Chapter 37 Annihilation of the Ambush Commander Zuo Liangyu

Li Mao said to Mu Yi: "We use musketeers enough to deal with these soldiers, and mortars should be saved." ”

"Yes! We've got some rat throwers, so don't waste shells. "After saying that, give the order to the other ship, stop the pursuit and artillery fire, and the gunner goes over to pitch **.

In this way, the battle changed again, this time Zuo Liangyu's soldiers did not encounter artillery shelling, and the commander behind them thought that the warship had run out of shells, thinking that this time there was a chance. In fact, he didn't know, Li Mao could see that after the two warships were parked on this dock, there would be no other place, that is to say, if Zuo Liangyu's soldiers wanted to attack these two ships, the final concentration was very small, and they had to come to the front of the ships. And there were a hundred musketeers on both ships, and any more people who rushed up would be enough to deal with them. No amount of people can withstand a bullet.

It would be those gunners pitching in the back** and musketeers shooting in front.

The hand ** fell in the middle of the dense Zuo Liangyu soldiers, and each hand ** could blow up several people, and the soldiers who rushed through the barrage of the hand ** faced the shot of the musket. The corpses were quickly piled up on the dock to form a wall of human flesh, but Zuo Liangyu's soldiers insisted on climbing the human wall and rushed forward.

Li Mao scolded on the boat: "If I can catch the commander of this group of soldiers, I will kill him alive." Such a good soldier, he actually let them die like this. I really don't take the lives of soldiers seriously. ”

Mu Yi said: "If you don't kill him, he may not be able to live when he goes back." If he wasn't afraid that he wouldn't be able to pay the errand when he went back, he wouldn't be so desperate, he had no other way. ”

Zuo Liangyu's soldiers were once again unable to attack. The soldiers in the back stopped attacking, and after the musketeers eliminated the soldiers who rushed over, Mu Yi ordered "Upper shotguns to fire." ”

The ship was immediately lowered, and a lot of gangplanks stretched out to the dock. The musketeers jumped onto the dock through the gangplank, and the columns formed three rows and divided into two directions, left and right, and rushed over.

This time, Zuo Liangyu's soldiers saw the musketeers rushing out, thinking that they would be able to fight again, but the shotguns fired at close range, causing them to fall into a nightmare again. The effect of face-to-face shotgun shooting is very terrifying. You can hit several with one shot. Those who were shot and fell to the ground did not die immediately, most of them were injured and could not die at once, rolling and crying all over the ground. Because the lead sand of shotguns often causes large-scale injuries, they will not be fatal all at once, but there is no cure at all (lead poisoning in that era would be fatal).

The first two rows of Muyi's musketeers took turns firing, and the third row kept keeping their hands in hand. Soon Zuo Liangyu's brave soldiers collapsed. He scattered and fled, and Mu Yi's musketeers immediately pursued them separately in squads. Finally, the combat group was used as a unit to pursue and search.

Li Mao and Mu Yi also came to the dock, Li Mao said: "Our soldiers in Yaogang have not encountered such a vicious battle, they have always fought a good battle, I am worried that when they encounter a vicious battle, they will not have the courage of Zuo Liangyu and these soldiers." ”

Mu Yi said: "You don't have to worry about this, let me tell you, what kind of general is what kind of soldier." These soldiers, if they do not attack to death, then they will go back and be killed. So they rushed forward even when they died. The difference is that our soldiers have good compensation regardless of whether they are dead or wounded, and they have no worries about rushing forward. And if you go back, you will be killed, not even a martyr, do you think they will be willing to retreat and be killed? ”

Jingdezhen was originally not big, and in the face of a one-sided massacre, the defeated soldiers no longer had the will to resist, and those who were caught up surrendered. Soon the soldiers began to escort the captives back one after another.

Li Mao said: "Go and see if our people have been captured by them." ”

Mu Yi ordered a squad of musketeers to follow Li Mao's men to the inn where the people they had left behind in Jingdezhen lived. Soon, the person sent back and said: "The innkeeper said that five of us were captured by Zuo Liangyu's soldiers and are now locked up in the county office. ”

Li Mao said to Mu Yi: "You stay on the dock to clean up the mess, and I will take someone to meet Lord Zhixian." ”

Mu Yi said: "You can bring twenty people over, and if you can't do it, you will snatch them back." ”

Li Mao led a team of people and went straight to Jingdezhen County.

