Lan Yu (died 1393) was a Chinese military general and politician who contributed to the founding of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. His ancestral home was in present-day

Dingyuan County Dingyuan County () is a county of Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Chuzhou city. History The ancestral home of Li Keqiang, the Premier of the People's Republic of China, was Dingyuan. In December 2011, Taiwan Ta ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze Riv ...

. In 1393, Lan was accused of plotting a rebellion and put to death by the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts i ...

. About 15,000 people were implicated in the case and executed as part of the

Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty The Four Major Cases of the early Ming dynasty ( / ) refer to the following mass executions and persecutions perpetrated by Zhu Yuanzhang at the start of the Ming dynasty: * Hu Weiyong case (): resulted in the executions and deaths of Hu Weiyon ...

Biography

According to the ''

History of Ming The ''History of Ming'' or the ''Ming History'' (''Míng Shǐ'') is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories''. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It ...

'', in his early years, Lan Yu was a subordinate of Chang Yuchun, another general under the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang (later the

of the Ming). Lan Yu was also the younger brother of Chang Yuchun's wife. As Lan Yu displayed courage in battle, Chang Yuchun spoke well of him numerous times in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and Lan was later promoted from ''guanjun zhenfu'' () to an administrative officer in the commander-in-chief's office (). In 1371, Lan Yu followed Fu Youde to attack Shu (covering present-day

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

) and conquered Mianzhou () around present-day

Mianyang Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thr ...

. In 1372, he accompanied Xu Da on a campaign against the

Northern Yuan Dynasty The Northern Yuan () was a dynastic regime ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen-led Later Ji ...

in Mongolia, departing from Yanmen Pass and defeating the Yuan armies at Mount Luan () and near the Tula River (). Seven years later he followed

Mu Ying Mu Ying (1345–1392) was a Chinese military general and politician during the Ming dynasty, and an adopted son of its founder, the Hongwu Emperor. When the Ming dynasty emerged, the Hongwu Emperor's military officers who served under him were g ...

to attack Tibet, capturing three tribal leaders and around a thousand men. For his efforts, in 1379, Lan Yu was conferred the title of "Marquis of Yongchang" (), in addition to receiving 2500 ''dan'' () of grain and a ''shiquan'' (), a type of plaque granted by the emperor to officials in recognition of their contributions. In 1381, Lan Yu was appointed "Left Deputy General Who Conquers the South" () and accompanied Fu Youde to attack Yunnan and pacify the region. He was rewarded with 500 ''dan'' of grain and his daughter was granted the title of "Princess Consort of Shu" (). In 1387, Nahachu () of the Northern Yuan invaded

Liaodong The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...

and the Hongwu Emperor sent

Feng Sheng Feng Sheng (also Fengsheng or Feng-sheng) can refer to: Art *Feng Sheng, a character in '' The Female Prince'' *Feng Sheng Music, a Chinese record label used by Wang Feng (singer) * The Message (novel) (Chinese: 风声; pinyin: Feng Sheng, transla ...

, with Lan Yu and Fu Youde as his right and left deputies respectively, along with a 200,000-man army to attack him. Nahachu was defeated and surrendered. Lan Yu garrisoned the army at Jizhou ().Zhang Tingyu et al. ''History of Ming'', Volume 132, Biography of Lan Yu. In 1388, the Hongwu Emperor commissioned Lan Yu as General-in-Chief () and sent him with 150,000 troops to attack the Northern Yuan ruler Uskhal Khan. In the fourth

lunar month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Eur ...

of that year, Lan Yu's force arrived at Buir Lake and defeated the Northern Yuan army, capturing Uskhal Khan's family members numbering more than 100, more than 77,000 civilians, more than 150,000 livestock, along with several priced items, including Uskhal Khan's imperial seals. Uskhal Khan attempted to flee to the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

's old capital of

Karakorum Karakorum ( Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian Script:, ''Qaraqorum''; ) was the capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan dynasty in the 14–15th centuries. Its ruins lie in t ...

