The running man team led by Li Jinglong fled desperately, finally finding the ancient city of Jinan for a moment’s respite to gather their remnant forces. At this time, large batches of southern provisions finally arrived, along with cotton clothes. Li Jinglong rallied his spirits and counted his remaining soldiers. When he had come, he brought five hundred thousand southern troops, plus the one hundred thousand left by predecessor Geng Bingwen, totaling six hundred thousand.
How many remained now? Over four hundred thousand.
His predecessor lost one hundred thousand, Li Jinglong lost over one hundred thousand. His forces were double his predecessor’s, but his disgrace was more than double his predecessor’s. Li Jinglong was inferior even to old General Geng Bingwen.
What to do? Before departing, Li Jinglong had written a military pledge, boasting he would finish fighting by autumn and return triumphant. Now it was already winter, and southern forces had not won a single battle. Six hundred thousand southern troops chased by one hundred thousand Yan forces—so disgraceful!
Li Jinglong thought: regardless of anything, he must salvage one victory, otherwise the battle reports would look terrible.
So Li Jinglong ordered holding firm at Jinan and wrote a memorial saying northern October brought snow and ice, southern troops fell ill and froze to death in large numbers due to inability to adapt to the cold climate, and the rebel Prince Yan took advantage of others’ misfortune, launching surprise attacks on our army’s rear, causing heavy losses.
Once there was an opportunity before me that I didn’t cherish. If His Majesty is willing to give me another chance, I’m willing to pay with my life to achieve victory.
Currently our army has sufficient provisions at Jinan. Our army is defending Jinan to prevent Yan forces from pursuing victory and advancing south to disturb the people. Therefore, I again petition His Majesty to give me one more chance. When spring arrives with warm weather and Beiping’s ice walls melt, I will immediately lead southern forces to campaign against Prince Yan…
Southern forces suffered disastrous defeat again—three hundred thousand against one hundred thousand lost, six hundred thousand against one hundred thousand also lost.
News reaching the capital caused an uproar. The prepared victory banquet could not begin, seeming increasingly distant.
People mocked Li Jinglong—six hundred thousand troops chased by one hundred thousand like homeless dogs running everywhere. They said he should rename himself “Li Runner.”
At the great court assembly, Huang Zicheng, Fang Xiaoru and others impeached Li Jinglong, wanting Emperor Jianwen to remove his northern expedition supreme commander position—these two testament ministers pretended to forget they had originally strongly recommended Li Jinglong.
But other ministers also submitted memorials pleading for Li Jinglong, saying he was imperial relative and descendant of generals, a great contributor to vassal reduction, deserving another chance.
Emperor Jianwen thought: if he changed commanders mid-battle twice consecutively, wouldn’t this shake army morale? Moreover, currently he could find no one more suitable than Li Jinglong as commander.
Furthermore, having Li Jinglong guard Jinan to block Yan forces from advancing south, keeping the “disaster” contained in the north, was also a merit. Otherwise, Yan forces striking directly at central China would be more troublesome.
Therefore, Emperor Jianwen overruled opposition, letting Li Jinglong atone for crimes through merit by firmly defending Jinan, sending large batches of supplies, requiring Li Jinglong to definitely guard the gateway and immediately launch a second attack when spring warmed.
Receiving the imperial edict, Li Jinglong felt relieved, kneeling to say: “Criminal subject Li Jinglong will definitely sacrifice his life to repay imperial grace!”
Speaking of Yan forces pursuing to Jinan, this city was easy to defend and hard to attack, so Yan forces did not linger in battle, instead turning to deal with northeastern garrison forces in Yan territory’s heartland.
The garrison commander was Wu Gao, descendant of generals, timid but meticulous, simply put—strategic but not brave. Deputy commander was Yang Shou, brave but simple-minded—courageous but not strategic. The two complemented each other perfectly with good cooperation. In several clashes with Yan forces, Yan forces gained no advantages.
