The officers and soldiers continuously fired firearms, arrows and lead bullets like migratory locusts at the soldiers in Cao's camp. Although Luo Rucai was prepared and equipped the soldiers with a large number of side cards, he still lost many men and horses.
After Li Zicheng received the news about the battle situation ahead, he asked Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, who were on his left and right: "Old Cao can conquer these fortresses if he fights hard. But I think since we want to scare this great thief
General, would it be better to fight this battle more cleanly?"
Song Chaizi stroked his beard and said nothing, while Niu Jinxing smiled and said: "Deputy Commander Cao has too many thoughts, maybe let him kill more soldiers and horses to make him behave.
Niu Jinxing's words seemed to be using the lives of Cao Ying's soldiers as bargaining chips in the power struggle between Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai. Although it was reasonable, it was very distasteful to the ears of Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang and Li Shuangxi.
.
Li Laiheng is now one of the top five generals of the army, and he can also be regarded as a front-line general in the camp. He has a lot of say. At this time, he advised: "In each town to assist in the suppression, there are only two officers and soldiers who can fight hard... One
One is Madman He, and the other is Zuo Liangyu. If we don’t scare Zuo Liangyu cleanly at this time, causing Lao Zuo to have the idea of a bold attack, then the entire plan to lure Chengtian Mansion may go bad.
Lost."
Li Zicheng nodded. He first reassured Niu Jinxing and said, "Qidong's opinion is also very pertinent. Lao Cao has been making more and more small moves recently. Sooner or later, we have to try to restrain and control Cao's camp. But now is a war, victory will be
It is the most important thing, and other things can be put to the back first.”
When the soldiers and horses of Cao's camp were being killed and injured for a while, Ma Jinzhong, a "hundred thousand man" who rebelled from the rebel army, was also watching the battle.
In February of the 11th year of Chongzhen, Ma Jinzhong was defeated by Liu Guoneng, another rebel traitor and his troops were severely damaged. After that, he followed Luo Rucai for a while, but finally couldn't stay any longer and managed to go north to Zhuyang, Lingbao.
Pass, trying to break into Shaanxi, but was blocked and defeated by Sun Chuanting, who was the governor of Shaanxi at the time.
Desperate, Ma Jinzhong had no choice but to surrender to Zuo Liangyu. As a result, things turned around and he was valued by Zuo Liangyu and became one of Zuo Zhenzhong's trusted generals.
Many years later, by chance, he would become a general in the First Battle of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and fight side by side with Li Guo and other loyal battalions. Even in the final battle between Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo at Tianwang Mountain, he would switch sides and become the meritorious person who destroyed Sun Kewang. It was another story.
story.
At this time, Ma Jinzhong was only slightly satisfied with the situation at hand. Based on his understanding of the rebel army, it seemed that the determination of the Chuang-Cao coalition to attack Xinyang was not firm yet, and the force invested was very limited.
Ma Jinzhong felt that as long as he continued to defend slowly like this, weakened the spirit of the bandits, and strengthened his own ambition, he would have completed the task, and he would be able to explain to Zuo Liangyu, and Zuo Liangyu would naturally be able to explain to Emperor Chongzhen.
But something unexpected happened at this time. After a burst of intensive drumbeats, the main force of the invading army gradually threw troops into the battlefield one after another, which caused a sudden increase in pressure on the left army.
Ma Jinzhong was greatly surprised, because he and Zuo Liangyu had previously estimated that the offensive of the Chuang Army would not be the main force, and Li Zicheng would not be so stupid in using troops.
But the facts before him told Ma Jinzhong that the rebels seemed to have really targeted Zuozhen as their main offensive target?
He couldn't believe it: "How could Li Zicheng be so stupid? He threw all his strength into Xinyang without any clever changes. He wanted to fight the army in a positional battle. Has Li Zicheng gone crazy?"
