Ming conquest of Yunnan

The Ming conquest of Yunnan was the final phase in the Chinese Ming dynasty expulsion of Mongol Yuan dynasty rule from China in the 1380s.

War

Muslim troops fought in both the Chinese Ming army and the Yuan Mongol army.

300,000 Han Chinese and Hui Muslim troops were dispatched to crush the Yuan remnants in Yunnan in 1381.

The Ming Chinese Muslim General Fu Youde led the attack on the Mongol and Yuan Muslim forces. Also fighting on the Ming side were Muslim Generals Mu Ying and Lan Yu, who led Ming loyalist Muslim troops against Yuan loyalist Muslims.^[1]

The Prince of Liang, Basalawarmi committed suicide on January 6, 1382, as the Ming Dynasty Muslim troops overwhelmed the Yuan Mongol and Muslim forces. The Chinese Muslim troops loyal to the Ming dynasty then flooded Yunnan and colonized it. Mu Ying and his Muslim troops were given hereditary status as military garrisons of the Ming Dynasty, and remained in the province.^[2]

The Ming Muslim Generals Lan Yu and Fu Youde castrated 380 captured Mongol and Muslim captives after the war.^[3] This led to many of them becoming eunuchs and serving the Ming Emperor.^[4] One of the eunuchs was Zheng He.^[5]

Han Chinese soldiers also crushed the rebellion. The Han then married Han, Miao, and Yao women, their descendants are called "Tunbao", in contrast to newer Han Chinese colonists who moved to Yunnan in later centuries. The Tunbao still live in Yunnan today.^[6]

References