Battle of Lake Poyang

Battle

Zhu Yuanzhang's fleet arrived at Hukou on 24 August and relieved Nanchang on the 28th. Chen Youliang embarked his forces and sailed north into Lake Poyang. The two fleets met on 29 August. Zhu's forces numbered only a third the size of Chen's army. According to one Ming source, Zhu's forces arrived armed with "fire bombs, fire guns, fire arrows, fire seeds [probably grenades], large and small fire lances, large and small 'commander' fire-tubes, large and small iron bombs, rockets". This shows that older gunpowder weapons co-existed alongside guns, and proto-guns such as fire lances were not supplanted until after the early Ming. A new weapon called the "No Alternative" was also mentioned. The No Alternative was "made from a circular reed mat about five inches around and seven feet long that was pasted over with red paper and bound together with silk and hemp—stuffed inside it was gunpowder twisted in with bullets and all kinds of [subsidiary] gunpowder weapons". It was hung from a pole on the foremast, and when an enemy ship came into close range, the fuse was lit, and the weapon would supposedly fall onto the enemy ship, at which point things inside shot out "and burned everything to bits, with no hope of salvation".

On 30 August, Zhu deployed his fleet in 11 squadrons with orders to "get close to the enemy's ships and first set off gunpowder weapons (發火器), then bows and crossbows, and finally attack their ships with short-range weapons". Fire bombs were hurled using naval trebuchets, and Zhu's forces succeeded in "burning twenty or more enemy vessels and killing or drowning many enemy troops". Still, their flagship also caught fire and hit a sandbar. Chen's warships drove back the opposing line until they fell back to a shallow area where they could not be pursued. Zhu tried again to engage with Chen's fleet in ship-to-ship combat and was driven back once more with severe losses. The next day, the wind shifted toward Chen's forces, and Zhu sent burning ships into the opposing fleet, destroying several hundred vessels. While guns were used during the battle, ultimately, they were not pivotal to success, and the battle was won using incendiary weapons.

On 2 September, the two fleets engaged in battle again. Though still outnumbered, Zhu's forces were able to isolate and destroy larger enemy warships, forcing them to withdraw. Afterward, Zhu's fleet settled into a blockade for another month before Chen decided to attempt a breakout on 4 October. Zhu was ready with fire ships set adrift, scattering Chen's ships so that clusters of ships engaged in combat far from each other. Chen was killed when an arrow struck his head.

Aftermath

Chen Youliang was succeeded by his son, Chen Li, who surrendered to Zhu in 1364.

The Western Wu victory cemented their position as the leading rebel group. The Western Wu would overthrow the Yuan five years later and command China. Zhu Yuanzhang then became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor.