My father, Zhu Di, was granted a second life by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Chapter 137 A prolonged siege has failed, only wasting morale.

During Li Jinglong's disastrous defeat and escape, two determined individuals emerged: Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong.

Tie Xuan was a Semu person. The term "Semu" means "various kinds of people" or "all kinds of people," and does not refer to the fact that his eyes were colored.

Even so, Joo Go-hee was still very curious about Cheol-hyun's appearance.

Tie Xuan was six years younger than Zhu Di. He was a student of the Imperial Academy and was transferred from the Ministry of Rites to the Governor's Office to handle affairs.

This man was quick-witted and adept at handling difficult cases. Zhu Yuanzhang admired his talent and specially bestowed upon him the name "Dingshi".

After Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, he promoted Tie Xuan to the position of Shandong Provincial Councilor.

During Li Jinglong's northern expedition, Tie Xuan was responsible for supervising the transport of grain and provisions.

Sheng Yong rose to the rank of Commander-in-Chief during the Hongwu era. During the Jingnan Campaign, he served as a Deputy Commander under Geng Bingwen and Li Jinglong.

Faced with the unstoppable advance of the Yan army, Li Jinglong turned tail and ran, while Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong decided to fight to the death to hold their ground.

"Tie Xuan, we remember him," the old emperor said thoughtfully, recalling, "He was decisive and a man of strong will. Your father has met his match."

It must be admitted that the old emperor was very good at judging people, except for Zhu Yunwen.

"Grandpa's eyes are sharp. Tie Xuan's surrender was a ruse, and Father almost lost his life at the gates of Jinan," Zhu Gaoxi said truthfully, subtly flattering his father.

There is a rather thrilling and legendary story about the feigned surrender. Although its authenticity remains to be verified, it illustrates Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong's determination to defend their position to the death.

After completely surrounding Jinan, Zhu Di ordered a letter of persuasion to surrender to be written and shot into the city.

Soon after, the city sent a reply in the same manner, an article urging Zhu Di to withdraw his troops, titled "On the Duke of Zhou Assisting King Cheng".

After reading the letter, Zhu Di ordered the attack to continue.

However, the results were minimal.

What to do if you can't break through after a long siege?

They continued to persuade the city to surrender, threatening to flood it.

The threat quickly took effect; cries and screams echoed from within the city, and then someone came out of the city to offer Zhu Di a letter of surrender.

With Jinan secured, the Yan army could establish a foothold there, develop in the long term, and contend with Emperor Jianwen.

Overjoyed at the prospect of finally gaining control of the strategic stronghold he had been longing for, Zhu Di disregarded the flaws in the surrender document and agreed to personally go to the city the next day to accept the surrender.

Early the next morning, Zhu Di, accompanied by dozens of guards, rode to the city walls.

The city gates opened wide, and the soldiers on the city walls shouted "Long live the Emperor!" The shouts rose and fell, creating an exciting atmosphere.

Then, when Zhu Di reached the area below the city gate, an iron plate suddenly fell and struck him heavily.

Zhu Di hurriedly dodged, but the iron plate struck the head of his horse. He narrowly escaped death and quickly spurred his horse to cross the slowly rising drawbridge.

After quickly escaping to safety, Zhu Di, still shaken, looked at the gradually closing city gate and finally realized that he had been tricked.

"Jinan is a well-fortified city. Once it is occupied, we can attack or defend as we please. We can advance south or retreat and defend our borders. Your father fell for the trap because he was too impatient. Haste makes waste," the old emperor commented incisively.

"Grandpa is wise, I admire him to the core," Zhu Gaoxi never hesitated to use sweet words.

"Your father's hundreds of thousands of troops were tied down outside Jinan, and the Jianwen Emperor did absolutely nothing? He didn't send troops to attack Beiping? Nor did he send generals to Jinan to coordinate with Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong for a pincer attack?"

When the fighter jets appeared, the old emperor's eyes lit up, eager to try them out, wishing he could immediately lead his troops there himself.

Zhu Gaoxi quickly spoke up to persuade him, "Grandpa, in Father's and Grandson's hearts, Grandpa will always be the most important person. If Emperor Jianwen had followed Grandpa's arrangements, how could he have disregarded the lives of the princes and forcibly reduced their power? Father's uprising was truly out of desperation."