At this time, the gate of the county government was closed, and Li Mao ordered someone to knock on the door, but after knocking for a long time, the gate of the county government was not opened.

Li Mao smiled and said, "It seems that we have to make a little movement for them." Listen to me, and each of you fires a shot into the sky. ”

The musketeers raised their guns, and Li Mao shouted, "Release!" ”

"Bang bang" After a row of gunshots, a small door opened at the gate of the county government after a while, and a head was exposed at the small door and asked, "Who are you?" What are you going to do? ”

"Li Mao from Xiurong Yaogang came to meet Lord Zhixian! Please give me an explanation. Li Mao said.

"Wait!" The door closed again.

Once back, the gate of the county government branch was opened. As soon as Li Mao stepped in, the official who opened the door was about to stretch out his hand to intercept the musketeers behind, but he was pushed away by the musketeers.

When Li Mao entered the county office, he was so frightened that he didn't know whether to stand up to greet him or put on an official posture.

Li Mao opened his mouth and said, "Li Mao of Xiurong Kiln Gang has seen Lord Zhixian. ”

Seeing Li Mao giving such a salute, the magistrate felt a little relieved, and hurriedly said, "Look! ”

Li Mao sat down and said: "Lord Zhixian has two things to do here today, the first is that my lord must have heard the sound of cannons, we just fought with Zuo Liangyu's people on the dock, which caused disturbance to Jingdezhen, and I come to apologize." We have also caused some damage to the docks, so I have brought a thousand taels of silver, and I ask you to send someone to help repair it. There are also corpses of officials and soldiers, please help Lord Zuo Liangyu to collect them. ”

When Li Mao said this, the magistrate's eyes saw the light, because he was repairing the dock to collect the corpse, he wouldn't spend money, just spread things out, and the silver could be left. Li Mao doesn't care about this, he must compensate for the losses caused to others.

Li Mao continued: "In addition, I heard that several of us have been brought to your yamen, and I want to take them back. What do you think, my lord? ”

The magistrate of the county said: "It's easy to talk about repairing the wharf." However, that and that, your people were temporarily sent to us by Zuo-sama's people, and they were just for us to take care of. You see, what are we going to do if they come back and ask for someone? ”

Li Mao said: "We Yaogang people took the risk to come out to do business, not to make money for ourselves, but also to prepare military salaries for the emperor, and adults also know that we have the emperor's imperial bronze medal in our hands." Our people have not violated the king's law in Jingdezhen, so they should be protected by you, right? ”

"This, this!" The magistrate couldn't answer.

Li Mao said: "Zuo Liangyu knows that we have the imperial bronze medal in our hands, but we still have to be embarrassed, this is a felony of rebellion, is the adult complicit with them?" ”

"This, hey, don't embarrass me as a little magistrate. Lord Zuo is my Shangguan, I have to listen? Zhixian said.

Li Mao said: "Lord Zhixian, do I think this is okay? If Zuo Liangyu's people come to ask you about this matter again, you will say that we robbed the people and have nothing to do with you. Besides, those who know about this probably won't go back alive. Adults can rest assured. ”

According to the people who came back from the street, so many of Zuo Liangyu's officers and soldiers who were like wolves and tigers were scattered and fled by them, and there was already a river of blood on the dock.

The magistrate smiled bitterly and said, "It's only like this, otherwise you will take people away." ”

"My lord, can I borrow a pen and paper?" I would like to write a letter to Lord Zuo Liangyu. Li Mao asked.

"Of course you can, if you can stop seeing each other, it will also be a blessing for the people!" The magistrate said while ordering someone to get a pen and paper.

Li Mao wrote a letter to Zuo Liangyu.

The letter reads

Zuo-sama:

We have just fought a bloody battle with your officers and troops in Jingdezhen, the corpses are all over the dock, and the blood is flowing like a river. In addition to the sadness, I also wondered, what are we fighting for life and death?

