Is Geng Bingwen capable? Of course he is. They are all from Fengyang. His father was a favorite general of Emperor Gaozu. Geng Bingwen's loyalty is unquestionable, and he has made many military achievements. He earned the hereditary title of Marquis of Changxing with his real ability.
Emperor Jianwen was well-read, but he neglected the fact that people learn things in sequence and specialize in different fields. Geng Bingwen was very capable, but he was good at defending cities, not attacking.
The battles that made Geng Bingwen famous and even earned him the title of Marquis were all fought in defense of cities. Before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Geng Bingwen guarded Chang'an Prefecture, the gateway to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and resisted Zhang Shicheng's Wu army. He defended Chang'an Prefecture for more than ten years and fought countless battles in which he defeated the enemy with fewer troops. He was like a nail household, firmly nailed to Chang'an Prefecture. No matter how large the army Zhang Shicheng sent to attack, Geng Bingwen could always turn danger into safety and defend this battleground, preventing Zhu Yuanzhang from being attacked from all sides.
Geng Bingwen became famous because of this.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu sent him to guard Shaanxi, which bordered the Northern Yuan Dynasty. He guarded there for three years. He also built roads and canals of more than 100,000 feet to benefit the local people (all outstanding defenders like to engage in infrastructure projects such as water conservancy). After returning to the court safely, he was granted the hereditary title of Marquis of Changxing.
After that, Geng Bingwen also went on expeditions, but he was not the commander-in-chief every time. He always followed Xu Da, Fu Youde and other famous generals who founded the Ming Dynasty and fought wherever they were directed. Xu Da was known as an ever-victorious general, and Fu Youde almost never lost a battle, so from the perspective of his resume, Geng Bingwen's record was simply amazing.
But this does not mean that Geng Bingwen is a legendary general who is good at both defending cities and conquering territories. After all, standing on the shoulders of giants, even ants can become great. Moreover, Geng Bingwen is not an ant, he is also a famous general.
Emperor Jianwen had never seen what a real battlefield looked like. He thought that in terms of numbers, three people fighting one person would definitely win. However, he ignored the fact that war is not a fight between street thugs, where you can win by relying on human wave tactics.
Asking a general who is good at defending a city to take the initiative to quell a rebellion is like asking Starbucks, whose main business is coffee, to make tea drinks, and to compete with Heytea, whose main business income is from selling tea.
In terms of the number of stores, Starbucks can definitely beat Heytea, but in terms of the tea beverage business, the winner and loser will be clear after one battle.
Geng Bingwen led 300,000 northern expeditionary troops to the north. Before leaving, Emperor Jianwen held a grand ceremony to boost morale. Emperor Jianwen gave a speech and said at the end: "Don't let me be known as the one who killed my uncle!"
Geng Bingwen was stunned at first, but he was a long-time minister and the only general who had lived to the Jianwen Dynasty. He immediately understood what the emperor meant:
As a nephew, I cannot kill my uncle with my own hands, as it will create a stain that will be difficult to wash away in my lifetime. Therefore, I just want to see my uncle's body. My uncle must die on the battlefield. You must not capture the Prince of Yan alive and let me bear the stain of killing my own uncle.
Those in high positions rarely express their true thoughts directly in public. This is what is called official speech. Official speech can never be taken literally, but efforts must be made to dig out the meaning beneath the literal meaning.
To put it simply, I won’t speak human language, I’ll just give you a look and let you experience it yourself.
Veteran ministers like Geng Bingwen could accurately understand the words of Emperor Jianwen, but lower-ranking officers or ordinary soldiers, including the common people, could only understand the emperor's speech at the Northern Expedition mobilization meeting literally.
Their understanding is exactly the opposite of the correct answer...
They could only simply and crudely assume that what Emperor Jianwen meant was: Don’t kill the emperor’s uncle! Don’t kill the emperor’s uncle! Don’t kill the emperor’s uncle!
Important things must be said three times, otherwise I will be branded as the murderer of the Emperor's uncle!
An army of three hundred thousand men set out in a mighty force.
Ji Gang led the secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to spread the words of Emperor Jianwen, "Don't let me be known as the one who killed my uncle," like dandelions, to the ends of the earth, letting everyone in the world know that Emperor Jianwen "should not kill the emperor's uncle."
Whoever kills the emperor's uncle is committing an injustice to the emperor and is disobeying his order, and disobeying his order is punishable by death...
Emperor Jianwen: I am not... I didn't... You are talking nonsense.
Of course, this is all a story for later.
When the Northern Expedition Army set out, Emperor Jianwen was full of confidence, and the Ministry of Rites even began to prepare a triumphant parade and celebration meeting.
The harem, the Cining Palace.