Regardless of whether the Chuang army went crazy or not, with tens of thousands of troops entering the battlefield, Ma Jinzhong already felt that these fortresses could not be defended at all. He also felt that it was necessary to return to Xinyang City to warn Zuo Liangyu that the Chuang Cao coalition seemed to be really desperate.
The main target of attack was locked on Zuo Zhen.
"Crazy, crazy. When Lao Li fights like this, is it possible that he is trying to annihilate his entire army and bite off a piece of flesh from Zuo Zhen first? No, no, we Zuo Zhen and the Chuang Army don't have such a big hatred.
! Could it be Luo Rucai’s idea? Yes, it must be Cao Cao. He and Zhang Xianzhong were defeated many times by Zuo Zhen when they joined forces. He must be holding a grudge, so he came up with such a bad idea that hurt both sides. "
Ma Jinzhong reasoned in his mind and placed the suspicion on Luo Rucai. He himself was a rebel commander and knew Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai very well. With the personalities of these two people, Li Zicheng would not do such a stupid thing, so it is very likely that
It was Luo Rucai who acted out of impulse.
"Fuck it, retreat, retreat, give up all the camps, let's all go back to Xinyang... The guards on the main road still have to stay, yes, we don't guard those small villages anymore, we just guard the main road and don't let the rogues go.
Just break out from the south, the rest is none of our Zuozhen's business!"
Ma Jinzhong immediately began to shift blame. He was afraid that such a fierce attack by Cao Cao's coalition would eat up Zuo Liangyu's most valued elite soldiers. If he suffered losses from the enemy and lost some troops, his status in Zuozhen would plummet in the future.
.
In short, General Zuo is right, focus on defense, remain unchanged in response to changes, and resolutely do not fight with Cao Cao's coalition forces in the field!
The officers and soldiers abandoned their various camps and retreated towards Xinyang faster than Li Zicheng expected. He said disappointedly: "Ma Jinzhong ran really fast. We couldn't catch up and missed the opportunity to take a bite of Zuozhen."
Liu Fangliang, who had some old friendship with Ma Jinzhong, thought of the past and said with a smile: "This guy can't do anything else, but Zhuan Jin Rufeng is really powerful. When he was in Henan in the 11th year of Chongzhen, he traveled all over the Central Plains, reaching Lingbao in the north and fighting in the south.
He has been through Gushi, Runing, and Luoshui."
Li Laiheng asked: "Marshal, do we want to continue to Xinyang to fight again?"
Li Zicheng pondered for a moment. Based on his understanding of Ma Jinzhong, he estimated that after Ma Jinzhong returned to Xinyang, he would try his best to persuade Zuo Liangyu not to take unnecessary risks. He then made up his mind and raised his whip and shouted: "No more fighting, rest for a while, and the whole army will return north."
!”
Li Laiheng nodded. Now, beating Ma Jinzhong twice is just an appetizer. Next, going back north to fight Fu Zonglong is the tough battle.
Fu Zonglong had about 40,000 troops and horses, of which 20,000 were capable and fierce Qin soldiers. He also built a solid defense line in the areas of Xiangcheng and Yancheng.
If the Allied Forces of Cao Cao want to leap into Tongbai Mountain, the remaining branch of the Dabie Mountains, and then rush to Chengtian Mansion in one go, they must first scare Fu Zonglong.
However, if you have to use more than 20,000 coalition troops to fight against 40,000 officers and soldiers, you still have to attack the defensive positions that the officers and soldiers have completed. You can imagine the difficulty.
After this tough battle, the Cao Cao coalition forces still needed to make a turn in front of the enemy in front of 40,000 officers and soldiers, and rush to the territory of Huguang.
Each level is an extremely difficult threshold to cross. Li Laiheng took a deep breath and thought of the several red cannons left in Ruyang: No matter what the situation was, he wanted to convince Li Zicheng. Even if he had to rush into Chengtian Mansion, he could not
Throw away these precious red barbarian cannons.
"I am surrounded by thousands of enemy troops, but I remain unmoved... I hope I can borrow your good words."