As we all know, Zhu Di defeated the army of the Ming court in the Battle of Jingnan, attacked the city of Nanjing, and finally ascended the throne as emperor. In the end, this process was not smooth, the war lasted for three years, and Zhu Di faced crises many times before he finally succeeded. The Ming dynasty army was not useless as the textbook said, but caused huge casualties to the Yan army, causing many generals of the Yan army to die in battle, and also causing Zhu Di to suffer heavy losses. Among them, it has to be mentioned that Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, repeatedly reversed his defeat in the Battle of Jingnan, which made Zhu Di suffer a lot. Judging from the development of the war, he almost became Zhu Di's nemesis, the only general in the Ming army who remained undefeated against the Yan army. However, he was not trusted by the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunjiao, and was transferred away from the battlefield many times, which also deprived the Ming army of the opportunity to win.
Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, was the son of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, King Zhongshan, and his personal ability was the first of the Ming Dynasty's noble sons. Judging from the literature of Zhu Yuanzhang in his later years, he was one of the important helpers left by Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Yunjiao. Especially in the military arrangement, Xu Huizu played a role in commanding the Ming army and balancing the army of the Nine Border Sai King. In fact, this arrangement began when Xu Da died, and by the time Zhu Yuanzhang died, it had formed a strong suppression of the army of the Nine-Sided King. Zhu Yuanzhang reused Xu Huizu, on the one hand, because Xu Da, as the first founding father of the country, had great appeal in the military and political circles, on the other hand, it was also because Xu Huizu had outstanding ability and was a benchmark among the sons of Xun Gui.
At a very young age, Xu Huizu acted as the governor of the Left Army and became one of the senior generals in the military system of the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion and replaced it with the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and the Left Army Governor's Mansion was one of them. The Governor's Office of the Five Armies administered the entire Ming Dynasty's military system of weishou and was the highest military and political organ of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Huizu was able to act as one of them, which showed that his position at that time was already among the top ten generals in the Ming Army. Later, he also undertook the heavy responsibilities of training troops in Shaanxi and Sichuan, and defending the coastal areas of Zhejiang, and his military resume was very comprehensive. On the Youyan front, Xu Huizu was once a comrade-in-arms who fought side by side with Zhu Di. The two joined forces to repeatedly break the Yuan army and captured the Northern Yuan generals in Nanjing to be taken prisoner, and the results were very prominent.
Zhu Yuanzhang trusted Xu Huizu and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility after Xu Da's death. Xu Huizu was not only in charge of the affairs of the Governor's Office of the Chinese Army, but also became a subordinate officer of the Emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao. In the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army was the first unit in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and Xu Huizu actually became the first person in the Ming Army. Zhu Yuanzhang's intention in making this arrangement was obvious, and he regarded Xu Huizu as an important helper to support Zhu Yunjiao's ascension to the throne. Xu Huizu had distinguished himself in battle on the Youyan front, had rich military and government experience, and was the best candidate to escort Zhu Yunjiao. Moreover, Xu Huizu and Zhu Di have been fighting together for many years, and they know their roots and can suppress Zhu Di's advantages to the greatest extent. It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement has perfectly restrained Zhu Di and can ensure the stability of Zhu Yunjiao's regime.
However, after Zhu Yunzhuo ascended the throne, he did not trust Xu Huizu, and although he appointed Xu Huizu as the crown prince according to the edict, he did not let Xu Huizu participate in the imperial government. Zhu Yunjiao trusted the civilian bureaucracy even more, especially The Soldier Shangshu QiTai and the Taichang Temple Secretary Huang Zicheng. In terms of military affairs, Zhu Yunjiao also favored Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, and gave him military and political powers. In Zhu Yuanzhang's will, xu huizu and ma Meiyin, who arranged for the assistant government, did not enter Zhu Yunjiao's core team, which also became one of the important reasons for Zhu Yunjiao's failure in the Battle of Jingnan.
Judging from the process of the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Yunzhuo had extreme distrust of Xu Huizu. As the first person in the Ming Army, Xu Huizu did not have the supreme command of the Pingyan Army, and could only participate in the battle as a general. And Li Jinglong, a general who had only done logistics and tea horse trade, actually became the supreme commander of the Pingyan Army by relying on paper talk.
In addition to distrust in military appointments, Zhu Yunzhuo also repeatedly showed suspicion of Xu Huizu in daily affairs. One of the important reasons is that Xu Huizu's sister is Zhu Di's wife, so after the beginning of the cutting of the domain, Zhu Yunjiao strictly guarded the Xu family. Because Xu Da was in charge of the Youyan front for a long time, the Xu family and Zhu Di were in-laws, and Xu Huizu and Zhu Di fought together for a long time, which became the root cause of Zhu Yunzhu's suspicion of Xu Huizu. Xu Huizu was not only unable to hold important positions in the imperial court, but was also tempted by Zhu Yunjiao's people many times. The most famous of these is the Zhu Di feigned madness incident, where Zhu Yunjiao used it to test Xu Huizu's attitude toward Zhu Di. Although Xu Huizu made the right suggestion, the result deepened Zhu Yunxiu's suspicions.
