Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

A small hill near the Hailan River, the largest tributary of the Mudanjiang River, is called Ninggutai. Next to Ninggutai is Ningguta, the political, economic and military center outside the Great Wall. This city was supervised by Wu Bahai, a veteran general of the Taizu Nurhaci period. Although the city is not large, it is extremely solid. Take the wall bricks for example. They are solid double-layer blue bricks with cooked soil in the middle. The bottom of the wall is 12 feet wide, the top is more than 10 feet wide, and the thickness is nearly 7 feet.

However, although the old city was strong, Bahai felt that it was too small and did not match the responsibilities of Ningguta. Indeed, as batches of exiles were exiled here, the population increased and the city could not accommodate them, so they had to move the exiles to the west of the city to open up new residences. Because people outside the pass called the exiles in the pass southern barbarians, the places where these exiles lived were called barbarian cities and horse-raising cities. In addition, because the old city was built along the Hailan River, floods often occurred in summer and autumn, and the northwest corner of the city wall was often flooded, "countless houses were submerged, and residents rode in and out on rafts, which was very painful." When he first took over as the Ningguta Zhangjing, Bahai repeatedly petitioned the court to allocate funds to build a new city. However, at this time, the Qing court had been fighting for years and the treasury was empty. How could it allocate money? It only asked him to repair the old city and defend it. Now that the guards have come, it is too late to build a new city, so they have to rely on the defense of the old city. Fortunately, he was a veteran with rich combat experience. He reinforced the city walls in time, especially the northwest corner of the city wall that was softened by the flood. He rebuilt it with new bricks and it is quite solid.

"Marshal, according to your military order, I have recruited the strong women who can shoot among the bannermen around Ningguta into the army, and have a total of 1,200 soldiers. We have also recruited the refugees outside the city into the army, and have a total of 1,800 soldiers, a total of 3,000," Tai Feiying'a, Jala Zhangjingshi of the Niulu Zhangjing Office, and Alanjika, Niulu Zhangjingshi of the Xiaoqi School, respectfully reported to Bahai.

Bahai nodded. Ningguta originally had 3,000 soldiers. After killing Fu Sennei and annexing his troops, 500 more soldiers were added. With the 3,000 soldiers temporarily recruited, the number of defenders barely reached 6,500. Relying on the strong city to defend, they might not be unable to fight. He knew that the number of bannermen near Ningguta was not large, only 10,000 in total. After years of fighting, the local bannermen had long been incorporated into the camp, and it was the limit to recruit 1,200 strong Manchu women. Fortunately, the bannermen outside the Great Wall made a living by fishing and hunting. Most of these Manchu women knew how to shoot arrows. Although they were less powerful than men, they were also able to fight. As for the exiles who committed crimes and were exiled to Ningguta, although their number exceeded that of the local bannermen, most of them grew up in a more superior environment inside the Great Wall, and their combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the bannermen. But now there was a shortage of soldiers, and they could not care so much, so they could only recruit all of them to make up for the shortage of soldiers.

"Demolish all the barracks and residences of the refugees outside the city, and burn the woods outside the city to prevent them from being used by the enemy," he ordered coldly.

"Yes!" The two generals responded.

Bahai seemed to remember something and asked slowly, "Is that Chengji Bo still doing well?" Chengji Bo refers to Zheng Zhibao, the fifth uncle of Zheng Chenggong, the "pirate" who was rampant in the southeast. Zheng Zhibao was once Chengji Bo of the Southern Ming Dynasty. He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty out of fear of the Qing army's might. Later, because his nephew Zheng Chenggong was determined to fight against the Qing Dynasty, his whole family was exiled to Ningguta.

"Don't worry, Marshal. I will arrange people to guard them day and night. They are very well behaved," Tai Feiying'a laughed.

"This man's nephew commands a large army. He is an important hostage and must not fall into the hands of the Wei army." Bahai pondered for a moment and sighed, "Send Cheng Jibo's family on their way. Remember, you must announce to the outside world that it was the Wei army that massacred their family."

"Huh!" Tai Feiying'a felt a chill on his back. He knew that the commander-in-chief would never give such an order if it wasn't the most critical moment. He bowed and asked, "Commander-in-chief, should those Han officials and celebrities who committed crimes be dealt with in the same way?"

