Li Jinglong led five hundred thousand northern expedition troops toward Beiping city. It was now October—the south was just putting on padded jackets, but the north was already wearing cotton coats.
The first northern expedition commander Geng Bingwen had brought southern troops in August, when everyone thought three hundred thousand southern forces would surely achieve victory, estimating they could even return home in time for the Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth month. With such contempt for the enemy, the southern army had not prepared winter cotton clothes during their march.
Due to Li Jinglong’s urgency to attack the city, not waiting for provisions, cotton clothes and other supplies to arrive, he hastily continued northward. High-ranking officers had cotton clothes for warmth, but lower officers and ordinary soldiers relied basically on walking for heat, or stuffed fodder meant for war horses into their single-layer garments for warmth.
Daytime was bearable, but at night, white frost formed on the ground. Warriors’ hands and feet developed frostbite from the cold. They also had to conserve food while awaiting supplies, so complaints filled the marching route.
With low morale, Li Jinglong considered this no problem—just one victory was needed, and the prosperous Beiping city would be the greatest supply station.
Subordinates reported that nights were truly too cold, with many warriors falling ill from freezing.
Li Jinglong said: “If nights are cold… then simply don’t sleep! March day and night—once we capture Beiping city, we’ll have everything.”
Li Jinglong’s “let them eat meat” remarks deeply disheartened the warriors.
Li Jinglong had a luxurious carriage where he could sleep pillowed on warm furs without delaying travel, but the warriors relied entirely on their two legs!
The warriors all recalled former commander Geng Bingwen’s virtues. Despite his advanced age, Marshal Geng never sought special treatment, eating and sleeping alongside warriors, never removing his armor, sleeping clothed—what magnificent bearing!
Sigh, each commander was worse than the last.
When southern forces reached Lugou Bridge, an important gateway to Beiping, Li Jinglong prepared to fight a bridge-seizing battle, but forward scouts reported that Lugou Bridge had no Yan forces guarding it—completely empty.
Li Jinglong was delighted: “Prince Yan’s heir, that big fatty, is truly useless, not even daring to fight once, cowering inside the city. Continue forward—we might break Beiping tonight and everyone can sleep well.”
Southern troops approached the city walls, each with frozen snot, eyes green from hunger, wishing to immediately break the city walls to steal cotton coats to wear.
Li Jinglong, seeing our side’s high morale, was quite pleased, increasingly convinced Beiping was in his pocket. Just as he was about to order the attack, an arrow without a head shot down from the city wall, carrying a letter.
Opening it, Li Jinglong saw it was a letter from Prince Yan’s heir requesting peace talks, repeatedly addressing him as “eldest cousin” throughout.
By generation, Li Jinglong was indeed Prince Yan heir’s cousin. In the letter, Zhu Gaochi said they were all family members—they should choose peace over war, and relatives could sit down and discuss any demands properly.
Li Jinglong hesitated, so he convened an emergency meeting, passing Prince Yan heir’s peace talk letter among the generals.
Some favored war: “We’ve already taken off our pants, and he shows us this? Don’t be cowardly—just do it.”
Some favored peace talks: “Military strategy says subduing enemies without battle shows true skill. Didn’t Duke Kaiping Xu Da also capture this city without losing a single soldier? If Duke Kaiping could do it, Duke Cao can too.”
This flattery greatly pleased Li Jinglong—being compared to the first founding hero was extremely honorable.
If he truly captured Beiping without losing a single soldier, I, Li Jinglong, could also be granted a princely title!
So Li Jinglong wrote a reply, discussing peace talks between both armies.
In Beiping city, Prince Yan’s heir Zhu Gaochi showed Li Jinglong’s reply to his mother Princess Yan.
After reading the reply, Princess Yan smiled: “Li Jinglong is indeed someone who seeks fame and reputation, wanting to capture Beiping without losing a single soldier like my father did. He should look in a mirror—is he worthy of comparison with my father? Now with your father still supporting Yongping, unable to spare forces for rescue, we delay one day at a time, awaiting reinforcements.”
Princess Yan was both brave and intelligent. She had prepared for a last stand, even entrusting her only grandson Zhu Zhanji to Mu Chun for protection in Yunnan, but she also strove for victory, thinking of every possible method.
Zhu Gaochi said: “Yes, your son will reply immediately, slowly negotiating the time and location for peace talks with Li Jinglong. We can at least delay until tomorrow morning. Those southern troops have no cotton clothes, wearing straw-woven mats for warmth, looking just like a group of beggars. Enduring one night like this, a large number will certainly fall ill from cold the next day.”
