Although Ma Shixiu said this on the surface, in his heart, he actually attributed the defeat of this battle to Zuo Mengeng's incompetence!
It is said that a dragon begets a dragon, a phoenix begets a phoenix, and a mouse's son can dig holes. Why is a man as powerful as the Marshal so incompetent in giving birth to a son? Could it be...could he not be his biological son?
Ma Shixiu thought this, and suddenly trembled. This thought must not occur!
The next war must be directed by myself, and Zuo Mengeng can no longer be allowed to interfere!
Although there is an extra white army in Chongqing, it only has more than 5,000 people after all. Although our own side suffered a defeat, it still has more than 30,000 troops, and the navy is superior.
It is best to capture Chongqing by land. If we cannot capture it, then at least we can capture Chongqing by water with the support from inside and outside the city!
Ma Shixiu thought this, but felt a little worried in his heart. The White Army has already arrived for reinforcements. If time goes on, who knows how many reinforcements from central Sichuan will arrive?
Then, after thinking about it carefully, he comforted himself.
The most famous army in Shu is the Baigan Army in front of us. Now that the Baigan Army has arrived, it only has more than 5,000 troops. So what if the other Sichuan troops have arrived?
The troops coming again are not reinforcements from Chongqing Prefecture, but just our own transportation brigade!
It shouldn't be difficult to defeat the other Sichuan armies!
After careful and careful consideration, Ma Shixiu felt confident and started to make new arrangements. First, he tried to recapture Fotuguan. Second, he contacted the internal forces in Chongqing City and prepared a waterway to launch an siege against Chongqing Prefecture.
However, his battle to capture Fotuguan caught the defenders of Fotuguan by surprise, and the reason was that the defenders of Fotuguan were lax and unprepared at the time.
But now, it is the Baigan Army guarding Fotuguan, and there is a powerful enemy at hand, who would be careless?
Given the terrain of Fotuguan, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, who can be like a mountain fighting army like the Baigan Army?
Ma Shixiu's plan to plot Fotuguan was quickly foiled, and then he finally gave up the plan.
At this time, another scout came to report that reinforcements from the imperial army had arrived.
This time, although Ma Shixiu looked down on other reinforcements, as a general with many years of ability to lead troops in war, he was still more cautious and went to check the enemy's situation in person.
When he saw the new imperial reinforcements, he couldn't help but smile.
It's not that he doesn't take it seriously, but the support army he saw cannot be considered an army at all!
First of all, the military uniforms are not uniform, they are all kinds of things, and if my subordinates had not verified it, I would have thought that this army is just a gang of thieves!
Then, from his years of leading troops in war, he can see that this army has not been trained at all. One look at the soldiers, it can be seen that these soldiers were probably just pulled out of the fields, and they have no idea what they are doing.
It's a military formation!
The handsome flag has the word "Zeng" embroidered on it. According to the information Ma Shixiu inquired about, none of the slightly famous generals in Sichuan have the surname "Zeng". It's no wonder that this man's troops are like thieves and bandits.
Hip-pulling army.
Knowing the enemy's situation, Ma Shixiu had an idea.
In the previous battle, the Baigan Army was unable to fight back, and the morale of the army was still greatly affected. Especially the officers and soldiers of the imperial court who had just surrendered were the most unstable.
If we can fight a battle, such as defeating the supporting army in front of us, we can stabilize the morale of the army again.
With this in mind, Ma Shixiu made the decision to personally lead the troops and defeat the imperial reinforcements before they arrived at Fotuguan, preventing them from joining the White Army!
When he heard that Ma Shixiu was going to fight, Zuo Mengeng, who was still dissatisfied, immediately asked to give him another chance. It would definitely prove that he was Zuo Liangyu's son!
However, this battle is very crucial. If we lose again, it is estimated that the surrendered imperial officers and soldiers will definitely flee, which will greatly affect the morale of the army.
Although the imperial reinforcements looked very awkward, Ma Shixiu still rejected Zuo Mengeng's request and tactfully expressed that he could not lose again!
Afterwards, Ma Shixiu personally led the army, mobilized 20,000 troops, slightly more than the imperial reinforcements, and rushed to fight.
There is not much to say about the course of the war. If I must say it, there is one thing that impressed Ma Shixiu so much that his eyes bulged out.
Because he still misjudged the nature of the imperial reinforcements and thought they were strong men just brought from the farmland. As a result, when the war started, they were not farmers at all, but wolves in the middle of the river.
The coach, whose surname was Zeng, was the Wolf King. He actually took the lead and charged at the front, showing great bravery.
The soldiers under him have also turned into bloodthirsty wolves, and they all follow the Wolf King. No matter what the fighting method is, they just charge and fight fiercely, risking their lives.
That posture is like killing one to get enough money, killing two to earn one, very life-threatening.
Ma Shixiu's troops and this bandit-like army were defeated as soon as they engaged in battle!
Zuo Liangyu's subordinates, under his long-term influence, have learned his style, attack when they are weak and run away when they are strong!
Among the imperial reinforcements, there was a large flag that was very eye-catching, with four words embroidered on it: "Defend the home and the country!"
