Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 369 The Great Change of the Situation

Yang Chao is not an expert on Ming history, and he has never read about Zuo Liangyu's rebellion in his textbooks, so he didn't take precautions against Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu is thousands of miles away from the south of the Yangtze River. guard against him.

Even when Li Zicheng fled to Xiangyang, Yang Chao asked the emperor to issue an edict to Zuo Liangyu, asking him to resolutely block Li Zicheng's eastward advance, but he didn't expect that Zuo Liangyu came by himself before the edict arrived.

Zuo Liangyu had a force of 30, claiming to be 80, and went down the river in the name of the Qing emperor.

All of a sudden, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were frightened. Ma Shiying, who had just become the chief assistant for a short time, insisted on mobilizing all troops to stop Zuo Liangyu. Some courtiers were worried about the Qing army in the north. If the troops from the north come, you can still discuss the money, if the left goes against you, you will be a high-ranking official, and the emperor and ministers will be afraid of death!"

Because Zuo Liangyu was flying the banner of the Qing emperor, and he wanted to clear Ma Shiying, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, he had to oppose it fiercely. It's only been a few months, first Beijing fell, and it was impossible to escape all the way, and just after securing the throne, he encountered this kind of thing again, he was really terrified.

So he also supported Ma Shiying's statement, and quickly mobilized troops to stop Zuo Liangyu. As for the affairs in the north, it is best to negotiate a peace according to Ma Shiying's words.

At this time, the situation in the north suddenly became tense.

Duoduo and his elder brother Azige went south and north, one from Tongguan and the other from northern Shaanxi. Shangluo.

I thought that Duoduo would suppress the Pingliu thieves in Henan, but who would have thought that his army would not stay there, but came straight to the south of the Yangtze River, and it happened to coincide with the timing of Zuo Liangyu going east. I have to say that the luck of the Qing army in this era is simply amazing. Fortunately, in the sky, they couldn't take down Beijing, Li Zicheng helped them take it down, and then surrendered to want to, and then chased Li Zicheng all the way, occupying the Ming Dynasty all the way.

Now that they were going to fight Jiangnan, Zuo Liangyu would immediately be their free vanguard. If they hadn't known that it was impossible to discuss communications in this era in advance, people would wonder if Li Zicheng and Zuo Liangyu were bought by the Qing army.

But this situation did make the Nanjing court, which had just stabilized for a long time, very passive.

Yang Chao entered the court in an emergency and resolutely opposed Ma Shiying's proposal to mobilize the four towns in Jiangbei to block Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu and Yang Chao immediately stated that they would go out in person.

But it was too late. On the day of receiving the news of Zuo Liangyu's going east, the terrified court sent someone to deliver an order to Shi Kefa, the governor of Jiangbei, asking him to gather all the troops to surround Nanjing. What would Shi Kefa do? do not know.

Yang Chao couldn't help sighing, his luck was too bad, the situation changed suddenly, especially Zuo Liangyu's rebellion, which caught people off guard.

But soon Yang Chao made a decision, that is the Western Expedition. With Zuo Liangyu around, he couldn't go north with peace of mind, so he decided to fight Zuo Liangyu first. Do your best to completely wipe out Zuo Liangyu at once, completely eliminate the future troubles, and then go north to fight against the Qing Dynasty, otherwise it will be too passive to fight on two fronts.

The reason why we decided to fight Zuo Liangyu first is that there is another consideration, that is, after all, the Manchus were attacking by land, and Zuo Liangyu was going down the river. With the four Jiangbei towns blocking the attack, Nanjing should not be attacked within a month.

However, Yang Chao's entire army should be able to defeat Zuo Liangyu in a month's time, and then lead his troops down the river to go directly to Guazhou and Yangzhou. I believe that the Qing army may not be able to reach Yangzhou at that time. Stop it. At that time, the Qing army most marched into Huai'an. Yang Chao was very familiar with Huai'an. The city was high and thick. As long as there were 1 people defending it, the Qing army would never be able to defeat it in less than a month.

He made a decision and asked the emperor for orders. Under the crisis, the little emperor finally remembered the fierce general who was always by his side to protect him. He had a meal together, and at the dinner table, the emperor told Yang Chao that his imperial sister had never had an offspring, so he took the initiative to suggest that Yang Chao take two concubines, so that the Yang family could not be left without an offspring.

The emperor made excuses by beating around the bush and agreed to Yang Chao's request to take a concubine, but at this time Yang Chao refused, saying that everything would wait until Zuo Liangyu and the Qing army were defeated, and then hurriedly returned to the camp to prepare for the expedition. .

The emperor left his sister Zhu Yuxi to live in the palace for a few days. He recalled the friendship when Yang Chao sent troops to rescue them from Beijing and escorted them all the way. defeat.

Yang Chao didn't care about his children's love, he didn't even meet the two concubines he wanted to take in, he just went home to say hello, and immediately entered the barracks, giving orders one after another.

All soldiers and officers who were on vacation immediately canceled their vacation and returned to camp. All ships that had not set off immediately stood by at the pier, and all returning ships stopped sailing immediately to prepare supplies for loading. Three days later, the whole army set off to attack Zuo Liangyu!
Zuo Liangyu came in a menacing manner, and all his 30 troops sailed down the river by boat, which was indeed faster than that of the Manchus.

By the time the news of his eastward travel reached Nanjing, he had traveled less than half the voyage to Jiujiang.

On the first day of April, Zuo Liangyu went to Jiujiang and invited Jiang Du Yuan Jixian to meet him.

Zuo Liangyu explained to Yuan Jixian that his purpose of going east was to be on the side of the Qing emperor and to punish the traitors.

