Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

At this time, Zhu Yunwen had already checked that there were no weapons on him, and Jiang Xinghuo had put on armor and carried a knife for safety when he landed on the island before. Therefore, it was just the two of them in this huge vegetable garden, even those from the White Lotus Sect The dead soldiers were only scattered around far away.

"hatred?"

"What do I hate about Emperor Taizu Gao? The mountains and rivers are dying, but China is here, and the sun and moon have reopened the Great Song Dynasty! Emperor Taizu Gao is the one who drove the Tartars out of China, but it's you."

Jiang Xinghuo turned around, snorted coldly, and said without hesitation: "If you were my grandson, I would definitely hang you in the yard and whip you every day."

Zhu Yunwen smiled bitterly and asked: "Being born in an emperor's family and raised in the hands of a woman, what can you do?"

The conversation between the former emperor and the current imperial advisor was unlikely to go together from the beginning.

"These are not your excuses."

Jiang Xinghuo had never seen with his own eyes what Zhu Yunwen was like when he was emperor, but judging from his various not-so-smart actions, Zhu Yunwen's role as emperor was seriously inadequate.

Zhu Yunwen, holding the stack of "Ming Pao" in his hand, shook his head in protest. He just asked slowly and calmly: "If you were me, what would you do?"

As he spoke, Zhu Yunwen seemed to be lost in memories.

"I was born in the palace. My parents told me to listen to my husband and respect those who are knowledgeable. Only these people are loyal ministers of the country."

"And these gentlemen who taught me were all carefully selected by the emperor. They are all very knowledgeable people. These gentlemen told me that the emperor's administration was too strict and the people were complaining. Therefore, the sentences should be lenient and the prison should be reduced. Raise taxes and cut redundant officials and personnel.”

As Zhu Yunwen recalled, he frowned. He seemed not to know what he was doing wrong by listening to what his parents, Grandpa Huang, and his husband said.

"When I become emperor, I will give the elderly people rice, meat, cloth, silk and other materials, order the government to adopt widowers, widowers, lonely people and the disabled, focus on agriculture and mulberry trees, build schools, inspect officials, provide relief to victims of disasters, and exempt from taxes. I have done these things. Wrong?"

Zhu Yunwen looked at Jiang Xinghuo. He didn't seem to be questioning, but he was really confused.

Yeah, did he do something wrong?

Zhu Yunwen seemed to realize something and blurted out: "Or is it wrong to cut down the vassal clan?"

"No, there is nothing wrong with reducing the vassal status."

Zhu Yunwen immediately affirmed himself.

"Back then, the emperor told me that he would entrust the kings with the task of defending against the barbarians, so that the border would be stable and I would have peace. I asked back then, 'If the barbarians are not stable, let the kings defend themselves, but if the kings are uneasy, Who is going to resist?' Grandpa Huang remained silent on this question, and came to ask me for my opinion. I said, 'We should embrace it with virtue and control it with etiquette. "If he goes too far, he will raise an army to attack him, these are approved by the emperor."

Zhu Yunwen remembered this passage very clearly. Obviously in Zhu Yunwen's heart, Zhu Yuanzhang's approval was very weighty.

"Moreover, even if King Yan usurps the throne, won't he still want to cut down the vassal? With his cruelty and narrow-mindedness, I am afraid that he will cut down the vassal even more harshly than me, and leave no room for it."

"If I am really wrong, it is because I was born in an emperor's family, raised in the hands of women, do not understand military affairs, have no experience in the military, and mistakenly believed in an incompetent general like Li Jinglong, which caused the country to overthrow. The king defeated the bandits."

At this point, by linking the first sentence with the last sentence, Zhu Yunwen's logic has closed the loop.

This is obviously the answer Zhu Yunwen gave after thinking about "why he failed" for a long time.

Zhu Yunwen concluded that he was right to cut down the vassal vassal, but his mistake was that he did not understand military affairs and employed inappropriate personnel, which was all Li Jinglong's fault.

Is this conclusion correct?

On the surface, there seems to be no problem.

The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. Zhu Yunwen was born in an imperial family. He has never fought in a war since he was a child, and he cannot lead troops into battle in person like his uncle Zhu Di, King of Yan. The son of a famous general recommended by the gentlemen of that faction, his assistant minister in the East Palace, and his cousin Brother Li Jinglong (Li Jinglong’s grandmother is Zhu Yuanzhang’s biological sister) goes to help him lead troops to fight. What’s wrong with that?

If there is a fault, it is Li Jinglong's fault. The second generation of Zhao Kuo lost his army and lost his territory, so that Zhu Yunwen's empire was gone.

