Battle of Lake Poyang

The Battle of Lake Poyang was a naval conflict which took place (30 August – 4 October 1363) between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang during the Red Turban Rebellion which led to the fall of the Yuan dynasty. Chen Youliang besieged Nanchang with a large fleet on Lake Poyang, one of China's largest freshwater lakes, and Zhu Yuanzhang met his force with a smaller fleet. After an inconclusive engagement exchanging fire, Zhu employed fire ships to burn the enemy tower ships and destroyed their fleet. This was the last major battle of the rebellion before the rise of the Ming dynasty. Background On 30 August 1363, the forces of Chen Han conducted a major amphibious assault on Nanchang but failed to take it due to the defenders' use of cannons and suffered significant losses. The town of Nanchang was strategically located to guard Lake Poyang, which connected the Yangzi with other river basins. During the early 1360s, Zhu Yuanzhang held key garrisons on the lake and administered them from Nanjing 560 kilometers downriver. In 1362, Chen Youliang used "tower ships" to transport his troops to Nanchang. They could not disembark on the city walls like they did at other cities because the wall was no longer on the shore. Chen personally led an assault on the city gates. They were repelled with a barrage of cannon fire and driven back. After this failure, Chen set up a blockade, determined to starve out the defenders, but a small fishing boat managed to slip out and reached Nanjing in time to warn Zhu Yuanzhang. 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.