Ming Yuzhen, born in 1329 in the village of Meiqiu in Sui County (in present-day
Hubei Province), came from a family of landowners. He initially served as an officer in the local militia, holding the position of "commander of local patrolling archers" (
xunsi gongbing paizitou, ). When the
Red Turban Rebellion broke out, he was entrusted by the village council to protect his hometown. Around 1352, he joined the rebels and quickly rose through the ranks in the "Red Army" of the rebel state of Song (referred to by historians as
Tianwan). He was eventually appointed as "Grand Marshal of the Troop Fighting the Barbarians" (
tongbing zhenglu da yuanshuai, ) and served under
Ni Wenjun. In 1357, Ming was tasked with procuring food supplies for the Red Army in
Sichuan. He led the Song (Tianwan) fleet from Yiling up the
Yangtze River and easily captured
Chongqing, a strategically important city in southern Sichuan. The city's defenses were weak due to the hostility between the Yuan garrison commander Yang Han () and the provincial governor, Öljeitu. Following the capture of Chongqing, the Song (Tianwan) emperor
Xu Shouhui appointed Ming as governor of Sichuan. He initially only controlled a portion of the province and faced ongoing battles against Yuan forces led by Governor Öljeitu and generals Nanggiyatai and Zhao Zi (), who were based in Jiading (present-day
Leshan) and
Chengdu. These conflicts continued until 1360. In addition to fighting the Yuan forces, Ming also had to defend Sichuan against an invasion from the north, from Shaanxi, in 1358 by the "Green Turban Army" led by Li Sixi. While Ming was conquering Sichuan, a power struggle broke out among the leading generals of the Song (Tianwan) state.
Chen Youliang assassinated Ni, claiming that he was attempting to overthrow Xu. Ming warned Xu about Chen and successfully defended against an assassination attempt. Chen declared himself King of Han in 1359 and imprisoned Xu. The following year, he waged war against
Zhu Yuanzhang, who controlled a large region of the lower Yangtze River (
Jiangnan) from
Nanjing. Chen then killed Xu and declared himself emperor, taking control of most of the territory of the Song (Tianwan) state. In the midst of this conflict, Chen had previously ordered Ming to send troops on behalf of Xu in the war against Zhu. Ming initially complied, but later recalled the troops upon learning of Xu's murder. Ming ruled Sichuan in an almost independent manner from an early stage, but he remained loyal to Xu. He rejected Chen's usurpation and cut off all ties with him. In 1360, Ming declared himself King of Longshu (,
Longshu Wang;
Shu being a designation for Sichuan, while
Long is a common abbreviation for
Gansu and in this title implied claims to southern Shaanxi). Two years later, in 1362, Ming declared himself emperor of the
Great Xia under the influence of his most important minister, Liu Zhen (). Despite not recognizing the legitimacy of Chen's regime, Ming did not engage in hostilities with him. Instead, he attempted to expand his territory to the north and south. In the north, he attacked southern Shaanxi Province, which was then controlled by Yuan general
Li Shiqi. He was successful in permanently occupying Jiezhou (present-day
Longnan in southern Gansu) until 1371, but his attack on Hanzhong and other cities in Shaanxi failed. In the south, Ming attempted to conquer
Yunnan in 1363, which was administered by the Mongol governor Boru Temür. He launched three waves of attacks, and in the first wave, Wan Sheng even managed to capture Zhongqing (present-day
Kunming). The Yuan armies quickly regrouped and defeated the Xia army. The remaining troops of Ming retreated to Sichuan. After the defeat in Yunnan, Ming shifted his focus to strengthening and stabilizing his rule over Sichuan. He restructured the government by implementing a system based on the
Rites of Zhou, a work on government offices from the
Warring States period. In 1363, he introduced a system derived from the Yuan dynasty, with the
Central Secretariat and the
Bureau of Military Affairs (
shumi yuan) as the highest state administration offices. Local administration continued to follow the traditional division into counties (
xian), sub-prefectures (
zhou), and prefectures (
fu). He utilized a combination of folk
millenarian symbolism, declaring himself as the "Lord of Light" known as
Mingzhu, and also showed support for
Confucianism. This strategy allowed him to gain the trust of the people and the support of the
gentry. Ming died at the age of 37 in 1366 due to illness. His nine-year-old son,
Ming Sheng, succeeded him on the throne. There was a power struggle between ministers Wan Sheng and Dai Shou for control of the child emperor and the state. Dai emerged as the victor while Wan lost his life. In 1367, a regional official named Wu Youzhen rose up against Dai, accusing him of murdering Wan. Unable to defeat Wu militarily, Dai made a deal with him and executed Wan's murderer. This resulted in a lack of strong leadership within the Xia government, causing them to passively wait for events to unfold. Eventually, the
Ming dynasty, founded by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1368, conquered Sichuan in 1371 without facing any major obstacles. == Notes ==