Xu Da was a famous general of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's fa xiao, one of the twenty-four generals of Huaixi, who led the army to defeat Chen Youyi, suppress Zhang Shicheng, swing the Northern Expedition, overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, and at least half of the Ming Dynasty's Jiangshan Sheji was fought down by him. Zhu Yuanzhang had a very high evaluation of Xu Da, praising him for "breaking the barbarians and being the first in the ancient and modern people; going in and out of the picture, and only then is he unparalleled in the world of literature and martial arts." Xu Da had four sons and four daughters, the eldest daughter married Zhu Di, the King of Yan, as a concubine, xu Zengshou was Xu Da's fourth son and Zhu Di's brother-in-law, and his death was greatly related to the "Battle of Jingnan" launched by Zhu Di.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Biao's son Zhu Yunjiao succeeded to the throne, and was known as Emperor Jianwen. He was most worried about his uncle the king of the clan who supported the self-esteem of the soldiers and guarded the border pass. Therefore, soon after succeeding to the throne, Emperor Jianwen implemented a cruel policy of cutting the domain, and successively abolished the kings of Zhou, Dai, Qi, and Dai as Shu people and sent them to the frontier. Zhu Di, the King of Yan, as one of the most powerful clan kings, was not willing to be toyed with by his stinking nephew, and he found a reason for rebellion from the "Ancestral Training of the Emperor Ming": "There is no righteous subject in the dynasty, there is treachery within, and he will raise troops to rebuke and take the side of the Qing King", which is the famous "Battle of Jing" in history.
Emperor Jianwen anticipated the possibility of Zhu Di's rebellion at the beginning of his reign, and in order to confirm his suspicions, he summoned Zhu Di's brother-in-law Xu Zengshou to consult him on the latest situation of his brother-in-law. Xu Zengshou categorically stated that "the King of Yan is extremely rich and noble, and there is no possibility of rebellion," and his words made Emperor Jianwen, who had been troubled for a long time, breathe a sigh of relief.
Emperor Jianwen suspected that King Yan was opposed, and tried to increase his life expectancy. Zengshou Dun first said: "The Yan King's former emperor is the same qi, the rich and noble are already extreme, why oppose!" ——" The Biography of Ming Shi Xu Zengshou
In July of the first year of Jianwen (1399), Zhu Di really raised an army, but the war was not smooth sailing, although he took Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, to join the rebel army and took the most powerful Duoyan Sanwei for his own use, but the Shandong suffragist Tie Xuan firmly held Jinan and blocked Zhu Di's way south. Subsequently, Emperor Jianwen removed the commander Li Jinglong and boldly used the talented Sheng Yong as the general of Pingyan, defeating the Yan army many times and beheading the general Zhang Yu.
Xu Zengshou, as a descendant of the Xu family, saw that after his father's death, the Xu family was gradually weakening, and in order to revive the family's past glory, he bet all the treasures on his brother-in-law Zhu Di, and repeatedly sent people to secretly tell Zhu Di about the defense of the Beijing division's troops, which was detected by Emperor Jianwen. After Zhu Di received the information from his brother-in-law, he immediately changed his tactics and quickly marched to Nanjing by means of surprise attacks, and Sheng Yong was forced to block the Yan army on the north bank of the Yangtze River, thus losing the strategic depth of Emperor Jianwen, and the situation on the battlefield suddenly became severe.
In June of the fourth year of Jianwen (1402), when the Yan army crossed the Yangtze River and was about to approach the city of Nanjing, the anxious and angry Jianwen Emperor questioned Xu Zengshou: "Originally you said that the King of Yan was extremely rich and could not rebel, and now his army is about to come to the city, now what do you have to say?" Xu Zengshou was speechless, and Emperor Jianwen was even more angry when he saw this, and personally pulled out his sword and killed him as a court.
After Xu Zengshou was killed, the body was placed on the court. Gu Wang Zhu And Li Jinglong opened the Jinchuan Gate, and Zhu Di entered the palace, saw Xu Zengshou's body, and cried. After ascending the throne as emperor, Zhu Di posthumously made Xu Zengshou the Marquis of Wuyang ( 武阳侯 ) , and was succeeded by his son Xu Jingchang ( 徐景昌) as the Marquis of Wuyang . The following year, he was also enfeoffed as the Duke of Dingguo.
Xu Huizu, who was also Zhu Di's in-law, Xu Zengshou's eldest brother, unswervingly sided with Emperor Jianwen, not only suggesting that the son of the King of Yan who had entered the capital to be sacrificed as a hostage, but also personally leading troops to fight against the Yan army many times. After the success of the Jing Dynasty, Xu Huizu refused to welcome and support the King of Yan to ascend the throne as emperor, which provoked Zhu Di to be furious and wanted to kill him quickly, Xu Huizu said that his father Xu Da was a founding hero and his descendants should be spared death, forcing Zhu Di to remove his Feng Lu and his title, and ordered him to go home and think about it behind closed doors.