"What?!"

Zuo Liangyu felt dizzy when he heard the shouts of the sentry rider and almost fell down.

Finally managed to hold on.

Go downstairs in a hurry.

When he met the sentry knight coming up on the stairs of the city wall, Zuo Liangyu reached out and grabbed his collar, with a strange flush on his face and asked: "Tell me! What happened? How could my son be captured alive?!"

The sentry rider cried and said: "Master Marquis, the enemy not only has iron ships, but also many cannons and very powerful muskets.

Our navy's front army, led by Commander Chang, had been severely defeated. Even Commander Chang did not know whether he was alive or dead. However, the young Marquis was unwilling to give in and insisted on Commander Xu commanding the rear military fleet and civilian ships to fight again.

As a result, before they even got close to the enemy warships, the river became a mess because of the poisonous smoke thrown by the enemy.

Two enemy iron ships took the opportunity to rush into it, flanked the handsome ship from both sides, boarded the ship, and captured the young Marquis alive!"

Hearing this, Zuo Liangyu felt his eyes darken and a fishy smell surged from his mouth.

He opened his mouth to ask more questions, but he spat out a mouthful of blood and fell down.

"Master Hou!"

···

Xu Ensheng surrendered on the spot, Zuo Mengeng was captured alive, and the "Zuo" flag on the handsome ship was cut down.

Seeing this, many soldiers on the left lost their will to resist and either surrendered on the spot or fled when they saw the opportunity.

"Zuo Menggeng has been captured. The rest will surrender without killing!"

On every warship of the Yangtze River Navy, soldiers took out loudspeakers and shouted on the still chaotic river surface.

This time more soldiers from the left surrendered.

In this way, the water battle on the river directly entered the final stage.

But on the river bank, the fighting continued.

Some Yangtze River navy warships pursued the escaping left warship to the north bank of the river. Seeing this, Lu Guangzu, who was stationed on the north bank, ordered his men to bombard them with a few cannons and rain arrows.

Although it did not cause much harm to the soldiers of the Yangtze River Navy, it angered the navy soldiers.

We have come to this point, and the soldiers and horses on the left side of the bank still dare to attack them. Are they not looking for a fight?

So the general in command on the warship immediately ordered the cannon to be fired.

And this time, live ammunition was no longer used, but explosive ammunition. Previously, only live ammunition was used in water battles. First, it was to prevent the explosive ammunition from igniting too many warships in the left navy and putting our own side in danger of falling into a sea of ​​fire.

Secondly, the most important prize in a water battle is the warship. If the warships are burned down, there will be fewer captures.

Warships broken and sunk by live ammunition have the opportunity to be put away and can be used again after repairs.

If the fire burns out, nothing will be left.

But the soldiers of the Yangtze River Navy were not so polite to the left troops and horses on land.

Dozens of shells were seen falling. Lu Guangzu's soldiers and horses, who were arrayed in a dense formation on the shore, suddenly fell on their backs and retreated. They no longer dared to come to the shore to attack the Yangtze River Navy.

The same goes for the South Bank.

Commander-in-Chief Zhang Yingxiang and Wu Xueli were also stationed by the river to prepare for water battles.

Seeing the Yangtze River Navy pursuing the warships of the left Navy to the river, they took the opportunity to attack, but were brutally bombarded.

Not only that, there is also the Red Lady in the southwest, and tens of thousands of elite soldiers led by Yang Zhan are attacking.

Immediately, more than 60,000 troops and horses led by Zhang Yingxiang and Wu Xueli were completely defeated.

It's not that the two of them are too incompetent or that the soldiers and horses under their command are too weak, it's that the elite soldiers from the three towns on Red Lady's side are too fierce.

When the battle came, they first bombarded with numerous artillery pieces, and then numerous musketeers using bright-style flintlocks took turns firing, causing large numbers of casualties to the troops on the left before they even came into contact with them.

With such a fighting method, even the most elite soldiers and horses on the left can't hold it, let alone most of the soldiers and horses on the left can't be called elite soldiers.

In this way, Zhang Yingxiang and Wu Xueli fled all the way. They could no longer defend Jinkou Town and fled directly to Jiangxia City with the remaining soldiers.

Zhu Yusao's Supervisory Army advanced by land and water, occupying the town of Jinkou, as well as the riverside wharf and the water stronghold of the left navy.

···

Zuo Mengeng got his wish and met Zhu Aina.

It is a pity that it was not Zhu Yuluo who became his prisoner, but he was captured and sent to Zhu Yuluo's royal ship.

Well, he also achieved his second wish - boarding the Captain's Adventure.

Two recent wishes came true at the same time, but Zuo Mengeng was not happy at all.