We Yaogang people are a businessman and don't want to be enemies of anyone. We not only made our own profits, but also did a lot of good things for the imperial court, won the favor of the emperor, and also awarded a bronze medal. Especially when our Yaogang people were in danger in the imperial court, the silver they earned was not only for themselves, that is, so that the people of the north and south could exchange goods, and we also lent a lot of military salaries to the imperial court. However, as an official of the imperial court, Lord Zuo's department not only failed to escort our merchants, but also ignored the imperial bronze medal and insisted on robbing our ships, causing today's misunderstanding to become more and more serious, I don't know what the reason is? Don't you know that when you see the bronze medal given by the emperor, you don't let it go, and you are considered an accomplice?

To tell the truth, we are not afraid to fight, we have defeated the Mongol cavalry and the Manchu iron cavalry; Li Zicheng's army in the Yellow River, we will destroy it in one night; Li Zicheng pursued the army of Governor Sun Chuanting, and if we didn't let them go, we wouldn't be able to take Tongguan. However, we are the people of the Ming Dynasty, you officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, we should join hands to fight the enemy, if we continue to fight each other, we can only be relatives and enemies. Therefore, it makes no sense for us to continue fighting like this. Let's all let it go! If we can strike the army and trade, and use Jiujiang, a land of great treasures, to let the people recuperate and live, why should Lord Zuo worry about military salaries, grain and grass. In the long run, think again!

Li Mao, manager of Yaogang Yangzhou Branch

After Li Mao finished writing the letter, he folded it, handed it to Lord Zhixian, and said: "This letter will be sent to Lord Zuo Liangyu, and we hope to strike a truce with Lord Zuo." ”

The magistrate hesitated for a moment, took the letter, and said: "Just to stop the army and make a truce, I will personally go to Jiujiang." ”

Li Mao immediately had a good impression of Lord Zhixian and said: "That's great, in this case, I will send our warship to send you to the mouth of Poyang Lake, and then you are changing boats to Jiujiang, so that it can be faster." ”

"Good!" The magistrate has never been on a steamboat before, and this time he also wants to open meat.

Li Mao took his people out and sent them to the inn, but fortunately, these people were not too hurt, but they were a little frightened.

Back on the docks, the whole battle was over.

Mu Yi said: "More than 700 people were killed and wounded, and more than 300 surrendered. I asked, Zuo Liangyu sent an elite soldier from a thousand households, and because the thousand households did not surrender, they let this group of bastards who did not have long brains be killed. ”

Last time, Zuo Liangyu's navy was sunk seven warships, but he suffered a big loss, and the generals who led the team out after returning almost let Zuo Liangyu behead him. This Zuo Liangyu didn't believe it, their dozen warships just couldn't beat the other people's two ships. The other generals around him said, "My lord, you can't blame them all. It is said that Li Zicheng's navy was also wiped out by them in one night, and their steamships are indeed powerful, let's explore how to deal with them, right? ”

Someone said, "The fact that they left so quickly means that they haven't bought their stuff yet." So they'll come back, we can't beat them on the water, so we might as well pick them up on the shore. ”

Zuo Liangyu has always been reluctant to make this matter too public, but his own water army really can't beat others. If you don't get this face back, you really can't get over it in your heart. I nodded in agreement. He sent a thousand elite soldiers to solve the problem in one fell swoop. These elite soldiers are all easily used by him, and this time he has made a big determination.

This thousand households also promised that they would definitely take down all of them.

When he came to Jingdezhen, this thousand households went to the inn to arrest Li Mao's people first according to the report of the secret agent. When asked, it is true that the fleet of Yaogang will come back. They arranged for the army to wait in Jingdezhen and sent people to watch on the dock. Their idea was to wait for the ship to come to shore and then rush up and take down both the boat and the people. This thousand households are still very confident in their thousand elite soldiers who can fight evil battles.

After waiting for a few days, the person in charge of monitoring the dock heard the sound of a "booming" steamship and immediately reported it to Senno. Qianhu immediately sent troops to hide around the wharf, and the workers and merchants on the wharf were so frightened that they ran away. As soon as the thousand households saw that this was not working, they sent a few people to change their clothes and pretend to work on the deep-water dock and pretend to work. However, when these people saw the boat of Yaogang approaching the dock with loaded guns, some of them were a little frightened. As a result, one of them couldn't stand it anymore, so he took out the hidden blade and ran, and the others had to run with him. Qianhe, who was watching from afar, broke out in a cold sweat, he was afraid that the boat in Yaogang had run away.

