Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor was silent, Qi Tai couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart: Although Your Majesty is generous, he has no choice but to lose the decisiveness of Emperor Taizu in the past. He knew that it would be difficult for His Majesty the Emperor to order the killing of Cao Guogong, Huang Zicheng immediately bowed slightly and said: "Your Majesty, as Wei Chen has seen, Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan have to protect Jinan without loss, and they should be entrusted with a heavy task and strive to hit Yan Wei hard." The fact that the imperial army was defeated twice has made the former military secretary clearly realize that Zhu Di, the king of Yan, is by no means an easy person. Although Sheng Yong and Tie Xuan repelled the Yan army, the strength of the army in the hands of Zhu Di and Zhu Quan is still there, and it is by no means flat. Because of this, he no longer casually said anything like destroying Yan Yi.

When Zhu Yunwen heard this, he immediately passed down his will, promoted Sheng Yong to be the governor of the capital, and General Pingyan to lead the Northern Expedition of all troops. Tie Xuan, who participated in politics, was promoted to the political envoy of Shandong, and was given the title of secretary of the Ministry of War.

In October of the second year of Jianwen, Zhu Di saw that the weather was gradually getting colder, which was really beneficial to the Yan army, which was mostly northerners, and immediately waved his army south again.

The vanguard of the two armies fought in Cangzhou, and the southern army suffered a small defeat with thousands of casualties, and was plundered of a grain and grass. Governor Sheng Yong immediately ordered the army of several roads to be sent by the military department to Dongchang Mansion (now Liaocheng, Shandong), intending to wait for work and fight a decisive battle with the Yan army here.

Zhu Di, the king of Yan, was reported by the scouts, and Sheng Yong, the governor of the southern army, led a large army to garrison Dongchang. The walls of this place are low, and the city is small and it is difficult to accommodate the imperial army, which is difficult to compare with a strong city like Jinan. Immediately ordered Zhu Quan, Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng and others to lead their troops and horses to follow them south and come towards Dongchang. ”“

When the 160,000 Yan army approached Dongchang, the more than 180,000 southern troops had already gathered under the city of Dongchang a few days ago, cut down wood and built a fortress, and the camp was several miles away.

When the sky was bright, the Yan army was arrayed in the field. Zhu Di looked at Sheng Yong's army from afar and stayed in the camp, and did not lead his troops out to fight, so he immediately waved his hand and gave an order.

More than 100 artillery pieces that had long been ready to fire spewed thick smoke and tongues of fire, and fired at the wooden fence of the camp at the forefront of the Southern Army with a loud sound. Dust splashed, broken wood flew indiscriminately, and gunpowder rose from the wooden fence of the southern army. Under the order of General Sheng Yong, the southern army had already avoided a radius of dozens of zhang and did not fight, but only dozens of casualties were lost.

Under the command of the general, the three thousand Yan soldiers brandished their weapons and rushed forward, rushing towards the outside of the wooden fence of the southern army.

Sheng Yongyao, who was standing on the wall of Dongchang with his armor on his head, saw the enemy troops swarming, and immediately waved his hand with a calm face. The gunners, who had been on standby in front of dozens of artillery pieces at the head of the city, saw the pennant in Qianhu's hand waving heavily, and immediately lit the cannon twist with the torch in his hand. Dozens of artillery shells fired from the city's head poured a series of shells towards the Yan army in the distance, causing a cloud of dust and screams.

Zhu Di, who was on the carved saddle of a bloody horse, saw that the enemy army relied on trenches, deer rocks and solid wooden fences to block with artillery fire and bows and crossbows. Although their own artillery fire bombarded the enemy's camp out of a gap of several square feet, they could not cross the trench, and Lu Pan attacked into it, but continued to fall in the rain of arrows and artillery fire, and immediately frowned and ordered the general who led the army to attack to lead the troops to withdraw. It turned out that he saw that the army under Sheng Yong's command was building a fortress outside the city with its back against the Dongchang city wall, and he knew that the strong attack would inevitably cause heavy casualties, so he had the intention to lure the enemy army out of the village to fight in the wilderness, so that his Yanshan guards and other cavalry could entangle the enemy army, forming a situation of field battle between the two armies.

