Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The Qing army led by Tong Yangliang arrived at the west bank of Lugou Bridge one after another. There were 70,000 troops, with flags and banners densely spread and boundless. The flags of the guards on the other side of the river seemed to be not much less than his, and they were also densely spread and boundless.

Governor Tong was amused and said, "There must not be many guards on the other side."

"Why does the Governor say that?" Baoding Governor Liu Zuoyuan asked in confusion.

"The art of war says to make the empty one solid and the solid one empty. I have fought with the fake king many times in recent days and I know he is a treacherous person. If he has more soldiers and more generals, he will definitely raise fewer flags. With so many flags, there are not many soldiers and horses. It makes sense. The fake Khan is busy attacking Beijing and will not be able to spare troops to reinforce," Tong Yangliang said leisurely, stroking his beard.

"I think there is another possibility. Maybe the pseudo-Khan has not yet learned the news that our army has captured Xishan," Liu Zuoyuan proposed another possibility.

"Zi Yan (Liu Zuoyuan's pen name) has a point," Tong Yangliang laughed, "No matter what the reason is, we should capture Lugou Bridge as soon as possible and open a passage for the prince to reinforce the capital. Pass on my military order, all units should hurry up to build rafts, requisition boats, and cross the river early tomorrow morning."

Upon receiving the military order, the various Qing troops took action, cutting wood and building rafts in preparation for a forced crossing.

In the early morning of the next day, Wu Wanfu, the general of Funing, Wang Yongnian, the general of the left wing of Guangxi, and Zhang Yuanxun, the deputy general of Zhenjiang, each led their troops to cross the river on rafts and small boats. Shang Haoren, the general of Wenzhou, and Yang Xuegao, the left governor, continued to lead their troops to attack Lugou Bridge. Tong Yangliang led Kede, the general of Tianjin, Shang Xuan, the general of Xuanhua, and Cai Lu, the deputy general of Henan and Hebei, as support.

The subordinates of Wu Wanfu, Wang Yongnian, and Zhang Yuanxun all had experience in naval warfare, especially Funing Town. Wu Wanfu, the general of Funing Town, was from Liaoyang, Fengtian. He was originally a garrison of the Ming Dynasty. In the seventh year of Chongde (1642), he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and joined the Red Banner of the Han Army. Later, he participated in the expedition against Li Zicheng and made great contributions. He was awarded the title of Second Class Light Vehicle Commander. During his tenure as the general of Funing Town in Fujian, he repeatedly defeated Zhang Huangyan, a general of the Southern Ming Lu Wang, and was promoted to Right Commander for his meritorious service. This time, the veteran wanted to go one step further and led his troops to the front on rafts and small boats.

"Tell the soldiers, whoever lands first will be recommended by the imperial court for a promotion and rewarded with 500 taels of silver," Wu Zongzhen promised his men before the battle. The men were all excited when they heard this, and they rowed their boats and rafts bravely forward, especially the guerrillas Li Yingxian and Liu Chenghai, who were the most advanced. These two generals had just been commended by the Qing court for defeating Zhang Huangyan, and they were in high spirits.

"Boom~Boom~Boom~" The shells whistled and exploded in the river, and arrows flew like locusts. The officers and soldiers of Funing Town, who were experienced in naval battles, lowered their bodies, erected their shields at the bow, paddled quickly, and soon reached the other side.

"You all can testify that Li was the first one to land. Hahaha~" Li Yingxian laughed loudly, jumped off the raft and was the first to land.

"Bah! Bad luck!" Liu Chenghai, who was standing next to him, spat and jumped ashore.

"Soldiers, speed up the landing. The first credit belongs to our Funing Town!" Wu Wanfu was overjoyed and urged his men to go ashore one after another, leaving the Guangxi Left Wing and Zhenjiang Camp behind. The east bank of the Lugou River was surprisingly quiet. The guards slowly retreated, leaving a large open space.

"Huh?" Wu Wanfu was a veteran after all, and his intuition told him that something was wrong.

"Da~Da~Da~" the sound of horse hooves rolled, and the generals Mandulatu and Wurigendalai led 3,000 cavalrymen each to charge out from the left and right. It turned out that King Biligendalai of Zhao saw that there were too many Qing troops on the other side and his army was not good at water battles, so he decided not to intercept the enemy on the river, but to play the advantage of his cavalry and lure the Qing troops ashore to attack them.

