Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Ahai and Wu Zhaoqian did not complete the task of persuading the Thirteen Families of Kuidong to surrender, but they reached a military consensus with Li Laiheng, namely, the Central Guard Army would attack eastern Sichuan from southwestern Sichuan, and then unite with Kuidong; the Ming army would march from Kuidong to Jingzhou and Xiangyang.

After reaching a consensus, the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, under the leadership of Li Laiheng, gathered 70,000 troops to attack Jingzhou. Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Huguang in the Qing Dynasty, was shocked when he heard the news. This governor was promoted from the post of governor of Huguang and was familiar with the real situation in Huguang. He knew that since the court transferred 11,000 elite troops of Huguang Admiral Dong Xueli to the north, Huguang’s military strength was actually insufficient. Facing the remnants of the brave Li Chuang, they could only take a defensive stance. So on the one hand, he ordered the governor of Yunyang, Bai Bingzhen, and the general of Jingzhou, Zheng Siwei, to strengthen the defense, and on the other hand, he urgently transferred the general of Changsha, Liu Zhigang’s troops, to rush to Jingzhou to help, and also wrote a memorial to Emperor Shunzhi requesting reinforcements.

Contacting the Kuidong righteous army to attack Huguang was actually just one of the measures taken by the Great Khan Lianhua to relieve the pressure on the Datong defenders, just like sending Jin Wang Ergalang and Chu Wang Baoyin to station troops outside Shanhaiguan to bluff. At present, he was not ready militarily, especially economically, and could not afford a big battle. The so-called sending the Central Guard Army from southwest Sichuan to attack east Sichuan was just a big pie for the remaining Li Chuang troops, just to lure them to attack Jingzhou and Xiangyang and distract the Qing army from Datong. In fact, not a single soldier would be sent.

The situation in Datong was becoming increasingly serious. After the Qingxin Prince Doni and the Xuanda Governor Tong Yangliang joined forces, their force had reached 150,000, while the Qi Prince Mainas, Liang Duke Bars, Shanxi Governor Ji Jike, and Datong General Elinqin Batur's troops guarding Datong had less than 70,000 combined. Although Bars, the Tiger of the Guards Rat, repeatedly repelled the Qing army's attacks and caused heavy casualties to the Qing army on Baishan Mountain, he only temporarily stopped the Qing army's offensive. Emperor Shunzhi, who knew the importance of Datong, took out the treasury and urged the court to quickly replenish soldiers and weapons for Doni, and ordered him to attack Datong again; he also dispatched 33,000 troops from Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangnan provinces, including General Hu Yousheng of Nangan Town, General Shang Haoren of Zhejiang Town, General Wu Wanfu of Fujian Town, and Deputy General Zhang Yuanxun of Zhenjiang to Datong; even so, the emperor still felt that the troops to attack Datong were too few, and pardoned the crime of the failure of the counterattack in southern Liaoning by Minister Lai Tuku and General Mu Shenghui of Yunyang, and reorganized the 1,500 veterans who had escaped from southern Liaoning and the newly formed 5,500 new recruits of the Zhili Green Camp into a battalion of 7,000 people, and rushed to Datong to redeem themselves. As a result, the Qing army near Datong had more than 150,000 troops, while the defenders had only 67,000 troops.

The severe situation forced Liang Guogong Barsi, who was famous for his courage to fight tough battles, to repeatedly petition for help, one emergency letter after another. Sultan, who was familiar with Barsi's temper, knew that if the situation was not particularly critical, this face-loving veteran would not have continuously petitioned for help. It is said that the David Kingdom has now initially stabilized the area outside the Great Wall and is capable of rescuing Datong, but on the one hand, the soldiers are tired from the long battle and need time to rest, and on the other hand, the treasury is short of money and food and cannot support a new war. He painfully discovered that he still could not send too many troops to rescue Datong.

