The Ming army in the world is one family, and as long as they fight, they will be Muggles.
If the location, time and characters were not different, you could even regard the Battle of Zhuxian Town as a replay of the Battle of Songjin.
Upon learning of the arrival of Ming army reinforcements, Li Zicheng abandoned Kaifeng City and headed straight for Zhuxian Town.
Although a small number of troops were arranged to monitor Kaifeng, Li Zicheng was afraid that the Ming troops in the city would come out to cooperate with the reinforcements, so he sent people to pretend to be Zuo Liangyu's messengers, so that the Ming troops in the city had to defend the city.
After Li Zicheng arrived at Zhuxian Town, without saying a word, he immediately ordered the army to besiege everywhere.
Then……
Dig trenches.
Digging trenches like crazy.
It is not difficult to see from this that as the history of war developed by the end of the Ming Dynasty, soil work had become a standard feature of all armies.
The Ming army in Zhuxian Town behaved exactly like their counterparts in Songshan.
It wasn't until the peasant army's trenches were dug that they realized what they were doing.
In this kind of battle, it would be unjust to not lose.
Facing the unfavorable situation, the Ming army was still full of internal contradictions, which further affected its efficiency.
"Although the enemy army is large, our army is short of food and grass, and Kaifeng cannot afford to lose anything. For the current plan, we can only fight quickly. Generals, what do you think?"
Ding Qirui wanted to take the initiative.
Before he finished speaking, Zuo Liangyu pushed him back.
"The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. We attack rashly and seek death. If we are defeated, there will be no more available troops in the Central Plains and the imperial court will be in danger."
Other generals agreed, but no one wanted to fight.
Ding Qirui blushed and wanted to have an attack but didn't dare.
Look at these proud soldiers, each one has extraordinary strength. He is a polished governor, and he really doesn't dare to mess around.
The meeting broke up unhappy.
Zuo Liangyu returned to his army, and Xu Yong, Jin Shenghuan and others quickly surrounded him.
"Uncle, the invasion of the army is huge, we have to find a safe way."
"We only have this little money. If it's all gone, we can just use it as mermaid meat."
The generals under Zuo Liangyu's command had the same moral character as him and did not want to fight head-on with the peasant army. He just wants to preserve his strength and fish in troubled waters.
Seeing that everyone thought so, Zuo Liangyu felt relieved.
"Only fools go to fight with Li Zicheng to the death. As long as we keep our belongings well, no matter where we go in the future, we will have no worries about glory and wealth."
All the generals understood each other and laughed knowingly.
"You go back quickly and pack your belongings. Let's give him a break tonight."
Li Guoying was a little worried when he heard that Zuo Liangyu planned to escape first.
"Uncle, will the court pursue it?"
"Hmph, once Bai Guangen ran away, did the court hold him accountable? As long as we have soldiers and food in our hands, what can the court do?"
During the Battle of Songjin, many generals of the Ming army fled.
But the Ming court didn't pursue any of them, and they had to be promoted to higher ranks, for fear that these generals would defect to the enemy.
After Bai Guangen escaped from Liaodong, he was still reused and is now on the battlefield in the Central Plains.
Seeing this, Zuo Liangyu lost all respect for the court.
On the outskirts of Zhuxian Town, the Chuang army has completely surrounded the Ming army.
But for some reason, Li Guo always felt his heart beating wildly, as if something was wrong.
But he thought about it and couldn't find the problem.
While he was troubled, his generals came flying over.
"General, my subordinates have received a secret report that Zuo Liangyu's thief is about to escape."
Li Guo jumped up, his mood suddenly clear.
"Is the secret report true?"
The general was confident.
"My subordinate's cousin is in Zuo Liangyu's army and just sneaked over. He said that the army has started packing and is waiting for dark."
Li Guo's eyes flashed with ruthlessness.
"Zuo Liangyu has killed a thousand people, we must not let him escape."