That night, southern and northern forces “exchanged letters like geese,” discussing peace talks.
As they say, first effort brings vigor, second brings decline, third brings exhaustion. The southern army had just arrived, eager to immediately attack to seize food and cotton coats, but commander Li Jinglong wanted peace talks!
Five hundred thousand against ten thousand, and still wanting peace talks?
In October Beiping, cold winds howled. The southern army was cold in body and heart, huddled together, too frozen to sleep, relying basically on shivering for warmth.
Due to Princess Yan’s “strengthening walls and clearing fields” order, not leaving a blade of straw, grain of food, or piece of tile, even cutting down trees and dragging them into the city, the southern army lacked even wood for fires, unable to light warming fires.
Barely enduring until dawn, many lacked strength to rise, developing typhoid from the cold.
Yan forces required southern troops to retreat two li from the city gate to make camp, then set up a tent one li from the city gate where both sides would send ten representatives each, laying down weapons to negotiate in the tent.
This demand seemed reasonable, so Li Jinglong withdrew forces two li to make camp and sent representatives for talks.
Southern army demands: Lay down weapons, abandon the city and surrender, with Beiping managed by southern forces. All Prince Yan mansion members would follow Li Jinglong back to the capital, with Princess Yan and the prince’s heir personally writing surrender letters to Prince Yan.
Yan army demands: Surrender letters could be written, but Beiping was granted to Prince Yan by Emperor Gaozhu—Li Jinglong had no authority to seize the city. Additionally, they must guarantee the safety and proper dignity of Prince Yan mansion family members.
The key point was Beiping city’s ownership. Both sides negotiated all day without reaching consensus, but darkness was falling again—another cold, long night was coming.
Negotiations left everyone furious and hungry. Most southern army officers petitioned Li Jinglong for permission to attack:
Someone hit the nail on the head: “Marshal! That big fatty Prince Yan heir is very cunning! Yan forces are deliberately delaying time, awaiting reinforcements. We must not fall for this delaying tactic!”
“Yes! If our army doesn’t attack the city soon, more warriors will die from cold and illness than from battle.”
After a day of fruitless talks, Li Jinglong was also angry and about to order the attack when he suddenly smelled tantalizing roasted meat!
It turned out Princess Yan, to show sincerity in peace talks, had sent one hundred roasted sheep, one hundred jars of fine wine, and one thousand cotton garments out of the city.
With food, drink, and clothing, it seemed Yan forces truly had sincerity.
So Li Jinglong softened again, distributing the wine, meat, and cotton clothes, asking everyone to remain calm and continue prioritizing peace talks.
However, Li Jinglong still kept one eye open, demanding overnight negotiations rather than waiting until tomorrow—preferably reaching consensus before sunrise.
Though Princess Yan sent much, it was far from enough for five hundred thousand southern officers and soldiers. Princess Yan was clearly using the “two peaches kill three warriors” strategy. Fighting over wine, meat, and cotton clothes created serious internal divisions among southern forces, nearly causing mutiny. That night the southern camp was chaotic, while the negotiation tent was filled with flying spittle—quite lively.
Li Jinglong listened to the tent’s repetitive back-and-forth official language. By the latter half of night, he could endure no more, tightened his fox fur, and fell asleep.
By dawn, there were still no results, but sounds of shouting and killing arose. Li Jinglong startled awake: “Yan forces dare go back on their word, leaving the city to attack our army—truly—”
“Marshal, our army is fighting over cotton coats! Please quickly manage them!”
Li Jinglong emerged from his tent to see southern forces like beggars fighting over cold roasted mutton, with thick cotton coats being “dismembered,” cotton batting flying everywhere in the sky.
Before even starting, his own side was in chaos. At this point, even a fool like Li Jinglong understood Yan forces’ wolfish ambitions—this wasn’t negotiation but treating him like a monkey!
To redirect southern forces’ anger and shift internal conflicts, Li Jinglong could only order immediate city attack.
Due to the sudden development, southern forces attacked without method, using only human wave tactics, charging forward wave by wave.
Five hundred thousand troops swept forward like tide, earth-shaking. Massive Beiping city was like a small boat in giant waves, about to face wave after wave of stunning assault.
On the city wall, Princess Yan ordered Yan forces not to shoot randomly. When the first wave of southern forces reached range, she raised her banner.
Ten thousand arrows fired together!
Arrows were so dense they blocked morning sunlight, instantly darkening the sky. Facing such concentrated arrow formations, southern forces quickly formed shield walls with shields connected overhead, slowing their speed but continuing forward like turtles.
