Ping An

Biography

Origins and the Inheritance of His Post

Ping An was a native of Chu, with the childhood name Bao'er. His father Ping Ding had followed Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming founder, from the first rising, rising to be assistant commander of the Jining guard, and died in battle when he took part with Chang Yuchun in the capture of the Yuan capital, Dadu. Ping An was at first a foster son of the founder and was brave and skilled in war; the History of Ming says he could lift several hundred catties. He inherited his father's post as assistant commander of the Jining guard, was afterwards transferred to be commander of Miyun, and advanced to assistant commissioner of the right army. In early years he had gone out beyond the frontier with Zhu Di, whence Zhu Di's later remark that he had gone out with him in former years and knew his way of war.

The Vanguard of the Southern Army in the Jingnan Campaign

In the seventh month of the first year of Jianwen, 1399, the court attacked Yan and Ping An went with the army as a subordinate commander. After Geng Bingwen was defeated by the Yan forces, the Duke of Cao, Li Jinglong, took over the command and made Ping An his vanguard. In the fourth month of the second year of Jianwen, 1400, the southern army of six hundred thousand was drawn up on the Bai River, and Zhu Di led his officers and men into the array himself, sending a hundred or so horsemen ahead in a feigned retreat to shake Ping An's ranks and then attacking while they were disordered, so that Ping An was beaten back; and on the next day they fought again, and Ping An defeated the Yan commanders Fang Kuan and Chen Heng, so that the Prince of Yan, seeing matters going hard, fought in person through arrows and stones until his horse was wounded, his arrows spent and his sword broken past use, and he was forced to climb a dyke and wave his whip as if summoning the horsemen behind him to confuse the enemy, and was saved only when Gao Xu brought up relief. The History of Ming records that of all the commanders Ping An fought hardest, and that the prince was nearly reached by his lance.

In the third year of Jianwen, 1401, when the Yan army had defeated Sheng Yong at Jiahe and turned back to fight Ping An at Shanjia bridge, Ping An attacked hard and heavily defeated them, taking their commander Xue Lu, who escaped soon after; and fighting again at the Hutuo river he defeated them once more. In the midst of the array Ping An had a wooden tower bound together several fathoms high, and in the heat of battle would climb it to look out and shoot the Yan troops with strong crossbows, killing very many; but in the fighting a great wind suddenly rose, tearing up houses and trees with a noise like thunder, and when the commanders Deng Jian and Chen Peng and others were swallowed up in the enemy's ranks Ping An was beaten back to Zhending. Thereafter, when the Yan troops besieged Jinan, Ping An camped at Shanjia bridge, plotted to take the Yan supply barges on the Yu river, and chose five thousand good swimmers to cross the river and threaten Dezhou, so that the siege of Jinan was raised, and he and Wu Jie advanced to camp at Dingzhou. In the same year Wu Jie and Ping An led their troops from Zhending to join Sheng Yong, and had gone less than eighty li when they heard of his defeat and turned back; and the Prince of Yan, luring them out by a stratagem, was attacked by them and met them at Gaocheng, where a great wind tore up the trees and Wu Jie and Ping An were defeated and pursued to the walls of Zhending. A month later the Yan army came out at Daming, and Ping An with Sheng Yong and Wu Jie divided their forces to cut the Yan supply line, which troubled the Prince of Yan greatly, so that he sent the commander Wu Sheng to memorialise the court asking that Ping An and the others be withdrawn and the fighting stopped, as a device to gain time; but the Jianwen emperor would not allow it and had Wu Sheng thrown into the imperial prison.

The Defeat at Lingbi and His Capture

In the fourth year of Jianwen, 1402, when the Yan army came south again, Ping An followed it with forty thousand horsemen, and Zhu Di set an ambush at the Fei river; the two sides fought, and Ping An killed the Yan commander Wang Zhen and forced Zhu Di to take the field in person. On the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month He Fu moved to Lingbi and secured himself with deep ditches and high ramparts, but his grain was cut off by the Yan troops and could not reach him, so that Ping An had to divide his forces and give battle with sixty thousand men, only to be intercepted by Zhu Di's picked horsemen, while He Fu, coming out of the city to his aid, was likewise beaten; and Ping An and He Fu, after taking counsel, resolved to move to the Huai river to seek grain, and gave orders that on hearing three cannon shots they should set out that night. On the twenty-ninth the Yan army suddenly pressed on Lingbi and fired three cannon, and the southern troops, taking it for the signal to march, rushed to the camp gates, so that the camp fell into confusion and the Yan army attacked, utterly defeating the southern army; He Fu fled, and Ping An with Chen Hui, Ma Pu, Xu Zhen, Sun Cheng and thirty-three others were taken, and more than a hundred and fifty civil officials and eunuchs with the army were taken as well. After Ping An was taken, Zhu Di said with a sigh that of all the warriors the Ming founder had raised only Ping An remained; and when the Yan officers and men asked leave to kill him, Zhu Di, admiring his courage and ability, had picked soldiers escort him to Beiping and ordered the heir apparent to treat him well.

