Chapter 65 Going South
Song.

"Mongol generals?" Zhao Kuangyin asked in surprise, "This Mongolia is the enemy of the Ming Dynasty in the north, right?" At this point, he couldn't help but bring up the Liao Kingdom in the north, and he was a little unhappy. However, if the Liao people are willing to offer their loyalty after the Song Dynasty destroys the Liao Kingdom, it is not impossible...

Zhao Guangyi said: "There are always risks in employing foreigners. Although they can be used, they should not be placed in high positions. Their minds are unstable and I am afraid that they will repeat the Tang Dynasty's practice."

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Emperor Taizong's eyes lit up: "I can also employ foreigners, as long as they are willing to work for the Tang Dynasty." Who would complain about having too many talents? He didn't complain anyway. "There was an old precedent in the Han Dynasty. In the past, the Marquis of Guanjun had many Huns under his command, and some of them were loyal and died for their loyalty. The Tang Dynasty should do the same."

Everyone agreed.

Wei Zheng stepped forward at the right time and said: "Your Majesty, you must be careful when employing foreigners. And now our Tang Dynasty has not yet defeated the Turks, so we must not act too hastily."

"Oh." Li Shimin was a little depressed, and then looked at Li Jing, "This time, we must show the might of our Great Tang. As a result, when more people are willing to come to our Great Tang, some Turks will also be willing to change their flags."

Li Jing replied: "I will do my best."

[On the first day of March, the Yan army arrived in Suzhou.

On the 14th, Ping An led a total of 40,000 infantry and cavalry to follow the Yan army. The Yan army set up an ambush on the Fei River, and the commander Wang Zhen came up with a new method. He stuffed grass into a bag made of silk, making it look like a bundle of silk. When Ping An's army came over, his soldiers scrambled to grab the bag. The Yan army took this opportunity to attack, but the follow-up troops did not follow up in time, and finally Wang Zhen was killed in the battle.

Zhu Di then personally led the battle and captured Ping An's general Huo Erhui, but Zhu Di did not kill Huo Erhui. Instead, he made him his personal bodyguard on night duty.

On the 23rd, Zhu Di sent General Tan Qing to attack the grain transport channel in Xuzhou and won a great victory. But on the way back, he was surrounded by the Southern Army, and Zhu Di hurried to support him. There was a man who shone brightly here, that is Huo Erhui in front. After being captured, he was trusted by Zhu Di, which moved him greatly and he wanted to make meritorious deeds to atone for his sins. So in this battle, he served as a close bodyguard, used his body to cover Zhu Di, killed dozens of Southern Army soldiers, and forced the Southern Army to flee. 】

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Many people looked at Zhu Di, especially his brothers, who looked him up and down.

"I didn't expect that Fourth Brother would be so magnanimous!" Zhu Zhen said, "But Fourth Brother, how dare you be so bold to use him like this? Aren't you afraid of the unexpected?"

Zhu Di puffed out his chest and said, "That must be because I saw that he could surrender! And there won't be any contingencies. I will definitely make corresponding preparations." But what do you mean by "didn't expect me to be so magnanimous?" What do you mean by "what was I like in your eyes before?"

Zhu Biao patted his shoulder.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di with an approving look. The fourth brother's behavior not only proved his own vision, but also showed his magnanimity, which was considered to be somewhat methodical.

Receiving his father's approving look, Zhu Di became even more arrogant.

[On the second day of April, the Yan army arrived at Suishui and prepared to build a bridge to cross the river.

On the third day of the first lunar month, Ping'an's army arrived and fought with the Yan army for the bridge. At the same time, He Fu's army also arrived in time, defeated the Yan army, and killed the Yan general Chen Wen.

Here, Zhu Di encountered the most dangerous scene since the Jingnan Campaign, and also encountered the biggest coincidence in the Jingnan Campaign. 】

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

The banquet was already halfway through, and everyone's attention was focused on the skylight.

Seeing Zhu Di defeat Li Jinglong and march southwards, Liu Bang was smiling. In addition to his admiration for Zhu Di, he was also wary of the feudal princes of the Han Dynasty. For him, feudal princes were only a temporary measure, and he and his descendants would have to reduce the power of the feudal princes in the future.

I just hope that my descendants won’t be like Emperor Jianwen!

He put aside his thoughts and said with a smile, "I wonder what this coincidence could be. Could it be that everyone chose the same place to ambush?"

The atmosphere was relaxed, and Zhang Liang also said: "Perhaps the place chosen by the King of Yan just happened to be short of troops."

After killing Chen Wen, Ping An moved to Beiban and stabbed Zhu Di with his spear, almost hitting him. This can be said to be the most thrilling scene of Zhu Di on the Jingnan battlefield. The Mongolian general Wang Qi of the Yan army jumped into the battle and led Zhu Di away.

