Zhou (Zhang Shicheng's kingdom)

Since the 1340s, the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty began to face numerous crises. The Yellow River flooded constantly, and other natural disasters also occurred. At the same time, the Yuan dynasty required considerable military expenditure to maintain its vast empire. This was solved mostly through additional taxation that fell mainly on the Han Chinese population which constituted the lowest two castes in the four castes of the Yuan dynasty. From this chaos, leaders arose from many places throughout the empire. Zhang Shicheng, who was a salt shipper from Jiangsu province rebelled against the Yuan dynasty in 1353. Zhang with his brother soon conquered Taizhou, Xinghua and Gaoyou in 1353.

In 1354 Zhang established Kingdom of Dazhou and declared himself as king with era name Chengwang (诚王). Soon afterward, on the same year Zhang controlled Yangzhou, an important center of salt trade on the Grand Canal (China), just north of the Yangtze. In 1356 Zhang seized Suzhou, the main hub of transportation and commerce of Jiangnan (the "South of the Lower Yangtze" region), and made the city his capital. Zhang appointed his brother Zhang Shixin as prime minister and Zhang Shide as General commander. Many ethnic Han Yuan generals submitted to Zhang after he had established the Kingdom of Dazhou.

A cash coin issued by the Kingdom of Dazhou.

Kingdom of Dazhou was one of the country's main granaries and also produced over half of all salt in China. Dazhou became the most prosperous kingdom compared to its rivals such as the Yuan, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang. Zhang's regime was mostly patterned on the Yuan dynasty model, but made use of some of the earlier traditional Chinese terminology as well.

By 1366, Zhu had conquered most of the various rebel kingdoms in the Yangtze region, and in December his army reached Suzhou, capturing it on October 1, 1367, after a 10-month siege.