The next day, he got up very late, and when he arrived at the palace, it was already afternoon, and he was seriously criticized by Fang Xiaoru, Zhu Yunwen felt that it was excusable, and it was no big deal.

Two days later, an eight-hundred-mile expedited war report arrived in Beijing; At this time, King Yan had been raising troops for more than a month, and the master of the court had also gone out to fight and forced King Yan; However, the news brought to the Son of Heaven and his ministers by this latest battle report was not improved in the slightest compared to before, but was even more depressing and shocking.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, Zhu Di personally led the army to secretly cross the Baigou River at night, and surrounded Xiongxian where 10,000 elite cavalry of the Southern Army were stationed. This 10,000 elite cavalry as the vanguard of the Southern Army, extremely brave and good at fighting, not inferior to the Yan Army, helpless Zhu Di with 80,000 troops to suppress the city, plus the Yan Army is a sneak attack at night, 10,000 elite soldiers were caught off guard, outnumbered, there was no chance of victory, after a fierce battle all night, finally can no longer support, except for a few men and horses to break out of the city, rushed elsewhere to ask for help, 10,000 elite soldiers almost all died heroically, the remaining less than 100 seriously injured to suicide The soldiers refused to surrender and were executed for Zhu Di. The entire Xiongxian County is naturally a sea of blood, and the outside of the city is also full of corpses, and the Yan army has suffered heavy losses. As the saying goes, if you kill 10,000 enemies, you will lose 3,000 yourself; However, such an elite army of 10,000 people was wiped out, and the Yan army paid a higher price than the imperial army, killing nearly 15,000 people. However, the essence of the problem lies in the fact that this battle was the first head-to-head confrontation between the Yan army and the southern army, and it was the first battle of the entire war against Yan by the imperial court.

This failure is not over; The cavalry that broke through rushed to Juzhou, where Pan Zhong and Yang Song were stationed, and asked for help. Pan and Yang were shocked when they received the report, and on August 17, they left 10,000 troops to defend the city, and led the remaining 10,000 soldiers from Juzhou to Xiongxian County to rescue, but Zhu Di set up an ambush at the Yueyang Bridge of the Baigou River, and after the 10,000 southern army crossed the river, they were ambushed and besieged, and in a short period of time, the 10,000 southern army was also wiped out, and the whole army was annihilated; Pan and Yang were defeated and captured. The Yan army then rushed to the city of Juzhou with lightning speed, and the southern army defending the city saw that the commander was captured, and 10,000 brothers had died and surrendered, and understood that it was useless to hold on, so they opened the city gate and surrendered, and Juzhou fell like this.

The first artillery of the Yan army's attack on Xiongxian opened the prelude to the Battle of Jingyan in such a shocking manner. There were dark clouds in the DPRK and China, and the morale of the entire Yugoslav army was also greatly defeated. Shen Ruoyu could only comfort Zhu Yunwen, the anti-king was successful because of the sneak attack at night, and it was on such a Mid-Autumn Festival night, the Xiongxian defenders must be celebrating the festival, except for Zhu Di's people, no one would have thought that King Yan would be so ruthless and would choose to start at such a time. After all, not letting the enemy army celebrate the festival is equivalent to not letting his own soldiers celebrate the festival, King Yan has always loved soldiers like sons, but when it comes to the critical time, he really has this heart, not to mention that he paid the high price of 15,000 deaths, with King Yan's mind, he will definitely not be unexpected. This time, he won 80,000 against 10,000, and naturally got lucky; But soon, he will find Geng Bingwen's 130,000-strong army waiting for him in front, and at that time, see how much luck he can have.

However, history has proved that Zhu Di, the king of Yan, is really the darling of the sky, and those who oppose him and stand against him are not so good. Twelve days later, the second battle report was sent to Jingshi overnight, and it was another defeat. This time, it was the defeat of the great general Geng Bingwen.

Geng Bingwen divided the 130,000-strong army into two camps, one on the south bank of the Hutuo River and the other on the north bank, in order to support each other. As a result, a subordinate colonel named Zhang Bao on the general's side secretly surrendered to King Yan and told Zhu Di of Geng Bingwen's deployment. Zhu Di then took Zhang Bao as the intermediary and asked Zhang Bao to return to the southern army to publicize that "the Yan soldiers have gone down to Xiongxian County and Juzhou, with 80,000 troops, and the evening is coming. Geng Bingwen also received the battle report of the fall of Xiongxian and Juzhou at this time, and the people in the camp were panicked, so he decided to merge the two battalions into one battalion to prevent the Yan army from breaking through, and ordered the southern camp to cross to the north. This move is in Zhu Di's arms; Just when the mighty Nanying army was crossing the river, Zhu Di suddenly led 80,000 Yan troops to rush in, and attacked half-crossing, how could he be invincible? Geng Bingwen urgently summoned the northern camp to help, the two sides fought in the north of Hutuo Hebei, and fought until dusk, as a result, the Yan army was victorious, the southern army was defeated, 30,000 soldiers were buried in the field, Geng Bingwen's left and right deputy generals Li Jian, the governor of the horse, and the governor Ning Zhong were captured by the Yan army, and the veteran governor Gu Cheng was also captured. The Yan army lost 20,000 men, but not a single important general was captured. However, the southern army lost three high-ranking generals, among whom the horse Li Jian was seriously injured, and soon news came from Yanying that Li Jian unfortunately died.