Dark cannon mouths aimed at the turtle formation. Instantly, cannons roared together.
Shields exploded piece by piece under cannon fire like turtle shells, exposing the people hiding inside to arrow formations.
Under cannon and arrow fire, southern forces fell wave by wave, but military orders were absolute—they could only advance, not retreat. Later waves pushed forward waves, beating them to death on the battlefield. After several rounds of shooting, corpses piled like mountains outside Beiping.
Li Jinglong’s blood boiled: “Charge! Yan main forces are at Yongping—Beiping’s cannons and arrows will soon be exhausted!”
Li Jinglong estimated correctly. By noon, cannon sounds and arrow formations from city walls had obviously become sparse. By afternoon, they were as sparse as a middle-aged greasy man’s hairline—Beiping’s firepower was nearly exhausted.
Li Jinglong was delighted: “No wonder Prince Yan’s heir wanted peace talks from the start—delaying time! If they really fought, Beiping couldn’t hold for even a day. Charge! Keep charging!”
Starving southern forces continued charging forward. Arrows were nearly exhausted, and Beiping had nine city gates—how could ten thousand defenders suffice?
Princess Yan’s heir ordered Beiping’s sturdy women to climb city walls and throw stones down. Side-consort Lady Guo commanded the old and weak to boil pots of water, carry them to walls, and pour boiling water down. The wife and concubine cooperated seamlessly, jointly resisting enemies. Virtuous wife and concubine—Zhu Gaochi’s luck was as abundant as his body fat.
Scalding was more terrible than arrow wounds—southern forces screamed from burns.
Beiping city resisted tenaciously. By evening, southern forces still had not captured any city gate, and by now were exhausted, unable to fight anymore.
Only now did Li Jinglong realize his opponent’s terrifying nature. The arrow was on the string and had to be released—if five hundred thousand could not defeat ten thousand, how could they win facing Prince Yan’s one hundred thousand main forces in future?
They must win!
Li Jinglong gritted his teeth: “Slaughter horses for meat. After eating our fill and resting one night, continue fighting tomorrow!”
An advisor said: “Marshal, slaughtering war horses will shake army morale.”
Li Jinglong cursed: “If we can’t win, we’ll all die. Start slaughtering from my own mount. I don’t believe we can’t beat even a fatty.”
Below the city, war horses wailed mournfully. Without horses, they naturally needed no fodder. Southern forces boiled horse bean cakes and horse meat together, using horse fodder to make fires—quite desolate.
Just then, Yan forces on the city head began singing an ancient song—Cao Zhi’s famous “Seven-Step Poem”:
“Boiling beans to make soup, straining legumes for juice. Bean stalks burn beneath the pot, beans weep within the pot. Originally from the same root, why torment each other so urgently?”
Using horse fodder to cook horse bean cakes and horse meat—this scene was similar to “bean stalks burn beneath the pot, beans weep within the pot,” adding to the desolation. Some even collapsed on the spot from losing beloved horses.
So killing horses truly harmed morale—absolutely not hearsay. Hearing this, Li Jinglong cursed Prince Yan’s heir: “You dead fatty! If you have ability, come out and fight me! Playing such underhanded tricks—are you even a man?”
Zhu Gaochi remained his chubby, good-natured appearance, kind-browed and benevolent-eyed, looking like a big fat Buddha in temples—appearing very reliable.
Zhu Gaochi replied: “Cousin! You are my dear cousin—we both have Zhu family blood flowing through us. Originally from the same root, why torment each other so urgently?
It’s all court traitors like Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru who instigate discord between nephew and uncle, making us cousins also fight with weapons and kill each other. So my father raised troops to serve the king, eliminating traitors!”
“Fellow Ming warriors, my father absolutely has no rebellious intentions. He merely acts according to the ‘Imperial Ancestral Instructions.’ If there are traitors deceiving the monarch and bringing disaster to the country and people, he has responsibility to raise troops serving the king, eliminate traitors, and support justice. My father has always wanted peace! Cousin, I’m willing to cease fire and negotiate with cousin again!”
Southern army morale was severely damaged. Hearing Zhu Gaochi’s sincere words, many began wavering. Reducing vassals, reducing what bird vassals! Previously during Hongwu reign, everyone united against the Northern Yuan—how could so many die in civil war? They were all Ming forces—why fight themselves?
Even dying in battle was disgraceful—not as satisfying as fighting Northern Yuan.
Li Jinglong spat: “Peace talks are fake, delaying is real. Do you take me for a fool? If I can’t capture Beiping, I’ll write the character Li upside down!”
