November 17, 8th year of Chongzhen.

When Zuo Liangyu found out that the situation was not good, of course he would not be stupid to stay where he was, waiting for the arrival of these three peasant armies and being hit in the back and abdomen. However, there is no time to escape in a short time, so the only option is to find a favorable battlefield.

Zuo Liangyu didn't want to retreat into the city to simply defend the city, because his troops were also from Guanwai and Beizhili, and there were more cavalry and chariots, so it was easy to exert combat effectiveness on the open battlefield. And the turtle cowering in the city, although it is safer, but with the obstruction of the city wall, it is not easy to give full play to the strengths of Zuo Liangyu. Of course, the most important thing is that Zuo Liangyu has strong confidence in his troops.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu looked for a terrain with the town behind and the river on the left, so that the peasant army could only attack on both sides. Then 3,000 people were dispatched in the direction from which Zhang Xianzhong came to defend against this peasant army. Zuihou, Zuo Liangyu led the main force of 9,000, lined up to prepare for a decisive battle with the coalition army of Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng, preparing to defeat this coalition army first, and then turn back to clean up Zhang Xianzhong's troops.

It can be seen from this battle that the Ming army at this time still had strong self-confidence in the face of the peasant army. Of course, this can also show Zuo Liangyu's own character. If it was possible, of course he would avoid the battle to preserve his strength, but once he fell into a desperate situation, Zuo Liangyu was also ruthless.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu did not choose the weaker Zhang Xianzhong at all, but chose the stronger Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng coalition forces to fight the decisive battle, just to decide the battle. Of course, as an experienced general, Zuo Liangyu has also arranged a retreat, as long as the battle situation is unfavorable, he will immediately lead his troops to retreat into the town behind him to defend, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

But to Zuo Liangyu's surprise, the battle started from Zhang Xianzhong's direction first. But Zuo Liangyu's estimate was also very accurate, and his 3,000 soldiers and horses also blocked Zhang Xianzhong's troops.

The reason why Zhang Xianzhong attacked first was also very simple. He just wants to preserve his strength.

Because the more than 20,000 people led by Zhang Xianzhong now are almost all his elite men, and there is no cannon fodder to squander, Zhang Xianzhong first provoked a battle with Zuo Liangyu.

This approach sounds quite contradictory, but Zhang Xianzhong has his own considerations. If Zhang Xianzhong has already made a move, then Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng will be forced to do the same, because the strength of Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng's coalition is stronger, and Zuo Liangyu must transfer his main force to the Gao Li coalition army, so Zhang Xianzhong will be under less pressure. This is one reason.

If Zhang Xianzhong makes a move and attracts Zuo Liangyu's main force, then the Gao-Li coalition army is likely to break through Zuo Liangyu's interception. Give Zuo Liangyu a fatal blow from behind and quickly eliminate this Ming army. That's another reason.

Whatever the reason, Zhang Xianzhong's losses will not be too great. Of course, there is another situation that can make Zhang Xianzhong's department unscathed, and that is to watch from the wall. But in case the Gao Li coalition army also comes to watch from the wall. Zuo Liangyu, who was at a disadvantage, would definitely not take the initiative to attack. However, in that case, the peasant army would lose the significance of encircling Zuo Liangyu's department.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong did not wait for his troops to fully deploy the formation. He successively sent a small force to attack Zuo Liangyu's 3,000 men and horses. But that kind of attack is just a taste. As soon as it is blocked, it retreats, and it is completely thunder and rain.

And the 3,000 men and horses sent out by Zuo Liangyu were also equipped with a large number of chariots, which could be effectively intercepted according to the carts, so the entire formation was not threatened.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng, who were riding horses, looked at the direction of the battle between Zhang Xianzhong and Zuo Liangyu. After observing for a moment, they looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time. Maybe you find that the other party's actions are very tacit with yourself. So they both couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Although they couldn't see the progress of the battle clearly, they all understood Zhang Xianzhong's intentions. In such a short period of time, it is simply too late for tens of thousands of troops to be fully deployed, so Zhang Xianzhong's attack must have used small troops.

"Do you attack or do I attack?" Gao Yingxiang asked.

"I'm attacking!" Li Zicheng replied without hesitation. "Let Zong Min take my old team first."

Gao Yingxiang nodded and said, "Then I'll give Zong Min another two thousand rides!" My people follow Zong Min. ”

Because Gao Yingxiang suffered Chen Yongfu's sneak attack and Zuo Liangyu's attack one after another, many homeless people in the army dispersed. And Li Zicheng alone contained Hong Chengchou's troops in Shaanxi for such a long time, and there were very few homeless people in the army, so these two peasant armies could not send any homeless people as cannon fodder.

But when these two people discovered Zhang Xianzhong's small actions, they were still willing to use their old skills to fight Zuo Liangyu's department. It can also be seen that the leaders of the two peasant armies are very atmospheric.

That is a kind of leadership temperament that knows that he is at a loss, but who else he is. In comparison, Zhang Xianzhong's approach is a bit of a trick.

Li Zicheng's first general, Liu Zongmin, led 10,000 soldiers and horses from Li Zicheng's old battalion, plus 2,000 cavalry supported by Gao Yingxiang, and stepped forward to start a formation. And Zuo Liangyu was also ready to fight at the same time.

