Xu Da came from Haozhou in Anhui, the same district as Zhu Yuanzhang, and followed him from his youth. Quiet and strict about discipline, he never advertised his own achievements, and he is remembered as one of the few men who kept the trust of a famously suspicious ruler to the end.
In 1367 he was given command of the northern expedition, some 250,000 strong. Some urged a direct dash for Dadu, but he chose to secure Shandong and Henan first, protecting his flank and building a supply line before turning north. That careful sequence let the Ming enter Dadu in 1368 with little loss.
He spent later years guarding the northern frontier and campaigning on the steppe, including the 1372 expedition in which he was beaten back by Köke Temür of the Northern Yuan. After his death Zhu Yuanzhang honoured him as the foremost of his founding officials.