Previously, Zuo Liangyu took advantage of the Chuang Army's campaign to raid the old camp of the Chuang Army in Linying, and carried out a brutal massacre of the city.
All of Chuang Jun's family members were slaughtered, including Li Guo's two women and children.
Li Zicheng became furious and chased Zuo Liangyu with his army.
Zuo Liangyu was also lucky and ran away despite heavy losses.
Now that the enemy has met, he is extremely jealous. How can Li Guo give up?
He immediately went to find Li Zicheng and reported the matter.
Li Zicheng's anger did not diminish, and he realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"We will use our tactics to avenge the old and young men no matter what. After you go back, ask your subordinate to contact his cousin, and so on...and so on..."
Li Guo accepted the order and quickly went back to arrange it.
Although the days are long, they will eventually pass.
Zuo Liangyu was not even willing to wait until late at night, for fear that other generals would be a step ahead of him.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from the left army roared out of the camp without even saying hello, running wildly to find the only way to survive.
The invading army on the opposite side didn't seem to have expected the Zuo army's move. They were caught off guard and lost three camps in the blink of an eye.
Zuo Liangyu charged all the way under the protection of his own soldiers. Seeing the chaos among the invading troops, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, feeling that there was hope for a breakout.
"Work harder, we can survive if we get through."
Before he could finish his words, there was a sudden loud crashing sound in front of him, followed by flying dust.
Zuo Liangyu was startled, and when he looked closely, he saw a large ditch suddenly appeared in the open space in front of him.
The ditch was originally covered with straw and soil, making it completely invisible. It wasn't until the forward of the left army stepped on it that his true appearance was revealed.
But the forwards of the left army had no time to escape, and thousands of people fell into it on the spot.
The trench was one foot deep, and the bottom was filled with sharp wooden thorns.
The left army soldiers who fell inside all turned into gourds of flesh and blood and were completely hopeless.
The rest of the people were trembling, their two bodies were fighting, and they were only happy.
Suddenly there was a sound of artillery, and there was a forest of flags behind the trench, and countless intruders rushed up with shouts. There were people piled on top of one another, and there was no telling how many there were.
Zuo Liangyu's scalp was numb. How could he not know that Chuang Jun was already prepared?
But at this time, the Ming army camp behind them was already in flames, and other generals also began to flee for their lives. Even if they regretted it, it was too late.
"Don't stop, find a way out!"
Jin Shenghuan and others also understood that they could not afford to delay, so they immediately dispersed in search of a way out.
Zuo Liangyu was so flustered that he couldn't care about anything and could only fight blindly.
He only had more than 10,000 people under his command, but the Chuang army hated him so much that they deployed a hundred thousand troops to surround him.
The battle was brutal from the beginning.
The Chuang army wanted revenge and had no intention of taking prisoners. Even if the left army knelt down and surrendered, their heads were chopped off.
Seeing that surrender was ineffective, Zuo Jun had no choice but to risk his life and fight.
The battlefield was in complete chaos.
Zuo Liangyu didn't know how many people he had killed, and there were fewer and fewer soldiers around him. As far as the eye can see, there are not many soldiers from the left army.
On the contrary, the army is endless.
If this continues, he will die sooner or later.
Zuo Liangyu gritted his teeth and quickly took off his armor, preparing to blend in with the rebels and look for opportunities to break out.
Not to mention, without the handsome general's armor, the Chuang army really lost its goal.
Zuo Liangyu breathed a sigh of relief and chose a place with few people to run.
Looking at a gap in front of him, he was about to escape, when a loud shout suddenly came from beside him.
"Zuo Liangyu is here!"
Zuo Liangyu's soul came out, and he followed the sound, but it was so chaotic that he didn't know who was calling.
But because of this shout, all the nearby intruders rushed forward.
"Hold the back."
Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to ask his soldiers to detach a part of his men to stop the attack, but he walked quickly and burrowed all the way into the bushes.
(End of chapter)