Zhu Yunwen, who had hardly done any manual labor and was a little too fat, spread his hands and looked at Jiang Xinghuo with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

All the indifference and tranquility shown by Zhu Yunwen were just his disguise. In his heart, Zhu Yunwen still felt that he had the purest blood of the Zhu family flowing in him, and he felt that he was the only legal heir to the Ming Dynasty.

He was just tired of running and hiding, so he didn't want to hide anymore, and he couldn't make a move, so he planned to let someone give him a decent end.

- But what's my fault?

Wan Fang is guilty. The fault lies with Li Jinglong and has nothing to do with me.

Even though Zhu Yunwen looked like a decadent monk now, even though he seemed to have overcome the barrier of life and death, and even though he looked like a cute fat man who had nothing to do with the world, from the bottom of his heart, Zhu Yunwen didn't feel that he was wrong at all.

But Jiang Xinghuo only asked one question.

"I told you to hit a tree and die now, will you go?"

Zhu Yunwen was stunned and said with a wry smile: "If you force me with a knife, I'm afraid I will have to go."

"That's it."

Jiang Xinghuo looked calm: "In July of the first year of Jianwen, you sued the Ancestral Temple, cut off the royal family status of King Yan, and deposed him as a commoner. You decided to raise an army to conquer Yan. You set up Pingyan Chief Secretary in Zhending and appointed Bao Zhao as the chief envoy. , in the Battle of Zhending, Changxinghou Geng Bingwen was elected as the general, Wudinghou Guo Ying was the deputy, Prince Consort Li Jian was the left deputy general, Commander Ning Zhong was the right deputy general, and Hussar General Gu became the commander-in-chief of the left army, leading the army of Thirteen Wan cut Yan."

"Excuse me - Geng Bingwen, Guo Ying, Gu Cheng and others are all famous generals in the Hongwu Dynasty. Their military exploits are shining brightly. Bao Zhao is also a minister of the country who has the courage to serve. They have enough food and work hard without complaint. This choice is made by others with a knife. Did you do it?”

Zhu Yunwen was speechless.

This set of configurations at the beginning of the war was naturally the optimal solution at the time. The civil servants and generals who were most capable of doing things went into battle together. How could someone else force him to do it with a knife?

But obviously the defeat of Hongwu generals such as Geng Bingwen, Guo Ying, and Gu Cheng was not attributable to Li Jinglong, because Li Jinglong was still sitting at home at the time.

This is also the most obvious omission in Zhu Yunwen's logic that seems self-consistent but actually leaks everywhere.

However, Jiang Xinghuo's questioning did not stop.

"On the tenth day of the ninth month of the second year of Jianwen, you set up the Dezhou camp with Marquis Shengyong of Licheng as General Pingyan, Ping An and Wu Jie as deputy generals, and Tie Xuan as Shangshu of the Ministry of War and Chief Envoy of Shandong; and Bao Zhao as Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments. , the chief envoy of Pingyan, reorganized the Zhending camp; Xu Kai, a fellow commander of the Sichuan capital (known as the "Xichuan double wall" with the warrior Qu Neng who died in Baigouhe), led troops mainly composed of Songpan Jingqi to build a city in Cangzhou , tried to build the Cangzhou camp. After replacing these generals and building three camps to trap the Yan army, were these choices forced by others at knifepoint? "

"Or are you saying that you fell into a counter-intentional plot and had Wu Gao, the Liaodong defender, demoted and replaced with a new Liaodong defender, eliminating the worries of the Yan army in the northeast? Was it someone else who forced you to do it?"

"Or could it be said that with Ningyuan Hou He Fu as the commander of the Lingbi decisive battle, his fate was determined, and the Dezhou camp came out in full force to rescue Xu and Pei's supply lines. Was it someone else who forced you to do it at knifepoint?"

Zhu Yunwen's face turned blue and white, his lips pursed, and the "Ming Pao" he held in his hand began to tremble.

He couldn't even explain why the civil servants didn't know how to fight, because whether it was using Geng Bingwen, Guo Ying, or Gu Cheng, or establishing the three camps of Zhending, Dezhou, and Cangzhou, even though it was done under the advice of Qitai Huang Zicheng, But these are the most correct and reasonable decisions. Whoever makes the decision? Look at the cards in your hand. These are the optimal solutions. However, correct and reasonable decisions may not necessarily bring victory. .

As for the decisive battle of Lingbi, this tragic strategic decisive battle that is rarely mentioned in history, but actually determined the final ownership of the Ming Dynasty throne, is a bit complicated to say.

