Zuo Liangyu's achievement in his life was to suppress the peasant rebels. He became the sworn enemy of the peasant army.
Zuo Liangyu wiped out many peasant armies, and even the famous peasant rebel leaders, Li Zicheng and Zhang, were defeated by Zuo Liangyu many times.
Later, due to the corruption of the Ming government, the already heavy taxes continued to increase and the people were miserable. Farmers left their homes and became refugees. In order to survive, refugees joined the peasant army one after another. This made the peasant army stronger and stronger, and the Ming army sent troops everywhere, exhausted and unable to put out the bonfire of the uprising.
Finally, in the battle of Zhuxian Town, Zuo Liangyu was surrounded by Li Zicheng's powerful peasant army, and the elite troops trained by Zuo Liangyu for many years were completely annihilated. He fled to Wuchang, recruited rebels, incorporated scattered troops, and pieced together an army of 200,000 to 300,000, known as a million troops.
As a matter of fact, Zuo Liangyu himself knows very well that this newly formed army lacks training, and its military discipline is corrupt, so it is simply unbearable for the first world war.
Moreover, many generals of this army, such as Hui Dengxiang and others, defected from the peasant army. They are arrogant and don't listen to military orders at all. On weekdays, they will plunder places and infringe on the people.
Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, and after the Ming Dynasty's demise, the generals urged Zuo Liangyu to lead his troops to Nanjing, occupy Jiangnan and start his inheritance.
Zuo Liangyu doesn't want to be a traitor! In order not to let his generals bring disaster to the south of the Yangtze River, Zuo Liangyu had to take out the gold and silver jewelry he had collected for many years and give it to them, barely enough to appease his generals.
Soon, Hong Guang ascended the throne and established the Hong Guang court in Nanming. Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, and Alex Gao, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, the company commanders of four towns in Jiangbei, became a new dynasty with their political achievements, and they were in power and domineering.
Hong Guang court made Zuo Liangyu a marquis in order to appease him because he held millions of soldiers. However, Zuo Liangyu was so angry that he didn't want to recognize the legitimacy of the Hong Guang court. Under the strong persuasion of some etiquette, Zuo Liangyu reluctantly accepted Hong Guang's letters.
Because Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng monopolized the power of Hong Guang imperial court, they aroused strong dissatisfaction from Lindong party member. Zuo Liangyu has frequent contact with Lindong party member. Therefore, Huang Zhu, the supervisor of Lindong Party, constantly persuaded Zuo Liangyu to send troops to Nanking, stood on Jun Qing's side and faced the outline.
Huang Zhu also encouraged Zuo Liangyu's restless generals to put pressure on Zuo Liangyu to force Zuo Liangyu to send troops to Nanking.