The Jingnan Campaign

Chapter 48 The Jingnan Campaign

Zhu Di's expression turned somewhat ugly. He hadn't expected Tianmu to reveal what had happened to him back then. Now, the entire Ming Dynasty knew that he had eaten pig swill. Where could he put his old face now?

Fortunately, the sky did not display images as it had before. The power of words is ultimately hollow; they cannot touch people's hearts as directly as images.

Before Zhu Di could even exhale the breath he had just caught, the image on the screen shifted, clearly indicating that an image was about to be displayed.

Now, Zhu Di's anxiety finally subsided.

Upon reaching the pigpen, it lay down inside and started rolling around, completely disregarding the filth and stench within. As it rolled, it seemed to spot something delicious, lunging forward and pounced on the trough, devouring the food.

Is Si Xintianmu's performance really that vivid?

Some wealthy young men, who had grown up in luxury, had never seen such filthy things before. They felt their stomachs churning and they dry heaved.

Throughout different dynasties, some people admired it, while others found it amusing.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the ministers in the court remained silent, only bowing their heads, praying that Emperor Ming of Song, Liu Yu, would not be angry and implicate them.

Liu Yu, however, had a grim face. Zhu Di's fate on the screen reminded him of himself. When his nephew Liu Ziye was in power, he was persecuted because of his obesity. Liu Ziye even called him "Pig King" and made him eat pig feed in the trough for several years. Finally, he could not bear it any longer and launched a coup, dismembering Liu Ziye into eight pieces and venting his anger.

Liu Yu dared to say that no one in the world could empathize with Zhu Di more than him. Both were persecuted by their nephews, both seized the throne in coups, both ate pig swill, and Liu Yu was even contemptuously called the Pig King. Zhu Di also had the surname Zhu.

If Zhu Di was able to achieve such great accomplishments and gain recognition from later generations, why couldn't he do the same?

Having understood all this, Liu Yu's expression softened, and he smiled nonchalantly, saying, "My ministers, there is no need to be alarmed. Why dwell on the past? We, as ruler and subject, must work together with one heart and one mind to pacify the north and south and achieve feats no less than those of Zhu Di!"

Liu Yu was very ambitious. He had only been on the throne for a short time and still had lofty aspirations. I wonder how much of his ambition he will remember when he gets old?

Qin Emperor Ying Zheng shook his head. Zhu Yunwen's actions were indecisive. He didn't act decisively when he should have, but killed relentlessly when he shouldn't have. Wasn't this just bullying the weak and fearing the strong?

Zhu Di was also a man of strong will and determination. He was willing to suffer such humiliation for the sake of great things. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was King Goujian of Yue, who tasted Fuchai's excrement to dispel Fuchai's suspicion. In the end, Yue destroyed Wu, and Fuchai died a death sentence.

Like him, when he was a hostage in Handan, the capital of Zhao, the people of Zhao bullied him in every way. Now, if he wanted to find them again, he would probably have to go underground.

After his three sons were released, Zhu Di had no more weaknesses. Under Yao Guangxiao's persuasion, Zhu Di made up his mind, claiming that there were treacherous officials in the court and that he had no choice but to raise an army to cleanse the court of these corrupt officials. This was known as the Jingnan Campaign.

Zhu Di, with only 800 men, quickly took control of Beiping. He also recalled his old troops and launched surprise attacks to sweep through the surrounding areas, bringing his total force to tens of thousands.

After the news reached Nanjing, Emperor Jianwen appointed veteran general Geng Bingwen as Grand General, leading an army of 300,000 to attack Yan.

Geng Bingwen? Some of the generals in the Hongwu era were disdainful. Could Geng Bingwen lead a large army into battle? The opponent was still fighting the Mongols in the north. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who had inherited Xu Da's true skills, could only let Geng Bingwen defend the city. Zhu Yunwen was really a fool to send someone who was good at defending the city to launch an attack.

Zhu Yuanzhang realized that it wasn't that Zhu Yunwen didn't want to send someone else, but that he had no one else to send. If he really wanted Zhu Yunwen to ascend the throne, the first thing he had to deal with was those Zhunxi generals.

In August of the same year, Geng Bingwen was attacked at night by Zhu Di and suffered a major defeat. Zhu Yunwen adopted Huang Zicheng's suggestion and appointed Li Jinglong, the son of the famous founding general Li Wenzhong, as the Grand General, and mobilized 500,000 troops to attack Yan.

At this time, Zhu Di's army still numbered only tens of thousands. Zhu Di led his army to relieve the siege of Yongping and handed Beiping over to his eldest son, Zhu Gaochi.

[Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army attacked Beiping, but Zhu Gaochi, with an army of 10,000, successfully blocked Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army and saved the city of Beiping.]

After relieving the siege of Yongping, Zhu Di personally went to Daming to meet with Prince Ning. He bribed Prince Ning with money and land, and obtained the Three Guards of Doyan, the most powerful Mongol cavalry under Prince Ning's command.

[Incidentally, after Zhu Di raised his army, the princes who had been arranged by Zhu Yuanzhang to serve as a series of defenses for the capital remained completely silent, and some even secretly aided Zhu Di. This shows that Zhu Yunwen's previous actions had alienated the hearts of the imperial family.]

Ten thousand against five hundred thousand? We can't believe our eyes. Many people rubbed their eyes, thinking they were seeing things. Although the siege force required is usually greater than the defending force, this is really absurd.

Was Li Jinglong simply too incompetent, or was Zhu Gaochi exceptionally capable?

After suffering a setback and seeing his morale plummet, Li Jinglong led his army back to Zhengcunba. Zhu Di, with 80,000 troops, confronted Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army. In this battle, Zhu Di led the Yan army to break through seven camps in succession, capturing and killing tens of thousands of soldiers. Li Jinglong led his army to flee to Dezhou.

Five months later, Li Jinglong launched another attack from Dezhou, leading an army of 600,000 to attack Zhu Di. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle at the Baigou River.

In this battle, Li Jinglong suffered a crushing defeat and fled. Prince Yan, Zhu Di, once again emerged victorious. From then on, Zhu Yunwen was no longer able to organize large-scale offensives, and Zhu Di gained the initiative in the war.

Ok?

Before the celestial canopy, people from all dynasties understood one thing:

Li Jinglong is too incompetent. There's no other reason. Losing a siege with 500,000 troops is barely acceptable, but you lost both of your two direct battles, one with 500,000 troops and the other with 600,000.

Of course, they also knew that the actual number of people could not be that many, but the number of troops, logistics and food supplies was several times more than Zhu Di's, that is a fact. Some people have already suspected that Li Jinglong might be a spy planted by Zhu Di. During the Hongwu period, Li Wenzhong was in a bad mood. He was good at fighting and had a good reputation. He defeated the Mongols and made them howl. How come he did not pass on any of his talents to Li Jinglong?

But this seems to be a good thing. If Li Jinglong is really good at fighting, wouldn't Zhu Di be in danger?

Given Zhu Yunwen's character, the entire Ming Dynasty might really have perished after only two generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Wenzhong, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. After all, Li Wenzhong was his nephew, and Li Jinglong had to call him "great-uncle." They were all family.

He sighed and said, "Bao'er, you need to pay more attention to that boy from Jiujiang. If he's not good at military campaigns, he can do something else."

Li Wenzhong nodded helplessly. What could he do? He could only hope that his son would live a carefree and prosperous life.

But my old friends are definitely going to tease me.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt a pang of heartache at this moment. Regardless of who won or lost the war, it was the Ming Dynasty that suffered losses, and it was the Ming soldiers who died in battle!

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