"Tao Shijun, you must not fight a decisive battle with the Ming army." Sun Wu said to Tao Qian with a serious face.
Tao Qian glanced at him indifferently and said calmly: "Oh? Why?"
Sun Wu's heart suddenly thumped when he saw this, and then he tried his best to explain: "Although the Ming army is far inferior in number to our army, they are all elites in hundreds of battles. However, our army has been repeatedly harassed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and its morale has dropped a lot.
At this point, the outcome of the decisive battle is still unclear."
A trace of displeasure flashed in Tao Qian's eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "What you are saying means that our Xuzhou army of 30,000 troops cannot defeat Zhu Yuanzhang's 6,000 troops?"
"Uh...I don't mean that, but it's just not sensible to fight at this time..."
Before Sun Wu finished speaking, he was interrupted by the furious Tao Qian.
"That's what you mean."
Tao Qian was like a furious lion, glaring at Sun Wudao: "Today, I, Tao Qian, will shed my blood and avenge my son's injustice."
Tao Shang, Tao Qian's son, was unlucky enough to be bumped into by Zhu Yuanzhang during Zhu Yuanzhang's first night attack and was directly beheaded.
The loss of a son in old age, and the white-haired man giving the black-haired man a gift, for Tao Qian, was like a bolt from the blue, and he wished he could swallow Zhu Yuanzhang alive.
Now Tao Qian has been blinded by hatred and cannot listen to anyone else. He just wants to kill Zhu Yuanzhang to avenge his son, so when Zhu Yuanzhang's letter of challenge was sent, Tao Qian accepted it without thinking. p>
Seeing that Tao Qian did not listen to his advice, Sun Wu was very anxious and said in a panic: "Your Majesty, you are using the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers in Xuzhou to vent your anger. You are scorning human lives."
Sun Wu's bitter words of good medicine not only failed to calm Tao Qian, but made him even more furious.
"What are you talking about? I have defended Xuzhou for the Han Dynasty for several years, how dare you say that I care about human life?"
Tao Qian glared at Sun Wu, gritted his teeth and said: "Sun Wu, don't think that just because you helped me a little, I won't dare to kill you? I have the final say in the Xuzhou Army."
"Your Majesty, there is absolutely no need for your army to fight Zhu Yuanzhang, as long as..."
Sun Wu wanted to persuade him again, but Tao Qian had obviously lost his patience and shouted: "Come here, take this person who disturbs the morale of our army and lock him up. After our army has a great victory, we will deal with him separately." p>
Sun Wu felt cold in his heart, and was about to relent, but Tao Qian had already turned around and left, and then Sun Wu was imprisoned by him.
On April 5, the fifth year of Zhongping, Zhu Yuanzhang led more than 6,000 troops and fought to the death with Tao Qian's 36,000-strong army in Jianghuai.
When Tao Qian's army went south, there were only 35,000 troops. However, after attacking the city along the way, they surrendered part of the Ming army. With the support of the aristocratic families in the city, the number of troops increased instead of decreasing, reaching an astonishing level.
More than 40,000 people.
In the previous battle with Zhu Yuanzhang, although Tao Qian's army suffered more than six to seven thousand casualties, there were still more than 36,000 troops left, which was still more than six times that of Zhu Yuanzhang's army. That's why Tao Qian dared to directly fight the Ming army.<
/p>
"Look, my lord, Sun Wu is not in Tao Qian's army. The commander of this battle is not Sun Wu, but Mr. Tao Qian."
After looking in the direction of Li Wenzhong's finger, Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately overjoyed.
"God is really helping me. If Sun Wu was commanding, I would be afraid of him. But this battle happens to be him, Tao Qian, so what should I be afraid of?"
A sneer appeared at the corner of Zhu Yuanzhang's lips, and he said coldly: "Since Tao Qian has come to die, I will help him."
"Xiangzhuang, Xiangsheng."
"The end will be here."
