In 1400 AD, the second year of the Ming Dynasty's Jianwen, also the second year of the Ming Dynasty's Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingnan, the Battle of Dongchang broke out, the Ming army general Sheng Yong defeated the Yan army led by Zhu Di, the Yan army general Zhang Yu was killed, this time Zhu Di led the elite troops lost all, and he was almost captured alive by Sheng Yong, which can be called the most dangerous one since Zhu Di raised his army.
As far as the war situation at that time was concerned, the Battle of Dongchang was of great significance.
Because at the beginning of Zhu Di's army, the two generals sent by Emperor Jianwen successively, Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong, were all defeated by Zhu Di under the premise of superior troops, losing a large number of troops, plus Zhu Di had a strong influence among the northern generals, so at the beginning of his army, it can be said that the momentum was great, and the northern frontier of Daming seemed to have directly become Zhu Di's strength range.
After gaining the advantage over the Ming army in the early stage, Zhu Di led his army south, and it was also a strong momentum, at this time Sheng Yong replaced Li Jinglong and began to become the main general who resisted the Yan army to the south.
In the second year of Jianwen, Zhu Di did not want to give the Ming army the opportunity to integrate its forces, after all, he Zhu Di only controlled part of the northern Xinjiang region and fought a war of attrition, and was not the opponent of the main force of the Ming army at all, so what he had to do was to win by surprise, and he could not fight a regular war and a war of attrition with the main force of the Ming army.
Therefore, when the Yan army went south and besieged Jinan, but Jinan had Tie Xuan stationed there, the Yan army could not attack for a long time, before it had besieged Jinan City once, it was also Tie Xuan stubbornly defended, facing the city of Jinan, which was strongly defended, the Yan army also had no way, using human life to pile up, to take Jinan City is not of great significance.
Zhu Di turned to attack him, and in Dongchang, that is, in present-day Liaocheng, Shandong, the main force of the Yan army and Sheng Yong's troops encountered, in this battle, Zhu Di suffered the first heavy setback after the uprising, and the situation was almost dangerous.
First of all, facing Zhu Di's elite cavalry troops, Sheng Yong chose not to stick to the city, but to take the initiative to attack and go out of the city to fight, which firmly attracted Zhu Di's troops under Dongchang City, after all, the Yan army's siege ability was not strong, but in the field battle on the plains, the advantage of the cavalry troops was too great.
It was precisely because of this that Sheng Yong had to go out of the city and line up, otherwise, the Yan army would go around and plunder other places.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Sheng Yong's biography "Yong" led soldiers to Tun Dongchang to invite him, and turned his back on the city.
At the same time, Sheng Yong went out of the city to fight, but also grasped a combat characteristic of the Yan army, that is, accustomed to breaking through the main front of the Ming army from the flank or rear, once the Ming army collapsed, then the advantage of the Yan army's cavalry was reflected.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Zhu Nengchuan attacked Jinan, cihua mountain. The Southern Army rode on a high position, and was able to surround it with strange troops, attack it, and drop more than 10,000 people.
In the previous Jinan War, Zhu Neng, a fierce general of the Yan army, relied on the mobile strength of the cavalry to detour and rush to the rear of the Ming army to crush its main force.
Therefore, Sheng Yong's back to the city array is to ensure that his rear will not be raided by the Yan army cavalry to the greatest extent, and the combat strength of the Yan army cavalry will be weakened.
In addition, Sheng Yong grasped the operational characteristics of the Yan army, and what he deployed on both flanks was not the main force, but the elite troops in the middle army.
However, the troops on both flanks of the Sheng Yong Army, relying on firearms and crossbows, with the advantage of equipment, still resisted the first few rounds of attacks of the Yan Army.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Sheng Yong's biography of The Yan King Shuaibing went straight to the left wing of the Bo Yong Army and did not move. Re-rushing the backbone, Yongkai opened the line and entered the king, and the number of sieges was heavy.
It can be seen that Zhu Di's tactical choice, at the beginning or the flank of the Ming army, as long as it can break through the side of the Ming army, it is bound to affect the layout of the entire army of the ShengYong army, and then find loopholes, once the cavalry finds a breakthrough that can be cut in, it is easy to tear apart the defensive army formation composed of infantry.
Losing the ability of the army to fight together is equivalent to losing the key protection, and no matter how many troops, it will be divided into countless small groups composed of a small number of infantry, and there is no strength to fight with the cavalry, unless everyone is holding a submachine gun.
The two wings of the Sheng Yong army, relying on the superiority of weapons, repelled the first few rounds of attacks of the Yan army, so Zhu Di misjudged, he believed that Sheng Yong put the elite troops on the two wings, then the Chinese army that seemed to be strong in strength must be composed of soldiers with weak combat strength, so Zhu Di thought that he wanted to seize this opportunity and led the army to rush straight to the Sheng Yong army.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Zhang Yuchuan attacked Dongchang and met Sheng Yong's army. Chengzu rode around behind him with dozens of horses.
Zhang Yu's biography said that Zhu Di was leading dozens of cavalry to detour behind the Sheng Yong army, which should not be possible, even if there is a so-called edict that Emperor Jianwen is not allowed to kill Zhu Di, but on the battlefield, there are more firearms and arrows, people have long eyes, and weapons have long eyes?
