There was thick smoke billowing on the battlefield, blood flowed continuously, and corpses were placed in random directions, with no one paying attention.
This pig-catching activity, no, the pig-catching activity, lasted for two hours.
The Zuo army had too many soldiers and horses, and they were all bandits. They were not strong enough to fight, but they were excellent at escaping to save their lives. The Qin army could not stand behind them.
At this time, it was only four quarters of noon.
Each army reported the results of the battle: 50,000 people were captured, 5,000 were killed or wounded, and about 20,000 escaped.
Zuo Liangyu escaped after all.
"Without a navy, once entering the Yangtze River, we can only stare."
Zhu Yixi was quite regretful, and the idea of forming a navy arose in her mind.
If it were equipped with artillery, wouldn't his navy be invincible?
By then, Jiujiang and Nanjing will be within reach.
Prime Minister Hui Deng held the feather fan and said without hesitation: "Zuo Jun can't do anything else and will run away. We brothers really can't catch him."
As he said that, he was very interested and said disdainfully: "I'm afraid the commander-in-chief doesn't know. Zuo Liangyu always likes to bully the weak and avoid the strong. When encountering intruders and thieves, he will hide whenever possible."
"As for a small band of thieves, they are on the ground in a hurry. We are often surrounded and suppressed by them, and we have no choice but to surrender."
Zhu Yixi squinted her eyes and listened with a smile.
After a while, Li Jingwu came up with a red face.
"Commander, I have lived up to everyone's expectations. I have captured Zuo Mengeng for you."
After saying that, Zuo Mengeng was tied up tightly, the skin peeled off from his face, and his flesh and blood were blurred. He said angrily:
"You know how to kill me if you know how to sneak attack? My father will avenge me."
"Kill you? Do you think I dare not?"
"Pa—" Zhu Yixi showed no mercy, directly using her feet, which bent over in pain.
"I'm going to give you a big slap, but I'm afraid my hands will get dirty, so I'll give you a kick. You're welcome."
Zhu Yixi ignored the latter's humiliated look and ordered: "Take him under custody and provide him with good food and drink. Zuo Liangyu only has one son, and this is a treasure."
Zuo Liangyu's family was all killed in the Xuzhou Mutiny, but Zuo Mengeng was the only one around, who was extremely precious.
Since Zuo Liangyu ran away, he had to make good use of his son Ling Lao Daddy.
At the very least, the Zuojun will not vote for the Manchus.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Zhu Yixi said to Chen Yongfu and others: "This victory is really no challenge. We have overestimated Zuo Liangyu."
Liu Tingjie said energetically: "The troops and horses in the mainland are so useless, no wonder we let the intruders and Western thieves take over."
"Commander, Zuo Liangyu is an officer and a soldier after all. I'm afraid it won't be good if we fight openly!"
Chen Yongfu said uneasily.
Compared with the unruly border troops, Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Henan, was more disciplined and somewhat fearful of the imperial court.
"I'm so afraid!"
Liu Tingjie couldn't help but said: "Between Henan and Zuo Liangyu, the court can't control it."
"Besides, it's a journey with high mountains and long rivers, and it's normal for some accidents to happen."
These words are too treasonous.
The generals looked incomprehensible, and even Chen Yongfu did not utter a rebuttal.
Obviously, the sense of belonging to the Qin Army has exceeded the banner of the Ming Army.
Zhu Yixi is happy to see the success.
There is no way, he gave too much.
After the victory in Xiangyang, almost every battalion commander was rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, which was in sharp contrast to the stinginess of the imperial court.
"Gather all the prisoners and put them under guard."
Zhu Yixi ordered in a deep voice: "Li Jingwu!"
"The general is here." Li Jingwu stepped forward confidently.
"Your cavalry is fast and follow me eastward. Stop when you reach Huangmei. You are not allowed to cross into Jiujiang."
"As you command!"
At this point, the entire Huangzhou Mansion was completely included.
Moreover, Huangmei County, as the birthplace of Huangmei Opera, can be said to be a transit point among the three provinces.
Jiujiang is in the south, Susong County in Anqing Prefecture is in the north, and it is adjacent to Zhili in the south.
Location is too important.
"Zhao Guangyuan!"
"The general is here!"
Zhao Guangyuan, who was immersed in victory, hurriedly responded.
