Chapter 237: A Complete Rout

News that the imperial army had gathered to encircle and annihilate the Dashun army quickly reached Xiangyang.

The prefectural city of Xiangyang was named "Xiangyang" because it lay on the sunny side of the Xiang River. Located in the northwest of Huguang, in the heart of the Han River's middle-reach plain, it was easy to attack and hard to defend. The Han River ran through the city, dividing it into Xiangyang and Fancheng on the north and south banks, facing each other across the river.

For this reason, people of the time sometimes called Xiangyang "Xiangfan City," meaning that Xiangyang and Fancheng were considered one place.

Throughout the Ming dynasty, Supreme Commander Yang Sichang had once used Xiangyang as his headquarters for handling the roving bandits. Historically, Xiangyang and Fancheng had been, respectively, a military stronghold and a commercial hub, and by the Chongzhen years they had grown ever more prosperous and flourishing.

Yang Sichang's so-called "spread the net in eight directions, lay ambushes on ten fronts" strategy — if it succeeded, the credit went to Xiangyang as the place coordinating defense and battle; if it failed, the blame likewise fell on losing Xiangyang and trapping the imperial kinsman.

Over the more than ten years of the Chongzhen reign, Xiangyang was successively seized back and forth by Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, and the imperial army. The roving bandits of that time were not like those of now — they were roving bandits through and through.

When they came, they would loot once; when the imperial army came, it would loot again. Of the people, the dead died and the fleeing fled, with losses of eight or nine out of ten. Later, the city was long since nine houses empty out of ten, reduced to a single hollow city.

In the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the Dashun army took Chengtian, and Li Zicheng styled himself "Grand Marshal Who Serves Heaven and Raises Righteousness in Civil and Military Affairs." In the third month, the Dashun army broke Xiangyang, and Li Zicheng renamed it Xiangjing and proclaimed himself the "New Shun King."

Following the advice of the military counselor Li Yan, Li Zicheng had General of Martial Might Xie Yinglong garrison Xiangjing and guard Hanchuan, with the aim of preventing Marshal Zuo from sailing upstream.

Among the various roving bandit factions of the time, the Dashun army was the first to show some consciousness of state-building. After proclaiming himself the New Shun King at Xiangyang, Li Zicheng had in fact, on the advice of Li Yan and Song Xiance, intended to win over the people's hearts — and this was even more so now.

By now, the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, although the Xiangyang area was not what it had been decades earlier, it had nonetheless been peaceful for a long while and had recovered somewhat.

"Report! Zuo Liangyu has gathered imperial troops from Huguang, Shanxi, and elsewhere, claiming eight hundred thousand men, and has crossed north from Wuchang, taking Hanyang and Dean in succession. The day before yesterday he took Chengtian. His Majesty has decreed that the General hold fast and await reinforcements — the vital ground of Xiangyang must not be lost!"

That day, the normally tranquil city of Xiangjing was thrown into chaos. A dispatch rider brought an utterly incredible piece of news into the city, and even Xie Yinglong was astonished by it.

The greatest reason Xie Yinglong was stationed here was that Li Yan at the time had feared Li Zicheng might forget that Zuo Liangyu still lurked to the south, and so had advised Li Zicheng to send him here to garrison.

Xie Yinglong remembered that Li Yan had also privately spoken to him about this matter back then. The meaning had been very clear: he need not worry about anything else — just keep an eye on Zuo Liangyu. Keep an eye on him, and that meant keeping an eye on Zhang Xianzhong. As long as Xiangyang was not lost, Huguang would remain the world of Dashun.

For these three years, Xie Yinglong had garrisoned here with utmost diligence, always watching Zuo Liangyu openly and covertly.

Some time ago, when he heard that Li Yan had been arrested, Xie Yinglong had already conceived a deep hatred for Niu Jinxing, who had repeatedly offered slanderous counsel. Now, hearing of Zuo Liangyu's northward advance, he had sent for aid at the first opportunity — only to receive a decree ordering him to hold his position.

Clearly, this was the doing of that cow-nosed Daoist again.

"Gentlemen, tell me — how are we to hold Hanchuan now?" Xie Yinglong's anger surged beyond containment, but he forced himself to stay calm as he spoke.

"Hmph." A Dashun general rose and said, "What is there to discuss about holding it? That Zuo camp is nothing but a defeated foe of our Great Shun. Since the Dashing King will not come, let us go and capture that Zuo bandit ourselves!"