On the second day of December in the third year of Jianwen, the Yan army decided to bypass the constraints of the Dezhou and Zhending camps, go south from the middle, and attack the Xuzhou camp, the weakly guarded southern army's general supply line.

On the twelfth day of the first month of the fourth year of Jianwen, the Yan army crossed the Yellow River in Guantao; on the fourteenth day of the first month, the Yan army captured Dong'a; on the fifteenth day of the first month, they fell into Dongping; on the seventeenth day of the first month, they fell into Wenshang; on the twenty-seventh day of the first month, , fell into Peixian County; on the 30th of the first lunar month, Zhu Gaoxu led the Yan army forward to Xuzhou.

The Xuzhou camp hoards all supplies transferred from the south. It is the main supply line forward to the two camps in Dezhou and Zhending. It is also the main artery of the Southern Army. Once the main artery is threatened, then the supplies in Zhending, Hebei and Dezhou, Shandong will be stocked. The Southern troops stationed there would lose supplies. At that time, Hebei and Shandong had already exhausted all their troops. The Southern troops there simply did not have the ability to supply on the spot. Losing supplies meant they could only wait and collapse without a fight.

The Jianwen court had no choice. After discussion, Zhu Yunwen appointed Mei Yin as the chief military officer to guard Huai'an and set up a second line of defense behind Xuzhou. On the other hand, he ordered the main force of the southern army in the two camps of Dezhou and Zhending to return for reinforcements. .

It is impossible not to return reinforcements, because compared to the embarrassment of the Southern Army on the front line, the resources here in Huanghuai are sufficient. The Yan Army can completely rely on breaking through small towns with little defense to plunder supplies on the spot, while the Southern Army Where is the army? If the stalemate continues, although Xuzhou has not been captured by the Yan army, the supply line has actually been cut off. If they don't return reinforcements, they will eat up their food reserves and wait for their own collapse. Moreover, the situation in Xuzhou is not optimistic. February 21 On the same day, after the Yan army defeated the troops from the Xuzhou camp, Xuzhou, without reinforcements, had no choice but to close the city and defend it.

The Southern Army, with the veteran general Ningyuan Hou He Fu as its commander, led the last general reserve force in Nanjing, which had just been reorganized and reorganized, to go north. At the same time, Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan were dispatched to return reinforcements from Dezhou, and Ping An and Chen Hui returned from Zhending. Zhu Di used The return distance between the two camps in Dezhou and Zhending was very different. After severely defeating Sheng Yong who set out from Dezhou, he continued south to Lingbi.

At this time, Zhu Di had achieved all his strategic goals. Zhu Di's strategic goal was not to capture Xuzhou and cut off the supply line of the Southern Army, but to force him to be a coward in the two camps of Zhending and Dezhou, trying to use a long-term siege to consume Ping An and Sheng Yong of the Yan Army came out for a strategic decisive battle, but Zhu Di used the method of surrounding the points to call for reinforcements, trying to eat two plates of dumplings in one go.

In Lingbi, the last general reserve of the Southern Army led by He Fu, which was also the only mobile force in Zhu Yunwen's hands, was surrounded by the Yan Army's heavy troops. He Fu followed Lian Po's example in the Changping Battle, and went deep into Lingbi. At this time, Sheng Yong's Dezhou Army had been severely damaged by the Yan Army's carbine, so they could only wait for Ping An's 60,000 reinforcements to deliver supplies and join them.

He Fu and his heavily-armed army showed amazing resilience in the decisive battle of Lingbi. Under the attack of the "Manguji" tactics learned by the Yan army from the Mongols, they maintained a dense formation while marching, and immediately showed no signs of attack when they encountered an attack. They built civil fortifications unambiguously, and despite casualties and exhaustion, they managed to get close to safety.

Later, as Ping An arrived with supplies, the two sides launched a decisive battle in Lingbi. The key factor in this decisive battle was whether He Fu and Ping An could merge smoothly. Once He Fu and Ping An merged, the Yan army would have the best chance. As a result, they will return without success after losing troops and generals. The worst result will be that all the main force will be lost in Lingbi.

At the critical moment of the decisive battle, He Fu and Ping An's troops were already moving in from east to west and were about to break through the encirclement and blocking reinforcements of the Yan Army. They were about to completely tear apart the encirclement and blocking line of reinforcements that the Yan Army had managed to hold up. At that time, Zhu Gaoxu led the Yan Army's heavy cavalry to cut off the junction between the two sides, then turned around and completely defeated all the main forces of the Southern Army, winning the decisive battle. The next plot was that the Yan Army crossed the river and Jiang Xinghuo was imprisoned.

In short, the Lingbi Decisive Battle is a typical one where there is no problem with personnel, no problem with decision-making, and even no problem with tactics.

