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Fu Youde
Early Ming general who came over from Chen Youliang, led the conquest of the Ming Xia state in Sichuan in 1371 and of Yunnan in 1381, and was made Duke of Ying before his forced death in 1394
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
- Roles
- Commanders
Fu Youde's family came from Suzhou in Anhui and later moved to Dangshan. In the late Yuan wars he followed Li Xixi, a commander under Liu Futong, into Sichuan, then served Ming Yuzhen, who gave him little responsibility, and then Chen Youliang. When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Jiangzhou in 1361 he surrendered with his men, and he fought with distinction at Lake Poyang and elsewhere. Made Marquis of Yingchuan in 1370, he joined Tang He's campaign against the Xia state in Sichuan the next year, driving south from Shaanxi to take Jiezhou and Mianzhou until the Xia ruler Ming Sheng surrendered. In 1372 he led Feng Sheng's vanguard into Gansu and won seven battles in a row. In 1381, as general for the southern campaign with Lan Yu and Mu Ying, he marched into Yunnan, where the Yuan Prince of Liang killed himself after his defeat, and in 1384 he was raised to Duke of Ying. In 1394 Zhu Yuanzhang ordered him to die; the History of Ming gives no charge.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1394 CE