Then, Chen Youliang asked Zhang Shicheng to attack Yingtian from east to west, divide Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally, and Yingtian was shaken. Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to convene the generals to discuss countermeasures, and for a while there were different opinions.

Only Liu Ji was silent, so Zhu Yuanzhang asked for his opinion, Liu Ji thought that the most dangerous enemy now was Chen Youliang, and he must concentrate on destroying him.

Although Chen Youliang's power is strong, he kills the king and stands on his own, his troops are separated, and the people are tired, so it is not difficult to defeat, as long as they go deeper, and then attack them with ambushes, it is not difficult to win. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy deep and build fighters.

Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinate Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang were old friends, so he repaired a letter and sent someone to Chen Youliang's camp, asking Chen to attack Yingtian, and said that he was willing to respond at Jiangdong Bridge.

On the morning of 23 June, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to the Jiangdong Bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian, only to find that the bridge was a stone bridge instead of a wooden bridge. But it was too late, Zhu Yuanzhang's ambush troops rose up to attack, and Chen Youliang was defeated.

Zhu Yuanzhang collected Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youliang was defeated and fled to Jiujiang, and captured Anqing in August of the second year, so Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to take Chen Youliang's old nest Jiangzhou, Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.

At this time, the Central Plains Red Turban Army split and weakened. In February of the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363), Zhang Shicheng took advantage of the danger and sent his troops to attack Anfeng, and Liu Futong asked Zhu Yuanzhang for help. Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to Anfeng, rescued Han Lin'er, the king of Xiaoming, and arranged for them to live in Chuzhou. When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue King Xiaoming, Chen Youliang thought that the time for a counterattack had come, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu.

In the twenty-third year of Zhizheng (1363 AD), Chen Youliang commanded 600,000 naval troops and hundreds of giant ships to conquer Wu in the east. The Han army was overwhelming. The court was shocked, at this time Zhu Yuanzhang was busy fighting with Zhang Shicheng of Eastern Wu, and had no time to look west, even if he waved his army to the west, with Zhu Yuanzhang's power, it would be difficult to compete with the Han army.

Therefore, in order to gain more time to prepare for the war, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to Hongdu: swear to defend Hongdu to the death and wait for the army to come to help!

After receiving this order, Zhu Wenzheng, the general of Hongdu, spent his days drinking and drinking. He seems to have become a different person at this time.

He quickly convened an emergency military meeting, and in his capacity as a supreme commander, he said to every soldier in a firm tone: "The city is dead or dead, we will defend the Hongdu City to the death!" ”

He immediately allocated his forces to defend the various city gates, and the next thing Zhu Wenzheng and the defenders of Nanchang would face was an army of 600,000 - one of the largest and strongest in the world at that time!

The battle for the defense of Hongdu began, and the 600,000 Han army, under the unified command of Chen Youliang, launched wave after wave of fierce attacks on Hongdu City, and the defenders on the city tower fought to the death with the enemy! They were convinced that reinforcements would come, and they were confident that they could hold the city.

In order to inspire the soldiers, Zhu Wenzheng personally led his own soldiers, climbed the city tower, stood with his comrades-in-arms, and used his broadsword and his own flesh and blood to resist the onslaught of 600,000 enemy troops again and again!

Guarding Hongdu with Zhu Wenzheng, there is also Deng Yu, who was called "the sixth general in the world" by Mingyue that year. Deng Yu was a general who was good at using firearms.

The enemy once broke through the city wall and broke into the city, Zhu Wenzheng sent Deng Yu to lead the troops to resist the enemy, Deng Yu led the troops with muskets to shoot the enemy troops in the city in turn, the Han army fell one after another, and the rest saw that the lethality of firearms was so great, and they were very afraid.

Under the tough counterattack of the defenders of Hongdu, the Han army could only withdraw outside the city. Zhu Wen was busy sending people to repair the city wall.

Due to the fierce defense of Hongdushi, Chen Youliang's 600,000 troops besieged for 85 days, as long as three months, but failed to break through Hongdu City.

Chen Youliang couldn't help but sigh: "Zhu Yuanzhang's fierce generals are like clouds, and there are military wizards like Zhu Wenzheng, if he can serve me, he will definitely be like a tiger!" ”

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang prepared everything, commanded an army of 200,000, and sailed towards Hongdu.

This battle is one of the most famous siege battles in Chinese history, and it is also a classic case of China's military victory with less, which had a huge impact on the political pattern of the late Yuan Dynasty.

This three-month-long battle to defend Hongdu enabled Zhu Wenzheng to give full play to his military talent and command ability that was not inferior to that of any famous general of his time. created the pinnacle of Zhu Wenzheng's life and pushed him onto the mythical stage of the brilliant generals of the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.

The strategic significance of Hongdu is extremely important, this war determined Zhu Yuanzhang's overlord career, Chen Youliang's Han army in this battle consumed greatly, the power was greatly reduced, and finally in Poyang Lake was completely annihilated by Zhu Yuanzhang laid a firm foundation, the battle of Hongdu changed the entire situation in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty.

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