The Ming army in the world is one family, and when it comes to war, it's Muggles.
If the location, time and characters were not different, you could even regard the Battle of Zhuxian Town as a replay of the Battle of Songjin.
Upon learning that Ming army reinforcements were arriving, Li Zicheng abandoned Kaifeng City and headed straight for Zhuxian Town.
Although a small number of troops were arranged to monitor Kaifeng, Li Zicheng was afraid that the Ming troops in the city would come out to cooperate with the reinforcements, so he sent people to pretend to be Zuo Liangyu's messengers, so that the Ming troops in the city had to defend the city.
After Li Zicheng arrived at Zhuxian Town, without saying a word, he immediately ordered the army to besiege everywhere.
Then……
Dig trenches.
Digging trenches like crazy.
It is not difficult to see from this that as the history of war developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty, soil work has become a standard feature of all armies.
The performance of the Ming army in Zhuxian Town was exactly the same as that of their counterparts in Songshan.
It wasn't until the peasant army's trenches were dug that they realized what they were doing.
In this kind of battle, there is no natural reason for not losing.
Faced with the unfavorable situation, the Ming army still had many internal conflicts, which further affected its efficiency.
"Although the enemy army is large, our army is short of food and grass, and Kaifeng cannot afford to lose anything. For the current plan, the only way is to fight quickly. Generals, what do you think?"
Ding Qirui wanted to take the initiative.
Before he finished speaking, Zuo Liangyu pushed him back.
"The enemy is outnumbered and we attack rashly, only seeking death. If we are defeated, there will be no more available troops in the Central Plains, and the imperial court will be in danger."
Other generals agreed, but no one wanted to fight.
Ding Qirui blushed and wanted to have an attack but didn't dare.
Look at these proud and powerful generals, all of them are extraordinary in strength. He is a mere commander-in-chief, and he really doesn’t dare to mess around.
The meeting broke up unhappily.
Zuo Liangyu returned to his army, and Xu Yong, Jin Shenghuan and others quickly surrounded him.
"Uncle, the invasion of the army is huge, we have to find a safe way."
"We only have this little money. If it's all gone, we can just use it as mermaid meat."
The generals under Zuo Liangyu's command had the same moral character as him and did not want to fight head-on with the peasant army. They only wanted to preserve their strength and fish in troubled waters.
Seeing that everyone thought so, Zuo Liangyu felt relieved.
"Only fools go to fight with Li Zicheng to the death. As long as we keep our belongings well, no matter where we go in the future, we will have no worries about glory and wealth."
All the generals understood each other and laughed knowingly.
"You go back quickly and pack your belongings. Let's give him a break tonight."
Hearing that Zuo Liangyu planned to escape first, Li Guoying was a little worried.
"Uncle, will the court pursue it?"
"Hmph, once Bai Guangen ran away, did the court hold him accountable? As long as we have soldiers and food in our hands, what can the court do?"
During the Battle of Songjin, many Ming generals fled.
But the Ming court didn't pursue any of them, and they still had to be promoted to high positions, because they were afraid that these generals would defect to the enemy.
After Bai Guangen escaped from Liaodong, he was still reused and is now on the battlefield in the Central Plains.
Zuo Liangyu saw this and became less respectful to the court.
On the outskirts of Zhuxian Town, the Chuang army has completely surrounded the Ming army.
But for some reason, Li Guo always felt his heart beating wildly, as if something was wrong.
But he thought about it and couldn't find the problem.
While he was worried, his generals came flying towards him.
"General, my subordinates have received a secret report that Zuo Liangyu's thief is about to escape."
Li Guo jumped up, his mood suddenly clear.
"Is the secret report true?"
The general was very confident.
"My subordinate's cousin is in Zuo Liangyu's army and just sneaked over. He said that the army has already started packing and is waiting for it to get dark."
Li Guo's eyes flashed with ruthlessness.
"Zuo Liangyu has killed a thousand people. We must not let him escape."