——But we just lost.

Who can you blame?

Is it Li Jinglong’s fault?

It's not his fault, but Zhu Yunwen can't blame people like Ping An and Sheng Yong.

Although Pingan and Shengyong surrendered in the end, it was precisely because of this group of generals that they fought bloody battles in Dezhou, Dongchang, Gaocheng, Jiahe, etc., winning and losing against the Yan army. Although they were defensive Counterattacks win most of the battles, but some battles with dazzling results cannot be written off by Zhu Yunwen, and he himself cannot say this.

Jiang Xinghuo smiled half-heartedly: "Since you insist on saying that, let's talk about how incompetent Li Jinglong is."

"Geng Bingwen was defeated. You appointed Cao Guogong Li Jinglong as the general. In September, Li Jinglong rushed to Dezhou, Shandong Province. He collected Geng Bingwen's scattered troops and horses, reorganized them for training, and mobilized various troops and horses to coordinate the reorganization. A total of 500,000 troops arrived in Hejian. He stationed himself there, then marched north to Beiping, and ordered Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin, to support him in the east of Liaodong. The Yan army was trapped in a corner of Beiping and was destroyed in a matter of days."

"When Li Jinglong was cleaning up Geng Bingwen's mess, why didn't you call him an 'incompetent general'?"

"When Li Jinglong led 500,000 troops to surround Peiping, why didn't you call him an 'incompetent general'?"

Zhu Yunwen was a little unconvinced: "But he still lost."

"We lost the fight."

"But have you ever thought about why Li Jinglong didn't capture Peiping?"

Zhu Yunwen said matter-of-factly: "It's natural that the ambitions of Yan and Ning vassals merged together."

Jiang Xinghuo wanted to get to the bottom of it: "Then why did the two vassals merge?"

"On September 28th of the first year of Jianwen, King Yan led the main cavalry of the Yan army to Daning. On October 6th, the Yan army arrived at Daning City via a small road. King Yan rode into the city alone to see King Ning. On October 13th, On the same day, King Yan said goodbye, and King Ning saw him off in the suburbs. The Daning army rebelled one after another and joined King Yan. This is what I saw in the archives. Then King Yan coerced King Ning, Princess Ning, and Prince Ning to go to Peiping. , but is this really the case? King Ning has been running the fiefdom and army for ten years, but King Yan was able to persuade him to rebel with just a few words? Then King Yan is too capable, and these troops of King Ning's faction are too easy to fool. "

Jiang Xinghuo looked into Zhu Yunwen's eyes: "I believe you actually know the real answer. Can you tell me?"

Zhu Yunwen's expression darkened for the first time.

".I can not understand what you say."

"You understand."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't seem to notice that the kind expression Zhu Yunwen had been maintaining was about to disappear, and he continued to talk to himself.

"In August of the first year of Jianwen, Qi Tai and others were concerned that King Liao and King Ning were helping King Yan, so they suggested that you summon these two kings back to the capital. King Liao returned to the capital by sea and was immediately placed under house arrest and lost his personal freedom, but King Ning refused. , so he cut down the three guards of King Ning and moved them out of the station. The one who had the three guards moved out of the station was King Yan. This is why King Yan had 100,000 soldiers across the northern border, but he had to use 800 warriors when there was an uprising. Risk the Nine Gates.”

"You know the answer. There is no hatred for no reason in this world. King Ning also knows that if he doesn't resist, he will be the next King Yan, but you will take his life, and King Yan will not take his life. This is Daning was the reason for his sudden defection."

"Within one year, you were able to kill the eight kings of Zhou, Qi, Hunan, Dai, Min, Yan, Liao, and Ning, and even Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was incapable of you. May I ask, is this what someone forced you to do with a knife?"

Zhu Yunwen said almost angrily: "Even so, will Li Jinglong's ability be enough? Which battle did he win?"

"I never said Li Jinglong's ability is sufficient."

Jiang Xinghuo said matter-of-factly: "Li Jinglong is enough to train and lead troops. When fighting in battle, he is just an average second-rate general."

"Then don't you blame him but also me?"

Zhu Yunwen burst out suddenly, threw the "Ming Pao" in his hand to the ground, stopped calling himself "I", and roared almost hysterically.

Seeing the dust stirred up by the newspaper staining Zhu Yunwen's clean monk robe, and seeing the angry look on his face with the tip of his nose tilted forward and his philtrum slightly raised.

Jiang Xinghuo could actually understand why Zhu Yunwen was so obsessed with throwing the blame for losing his throne and falling into this situation on Li Jinglong's head.