The court was in an uproar, and the royal clan was even more indignant. The daimyo princess, who had lost her horse, cried and made trouble, and led almost all the imperial relatives to declare in front of the Son of Heaven that Geng Bingwen must be severely punished for the crime of defeating the army. Zhu Yunwen was naturally even more annoyed; The imperial army suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle, and 10,000 vanguard troops were lost; And the World War II commanded by the general himself was a fiasco, and this time the two lieutenants were sent in, not to mention the death of the horse Li Jian, who lost the majesty and face of the Son of Heaven at once.

At this time, the news that the defenders of Baoding surrendered to the Yan army came again, which made the Son of Heaven and the courtiers receive another hammer on their heads.

Therefore, although Geng Bingwen insisted on Zhending after the defeat, giving full play to his expertise as a general defending the city, so that Zhu Di, the king of Yan, lost countless elite soldiers of the Yan army for two days and two nights and attacked in turns, still firmly guarding the city walls and gates of Zhending, and did not give the Yan army the slightest opportunity, and finally forced Zhu Di to order the retreat, but this achievement was ignored by the Son of Heaven and the ministers. Everyone was just horrified to see that a big defeat killed a horse, two deputy marshals were captured, and the army of King Yan conquered Xiongxian County, occupied Juzhou, and had reached the Hutuo River, surrounded Zhending, and saw that it was getting closer and closer to the Yellow River, to the Great River, and even to the Jingshi.

Therefore, Xu Huizu has worn out his mouth, and it cannot be said that the Son of Heaven and the ministers have the slightest change of heart. Zhu Yunwen was furious, and decided to remove the general, call Geng Bingwen back, and choose another candidate. Of course, Shen Ruoyu also paid attention to the fact that Xu Huizu's fourth brother, Xu Zengshou, the governor of Zuodu, was extremely enthusiastic about this matter, and resolutely stood on the side of the courtiers and many imperial relatives, strongly supported the removal of the general by the Son of Heaven, and completely stood on two sides with his eldest brother Wei Guogong.

Zhu Yunwen retreated into the Qianqing Palace, sat down on the imperial couch, couldn't help but sigh again, and asked Shen Ruoyu:

"Look at it, the dignified general, he came up and suffered three defeats in a row, such a person has a false name, how can he let him command the army? You also advised me not to change him, how could I not change him? ”

Shen Ruoyu said worriedly: "Your Majesty, I still say the same thing: changing generals in battle is a taboo for soldiers, and the consequences are unpredictable. The army is now panicked, and if the main general is replaced, there will be chaos if it is not done well. ”

Zhu Yunwen said: "Let Geng Bingwen continue to stay, then there will really be a big mess." I can't indulge him too much, and I must punish him severely as a warning. I have made up my mind; You should help me think about who will replace Geng Bingwen now. ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "Your Majesty, didn't you already make it clear before, if the Marquis of Changxing is not there, it should be led by Wei Guogong, and Wei Guogong himself said so." ”

Zhu Yunwen was silent for a long time, and sighed softly: "Of course I remember, but I now feel that Wei Guogong's words are actually far less credible. It was he who personally sent Geng Bingwen to defend me, and as a result, you can see how it is a mess now; He actually persuaded me that victory and defeat were a common thing in soldiers, and if I continued like this, two more battles would be out of control, and I could only be killed in front of the Yanshu people. Recommend this kind of mediocrity to me, how much talent can he have? I should have asked him to write a military order in the first place, and see if he would be so stubborn now. ”

When the emperor said this, the courtiers naturally had nothing to say. Shen Ruoyu had no choice but to shrug his shoulders and said helplessly:

"Then I really don't know who else can be a general."

Zhu Yunwen asked, "When will you be willing to go on the expedition?" ”

This is not the first time that the Son of Heaven has asked this question, and it is not the second or third time. Shen Ruoyu smiled bitterly:

"Your Majesty, I've said it a few times, I'm okay with people alone, I've never done it on the battlefield, that's not the same thing."