What he didn't expect was that the boat in Yaogang not only did not mean to run, but also docked steadily. However, the other ship did not come close, and Chito thought that if the people of this ship came ashore, they would immediately find the soldiers in ambush. It's better to count a ship as a ship before they are ready to catch it. So he ordered the soldiers to rush forward.

Unexpectedly, a batch of shells suddenly fell on their heads, although these soldiers were brave, but after such a baptism of shells, the first attack was blown back in a daze. However, what these thousands of households didn't expect was that the boat of the kiln gang people had no intention of running. He knew that the soldiers had to rush close to the ship, so that they would not dare to fire their guns, and when he organized the charge, he told the soldiers that they had to get close to the ship as soon as possible to avoid the shelling. But after countless casualties, they retreated. At this time, this Qianhu knew that today's affairs were not good. By the time he organized the last charge, the second ship had also come ashore. This Qianhu understands that people don't take their own people seriously at all, and they don't have the intention of running. Fortunately, this attack did not open fire again. But when his soldiers rushed up, this Qianhu understood again that people's muskets and ** were even more terrifying. When his own people couldn't support it again, this Qianhu knew that his limit had arrived. If you don't get killed today, you will be killed when you go back. Therefore, when he faced the kiln musketeers who caught up, he did not surrender, and was unceremoniously shot by the kiln musketeers.

The efficiency of Jingdezhen County is still very high, and he immediately arranged for people to collect the corpses on the dock, because of the hot weather, it is easy to cause plague if not dealt with as soon as possible. After the body was cleaned up, the entire dock was rinsed with clean water. Despite this, the timid people of Jingdezhen did not dare to go to the dock for a long time, because there were too many corpses in the battle on the dock that day. This makes it even more difficult for people to spread the word of mouth.

After arranging the affairs of Jingdezhen, the magistrate did not stop, and Mu Yi sent a boat to send him to Jiujiang.

Li Mao and the others waited for more than a day before waiting for someone who went to Dayu to engage in tungsten ore. Because I told the people of Dayu last time, I will come to collect stones in the future, and the people of Dayu are full of the kind of stones that the kiln gang people want, and this time Li Mao's people have collected more than 1,500 stones and ores. Because the ore is very heavy, so much ore, there can only be a small boat, so the ore is constantly being delivered every day.

The tungsten ore has just arrived, and the magistrate has also returned. He also brought back a letter from Zuo Liangyu, to the effect that if he wanted a truce, he would ask Li Mao to go to Jiujiang to negotiate.

Li Mao said: "I'll just wait for him to say this."

Mu Yi said: "Zuo Liangyu dares to fight us in broad daylight, if you go, this old thing will definitely take out your anger, and then there will be no way for us to save you." I think we're okay with a letter, and we can't take any chances. ”

Li Mao said: "He didn't invite me, I wanted to meet him, and this time I happened to meet him." It is estimated that I can retreat with my whole body, because he has not yet made up his mind to break with the imperial court, and in addition, we Yaogang people are not without strength to deal with him, and I will not dare to attack me, and we will be completely enemies of Yaogang. They don't gain more than they lose, and I think they can figure it out. ”

In fact, the letter sent by the magistrate of Jingdezhen still surprised Zuo Liangyu and his generals. First of all, they couldn't understand how their 1,000 elite soldiers could be defeated by the men on the two ships so quickly. Those two boats are at most two or three hundred people, and their own are some elite soldiers. If you want to say that you can't do it on the water, but how can they be destroyed by catching them on the road?

After calming down a bit, one of his subordinates said, "My lord, what Li Mao said is not unreasonable. It really doesn't make sense for us to fight them like this. Why are we? For the sake of breathing, it should not be. When the court finds out, it will still have a complaint against us. ”

"Lao Tzu just can't swallow this breath. Lao Tzu has more than 100,000 mercenaries, and he is bullied by a businessman, which is really a big joke. Zuo Liangyu said angrily.