Because for a tough-talking giant baby who has received too much care since childhood, it is absolutely impossible to admit that failure is his own problem.

People like Zhu Yunwen are full of a sense of superiority. They can accept death, but they can never accept their own incompetence. It is precisely because of this sense of superiority that Zhu Yunwen appears to be so incomprehensible and tough-tongued.

Zhu Yunwen believed that he was the most powerful person among all people. How could he be incompetent? How could he be so morally unworthy? If virtue is truly unworthy, then all his pride will be completely shattered.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen must find someone to take the blame for his failure.

But Geng Bingwen's fault, Sheng Yong's fault, and He Fu's fault could not be thrown at Li Jinglong's head, so they could only blame Li Jinglong for his defeat.

"Li Jinglong didn't win, but did he really do something wrong?"

Unlike Zhu Yunwen, who was almost hysterical, Jiang Xinghuo was very calm. He analyzed calmly: "Military speaking, Li Jinglong only conducted four military operations during his tenure as commander."

"1. Reorganize the army to besiege Peiping and carry out siege warfare; 2. See that the Yan-Ning army joined forces at Zhengcunba and withdrew the army after the initial battle was unfavorable; 3. After the Yan army captured Yuzhou and went straight to Datong, the fiefdom of King Dai, in order to prevent the recurrence of the old incident of King Ning, the emergency Rescue was dispatched, and finally the Yan army marched from Juyong Pass, and Li Jinglong marched from Zijin Pass; 4. After the ice and snow melted in the spring and the road became hard, they fought a decisive battle with the Yan Army at Baigou River and besieged them."

"In these four military operations, from a military perspective, if you change any general, he will actually make the same decision as Li Jinglong. The final difference is just victory or defeat. This is different from Geng Bingwen's decision-making in the Battle of Zhending and Sheng Yong's decision-making. There is no essential difference between the decision-making made in the battle of Gaocheng and the decision-making made by He Fu in the battle of Lingbi. Both decisions were correct, but they were failures."

There is no doubt about this. Take the first operation as an example. When the Southern Army had a huge advantage, was it wrong to surround Peiping? Yes, but putting aside stereotypes, when attacking a rare fortified city in the north in winter, does it really mean that the more people there, the greater the chance of victory? In the siege battles of the cold weapon era, it was common for the defenders to defend the city for months or even years if they were well prepared. If you just look through the history books, you can say that there are countless examples of these battles. Zhuge Liang was defeated by Chencang, and Sun Quan was defeated. Hefei and Gao Huan were defeated by Yubi. Even in the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there was an example of Zhu Wenzheng's defense of Hongdu with a single army against Chen Youliang's 600,000 troops for 85 days.

Can you say that Zhuge Liang, Gao Huan, Chen Youliang and others are all military waste? This is obviously wrong.

Later, in the second military operation, after Ning Yan joined forces, Zhu Di led hundreds of thousands of troops with cavalry as the main force southward. After the Southern Army intercepted and failed in the first battle, no normal commander would make a decision to continue to besiege the fortress. City, the decision was made to divide one force with infantry as the main force on one side and fight the opponent's cavalry as the main force in the field, especially when the enemies are all battle-hardened frontier troops, and the source of our own troops' establishment is extremely confusing and confusing. Without cooperation, this is a standard situation of being attacked from both sides, which can easily lead to a collapse. And under the premise that enemy reinforcements have arrived, facing a fortified city that is impossible to capture, they can only retreat.

As for the third military operation, which is to rescue Datong, there is nothing to say. Everyone is saved. This is the art of war. If you attack the enemy, you must save it. If you don't save Datong, no one knows whether King Yan will destroy King Dai's troops. Once Daibei's frontier troops are eaten, there will be no need to fight in the field.

In the fourth military operation, the Battle of Baigouhe, Jiang Xinghuo had already understood the whole picture during Zhu Gaoxu's recollection. Li Jinglong did not do anything wrong in the whole process. He relied on his superior strength to fight steadily and was able to execute the tactics of encirclement on three sides at the same time. The strongest Songpan Jingqi attacked the Yan army from behind, which directly led to the death of many Daning generals. The Yan army was surrounded by groups, and the battle line was on the verge of collapse. The main reason why the Southern army was defeated was because of Zhu Di He and Zhu Gaoxu made a desperate move and took all the main force of the elite cavalry to attack the rear of the Southern Army in the same way, defeating the Southern Army's rear army.

