Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The Yangtze River is surging, and a merchant ship loaded with Duan stone inkstones, palm leaf fans, and linen fans is slowly sailing on the river from Wushan to Zigui. Pujiang's Duan stone inkstones, Gaogong's palm leaf fans, and Rongchang's linen fans are all famous items in Shu, and it is normal for merchants to transport them to other provinces for sale. The two shopkeepers on the ship, one has a dark complexion and bright eyes, and the other has fair skin and a handsome face, and looks like jade. At first glance, they are from a well-educated merchant family.

"Bo Wen, Guizhou is ahead. From Xiangxi in the east of Guizhou to the north is Xingshan County. It is said that the headquarters of the 'Little King of Rebellion' Li Laiheng was built in Qiliping on Maolu Mountain in Xingshan County. His troops have 30,000 elite soldiers who cultivate land to support themselves and rest with the people, thus winning the hearts of the people. Even the veterans of the Rebellion Army, Yuan Zongde of Dachang, Liu Tichun of Badong, Hao Yaoqi of Nanzhang, Dang Shousu of Fangxian, Wang Guangxing of Shizhou and others are willing to obey his orders," the white-faced shopkeeper said to the black-faced shopkeeper with a smile.

The black-faced shopkeeper was unmoved. He stared at the surging river and said after a long time: "After Li Chuang's death, Li Guo became the leader of Chuang's army. Li Laiheng was the adopted son of Li Guo (Li Jin). It was normal for him to be supported after Li Guo's death. But he is still young after all. Although everyone supports him as the commander, he may not be able to command the troops. Let alone, Duke Yiguo Hao Yaoqi is the strongest among the Thirteen Families of Kuidong. Baokang, Zhushan, Zhuxi of Yunyang Prefecture, Junxian, Nanzhang, Guanghua, Gucheng of Xiangyang Prefecture and other places are all his territories. He also hid the King of Han, the King of Dong'an and the King of Tongshan of the Ming Dynasty in his own camp, and used the emperor to command the princes. His ambition is not small. In Han Cha, the Thirteen Families of Kuidong already had a monarch-minister relationship with the Ming Dynasty. It may not be easy to get them to submit to David. We just need to let them cooperate with our army in combat."

"What Bowen said is true. Hao Yaoqi is indeed the strongest among the Thirteen Families in Kuidong. However, he has lax military discipline and his subordinates often disturb the people. He is far less popular than Li Laiheng. It won't be long before Li Laiheng's strength will surpass Hao Yaoqi. They are bandits by birth and are wild and difficult to tame. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty gave them very high titles, either dukes or marquises. If David cannot give them such a high title, they will definitely not surrender," said the white-faced shopkeeper in a deep voice.

"Humph! How could my, David's, title be obtained so easily? How many generals have fought in the military their entire lives only to be granted the title of earl? How can a group of bandits be worthy of being granted the title of duke?" The black-faced shopkeeper sneered.

These two people are not businessmen. The black-faced one is Ahai, a doctor of the Ministry of Industry of the State of Dawei. Although he is a Mongolian, he has loved reading Chinese books since he was a child. He won the first place in the imperial examination and gave himself a name: Bowen. The white-faced one is Wu Zhaoqian, a member of the Ministry of Rites of the State of Dawei. He was originally a famous poet in the Ming Dynasty. His name was Hancha and his nickname was Jizi. He was innocently involved in the imperial examination case in the 14th year of Shunzhi and was exiled to Ningguta. Fortunately, when the Wei army captured Ningguta, he was selected by the Great Khan and appointed as a member of the Ministry of Rites, which was a blessing in disguise.