Another counselor said, "Oh, my lord! Do you really think that these people in Yaogang are merchants? I advise adults to calm their anger and think about it. The strength of their kiln gang people should never be underestimated. Their strength was not revealed, and Zhang Zhimu of the kiln gang would soon reveal his true face. I don't think Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong will necessarily be his opponents. It's just that the relationship between him and the emperor is not ordinary, the general soldiers of Zhongshu Province went to sue him for rebellion, but he was killed by the emperor, and no one in the Manchu Dynasty dared to intercede, you say it's not strange. Besides, we really messed with them, and we didn't have a good life. Li Zicheng's navy defeated all the sailors of the Ming Dynasty, but it was really wiped out by the Yaogang people in one night. The people of Yaogang disagreed, and Li Zicheng couldn't take Tongguan until now. These people are not to be underestimated. ”

Zuo Liangyu was so violent that he slammed the cup in his hand and said, "Are you still afraid that they won't succeed?" Write back to that Li Mao and tell him that if you want to quit the army, you will come to Jiujiang to see Lao Tzu. ”

In this way, the magistrate of Jingdezhen came back with Zuo Liangyu's reply. In fact, it was Zuo Liangyu's reply, and it was also written by someone else. Because Zuo Liangyu is illiterate.

Zuo Liangyu can be regarded as a figure in the history of the late Ming Dynasty, and many historical events cannot be continued without Zuo Liangyu.

Zuo Liangyu was born in Linqing, Shandong, his parents died when he was a child, and he was raised by his uncle. Although he never went to school, he was very smart, and he learned martial arts since he was a child.

Zuo Liangyu was more useful after joining the army, and he was resourceful, and he was soon promoted to the capital of the right battalion of Liaodong Che. In the first year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1628), Ningyuan was implicated in the mutiny and was dismissed, and later reinstated to the guerrilla. However, at that time, there were soldiers without pay, and they often had to do business without capital. Once I grabbed a large ticket, but I didn't expect it to be the silver that was transported to Jinzhou, and I should be punished for the crime. But the co-defendant surnamed Qiu was very righteous and took all the guilt by himself, and Zuo Liangyu was able to immortalize. Later, because the peasant rebel armies in Shaanxi, Henan, and Hebei were in great trouble, the court sent troops to suppress it, and Zuo Liangyu was transferred to the front line. At the junction of Shaanxi, Hebei and Henan provinces, there were many victories and defeats, and the overseer Yang Sichang recommended Zuo Liangyu to have the talent of a general, so Zuo Liangyu was named the general of the "Ping Thief".

Later, Zuo Liangyu fought with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and they also had their own victories and defeats. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), the imperial court sent Hou Sui as a supervisor to reward Zuo Liangyu's subordinates with 500,000 yuan, Zuo Liangyu and Li Zicheng fought in Zhuxian Town, this time Zuo Liangyu was defeated, suffered heavy losses, and retreated to Xiangyang. Kaifeng fought again, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to go forward to meet the battle. Li Zicheng then attacked Xiangyang, at this time Zuo Liangyu gradually fell ill, withdrew his troops to Wuchang, Zuo Liangyu asked the king of Chu for soldiers, food, and salary, but did not get supplies, Zuo Liangyu was angry and plundered Wuchang City, even including the grain and salt ships. Then he led his troops and left, and only later occupied Jiujiang.

Therefore, there are some kind of generals and soldiers. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong only robbed those big landlords, but Zuo Liangyu's army plundered no matter who they were.

Li Mao knows about Zuo Liangyu. However, Li Mao thought that he had a way to persuade Zuo Liangyu to cooperate with the kiln people. As long as Zuo Liangyu doesn't go against the kiln people. The trade routes of Yaogang could be extended to most of the Yangtze River. Through the slow penetration of the economy, the influence will be extended here. Of course, it is very dangerous to see someone like Zuo Liangyu, because before, the two families have been inseparable. There were a lot of casualties, but the risk was worth the risk.

Because the goods from Dayu were directly loaded from small boats to large ships, Li Mao left a ship and asked Mu Yi to load goods in Jingdezhen. Tell Mu Yi and say, "If I really can't come back, don't leave me alone and just take the warship away." ”

After arranging the affairs of Jingdezhen, Li Mao asked another warship to send him to the mouth of Poyang Lake, and then he changed into a small boat and went straight to Jiujiang with two retinues.

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Mechanics of Materials, Theoretical Mechanics, Elastic Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".