"Form a line! Quickly form a line!" Guerrilla Li Yingxian shouted at the top of his voice, trying to command his men to form a line. However, the cavalry was so fast that they were soon thrown into disarray by the guards. He was about to resist, but a huge mace suddenly appeared above his head. Mandulatu smashed Li's head with just a light blow, grinned, and looked for his next prey.

As if to compete with Mandulatu for merit, Wurigendalai also disrupted the formation of Liu Chenghai, a Qing guerrilla, and cut off Liu's head with a sharp scimitar. "Not good! There is an ambush! Retreat!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Wu Wanfu hurriedly led his troops to board the boat and return. He ran fast, but his subordinates were not so lucky. Under the harvest of the guards' iron cavalry, more than a thousand Qing troops were left on the riverbank forever.

Seeing the tragic situation in Funing Town, the two generals Wang Yongnian and Zhang Yuanxun behind them couldn't help but slow down the pace of their attack.

The battle on the river bank was extremely fierce, and the Lugou Bridge was also very lively. Shang Haoren reported to Tong Yangliang the combat effectiveness of Yang Xuegao's rattan shield soldiers. Governor Tong still let Yang Xuegao's troops lead the way and promised to give priority to replenishing troops after the war. Yang Xuegao could not refuse, so he had to order his men to hold rattan shields and roll forward.

"Damn it! How dare you use the same old trick again!" Aohan Left Captain Zhamusu was furious and led his men to fight and retreat slowly. Yang Xuegao wanted to avenge the fallen deputy general Yang Qiao, so he led his men to rush across the bridge and came to the flat land behind the bridge without realizing that there was a smell of kerosene in the hay under his feet.

"Fire the rockets!" General Chu Yi ordered his men to light the rockets and shoot them at the flat ground behind the bridge, which was already full of dry firewood, grass, kerosene and sulfur. The raging fire quickly burned, engulfing Yang Xuegao and hundreds of his men who were at the forefront.

"Ah~" There were continuous screams. Perhaps because he couldn't bear to see the pain of these firemen, Chu Yi ordered his men to shoot arrows. The arrows flew like locusts, and soon hundreds of firemen were shot down.

"How despicable!" Tong Yangliang, who was watching the battle, was furious and said, "Pass on my order. Wenzhou, Xuanhua, Henan, Hebei, Tianjin and other towns should take turns to attack the bridge. Anyone who retreats without orders will be killed!"

Upon receiving the military order, Wenzhou General Shang Haoren immediately commanded his men to attack the bridge, with the vanguard being the three battalions of Zheng's surrendered generals Ni Xiang, Chen Ruqi, and Zheng Biao. Seeing the fate of Zheng's former brave general Yang Xuegao, the three generals mourned the death of the rabbit and responded to the attack for a while without putting much effort.

"Beat the drum! The supervisory team, move forward!" Shang Haoren was furious and ordered the supervisory team to drive the front team forward. Generals Ni, Chen, and Zheng had no choice but to lead their men forward, braving the rain of arrows and bullets, and fight with the guards.

Zheng Biao met the guard general Zhamusu and swung his sword to cut him. "Bang~" His right arm went numb from the shock. He was secretly shocked, thinking that this general had great strength! After a few rounds, Zheng Biao's sword flew out of his hand and was chopped from head to lower abdomen by Zhamusu.

After Zheng Biao's death, the morale of Wenzhou Town was inevitably hit.

The drumbeats of retreat were sounded in the Qing army's formation. Wenzhou Town retreated and Xuanhua Town continued the attack. Then the Henan and Hebei Green Camps took over, and then the Tianjin Green Camp took over. They were all repelled by the Wei Army.

"Hahaha!" Zhamusu stood at the bridge head with his sword in hand, laughing triumphantly, his blade dyed red with blood. In this battle, this sword had drunk the blood of so many enemies! How wonderful! How wonderful!

"Puff~" A cold arrow shot into his throat, and this warrior from the Aohan tribe of the Mongolian desert could no longer speak. The arrow was shot by Kede, the general of Tianjin Town in the Qing Dynasty. As the ninth son of the famous surrendered general Li Yongfang, Kede was born in a general family and had excellent archery skills. Seeing that Jamusu was too proud to be exposed at the bridgehead, he took the opportunity to shoot him.

The sky above Lugou Bridge began to darken again, and the battlefield returned to calm. Someone played the "Yangliu Qu" on a Qiang flute. (End of this chapter)