At that time, after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunjiao summoned Zhu Di to Beijing. Fearing that he would be trapped, Zhu Di sent his three sons to Nanjing on the pretext of madness. Zhu Yunzhi sent people to test Xu Huizu and ask him what to do with Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxuan. Xu Huizu, as the uncle of these three people, did not help cover up, but told the truth. He believes that these three people are all heroes, especially Zhu Gaoxu's outstanding military ability and an important helper for Zhu Di's rebellion. At the same time, he suggested that Zhu Yunjiao take these three people hostage to prevent Zhu Di from rebelling. Zhu Yunjiao did not listen, and then asked Xu Huizu's younger brother Xu Zengshou and Wang Ning about this matter. Xu Zengshou had already secretly colluded with Zhu Di, and under his and Wang Ning's protection, Zhu Gaozi and the three of them returned to Beiping safely.
From this incident, it can be seen that Zhu Yunzhuo's suspicion of Xu Huizu has reached the point of madness. Normal opinions cannot be listened to, but abnormal opinions are believed to be true. When encountering such an emperor, the Ming Army was not an opponent of the Yan Army no matter how powerful it was. What's more, at that time, the elders of the Ming Army died one after another, and the second generation of Xun Gui had not yet fully grown up, and there were only a few people who were able to confront Zhu Di in terms of ability.
After the Battle of Jingnan began, Zhu Di captured The City of Beiping with eight hundred dead soldiers, and then swept through the garrisons of the surrounding guards, raising the banner of "Qing Jun's Side" and preparing to go south to seize the throne. Zhu Yunjiao took the advice of Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng and formed the Pingyan Army, with Li Jinglong as the commander to attack Zhu Di. Xu Huizu was only a general who led 30,000 troops, and his military talent could not be fully exerted.
Despite this, Xu Huizu defeated the Yan army many times and rescued Li Jinglong from danger. At the Battle of Baihegou, Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army was defeated, and Xu Huizu led tens of thousands of people to break it, allowing Li Jinglong to safely withdraw to Texas. In the Battle of Lingbi, Xu Huizu and Zhu Di fought at Mount Qimei, the Ming army won a great victory, and Li Bin beheaded Wei Qianhu of Wei Prefecture. Then Xu Huizu led the army to take advantage of the victory and pursue, taking advantage of the hot weather to force the Yan army to a desperate situation. As a result, the Yan army fell into internal division, and part of it supported Zhu Di to continue to go south, and part of it wanted to return to Beiping to cross the river and rule. However, Zhu Yunzhu turned a blind eye to Xu Huizu's exploits and transferred Xu Huizu away from the front line on the grounds of the emptiness of Nanjing. After Xu Huizu left, the Yan army quickly eased up and seized a large number of strategic points on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Zhu Yunzhuo then revived Xu Huizu to guard the Puzikou of the Yangtze River to prevent the Yan army from crossing the river to attack the city of Nanjing. Xu Huizu defeated the Yan army here many times, and Zhu Di had no choice but to take a detour to attack the Yangtze River Water Division led by the Pingyan general Sheng Yong. As a result, the Yangtze River Water Division was defeated, the Yangtze River defense line was broken, and the Yan army approached the Jinchuan Gate in Nanjing. Then zhu sui and Li Jinglong, the kings of gu, opened the Jinchuan Gate and surrendered, and Zhu Di won the final victory in the Battle of Jingnan.
It can be said that during the Battle of Jingnan, Zhu Yunjiao did not fully trust Xu Huizu. When the war was unfavorable, he was asked to lead his troops to the battle, and the war improved slightly, and Xu Huizu was transferred from the front line. With such repeated suspicion and tossing, how could the Ming Army be an opponent of the Yan Army. Compared with Xu Huizu, Li Jinglong received unreserved trust, even superstition.
As the commander of the Ming Army, Li Jinglong hardly won a single battle. When the Ming army had absolute superiority, Li Jinglong was led by Zhu Di's nose and lost consecutive battles, losing a lot of living forces. When the ministers of the DPRK and the CENTRAL Government collectively demanded the disposal of Li Jinglong, Zhu Yunxiong actually came forward as a guarantee, preferring to demote Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng to officials rather than kill Li Jinglong. As soon as the war improved slightly, Li Jinglong was reinstated as an official and once again appeared on the front line of the Battle of Jingnan.
According to the arrangement at the time of Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunjiao could have smoothly transitioned power and gradually defused Zhu Di's military threat to him. However, his superstition of Li Jinglong and his suspicion of Xu Huizu broke the military balance and determined the outcome of the Battle of Jingnan. It can be said that Zhu Yunjiao's self-sufficiency and nepotism are the main reasons for his failure, and other reasons are only appearances.
Thank you for reading, and if you find this article helpful to you, don't forget to like, comment, retweet, and bookmark