Master Dao Yan offered a counterintelligence strategy. First, have Prince Yan write to the heir defending Beiping, saying Wu Gao was talented and he intended to persuade Wu Gao to join Yan forces, with progress already made, etc. Then, have agents deliberately let southern forces discover them while delivering secret letters, capture the agents, and search for the letters.
Seeing Prince Yan’s writing, Li Jinglong was delighted. Without winning battles, catching a major traitor attempting defection was good—mosquito legs were still meat.
So Li Jinglong embellished his report to Emperor Jianwen, saying Wu Gao wanted to surrender to Prince Yan and offer up Liaodong.
Seeing this, Emperor Jianwen was furious, fell for Prince Yan’s counterintelligence, immediately ordering Wu Gao’s commander position removed, demoting him to a minor officer in distant Guangxi, commanding Yang Shou to assume commander duties.
Receiving the appointment letter, Wu Gao felt more wronged than Yue Fei, immediately cursing Li Jinglong as Qin Hui reborn, framing loyal ministers.
But as mentioned before, Wu Gao had abundant strategy but insufficient courage. He dared not resist the edict under the principle that “generals abroad need not accept all sovereign commands,” so Wu Gao tearfully departed.
With the guard dog Wu Gao gone, Prince Yan, this cunning wolf, immediately attacked Liaodong. Yang Shou had previously followed superior Wu Gao’s orders in everything, striking wherever directed, lacking troop command ability. When Yan forces came, Liaodong forces immediately collapsed like an avalanche. Prince Yan, this wolf, thus seized Liaodong.
From then on, Liaodong belonged to Yan territory, no longer worried about enemies at the heartland.
Therefore, in Prince Yan gaining Liaodong, the first contributor was Li Jinglong, with Emperor Jianwen deserving second credit…
Learning of Liaodong’s loss, Li Jinglong was immediately stunned: What to do? He had thought mosquito legs were still meat, not expecting cunning old Prince Yan to hide poison even in mosquito leg meat!
Now it was good—not a single victory won, but Liaodong lost instead.
What to do? Last time Emperor Jianwen believed his reason that southern forces were poor at winter warfare, forgave him, and gave him another chance. Now with Liaodong lost, what excuse could he find?
Li Jinglong truly deserved being a legendary “eternal commander” figure—he thought of a brilliant operation: besieging Wei to save Zhao.
After Yan forces captured Liaodong, they immediately attacked the strategic position Datong. Datong was an important gateway advancing into central China, with military value no less than Jinan.
Li Jinglong decided to send troops to rescue Datong. If successful in protecting Datong, this would also be great merit, offsetting the sin of losing Liaodong.
It was now the second year of Jianwen, January. Southern willows already showed green, but northern cold remained severe. After a winter’s tempering plus sufficient supplies, southern forces barely adapted to northern cold.
Well-fed and clothed, Li Jinglong thought of military achievements, deciding to lead over four hundred thousand troops to depart, braving icy weather to support Datong.
This time, Li Jinglong learned his lesson, bringing sufficient food, letting warriors eat their fill and dress warmly. With high morale, they magnificently headed straight for Datong, preparing to attack Yan forces’ rear and avenge past humiliation.
However, after Li Jinglong’s over four hundred thousand reinforcements struggled through snow for half a month, climbing snowy mountains and crossing icy rivers to reach Datong, forget Yan forces—they didn’t see a single hair!
Where were Yan forces?
Datong garrison told Li Jinglong that Yan forces had withdrawn.
It turned out that when Li Jinglong exited Zijing Pass, Yan forces had already returned to Beiping through Juyong Pass.
The two armies perfectly missed each other.
Over four hundred thousand southern troops returned without accomplishment—equivalent to a four hundred thousand-person “run brother” winter outdoor exercise.
Ultimate humiliation.
Li Jinglong dejectedly returned to Jinan and convened a meeting: “We have traitors among us, otherwise how could Yan forces so coincidentally miss our army?”
Southern forces blamed each other, reporting each other as spies. Li Jinglong needed a scapegoat to take responsibility for this joke-like outdoor training.
