Chapter 145: Battle of Anqing 1
"Do you know why we failed to persuade the father and son of the Zuo family this time?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"The Zuo family father and son are ambitious and determined to rebel. No amount of persuasion will be of any use!" Yuan Jixian sighed.
"Not only that, you also didn't judge the situation well! The Zuo family father and son have nearly one million soldiers, but they didn't go north to Beijing to defend the king. This is a sign. In addition, look at Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong and others. Their forces are smaller than Zuo's. They are most likely to be persuaded because their chances of success are small. The Zuo family father and son have so many soldiers and horses, and their hearts have long been inflated! You can think about it from your perspective, and you will understand! This person is very easy to inflate in the face of interests!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Thank you for your teachings, sir!" Yuan Jixian said with a salute.
"Alright! What's the point of teaching or not? It's just my heartfelt words. Lord Yuan's future work must be based on the Yangtze River. The Jianlu will attack soon. I don't ask for your merit, but I ask that you can keep the city! In addition, Jingdezhen must be defended for me. The height of the city wall can be increased according to the standard of Nanjing, and I will also transfer more cannons to you! The kiln craftsmen there cannot be lost! Go back and have a good rest. The Governor's Office will be located in Jingdezhen. Do you understand?" Zhao Xiaofei said and took a sip of tea.
"I understand!" Yuan Jixian said and left the prefectural office.
Just after seeing off Yuan Jixian, Zhou Shuai and Wan Shan came in together. Wan Shan said, "Boss! The troops have been arranged. Do you have any other instructions?"
"The entire left wing has been dispatched. I want them to lose half of their forces under Anqing City and then launch a fierce attack on Anqing City! Is there any way?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"The left army values money the most, so why don't we just rob their food and supplies? When we see their soldiers, we should capture some of them alive and plunder their finances. We will make them think that we are even more greedy than them and make them chase our army!" said General Zhou.
"Okay! It's better to spread the word that I brought 10 million taels of silver this time, and I plan to distribute it to Huang Degong's, Gao Jie's and Liu Zeqing's departments. And also Yuan Jixian's department, so that they can prepare to reorganize the army!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"I think so! These guys only care about money and not people! They will definitely attack Anqing when they see silver!" Wanshan said.
"Then let's talk about how to defend Anqing City? How can we effectively kill more enemies?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Boss! We have arranged a large number of remote-controlled mines on the waterways they must pass. We guarantee that they will be blown to death! In addition, outside Anqing City, I have sent people to dig countless traps, mines, and dirty pits! Unless they use artillery to blast a way out, it is impossible for them to reach Anqing City without 20,000 to 30,000 troops to fill the pits. I have roughly calculated that if they want to reach Anqing City, I will let them kill 50,000 to 60,000 troops!" Wanshan said.
"There is also the Zheng family's fleet. They will constantly harass Zuo Bu's fleet on the Yangtze River. So the Zuo family father and son can only confront us on land! If Zuo Bu suffers more than 200,000 casualties, they will quickly collapse. At that time, the land and sea forces will first arrive in Wuchang to cut off his retreat, and then you, boss, will go out of the city to pursue and ensure that Zuo Bu's troops are completely wiped out!" said General Zhou.
"If the Zuo family father and son can be captured alive, then they will be captured alive. If they cannot be captured alive, then it doesn't matter!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Yes! Boss!" the two answered in unison!
Outside Anqing, the roads were littered with mines and various traps. Awaiting the arrival of Zuo's army, Zuo Liangyu and his men were confident on the Yangtze River, with him aboard. However, after the inexplicable bombings of his warships during the night and day, and the constant harassment and attacks from Shi Lang's fleet, Zuo Liangyu dared not sail anymore. Facing hundreds of warships blasted to pieces, and still unable to find the enemy, no one would dare to sail again. He simply joined forces with Huang Shu, Zuo Menggeng, and Zhang Yu on shore and attacked Anqing by land.
Furthermore, along the way, Wanshan and Zhou Shuai's men launched a series of raids and harassment, even robbing isolated members of the Zuo army. Sometimes, tens of thousands of Zuo troops would pursue them, but they couldn't find any. Zhou Shuai and Wanshan had already instructed the Kenan troops to dig or find hiding places before any action.
The left army was so angry that they had nowhere to vent their anger, and they hated the Kenan Army even more. Moreover, they heard on land that Anqing City had 10 million taels of silver in military funds, which were intended to be used by other provincial governors to reorganize their armies.
So Zuo Liangyu simply didn't go to Chizhou, and the whole army rushed towards Anqing City. He didn't care if there were any harassments on the way, and even if there were, he ignored them and just kept rushing towards Anqing City.
Before they even reached Anqing, the Left Army's nightmare began. Soldiers fell into pits or stepped on mines. There was also a strange type of mine. One soldier stepped on one, injuring many others. Some soldiers ran to the sides of the road, only to find mines there, too. These mines could bounce and explode in mid-air. They were filled with iron nails, instantly killing and wounding a large number of soldiers on the Left Army.
Similar incidents continued to occur, and even a small riot broke out in the army. Some soldiers began to flee in groups. Huang Shu, Zhang Yu, and Zuo Menggeng led the troops to suppress the riot, and only then did the riot stop.
Zuo Liangyu was furious upon seeing all this and shouted, "This Zhao Xiaofei is a villain! If you have the guts, confront our army head-on! Send someone to organize the Deadpool and carve out a bloody path for me."
Huang Shu, Zhang Yu, and others immediately led their own troops to select recently recruited soldiers from various armies. They specifically selected those with poor health or short stature to form the death squad. They believed that such people were easy to bully and deal with. No other soldiers stepped forward to stop them! They knew that only by forging a path forward could they avoid unnecessary casualties.
In this way, a death squad of nearly 10,000 people was organized, with their own troops supervising the battle from behind. Anyone who dared to run back would be shot to death with an arrow through the heart.
But for the left, all this was a dream, yet reality was harsh. Huang Shu had drums beaten, and the ten thousand-man death squad roared, whether in fear or anger. They marched forward at a steady pace.
From time to time, someone around you falls into a trap or triggers a mine and gets killed. You want to run to the side of the road? Haha! There are mines and pits along the roadside that can kill you without you even realizing it. And there's a patrol behind you, ready to shoot you if you run back. Several soldiers were mercilessly shot by the patrol just for running back.
The journey of over 10,000 people was wiped out by these mines and traps before they had even made it far. Zuo Liangyu was so angry that he coughed continuously. He said, "Continue to organize the death squad! We must capture Anqing City and capture Zhao Xiaofei alive!"
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