In this battle, the Confederate Army captured the bridge, which greatly boosted their morale and swept away their previous fear and depression.

At this point, the Yan army was stationed north of the bridge, and the Southern army was stationed south of the bridge. Zhu Di once again set his sights on the Southern army's food and grass.

It has to be said that Zhu Di was quite talented in seizing food and fodder and circumventing the enemy's rear. Looking at the Jingnan Campaign, he was either circumventing the enemy's rear or cutting off food and fodder, and sometimes both, and he achieved considerable success in all of them.

Ping An still did not anticipate Zhu Di's actions this time, but Xu Huizu, who had set out from the capital earlier, arrived at this time and caught Zhu Di off guard. The battle lasted from noon to night, and in the end the Southern Army won, and the Yan Army general Li Bin was killed in the battle. 】

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

When they heard from the sky curtain that Zhu Di had circumvented and seized food and fodder many times, everyone nodded.

From the very beginning of the two-sided attack, Zhu Di led his troops to go around the rear. Later, after the Yan army took control of the northern base camp and began to attack the south, they began to fight for food and grass. Not only did he fight, but he also grasped the timing very accurately. Every time he attacked, he made the southern army run out of food and lose their fighting spirit. Similarly, he also grasped the timing of the flanking attack very well. Just look at how many times he has flanked the rear, and now Ping An still did not expect his actions.

All the generals in the hall looked at Zhu Di with increasing admiration. Prince Yan, you have the ability to be a top general!

【Zhu Di was faced with another crisis, this time the biggest crisis off the field. The morale of the Southern Army was high after winning battles, but the Yan Army suffered several defeats, which made some generals begin to waver. At the same time, due to the hot and humid climate in the south, many Yan Army soldiers from the north could not adapt to the climate and many of them fell ill, which dealt another blow to some generals.

So these generals began to hesitate whether to continue fighting, but they did not think of withdrawing their troops directly. Instead, they wanted to retreat for a while, find a suitable place to recuperate, and wait for an opportunity to act.

Frankly speaking, this idea is not wrong. However, Zhu Di's southward march was a quick war, a blitzkrieg, and he didn't even care about the cities he passed by along the way, because if he was slow or retreated, Zhu Di might face another situation, such as being surrounded by the imperial army. After all, this place is too far from Beijing.

Zhu Di was determined to move forward, and asked all the generals to express their opinions on the matter. Those who wanted to rest should go to the left, and those who did not want to rest should go to the right. As a result, most people went to the left. Zhu Di was very angry, and at this time, Zhu Neng stood up and used the example of Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty: "The first emperor of the Han Dynasty also lost nine out of ten battles, but didn't he win the world in the end? Besides, the enemy is also very tired now. As long as we cut off their food supply, we can trap them!"

At the same time, a favorable condition emerged: Zhu Yunwen called Xu Huizu back because there was a rumor in the capital that the Yan army had retreated to Beiping, and Zhu Yunwen believed it to be true.

So the Yan army regrouped and planned to continue heading south. 】

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Originally, Liu Bang wanted to express his views on the internal disagreements of the Yan army, but the next second, he became angry.

Liu Bang: "..." He rubbed his teeth and complained: "This is Zhu Neng. Does he have to use the example of Naigong? Can't he say something good about Naigong?"

Lü Zhi rolled her eyes. Zhang Liang, Xiao He and the others did not say anything, because Liu Bang did not need comfort. His mood changed and he laughed again: "Hahaha, but he is right about one thing. In the end, you still won the world. Even if you lose nine out of ten battles, so what?"

Xiao He then spoke up: "Emperor Jianwen believed the rumors and recalled his generals before the battle. This is really destroying his own great wall. But could this be the coincidence that Tianmu mentioned earlier?"

They did not discuss much about the Yan army generals' intention to retreat, because Zhu Di had successfully united the people's hearts again and no turmoil had occurred.

Tang Dynasty.

Seeing Zhu Yunwen recalling Xu Huizu on the sky curtain, Li Shimin in different time and space felt a toothache, and the people in the Qin Palace in different time and space felt the same way.

It’s no wonder they reacted this way, it’s because Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan did too many things like this in his past!

When he first led his army out of Taiyuan, he encountered setbacks in the war and wanted to withdraw his troops. It was Li Shimin who cried and dissuaded him, which prevented the Tang Dynasty from dying in its infancy. Later, before the battles against Wang Shichong and Hulao Pass, Li Yuan wanted Li Shimin to return to the court...

In the eighth year of Wude, Li Shimin was still in the palace with his father, brothers, and ministers, and could only remain calm; but in the third year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin let his emotions flow freely, filled with sighs of the past and sympathy for the outstanding generals under Emperor Jianwen.