Empress Dowager Lu invited Hu Shanwei to play chess again.
This year's summer is a little longer. The sun is still scorching hot in August. It seems that summer is about to end and is quickly releasing all the remaining heat.
In the study, the doors and windows were closed. A tank of ice emitted cold air to dispel the summer heat, and red water lilies were placed on the ice.
Hu Shanwei rubbed the black jade chess piece slowly with the tip of his thumb, observing the movement of the chessboard at a leisurely pace, but was hesitant to make a move.
Mrs. Lu took a sip of the lotus heart tea and said jokingly, "Empress Hu also has moments of uncertainty."
After spending a whole year together, Empress Dowager Lu found that she and Hu Shanwei had a lot in common. She was even the only person in the harem who could speak to her. Empress Dowager Lu began to like Hu Shanwei. She always regarded herself as Wu Zetian and treated Hu Shanwei as her Shangguan Wan'er.
Hu Shanwei smiled, but still did not make a move, and said, "Isn't the Queen Mother the same as me now?"
There was an amnesty on the first day of the Lunar New Year this year. A large number of old palace ladies entered the palace, and new palace ladies were selected to enter the palace. Among them, almost all the people on Empress Dowager Lu's list were "selected" by Hu Shanwei to enter the palace. After half a year, these people had become familiar with every tree and blade of grass in the harem, and they also had the opportunity to come before the emperor. According to the original plan, the family dinner on the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15 would be the time to assassinate Emperor Jianwen.
But it was already the tenth day of August, and Hu Shanwei had not yet received any confirmation from Empress Dowager Lu that she was preparing to launch an uprising.
Empress Dowager Lu and Hu Shanwei already had a tacit understanding, and immediately understood what she meant. "There is no way. The situation is different now. The Prince of Yan is now aggressive and unstoppable. The Northern Expedition Army delayed for a month to select a commander, and has lost the best opportunity. We have to watch the Yan Army grow stronger. If I and Prince Heng force the emperor to abdicate at this time, and the emperor is assassinated and dies, then the morale of the Northern Expedition Army will most likely be shaken. If we lose the first battle, I will be in a passive position after supporting Prince Heng to ascend the throne. Therefore, I have decided to postpone forcing the emperor to abdicate. I will take action after the Northern Expedition Army has quelled the Prince of Yan's rebellion."
Empress Dowager Lu was truly an amazing person. She regarded her children as chess pieces and was determined to squeeze out all the value of Emperor Jianwen before letting him go.
However, Hu Shanwei had to admit that Empress Dowager Lu was right to postpone the plan to force the emperor to abdicate.
If the next emperor was not her son but Prince of Yan, her forcing the emperor to abdicate and killing him would only be a favor to others.
However, Empress Dowager Lu was not anxious, but Hu Shanwei was. She had not seen A'lei for a year and touched her small and soft body. The last time she saw her was in a secret letter from Qianhu, saying that A'lei would leave. She had just walked for two days and ran away, catching dragonflies in the chrysanthemum field.
Hu Shanwei finally made a decision and said, "Wait for the Northern Expedition Army to defeat the rebels? How long do we have to wait? The Queen Mother should make a decision early to avoid unnecessary troubles."
Empress Dowager Lu leisurely placed her white pieces. "Mrs. Hu looks down on Marshal Geng? It seems she has no confidence in the Northern Expedition Army."
Geng Bingwen, the Marquis of Changxing, was the father-in-law of Empress Dowager Lu. Hu Shanwei could not tell the truth, so he said, "I am a woman, how can I look down on the Marquis of Changxing? It's just that..."
Hu Shanwei nodded in the direction of Kunning Palace and said, "The queen hasn't changed her clothes this month."
This is a euphemism for menstruation.
Empress Dowager Lu had given birth to five children, so she certainly understood what this meant. She was immediately shocked, "The Queen is pregnant?"
Hu Shanwei did not comment. "The Queen has suffered from the summer heat and has eaten less. She is also overly worried about the Prince of Yan's rebellion. She is not in a good mood and may have affected her health. Kunning Palace did not send a female doctor to see her, so I am not sure at the moment."
Empress Dowager Lu was as if she was facing a great enemy, "What if it's a boy..."
If it was a son, then assassinating Emperor Jianwen and the crown prince would be useless. The little boy, as the second legitimate son, was the legitimate heir to the throne. With Empress Ma ruling the country from behind the scenes, there would be no hope for Prince Heng.
Hu Shanwei tapped the chessboard lightly, "So, please make a decision as soon as possible, Queen Mother."
Empress Dowager Lu tightened and tightened her grip on the black chess piece, and finally dropped it onto the chessboard with a snap. "When the Northern Expedition Army wins the first battle and the outcome is decided, I will take action. There is no need to wait for the death of Prince Yan."