But Datong was the key to the struggle for the world, and it had to be saved. In a hurry, he ordered Jin Wang Ergalang and Chu Wang Baoyin to attack Shanhaiguan immediately. This time it was not a bluff, but a real fight. But Shanhaiguan was also a famous pass in the world, how could it be so easy to attack? After Feng Duo, the general of Shanhaiguan in the Qing Dynasty, fled back to Shanhaiguan from Liaodong, he desperately expanded his army to prepare for war. After the commander of the guards Fei Yasha and the deputy generals of the Beijing camp Yang Tingyu and Fu Jinzhong led 3,000 eight banners and 15,000 green camp troops to arrive, the army guarding the pass exceeded 30,000. The troops of Jin Wang Ergalang and Chu Wang Baoyin who attacked Shanhaiguan had only a little over 20,000 troops in total. After more than ten days of continuous attack, they gained nothing except more than a thousand corpses.

In desperation, the two princes complained to the Great Khan that the garrison was large in number and had a strong city to rely on, so it would not be possible to capture it in a short time. The Great Khan actually knew that it would be difficult to capture the heavily defended Shanhaiguan with the troops in the hands of his two sons. He asked them to attack the city just to create momentum and disperse the pressure on Datong. Now that the momentum has been built, he ordered his sons to suspend the attack and see the effect. As a result, the effect was not good. The Qing court did not withdraw troops from Datong to rush to Shanhaiguan. On the contrary, the Wuyiwei sent news that Emperor Shunzhi actually squeezed out another 10,000 Manchu and Han troops from the vicinity of the capital, and ordered Liu Zuoyuan, the governor of Baoding, and Hebusuo, the deputy governor of the Red Banner, to lead them to Datong. Obviously, this was a vow not to rest until Datong was conquered!
Sultan originally had hopes for the Liao King Sumur's troops guarding the Yanmen Pass and Ningwu Pass in the south of Datong Prefecture. But Sumur wrote a letter saying that the Qing Shanxi Governor Bai Rumei and Taiyuan Town General Li Haoxian, under the order of Prince Xin Doni, attacked Yanmen Pass fiercely. He and Wei Zheng, Zheng Guoyin, and Li Yingming fought hard to defend Yanmen. In order to break the siege of Yanmen, he had to order the newly recruited and surrendered rebels active in the Luliang Mountain area in the west of Taiyuan to attack Taiyuan. Unexpectedly, these rebels were good at guerrilla warfare, but their ability in direct confrontation was too weak. As soon as they came down the mountain, they suffered a great defeat. Even Yu Gongyin, the "President of Shanxi" who had been doing well a few days ago, was beheaded by the Qing army. There was no way, and the Wuyiwei Qianhu Damuding had to lead the rebels to hide in the mountains again. After reading the Liao King's letter of complaint, he knew that his brother had done his best. In order to fully devote himself to the Northern Expedition, he left a small number of troops to his brother, and most of them were surrendered soldiers and newly recruited soldiers. It was very rare for him to achieve the current level. He could only write a letter to encourage the King of Liao, ordering him to guard the Yanmen and Ningwu Passes to ensure the safety of the south of Datong.

"Alas! I don't know how the peace talks are going. Why didn't Zuo Shedou write a letter?" The Great Khan sighed and said to himself. From the beginning to the end, the emperor had no sincerity in negotiating peace with the Qing court. Now that the situation is unfavorable, he still hopes to relieve the pressure on Datong through peace talks. It is really ridiculous!
"Great Khan, a secret letter has been sent to you from Zuo Shedou, the Left Vice Minister of Rites." Things in this world are often strange. Whatever you think will come true. He was just thinking about Zuo Shedou when Zuo Shedou brought the news.

Sultan quickly opened the letter and read it, but he was hit hard. Zuo Shedou said that the Qing court firmly demanded that the guards withdraw from Datong, Liaodong and Ningguta, and that after losing their ancestral land outside the Great Wall, the Manchus were angry and the voices of advocating war were rising. In order to reverse the situation and relieve internal pressure, Emperor Shunzhi had decided to dispatch 10,000 troops from Guangxi, Guangdong and Yunnan to Datong, and ordered each province to train another 200,000 green camps. In order to expand the army and prepare for war, the emperor secretly sold the treasures in the palace to raise military funds.

"Great! It seems that Shunzhi is determined to take Datong!" The Great Khan howled after reading it: "Come here, inform all officials to hold a court meeting tomorrow morning." (End of this chapter)