There was no nonsense, no temptation, and the two sides immediately launched an attack. But as soon as the battle began, the strength of Zuo Liangyu's regular army was revealed, and Liu Zongmin retreated.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Gao Yingxiang's old battalion behind him also hurriedly stepped forward to support. But if the morale of Zuo Liangyu's troops comes together, it is not so easy to stop. There was no way, Li Zicheng also led the remaining old battalion soldiers to support immediately.

After a whole day of fierce fighting, Zuo Liangyu completely had the upper hand, killing and capturing more than 3,000 peasant soldiers, while his own losses were only more than 1,000.

This defeat was due to the fact that the peasant army underestimated the enemy. They thought that they had killed Cao Wenzhao, the number one general of the Ming army, and they thought that the combat effectiveness of their troops was on an equal footing with the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

So Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng did not take advantage of their large number of people, and wanted to fight on an equal footing with the well-equipped and well-trained Zuo Liangyubu, which would of course suffer. Later, seeing that the battle situation was not good, the peasant army increased its troops one after another, and used refueling tactics to try to save the defeat, which made it even worse.

But although Zuo Liangyu won, he also knows his own suffering. Zuo Liangyu's understanding of the peasant army is still at the stage where thousands of officers and soldiers are chasing and killing hundreds of thousands of peasant troops running all over the mountains. He did not expect that in the past half a year, the combat effectiveness of the peasant army would grow to such an extent. Otherwise, Zuo Liangyu would definitely not attack the Gao Li coalition army.

What's even worse is that Zuo Liangyu's loss cannot be supplemented, and one person dies one less person. In a few more such big victories, when Zuo Liangyu's troops have a battle loss rate of more than 30%, then his troops will be disabled.

So the next day, both sides invariably changed their tactics. Zuo Liangyu also did not divide his troops, he gathered his troops into a group, and completely formed a hedgehog array. And the three leaders of the peasant army, after contacting, also took out their strongest old battalion and launched an attack at the same time.

As soon as the peasant army came up, it launched a fierce attack, but whether it was on the football field or on the battlefield, the dense defense was not so easy to break. In addition, the peasant army pounced too fiercely, Zuo Liangyu took advantage of the weakness of the peasant army's soldiers who were only brave and lacked training and cooperation, and used his cavalry to carry out several counter-charges, so that the peasant army did not dare to let go of the attack, and finally won a small victory. However, Zuo Liangyu's department also lost more than 1,000 people.

At this time, Zuo Liangyu began to make mistakes. Although he won two victories, he was also frightened by the onslaught of the peasant army, so in order to reduce the losses, Zuo Liangyu withdrew his troops into the town behind him, relying on the buildings of the town to resist the peasant army's attack again.

Although Zuo Liangyu's approach seems reasonable, his doing so limits the strengths of his own troops. In addition, the defense of the town is not as good as the city, and the few displaced people in the peasant army can be used as cannon fodder to besiege the town, so the gap between the two warring sides has widened.

So the fighting intensified on the third day. Although Zuo Liangyu's troops were more lethal to the peasant army. But those were all homeless people who were used as cannon fodder, so they consumed a lot of ammunition, arrows, and the physical strength of the soldiers of Zuo Liangyu's department.

Seeing that Zuo Liangyu's soldiers were a little weak, the soldiers and horses of the old battalion of the peasant army who followed the cannon fodder took advantage of the situation and entered the town. In the street battles in towns and cities, many people of the regular army like Zuo Liangyu Bingding could not be used to cooperate in the battle, so they caused heavy casualties.

If it weren't for the ferocity of Zuo Liangyu's firearms, coupled with the struggle of Zuo Liangyu's personal troops, maybe the peasant army would have completely ended the battle that day. But even so, Zuo Liangyu lost more than 2,400 people in one day, and the whole army was completely compressed in the town by the peasant army.

That night, Zuo Liangyu counted the casualties in the camp, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh: "I don't know when the reinforcements will come!" ”

But Zuo Liangyu was uncomfortable, Gao Yingxiang and they were not comfortable, and the losses of every soldier in the old battalion made Gao Yingxiang's hearts drip blood. They didn't expect that they had gathered more than 100,000 peasant troops, and they still couldn't gnaw at this Ming army of tens of thousands of people.

The reason why Gao Yingxiang and the others wanted to defeat Zuo Liangyu's department was because after eliminating Zuo Liangyu, they could form a vacuum in this area, allowing the peasant army to act arbitrarily. But if they continue to fight like this, these three peasant armies will also be broken.

Moreover, the current peasant army cannot be withdrawn, in case Zuo Liangyu is spared, whether it is attacked by his counterattack or entangled by him, it will be a very troublesome thing for the peasant army.

What's even worse is that the peasant army has also detected a Ming army coming to help. And that Ming army was Yu Zilian's Ruzhou army.

To this end, Li Zicheng sent 15,000 men led by He Shaoqi to intercept the Ming army, and the remaining peasant army was to defeat Zuo Liangyu trapped in the town before the Ruzhou army broke through the blockade. (To be continued......)