After all, Li Yuan's repeated attempts to withdraw his troops were based on his own judgments based on actual conditions (regardless of whether they were right or wrong), while Emperor Jianwen simply believed the rumors!
Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

Seeing that the morale of Zhu Di's army was unstable and then temporarily stabilized, Zhu Yunwen recalled Xu Huizu. Everyone knew that Zhu Yunwen had missed the best and last chance!
Those who have fought in wars, or even those who know a little about wars, understand that although Zhu Di seemed to have stabilized the morale of the army and the Yan army was united again, the rift was not completely eliminated, but only temporarily made up. At this time, as long as they encounter another major defeat, the morale of the Yan army will be shaken again, and this turmoil cannot be solved by a simple conversation or reasoning. In this way, even if the Yan army does not garrison in the north and no longer go south, it will take some time before it can send troops again. In this way, Zhu Yunwen can at least take a breather for a while.

What a pity, Zhu Di shook his head in his heart, for the good nephew in a different time and space, and was very proud of himself: In this way, I won after all! No matter the final result or the next battle.

Ming Dynasty, the 16th year of Yongle.

When Zhu Zhanji, the good grandson, saw his grandfather in trouble, he was worried even though he had known about the situation from books. Zhu Di was very happy to see his grandson worried about him and said, "Good grandson, grandpa is fine. We have learned a lot. Then grandpa won a great victory..." While comforting him, he did not forget to teach Zhu Zhanji about military morale and other matters.

Qin Dynasty.

The First Emperor watched the screen and saw rumors spreading in the capital, which soon reached the ears of Emperor Jianwen. Emperor Jianwen believed this seemingly reasonable news, withdrew Xu Huizu, and also had some approval of Zhu Di in his heart.

This rumor must be related to Zhu Di. It may not be his direct instruction, but it must be spread by his people in the capital. I just don't know how many people in the capital are secretly working as spies and pawns for him. The Qin Dynasty did not shy away from this method, nor did it think that this behavior was against morality. After all, before the Qin Dynasty became the Qin Dynasty, it used rumors and slander to attack its opponents, and the effect was also very good.

However, Ying Zheng looked at the influence of Zhu Yunwen in the sky and sneered in his heart. Emperor Jianwen might have had some doubts about this statement, even if not much, but he still chose to believe it, just because he was willing to believe it, he was cowardly.

[On the 25th, He Fu and Ping An joined forces and stationed in Lingbi, intending to fight a protracted war by taking advantage of the gullies in the terrain. At the same time, Ping An also sent a total of 60,000 infantry and cavalry to transport food and grass. But this still failed to stop Zhu Di, a master of collecting food and grass.

On the 27th, Zhu Di led his elite troops to attack the grain and grass team horizontally, cutting 60,000 people in half; He Fu quickly pulled out all the troops in the camp to reinforce, killed several thousand Yan soldiers and beat back Zhu Di, but stepped into Zhu Gaoxu's ambush. In addition, Zhu Di attacked back and He Fu was defeated.

The result of this battle was that the Southern Army was short of food. What to do? No choice but to find a place with food and grass to break out!
So everyone agreed on a secret code for the breakout: three cannon shots.

On the 29th, the Yan army launched a frontal attack on the Lingbi garrison. The artillery led the charge - firing three rounds in a row!
Hey~ What a coincidence, isn’t this~]

Ming Dynasty, the 13th year of Hongwu.

The generals looked at each other in bewilderment, and the princes and grandchildren looked Zhu Di up and down in amazement. Everyone's meaning was very clear: You are so lucky!

Seeing that your internal morale was unstable and you needed a victory, you had a big victory - yes, a big victory. In this case, facing the Confederate Army who thought it was a breakout order, it would be a big victory. And how did you get a big victory? Hey, you just happened to fire three cannons at the beginning of the attack, and the Confederate Army's breakout signal just matched it - if this is not good luck, what is it? Could it be that the Confederate Army had your traitor and told you that they wanted to break out and the breakout signal?
You are really good!
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhu Di: Could it be that this fourth son of his family really has some mysterious luck? He has always led the charge in the battle without any serious injuries, and this time he just happened to match the opponent's secret signal...

Fu Youde and others also looked at Zhu Di with great interest, their eyes eager: It would be great if we could bring the Prince of Yan with us in the future battles! Maybe the Prince of Yan is really lucky, wouldn’t it be great for us? Even if we don’t mention the luck, the Prince of Yan’s own fighting skills are worth it! Oh, and his ability to incite traitors to revolt...

But why can he come up with so many traitors? Can I get a few too? The generals fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)