Different from the so-called "strong wind blew off the flag of Commander Li Jinglong" in historical records, in the Battle of Baigou River, both sides were gamblers who bet all their belongings, and they were all red-eyed. Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu defeated the southern army's rear army, and Li Jinglong Instead of moving, the Chinese army mobilized the Ganliang cavalry, the elite cavalry of the Twelve Guards, and the Xichuan infantry. These three reserve forces were led by the powerful generals Qu Neng and his son, Yu Tongyuan, and Teng Ju. He went head-to-head with the elite cavalry of the Yan army led by Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu's battlefield performance that day can be said to be that he went straight to the land of the gods. Regardless of fatigue, he forced the formation to kill Qu Neng and his son. The Yan army's elite cavalry was greatly encouraged and killed all Yu Tongyuan, Teng Ju and other generals in one go. He kicked Li Jinglong's Chinese army in front of the horse. At this time, the Southern Army was responsible for commanding the frontal battlefield. It failed to break through the defense of Zhu Neng, who was responsible for commanding the frontal battlefield.

This is a repeat of the Battle of Peiping, where the attack failed and at the same time the enemy was stolen. Whoever was in Li Jinglong's position would have to withdraw.

What are the consequences of being stubborn? The enemy cannot be attacked from the front, but they will be beheaded from the flank. In the end, the enemy will be defeated like a mountain.

Therefore, when Li Jinglong was in charge of commanding the Southern Army, he made a total of four military decisions. He retreated after Zhengcunba and set out from Zhending to rescue Datong. There was no dispute in these two times. Whoever came had to make such a choice, and the encirclement of Peiping Li Jinglong must bear the main responsibility for the failure of the decisive battles of Bu Ke and Bai Gou He, but in terms of the decision-making itself, there is no problem.

So what are the problems with his specific command? It may be different from the impression flow, that is, there is really no big problem. It can only be said that the performance is quite satisfactory, but there is no spirituality. It is like a little tiger in the World Championship. He has no pot and no credit. In the end, he loses after playing hard. .

If it were Li Jinglong and his father Li Wenzhong, or Xu Da, Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, or even Lan Yu who was slightly inferior to these few, he might have won.

It is a pity that at that time, Sheng Yongping had not yet emerged, He Fu was still in the northwest, and Li Jinglong was the best army commander of the Southern Army.

The best army commander led the army to make the right decision at the right time and place, but in the end it failed. Li Jinglong must bear the main responsibility, because he did not win, and he was indeed the person directly responsible.

But Geng Bingwen, Sheng Yong, and He Fu all made the right decisions, but ultimately failed.

Li Jinglong's defeat was not an isolated case. When this kind of battle was repeated again and again in the Southern Army, it was obvious that Li Jinglong could not be blamed personally.

"I am right, I am right. The ministers misunderstood me! The ministers misunderstood me!!!"

Zhu Yunwen held his fair face in pain, and the fat on his cheeks spilled out from between his fingers. His nails scratched a few shallow blood stains on his forehead, as if he had lost his composure and lost him. The majesty of being an emperor.

Now Zhu Yunwen no longer blames Li Jinglong as the main reason for the usurpation of the throne, but he still refuses to admit that he has a problem. Instead, all his ministers are responsible, and everyone belongs to them.

"Didn't you banish an immortal to the world? Tell me, what should I do? I don't know how to fight. I trusted them, but they all failed me!"

Zhu Yunwen stepped forward and grabbed Jiang Xinghuo's shoulders, shaking him vigorously. Perhaps the restraint just now was just his last sense. This young man who had been on the run for a long time was also afraid of death. His performance at this moment was that he refused to deny it. He, on the other hand, was irritating Jiang Xinghuo and killed him quickly.

Jiang Xinghuo stared at Zhu Yunwen, who was already going crazy, and suddenly pushed his arms away with one hand, and then gave Zhu Yunwen a hard slap, causing Zhu Yunwen to stagger and fall under the locust tree.

"Qiang~"

The long knife on Jiang Xinghuo's waist was unsheathed.

"You don't know either."

Zhu Yunwen put his hands on the ground, but immediately gave up and lay flat against the tree trunk.

"My life has been so tiring. Just kill me."

But Jiang Xinghuo only took off the scabbard and threw it to him in the air.

"This is what you're missing."

Zhu Yunwen looked at the scabbard that hit his belly, feeling a little confused.

"On the surface, you trust those scholar-bureaucrats, and secretly make your own decisions. But you don't read history, you are too young, and you are too powerful. You feel that destiny is destined to be invincible. You hold the indestructible sword left to you by Emperor Taizu Gao. When you were swinging it wildly, you never noticed that cracks had appeared on the blade. You have tried to control this knife time and time again, but you have never kept it warm in the sheath!"

Zhu Yun was stunned for a moment. Jiang Xinghuo's words were like a sharp knife, cutting through the defense that seemed to be completely surrounding him.

