On 30 August-2 September 1363, the Battle of Lake Poyang was fought in China between a Ming fleet under Zhu Yuanzhang and a Han fleet under Chen Youliang during the Red Turban Rebellion.
Why did it happen & Who was involved?
After the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, the Yuan dynasty he founded went into a steep decline. A combination of famines, natural disasters and poor government led the Chinese people, who had never fully accepted the Mongols as rulers, to revolt. In 1351, a group known as the Red Turbans led a widespread anti-Mongol uprising based in southern China. By 1360, the rebels had divided into three factions: The Han, Wu and Ming. The leader of the Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, had taken the city of Nanjing in 1356 and consolidated power around it. In 1363, A Han fleet of 100 warships and 300,000 soldiers besieged the Ming-held town of Nanchang along the Gan river south of Lake Poyang in Jiangxi Province. Zhu led a fleet of 33 warships and 100,000 troops south from Nanjing to relieve Nanchang and was able to enter Lake Poyang without Han interference. While the Han army continued to besiege Nanchang, the Han commander, Chen Youliang, led his navy up the Gan river to meet the Ming navy on Lake Poyang.
What happened?
On 30 August, the Ming navy, divided into eleven squadrons, began the battle by attempting to penetrate the Han navy’s line. Unfortunately, this attack failed, and the flagship of the Ming vanguard caught fire due to concentrated crossbow and gunpowder fire from the Han tower ships. Zhu Yuanzhang subsequently sailed towards the burning Ming warship and extinguished the fire, but then came under attack by the Han fleet, forcing his own flagship onto a sandbank before being rescued by his other ships. On 31 August, Zhu made the decision to execute several Ming commanders who refused to advance and to also change his tactics. Instead of trying to swarm the Han fleet, he converted some of his ships into fire ships packed with straw and gunpowder. He then sent them sailing towards the Han fleet, burning 20 warships and drowning their crews. On 1 September, both sides concentrated on repairing their ships before resuming battle on 2 September. This time, the Ming fleet succeeded in penetrating the weakened Han formation, boarding and capturing many ships. With a large portion of his navy destroyed, Chen Youliang retreated with the remainder of his ships.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Lake Poyang was a decisive Ming victory. Although Chen was able to escape, he was killed in a skirmish with the Ming on 4 October and without their leader, the Han cause quickly collapsed. Nanchang was soon relieved and after concentrating on campaigns against the coastal cities along the South China Sea, Zhu Yuanzhang advanced on Beijing in 1368, forcing the last Yuan emperor to flee. Zhu took the name Hung Wu and founded the Ming dynasty, and although campaigning against Mongol resistance continued for another twenty years, the Ming dynasty would rule China until 1644.
Bibliography
Armstrong, Benjamin. “From River Pirate to Ming Emperor.” U.S. Naval Institute. Last revised June 2010. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2010/june/river-pirate-ming-emperor
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Grant, R.G. Battle At Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 2008.
Kerrigan, Michael. China: A Dark History. London, Amber Books, 2019.
Robinson, Tony. Battles That Changed History. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2018.
Turnbull, Stephan. Fighting Ships of the Far East (1): China and Southeast Asia 202 BC–AD 1419. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2002.
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