Chapter 239: Two Horses Against One Dragon

"It's over now, nothing can be saved. Brother Ma, run!" Zuo Liangyu saw the rout spreading across the mountains and plains, judged that the defeat was certain and beyond recovery, and as he spoke, he nimbly dismounted from his horse.

Before Ma Huo could say anything, Zuo Liangyu stripped the armor off a corpse on the ground and put it on himself, smeared some mud and blood on his face, and vanished into the fleeing soldiers in the blink of an eye.

Watching Zuo Liangyu's practiced escape, Ma Huo burst into loud laughter. The household retainer beside him sneered: "Truly living up to his reputation — useless at killing bandits, but a master at running away!"

"Not entirely so."

Ma Huo, who had always despised Zuo Liangyu, now held a somewhat different attitude than before. He gazed at the direction where Zuo Liangyu had disappeared and sighed: "That lad is also a man of bitter fate. He has the heart to kill bandits, but his subordinates are nothing but mud that cannot be plastered onto walls. Only that Ma Shixiu counts as a real man."

As he spoke, Ma Huo laughed heartily and added: "He sired a son, yet the boy is worse than those Donglin xiucai. On the battlefield, he soils himself in fear at the sight of bandits, but when it comes to killing his own men and the common folk, he's fiercer than anyone."

Hearing this, the Platoon Officer laughed a few times and nodded thoughtfully. "Then... General, the Zuo family army and the other government troops have scattered. What do we do?"

"What do we do?" Ma Huo shot back with a cold laugh: "I have no wish to flee everywhere like a stray dog the way Zuo Liangyu can stomach it. If he can endure it, I cannot. At worst, I die on the battlefield — what is there to fear?"

"The General is right!"

"We don't want to run anymore either, General! Lead us forward to fight them to the death!"

"Yes, it's too suffocating!"

Looking at these young yet resolute faces, Ma Huo clasped his fists and bowed deeply to them from atop his horse, saying:

"I do not know whether your names will be carved on the Shrine of Loyal Martyrs in the capital after you die fighting alongside me. I do not know whether your families will receive the benefits His Majesty spoke of. But I still want to thank you — on behalf of the Great Ming Dynasty, I thank you. Every one of you is a fine man!"

"My Ma family has received the court's grace for generations. In this time of chaos, it is precisely the moment for us younger generations to repay the state and fight to the death for Your Majesty. Brothers, fight these bandits to the end — do not let them look down on our Great Ming government troops!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The moment Ma Huo finished speaking and was about to lead his men into a death battle, a burst of applause suddenly came from the side. Turning to look, it was Vice Regional Commander Ma Shixiu of the Left Camp returning with his men.

"As I see it, you may not die in battle!" Ma Shixiu's face was covered in blood. The Left Camp soldiers behind him also wore moved expressions. He turned back and shouted:

"We can flee no longer. If we flee any further, we will lose even the backbone to call ourselves men. So let us fight — either the bandits die, or we live!"

Within the Left Camp, the troops rallied by Ma Shixiu's call numbered as many as eight thousand and were still growing without end. Adding Ma Huo's seventeen hundred or so men, they had gathered over ten thousand in total.

"Hahaha, I knew it — with several hundred thousand men in the Zuo family army, there ought to be some who do not fear death!" Ma Huo clapped Ma Shixiu on the shoulder and laughed loudly. He looked at the Dashun army before him, which had completed its formation and was charging like a tide under Xie Yinglong's personal command, and asked with a fixed gaze:

"Brother Shixiu, are you ready?"

"What do you think? Why even ask? Let's go!"

Around Gugu Pass, things had grown increasingly tense following Chen Qiyu's proclamation and orders. Shandong Regional Commander Mou Wenshou, Linhuai Regional Commander Liu Liangzuo, and Shandong Vice Regional Commander Qiu Lei had all arrived.

