Chapter 8 The Fearsome Chen Youliang Author: ?? Year: ?? txt ??? Traditional Chinese

  Chen Youliang became the first dignitary of Tianwan after killing Niu Wenjun, with his ability fully demonstrated. He was good at knowing people and using them well, had strong organizational skills, and more rarely, he was a talented military commander.

  Han Gaozu Liu Bang once asked Han Xin how many soldiers he could command, and Han Xin told him only 100,000. This matter fully illustrates that the number of soldiers is not the more the better, but rather who commands them and how they are used. Chen Youliang's ability was far from being able to accommodate an army of 100,000.

  Compared to him, Xu Shouhui was far inferior. This person was indeed a good man, but apart from being a good man, he was nothing else. Chen Youliang would get annoyed every day seeing Xu Shouhui sitting high and mighty on the throne. Why is this waste sitting above me? I still have to ask for his instructions. When this thought appeared more and more frequently, the plot in his mind would turn into action.

  It's easy to get rid of Xu Shouhui, but before that, we must first deal with his Mingjiao brothers, the first one being Zhao Pusheng.

  Soon after, Zhao Pu was killed on the grounds of plotting a rebellion. Ding Pu and Fu Youde were not fools, seeing that things were not going well for them, they slipped away and fled to Zhu Yuanzhang's side to continue serving.

  At this time, Xu Shouhui truly became a lone commander, a pawn in Chen Youliang's hands. Therefore, in almost all historical books, there is such a strange description: In the 20th year of Zhizheng (1360 AD), Xu Shouhui attacked Zhu Yuanzhang under Chen Youliang's control.

  Attack, or be taken hostage, being an emperor has come to this point, it's better to die.

  Xu Shouhui did not want to die, he handed over power to Chen Youliang, just hoping to survive.

  Chen Youliang was the kind of person who would not let others sleep soundly before his own bed, and he would never let Xu Shouhui off.

  This day finally arrived, on June 16th of the year Zhizheng 20 (AD 1360), Chen Youliang led an army of one hundred thousand down the river to attack Zhu Yuanzhang's Caishi. He invited Xu Shouhui to go to the Wutong Temple in Caishi City to worship, and Xu Shouhui was always enthusiastic about such activities. So he accepted the invitation and came to the temple.

  When he arrived at the temple, Chen Youliang was standing in front of the window with two guards beside him, and it was raining heavily outside.

  Chen Youliang ignored him, and Xu Shouhui felt somewhat embarrassed. He walked over to Chen Youliang's side and said in a tone that was almost flattering: "We're about to take down Ying Tian, all thanks to your efforts."

  Chen Youliang didn't turn his head back, he just faintly said: "It's a pity you won't see that day."

  Xu Shouhui was stunned, he wasn't unprepared for this day's arrival, but when it came, it was still so cruel.

  The two people stopped talking.

  Deathly silence.

  Xu Shouhui's sweat and tears flowed down, the fear in his heart was like a big hand pulling him into an endless abyss.

  "I'll abdicate and let you take the throne, I'll be a commoner, what do you think?"

  Chen Youliang finally turned around, he looked at Xu Shouhui with an unbelievable gaze and said the last sentence he heard in his life, "How did you survive in this chaotic world?"

  The guard stepped forward and smashed Xu Shouhui's head with a previously prepared iron hammer.

  When Xu Shouhui fell down, the last thing he saw was Chen Youliang's icy gaze.

  The guards had washed away the bloodstains of their former boss and arranged the grand hall, for it was about to host the coronation ceremony of the new emperor.

  In June 16th of the year 1360, Chen Youliang ascended to the throne as Emperor in Wutong Temple during a stormy weather and established his country name as Han.

  This is the law of survival in a chaotic world, Xu Shouhui, you don't understand.

  Chen Youliang was indeed a man who did not speak of righteousness, but he was a man who dared to do and dare to be. The year number of his Great Han State was "Great Righteousness".

  How ruthless, the usurper who dared to name his reign "Great Righteousness", this tells us that he is a person who does not follow the rules of the game, in his eyes, all benevolence, morality and virtue are worthless. Aren't you ashamed of your regicidal behavior? You Confucian scholars, I'll show you what it means to be righteous, my reign will be called "Great Righteousness"!

  Indeed, such a person is difficult to deal with. To deal with such a person, the way of the gentleman does not work, and adhering to rules does not work either.

  Who can resist such a terrible person.

  It seems like Zhu Yuanzhang is the only one left.

