First Prince of Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 15 The Battle of Hongdu

   Then, Chen Youliang asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Yingtian from east to west, and divide Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally. When Yingtian was shocked, Zhu Yuanzhang had to call all the generals to discuss countermeasures, and there were different opinions for a while.

   Only Liu Ji remained silent, so Zhu Yuanzhang asked for his opinion. Liu Ji believed that the most dangerous enemy today is Chen Youliang, and he must concentrate his efforts to eliminate him.

Although Chen Youliang is powerful, he killed the emperor to stand on his own feet, the people were eccentric, and the people were exhausted. Therefore, it is not difficult to defeat them. As long as they wait for them to go deep, and then attack them with ambushes, it is not difficult to win. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy into deep , to manufacture warplanes.

  Zhu Yuanzhang's general Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang were old friends, so he wrote a letter and sent someone to Chen Youliang's camp, asking Chen to attack Yingtian, and said he was willing to respond at Jiangdong Bridge.

On the morning of June 23, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to Jiangdong Bridge in the outskirts of Yingtian, only to find that the bridge was a stone bridge instead of a wooden one. Chen Youliang was defeated.

  Zhu Yuanzhang took Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youliang was defeated and fled to Jiujiang. In August of the following year, he captured Anqing, so Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to take Chen Youliang's hometown Jiangzhou, Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.

  At this time, the Central Plains Red Scarf Army split and its strength weakened. In February 23rd, Zhang Shicheng took advantage of the danger and sent his general Lu Zhen to attack Anfeng. Liu Futong asked Zhu Yuanzhang for help. Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to Anfeng, rescued Xiaoming King Han Liner and others, and arranged them to live in Chuzhou. When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue Xiaoming King, Chen Youliang believed that the time had come for a counterattack, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu.

   In the twenty-third year of Zhengzheng, Chen Youliang commanded a navy of 600,000 and hundreds of giant ships to conquer Wu in the east. The Han army came overwhelmingly. The whole court was shocked. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was busy fighting Zhang Shicheng of the Eastern Wu and had no time to look around. Even if he sent his troops to the west to help, with Zhu Yuanzhang's power, it would be difficult to compete with the Han army.

  Therefore, in order to buy more time for war preparation, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to Hongdu to defend Hongdu to the death and wait for the army to come to help!

  After receiving this order, Zhu Wenzheng, the guard general of Hongdu, seemed to have become a different person at this time, who usually spends his time drinking and drinking while not doing his job.

  He quickly convened an emergency military meeting. As a supreme officer, he said to every soldier in a firm tone: "The city is dead and dead, and we will defend Hongdu City to the death!"

  He immediately allocated troops to defend the gates of the city, and then Zhu Wenzheng and the Nanchang defenders would face an army of 600,000—one of the largest and most powerful armies in the world at that time!

  The battle to defend Hongdu began. Under the unified command of Chen Youliang, the 600,000 Han troops launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on Hongdu City. The defenders on the tower fought desperately with the enemy! They firmly believe that reinforcements will come, and they firmly believe that they can hold the city.

  In order to encourage the soldiers, Zhu Wenzheng personally led his own soldiers, climbed to the tower, stood together with his comrades, and used his own flesh and blood to resist the fierce attacks of 600,000 enemy troops!

  Guarding Hongdu together with Zhu Wenzheng was also Deng Yu, who was called "the sixth general in the world" by Mingyue at that time. He was a general who was good at using firearms.

The enemy once broke through the city wall and broke into the city. Zhu Wenzheng sent Deng Yu to lead the troops to defend against the enemy. It's so big, it's scary.

  Under the strong counterattack of the Hongdu defenders, the Han army could only retreat outside the city, and Zhu Wen was busy sending people to repair the city wall.

  Because Hongdu soldiers fought hard to defend, Chen Youliang's 600,000 troops besieged for 85 days and lasted for three months, but failed to break through Hongdu City.

  Chen Youliang couldn't help sighing: "Zhu Yuanzhang's powerful generals are like a cloud, and there are military geniuses like Zhu Wenzheng. If he can serve me, he will be like a tiger with wings!"

  Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang prepared everything, commanded an army of 200,000, sailed with thousands of sails, and marched mightily towards Hongdu.

  This battle is one of the most famous city defense battles in Chinese history, and it is also a classic case of China’s military victory with less, which had a huge impact on the political situation at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

The three-month defense of Hongdu enabled Zhu Wenzheng to give full play to his military talent and commanding ability, which was not inferior to that of any famous general at the time. Will be star-studded on the stage of mythology.

The strategic significance of Hongdu is extremely important. This war determined Zhu Yuanzhang's overlord career. Chen Youliang's Han army wasted a lot in this battle, and its power was greatly reduced, which laid a firm foundation for the final complete annihilation by Zhu Yuanzhang in Poyang Lake. The Battle of the Capital changed the entire situation in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties.

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  (end of this chapter)