Look, the empress dowager is the empress dowager. No one knows their children better than their parents. She understands the true meaning of "don't let me be accused of killing my uncle."
Empress Dowager Lu thought to herself, my dear relative, you must return in triumph.
After Hu Shanwei urged Empress Dowager Lu to abdicate by urging the author to renew his works, he returned to the Shanggong Bureau. On the table was a copy of Fan Deji's Poems. He flipped through it and found the poem she had read the most, "Grave Digging Song".
"Yesterday the old tomb was dug, today the new one was built. Two statues are standing in front of the tomb, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. The old soul has not yet left, the new soul has entered, and the old soul is still crying to the new soul. The old soul is telling the new soul earnestly that a good land does not need many descendants. If the descendants are endless, the great-grandson will not dig, but the great-great-grandson will. I am digging now, which is really sad. I wonder when you will dig?"
This is a poem written by Lady Fan to Lady Cao in an anxious state, implying that she was very scared. When Lady Cao took out the letter and mentioned this clue, Hu Shanwei was still confused and couldn't figure it out. Now that the murderer of Lady Fan has been identified, Hu Shanwei understands what Lady Fan said in the letter.
hint.
It turns out that the unworthy descendant who dug up his ancestors' graves in the poem refers to Emperor Jianwen who disobeyed Emperor Gaozu's last order to execute the Empress Dowager and forced Concubine Fan to conceal the scandal.
Gong Fan was forced to agree, but after that, Emperor Jianwen officially ascended the throne and killed the emperor's uncle as soon as he came to power. Gong Fan felt that the emperor wanted to kill her to silence her and eliminate future troubles, so she simply pretended to be sick and left the palace. Just in case, she mentioned "Grave Digging Song" in the letter, hinting at Gong Cao.
Alas, it was a pity that he could not escape the king's suspicion and murderous hands.
Hu Shanwei closed the collection of poems and was filled with emotion: Emperor Jianwen was not only disobeying the emperor's order and being unfilial, but also digging the graves of his ancestors? Every bad move he made now was digging his own grave!
On the Northern Expedition battlefield, Emperor Jianwen was worried that other princes would bring their troops to join the Prince of Yan and become corrupt, so he simply issued an edict to recall all the princes in the north and the Central Plains back to the capital.
After receiving the imperial edict, the princes who were preparing to lead troops to resist the Prince of Yan and to serve the king all had the same idea as the recalled Prince of Liao: Well, the little emperor suspects me and regards my loyalty as a donkey's liver and lungs, I simply don't care, you can do whatever you want, it doesn't matter who is the emperor anyway, why should I take the risk of fighting with my fourth brother who has a strong army and horses, and shed blood and sacrifice in vain, I also have a wife and children.
In this way, the armed forces of the princes became a mere decoration. They all gave up resistance and fled to the capital with their children to eat and drink for free. These princes had not seen each other for many years. The last time they met was at the funeral of Empress Xiaoci in the 15th year of Hongwu. Now that they were gathered together, they were very emotional. They rarely reached a consensus: it was still the best to have a father! He gave land and soldiers, but when the nephew came to power, he had nothing.
In this way, under the tossing of Emperor Jianwen, all members of the royal family were forced into the arms of Prince of Yan, and no one would help him anymore.
Hu Shanwei watched coldly as Emperor Jianwen dug his own grave step by step. Just as it was written in the "Grave-digging Song", he squandered the political legacy carefully left to him by Emperor Gaozu, like an ignorant child who had a pile of gold and silver treasures but didn't know how to spend them and threw them away as if they were scrap metal.
Hu Shanwei worked as a triple spy, continuously passing intelligence to Prince Yan. In order to prevent the breeding of epidemics, the underground sewers in the palace were only responsible for drainage, and feces, garbage and other items had to be loaded onto trucks and dumped outside the palace.
Each piece of top-secret military intelligence was sealed with wax balls and thrown into a specially marked toilet. It was transported out every morning and transported to a septic tank on the outskirts of the city for fermentation to become valuable fertilizer.
This industry may seem dirty and smelly, but it is an extremely profitable industry because there is no shortage of sales and there is almost no cost.
Ji Gang used both soft and hard tactics to force the original owners of several large septic tanks outside Nanjing to sell them to him, and secretly contracted them all. The septic tanks became intelligence recycling stations.
Three years later, after many twists and turns, Ji Gang and Hu Shanwei were still working together. Mu Chun had already gone to Yandi, responsible for guarding the border to prevent the Northern Yuan from taking advantage of the internal strife in the Ming Dynasty to make a comeback and harass the border.
