HLnovel Chapter 642 Battle of Suzhou
Chapter 642 Battle of Suzhou
"His superior, Emperor Jianwen, was very anxious upon hearing that the Yan army was approaching Suzhou, finally realizing that his fourth uncle was about to reach his doorstep."
"It can be said that the Battle of Suzhou was the final battle of the Jingnan Campaign, and this internal struggle will finally come to an end this year—the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu."
Zhu Baba: What the hell is this Hongwu 35th year?!
"In the next battle at Suzhou, the two armies faced each other from north to south. As mentioned before, Zhu Di thought that rather than confronting the government troops head-on, it would be better to preemptively harass the grain transport stations near Suzhou. Even at this point, he did not give up on the grain transport stations near Suqian and Sizhou."
"Sometimes, one can't help but marvel at the fighting strength of the Ming army at this time in the early Ming Dynasty. Although the court suffered repeated defeats, the morale of the army was still quite stable. There were even quite a few officials who died fighting for Jianwen, including some officials who bravely sacrificed their lives while resisting the Yan army."
"The government troops led by He Fu built a bridge south of Xiaohe River. Their purpose was certainly not to escape, but more likely to get closer to the nearest canal station."
"But unfortunately, Judy is incredibly cunning in battle, and she saw through He Fu's intentions."
"So you build the bridge, and I build the bridge too. The Yan army, which occupied the north bank of the Xiaohe River, also began to pile up materials to build the bridge. Then, they crossed the river to pursue the imperial army."
"Now, on one side is the Prince of Yan and his three thousand battalions, and on the other side are Ping An, Wu Jie, and Chen Hui's border cavalry. The two armies are now fighting for the pontoon bridge."
"On the other hand, Chen Wen, the garrison commander on the other side of the Yan Army Bridge, encountered a fierce attack launched by He Fu and Sheng Yong. The imperial army kept attacking the Yan Army's defensive line. Because the garrison commander Chen Wen could not hold out and was killed in battle, the imperial army quickly succeeded."
Upon hearing this, Prince Yan, Zhu Di, sighed. Well, another one is missing. There were only a few to begin with!
"According to He Fu's plan, a small portion of the imperial army would cross the river, cause some damage to the Yan army's positions on the north bank, and then remove their armor and sneak back."
"As the saying goes, imagination is beautiful, but reality is harsh. Zhu Di had already made arrangements. On the north bank of the Xiaohe River, Prince Han Zhu Gaochi, Zhang Wu, and others were lying in ambush."
"So when the imperial army appeared, Zhu Gaoxu led his men to the front. As we mentioned before, Zhu Di's second son was indeed brave. In the Jingnan Campaign, he fought almost every battle alongside his father, although his image was somewhat embellished by his nephew."
Zhu Gaoxu: Is this what you call processing? This is clearly calling me the Disappearance Technique!
During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han (Liu Che) exclaimed with amusement, "Wow! The Zhu family is quite lively! Their eldest son has followed in his footsteps!"
Wei Qing remained silent, then Liu Che sighed, “Those who write history can easily erase a person, but they forget that future generations will judge them.”
Compared to watching the excitement of the Zhu family, Huo Qubing was more interested in the Ming Dynasty's firearms. If he were to compare himself with the Prince of Yan, who would be superior?
During the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Zhu Di and said coldly, "Fourth Prince, it must be because you usually dislike Gao Chi, saying that the heir apparent is often ill and you should encourage him. What are you trying to do!"
Zhu Di cried out that he was wronged. He did dislike his eldest son for being too fat, but he never thought that it would cause discord between the brothers. Now that things have come to this, he shouldn't have been biased in the future, right?
"Thus, the Central Army was scattered by the gold dust and pushed back to the south bank; the entire battle was exceptionally fierce."
"Because at this time, the Prince of Yan, who was fighting against Ping An, also made progress. He launched a signature offensive, flanking Sheng Yong and others from the rear, and together with Jin Douzi, formed a pincer movement against the vanguard of the imperial army, killing more than 20,000 people."
"It's said that at the time, the scene was one of blood flowing like a river, with corpses piled up on the stream, almost reaching the level of the pontoon bridge."
"Regardless of whether the soldiers involved were famous or not, and regardless of who won or lost between the uncle and nephew, the real loss was to the Ming Dynasty itself."
"Moreover, both sides suffered considerable losses this time. Judy lost two more generals. It is foreseeable that after becoming emperor and launching five expeditions to the northern deserts, she will have to continue to worry about this."
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