"You two lead 1,500 troops and horses, and you must help me block Tao Qian's right army."
"No."
"Xiang Bo, Zhou Yin."
"The end will be here."
"You two lead 1,500 troops and horses, and you must help me block Tao Qian's left army."
"No."
Looking at the Chinese army where Tao Qian was located a thousand meters away, Zhu Yuanzhang flashed a sneer on his lips, and then continued to order: "Li Wenzhong, Xiang Bo, Fan Wuqi, Wu Rui."
"The end will be here." The four generals shouted in unison.
"The four of you will lead three thousand Overlord Cavalry, and together with my general, we will attack Tao Qian's army directly."
"No."
"Soldiers, the survival of the Ming Dynasty depends on this battle."
Zhu Yuanzhang slowly drew out the long sword from his waist, pointed it directly at Tao Qian's army opposite, and shouted: "Kill."
"Kill..."
Six thousand elites roared in unison, and their momentum resounded through the sky.
The momentum created by the three thousand Overlord Cavalry even exceeded that of the thirty thousand army. Tao Qian couldn't help being frightened when he saw this.
"My lord, the Ming army on the opposite side seems to be...the Overlord Cavalry." Cao Bao said hesitantly.
Tao Qian's eyes widened when he heard this, and he said in horror: "What? How could it be Bawangqi? Isn't Xiang Yu on the eastern front of Yanzhou? How could Bawangqi survive?"
Cao Bao looked at Tao Qian speechlessly and said with a wry smile: "My lord, the Overlord Cavalry is...cavalry."
Tao Qian's eyes were still full of shock. He really couldn't believe that Bawangqi could reach Jianghuai from the east line of Yanzhou in such a short period of time.
Tao Qian was originally a civil servant, and Xuzhou did not produce war horses, so his understanding of cavalry was basically zero, so it was naturally difficult to understand what a thousand-mile attack meant.
Whether Tao Qian understands it or not, both sides have already laid out their battles, and it will definitely be impossible if they don’t fight.
Tao Qian suppressed the fear in his heart and looked at the cavalry on the opposite side, which had defeated him more than thirty times and was now charging at him again. He waved his long sword and immediately gave an order to attack.
"Xuzhou Army, attack."
The two armies collided on the Jianghuai land, and then naturally... blood flowed into a river.
——————
Under the iron hooves of the Overlord Cavalry, the Xuzhou Army was defeated in the end, and it was a complete defeat. It was directly crushed by the Ming Army with a weak force. It can be said that it was completely humiliating.
In this battle, the Ming army killed 10,000 enemies, captured 10,000 prisoners, and suffered 2,000 losses.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang led an army of 6,000 and defeated the Xuzhou Army head-on, which was six times more than his own. From then on, he naturally became famous and powerful throughout the world.
Tao Qian led the 15,000 remnant troops and retreated to Xuzhou in great embarrassment. From then on, he was left with a gloomy heart, and he no longer dared to lead the army in battle in person.
It is worth mentioning that Sun Wu, who was taken into custody by Tao Qian, ended up in the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang because he was left unattended after Tao Qian's defeat.
A military sage who was victorious in every battle was captured in this way. I have to say that Sun Wu was really unlucky.
After learning that Sun Wu had been captured, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and hurriedly went to persuade him to surrender.
Of course, it was impossible for Sun Wu to surrender, and Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care about it. He entertained him well and prepared to slowly convince Sun Wu.
After defeating Tao Qian, Shouchun's northern threat was eliminated, and after Zhu Yuanzhang led his army back, there was no longer any loophole in Shouchun's defense.
When Sun Jian learned that Sun Wu had been captured by Zhu Yuanzhang, he was naturally very anxious. He quickly asked Liu Yao to break the city with all his strength, but he refused because the casualties were too high.
Sun Jian also knew that conquering Shouchun would not take one day, so he could only suppress the anxiety in his heart and wait for the real opportunity to break the city to rescue Sun Wu.