So Li Jinglong pushed forward that Geng Bingwen old subordinate who always contradicted him, forging correspondence with Prince Yan to frame him, ordering him bound and sent to the capital for punishment.
Li Jinglong tearfully memorialized Emperor Jianwen: It’s not that our army is incompetent, but traitors appeared, leaking our army’s march route, causing the armies to pass by each other and miss the opportunity. The traitor has been found and sent to the capital—please Your Majesty severely punish him.
However, since Yan forces immediately withdrew upon hearing our army supported Datong, this shows Yan forces fear our army, fleeing in terror at the news.
Northern weather is still cold with rivers not yet thawed, but winter has passed—can spring be far behind? Please Your Majesty trust this subject and give this subject more troops. By April, this subject will immediately lead forces to pacify Beiping.
Li Jinglong’s memorial, as always, painted grand promises for Emperor Jianwen, and Emperor Jianwen, as always, bought into this, believing Li Jinglong and supplementing him with over one hundred thousand more troops, totaling the original six hundred thousand.
This time you must win!
While Li Jinglong requested money, food, and men, Prince Yan was not idle either. He led troops to besiege Baoding Prefecture. Baoding surrendered without battle, submitting to Prince Yan’s mansion.
Finally, April arrived with warm weather, everything reviving, climate neither cold nor hot. Li Jinglong saw six hundred thousand troops had drilled sufficiently and ordered attacking Beiping again.
This time, Prince Yan had resolved all enemies in northwest, northeast, and frontlines, all submitting to Prince Yan’s mansion. Prince Yan would not allow southern forces to threaten Beiping again. Rather than defending in the city, he led one hundred thousand Yan forces plus Mongol cavalry who had submitted to actively engage southern forces.
The two armies battled in Hebei. Yan forces were valiant and familiar with terrain. Southern forces were numerous with excellent equipment, even featuring newly developed landmines from ammunition factories. Both armies had victories and defeats.
Until the final decisive battle, an incredible scene occurred.
As both sides fought to climax with bloodshot eyes, suddenly, a whirlwind-like vortex arose from level ground.
Moreover, this wind blew and blew with arrogant indulgence, actually lifting southern army commander Li Jinglong’s banner. The strange wind was not only arrogantly indulgent but surprisingly powerful, actually toppling the flagpole. With a crack, the flagpole symbolizing the commander crashed down.
Yan forces seized the opportunity to shout: “Li Jinglong is dead! Surrender quickly!”
Southern forces initially disbelieved, but when they looked back for Li Jinglong, they not only couldn’t find him but saw the commander’s banner was not re-erected, nor was a backup banner raised.
Know that ancient warfare lacked phones or satellite positioning—everything relied on drum sounds, gong sounds, and banner language to command battles.
The commander’s banner was like a sea-calming needle. When the command banner fell, it indicated the commander was in trouble. On battlefields, capturing a banner could earn more merit than a human head.
With the command banner gone and the sea-calming needle fallen, southern forces immediately panicked. Those who fled fled, those who surrendered surrendered. Yan forces pursued victory.
This battle saw over one hundred thousand southern troops surrender—the number who surrendered exceeded even the total of opposing Yan forces.
All provisions carried by southern forces were also captured by Prince Yan. Li Jinglong was simply Prince Yan mansion’s military and supply transport team captain.
Was Li Jinglong dead?
Of course not. As the permanent representative of the large-scale outdoor reality show “Run Brother,” Li Jinglong was just doing his specialty: running away.
That’s right—when the command banner fell and the tornado sent flying sand and stones, Li Jinglong thought Yan forces had reached the central command camp and cut down the command banner. Oh, changes came too fast like a tornado, unable to leave the storm circle, no time to escape. Li Jinglong thought: I can’t think anymore—I’d better run quickly!
So Li Jinglong was scared witless, had no time to verify truth or falsehood, didn’t think at all, immediately ran away!
With this flight, originally victorious southern forces collectively collapsed, losing heart for battle, all running.
