Tongluo Gorge has a total length of 53 kilometers and a wall height of 513 meters. It has steep cliffs and faces the Jiajiang River. It is the waterway gateway upstream into Chongqing. It was known as the "Eastern Frontier Barrier" during wartime and was a battleground for military strategists of all ages.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Xian led thousands of troops and defeated the Mongolian army in Tongluo Gorge. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Daxia Kingdom became king here and also defended the Tongluo Gorge, but was defeated by Zhu Yuanzhang's general Tang He and others.
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Now, Zhao Guangyuan has assembled a large number of troops in Tongluo Gorge, equipped with a large number of artillery and rolling wood and stone, and set up iron ropes to block the river at the mouth of the gorge. In his opinion, this measure is foolproof.
No matter how powerful Zuo Liangyu's troops are, if they are unable to attack for a long time in the face of such natural dangers, they will definitely lose their vigor. In addition, the number of rebel warships is not only small, but most of them are fishing boats, so he is definitely sure of victory.
Therefore, Zhao Guangyuan first strictly ordered his men not to attack, and waited for the rebels to attack Tianxuan first.
However, what surprised him was that the rebels did not attack Tongluo Gorge immediately. They seemed to know that Tongluo Gorge was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and they were afraid that they would not be able to defeat it!
This made him a little proud. Anyway, if it takes time, the advantage lies with him!
As soon as Zuo Liangyu's troops entered Sichuan, they had already asked for help from Chengdu. As time passed, once the reinforcements arrived, the rebels would be more able to win.
The only regret is that part of the credit for defeating the rebels will be shared by others.
Therefore, in Zhao Guangyuan's opinion, the best result is that the reinforcements have not arrived, but the rebels are exhausted and have lost morale. Then he can destroy the rebels in one fell swoop and perfectly accept this military exploit.
"Report, the rebel coach is actually Zuo Menggeng, Zuo Liangyu's son, not Zuo Liangyu!"
"What?" Zhao Guangyuan couldn't believe it when he heard Ye Bushou's report, and quickly confirmed, "Where is Zuo Liangyu?"
"According to the accounts of the captured prisoners, Zuo Liangyu is in Kuizhou and has not come with the army!"
"Haha..." Zhao Guangyuan burst into laughter upon hearing this.
Since it is not Zuo Liangyu, but the unknown Zuo Mengeng, this battle is truly a feat from heaven, and he deserves to be knighted by Zhao Guangyuan!
However, sometimes, the facts often do not turn out as expected.
The actual leader of the rebel army was Zuo Liangyu's deputy Ma Shixiu. Seeing that the terrain at the entrance of the Tongluo Gorge was steep and the imperial army was heavily defended, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack, he gathered the main force of the army at the entrance of the Tongluo Gorge and made a plan to negotiate with the imperial officials.
The army pretended to be fighting to the death, but secretly mobilized thousands of people to capture Jiangjin by land, seize boats and sail down the river to occupy Futuguan, the throat of Chongqing.
Moreover, Ma Shixiu personally led a group of surprise troops, carrying small boats, cutting down trees to clear a path from the dense forest on the top of Baiyan Mountain on the south bank, and going around behind the defenders of Tongluo Gorge, where they unexpectedly attacked from upstream and downstream at the same time.
On Zhao Guangyuan's side, when he heard that the rebels had bypassed Tongluo Gorge and occupied Futuguan at some point, he was immediately at a loss. Chongqing was in danger. What should we do next?
At the moment of panic, Ma Shixiu led his troops to attack. Zuo Mengeng immediately responded and attacked Tongluo Gorge at the same time.
Under the simultaneous attack from upstream and downstream, Zhao Guangyuan's troops were completely defeated, Tongluo Gorge changed hands, and he himself fled to the south of Sichuan.
Because he knew that once the Tongluo Gorge was lost, the enemy would reach the city of Chongqing, and Chongqing would definitely not be able to defend it. And Chongqing is an important town in eastern Sichuan. Once it falls into the hands of the rebels, it will be easy for the rebels to attack Chengdu. At present, Shu
In terms of local armaments, it would be easy for Chengdu to be unable to defend itself.
Under such circumstances, to defend Chongqing is to be mentally ill. To retreat to the rebel attack route to block the unstoppable rebels is to have your head caught in the door!
At the pass of Tongluo Gorge, watching countless imperial officers and soldiers surrender, especially the capture of a large number of warships, Zuo Mengeng stood at the height of Tongluo Gorge where Zhao Guangyuan was originally commanding, and couldn't help laughing.
After successfully capturing the Tongluo Gorge, the army has grown in strength. Chongqing, the important town in eastern Sichuan, is just around the corner. Even if my father were to take command, it would be nothing more than this at best!
Youth is better than blue! At this time, Zuo Mengeng had this idea in his mind!
The victory in this battle made him feel a little restless!
After resting for three days and reorganizing the surrendered troops, Zuo Mengeng led the army and marched toward Chongqing in a mighty manner, surrounded Chongqing, and ordered Chongqing to open its doors and surrender, otherwise the city would be massacred!
When Wang Xingjian, the governor of Chongqing, saw the rebels appearing outside the city, the defeated soldiers who fled back said that Zhao Guangyuan's entire army had been wiped out, and he was immediately frightened and at a loss: "Zhao thief has mistaken me, Zhao thief has mistaken me!"
However, he had never thought about surrender.
Worried, he personally went to the top of the city to take charge and mobilized the entire city to defend the city.
The reputation of the rebels is there. When it comes to massacre, they really know how to massacre the city.