With no hope for peace, they still had to kill each other. Warriors eating horse meat felt truly uncomfortable.
At dawn, Li Jinglong ordered slightly rested southern forces to launch fierce attacks again—wave after wave. Beiping’s stones were nearly exhausted, corpses lay everywhere below the city, gradually forming small mountains. Combined with previously thrown stones raising ground level, the tall city wall seemed shorter.
Then rear supply provisions and cotton clothes finally arrived partially. Southern forces could finally dress somewhat warmly without slaughtering war horses.
Receiving supplies boosted southern army morale. Stepping on comrades’ corpses, they finally broke several city gate gaps, even once breaking through Zhizhi Gate. Yan forces counter-attacked, and Zhizhi Gate changed hands several times. Finally, inspired by Princess Yan personally leading troops, Yan army morale surged, following Princess Yan to barely hold Zhizhi Gate.
This day was late October. Beiping had reached the season when water instantly froze, with snowflakes beginning to fall.
Princess Yan extended her hand, catching a large snowflake. Due to extremely cold weather, the snowflake didn’t immediately melt when landing on her hand.
Princess Yan was delighted and immediately ordered: “Fill city wall gaps with straw, then pour cold water, turning Beiping’s walls into an impregnable ice wall!”
When southern forces attacked again, Yan forces defended while repairing walls with ice water. Princess Zhang and side-consort Lady Guo also climbed walls to personally repair them. Both women’s pampered jade hands developed frostbite. As weather became bone-piercingly cold, women on walls had long replaced boiling water with cold water. Southern forces’ hard-won cotton coats, soaked by cold water then blown hard by north wind, became ice armor.
Southern forces already couldn’t resist cold. Now even with passionate blood, their hands and feet were trapped, their minds containing only one word—cold!
Overnight, Beiping’s city walls were covered in ice and snow. Using the method of piling straw and pouring cold water, walls “grew taller” overnight, actually becoming desperate ice Great Walls!
The ice and snow Great Wall was extremely difficult to assault. Southern forces’ sword strikes left only white marks, and when climbing walls during attacks, they were too slippery to ascend.
Li Jinglong had originally planned to use human wave tactics like a python to strangle Beiping, but he forgot that snakes needed to hibernate—no matter how long the snake, it feared cold. Forget strangling others—even self-preservation was difficult.
“Princess! Beiping is saved!” Princess Heir Zhang’s hair had frozen into icicles, but her brows and eyes were full of joy.
Side-consort Lady Guo ran up the city wall: “Princess! Received carrier pigeon message—reinforcements have arrived! Father-in-law’s army has crossed White River and will soon strike southern army’s rear!”
“So I always tell you—we women should first find ways to save ourselves when facing problems, not wait for men to rescue us.” Princess Yan looked at her two daughters-in-law with satisfaction. “Pass down orders—continue defending the city, don’t let your guard down.”
In special times, daughters-in-law could also serve as warriors. Under mother-in-law’s influence, this pair of wife and concubine possessed unusual feminine strength. They increasingly believed that with sufficient effort, they could control their own destinies—and this would determine their future fates.
Speaking of Li Jinglong being helpless against the ice mountain desperate Great Wall, rear scouts reported that Prince Yan was bringing troops for support, about to arrive at Beiping.
Li Jinglong didn’t believe it: “White River is a necessary route to the capital. One hundred thousand Yan forces would need half a day just to cross the river—how could they arrive so quickly?”
The scout said: “The north is cold—White River has thick ice sufficient for horses to run on, so Yan forces arrive extremely quickly.”
With no hope of capturing the city and enemies coming from behind, Li Jinglong quickly ran first—while running, he even forgot to order southern forces attacking the city to retreat. Seeing their commander fleeing in panic, these southern forces immediately collapsed and threw down weapons to surrender.
To run faster, Li Jinglong not only abandoned soldiers but didn’t care about remaining provisions, only focusing on escape—all benefiting Prince Yan’s mansion.
Yan forces intercepted southern forces, causing complete southern retreat. Five hundred thousand troops were like scattered sand. Li Jinglong ran to Dezhou, Yan forces chased to Dezhou. Li Jinglong ran to Jinan, Yan forces chased to Jinan. Yan forces were so formidable yet couldn’t catch Li Jinglong!
Even Prince Yan had to sigh: “So no one is completely useless. Even waste like Li Jinglong has escape skills this prince admits inferiority to.”
To save his life, Li Jinglong traveled between Hebei and Shandong. His escape process was so spectacular, tortuous, dangerous, and exciting—it was simply staging a large-scale youth inspirational idol outdoor reality show—Run, Brother!