Zhu Yuanzhang saw that all the Huaidong prefectures were pacified, and convened a military meeting to study the next course of action.

At the meeting, Li Shanchang put forward the idea of "moving in the gaps", and he suggested: "Zhang Shicheng has committed many crimes, and he should have been crusaded against a long time ago." However, according to the observation of Yuchen, although he has suffered repeated defeats, his army has not yet exhausted, the land is fertile, the people are rich, and he has accumulated a lot of money and grain, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to be defeated for a while. We should hold our ground and wait until the situation changes and we can take advantage of it before launching an attack. ”

Hu Weiyong and others immediately chimed in.

But Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Xu Da, Liu Ji and others did not agree, so he asked, "Do you have any other suggestions?" ”

Liu Ji resolutely opposed this conservative opinion, and when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's question, he refuted: "Zhang Shicheng is arrogant and cruel, extravagant and corrupt, and has long been dissatisfied with the people of the world. A group of arrogant generals he reused, such as Li Bosheng and Lu Zhen, were all filthy villains, who only knew how to rely on his soldiers to pursue promotion and make a fortune. And Huang Jingtian, Ye Dexin, and Cai Yanwen, who are in charge of government affairs, are all broad scholars and do not know how to seize the world at all. The minister thought that Zhang Shicheng and his ilk were already strong and middle-class, but in fact they were vulnerable, and the prince should immediately send a general to lead the elite and go out to fight, and the west of Zhejiang could be counted! ”

Xu Da and Chang Yuchun agreed in unison: "The ministers also think that we should take advantage of the great victory of our army and drive straight in, and not give Zhang Shicheng a chance to breathe." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded again and again after hearing this, and said to everyone with a smile: "Everyone's suggestion is good, but Gu feels that Mr. Gu's proposition is more in line with Gu's mind." What do you think? ”

He said so, and what else could the courtiers below say, they all nodded yes.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy, and said to Liu Ji: "If you decide to do it according to your opinion, you will definitely succeed." Who do you think can do this? ”

Military generals rely on fighting to make contributions, so generals are eager to lead the army to fight, and at this time they look at Liu Ji with their eyes, hoping that he can recommend themselves.

Liu Ji glanced at the generals and arched his hand: "The minister thinks that General Xu and General Chang are brave and wise, and they can take on this important responsibility." ”

"It's the same as Lone's thoughts, then let them both work hard." Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, "Xu Da and Chang Yuchun listened to the order, and now let the two of you be the generals of this expedition, and lead the army to attack Zhang Shicheng on the same day!" ”

Xu Da and Chang Yuchun hurriedly stepped forward to thank him for his life, and after retreating, they expressed their deep gratitude to Liu Ji.

Liu Ji said modestly: "It's the prince who appreciates you, and the lower officials just mentioned it slightly." ”

Then everyone also stepped forward to congratulate Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.

Li Shanchang watched coldly, he was angry and jealous in his heart, Liu Ji repeatedly opposed his opinions, this time not only refuted his opinions in public but also won Zhu Yuanzhang's appreciation, which was really indignant. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on it, he didn't dare to show the slightest dissatisfaction, and stepped forward to congratulate Xu Da and Chang Yuchun with a smirk.

After the meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang officially announced the crusade against Zhang Shicheng, and he asked Liu Ji to draw up a document listing Zhang Shicheng's crimes, and scolded Zhang Shicheng for being disloyal, unjust, and capricious. One of the crimes is "taking advantage of the danger of eating enough, luring me to rebel and plundering my border people."

As soon as the article was posted, everyone knew that Zhang Shicheng's seduction of Zhu Wenzheng's rebellion completely angered Zhu Yuanzhang, whether it was a real reason or an excuse, Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to let Zhang Shicheng go easily this time.