Within two days, the Yan army was allowed to shout and provoke in front of the battle, and sent troops to attack, but the southern army could not be held out by relying on the camp.

In the afternoon of this day, when thousands of Yan troops attacked the right flank of the camp from outside, the camp tents were all over the center of the southern army camp within a radius of two or three miles, and thousands of southern soldiers were in a group of thousands of households, and the hundred households led the wooden barrels full of gunpowder to move to the camp tents one by one, and in the rear of the camp, the left and right directions were driven into the soil with rough logs.

It was almost dusk, and the Yan army returned in vain and collected the troops and returned to the camp. Sheng Yong, who was wearing armor, stood on the city wall of Dongchang, and saw that the layout of the camp was roughly ready, and immediately passed down the military order, so that the generals in the army could listen to the order. The reason why he did not move was because he knew that this Yan Shun was good at using cavalry, and there was an elite guard like Yanshan in hand, and it was really unwise to go out of the village to fight with him in the wilderness.

At dawn on the second day, after Zhu Di gave an order, 10,000 murderous Yan army foot soldiers rushed away like a tide under the guidance of the military flag, aiming at the center of the continuous camp of the Southern Army.

Sheng Yong refused to fight, Zhu Di planned to attack the enemy camp with these 10,000 soldiers and horses, even if there were only a few thousand soldiers to attack, as long as there was enough chaos in the enemy village, he could lead the two wings of the army to attack and completely break through the enemy camp. Tens of thousands of enemy troops were camped under the Dongchang city wall, and if they were defeated by their own army in one fell swoop, it would be impossible for them to flee into the small city of Dongchang in a hurry.

10,000 Yan soldiers forgot their lives and died, and came to attack, and the middle section of the southern army camp felt the pressure, and the soldiers on both sides were killed in the Yan army's artillery fire, manpower to dismantle the wooden fence, and fill in the trench more than ten zhang wide space.

Sheng Yong saw that the enemy army was taking the central breakthrough method, and immediately gave a deep order to several soldiers holding flags not far from his side.

Under the vigorous waving of the flag bearer in charge of the order, the flags of the length of the zhang longer and shorter danced to convey the orders of the commander of the army with unique movements.

The generals and colonels of the Southern Army, who were responsible for leading the army to meet and intercept the southern army camp head-on, looked back at the military orders expressed in the banner at the head of the city, and immediately quietly withdrew the crossbowmen who were struggling to open their bows and arrows, as well as the foot soldiers who had not yet fought with the Yan army with spears, swords and shields, towards the left and right flanks of the camp in batches. The strength of the Southern Army facing the Yan Army in the middle of the road gradually decreased from more than 15,000 to 12,000, 10,000, and 9,000......

In the bloody battle, hundreds of Yan soldiers waved their weapons and followed behind a thousand households who were covered in several wounds and covered in blood, and finally broke into the middle of the southern army, "broke through" the enemy's defense line, and when they pursued and fled the enemy in the forward conflict, they lit torches and burned the camp tents, so as to create greater chaos in the enemy's continuous camp.

Zhu Di saw that his army had finally broken through the enemy camp, and he knew that he could not lose the opportunity, so he immediately shouted for orders in excitement.

At the sound of the earth-shattering horn, the 30,000 Yan army, under the leadership of the general Qiu Fu, rushed forward, and followed the thousands of robes that rushed into the enemy camp like a tide to reinforce them, so as not to be outnumbered by thousands of friendly troops under the heavy siege of the enemy army.

