offer thanks. The Jianwen emperor again honored him with a banquet and reception. All of Tie Xuan's suggestions were imposed and adopted. Tie Xuan was promoted to the Shandong left minister position in its government. In the 12th month of that year, he was promoted to an official in the Ministry of War. The Jianwen Emperor replaced Sheng Yong with Li Jinglong as General of Yan, and he assigned Tie Xuan to participate in military affairs. That winter, Sheng Yong defeated Zhu Di at Dongchang and beheaded his general, Zhang Yu. Zhu Di fled back to Beiping (now Beijing). Since then, the Yan troops all went via Xuzhou, Pei County, to go south. They would not dare again to go via Shandong. As the Yan troops day by day advanced, the Jianwen Emperor ordered the Liaodong military official Yang Wen to command 100,000 troops to go ahead and link up with Tie Xuan, to break off the Yan troop's escape route. Yang Wen's army arrived at Zhigu (in Tianjin), and was defeated by the Yan General Song Gui; not one of them arrived in Jinan. In the fourth month of the fourth year of Jianwen (1402), the Yan army, at the south of the Xiaohe River, the central army fought Tie Xuan and the various generals and beheaded many. Both sides linked up to fight at Lingbi, but the pacification soldiers were dispersed and captured. After this, Sheng Yong was also defeated. The Yan troops crossed the river, and attacked Tie Xuan's soldiers stationed at Huaishang. That army was also defeated. Unyielding and dying Soon after Tie Xuan's soldiers were defeated, Tie Xuan was captured. But, he refused to surrender. In court he sat with his back turned in order to insult Zhu Di. Zhu Di ordered him to turn around, but Tie Xuan refused to listen, even after his ears and nose were cut off. Zhu Di commanded that his flesh be cooked and then stuffed into his mouth, asking, "Is it not sweet?" Tie Xuan replied sternly, "The flesh of a faithful official and filial son, why would it not be sweet?" Thereupon, his limbs were torn off. Tie Xuan died after incessant torture. After he died they again used oil to cook his corpse. During the course of events, he wished to face north to worship, but the heat caused oil to unexpectedly splash and drop. Tie