The northern and southern routes of government troops were, for the first time since Sun Chuanting's battle at Tongguan, launching a campaign against the roving bandits of the Central Plains under another Governor-General's orders. Combined with last year's great victory at Gugu Pass and the successive recoveries of Zhending and Baoding, Chen Qiyu's reputation had soared.

At this time, the voices that had once opposed the Chongzhen Emperor's appointment of Chen Qiyu gradually faded away. What had been seen as a headstrong act by the Chongzhen Emperor had now become synonymous with brilliance, martial prowess, and strategic mastery.

Speaking of it, Liu Liangzuo's purpose in coming here differed from the others'. He still carried another matter on his mind — the matter of taking Taiyuan together with Zuo Liangyu.

As for Liu Liangzuo himself, he actually had no interest whatsoever in this mess of the Central Plains. Although Chen Qiyu had prestige and authority, his orders meant little to Liu Liangzuo — whether he obeyed them or not, the court could not do much to him.

After all, he was far away in Fengyang. Even if he received the order, he could use the difficulty of the long road as an excuse to delay, and at worst he would be charged with missing an opportunity in battle — hardly a capital offense. The only reason he had come to Gugu Pass to meet with the other generals was that he still did not dare defy Zuo Liangyu.

A dozen or so li west of Gugu Pass lay Pingding Prefecture, which was already Dashun territory. Not far south of Pingding Prefecture, around the Leyang area, heavy troops were also stationed.

After arriving at Gugu Pass, Liu Liangzuo openly held his troops in place under the pretext of obeying Chen Qiyu's orders. On the one hand, he had no desire to rush out and seek death; on the other, he was waiting for news from Zuo Liangyu.

Of course, in Liu Liangzuo's view, it would naturally be best if no news came at all.

If truly no news came, Liu Liangzuo would be happy to stay inside the pass and watch the show. Even if the Zuo family army were defeated, it would have nothing to do with him. He had obeyed Chen Qiyu's orders and come to Gugu Pass — even if he did not go out to join Zuo Liangyu, that lad's failure to take Taiyuan could not be pinned on him.

After spending nearly half a month at Gugu Pass with no news coming from Wuchang, Liu Liangzuo could not help muttering to himself — could something have gone wrong?

On second thought, that seemed unlikely. The Zuo family army plus Ma Huo's forces numbered at least three hundred thousand. Huguang basically had no main force of Dashun, so there was no way they could fail to advance.

Yet reality was just that dramatic. A few days later, Liu Liangzuo received news that made him double over with laughter — the Zuo family army had been defeated, and not just an ordinary defeat. Even Ma Huo and his men had been routed along with them.

It was said that Zuo Liangyu, acting on Chen Qiyu's orders, had abandoned Wuchang and marched north to intercept the main force of Li the Dashing King. At first things went smoothly — he took several towns in one push. But the good times did not last. By the time he fought at Xiangyang, several hundred thousand government troops scattered into nothing in an instant.

Even without knowing the details of the battle, Liu Liangzuo could fill in the picture. With those several hundred thousand government troops and the Left Camp's main force scattered, news of the Xiangyang disaster would not be far behind.

But Liu Liangzuo still could not figure it out. Of the government troops marching north from Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu's Zuo family army alone claimed five hundred thousand. Adding the Hunan and Shanxi generals, it should have been at least four hundred thousand. Could they really have been beaten into this sorry state by a mere ten or twenty thousand Dashun troops?

Were the government troops so weak as to be beneath mention, or were the Dashun troops so strong that one man could fight dozens?

"Zuo Liangyu, oh Zuo Liangyu. Tell me — without the diamond drill, you insisted on taking on the porcelain work. Now look at you. The Zuo family army has suffered another crushing defeat. Let's see where you'll put that old face of yours this time!"

Liu Liangzuo laughed about this matter for an entire day in his camp, when suddenly he received a notice from Mou Wenshou's subordinates telling him to come to the main pass for a council. Liu Liangzuo thought to himself — could it be that news of Zuo Liangyu's disastrous defeat had arrived and these people were panicking?

He snorted coldly a few times, dressed himself properly, and headed to the main pass for the council.