Zhu Gaoxi's words made it clear that Emperor Jianwen had made a mistake first, and that Zhu Di's rebellion to seize the throne was forced upon him.

"You certainly know how to protect your father."

The old emperor's reaction was merely instinctive, a muscle memory honed from years of leading troops; he didn't truly hate the fourth prince with a burning passion.

"Don't worry, we don't blame your father," the old emperor said, affectionately patting his eldest grandson's head.

When Zhu Di besieged Jinan, why did Emperor Jianwen hesitate to take action and miss the opportunity to win the battle?

What is he busy with?

Emperor Jianwen was busy discussing the renaming of the palace gates with Fang Xiaoru.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Otherwise, how could Emperor Jianwen have been defeated by the Prince of Yan, who raised an army of eight hundred guards?

Under the fierce offensive of the Yan army, Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong saw that they could not hold out any longer and hurriedly sought help from the imperial court.

Upon receiving the urgent message, Emperor Jianwen still did not intend to send troops to reinforce the city. Instead, he issued an edict and sent it to Zhu Di, ordering him to lift the siege and retreat to Beiping.

Is this a joke?

If a decree is effective, why resort to arms?

The two sides have been fighting for so long, it's unbelievable that Emperor Jianwen is so naive.

Perhaps he simply didn't take it to heart.

Or perhaps, he was completely unaware that danger was closing in.

In short, his behavior during this period has been quite perplexing.

From May 16th when the Yan army besieged the city until July, Emperor Jianwen took no action. Only the fierce general Ping An led his troops to cut off the city's supply lines, causing Zhu Di considerable trouble.

Zhu Di was extremely frustrated that Jinan City could not be captured after a long siege, while Ping An was making frequent moves, mobilizing troops with the intention of seizing Dezhou.

In order to achieve a swift victory, Zhu Di ordered cannons to bombard the city.

Unexpectedly, after a round of bombardment, a large shrine was hung on the city wall, clearly inscribed with "The Shrine of Emperor Taizu Gao".

Upon seeing this, the Yan soldiers dared not fire any more cannons.

Zhu Di was furious but helpless.

Just then, Daoyan's handwritten letter arrived at the Yan army camp.

"Master is old; please return to Beiping for now to plan for future endeavors."

If this dragged on any longer, it would be a protracted and demoralizing war, and would only put us in a dangerous situation. Faced with this threatening situation, Daoyan advised Zhu Di to retreat immediately.

Zhu Di gradually calmed down and began to arrange the retreat.

During the retreat, Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong launched a preemptive attack, resulting in the death of Yan general Chen Heng.

"With losses and the soldiers demoralized, how will your father boost morale?" The old emperor seemed to be testing him.

"Let's win another battle," Zhu Gaoxi replied calmly.

The old emperor expressed his willingness to hear the details. Zhu Gaoxi became very enthusiastic and talked on and on about how his adoptive father beat up others, adding his own embellishments.

Despite this, the old emperor listened with great interest.

Even though there was a lot of exaggeration involved, by separating the truth from the falsehood and peeling back the layers, the old emperor was still able to extract the key information for his own use.

Zhu Di loved to use deception in his military campaigns, and this time he was no exception, deciding to launch a feint attack in one direction while striking in another.

On October 15th, Zhu Di officially ordered troops to attack Liaodong.

Since Wu Gao was stripped of his title and exiled by Emperor Jianwen, hasn't Yang Wen of Liaodong been keeping a low profile and not making any moves?

Many Yan generals were puzzled by this. After the army marched out of Tongzhou, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng could no longer hold back and seized the opportunity to strongly urge Zhu Di to give up the attack on Liaodong.

Zhu Di dismissed everyone and revealed his true thoughts to his two trusted generals.

Currently, Wu Jie and Ping An are leading more than 200,000 troops stationed in Dingzhou, Sheng Yong is stationed in Dezhou, and Xu Kai is in Cangzhou. These three forces form a defensive triangle, supporting each other and working together to resist the Yan army.

Zhu Di planned to attack one corner of it, break its coordinated strategy, and firmly grasp the initiative in his own hands.