Because there were two Wu states in Jiangsu and Zhejiang at the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang's Wu was called Western Wu by the people, and Zhang Shicheng's Wu was called Eastern Wu by the people. The people are running to tell each other: "Hurry up and run away, Xiwu is going to attack Dongwu!" ”

Those who are optimistic about Zhang Shicheng think that Xiwu is not to be afraid, especially Zhang Shicheng's several subordinates still spend all day drinking, singing songs night and night, and only treat Zhu Yuanzhang's essay as a joke.

Those who are optimistic about Zhu Yuanzhang believe that the defeat of Eastern Wu is decided, and some nimble rich gentry take the opportunity to donate money and send grain, wishing the Western Wu army a triumphant return.

Of course, there are also people at both ends of the rat's head, here to please Zhang Shicheng, and there to Zhu Yuanzhang, for example, Fang Guozhen and others sent tribute to Zhu Yuanzhang and food to Zhang Shicheng.

At the same time, the Yuan court sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, and the Yuan court was tired of dealing with the rebel armies from all walks of life, coupled with the endless civil strife, there was no time to attack Zhang Shicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang, so I hoped that the two sides would fight themselves as soon as possible, and the more fierce the fight, the better, and when one side was defeated and the other side was almost lost, the court could eliminate the two rebel armies in one fell swoop without much effort.

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang sent 200,000 troops to conquer Zhang Shicheng, the commander was Xu Da, and the deputy general was Chang Yuchun. Now he has a lot of money, and there are 200,000 people in a random team, and of course he dares to argue with the richest salt dealers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The people of Eastern Wu are still laughing at the people of Western Wu for being poor and fighting with burning sticks, but they don't know that Zhu Yuanzhang's army has already changed its guns for bird artillery, and its military strength and equipment have been comprehensively improved. Not to mention that Zhu Yuanzhang captured more than 100 of Chen Youliang's sophisticated warships, just looking at the troops he sent this time, everyone wore armor and held firearms, and the artillery and food carried by the army were loaded with more than a dozen large ships. If it weren't for such sharp combat preparations, how could the generals be willing to rush to battle!

When discussing the battle plan before the expedition, Chang Yuchun had a dispute with Ye Dui.

Chang Yuchun and Xu Da both thought that they should directly attack Zhang Shicheng's hometown Pingjiang, as long as Pingjiang was attacked, Zhang Shicheng's other territories could surrender without a fight.

Chang Yuchun still has a selfish heart, and wants to immediately catch Zhang Shicheng to avenge Zhu Wenzheng. He and Zhu Wenzheng are quite familiar with each other, and even taught Zhu Wenzheng to learn shooting, and the two are called teachers and friends.

His brother-in-law Lan Yu was even more angry and shouted angrily that he would not kill Zhang Shi and swear not to be a man!

Lan Yu is not yet visible, just a small general, when Zhu Wenzheng was holding on to Hongdu, he was sent to support Hongdu. At that time, Chen Youliang's army besieged Hongdu, he was not allowed to enter, and every day he saw countless floating corpses drifting on the river and the smoke and flames of war over Hongdu, he could imagine how difficult it was for Zhu Wenzheng to defend the city. It's a pity that he didn't have enough troops at that time, and he didn't dare to compete directly with Chen Youliang, so he could only watch from a distance, worried about Zhu Wenzheng in his heart.

Fortunately, 40,000 soldiers fought against 600,000 enemies later, which is not a miracle, it should be called a miracle. Such a prominent contribution is not an exaggeration to be knighted, but Zhu Yuanzhang only lightly commended a few words. Lan Yudu thought that Zhu Wenzheng was not worthy, he had an upright personality, so he wrote a letter to comfort Zhu Wenzheng. Zhu Wenzheng was in a depressed mood, and when he saw that he was unhappy in his letter, he immediately became a confidant.

Now that his good friend had an accident, Lan Yu couldn't blame Zhu Yuanzhang, so he hated Zhang Shicheng who lured Zhu Wenzheng to rebel, and tried his best to persuade Chang Yuchun to directly recruit Zhang Shicheng.