But Yuan Jixian didn't listen to Zuo Liangyu at all. The reason why he saw Zuo Liangyu was to persuade Zuo Liangyu to return from the wrong way.

It's a pity that Yuan Jixian showed great righteousness to Zuo Liangyu, "The old virtues of the former emperor should not be forgotten, and the new kindness of today's superiors should not be neglected." Zuo Liangyu didn't listen at all.

Yuan Jixian also begged Zuo Liangyu's generals to love the people, and it is not too late to get lost and spontaneous.

Zuo Liangyu's subordinates only knew that there was Zuo Liangyu, but they didn't know that there was Emperor Ming. Zuo Liangyu had completely become a warlord.

So Yuan Jixian returned to Jiujiang City, and ordered the generals to stand firm and not allow left soldiers to enter the city.

Who would have thought that Jiujiang guard Zhang Shixun had secretly colluded with Zuo Liangyu long ago, and set fire to the whole city at night, and Zuo Liangyu's troops took advantage of the situation to enter the city to kill, kidnap and plunder.

Zuo Liangyu sent people to catch Yuan Jixian on his boat. Yuan Jixian took the opportunity to throw himself into the water, but he was rescued several times.

In fact, most civil officials in Ming Dynasty still supported the Jiangnan court. Not only did Jiangxi governor Yuan Jixian refuse to cooperate with Zuo Liangyu, but Zuo Liangyu also hijacked He Tengjiao, a well-known governor of Huguang, on board in Wuchang, in order to let the civil servant with the highest official position in Huguang Going to the side of the Qing emperor with him seemed justifiable, but He Tengjiao didn't want to, because he jumped into the river when others were not prepared. His luck was obviously much better than Yuan Jixian's. After drifting for twenty miles, he not only survived, but was also rescued by a fishing boat. .

At this time, Yang Chao had also set off with his entire army, and rushed to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River day and night.

Yang Chao went upstream and set out on April [-]st. His speed was one-third slower than Zuo Liangyu's army. As soon as he arrived in Wuhu, he encountered Zuo Liangyu's forward army.

The Zuo army was attacking the city. Yang Chao's vanguard, led by Wang Pu, attacked Zuo Liangyu's army as soon as they landed, and the Zuo army was defeated.

When Yang Chao's army arrived in Wuhu, Wang Pu had already chased Zuo Liangyu's army ten miles away.

Now that Zuo Liangyu's army had arrived at Taiping Mansion (the capital of Wuhu), Yang Chao ordered some soldiers to land in Wuhu and sent [-] cavalry to follow Wang Pu.

I took the main force and continued to go up the river, attacking the Zuo Army warship all the way, sweeping all the way to Chizhou, and finally disappeared Zuo Liangyu's warship. It should have left all Zuo Liangyu's army behind, and then Yang Chao's main force Landing at the mouth of the pool.

Then the waterways advanced side by side, attacking eastward, and advancing against Wang Pu at both ends, with the purpose of completely annihilating Zuo Liangyu's army.

The weakness of Zuo Liangyu's army was beyond Yang Chao's imagination. There were almost no generals. At the beginning, Yang Chao was able to fight with them once or twice. escape.

Yang Chao marched all the way, forcing Zuo Liangyu's army downstream.

On the [-]th day of April, at the handover position between Ningguo Mansion and Taiping Mansion, Yang Chao and Wang Pu encircled Zuo Liangyu's army, recommended them in one go, killed [-] of Zuo's army and captured [-] of them. The rest of Zuo's army broke out and hid nearby Among the mountains and forests.

Moreover, Yang Chao also rescued Yuan Jixian, the governor of Jiangxi. After learning about the position of this civil servant from the captives, Yang Chao felt that he did not follow Zuo Liangyu in the rebellion. , Yang Chao decided to intercede for him, and he should not be punished, so he entertained him with a banquet.

At the same time, I also discussed Zuo Liangyu's problem with Yuan Jixian, because Zuo Liangyu was never found.

"Zuo Ni is dead!"

Yuan Jixian's words made Yang Chao feel very sudden.

After careful questioning, I found out that Zuo Liangyu died on the boat three days after the massacre. Yuan Jixian said that it was retribution. After Zuo Liangyu died, his subordinates supported Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Menggeng as the master, and continued to go south Avoid Li Zicheng to fight for Nanjing.

Yang Chao didn't believe in the theory of retribution, he only cared: "Where is Zuo Menggeng?"

Yuan Jixian sighed: "Uncle Yang and Wang Shi rushed in, and Xiao Ni fled westward in a hurry. I don't know where."

Suddenly a hearty voice sounded.

A general with a bright helmet and armor strode in.

"You bastard Yang Guanlan, I have admired you for a long time."

Follow Yang Chao and start shouting.

Yang Chao couldn't help being taken aback, the guards at the door had already rushed in.

"General, this man claims to be the Marquis of Jingnan, and he refuses to listen to dissuasion, but forcibly barges in!"

Jingnanhou?Huang Degong!
Yang Chao has also heard of Huang Degong's reputation, because his subordinates do not rob.

His residence is in Chuzhou and Hezhou, and Hezhou and Taiping Mansion are across the river. In fact, Huang Degong arrived at Taiping Mansion almost at the same time as Yang Chao. See above for Huang Degong.

"It turned out to be the Marquis of Jingnan, long-awaited!"

Yang Chao didn't blame Huang Degong for being rude, and smiled back.

Huang Degong had already sat on the chair with a carefree attitude, gave Yuan Jixian a hand, picked up the wine glass and drank, and at the same time yelled for the guards to add a pair of chopsticks.

(End of this chapter)