Then, Chen Youliang asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Yingtian from east to west and divide Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally, causing a great earthquake in Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to summon the generals to discuss countermeasures, and everyone had different opinions.
Only Liu Ji remained silent, so Zhu Yuanzhang asked for his opinion. Liu Ji believed that the most dangerous enemy today was Chen Youliang, and he must concentrate his efforts to eliminate him.
Although Chen Youliang was powerful, he killed the king and established himself, his tribe was alienated, and the people were exhausted, so it was not difficult to defeat them. As long as they waited for them to penetrate deep and then ambush them, it would not be difficult to win. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy deep and create fighter planes.
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 serve as an internal response at Jiangdong Bridge.
On the morning of June 23, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to Jiangdong Bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian, only to find that the bridge was a stone bridge instead of a wooden bridge, and he knew he had been deceived. But it was too late, Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush troops rose up to attack, and Chen Youliang was defeated.
Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youliang fled to Jiujiang and captured Anqing in August of the next year. So Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to Chen Youliang's hometown of Jiangzhou. Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.
At this time, the Central Plains Red Turban Army split and its strength weakened. In February of the 23rd year of Zhizheng (1363), 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 Xiao Ming Wang Han Lin'er and others, and arranged for them to live in Chuzhou. When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue King Xiao Ming, Chen Youliang believed that the time had come for a counterattack, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu.
In the 23rd year of Zhizheng (1363 AD), Chen Youliang commanded 600,000 naval troops 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 Soochow and had no time to look west. Even if he sent troops to the west to help, it would be difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to compete with the Han army with his power.
Therefore, in order to gain more time to prepare for war, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to Hongdu: defend Hongdu to the death and wait for the army to come for reinforcements!
After receiving this order, Zhu Wenzheng, the general of Hongdu, spent his days drinking and drinking. He seemed to have become a different person at this time when he was not doing his job properly.
He quickly convened an emergency military meeting, and as the highest officer, he said to every soldier in a firm tone: "Whether the city dies, we will defend Hongdu City to the death!"
He immediately allocated troops to defend various city gates. Next, Zhu Wenzheng and the Nanchang defenders would face a 600,000-strong army - one of the largest and most powerful armies in the world at the time!
The defense battle of Hongdu began. Six hundred thousand Han troops, under the unified command of Chen Youliang, launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on Hongdu City. The defenders on the city towers fought a desperate battle with the enemy! They firmly believed that reinforcements would arrive, and they believed that they could hold the city.
In order to encourage the soldiers, Zhu Wenzheng personally led his own soldiers, climbed to the city tower, stood with his comrades, and used his sword and his own flesh and blood to resist the fierce attacks of 600,000 enemy troops!
Guarding Hongdu with Zhu Wenzheng was Deng Yu, who was called "the sixth general in the world" by Mingyue that year. Deng Yu was a general who was good at using firearms.
The enemy army once broke through the city wall and broke into the city. Zhu Wenzheng sent Deng Yu to lead his troops to resist the enemy. Deng Yu led his troops with muskets to shoot at the enemy troops who entered the city in turn. The Han troops fell one after another. The remaining Han troops saw the lethality of firearms. So big and very scary.
Under the strong counterattack of the Hongdu defenders, the Han army had no choice but to withdraw from the city. Zhu Wen was busy sending people to repair the city wall.
Due to the fierce defense of Hongdu soldiers, Chen Youliang's 600,000-strong army besieged Hongdu City for 85 days, which lasted for three months, but failed to break through Hongdu City.
Chen Youliang couldn't help but sigh: "Zhu Yuanzhang has so many powerful generals, but there are also military wizards like Zhu Wenzheng. If he can serve me, he will be even more powerful!"
In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang prepared everything and led an army of 200,000 people with thousands of sails flying towards Hongdu.
This battle is one of the most famous city defense battles in Chinese history. It is also a classic case of China's military defeating more with less. It had a huge impact on the political structure of the late Yuan Dynasty.
This three-month-long defense battle for Hongdu enabled Zhu Wenzheng to give full play to his military talent and commanding ability that were no less than any famous general of his generation. It created the pinnacle of Zhu Wenzheng's life and pushed him onto the mythical stage where the stars of the generals at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty were shining brightly.
The strategic significance of Hongdu is extremely important. This war determined Zhu Yuanzhang's overlord career. Chen Youliang's Han army was greatly exhausted and weakened in this battle, laying a firm foundation for its final annihilation by Zhu Yuanzhang at Poyang Lake. Hongdu The Battle of Du changed the entire situation at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
………
