of free people, including the acceptance of women, children, and concubines as collateral, was prohibited.

the Hongwu Emperor ordered local authorities to report any requests or comments from the population regarding the repair or construction of irrigation structures to the court.

[137] The anti-silver policy can be seen as an attempt to weaken the influence of the wealthy in Jiangnan, who were previously supporters of Zhang Shicheng (in addition to confiscation, high taxes,[p] and relocation).The possession of silver was viewed as granting excessive independence to its owners in the eyes of the emperor.

[109][138] To prevent unauthorized business, traveling merchants were required to report their names and cargo to local agents and undergo monthly inspections by the authorities.

Contemporary authors believed that this was due to the fact that a successful trade trip could yield more profit than a year's worth of work in the fields.

Chinese citizens were forbidden from leaving the empire, and harsh punishments were imposed on both foreigners who entered the country and those who engaged in trade with them, including death and exile for their families.

[147] In 1372, after facing defeats in Mongolia, he cautioned future emperors against the pursuit of conquering glory and advised them to focus on defending China against "northern barbarians".

[148] The decade of 1371–1380 was a period of consolidation and stability,[150] but in 1380, the emperor initiated a new wave of reforms, taking direct and personal control, while also intensifying the terror against the elite.

The emperor placed great importance on the education of his sons and entrusted it to scholars led by Song Lian and Kong Keren (孔克仁).

Even two centuries later, He Liangjun (何良俊; 1506–1573) observed that there were no large landowners in Suzhou, and no one owned more than ten times the amount of land as a small peasant.

In the autumn of 1391, Crown Prince Zhu Biao went on an inspection trip to Shaanxi, where he was supposed to assess the possibility of moving the capital to Xi'an,[175] but upon his return, he fell ill and died in 1392.

In order to ensure a smooth transition of power to the young heir, the Hongwu Empetor initiated a massive new wave of purges in 1393, starting with the accusation and execution of General Lan Yu.

[103] In an attempt to address the issue of extreme wealth disparities, many landowners and merchants were unjustly executed under the false accusation of being associated with treacherous politicians.

[178] Modern historians, influenced by a strong aversion towards the dictators of the 20th century, an anti-monarchist mindset, and a tendency to psychoanalyze personalities, often place a heavy emphasis on the despotic nature of his regime[178] and attribute it to paranoia,[48] or more generally, to some form of mental illness.

The abolition of the grand chancellor's office, equivalent to today's prime minister, and the reform of central administrative bodies resulted in the loss of a strong representative for officials.