And it is not reasonable, what can Zhu Di do with dozens of cavalry even if he successfully circles? Do you do special operations and play beheading? The chances are not great.
Then again, Sheng Yong's original plan was to make Zhu Di mistakenly think that his Chinese army was not an elite unit and was easy to be overwhelmed by the Yan army cavalry, so when Zhu Di rushed over without hesitation, he deployed his position and took the initiative to give way to the first line of defense, so that the Yan army could successfully rush into his main line, and then quickly complete the encirclement.
Once the cavalry unit of the Yan army stagnated and lost its impact, each cavalry was a huge target, and when it was encircled, the cavalry lost its original advantage, the encirclement circle became smaller and smaller, and the loss of troops became larger and larger.
Soon, the Yan army's main generals Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng realized the crisis, and if they continued to fight like this, Zhu Di would undoubtedly die.
Therefore, the two went to rescue Zhu Di in two ways.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Zhu Nengchuan", the Battle of Dongchang, Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan surrounded chengzu. Zhang Yu was killed in battle. In a hurry, the commander of the perimeter and other deadly fights, and The wing Chengzu collapses out.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Zhang Yu's biography was heavy, and Cheng Zu fought hard to get it. Yu did not know where Chengzu was, and burst into the battle, killing dozens of people and being wounded to death.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Sheng Yong Chuan" Yan will be able to ride to the rescue, And Wang Chengjian broke out.
As a result, according to these records, it should be that Zhang Yu launched an attack on the Sheng Yong army first, with only one purpose, to contain part of the strength of the Sheng Yong army and alleviate the encirclement of the main force of the Ming army against Zhu Di's troops.
At the same time, Zhu Neng led his troops to fight desperately, surrounded by conflicts, and rescued Zhu Di.
As a result, Zhu was able to successfully rescue Zhu Di, but Zhang Yu was once again surrounded by Sheng Yong's army, because it was not known whether Zhu Di had escaped from the encirclement, so Zhang Yu could only fight to the end, and the Yan army that had experienced fighting and escaped from the dead place was no longer able to rescue Zhang Yu's troops, and most of the Yan army was trapped in this kind of siege, and the losses were exhausted.
Zhang Yu is definitely a rare loyal general of Zhu Di, and we do not know whether he could break through at that time, but what is certain is that he should not take the initiative to break through, because he wants to give Zhu Di a glimmer of life.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Chengzu Benji" and Yong fought in Dongchang, and Yong used firearms to annihilate Wang Bing. Hui Ping'an army arrived, the siege was heavy, the king was defeated, the siege was avoided, tens of thousands of people died, and Zhang Yu was killed in battle.
"The Biography of Ming Shi Zhu Gaoxu" Chengzu Qibing, Renzong Jushou, Gao Xucong, taste for the military front... After the defeat of Chengzu Dongchang, Zhang Yu was killed in battle, and Chengzu went alone, and Shi Gaoxu led his division to repel the Southern Army.
At that time, although Zhu Di escaped, but Zhang Yuzhan died in the battle, this time Zhu Di's elite Yan army was almost completely destroyed, and finally Zhu Di's second son Zhu Gaoxu led his troops to arrive in time to repel the Ming army, and Zhu Di was able to save, otherwise, if Zhu Di was captured, then the Battle of Jingnan would end early, and Emperor Jianwen could be his emperor in a down-to-earth manner.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Sheng Yong Biography is also a battle, Yan elite lost several, the Yong army was loud, and the emperor won the victory for the enjoyment temple.
History of The Ming Dynasty. Zhang Yuchuan", Yan Bing, rose up, turned to fight for three years, and was sharp. To lose the general, an army to seize the breath. The division returned to Beiping, and the generals prostrated their heads and pleaded guilty.
The Battle of Dongchang was too great a blow to the Yan army, not only did it damage a large number of elite troops, Zhang Yu died in battle, the impact was immeasurable, he was Zhu Di's right and left arm, his battle achievements were outstanding, not to mention his exploits in li jinglong's battles, he was a Yuan Dynasty official before, he once fled with Emperor Yuan Shun to Mobei, and later returned to the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, he participated in the key wars that broke out before the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Yuan, the Battle of Yu'erhai, and then stationed in northern Xinjiang, repeatedly repelled the invading enemy, and later came under the command of Zhu Di and became Zhu Di's confidant.
In the Yan army, there is a saying that "Zhang Yu is good at plotting, Zhu Neng is good at war", so it is said that Zhang Yu's death in battle is too great a blow to Zhu Di and even the Yan army, and the huge crisis that Zhu Di first faced after the uprising has come, and for the Ming army, it is only its first heavy blow to the Yan army, which has achieved a strategic balance between the north and the south in a short period of time, and Emperor Jianwen is also relieved.
References to The History of the Ming Dynasty. Sheng Yong Biography", Ming Shi. Zhang Yuchuan", "Ming Shi. Zhu Nengchuan", Ming Shi. Chengzu Benji", "Ming Shi Zhu Gaoxu Biography"