Chapter 214: Holding Troops in Wait, Repeatedly Insulting the Imperial Envoy

Speaking of Zuo Liangyu, almost everyone who heard his name would gnash their teeth in hatred.

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the Supreme Commander at the time was still Hou Xun. To boost military morale, the court issued five hundred thousand taels of treasury gold to reward Zuo Liangyu's Left Camp soldiers. Zuo Liangyu promptly obeyed the imperial order to campaign against Li Zicheng, and the Left Camp clashed with the Dashing King's camp at Zhuxian Town.

At the time, the Left Camp had over two hundred thousand men, while the Dashing King's forces also numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The two sides fought fiercely for several days, until the Left Camp suffered a great rout and retreated to Xiangyang.

The Dashing King's army pursued relentlessly to Xiangyang. The two armies fought again, and the Left Camp was defeated once more.

After retreating to Kaifeng, the Dashing King's generals Li Guo and Gao Yigong came in pursuit. Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to meet them in battle — only to find his subordinates scattering at the first clash. He himself could only escape with his life by changing into a common soldier's armor.

In the Battle of Zhuxian Town, the Dashing King's army chased the Left Camp soldiers for several hundred li. Along the way, the Left Camp troops cast aside helmets and armor, their will to fight completely shattered, beaten into a disorganized mob — even their most basic unit structures were broken apart.

Zuo Liangyu himself was so thoroughly beaten by Li Zicheng that he seemed to have lost seven of his three souls. From then on, it was as though he had contracted a "fear of Li" syndrome.

When Li Zicheng waved his army in pursuit, Zuo Liangyu, upon hearing the news, disregarded the court's order to resist and directly withdrew his troops to Wuchang. When Li Zicheng pursued again, Zuo Liangyu went so far as to use the governor and grand coordinator officials as human shields, fleeing straight toward the riverbank.

Strange to say, the Left Camp soldiers were always beaten into a disorganized rabble whenever they fought the Dashing King's camp — yet along their southward retreat, they burned, killed, looted, and committed every atrocity imaginable, bullying the common folk two-for-one.

Due to the Left Army's atrocities, the area around Wuchang saw ten li without a single cooking fire, villages and forts became like haunted grounds, and bones littered the ground everywhere.

After his defeat at Zhuxian Town, Zuo Liangyu still gathered over a hundred thousand men under his command, but the Left Camp had already cast aside helmets and armor — the soldiers had no morale, the generals no will to fight. It could hardly sustain itself and urgently needed silver and grain to keep going.

Zhu Huakui, the Prince of Chu enfeoffed at Wuchang, had held his title for over sixty years. Wealth in his princely mansion had long since piled up like a mountain, and the Lu Prince's mansion was also the largest landowner in Wuchang city — his money could be said to be inexhaustible.

Zuo Liangyu thus decided to demand supplies from Zhu Huakui, planning to lead his troops south after obtaining them to avoid Li Zicheng.

At the time, all the civil and military officials in Wuchang city gathered inside the Prince of Chu's mansion, saying that the city had no money, no grain, and no troops to speak of — if they provoked the bandit Zuo into a rage and he truly started fighting, there would be no soldiers to resist. They jointly pleaded with Zhu Huakui to recognize the situation and pay up to satisfy Zuo Liangyu, so as to send this plague god on his way.

However, Zhu Huakui directly led them before the golden throne that the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had personally bestowed upon the Prince of Chu's mansion, and said sternly: "This can aid the army — there is nothing else!"

How could the golden throne bestowed by the Hongwu Emperor upon the Prince of Chu be used to aid the army? Zhu Huakui was determined to be a miser, ignoring Shou and the others.

First came news that Bai Guangen, who had surrendered to Li Zicheng, had led his troops back to the court and assisted in the defense of Ningwu Pass.

This news was like a fuse. Next came word that the Chongzhen Emperor was personally leading the campaign, taking the initiative to strike — the so-called hundred-thousand-strong royal rescue army had actually annihilated over two hundred thousand men of the southern route army led by Liu Fangliang, the Dashing Army's General of Regulation, at military pay and provisions in one stroke.

Incidentally, Tang Tong routed Abatai, who had entered the pass seeking to profit. Shortly afterward, however, it was a brush-holding eunuch who came by imperial order to investigate Shou — and Zuo Liangyu immediately felt somewhat aggrieved.

At that moment, Zuo Liangyu waved his hand to signal the assembled generals to quiet down, and asked with a mocking laugh: "Eunuch Gao, what has the court sent you here for? If it's about military academy matters, then you may as well go back. My son Menggeng has no need to study."