Li Jinglong ran to nearby Dezhou. Before even eating a bite of roast chicken, Yan forces had already pursued. Li Jinglong ordered southern forces to defend Dezhou to the death—then ran out the back door himself.
Seeing their commander so irresponsible, southern forces had no fighting spirit, became disheartened, symbolically resisted briefly, then surrendered.
Yan forces occupied Dezhou.
Li Jinglong ran and ran, running to Jinan. Jinan was easy to defend and hard to attack with sufficient provisions, but Li Jinglong had already defeated six hundred thousand troops at amazing speed, cowering in Jinan without emerging.
News reaching the capital could no longer be described as shocking: six hundred thousand couldn’t defeat one hundred thousand?
Shocking to the extreme became instead an eerie calm.
Imperial family members had their bodies in the capital but hearts already leaning toward Prince Yan—this was determined before the court’s northern expedition.
The greatest psychological change occurred among court officials. Since Emperor Jianwen inherited legitimately, before the northern expedition, officials basically considered Prince Yan a rebel traitor bullying his nephew. But after consecutive northern expedition defeats, court officials realized:
How terrifying it was when an incompetent sovereign squandered the family fortune! Fortunately, Emperor Gaozhu’s previous northern expeditions had beaten the Northern Yuan powerless to retaliate, otherwise the Ming would be in danger!
After repeated northern expedition failures, the court’s winds secretly changed direction. Many officials secretly altered their stance, inclining toward the Ming needing a heroic ruler rather than a naive little emperor who treated warfare as child’s play, squandering six hundred thousand troops in less than a year.
Otherwise, how many more years could the family fortune Emperor Gaozhu painstakingly accumulated over thirty-one years last?
People were strange—previously during Hongwu reign, officials secretly complained Emperor Gaozhu was too harsh, always threatening violence, but now with the new sovereign making blunder after blunder, squandering the family fortune without blinking. Without comparison there was no harm—a strong emperor was always better than a muddled one!
And Prince Yan Zhu Di’s actions truly resembled Emperor Gaozhu too much—the same aggressive advancement, using any means to achieve goals, intelligent, courageous, with incredible luck, especially surrounded by many young valiant generals…
Of course, officials dared not speak plainly, only using the pretense of missing Emperor Gaozhu to mask inner changes.
Emperor Jianwen also knew he had disappointed the court. To salvage dignity, Emperor Jianwen no longer believed Li Jinglong’s excuses, immediately ordering his dismissal and investigation, recalling Li Jinglong and appointing general Sheng Yong as supreme commander to pacify Yan, replacing Li Jinglong.
Sheng Yong brought two hundred thousand southern troops, collecting scattered remnant forces along the way, determined to battle Prince Yan and restore Emperor Jianwen’s dignity.
Li Jinglong dejectedly returned to the capital. At the great court assembly, many clamored for Emperor Jianwen to execute Li Jinglong. Emperor Jianwen didn’t nod but removed all his positions, even stripping his Duke Cao title, forbidding him from attending court, ordering him to reflect behind closed doors at home.
At home, Li Jinglong drank daily to drown sorrows. When drunk, he threw tantrums, smashing wine jars everywhere: “Reflect, reflect on what bird reflection! Everyone says I’m worthless! If you’re capable, you do it!”
As his words fell, a voice responded: “Duke Cao speaks correctly. Oranges south of Huai become oranges, north of Huai become bitter oranges. Duke Cao is brilliantly talented, but the muddle-headed sovereign has eyes that can’t recognize gold-inlaid jade, causing pearls to be dusted and dim. As long as Duke Cao finds the right enlightened master, pearls will certainly shine brightly.”
“It’s you! You indeed ran to join Prince Yan! No wonder no one could catch you.” Seeing this person, Li Jinglong felt like seeing ghosts in daylight. “I’m no longer Duke Cao.”
Ji Gang smiled charmingly: “Once you serve as inside agent helping Prince Yan ascend the throne, your Duke Cao title will immediately be restored.”