Climax of the Red Turban Rebellion (1361)

Timeline

1. 1361Yingtang (modern Nanjing) and the Jiangxi prefectures · NanjingIn 1361 Zhu Yuanzhang's forces defeated Chen Youliang's army at Jiangzhou, Qizhou, and elsewhere, driving Chen Youliang back to Wuchang; he then divided his forces to take Nankang, Jianchang, Raozhou, Huangzhou, Guangji, Fuzhou, and other key Jiangxi places, controlling the western section of the middle Yangtze. In the first month of that year, the Lesser Ming King Han Lin'er sent envoys to invest Zhu Yuanzhang as Duke of Wu, marking his leap in status within the Red Turban system, though his real power was already independent of the Longfeng center.
2. 1363Poyang Lake and Anfeng (modern Shouxian, Anhui) · Poyang LakeIn 1363 Zhang Shicheng's general Lü Zhen besieged Anfeng; Liu Futong was killed in battle, and Han Lin'er was rescued by Zhu Yuanzhang and moved to Chuzhou. That same year Chen Youliang led a great army against Hongdu (Nanchang); Zhu Yuanzhang personally led a fleet of 200,000 to the decisive battle at Poyang Lake, shattering Chen's forces through fire attacks, and Chen Youliang was killed by an arrow. The Longfeng Song regime existed in name only, and the Han regime was gravely weakened.
3. 1364Wuchang (modern Wuhan, Hubei) · WuhanOn New Year's Day 1364 Zhu Yuanzhang was invested by the Longfeng regime as King of Wu, adopting the era name Wu 1; in the second month he led troops to besiege Wuchang, where Chen Youliang's son Chen Li surrendered and the Han regime fell, the entire middle Yangtze passing into Zhu Yuanzhang's hands. By then only Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, and others among the southern Red Turban powers still resisted.
4. 1367Pingjiang (modern Suzhou, Jiangsu) · SuzhouIn 1367 Zhu Yuanzhang dispatched Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and others to besiege Pingjiang, held by Zhang Shicheng; the city fell in the ninth month, and Zhang Shicheng, captured, hanged himself, ending the Great Zhou regime. Zhu Yuanzhang then subdued Fang Guozhen and other remaining forces, essentially unifying Jiangnan and laying the foundation for the northern expedition to destroy the Yuan.
5. 1368Yingtang (modern Nanjing) and Dadu (modern Beijing) · BeijingOn the fourth day of the first month of 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor at Yingtang, with the state name Great Ming and era name Hongwu; Xu Da and Chang Yuchun led the northern expedition, capturing Dadu in the seventh month, and Emperor Shun of Yuan fled north to Shangdu. The Red Turban rebellion thus completed its historical transition from peasant war to dynastic change, and the Yuan court's rule in the Central Plains was declared ended.