"Well said! This Zuo bandit hasn't crossed swords with our Great Shun in years. He scrapes together a mob of rabble and dares to invade Xiangyang — he must have eaten bear's gall and leopard's heart!"

Seeing the generals eagerly clamoring for battle, Xie Yinglong weighed his own troops. Judging by the fighting strength that Zuo camp had shown in previous years, if all his generals were this eager to fight, then a battle was not out of the question.

To be honest, toward this Zuo camp of the imperial army, every general under the Dashun banner had only one feeling: they were not worth worrying about!

Zuo Liangyu had fought the Dashun army in engagements large and small without a single victory. Especially at the Battle of Zhuxian Town — the Zuo camp had held every advantage in numbers and terrain, yet had been routed so completely that they fled more than three hundred li, and Zuo Liangyu himself had only escaped by changing into a common soldier's armor.

With an imperial army like that, even reinforced by scattered troops from various regions, what threat could they possibly pose to the army that was founding the Great Shun dynasty?

Moreover, Xie Yinglong had been left to guard Xiangyang for four years now. When Xi'an founded the dynasty, he had only been enfeoffed as a minor General of Martial Might. Many whose records were inferior to his — men like Zhang Neng and Ma Chongxi — were now all ranked among the Five Grand Camps, with prestige and treatment far greater than his by who knew how much.

In his heart of hearts, Xie Yinglong was a thousand times unconvinced. Whether by record or by ability, he judged himself no inferior to any of the above — yet he had remained here in Xiangyang all this time without a single achievement.

Xie Yinglong's thoughts were in turmoil now, but he understood very well that he urgently needed military merit to prove himself. And just at this moment, Zuo Liangyu, that defeated general, had come looking for death.

"Good!"

Xie Yinglong's blood surged. He slammed the table and rose, drawing his blade and shouting loudly: "In that case, generals, quickly muster the troops! Out of the city to meet the Zuo bandit in battle, and send him running with his tail between his legs!"

"Hahaha! This time I'll personally chop off that whelp's head and use it as a cup for wine!"

Two days later, some twenty-plus li outside the city of Xiangyang.

An imperial army with disordered armor and none-too-energetic spirits marched to this spot. Their banners blotted out the sky, and their long column stretched all the way to the horizon — by the look of it, their numbers were certainly no fewer than three hundred thousand.

Amid the clamorous tramp of footsteps followed soldiers and generals of every description.

Among them, the better ones were the household retainers and private troops that each general had painstakingly cultivated. These retainers were fed and watered well every day, each possessing some martial skill, most of them mounted on steeds, every man spirited and vigorous — forming a stark contrast with the other soldiers in their ragged armor and lazy demeanor.

"Kill! Kill every last one of these dog soldiers!"

Suddenly, earth-shaking battle cries erupted from the front and both flanks. Where moments before there had been nothing, countless banners stamped with the characters "Great Shun" now appeared all around, and swarms of Dashun soldiers in white armor, wielding blades and spears, came surging forward.

"What's going on?" Zuo Liangyu sat on his horse. Though he had drawn his saber at the first instant, he did not immediately issue orders to fight. His expression wavered with indecision — clearly he had not yet decided whether to stay or flee.

"Father Marshal, it's an ambush — we've run into a Shun bandit ambush! Retreat, quickly!" Zuo Menggeng had personally seen a household retainer beside him struck in the face by a whistling arrow, and was already scared out of his wits. Without another word, he grabbed Zuo Liangyu's horse and tried to leave.

The Dashun army seemed to have been injected with stimulant. Their numbers were unknown, but the other imperial troops following behind collapsed at the first sight of the Zuo camp falling into an ambush. The Zuo camp put up a token resistance, suffered grievous losses, and then broke and fled in droves as well.

"Flee?" Zuo Liangyu shot back. He raised his head and took a careful look ahead, then suddenly noticed something. Hastily raising his blade, he shouted: "Don't run! Follow me and cut down that bandit general — they don't have many men!"

Though Zuo Liangyu shouted with vigor, most of the officers and men of the Zuo camp did not obey his commands as they usually did. At this moment they were all busy fleeing for their lives, scattering in all directions beyond any hope of rallying — that was roughly the scene being described.

At this point, only the household retainers still remained at Zuo Liangyu's side. The rest of the troops had long since thrown aside their banners, and even the normally blustering officers had few left among them now.

This scene before his eyes — how similar it was to the defeat at Zhuxian Town.