The Yongle Years and His Death

After Zhu Di took the throne he made Ping An commander of Beiping, and soon advanced him to assistant commissioner of the rear military commission. In the third month of the seventh year of Yongle, 1409, when the Yongle emperor toured Beiping and, going through the memorials of promotion and dismissal, saw Ping An's name, he said to those about him, "Is Ping Bao'er still alive?" and Ping An, learning of it, took his own life as became him; after his death the Yongle emperor ordered that the stipend of his post as commander be passed to his son.

Major Activities

Repeated Defeats of the Yan Army

Ping An was the southern commander best able to stand against the Prince of Yan in the Jingnan campaign. At the Bai river he fought in the front rank, so that the prince's horse was wounded and his sword broken and he was nearly reached by Ping An's lance; at Shanjia bridge he attacked hard and heavily defeated the Yan army, taking their commander Xue Lu; and at the Hutuo river he defeated them again, building a wooden tower in the array from which he shot the enemy with strong crossbows, killing very many. His biography in the History of Ming says that he long held Zhending and repeatedly defeated the Yan troops, killing several of their best commanders, so that none of them dared face him.

Cutting the Supply Line and Raising the Siege

When the Yan troops besieged Jinan, Ping An camped at Shanjia bridge, sent troops to the Yu river to seize the Yan supply barges and chose five thousand good swimmers to cross and threaten Dezhou, so that the siege was raised. Afterwards he with Sheng Yong and Wu Jie divided their forces to cut the Yan supply line, and the Prince of Yan sent an envoy to the court asking that they be withdrawn as a means of gaining time. In the fourth year of Jianwen he again followed the Yan army south with forty thousand horsemen and killed the Yan commander Wang Zhen at the Fei river.

Fierce Clash at Xiaohe and Near-Lancing of Zhu Di

During the engagement at Xiaohe in the fourth month of 1402, Ping An clashed directly with the main Yan host in a fierce standoff. Stationed at the southern end of the bridge while Zhu Di held the northern bank, Ping An initiated a troop realignment and unexpectedly encountered Yan formations at the Northern Slope. Driving his cavalry forward with personal ferocity, Ping An nearly unhorsed and impaled Zhu Di with his lance, forcing the Yan sovereign to retreat into defensive cover. In the ensuing clash, Ping An's forces eliminated key Yan commanders including Wang Zhen, demonstrating extraordinary tactical shock capability that unsettled the veteran Yan high command.

Raid on Beiping and Strategic Diversion

In the seventh month of 1401, perceiving that Zhu Di's principal armies had advanced deep into Shandong and Daming, Ping An executed a daring mobile counter-thrust from Zhending. Leading ten thousand elite cavalry on a forced march, he advanced to within fifty li of the walls of Beiping, threatening the strategic rear of the rebellion. The garrison panicked, prompting Zhu Di to urgently dispatch cavalry forces under Liu Jiang on a breakneck rescue march. Although Ping An eventually withdrew following intense fighting, his aggressive diversion disrupted Yan strategic momentum and forced them to maintain costly rear-area garrisons.

Capture and Death

At Lingbi the southern army fell into confusion when three cannon shots were mistaken for the signal to march, and Ping An was taken with thirty-seven others, after which the southern resistance in the campaign collapsed. Spared by the Prince of Yan for his courage, he was employed by him, and in the seventh year of Yongle he took his own life because of the emperor's words, "Is Ping Bao'er still alive?" The History of Ming both praises him as brave and skilled in war and able to lift several hundred catties, and says that in the battles of Dongchang and Xiaohe, Sheng Yong and Ping An repeatedly checked the Yan army and killed its best commanders, their merit being very great, and also criticises him that, being taken in defeat, he could not bring himself to die for honour and lived on in concealment.

Personal Relations

• Father: Ping Ding (Assistant Commander of Jining Guard, died at Dadu)
• Adoptive Father: Emperor Taizu of Ming (Zhu Yuanzhang)
• Son: Name unrecorded (inherited military rank)
• Sovereigns: Emperor Taizu, Emperor Jianwen, Emperor Yongle
• Comrades-in-Arms: Sheng Yong, He Fu, Geng Bingwen, Li Jinglong, Tie Xuan
• Battlefield Rivals: Zhu Di (Emperor Yongle), Zhang Yu, Chen Heng, Tan Yuan, Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu

Historical Assessment

• History of Ming, juan 144, biographies 32: "Ping An long held Zhending and repeatedly defeated the Yan troops, killing several of their best commanders, and none of the Yan commanders dared face him." Also: "Brave and skilled in war, able to lift several hundred catties." Also: "In the battles of Dongchang and Xiaohe, Sheng Yong and Ping An repeatedly checked the Yan armies and killed their best commanders, merit very great; but being taken in defeat, he could not bring himself to die for honour and lived on in concealment."
• Zhu Di, Emperor Chengzu of Ming: "Ping An is but a boy; in former years he went out with me and knows my way of war." (as recorded in the History of Ming)