In 1357 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang successfully conquered Changshu, which was only a stone's throw away from Suzhou. If he had worked harder at that time, he might have been able to take Suzhou.
Moreover, Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shide has been captured by him, which is a very favorable condition.
You must know that Zhang Shicheng has a total of three younger brothers, two of which are Zhang Shide and Zhang Shixin, Zhang Shixin is a *** war with a song and dance troupe, how can this kind of person win?
Zhang Shide is different, he is the conqueror of Suzhou, and he is also the power of soldiers and horses under Zhang Shicheng, second only to Zhang Shicheng.
The breach of Changshu is already a serious problem, and now that the first general Zhang Shide has been captured again, who can still lead the army to resist Zhu Yuanzhang?
Before Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Changshu, he had already occupied Jiangyin and Changzhou in the rear of Changshu, and there was no problem of backup, so it can be said that Zhang Shicheng had fallen into a desperate situation.
However, what is surprising is that Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly withdrew his troops, and did not even dare to attack Zhang Shicheng, but pointed the army to the Yuan Dynasty, and successively took Chizhou and Yangzhou occupied by the Yuan Dynasty.
What happened in the meantime? You must know that Chizhou and Yangzhou pose little threat to Zhu Yuanzhang's status, while Zhang Shicheng can directly threaten Zhu Yuanzhang's status.
Behind the irrational things, there are often reasonable explanations hidden. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Yingtian in 1356, and his hegemony began from there.
He originally wanted to use Yingtian as a base and win the Central Plains, but the problem was his relationship with his neighbor Zhang Shicheng.
It stands to reason that Zhu Yuanzhang should first have a good relationship with his neighbors when he first arrived, but Zhang Shicheng was regarded as an opponent by him.
He took the initiative to start a war against Zhang Shicheng, which was quite irrational at the time, because he also had to deal with three neighbors, including Yuan Jun, Zhang Mingjian, and Xu Shouhui.
So why did he do it? In fact, it was because Zhang Shicheng's behavior forced him to take risks. Originally, he wanted to form an alliance with Zhang Shicheng, but Zhang Shicheng detained his envoy, which was clearly to make enemies of Zhu Yuanzhang.
So, Zhu Yuanzhang led a large army to attack Zhenjiang, because the area of the Jiangnan region would not change, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a force that suddenly appeared, and he wanted to snatch the cake.
Zhu Yuanzhang even promoted his status to the prince of the country, which was not notified to Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng obviously underestimated Zhu Yuanzhang's strength, thinking that it would only take five days to capture Zhenjiang, but in fact, he couldn't capture it after two months, so he could only retreat.
In this process, Zhu Yuanzhang launched an attack on Changzhou controlled by Zhang Shicheng on the grounds that you beat me and did not allow me to beat you.
After two months of hard fighting, Zhang Shicheng is about to face a battle to defend the city. Although he wanted to continue fighting, the soldiers were too exhausted to continue supporting. In this case, Changzhou can only fight against Zhu Yuanzhang alone, and it is obviously impossible to win.
So, Zhang Shicheng decided to exchange benefits for peace, and promised to send 200,000 stone of military rations, 5 million taels and 300 catties to Zhu Yuanzhang every year. Zhang Shicheng's subordinate Sun Junshou made this request to Zhu Yuanzhang on his behalf.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not satisfied with this and asked Zhang Shicheng to double the payment. Although Zhang Shicheng was at a disadvantage, he was not captured, so Zhu Yuanzhang's request seemed to be somewhat difficult.
Zhu Yuanzhang decided to continue the fight, directly attacked Changshu and captured Zhang Shide. Zhang Shicheng regretted this, because he knew that he could not live if he did his own sin. Despite Zhang Shicheng's predicament, his deputy, Zhang Jiuliu, played a key role at this time.
Zhang Jiuliu and Zhu Yuanzhang had an in-depth conversation, and the two had similar experiences, which Zhu Yuanzhang used to arouse Zhang Jiuliu's sympathy, and at the same time threatened to kill Zhang Shicheng if he did not persuade him to surrender.
Zhang Jiuliu agreed to Zhu Yuanzhang and made an oath with him. However, Zhu Yuanzhang finally found out that Zhang Jiuliu did not sincerely persuade him to surrender, but betrayed him.
Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy with a letter to persuade Zhang Shicheng to surrender, but before that, Zhang Shide sent his own envoy to reveal his secret solution to Zhang Shicheng, that is, to declare himself a vassal to the Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang had to face this formidable opponent and liquidate Zhang Shide. However, Zhang Shide has died of hunger strike, and Zhu Yuanzhang can only accept this fact.
February** Dynamic Incentive Plan Is this peace in exchange for Zhang Shide worth it? Worth. Because Zhang Shide's death almost marked Zhang Shicheng's demise. You must know that on his side, only Zhang Shide is an understanding person, and everyone else is confused, even Zhang Shicheng is no exception.
When others fight the world, generals will be rewarded for winning a battle, and punished for losing a battle. But Zhang Shicheng will not have any punishment whether you win or lose.
Why? Because he preaches righteousness. Zhang Shicheng started his business by righteousness, when he was a smuggler of salt, whenever there was any problem with the smuggler, he would be the referee.
Why? Because he was a timely and rainy character at that time, whenever there was a financial problem in other people's families, he would use his own money to subsidize it. Do all such people obey?
And his way of refereeing is also very peculiar, if he feels that one side is justified, he will stand on this side and suppress the other side, and if both sides are justified, he will use his own money to subsidize the loss.
It is precisely because of the support of his brother that he was able to occupy a place in the troubled times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. You must know that his first territory, Taizhou, was fought down by him and eighteen brothers.
In the thirteenth year of the first month, Zhang Shicheng, a pavilion in Baijuchang, Taizhou, and his younger brothers, Shide, and Shixin were in chaos, trapping Taizhou and Xinghua County, and then trapping Gaoyou, according to it. ”
If it had been replaced by someone else, this righteous spirit would have been cut off long ago, but he still continued this righteous force, which directly led to the generals on his side not caring about winning or losing on the battlefield.
With such an army, can you win the battle? And Zhang Shicheng has been immersed in the gentle township since he seized one side, and how can he have time to reform the army. With Zhang Shide's death, everything became hopeless.