In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and many peasant rebels rose up to rebel against the brutal rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, after the merger and expansion of the big fish eating small fish and the small fish eating shrimp and rice, only three powerful rebel armies were left. The leaders of these three rebel armies were Chen Youyi, Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang. Among these three people, Chen Youyu's power was the most powerful. But as we all know, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who later unified the world. So how did he bring down Chen Youyu? There was one battle that played a crucial role, and that was the Battle of Hongdu.
In February of the 23rd year, Zhang Shicheng took advantage of the infighting in the Red Turban Army in the Central Plains and sent his troops to attack Anfeng with Lü Zhen. Liu Futong, the leader of the Red Turban Army, could not resist and had to ask Zhu Yuanzhang for help. At that time, Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, was also by Liu Futong's side, and in order not to install a hat for himself as a "usurper of power", Zhu Yuanzhang had to lead his troops to Anfeng. By the time he arrived in Anfeng, Liu Futong was dead, but he had only saved Han Lin'er.
And just when he led his troops to aid Anfeng, his old rival Chen Youyu thought that the time had come for a counter-offensive, so he sent troops to attack Hongdu, claiming that he had "600,000 troops". At that time, Chen Youyu led hundreds of huge ships and invaded Wu in the east. For a time, the flag covered the sun and the ground shook. Zhu Yuanzhang was busy fighting with Zhang Shicheng, and had no time to look west, so he had to give Hongdu Shou a death order: swear to defend Hongdu to the death, waiting for the army to come to the rescue!
At that time, the Hongdu Shou general was Zhu Wenzheng, Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, a person who had originally spent days and nights drinking and not doing the right thing, and at the moment of receiving the order, he suddenly put away his cynical face. He immediately called an emergency military conference and said to every soldier in Hongdu City in a firm tone: "Whether the city dies or not, I will swear to defend Hongdu City to the death." But the situation he was facing at that time was extremely difficult, and in front of Chen Youyi's 600,000 troops, it was like an ant shaking a tree.
After the Hongdu Defense War began, Chen Youyu launched wave after wave of onslaughts, and the defenders on the city wall launched a tug-of-war with the Han army, repelling their attacks wave after wave. Zhu Wenzheng, who looked like a "playboy" before, only now showed his true strength. Hongdu had eight gates at that time, which was usually a symbol of prosperity, but it was a fatal flaw in wartime. Because once one of the gates is lost, there will be an irreversible trend on the battlefield, and this is the time to test the commander-in-chief.
What everyone did not expect was that as far as the hongdu city was concerned, Zhu Wenzheng was actually well deployed. Not only were all eight gates defended, but he also saved two thousand men to support them at any time. At that time, the corpses of both sides of the battle were piled up, and Zhu Wenzheng, in order to boost morale, led his soldiers to the city tower and used large knives with his comrades to resist the enemy's attack. Due to their stubborn defense, Chen Youyi's army besieged for 85 days, but failed to break through Hongdu City. Chen Youyu said with emotion: "Zhu Yuanzhang's fierce generals are like clouds, and there are even such military wizards as Zhu Wenzheng, if they can serve me, they are bound to add wings like tigers!"
Chen Youyi had not finished his feelings here, and Zhu Yuanzhang had already led his division to return to help. Chen Youyu had no choice but to retreat into Poyang Lake and confront Zhu Yuanzhang. Just at this moment, Zhu Wenzheng sent someone to cut off Chen You's forgiveness of the grain road and gave him a fatal knife. Chen Youyi was defeated, and Zhu Wenzheng sent He Wenhui and others to attack the unincorporated prefectures. This battle, which ended with Zhu Yuanzhang's strategic victory, also became a classic case in China's military history in which less won more victories, which had a huge impact on the political pattern at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. And Zhu Wenzheng also used this battle to become one of the first-class famous generals at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.
After the war, Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded Chang Yuchun, Liao Yongzhong and other generals, but Zhu Wenzheng was not rewarded for his meritorious service. Zhu Wenzheng was furious and lost his balance in his heart, so he allowed his subordinates to rob other people's wives and daughters. Zhu Yuanzhang was very dissatisfied with Zhu Wenzheng's performance, and according to the investigation, Li Yinbing guessed Zhu Yuanzhang's wishes, so he played an impeachment of Zhu Wenzheng for extravagance and extravagance. Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to condemn Zhu Wenzheng, zhu Wenzheng felt frightened, and Li Yinbing impeached Zhu Wenzheng for plotting rebellion. Zhu Yuanzhang personally came to the city by boat, summoned Zhu Wenzheng out, and questioned him many times: "What do you want to do?"
Zhu Wenzheng sweated like rain, and did not know how to explain it to Zhu Yuanzhang. Fortunately, Empress Ma helped him break the siege and said: "This child is only a strong personality, and it is impossible to have a negative intention." But Zhu Yuanzhang, who was cautious by nature, still put him under house arrest in Tongcheng. Not long after, Zhu Wenzheng died of depression. It can be said that Zhu Wenzheng's death was entirely due to the high achievement of the Lord. Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that he was sorry for his nephew, so he said to Zhu Wenzheng's son: "Child, don't be afraid. I was a little disappointed that your father ended up like that. But I'm not going to implicate you because of his fault. ”
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, and indeed Zhu Wenzheng's son Zhu Shouqian was crowned the King of Jingjiang, after which the Jingjiang King lineage was passed down from generation to generation until the end of the seventh year of Shunzhi. The King of Jingjiang was also the longest-serving king in Chinese history, lasting 280 years.