, but was killed shortly after the defeat. The Hongwu Emperor was pleased when he received news of Lan Yu's victory and intended to grant Lan the title of "Duke of Liang" (), but changed the Chinese character for "Liang" from "梁" to "涼" after he heard that Lan seized a Mongol noble lady for himself and violated her. This resulted in a change in the area that was to be Lan Yu's dukedom. Despite so, Hongwu still praised Lan Yu as "comparable to

Wei Qing Wei Qing (died 106 BC), courtesy name Zhongqing, born Zheng Qing in Linfen, Shanxi, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Western Han dynasty who was acclaimed for his campaigns against the Xiongnu, and his rags to riches life ...

of the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

". In 1392 a surrendered Yuan general Yuelutiemu'er () rebelled in Jianchang (present-day

Xichang Xichang, formerly known as Jiandu, Jianchang and Ningyuan(fu), is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Sichuan, China. In 2012 it had a population of 481,796. History The Qiongdu were the local peop ...

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Liangshan (; Yi: ''Niep Sha'', pronounced ), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture occupying much of the southern extremity of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China; its seat is Xichang. Liangshan ...

) and Lan Yu was sent to suppress the revolt. Lan Yu crushed the uprising and captured Yuelutiemu'er and his son, and was appointed as the Crown Prince's Tutor () for his achievement. As he made more achievements, Lan Yu became more arrogant, self-indulgent and unbridled. He started abusing his power and status and behaved violently and recklessly, sometimes even showing disrespect towards the emperor. Once, after he seized land from peasants in Dongchang (), an official questioned him on his actions, but Lan Yu drove the official away in anger. In another incident, after Lan Yu returned from a campaign in the north, he arrived at Xifeng Pass (), where the guards denied him entry as it was already late at night, but Lan led his men to force his way through. When he was away at war, Lan Yu sometimes also demoted officers at his own will and defied orders, to the extent of going to battle without permission. During his appointment as the Crown Prince's Tutor, Lan Yu was unhappy that his post was lower than the dukes of Song and Ying, so he exclaimed, "Am I not fit to be the Imperial Tutor (太師)?" The Hongwu Emperor became more angry with Lan Yu after learning of these incidents. Lan Yu had a close friendship with the crown prince Zhu Biao. Once after Lan Yu returned from a campaign against the Mongols, he warned the crown prince that Zhu Di (the Prince of Yan and future

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...

) seemed to be a likely a threat to his succession. Zhu Di heard about this, so after Zhu Biao died in 1392, he cautioned the Hongwu Emperor that Lan Yu and other founding pioneers of the dynasty were becoming a threat to the throne and should be dealt with before they get out of control. Lan Yu and others did not restrain themselves and continued behaving in the same manner as they did. Around this time, Hongwu was already making plans to eliminate them. Five months later when Hongwu appointed Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunwen (future Jianwen Emperor) as the new crown prince, he allowed Lan Yu to continue serving as the Crown Prince's Tutor.

Death

In the second

of 1393, a

Jinyiwei The Embroidered Uniform Guard () was the imperial secret police that served the emperors of the Ming dynasty in China. The guard was founded by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368 to serve as his personal bodyguards. In 1369 it became an imperial mil ...

(secret police) commander Jiang Huan () accused Lan Yu of plotting a rebellion and a search was conducted in Lan's residence and around 10,000

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to t ...

s were found. The

immediately had Lan Yu put to death on a charge of treason.Dun J. Li ''The Ageless Chinese'' (Charles Scribner's Sons: 1971), p. 276 Lan Yu's clan was exterminated to the third degree and his properties confiscated. More than 15,000 people were implicated and executed in this incident, including 12 marquises and two counts. This incident is known historically as the Lan Yu Case (). It was believed that Hongwu Emperor orchestrated his death to eliminate any threat for his successor Zhu Yunwen; ironically, Lan Yu's death contributed greatly to Zhu Yunwen's downfall as after his death, there were no capable generals that could prevent the powerful Zhu Di (future Yongle Emperor) from usurping the throne after Hongwu Emperor's death.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Zhang Tingyu et al. ''