Chapter 203 Killing Chickens and Horrifying Monkeys
At that time, the sun was approaching the Western Mountains, and the sunset was overwhelming, sweeping across most of the sky, and the entire Yangtze River seemed to be dyed red.
Hundreds of warships, flying the flag of the Ming Dynasty, fiercely collided with each other, showing their extremely terrifying strength.
Each artillery piece, with its black muzzle exposed, looked extremely intimidating.
Zuozhen soldiers and horses had to bite the bullet and had to use all their warships to face the battle.
Early stage.
The Zuo army took advantage of more than a year of training and was able to fight the Qin army with ease. Although it was at a disadvantage, it did not show signs of decline.
But after the mid-term, the Qin army ignored tradition and directly used artillery and muskets.
This caused the Left Army, which was accustomed to springboard operations and tried to counterattack by taking advantage of its numerical advantage, to suffer greatly.
Compared with the sea, the Yangtze River is relatively narrow, and the advantages of artillery are extremely obvious.
One ship after another, soon after they got close, they encountered shelling.
"Rumble--"
With the sunset, the Yangtze River turned blood red.
Countless ship planks scattered, and a large number of left troops were forced into the water.
"Save them!"
You Shiwei's eyes widened, his mouth grinned, and he thought over and over again before speaking.
He remembered what King Hanyang said before leaving, that this battle was to firstly shock Nanjing, and secondly to win over people's hearts.
The generals on the deck were all surprised.
"Tongzhi, if you recruit these people, won't you eat food in vain?"
Bai Wang was puzzled and said that he had no good impression of Zuozhen soldiers and horses. They were more like thieves than the intruders like them.
"There is a lot of vacant land in the Huguang area. The Military and Administrative Department needs to build a military garrison and needs manpower."
You Shiwei said in a deep voice, giving a suitable excuse.
The generals reluctantly nodded.
It makes sense to please the Secretary of Military Affairs and the King of Hanyang.
As a result, after just rescuing thousands of people, the dozens of warships in the rear row could no longer suppress the panic in their hearts about the artillery fire, and turned around and wanted to surrender.
As a result, the Jiujiang Water Battle, second only to the Poyang Lake Water Battle during the founding of the People's Republic of China, was almost completely over in less than an hour, involving more than 100,000 people.
It ended with the surrender of the left navy.
But Zuo Liangyu and a group of generals were at the top of Jiujiang City, watching helplessly as their side was defeated.
"The Qin army is so disgusting, it has so many artillery."
Ma Jinzhong gritted his teeth and said.
Today's artillery is used in infantry, and the cost is too high, so no one can use it.
No one expected that the Qin army would place artillery on the ships.
With different ways of thinking, how can a springboard beat a cannon?
They have not seen the Xiyi people's ships. No matter how hard they try, they cannot face the modified warships.
In this way, you can only be beaten to pieces.
Faced with such a situation, Zuo Liangyu was not as irritable as before.
Standing high and seeing far, he has understood that this war is a subversive battle and the loser is not unjust.
Even so, he still boosted morale: "There are still tens of thousands of people in Jiujiang City, with enough food and grass for two months, and there is the hinterland of Jiangxi behind us. We will never lose."
"I have sent people to the court to find Governor Lu. I will never condone the Qin army."
Immediately, Zuo Liangyu endured his heartache and distributed 50,000 taels of silver, barely improving his morale.
Huang Shu, the censor of the army on the side, sighed and said: "Two days ago, the imperial court has appointed He Tengjiao as the governor of Huguang. I am afraid that it wants to restrict King Hanyang."
"You mean, knock on the mountain to scare the tiger, kill the chicken to scare the monkeys?"
Zuo Liangyu was stunned for a moment and then suddenly realized.
"It's his uncle's fault, I turned out to be that chicken!"
Thinking of this, Zuo Liangyu could no longer suppress the rage in his heart: "I gave it to him if I took it. He, the King of Yu, has been tormenting me for two months and made me suffer. What a bunch of bastards."
The generals under his command couldn't help but complain. This was really an unreasonable disaster.
I originally looked down on the Nanjing court, but now I am even more alienated.
However, this explanation made their thoughts of escaping Jiujiang fade away.
If you stick to Jiujiang, you will still have the imperial court to alleviate the trouble; once you escape, you will have to do nothing to please both sides, and you will really be doomed.
With this in mind, the Qin army took over the captured navy in an orderly manner and calmly established a foothold on land.
After working until midnight, You Shiwei met Zuo Liangyu's special envoy, Huang Shu.
As the Censor of the Supervisory Army, Huang Shu previously served as an official in Kaifeng. He was forced to take the blame for the crime of digging the Yellow River and was impeached. He was entirely supported by Zuo Liangyu.
It can be said that he and Zuo Liangyu both suffered losses and had to come.
"General You, Zuo Hou is willing to give one hundred thousand taels to reward the army."
"Reward the troops?"
You Shiwei smiled: "You don't want me to withdraw my troops, do you?"
"The general is really as sharp as a bead!" Huang Shu said with an awkward smile.
"It's only a hundred thousand taels, are you sending it to beggars?"
You Shi stood up so powerfully that he said coldly: "Without the military order from King Hanyang, I will never retreat."
Huang Shu looked stiff.
"However, if Zuo Hou gives up Jiujiang City, there will be some discussion."
How could Huang Shu agree to this condition?
Now that Zuo Liangyu's vitality is severely damaged, he may not even be able to defeat the imperial court.
As a member of the Donglin Party, Huang Shu certainly understood that Zuo Liangyu was a dog of the Donglin Party, an unruly dog.
Once it loses its use value, it will definitely be eaten up and wiped out, and he will suffer the same fate.
So, we're back to square one.
The Qin army was not ambiguous either.
They set up a military stronghold overnight and began to besiege Jiujiang City.
And, carry out the war on people's hearts.
Ordinary people and merchants are allowed to come and go, but Zuozhen soldiers and horses are not allowed to come and go.
As a result, Jiujiang had enough food and clothing, and the remaining left army was imprisoned.
Zuoying, who usually stayed outside the city, was now forced to retreat inside the city. The Zuoying, whose military discipline was lax, could not hold back and took action one after another.
At this time, the people in the city used all means to flee from the city.
Zuo Liangyu left it to his own devices. With fewer people, he would have a lot more food, making it easier to hold on.
Instead, because the people left the city, a lot of gold and silver was looted.
This siege lasted seven days.
The Qin army was waiting for the arrival of the red artillery, while Zuozhen was waiting for the imperial court's rescue.
Finally, on the eighth day of November, the newly appointed Governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, and the Governor of Jiangxi, Lu Daqi, led ten thousand people and hurriedly came to Jiujiang to help in the war.
For a time, it seemed that there were three pillars of power.
When he saw the reinforcements from the imperial court, You Shiwei was delighted:
"The wait is finally here, and my hard work is not in vain."
"Take out our red artillery and let the people in the grass open their eyes."
Wow!
Ten huge red-coated artillery pieces, with cold barrels, came out in a show of force outside Jiujiang City.
As Zuo Liangyu said, kill the chicken to scare the monkeys and knock the mountain to frighten the tiger.
However, how can killing a chicken from a distance be as effective as watching it from a close distance?
You Shiwei knows the civil servants best. They are all as if Zhuge Liang were alive, but when encountering danger, 99% of them will be frightened.
The reason why he kept Jiujiang City was because he wanted the court to truly see how powerful it was.