The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398) Zhu Yuanzhang (Chinese: 朱元璋; Wade–Giles: Chu Yuan-chang), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts swept across China in the 14th century, Zhu Yuanzhang rose to command the forces that conquered China, ending the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and forcing the Mongols to retreat to the Eurasian Steppe. Zhu claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming dynasty at the beginning of 1368 and occupied the Yuan capital, Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), with his army that same year. Trusting only his family, he made his many sons powerful feudal princes along the northern marches and the Yangtze valley. Having outlived his eldest son Zhu Biao, Hongwu enthroned Zhu Biao's so