  After Zhu Yuanzhang occupied Ying Tian, both Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng felt the potential of this opponent. They were all very formidable people, who posed the greatest threat to them, and their hearts were very clear. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was still weak, he absolutely could not be underestimated.

  However, Chen Youliang did not control the government of Tianwan at that time, so the first to conflict with Zhu Yuanzhang was Zhang Shicheng. The two sides had been fighting continuously since Zhu Yuanzhang captured Ying Tian in the 16th year of Zhiyuan (1356 AD), and they fought hundreds of battles, big and small. Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely annoyed by Zhang Shicheng, who only occupied a piece of land but couldn't get along with himself. Originally, his military strength was already exhausted, but he encountered continuous rain at night, and in June of the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang's general surrendered to Zhang Shicheng. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang made an important decision.

  He wanted to negotiate with Zhang Shicheng and wrote a letter to Zhang Shicheng, roughly saying: I am a poor peasant, you are a salt merchant, we are all suffering people, why do you want to fight me? Let's get along peacefully, isn't it good to visit each other from time to time?

  Zhu Yuanzhang did this because he had already gone to war with Xu Shouhui, and fighting on two fronts was very unfavorable for him. However, Zhang Shicheng was not a pushover either, and he saw through Zhu Yuanzhang's plan. He wrote back to Zhu Yuanzhang, roughly saying: "You came from somewhere, now go back there, I have already made an appointment with Xu Shouhui, and we must destroy you."

  If we can't talk it out, then let's fight.

  In July of the same year, Zhang Shicheng launched a large-scale attack on Zhenjiang, which was controlled by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang had made preparations in advance and ordered his ace generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to respond to the battle. They defeated Zhang's army at Longtan, and then Chang Yuchun led the charge all the way to Changzhou, capturing it in 1357. Later, during the battle of Ningguo, Chang Yuchun fully inherited Xia Hou Dun's spirit of not leaving the battlefield despite being injured, continuing to fight with three arrows lodged in his body, and eventually captured Ningguo. Zhang Shicheng was defeated thoroughly.

  Actually Zhang Shicheng's army had no inferior combat effectiveness, and the number of people was more than Zhu Yuanzhang's army, but they were defeated miserably. From the above situation, we can draw the conclusion that it is easy to get a thousand soldiers, but it is difficult to find a general.

  Chang Yu Chun

  Chang Yuchun did not follow Zhu Yuanzhang for a long time. He came to join him in the 15th year of Zhizheng (1355 AD) when Zhu Yuanzhang captured Hezhou. Although he was late, he was not polite at all and said as soon as he opened his mouth: I came here to be the vanguard, give me the vanguard seal!

  Zhu Yuanzhang had seen many arrogant people, but never one as arrogant as this. He angrily said: "You're just a refugee who can't even get enough to eat, coming here to beg for food, how could I possibly give you such an official position?" (Ming History). But Chang Yuchun smiled and said: "Just wait and see."

  He proved his strength with action.

  In the battle of Zhu Yuanzhang's conquest of Caishi, the Yuan army formed a line on the shore, and Zhu Yuanzhang's naval forces were unable to get close. Just as they were anxiously waiting, Chang Yuchun's boats passed by, and Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered his words, shouting at Chang: "Young man, didn't you want to be the vanguard? Now is the time!" Chang Yuchun responded with a loud shout, charging forward bravely, holding a long spear and thrusting it towards the Yuan army on the shore. The Yuan army caught his spear, but did not expect that Chang's goal was to use this opportunity to jump onto the shore (this seems like a pole-vaulting action), killing several people and opening up a beachhead. The soldiers behind him rushed forward, occupying Caishi.

  After this battle, Zhu Yuanzhang re-recognized the young man named Chang Yuchun and personally granted him the title of Vanguard of the Grand Commandery.

  Chang Yun-chun was born with the makings of a vanguard, skilled in using cavalry to break through enemy lines, accurately choosing positions for attack, able to calmly judge battlefield situations. Moreover, he was also a master of martial arts, his personal fighting skills were excellent, this advantage played a huge role later on.

  But he also has a fatal weakness, he is fond of killing, and it's the most immoral kind - killing surrendered people.

  As the ancient saying goes, killing a surrendered enemy is unlucky. From a moral standpoint, once the opponent has surrendered, it seems unglorious to continue fighting, but he just happens to have a fondness for this, and this fondness brought great disaster to Zhu Yuanzhang.