Seeing the female soldiers of the Suzaku Camp all around who were carrying knives, guns, and armor as much as possible, he became trembling with fear.

"Why don't you kneel down when you see the prisoner?"

At some point, the female soldiers leading him stopped, and one of them, who looked the strongest, kicked him hard.

Zuo Mengeng's legs were already weak, so he immediately knelt down and cried without even looking at anyone: "Your Highness, please spare your life. The sinner Zuo Mengeng is willing to surrender!"

"What's the use of me accepting your surrender? Only if your father Zuo Liangyu surrenders too can you avoid death."

A clear and bright voice came from above. Zuo Mengeng subconsciously looked up and saw that Zhu Yurao was not only beautiful, but also heroic and majestic. He immediately lowered his head and said: "The sinner is willing to persuade his father to surrender. I only want the princess."

Your Highness, please spare the lives of my father and son."

Zhu Aelao was slightly surprised.

She had prepared an "electric baton", thinking that she would let Zuo Menggeng feel the sour pleasure of the "electric shock" in order to force him to persuade Zuo Liangyu to surrender.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Mengeng was so afraid of death that he volunteered to surrender when he arrived.

She just said something, and Zuo Mengeng said that he would help persuade Zuo Liangyu to surrender.

However, considering that in history Zuo Menggeng still had an army of 200,000 soldiers after being defeated by Huang Degong, but he was also directly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yurao felt that his current performance was natural.

After all, Zuo Mengeng is a young man who was raised useless by Zuo Liangyu.

Greedy for life and afraid of death, weak and incompetent, even if you have some ambitions, once you encounter some setbacks or failures, you will immediately give up and degrade yourself.

But now she is the one who wants to recruit Zuo Liangyu's troops. Zuo Menggeng is so weak and incompetent, which is a good thing for her.

Zhu Yucao said: "I have a letter here to persuade you to surrender. You should copy it and put your thumbprint on it.

Then I will send someone to send your letter along with the manuscript to Jiangxia and hand it over to Zuo Liangyu."

Zuo Mengeng said: "I can write a letter of persuasion to surrender, but I'm afraid that my father will get even sicker after hearing the news of the navy's defeat, and he may not be able to manage military affairs.

Previously, I was the agent in charge of military affairs. Now that I am gone, those who may be ambitious in the military may not obey my father's command.

If you want to persuade my father to lead his troops to surrender, I'm afraid the criminal will need to go to Jiangxia in person."

Hearing these words, Zhu Aelao showed a surprised look.

She didn't expect that Zuo Mengeng would have such an opinion after calming down.

Hao Guangming on the other side also said: "Historically, Zuo Liangyu died in early April, but now he is probably very ill.

After hearing the news that the navy was defeated and my son was captured, it is really possible that his condition will worsen and he will be unable to manage things. How about this..."

With that said, Hao Guangming provided Zhu Yura with a rather clichéd strategy.

Zuo Mengeng knelt on the deck. He couldn't hear Zhu Auao's reply for a long time, and he couldn't help but feel even more uneasy.

His knees hurt from kneeling, but he didn't dare to think about it.

So he used his brain again, lowered his head and said: "If Your Highness the Princess does not trust the sinner, you can send a large army to follow the sinner to Jiangxia City. The sinner is willing to open the city gate and persuade the troops in the city to surrender."

Upon hearing this, Hao Guangming, who was at the Zhulin Old Mansion, immediately stopped talking.

Zhu Ailao also realized something and immediately said: "Take this person down first and keep him in safe custody."

"yes."

After Zuo Menggen was taken away, Zhu Naao said: "Mr. Zuo Menggen's method seems to be simpler and more feasible."

"Indeed." Hao Guangming admitted, "Just do what he said."

Originally, Hao Guangming's plan was to send hundreds of elite soldiers to escort Zuo Menggeng into the city, and at the same time feed Zuo Menggeng a medicine from later generations, scaring him that it was poison and he must take the antidote within the time limit to avoid death.

Then he told him that there might be a way to alleviate his father's illness. Although Hao Guangming didn't know what kind of illness Zuo Liangyu suffered from, he wanted to alleviate his illness and delay his death for a period of time. Later generations of medicine could still do it.

But he didn't expect that Zuo Menggeng would actually offer to be the "little marquis".

After all, Zuo Mengeng's identity is there, and both the land and water armies on the left have been defeated before, so morale must be low and people's hearts are uneasy.

At this time, it is indeed possible to ask Zuo Menggeng to call the door and persuade the defenders in Jiangxia City to surrender.

This is much simpler than Hao Guangming's plan.
Chapter completed!