To kill someone is to kill one's heart.

Maybe that's true

Zhu Yunwen's eyes were looking at the slightly turned fur of the scabbard without focus.

He is an extremely conceited person with a sense of superiority.

He grew up in the most favorable environment in the world. From the time Zhu Xiongying passed away and his mother-in-law became a regular wife, Zhu Yunwen knew that he would be the heir to this huge empire.

In the end, he did it. Under the guidance of his mother and concubine, he hid his pride and behaved filial and respectful, winning the favor of the emperor. With the help of the emperor, he cleared almost all obstacles to ascending to the throne.

Why do you say almost?

Because there are still those annoying uncles of his who are still alive.

Therefore, as soon as he ascended the throne and Zhu Yuanzhang's body was still cold, Zhu Yunwen couldn't wait to start cutting down the vassal vassal.

At first, no one dared to resist him.

Zhu Yunqi swelled as he saw the uncles he looked up to turn into clay figures in his hands. He could handle them however he wanted and crush them to pieces with his feet.

He feels that his power is unlimited and he can do whatever he wants within the world.

Until the King of Yan, Zhu Di, was defeated by Tian Jingnan and raised troops to overthrow him from the throne.

But Zhu Yunwen never felt that he had done anything wrong. In other words, he actually knew the answers, but refused to think about these questions.

Zhu Yunwen has never been a person without his own opinion.

On the contrary, he is very independent.

It seems that he listens to everything from Qitai Huang Zicheng and his gang, but in fact, he only listens to what he wants to hear.

The suggestions from Qitai, Huang Zicheng and others were just Zhu Yunwen's words to express his feelings through their mouths.

And Zhu Yunwen also knew that Jiang Xinghuo was right.

Geng Bingwen hurriedly marched into Zhending. After Li Jinglong took over, he led the southern army to attack the city in the cold weather. He ordered He Fu, Ping An, and Sheng Yong to join forces and complete the battle. In fact, the makers of these initial decisions were not the frontline generals. , it is Zhu Yunwen himself.

Even in the end, the Yan army's 200,000 cavalry marched south, seemingly unstoppable.

But in fact, the Yan army had no ships and could not get through the heavily defended Jianghuai defense line.

So as long as you keep calm, let He Fu and Mei Yin defend the city, and let Ping An and Sheng Yong join forces and rush over together, instead of being defeated one after another due to the distance difference, even if there is still hope of severely damaging the Yan army or prolonging the war. .

But every initial decision Zhu Yunwen made was too hasty.

"If you can put the sword back into its sheath, just bear with it."

Zhu Yunwen was a little disappointed.

If he didn't push King Ning so hard, if he could be patient and slowly besiege the Yan army, if he could give Geng Bingwen more time, if he could let Li Jinglong wait until spring before taking action, if he could calm down and defend everything along the Jianghuai defense line, All subject to change.

But what's the use of talking about this now?

"Maybe you're right."

Zhu Yunwen, who had been heartbroken, was silent for a moment, and simply said: "Kill me, and take my head to your Majesty to claim credit."

Jiang Xinghuo suddenly smiled, looked at Zhu Yunwen, and continued: "Is everyone who has become a big blood-sucking insect so self-centered? Treat all officials like domestic slaves, treat the national treasury like private property, and take it with one person's heart. The hearts of all people.”

Zhu Yunwen completely leaned against the tree trunk. Although he didn't understand what "big blood-sucking insect" meant at the first time, he quickly understood what it meant by contacting the context. However, he said boredly: "It used to be like this. It will be the same after that, and it will be the same when you sit in that position, that position is magical, and there is no difference between my uncle and me."

"Your uncle is more suitable to be the emperor of Ming Dynasty than you are."

Zhu Yunwen is a very strange person. At this time, he accepted his incompetence and claimed that he had replaced "I" with "I". However, he refused to accept the view that "Zhu Di is more suitable to be the Ming Emperor than himself" and angrily rebuked Said: "Nonsense!"

"I am the only living grandson of Emperor Taizu Gao, and I am the heir to the throne designated by Emperor Taizu Gao!"

Jiang Xinghuo sneered: "If you don't believe it, there's nothing I can do about it."

"You still hate me for not being able to use you."

Zhu Yunwen seemed to have an inexplicable obsession with this issue. He lowered his head and remained silent for a long time before speaking.

"you think too much."

Jiang Xinghuo looked calmly at the completely decadent fat house in front of him.

His mind and ability were completely unable to match his ambition, and it was not surprising that he ended up like this in front of Zhu Di, who was mentally tough and capable.