Therefore, many squires in the city began to contribute money and effort to defend the city. However, some squires began to have other plans.
In their opinion, the military equipment in central Sichuan was lax, and the only Qiang Han general Zhao Guangyuan they could rely on was defeated by the rebels and his entire army was wiped out. In this case, who can Chongqing count on to save it?
In other words, they have no hope of holding on to Chongqing!
Since Chongqing could not be defended in their eyes, in order to survive, it was natural that they wanted to please the rebels and avoid being killed.
At this time, Zuo Liangyu's army had an advantage over the bandits.
If it is a bandit, ordinary people may have a chance to survive, but clans, feudal princes, local officials and squires rarely have a chance to survive.
But Zuo Liangyu's troops were different. They basically wouldn't kill these people, of course, because at that time, they were still nominally part of the imperial army.
But this gave some hope to the Chongqing gentry, thinking that if they dedicated the city, they would be able to avoid death.
They even found reasons for themselves. The reason for doing this was for the good of Chongqing and to avoid the danger of being massacred by the rebels.
As a result, these local cowards began to privately send people to contact the rebels outside the city, expressing their willingness to serve as internal correspondents and offer Chongqing.
"Haha..." Zuo Menggeng laughed more than ever before, and his mood was the best during this period.
It's as if he has transformed into a god of war, invincible in every battle!
His father had also lost battles, but he had achieved such a great victory as the commander-in-chief for the first time. His reputation was so great, look, the enemy surrendered in defiance of the wind!
His subordinates, especially Ma Shixiu and other close subordinates of Zuo Liangyu, of course know that Zuo Liangyu’s intention is to train his son. Now that he has achieved great victory, they will flatter Zuo Mengeng and let Zuo Mengeng be more
I feel so happy that I don't know how much I weigh.
So Zuo Mengeng made an appointment with the squire who had an affair with him, cooperated internally and externally, and captured Chongqing, an important town in eastern Sichuan, in one fell swoop.
On this day, Zuo Menggeng personally shouted to the top of Chongqing City: "Wang Xingjian, please listen to me. If you surrender before sunset tomorrow, if you deny entering the city the day after tomorrow, I will chop you alive!"
Wang Xingjian on the top of the city was naturally not frightened by him and shouted to him: "Chongqing's city defense is impregnable. Reinforcements from central Sichuan will arrive soon. I advise you to surrender as soon as possible. Maybe the emperor can spare your life!"
When Zuo Menggeng heard that Wang Xingjian was stubborn and refused to surrender even after he personally persuaded him to surrender, he immediately became angry and shouted sternly: "If you don't drink a toast, you will have to drink a fine wine, Wang Xingjian, you wait for me, the day after tomorrow
I will make your head into a urinal!"
The negotiation was naturally fruitless, but when Wang Xingjian thought about it afterwards, he realized that something was wrong.
Why is Zuo Menggeng so sure that Chongqing can be captured the day after tomorrow?
Are you a civil servant? You may not have many other thoughts, but you will definitely have many intrigues.
After he thought about it, he was a little frightened because he thought of the possibility that someone in the city might be colluding with the rebels.
So, he immediately began to investigate secretly.
He wouldn't know if he didn't investigate, but upon investigation, he really discovered clues that someone in the city was indeed liaising with the rebels.
However, within a short period of time, he could not determine who in the city was liaising with the rebels, and he immediately became anxious!
He was anxious, but Zuo Mengeng was sure of victory. As long as the agreed time came and Chongqing changed hands, he would be famous all over the world, at least in Shu!
He was having a sweet dream when suddenly, a patrol horse from outside reported urgently: "One day's journey north of Chongqing, we found about 6,000 white-pole troops rushing towards us!"
"What?" Zuo Mengeng was a little surprised when he heard this, and immediately confirmed, "White Army? Coming from the north?"
To him, the white pole army should all be in Shanhaiguan. Why did the white pole army appear in the north of Chongqing?
When Ma Shixiu heard this, he quickly asked: "Are you sure there are only 6,000 white pole troops and not more? Who is leading the army?"
If we talk about the enemies in central Sichuan, who is the most taboo on Zuo Liangyu's side? The Baigan Army is definitely at the top of the list, and is at the forefront.
The same is true. When they came to attack Chongqing this time, Zuo Liangyu had repeatedly warned them to avoid Shizhu Xuanfu Division.
After hearing this, Tan Ma quickly reported: "At least so far, I only found that the white pole army of less than 6,000 people seems to be led by Shizhu Chieftain Ma Xianglin!"
Upon hearing this, Zuo Mengeng laughed and said: "Okay, well done! Since you are here to die, just satisfy them!"
In his opinion, there were only less than 6,000 troops, and they were simply crushed by him.
Ma Shixiu listened, thought for a moment, and finally nodded and said: "It seems that the White Army is determined to rescue Chongqing. Even if we don't want to be an enemy, it is impossible. In this case, we can only go to war.
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After a pause, he continued: "Today's Baigan Army is no longer the Baigan Army of the past. It only has more than 5,000 horses, and most of them are infantry. It can be divided into 10,000 horses, no, 15,000.
People and horses should be able to do it!"
"I'll go!" When Zuo Mengeng heard what Ma Shixiu said, he immediately jumped up and said, "It's just a white-pole army. I'll go there myself and kill them. This will just be enough to scare the dog officials in Chongqing city.
When the time comes, I will carry Ma Xianglin's head, no, if I escort Ma Xianglin to the bottom of the city and let them see it, I will definitely scare them into surrendering immediately!"