Chapter 512: The Rise and Fall of the Shun — All Decided in This One Battle!

What kind of man is He Tengjiao?

A ruthless man who is a master of internal strife!

If Zuo Menggeng had rebelled from the very start, even if he had led his troops out of the city to fight, he might not necessarily have lost. But trying to use some "Hongmen Burial" scheme to capture He Tengjiao was truly courting death.

How could He Tengjiao fall for his trick? Not only would he not fall for it, he even casually set an even more vicious counter-scheme.

The two thousand infantry who came over with He Tengjiao this time were not his personal troops at all, but a regiment of the new army infantry led by Tang Laosi. The hundred or so iron-clad cavalrymen were a company of new army cavalry, all battle-hardened elites who had killed Tartars!

Zuo Menggeng should have burned the pontoon bridge and shut the city gates to hold out to the death just now, but instead he insisted on trying to lure He Tengjiao into the city to capture him alive. As a result, He Tengjiao's words dazed and confused him, and in one moment of carelessness, he let these killers come down from the pontoon bridge onto the riverbank, and they even spread out into formation to fire their muskets!

Zuo Menggeng's reaction was still fairly quick. Seeing that things were wrong, he did not dare organize resistance, but turned and fled, not even caring about the military advisor Huang Shu behind him. Huang Shu was also quick-witted; seeing Zuo Menggeng run, he immediately followed in flight. The group of Regional Commanders and Vice Regional Commanders of the Zuo family army who had followed Zuo Menggeng also scrambled to flee for their lives when they saw things going wrong. None of them were alone; they all had their own household retainers and guards with them, and these guards all followed their masters in flight.

In an instant, everything outside the south gate of Jiangling fell into complete chaos!

However, the three thousand household retainers Zuo Menggeng had brought out were still reliable at the critical moment. They were die-hard loyalists who had followed Zuo Liangyu and Zuo Menggeng, father and son, for many years, utterly devoted! And they did not know how formidable the new army's muskets were. They did not even know that these two thousand "He family retainers" before them were the infamous new army.

So when Zuo Menggeng turned and ran, they instead grabbed their weapons and charged forward, wanting to close in for hand-to-hand combat.

Those commanding the household retainers were all the fiercest warriors of the Zuo family army, men who often went into battle, and they all knew that Ming army musketeers had the bad habit of firing wildly. So while directing their men to form up and advance, they took the lead in shouting: "Kill the rebels! Kill the rebels!"

But after shouting for quite a while, the other side did not fire recklessly either. They merely lit their match cords unhurriedly, loaded their ammunition, and then deployed into a firing formation.

Tang Laosi was now also a veteran commander who had been through many battles. He had also "gilded himself" at the Nanjing Military Academy, and had learned the correct method of employing the Maurice formation from the foreign officer Shi Ruien.

Because the Zuo family retainers opposite them were all on foot, Tang Laosi adopted the tactic of having the musketeers advance and deploy in three ranks of firing formation in front of the pikemen's square. His regiment had four battalions, each battalion had two hundred forty muskets, for a total of nine hundred sixty muskets, all aimed at the clamoring Zuo family retainers.

The retainers standing in the front ranks had already sensed something was wrong, but the Zuo family retainers had strict military discipline; without orders, they did not dare flee — most of them had families, all living inside Jiangling city, and if they deserted in the face of battle, their entire families would be put to death.

"Boom—"

Just at the moment when these Zuo family retainers sensed something was wrong but did not dare flee, the musket volley rang out.

The roar produced by nine hundred sixty muskets firing in volley at a distance of just over thirty paces was almost like the firing of a Hongyi cannon, rumbling and shaking heaven and earth. Nine hundred sixty lead balls howled out of the musket muzzles, sweeping over the Zuo family retainers like a hurricane, and wherever they passed, flesh and blood flew in an instant.

When the roar sounded, Zuo Menggeng had just run to the edge of the moat and had not yet stepped onto the drawbridge when the orderly thunder, like the firing of a Hongyi cannon, made him shudder in fright.

His family also had muskets — matchlock muskets, three-eyed guns, and turtle-foot muskets all together numbered no fewer than ten thousand. But how could musket fire possibly be so orderly? It would inevitably be a crackling racket like firecrackers, and it would not be so loud either, because those muskets were of poor quality, and the soldiers were afraid of the barrels bursting, so they dared not load full powder, and beyond thirty paces there was no accuracy to speak of.