Previously, Zuo Liangyu took advantage of the Chuang Army's campaign to raid the old camp of the Chuang Army in Linying, and carried out a brutal massacre of the city.
All the family members of Chuang Jun were slaughtered, including Li Guo's two women and children.
For this reason, Li Zicheng became furious and chased Zuo Liangyu with his army.
Zuo Liangyu was also lucky and ran away despite heavy losses.
Now that his enemies have met, they are extremely jealous. How can Li Guo give up?
He immediately went to find Li Zicheng and reported the matter.
Li Zicheng's anger did not subside, and he realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"We will use our tactics to avenge the old and young men no matter what. After you go back, ask your subordinate to contact his cousin, and so on... and so on..."
Li Guo accepted the order and quickly went back to arrange it.
Although the day is long, it will eventually pass.
Zuo Liangyu was not even willing to wait until late at night, for fear that other generals would be a step ahead of him.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from the left army roared out of the camp without even saying hello, running wildly to find the only way out.
The invading army on the opposite side didn't seem to have expected the Zuo army's move. They were caught off guard and lost three camps in the blink of an eye.
Zuo Liangyu charged all the way under the protection of his own soldiers. Seeing the chaos among the invading troops, Zuo Liangyu couldn't help but be overjoyed, feeling that there was hope for a breakout.
"Work harder, we can survive if we get through."
Before he could finish his words, there was suddenly a loud sound of earth shattering in front of him, followed by flying dust.
Zuo Liangyu was startled, and when he looked carefully, he saw a large ditch suddenly appeared in the open space in front of him.
This large ditch was originally covered with straw and soil, making it completely invisible. It was not until the left army's forward stepped on it that its true appearance was revealed.
But the vanguard of the left army had no time to escape, and thousands of people fell into it on the spot.
The trench was one foot deep, and the bottom was filled with sharp wooden thorns.
The soldiers of the left army who fell inside were all turned into gourds of flesh and blood and were completely hopeless.
The rest of the people were trembling, fighting with each other, and only felt happy.
Suddenly there was a sound of artillery, and there was a forest of flags behind the trench, and countless intruders rushed up with shouts. The number of people was piled on top of one another, and there was no telling how many there were.
Zuo Liangyu's scalp was numb. How could he not know that Chuang Jun was already prepared?
But at this time, the Ming army camp behind them was already in flames, and other generals also began to flee for their lives. Even if they regretted it, it was too late.
"Don't stop, find a way out!"
Jin Shenghuan and others also understood that they could not afford to delay, so they immediately dispersed in search of a way out.
Zuo Liangyu was so flustered that he couldn't care about anything and could only fight blindly.
He only had more than 10,000 people under his command, but the Chu army hated him so much that they deployed a hundred thousand troops to surround him.
The battle was extremely brutal from the beginning.
The Chuang army wanted revenge and never thought of taking prisoners. Even if the Zuo army knelt down and surrendered, their heads were chopped off.
Seeing that surrender was ineffective, the Zuo army had no choice but to risk his life and fight.
The battlefield was completely in chaos.
Zuo Liangyu didn't know how many people he had killed, and there were fewer and fewer soldiers around him. As far as he could see, there were not many left soldiers left.
On the contrary, the army is endless.
If this continues, he will die sooner or later.
Zuo Liangyu gritted his teeth and quickly took off his armor, preparing to blend in with the rebels and look for opportunities to break out.
Not to mention, without that handsome general's armor, the Chuang army really lost its goal.
Zuo Liangyu took a deep breath and chose a place with few people to run.
He was looking at a gap in front of him, and was about to escape, when suddenly a loud shout came from beside him.
"Zuo Liangyu is here!"
The soul of Zuo Liangyu was greatly erupted, and he followed the call, but it was so chaotic that he didn't know who was calling him.
But because of this shout, all the nearby intruders rushed forward.
"Hold the back."
Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to ask his soldiers to detach a part of his men to stop the attack, but he walked quickly and burrowed all the way into the tangled grass.