In this battle, even if Ma Shixiu personally led the troops, the result was still a huge defeat.
Faced with Zuo Mengeng's questioning gaze, Ma Shixiu quickly explained: "The Sichuan army is all crazy. They fought without risking their lives. They were not careful for a moment and they lost the battle!"
The imperial reinforcements arrived at Fotuguan, joined forces with the Baigan Army, and entered Chongqing City, thus strengthening Chongqing's city defense strength.
Ma Shixiu understood that at this point, it was no longer possible to win Chongqing City.
What he is now considering is how to safely withdraw to Kuizhou Prefecture.
But if you are worried, you don't have much to worry about. Because he still has the upper hand in the navy. In the previous battle at Tongluo Gorge, a lot of warships were captured. Bringing the navy back to Kuizhou can be considered a great achievement.
Just as he was thinking this, his men rushed to report that there was an imperial naval force coming upstream, and the flag was embroidered with the word "Yang".
Among the famous people in Sichuan, Ma Shixiu didn't remember anyone named Yang, so he immediately went to watch the battle.
It can't be that all the Sichuan troops are lunatics, right? That's the case with the one named Zeng, but it's impossible for this one with the surname Yang, right?
As a result, what he saw disappointed him again!
When I saw the imperial navy coming for reinforcements, there were not many warships, and it could be seen that most of the ships were just collected fishing boats.
In terms of the number of ships, it is far less than the number of naval warships under his command.
However, just like the one named Zeng, the flagship ship of this navy named Yang took the lead and rushed at the front, directly rushing towards the rebel navy fleet that was superfluous to them.
That aura was exactly the same as that of the man named Zeng, a life-threatening attitude!
At this moment, even Zuo Mengeng was dumbfounded. Uncle Ma was right, Shu people were indeed lunatics, the kind who would fight without risking their lives.
Of course, at this time, they had forgotten that on the way from Kuizhou to Chongqing, they did not encounter such people who fought for their lives. They ran away when they needed to, and surrendered when they needed to.
The rebel navy, to be precise, was the former Chongqing navy that surrendered to the rebels in Tongluo Gorge. After losing two warships, they raised white flags and began to surrender.
After the naval victory, with loud cheers from the city walls of Chongqing, the Baigan Army and the newly arrived imperial reinforcements launched a general attack on Zuo Menggeng's headquarters.
When Ma Shixiu saw the situation on the battlefield, he saw that the situation was not good, and immediately protected Zuo Mengeng and retreated first.
He had done this kind of thing many times with Zuo Liangyu. A good man would not suffer the immediate disadvantages, but go first. Anyway, there is a long way to go. At worst, if he retreats to Kuizhou Prefecture, he will definitely be able to block the counterattack of the imperial troops in central Sichuan.
Zuo Mengeng was also familiar with this and immediately retreated. However, it was still a bit regretful for him.
Unexpectedly, the first time I led an army alone to fight, I encountered a group of Shu lunatics! So that the opportunity to become famous that I was about to get was postponed again!
But it doesn't matter, Kuizhou Mansion is my base camp. My purpose is to lure the enemy deep into the city and lure the imperial officers and soldiers to pursue them. After arriving at Kuizhou Mansion, I will gather the troops there to annihilate these Shu lunatics in one fell swoop, and then
Then lead the troops to fight back and capture Chongqing Mansion again.
With the support of this belief, on the road from Chongqing to Kuizhou Prefecture, although they were chased by the imperial army and there was a lot of noise and everything was in danger, the mental state of Zuo Menggeng and others was still good.
"kill……"
"Hold on, hold on, walk around, get out quickly!"
"Report, the imperial navy landed and intercepted us, what should we do?"
"Go around, go around, go around quickly!"
"..."
As the saying goes, "When soldiers come, they will block the water and use the soil to cover it." After seeing the tricks, Zuo Menggeng's troops fled back to Kuizhou Prefecture in embarrassment at a speed several times that of their initial march into Chongqing.
After passing Wanxian County, we were getting closer and closer to Kuizhou Prefecture. Zuo Menggeng's troops were already running out of men.
However, this did not prevent Zuo Mengeng's spirit from getting better and better. No, he was in the mood to ask Ma Shixiu: "Uncle Ma, my father is handsome, is it time to return to the teacher?"
"I'm afraid it won't be that fast!" Ma Shixiu heard this, thought for a moment and replied, "The commander-in-chief will first capture Baoning Mansion and arrange the defenders before he goes to Chongqing to join the commander-in-chief."
"That's good!" Zuo Mengeng said happily after hearing this, "I will gather the people of Kuizhou Prefecture, defeat the pursuers, and retake Chongqing Prefecture!"
His father is not around, but in name, he is still the boss. He can turn defeat into victory and still be famous!
However, what he never expected was that his defeated army had just returned to the boundary of Kuizhou Prefecture and bumped into the messenger sent by Kuizhou Prefecture to contact him.
"What?" Zuo Mengeng was shocked when he heard the messenger's report and asked in disbelief, "What's going on? How is this possible?"