Hongwu Emperor

Zhu Yuanzhang joins Guo Zixing's Red Turban force at Haozhou

The future emperor's first reception by the rebels was arrest at the city gate — and by his own later account, the guards meant to kill him.

The first day of the intercalary third month

Ming chronological sources place Zhu Yuanzhang's entry into rebel-held Haozhou on the first day of the intercalary third lunar month of 1352, conventionally converted to 15 April. April is secure; the precise day is a conversion, not a date any source wrote in Gregorian form.

Haozhou was a walled city in the Huai River region of modern Anhui, held by the Red Turban commander Guo Zixing. The former Buddhist novice entered Guo's service there as an ordinary soldier.

He was 23 in the Western-age reckoning of one scholarly biography, and he commanded nobody.

Seized at the entrance

In Zhu's later autobiographical account, guards took hold of him at the city entrance and intended to kill him. Guo Zixing intervened and obtained his release.

Those writings were composed after Zhu became emperor and present the decision as providential, so their dramatic details call for source criticism.

Why he walked into a rebel city

Guo's rebels had seized Haozhou, and the fighting destroyed Huangjue Temple, the monastery that had been Zhu's refuge. A friend's letter urged him to join — traditionally identified as Tang He, a childhood acquaintance already serving the rebels, though that identification is inferred from later evidence.

The letter was itself a danger. Zhu's account says he feared both Yuan punishment and rebel violence, and that a divination at the temple settled it: staying and fleeing were both inauspicious.

Even who burned Huangjue Temple is contested — the early Ming Veritable Records say Guo's own rebel troops did it, while later narratives blame Yuan or Mongol defenders.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. Conventionally dated here; the research places it at 1352-04-15.

What the sources leave uncertain

April 1352 is secure, while 15 April is a conventional conversion from the Chinese lunar date rather than a date written in Gregorian form by the sources.
Accounts disagree about who burned Huangjue Temple: the early Ming Veritable Records say Guo’s rebel troops did it, while later narratives blame Yuan or Mongol defenders.
Zhu’s autobiographical writings were composed after he became emperor and present his decision as providential; their dramatic details require source criticism.
Tang He’s identification as the writer of the invitation letter is traditional and inferred from later evidence.