"I know; I'm not going to come up and let you take command. Zhu Yunwen said, "But it's a pity that you are so good at staying by my side all day long, in the palace where nothing will ever happen." If you can go to war, I'm sure you can defeat ten thousand. If you have made military achievements, I will definitely give you the title of marquis and uncle, and you can be crowned a wife and a son for generations. ”

Shen Ruoyu smiled: "Let's talk about it; I haven't figured it out yet. Even if I do want to go, I will not do it for any fame or fortune. ”

He was starting to hesitate a little, too; After all, King Yan's progress was a little too fast, and he couldn't stand still if he wanted to. If he had been allowed to develop like this, and soon King Yan had crossed the river and won the throne, what would he do? All his efforts and efforts were not in vain.

However, once he is on the battlefield and faces King Yan, can he really be ruthless? It is easy to send back the treasure of the county lord, after all, he is in Yingtian and cannot see King Yan. But he must be able to see it on the battlefield, even face to face.

What's more, he had never fought a war, how much of a role could his own martial arts rely on to survive play on the battlefield where he needed to rely on stratagem most of the time, and how much ability could he have to stop the Yan army from invading south? He wasn't a father after all.

What's more, the battlefield means years and months, and nine deaths. Could it be that he left Qiu'er alone at home and was scared, he would not return for a few years, and he didn't know if he would be able to see her again.

Shen Ruoyu hesitated, but never revealed half a word to Nangong Qiu, for fear that she would worry.

The selection of generals by the imperial court this time was not delayed for as long as the last time. Huang Zicheng, the secretary of Taichang Temple, proposed that Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao Guo, take command of the expedition, and Zhu Yunwen approved his suggestion without too much consideration, obviously agreeing with this candidate.

Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, was the eldest son of Li Wenzhong, the king of Qiyang. Li Wenzhong is the nephew of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who accompanied Taizu to conquer the north and south, created the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and was highly trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang; Later, he died in the prime of life, and was only forty-six years old when he died. Zhu Yuanzhang also once suspected that the medical officer was poisoned, and deposed the chief medical officer Huai'an Hou Huazhong to Jianchang, and all the rest of the medical officers and wives were beheaded, and then personally made a sacrificial text to mourn his deeply favored nephew, posthumously crowned the king of Qiyang, and Wujing, worthy of enjoying the Taimiao, and the temple of meritorious heroes, ranking third.

Li Jinglong's character Jiujiang, like his father Li Wenzhong, is tall and mighty, with sparse eyebrows, handsome and straight, and personable, courteous and elegant, deeply loved by Zhu Yuanzhang, he has been asked to go out to train many times, and he has been named the governor of the Left Army Governor's Mansion, and later he was named the prince and the prince. After Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, he assigned Li Jinglong a special task, that is, to lead the army to Kaifeng in the name of going to Henan to train troops, and suddenly surrounded the palace of the king of Zhou and arrested the king of Zhou to the capital division. Li Jinglong did a very good job in this matter, or Zhou Wang was stupid when he arrived at home, so there was a later result. Zhu Yunwen has trusted Li Jinglong even more since then, so when he heard Huang Zicheng's proposal, he quickly agreed, and no longer asked Xu Huizu's opinion.

On August 30, Zhu Yunwen worshiped Li Jinglong as the general of the conquest, replacing Geng Bingwen, who had been recalled to Beijing by the Holy Decree, and led his division to the expedition. The Son of Heaven was very kind to this new general, and the honor was far greater than Geng Bingwen, and he gave Li Jinglong a rhino belt to the sky, and even personally pushed a cart for the general, gave him a trip by the river, and said to him:

"From this battle, the general will do everything cheaply."

Shen Ruoxiao followed the Son of Heaven every step of the way, seeing it really clearly, and his heart was full of emotion. He didn't know which was higher than Li Jinglong and Xu Huizu, he only knew that this general did look dignified, but he seemed to be a little arrogant, far less calm and reserved than Wei Guogong. Of course, if Li Jinglong has a general like Lan Yu, then this person is as proud and conceited as Lan Yu, and even flying and domineering, he can only wait with the Son of Heaven and all the courtiers. But Shen Ruoyu didn't know that at this moment, Zhu Di, the king of Yan who had returned to Beiping from Zhending to recuperate, had already installed a new eyeliner in the imperial court, and had already received a secret report sent back by the new eyeliner, and after learning that the Son of Heaven replaced Geng Bingwen with Li Jinglong, he was overjoyed and said: "Li Jiujiang, the young ear of the young man, Yi and Ye." ”

He also didn't know when the war would end, and how much of a role this Li Jinglong could play; Of course, he didn't know if he would leave Qiu'er one day and go to the battlefield. He didn't know much more than he knew.

However, some things quickly became clear to him, so fast that he was unprepared, difficult for him to accept, and made his mind flustered, so that he could not think about his own one and the series of decisions that followed.