But the sound of today's musket volley was clearly wrong!

He hurriedly turned his head to look, and saw that his battle-hardened household retainers were now actually in chaos. The men in front wanted to run, while the men behind the formation were charging forward with their heads down, and the two groups collided, instantly falling into disorder. Waves of heart-rending screams also reached him. Hearing those screams, Zuo Menggeng's heart convulsed — how many men had that volley just struck?

Just as he was feeling terrified and trembling, the piercing sound of suona horns suddenly rang out, and then came another deafening roar!

The Zuo family retainers, already in chaos, became even more disordered. Two volleys had already cut down three or four hundred men, casualties exceeding ten percent, and screams and wails rose in a continuous din. Those who had not yet been hit were also gripped by terror — this was killing inflicted in just a few dozen breaths of time!

How could the He family musketeers possibly be so formidable? Where on earth did they come from?

"Young General, flee quickly! Young General, flee quickly!"

The household retainers protecting Zuo Menggeng also knew things had gone badly wrong, and without waiting for Zuo Menggeng to react himself, they grabbed him, one on each side, and rushed him toward the city gate.

Fortunately for him, they reacted quickly; otherwise Zuo Menggeng would not even have had the chance to flee back into Jiangling city!

Because the hundred-odd iron-clad cavalrymen who had come with He Tengjiao had already mounted their warhorses and launched a charge at the disordered Zuo family retainers!

Though there were only a hundred-odd riders, their timing of the charge was superb! Just at the moment when the Zuo family retainers had been thrown into disarray by two musket volleys, they came charging down like fierce tigers descending a mountain. The retainers' formation collapsed in an instant, and more than two thousand men broke into a frantic run, all charging toward the south gate of Jiangling city.

"Young General, give the order to close the city gate!"

"Young General, you cannot close the gate — outside are all our brothers!"

"Young General, they only have two thousand men — let us send troops out to fight them!"

Zuo Menggeng had just run into the gate tunnel when he was surrounded by a group of Regional Commanders and Vice Regional Commanders who had run even faster than he had, all clamoring at once. Some advised closing the gate, some opposed closing it, and some of the more valiant ones simply urged Zuo Menggeng to lead troops out to fight.

With his subordinates making such a racket, Zuo Menggeng felt his head splitting with pain. He was just about to roar at them when he heard wailing and crying from behind. He turned his head again and saw that the household retainers scattered by He Tengjiao's cavalry had already reached the edge of the moat. There were still no fewer than two thousand of them, in no order whatsoever, just scrambling desperately to flee for their lives.

These were all precious household retainers!

How had they now all become fat pigs for others to slaughter and drive at will? How were He Tengjiao's troops so fierce? No — it was only now that Zuo Menggeng understood: these were not He Tengjiao's men, but Zhu Cilang's new army!

"Lower the thousand-jin gate at once!" The moment he thought of the new army that could even kill Hooge, Zuo Menggeng abandoned even his household retainers!

As the thousand-jin gate was lowered, the inside and outside of Jiangling's south gate were temporarily cut off. Those household retainers blocked outside could now only enter the city by being hauled up the wall — that is, hoisted up in baskets.

But the new army He Tengjiao had brought had more than nine hundred muskets! A quarter of them were the longer-ranged turtle-foot muskets.

Would not a man sitting in a basket being hoisted up be a living target?

"Great General cannons! Quickly push the Great General cannons up and fire on He Tengjiao!"

Zuo Menggeng, who had climbed onto the city wall, heard the sporadic crack of gunfire and the unending screams, and immediately knew something was wrong.

His household retainers had already become targets for the enemy, so he hurriedly ordered the cannons to be moved!

But his cannons were currently aimed at the inside of the city — how could they be moved over so easily?

Just as Zuo Menggeng's subordinates were frantically moving the cannons, the sound of muskets outside the city had already stopped.

Zuo Menggeng thought: Could it be that their muskets had overheated and could no longer fire?

Just then, someone suddenly opened their throat and shouted in unison: "Zuo Menggeng has rebelled and gone over to the roving bandits! Governor He has been ordered to bring troops to arrest him. Only the chief culprit will be taken; those coerced will not be questioned. Surrender and your lives will be spared!"

What? Zuo Menggeng was going to surrender to Li Zicheng? In an instant, dozens of gazes shot toward the Young General Zuo, all from the Regional Commanders and Vice Regional Commanders under his command.

They seemed to be asking: Is this true or not?

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