And it was impossible for Zhu Yunwen's character to tolerate anything Jiang Xinghuo could do.

Zhu Yunwen didn't understand Jiang Xinghuo's plot, nor did he know what kind of world Jiang Xinghuo wanted to build.

Jiang Xinghuo had no intention of explaining anything to him. He didn't need to vent the congestion in his heart today.

Jiang Xinghuo put down the knife and planned to call Niu Zhen to come over and take action.

"My uncle, do you have anything to say to me?" Zhu Yunwen suddenly asked.

"The two dragons do not meet."

Seeing that he didn't understand, Jiang Xinghuo repeated it again.

Zhu Yun nodded clearly.

Since Zhu Di told Jiang Xinghuo that "the two dragons will not meet each other", it meant that he did not intend to see him, but wanted to kill him directly and send his head over.

In fact, this sentence was indeed what Zhu Di told Jiang Xinghuo.

"He still doesn't dare to see me. He's afraid of me. He's afraid that I'll sue him in front of grandpa."

Zhu Yunwen closed his eyes, with a proud smile on his lips, quietly waiting for death to come.

He always seems to find a psychological advantage for himself.

"After you kill me, what are you going to do with the body?"

Zhu Yunwen seemed to have accepted his fate calmly, and continued to ask with his eyes closed.

Jiang Xinghuo was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Cut off the head and put it in lime. You can use salt if you like."

Zhu Yunwen sighed softly and said: "Do you know? In my normal time, I like to read "Ming Pao" the most. You are very powerful. You are a stunning talent that is rare to see in a thousand years. Ming Dynasty can indeed be strong with your method, but You will not end well. You have offended too many people. Sooner or later, my uncle will not tolerate you. One day, your head will be cut off and pickled in lime or salt like mine. Just like Shang Yang being quartered by five horses."

"No one can offend so many gentry and still survive unscathed."

"It's true that I can't use you, but my grandpa the emperor won't use you either. You are a traitor and a loyal minister who rebels against Tiangang. You have disrupted the order of the country and shaken the foundation of the Ming Dynasty."

A long knife was stabbed into Zhu Yunwen's belly.

Zhu Yunzhen felt pain and opened his eyes suddenly.

"What I shaken is not the foundation of Ming Dynasty, but the foundation of your Zhu family."

Jiang Xinghuo stabbed Zhu Yunwen's stomach with force. Zhu Yunwen was in so much pain that he couldn't even make a sound. He could only feel Jiang Xinghuo's eyes looking at him like a deep pool. No one could guess what Jiang Xinghuo was thinking. What.

"I said, you big blood-sucking worms are all the same. You can win the hearts of all people with the heart of one person. Zhu Di is better than you, but he is just one of the strongest big blood-sucking worms. How do you know that what I want to build is a What kind of world? Why do you point your fingers at me?"

Zhu Yunwen coughed up black blood, but he endured the pain and forced out a smile, like a victorious general. He seemed to have gradually adapted to the severe pain, and he was able to speak with a stumble.

"Are you in a hurry?"

Jiang Xinghuo twisted the handle of the knife and looked at Zhu Yunwen, who although he was in the dust, his mentality was still high and he insisted on competing with others.

This kind of giant baby who combines tough words and a sense of superiority is very interesting, but also really in need of a knife.

"I just think that when it comes to killing giant blood-sucking insects, you need to practice your skills first. Otherwise, if you don't have experience, you will think that people like you are a little more powerful than others for nothing."

"Sima, Yi, haha, good! Good!"

Jiang Xinghuo, who had watched too many TV dramas, clenched the handle of the knife with his right hand to prevent him from being killed. He took Zhu Yunwen's head with his left hand and whispered in his ear: "Okay? Do you think I just want to kill the emperor? You are wrong, big brother That’s right, there are endless blood-sucking worms throughout the ages. What I want to do is to depose you from the clouds and bring you down to the mortal world.”

"No, it's possible." There was a trace of panic in Zhu Yunwen's eyes.

"Nothing is impossible. Today's world is not yesterday's world. It's just that you can't see tomorrow's world."

"Do you want to seize the emperor's power?"

"What is imperial power? I want to slay the dragon!"

After saying that, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly pulled out the knife from Zhu Yunwen's belly, and immediately placed the long knife horizontally, holding the handle of the knife tightly with his right hand, pressing the back of the knife with his left hand, and opened Zhu Yunwen's neck with one blow.

The blood in his cavity covered Jiang Xinghuo like a fountain.

Under the old locust tree, the body of Emperor Jianwen fell down weakly.

Jiang Xinghuo threw the knife and looked at him coldly.

"First."