Zhu Quan stood on top of his beloved horse "Dark Clouds Covering Snow", slowly pulled out the three-foot long sword at his waist, and looked coldly at the wooden fence of the camp of the Southern Army that stretched for several miles. He knew that the army of the imperial court on the opposite side was not inferior to his own in terms of strength, and at present, a small part of his army broke through the middle road and gained the upper hand, and under the unfavorable situation, Sheng Yong was likely to send the cavalry of the Ping'an Department out of the camp to counterattack the tens of thousands of troops who had not yet completely rushed into the enemy camp, and at that time, the Yanshan escort cavalry was bound to cover up, and a bloody battle of cavalry against cavalry was about to start in this wilderness.

Sheng Yongyao, the governor of the southern army standing on the city wall, saw thousands of Yan soldiers rushing like a tide, and entered the ambush circle in the shape of a "concave" character set up in the continuous camp, and immediately ordered the cannon to be fired.

Dozens of artillery pieces that had already been prepared bombarded the Yan troops swarming from the city's own military camp.

Thousands of crossbowmen of the Southern Army stood behind, and behind the three solid wooden fences on the left and right, they threw a rain of arrows into the sky.

When the thousands of Yan soldiers who broke into the southern army camp rushed forward with their weapons, they suddenly faced arrows and shells from the front, left and right wings, and even the city walls, and suffered heavy casualties. Even though the countless Yan soldiers who rushed forward raised their shields to block the arrows flying above their heads, they fell among the feathered arrows that flew like locusts on the left and right wings.

There was no enemy in the burning tents of the southern army camps one after another, but there were earth-shattering explosions one after another in the raging flames, blowing up the Yan soldiers and generals who were not far away, and they were so shocked that their souls were scattered.

Countless Yan troops rushed to the two wings under the leadership of their own thousands and hundreds of households, intending to get close to the enemy army and fight, so that the enemy's bows and crossbows could not be used.

Seeing the enemy swarming, the soldiers of the southern army behind the wooden fence raised their fire guns and lit the fire twist. In the green smoke spitting, rows of lead flew out of the fire gun, piercing through the shield in the hands of the Yan sergeant and the armor on his body, stirring up streams of bloody arrows.

Behind the firecrackers, rows of southern sergeants picked up their spears six feet away, stepped forward, staggered past the robes that had dropped their firearms and retreated, and stabbed their spears through the gaps between the wooden fences that could hardly accommodate the passage of enemy troops.

The Yan soldiers rushed forward with their swords in hand, but they were useless in the face of the dense spears, and many of the soldiers saw the sharp spear tips in front of them, but they exclaimed in surprise and squeezed the robes that kept coming behind them and squeezed them forward, dying in the enemy's spear array.

Zhu Quan saw from afar that the enemy army at the head of the city was brazenly bombarding his camp, and he vaguely felt an ominous feeling in his heart, and secretly shocked himself: Sheng Yong bombarded our army with such artillery fire, didn't he disregard the lives of his soldiers? It turns out that artillery is such a sharp weapon to attack the city and deter the enemy, according to common sense, it cannot be used in the case of melee between the two armies, otherwise wouldn't it be even bombarded with one's own people?

Zhu Di saw the fireworks and arrows flying in the enemy's camp, and guessed in his heart that he might have fallen for Sheng Yong's tricks, but he still had no choice but to give another order, asking his general Chen Heng to lead an army of 50,000 to attack and reinforce his own army that broke into the southern army camp, so as not to annihilate the 30,000 men and horses.

On the head of Dongchang City, Sheng Yong, the governor of the Southern Army, saw that the enemy army in the distance was slowly speeding forward, and after taking a deep breath, he immediately issued a general order for the whole army to attack. The right hand slapped the battlements of the city wall fiercely, and secretly thought to himself: The opportunity for victory and defeat is in one move.

Rows of Southern sergeants armed with sharp axes rushed to the wooden fence, wielding axes and chopping thick wooden fences into pieces.

In the sound of the horns, rows of wooden fences fell to the ground with a bang, overwhelming the Yan soldiers who were difficult to avoid in a hurry, and the swarming southern soldiers were like a flood that burst the embankment and killed the Yan army from three directions.