Ahai's background is not ordinary. His father is the playmate of the Great Khan Lianhua in his youth, the second-class Yingsuochuan Marquis Lobsang. When Sultan led his army to attack the Bukhara Khanate, Aziz Khan of Bukhara pretended to surrender and set up an ambush. Lobsang fought to the death to protect the emperor and blocked the cold arrows shot by the Great Khan, but he died under the arrows. Sultan was grateful for his loyalty and let his eldest son Bajibabu inherit the title of the second-class Yingsuochuan Marquis, and his second son Jambi was named the second-class Shanyin Earl. He also sent Ahai to follow Orros to the Heilongjiang expedition and promoted him to a doctor for his meritorious service in pacifying Nurgan. When the new dynasty was first established, everything had to follow the rules. Although the Great Khan took good care of Lobsang's sons, they could not be promoted casually. They had to make contributions before they could be promoted. This time, letting Ahai risk his life to go on a diplomatic mission to Kuidong was to give him the opportunity to make merit. This is the love of the founding monarch, which is completely different from the monarchs of later generations.
-
At Qiliping, Maolu Mountain, Xingshan County, a large general flag flutters in the wind. In the general's mansion, Li Laiheng, the Duke of Lin, with a resolute face, sat solemnly with his hand on the hilt of his sword. He liked to touch the hilt of his sword, which was a habit developed from his long military career. But if you think that this person only has courage and strength, you are wrong. In fact, he is also a talent for governing the world. When he first arrived in Xingshan County, the local population was sparse and the economy was backward. He appointed officials, recruited residents to resume production, and organized soldiers to plant mountain fields, "harvesting wheat, millet, straw and cotton every year for food and clothing." In order to obtain the materials that were lacking in the mountainous areas, he also protected private trade, strictly prohibited his subordinates from looting merchants, and sent people out to purchase salt and ironware, which led to the people west of Jingzhou being very happy to come to Xingshan to do business with the righteous army, and the righteous army's life gradually became better. It was because of his efforts that the anti-Qing armed forces in Kuidong could persist for so long.

The Marshal did not speak. The thirteen leaders of Kuidong who were sitting on his left and right: Duke of Yiguo Hao Yaoqi, Duke of Wanguo Liu Tichun, Duke of Jingguo Yuan Zongde, Duke of Jingguo Wang Guangxing, Marquis of Yidu Ta Tianbao, Marquis of Tongcheng Ma Tengyun, Marquis of Xingping Dang Shousu, Marquis of Fuping He Daoning and the mighty general Liu Rukui were all silent.

He Daoning, Marquis of Fuping, was still wearing mourning clothes. Not long ago, his father, He Zhen, Marquis of Qi, had just passed away in Daning. Because he was young, he was impatient and was the first to speak: "The envoy of Wei has arrived. What should we do? Please give us a word, Duke Lin." Unlike his father He Zhen, this boy was timid. When he heard that the Wei army was powerful and allowed Han people to keep Ming Dynasty clothing, he thought of surrendering to Wei.

"What is there to discuss? We are Ming officials, we can only respect the Zhu family as the legitimate rulers, how can we surrender to the barbarians? You can surrender if you want, I won't!" Hao Yaoqi shouted at the top of his voice. As soon as this was said, Liu Tichun, Ta Tianbao, Ma Tengyun, Dang Shousu, Liu Rukui and others echoed it.

"What do Duke Jingguo and Duke Jingguo think?" Li Laiheng asked when he saw that Yuan Zongde and Wang Guangxing did not speak.

Yuan Zongde sighed, "We are all Han people, there is no reason for us to surrender to the barbarians. But now our army is about to attack Jiangling, we must not make too many enemies, we must politely refuse."

Unlike everyone else, Wang Guangxing actually didn't care much about the Chinese and foreign defense, otherwise he wouldn't have surrendered to the Qing court before. If he hadn't offended someone and was forced to rebel, he would probably still be the general of the Qing court. However, he was still smart. Seeing that everyone disagreed with surrendering to the Wei, he laughed and said, "I am a rough man, please let the Duke of Lin decide."

They asked me to make the decision, but how could I do something that everyone opposed? Li Laiheng made a decision immediately, "Duke Jingguo is right. Our army is about to attack Jiangling, and we cannot make another strong enemy. Although surrendering to Wei is not feasible, we should say it tactfully. We will host a banquet in the Marshal's Mansion tonight to entertain the Wei envoy. As for surrendering to Wei, we can say that the title given by Weiguo is too low, and we still need to consider it."

"What Duke Lin said is right," "We all listen to Duke Lin" ... all the generals expressed their support.

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Li Laiheng suddenly stood up and shouted: "Now that Wei and Qing are at war, the Qing invaders have withdrawn a lot of Huguang Green Camp, which is a good opportunity for us to capture Jingzhou! The rule of the old Chuangying is 'surrendered generals are not killed, but rebels are killed', this time we must chop off Zheng Siwei's head!" Zheng Siwei, the general of Jingzhou in the Qing Dynasty, was originally a subordinate of Liu Fangliang, the general of the left camp of the Dashun Army, and guarded Jingzhou with Meng Changgeng, the defense envoy of Jingzhou. The Qing army chased Li Zicheng from Shaanxi to Hubei. Seeing that the situation was not good, he killed Meng Changgeng and surrendered to the Qing, so he was considered a traitor with heinous crimes in the eyes of the generals of the Chuang Army.

This statement aroused the rage of those present, and they all eagerly wanted to fight. (End of this chapter)