On the Northern Expedition front, 300,000 Northern Expedition troops and 100,000 Jingnan troops fought in Zhending.
Just when the Northern Expedition commander Geng Bingwen was deploying his troops to form a pincer attack, Prince Yan did not play by the rules and launched a surprise attack, annihilating the 9,000 vanguards of the Northern Expedition in one fell swoop, which was equivalent to cutting off the tip of the horn.
In order to save his life, Zhang Bao, a general under Geng Bingwen, surrendered to the King of Yan. The King of Yan released Zhang Bao and said, "… You just need to do what I say.
This king believes in your sincerity in surrendering, and will confer a title on you in the future."
Zhang Bao pretended to escape from the pursuit of the Yan army and went to the commander's camp to lie to Geng Bingwen about the military situation, "... the Yan prince's rebels will arrive in one day."
The military situation was urgent, and Geng Bingwen quickly ordered the entire army to cross the river immediately and line up on the opposite bank to fight against the rebels.
However, just as the Northern Expedition Army crossed the river and split into two, the Yan Army descended like heavenly soldiers and launched an attack on the Northern Expedition Army that was crossing the river.
Geng Bingwen was caught off guard and suffered a great defeat. Only 100,000 of the 300,000 Northern Expedition troops remained. Geng Bingwen led the remnants to Zhending City, closed the city gates, and refused to leave.
As mentioned before, Geng Bingwen's strength is defending the city.
After all, he was a veteran who had been through many battles. When Geng Bingwen retreated to Zhending City, he was not defeated by the defeat, but regained the feeling of fighting in the past. It was still the same recipe, the same taste. With me guarding the city, the rebels of the King of Yan would never dare to cross the line!
Geng Bingwen rallied his troops and commanded the defense of the city. The Yan army attacked for three days, suffered countless casualties, and still failed to break through Zhending City.
Since the beginning of the "Jingnan" campaign, the Prince of Yan had been doing well and had never encountered such a tough "bone". Just when the Prince of Yan was at a loss, a wax ball was delivered to the camp. The second son Zhu Gaoxi, who looked 70% like the Prince of Yan, melted the wax ball with a very suspicious smell on the iron sheet, took out a piece of information and gave it to his father.
When the King of Yan opened it, he immediately turned his worry into joy and said, "Order the three armies to retreat immediately!"
Zhu Gaoxu ignored him and said, "Father, our army is pursuing the victory, why should we retreat?"
The King of Yan said with a smile: "We don't need to chew on this hard bone of Zhending. Someone will come to help us out."
Zhending City.
The fully armed commander of the Northern Expedition, Geng Bingwen, was dozing off against the wall. He had not taken off his armor to sleep for ten days. When he was tired, he would lie on the city wall with his soldiers in full clothes and take a nap, so as to stay ready for combat at all times.
But he was old and had no choice but to admit his age. He was exhausted and even the hand holding the knife began to tremble.
"Marshal! The rebels are retreating!"
Geng Bingwen suddenly woke up and took a closer look. It was indeed true. "The Prince of Yan is cunning and may counterattack at any time. Don't take it lightly."
But after waiting for three days, the Yan army still did not come to attack the city.
The Yan army did not come, but a gorgeous carriage came from the south, with a military flag with the word "Li" on it.
It was Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, who was an expert in reducing the power of the feudal lords.
Li Jinglong still held the imperial edict in his hand. "I was shocked to hear that the Northern Expedition Army was defeated. The emperor was furious and dismissed Mr. Geng from his post. He ordered Mr. Geng to return to the capital immediately and ordered me to serve as the Grand Marshal of the Northern Expedition."
Changing commanders during a battle is a taboo, but it is a fact that Geng Bingwen suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle. Emperor Jianwen had never been to the battlefield, and he really could not understand why 300,000 Northern Expedition troops would be chased and beaten by 100,000 Yan troops, and were forced to retreat into the city.
What a shame! Emperor Jianwen felt that Geng Bingwen was too old to maintain his integrity and did not want to give him another chance, so he sent the young general Li Jinglong to replace Geng Bingwen.
However, Emperor Jianwen did not expect that if Geng Bingwen was a trap, then Li Jinglong was a bottomless black hole.
The author has something to say: I'm really not here to make people laugh. The Jingnan Campaign was a magical realist war. It was all realistic, no fiction at all.
The points are increasing so slowly, please leave a comment and I will send you 100 red envelopes tonight.
Congratulations to the reader Wei Rongshuang for receiving a big red envelope of 100 points.
№10 Netizen: Wei Rongshuang Comment: "Hu Shanwei" Score: 0 Published time: 2019-04-22 00:55:56 Reviewed chapter: 181
Slowly heading towards the Central Plains, there are villages scattered in front
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