The soldiers of the Yan Army, who were trapped in the "concave" ambush circle, had already suffered heavy casualties under the fire from three sides, and at this time, in the face of a sudden counterattack by the enemy's whole army, it seemed to be constantly attacking from all directions, and the inexhaustible enemy troops were in chaos. People kept turning and fleeing, driving hundreds, thousands, and thousands of robes to turn around and flee.

The southern army that broke through the gate on three roads pursued it, gathering more and more like the confluence of rivers, and pursued about 20,000 fleeing Yan troops at the tail of the tail.

The wooden fence on the left flank of the southern army camp was cut down one after another and pushed outward, and rows of people collapsed on the trench outside the camp. The armored Southern Army commanded Ping An to ride forward and crossed the trench on a wooden fence. Behind him, more and more cavalry of the Southern Army rode forward, rushing forward from the gap opened in the wooden fence of the camp.

Before the 50,000 Yan troops under Chen Heng, the general of the Yan army, rushed to the enemy's camp, they were defeated and retreated, and the more than 20,000 Yan soldiers and generals who had lost their armor and abandoned their armor rushed into chaos and chaos.

Thousands of soldiers of the Southern Army swarmed from behind the embankment like a flood that burst the embankment, waving their weapons and letting out a hoarse roar, driving the tens of thousands of enemy troops who were already in chaos to retreat, turn around, and then attack Zhu Di's large army that had not yet been put into battle.

Zhu Quan and Zhu Di couldn't help but be stunned when they saw the defeated soldiers of their own army running wildly from half a mile away, and the enemy army behind them who were all out and overwhelmed, and they both saw a trace of horror in each other's eyes.

Zhu Di gritted his teeth fiercely and gave orders to Zhang Yu, the general on his side.

Zhang Yu, who wore armor and carried a spear, rode forward under his horse, and thousands of Yanshan escort cavalry who were waiting behind him followed the military flag, and the southern army that rushed towards the torrent all commanded the cavalry of the Ping'an Department to go head-on. The generals of the Yan army, who had gone through the battle array, knew in their hearts that it was a fool's dream to retreat at this time, and it was likely that only escaping without fighting would wipe out the hundreds of thousands of troops, and only by fighting and retreating could there be any hope. The most dangerous of the pursuing enemy forces is the cavalry led by Ping An, and if you can get away with repelling the enemy cavalry in a bloody battle, you will have more vitality for your own army.

Under the rumbling of hooves, the cavalry of the two armies got closer and closer, and the knights who rode their horses and galloped wildly all abandoned their bows and slashed their swords, because if they opened their bows and arrows at such a rapid approach, they were afraid that they would be cut off by the enemy before they had time to change their swords.

On the wilderness, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Yan army who were defeated and retreated threw away their weapons one after another, and rushed wildly. Compared with the chasing soldiers behind them, they are even more terrifying to Zhu Di and Zhu Quan. Because most of the Yan army behind him will inevitably be soft in the face of their own army, and this group of defeated soldiers who are desperate and downcast are ready to flee to the edge of the sky under the pursuit of the enemy, and they will not hesitate to rush and trample on their own army.

There is a cloud in the art of war, and thirty-six strategies are the best. As the saying goes, a good man doesn't suffer immediate losses. Zhu Di, Zhu Quan, as two heroes who are familiar with the art of war and are accustomed to battle formations, at this time, in the face of such a situation where the defeat is like a mountain and the manpower is irretrievable, he will never be naïve enough to think that he is still capable of turning the tide, and he hurriedly turned the horse's head.

Between the gallops of "sweat and blood" and "dark clouds covering snow", more than 10,000 Yanshan escort cavalry followed Zhu Di, and Zhu Quan gradually accelerated behind him, turning his head diagonally in the wilderness, preparing to leave the battlefield.

All the foot soldiers in the Yan army's large array who had not yet entered the battle turned around and ran one after another in the sound of the retreating soldiers, and gradually evolved into a deserted escape after losing their armor.