"You go to Hanyang Mansion and regain this place."
Hanyang Mansion is located between De'an Mansion, Chengtian Mansion and Huangzhou Mansion. It is small but rich.
"As you command!"
At this point, the Huguang area, Yunyang, Xiangyang, De'an, Chengtian, Huangzhou, and Hanyang were almost the Hubei area in later generations.
As long as we capture Jingzhou again, we can march straight into Lingnan.
The dawn of victory was so brilliant that Zhu Yixi was extremely pleased. After working hard for more than half a year, he finally laid a foundation.
Thinking of the prisoners, Zhu Yixi had a headache again.
These tens of thousands of rotten people are not like the frontier army. It is too difficult to transform them. It is better to recruit new soldiers directly.
Regarding who should guard Wuchang Mansion, Zhu Yixi chose Chen Yongfu.
In this way, Li Jizu and You Shiwei were in Chengtian Mansion, Zhao Guangyuan went to Hanyang Mansion, and Chen Yongfu was in Wuchang Mansion.
Huangzhou Mansion and De'an Mansion are blocked by the Dabie Mountains and belong to the safe category, with not many troops stationed.
As for Zhu Yixi himself, he personally guarded Xiangyang to prevent enemy troops from Henan and better circulate the supplies of Hanzhong Prefecture.
After some arrangements, he had only 20,000 soldiers under his command, which was already at its limit.
This is also the main reason why he did not take advantage of the victory and pursue it. He bit off more than he could chew. Huguang is too big. Hubei alone has already reached the limit of its military strength, let alone Hunan in the south?
Furthermore, without the navy, it would be extremely difficult to attack Jiujiang. Why risk death?
At this point, Zhu Yixi was full of emotions: "It seems that we must recruit new soldiers and expand it to 100,000."
…………
But he said that in the boat, Zuo Liangyu and his party quickly returned to Jiujiang and went down the river, which took almost a day.
When I left, I had 100,000, but when I came back, I had less than 20,000.
Suffering such a blow just after Ning Nanbo was such a slap in the face, Zuo Liangyu's prestige was greatly shaken.
As soon as he arrived in Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu regretted everything and shouted loudly:
"Little thief, traitor, rebel, I want to impeach you to the court!"
"My dear Meng Geng, a single seedling from the Zuo family fell into the hands of thieves. Zhu Yixi, I swear to you and I will never give up."
"Regroup and set off today. We will avenge our dead brothers."
As soon as these words came out, the generals were in an uproar. They ignored the discussion and complaints and stood up one after another to dissuade him.
"Uncle, calm down, we can't defeat him!"
"This will only lead to death, and I won't go."
"If Zuo Menggeng hadn't mixed things up, we wouldn't have lost so miserably."
This objection was also expected by him.
Seeing this, Zuo Liangyu smiled inwardly and said, "In this way, let's recharge our batteries and teach this little thief a lesson next time."
In this way, Zuoying, which had been experiencing ups and downs, gradually calmed down.
As soon as I returned to the mansion and couldn't rest, I received a letter from Lu Daqi.
He scolded him for why he didn't go north to King Qin, but instead went west to attack friendly forces.
"King Qin? Does Qin belong to Bazi?"
Zuo Liangyu became angry because of shame: "If you have the guts, go by yourself. My son and I have been captured. How can I be in the mood to serve the king?"
Thinking of his only lifeline, Zuo Liangyu felt heartbroken. He was not pretending just now.
"Come here, send a messenger to Wuchang with five boxes of gold, silver and jewelry. Tell Zhu Yixi that no matter how much money he asks for, I will give it to him as long as my son is released."
His chest was rising and falling, Zuo Liangyu's right eye was beating, and he felt bad.
"Report, sir, Mr. Hou sent a letter from Jiangnan, saying it is extremely urgent!"
The so-called Mr. Hou is the son of Hou Fangyu, the leader of the Donglin Party and the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Hou Xun.
Hou Xunyou was the benefactor who recommended Zuo Liangyu, so Zuo Liangyu was also a member of the Donglin Party and had deep collusion with him.
Zuo Liangyu frowned, why is it so urgent?
He opened the letter and looked at it carefully.
"Pa—" Zuo Liangyu slapped the table, his face changed drastically: "How is this possible? Absolutely impossible, absolutely!"