Ningguta was where the Qing court exiled criminals. Many Han officials and celebrities who had committed crimes were exiled here. The most famous at this time were Zhang Jinyan, who was a Jinshi in the former Ming Dynasty and served as the Minister of War. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, he served as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. Later, he was exiled because of the "literary inquisition"; Fang Gongqian, a Jinshi in the former Ming Dynasty and a Shao Zhanshi, was exiled in the 14th year of Shunzhi because of being implicated in the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Case; the most wronged was Wu Zhaoqian, who was a famous poet in the Ming Dynasty. He was at home leisurely, but he insisted on taking the imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty. He was also involved in the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Case in the 14th year of Shunzhi and was exiled. For this reason, his good friend, the famous poet Wu Weiye, wrote "A Sad Song for Wu Jizi" and shed tears, "Life is thousands of miles and tens of thousands of miles, sad and soul-destroying. Why did you end up like this? Mountains are not mountains and waters are not waters. Life is not life and death is not death... Oh, how sad! Don't be happy if you have a smart boy. Cangjie cried at night for a good reason. He suffered only from studying. Don't you see, Wu Jizi!"

Although Bahai was a military commander, he was well versed in literature and history. He was the third place winner of the Manchurian list in the ninth year of Shunzhi. He was also a great scholar at heart. Therefore, he was very tolerant of these celebrities who had committed crimes. He not only did not make things difficult for them, but also provided them with many conveniences in life. For example, when Wu Zhaoqian first arrived in Ningguta, he was not used to it. He lamented in his letter home, "Ningguta is the coldest and most bitter place in the world. From the beginning of spring to mid-April, the wind was as strong as thunder and lightning, and everything was dark. From May to July, it was rainy and cloudy. In mid-August, it snowed heavily, and the river water froze in early September. The snow turned into solid ice as soon as it reached the ground, and there was a vast expanse of white snow for thousands of miles." He did not let Wu Zhaoqian do hard labor, but allowed him to teach. At the same time, he also listened to the advice of Han celebrities and first advocated "Manchu and Han people farming and trading", allowing the exiled Han people to farm and do business, changing the situation where local people mainly engaged in fishing and hunting and very few farmers, and objectively promoted the development of Ningguta's economy. "Haha, those famous scholars are weak and have no relatives with military power. What's the point of killing them? Moreover, most of them have already made great achievements in the Qing Dynasty. Wouldn't it discourage scholars all over the world if they were killed?" After listening to Tai Feiying'a's words, Bahai smiled and said, "Not only should these people not be killed, but they should be treated with extra care. Don't let them serve as soldiers. Just give them easier jobs in the camp, such as secretary and account book."
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The god of war of Oirat led his army to the city of Ningguta. Although there were many casualties in the war, his army still had more than 51,000 people, more than 10,000 men and horses, and it was boundless. Sultan also ordered his men to set up more tents to confuse the enemy, which looked astonishing with "tens of thousands of people". But this could not scare the experienced Bahai. The two sides first fired cannons at each other, and then tried to attack and defend the city. After three days of fighting, the Wei army, which had the advantage in numbers, did not gain any advantage.

"Report! Qing reinforcements were spotted in the north of Ningguta, numbering about 6,000." Just as the Great Khan was racking his brains for a good strategy to break the city, a scout reported military intelligence. The troops coming were from the Hezhe ethnic group, under the command of Guolun Dakuliha of the Geyikele tribe.

"Got it, no need to stop them, let them in," Sultan smiled. The generals hesitated. When the enemy reinforcements arrived, they should surround them and attack them even if they did not stop them. But the Khan actually let them in. Why? However, due to the might of the God of War, no one dared to raise any objections.

The guards still only bombarded the city with artillery, occasionally sending out small units to test the city, and the city also fired back to repel the guards' feint attack. Ningguta is not like Jilin Ula, the city is strong, and after five days of confrontation, the guards' artillery could not bring down the city wall, and the infantry attacking the city did not gain an advantage. The God of War was not in a hurry, still leisurely staring at the Ningguta map in the big tent, until the news of enemy reinforcements came again, "Report! Qing reinforcements were found in the northwest of Ningguta, with a number of about 7,000 people." This time, it was the troops under Haita and Nihari.

"Haha, no need to stop them, let them into the city," Sultan became confused again.

"Great Khan, if we let the enemy reinforcements into the city again, I'm afraid it will be difficult to capture Ningguta", "Yes, Great Khan, I am willing to lead the army to stop the Qing army" ... This time the generals could no longer bear it and spoke out to dissuade them.

"It's okay, let them into the city. Wait a little longer, no matter how many enemy reinforcements there are, let them all into the city", Sultan waved his hand, "I'm a little tired, you all can leave."

Three days later, the Qing Jiala Zhangjing Zhanukabukto and Niulu Zhangjing Garu, who were stationed in Helan City upstream of Jilin Ula, arrived with 1,500 of their men. Hearing that reinforcements had also arrived from the south of Ningguta, the generous Sultan Khan ordered them to be allowed into the city.

The generals did not know what he meant and were discussing it. However, the emperor's mind was as deep as the abyss, how could they guess it? (End of this chapter)