I was pulling trees in Daming, and Lao Zhu begged me to come out of retirement

Chapter 124 Unification of the South, Battle of Pingjiang!

Chen Youliang's defeat caused widespread panic in the Yuan Dynasty and many separatist forces.

The imperial army that had been besieging Zhengzhou and Qingdao withdrew from the city overnight, without even having time to take away many daily necessities.

However, Zhu Wenzhen and Deng Yu, who were in charge of defending the city, seemed to have anticipated this situation and did not show any intention of pursuing.

Zhang Shicheng even sent people to deliver a large amount of gold, silver and supplies overnight to seek peace, hoping that the two sides could put aside their hostility and turn hostility into friendship.

However, for Zhang Shicheng, who had no other advantages except money, he was just a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

In addition, during this period, the living standards of the people of the Ming Empire had spread throughout China through word of mouth among merchants, which led to the people who were originally very grateful to Zhang Shicheng to begin to complain constantly.

People are most afraid of comparison.
Originally, compared with the people under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, they lived a life like gods.
But compared with the people of the Ming Empire, they were living in dire straits.

It is said that the people can be made to follow a path but cannot be made to understand it.
It does not simply fool people, but explains human nature.

Human nature is greedy.
Not everyone can be as morally noble as a saint. This is a deep-seated gene that is beneficial to the continuation of the species and has been preserved by humans after countless years of struggling to survive in nature.

Therefore, when a country with a more complete system and a higher quality of life appeared in front of this group of people who were already able to live a stable life, they began to question why Zhang Shicheng did not surrender to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang had Han Shantong, an orphan of the Song Dynasty, as his co-king, and he also strongly supported other vassal kings to return to China at any time.

As a result, people's hearts began to waver, and a large number of rumors unfavorable to Zhang Shicheng spread among the lower classes of the people.

In the spring of 1362,

After Zhu Yuanzhang integrated Chen Youliang's surrendered soldiers, he launched a blitzkrieg against Zhang Shicheng.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had an army of 150 million.

There is only a difference of 200,000 or 300,000 troops between them and the imperial court that controls the whole country. This number of people is nothing more than the control of several provinces.

This also means that Zhu Yuanzhang at this time already had the military strength to replace the Yuan Dynasty and control China.

Zhu Yuanzhang dispatched 50 troops to encircle and suppress the prefectures and counties under Zhang Shicheng.
Jiangyin, Huzhou, Hangzhou and other outer cities controlled by Zhang Shicheng fell quickly without any resistance.

This time, the Ming army finally took out the secret weapon that they used to capture Yingtian overnight.

The alloy pickaxe that dug the city wall as if it were tofu made all obstacles a joke.

Whenever they encountered a city, the shield soldiers would clear the way and the miners would dig the wall. Within five minutes, a large hole several meters square would be broken into the wall.

If you encounter strong resistance,

Just put a TNT in it and light it. After 5 minutes, as long as the city wall is no longer than ten meters, it will basically become ruins.

Then a group of soldiers wearing MC leather armor and iron armor directly crushed the defenders on the city wall.

Up to this point, the armaments of the Ming army and the current army have reached the level of dimensionality reduction attack.

Even in a siege battle, the casualty ratio would not exceed 1:1.

In addition, the Ming army was well-known for its benevolence and righteousness. Except for a few large cities, the rest of the states and counties almost fled.

Within three months, the entire southern territory was under the control of the Ming Empire.

An army of 500,000 gathered in Pingjiang (Suzhou) and surrounded Zhang Shicheng's base camp.

Zhu Yuanzhang's evaluation of Zhang Shicheng was just two words: small-minded.

And Zhang Shicheng lived up to the evaluation of these two words.
Over the years, others have been desperately trying to expand their territory and recruit troops.
Only Zhang Shicheng has been doing one thing.

That is to build the city, and build the city continuously.

Pingjiang City is divided into eight gates: Fengmen, Huqiumen, Loumen, Xumen, Panmen, Ximen and Beimen.

The walls of each gate were extremely solid, made of large stone strips mixed with glutinous rice. There were crossbow positions on the city walls, which were giant crossbows. Anyone who approached the city walls would be shot into a hedgehog in an instant. A large amount of food was also stored in the city. As the controller of a land of fish and rice, he would be unworthy of the title of a local tyrant if he did not store food for a large army to eat for several years.

Although Zhang Shicheng was a man without ambition, as one of the prides of the late Yuan Dynasty, his will should not be underestimated.

In history, Gaoyou was able to resist the attack of a million Yuan Dynasty troops for three months.

This is even more outrageous than the defense of Hongdu by Zhu Wenzhen, the fifth most famous general of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Shicheng knew clearly that he had no way to retreat.

His brothers Zhang Shide, Zhang Shixin and Zhang Shiyi all died in the battle to defend the city against the Ming army, and he had completely given up the idea of ​​surrendering.

There are always some people who regard certain things as more important than life, especially in ancient times when Confucianism was dominant.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Zhang Shiming to the city to persuade them to surrender.

Historically, Zhang Shiming was a counselor sent by Zhu Wenzhen to seek help from Zhu Yuanzhang during the Battle of Hongdu.

After being captured by Chen Youliang, he pretended to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender, and loudly told Zhu Wenzhen the news that Zhu Yuanzhang would not come to his aid, and was thus brutally killed.

If it weren't for Zhang Ziming, Zhu Wenzhen and others would not have had the slightest hope of holding on until Zhu Yuanzhang's arrival.

Now that there is no defense of Hongdu, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally promoted this kind of talented person who was willing to sacrifice his life for justice to become his confidant.

This time, it was Zhang Ziming who volunteered to persuade the enemy to surrender.

Today, Zhu Yuanzhang's ideology is far superior to that of the landlord class in history.

He no longer took the throne of the emperor seriously.
Compared with his immortality, the emperor is nothing.

Zhang Shicheng looked at Zhang Ziming who came to the city alone with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

"Who are you!"

Zhang Ziming has a simple and honest appearance, and he looks rather dull, but that's just his appearance.

He clasped his hands and shouted loudly from the foot of the city:

"I have an important matter to discuss with the King of Wu by order of His Majesty!"

Zhang Shicheng sneered:
"Zhu Yuanzhang killed my brother, is he trying to persuade me to surrender now?"

Zhang Shiming shook his head and said:
"No, I just want to exchange some information with King Wu. Can we talk about it in the city?"

Zhang Shicheng narrowed his eyes, waved his hand, and ordered the soldiers to lower a bamboo basket and pull Zhang Ziming onto the city wall.

He looked at Zhang Ziming calmly and said:

"Speak now. What's the matter? If you want to persuade me to surrender, then there's no need to say it. The hatred of killing my brother is irreconcilable. If you can't give me a clear answer, then you don't have to go back."

Zhang Ziming cupped his hands and said seriously:

"It's definitely not to persuade you to surrender, but just to make a few things clear to you, King Wu."

"Your Majesty and you both came from a poor family. He admires your generosity. Your Majesty did not establish the empire for himself, a poor man, but to save the lower-class people in the world from dire straits."

"The same is true for the city you control. Therefore, Your Majesty admires King Wu very much and hopes that King Wu can join this great cause of liberating the people and jointly create a world of great harmony."

"Of course this is just your Majesty's wishful suggestion. King Wu, you don't have to take it to heart."

"And the first point I want to make is that no matter who wins or loses this battle, Your Majesty must ensure that your descendants will continue and will not be implicated in this battle."

Zhang Shicheng's pupils shrank and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)