Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Zonghe, we have arrived in Pingyuan County, and further north is Dezhou. Should we send someone to Dezhou to contact Yang Shaobao first?" Fang Zhao asked Zhu Zhixi. After hearing that Yang Jie agreed to join the King's army, Zhu Zhixi was like a chicken with blood, and quickly assembled his 24 battalions and Jining Road's errand boys, a total of more than 23,000 people, and rushed to Dezhou.

"I have thought of this and have sent Tan Pu to Dezhou first. The soldiers have been traveling hard these days, so let's set up camp in Pingyuan County to rest. Pass the order down, do not harass the people," Zhu Zhixi said majestically, looking at the soldiers who were tired and listless due to the continuous travel. To be fair, this river governor was very good to the people. Not only was he honest and upright, he also impeached many corrupt officials. Under his governance, there have been no major floods in the Yellow River, the Grand Canal and the Yongding River in recent years, which can be said to be an outstanding achievement.

After the military order was conveyed, the Qing army immediately relaxed. Some slowly set up camp, some sat on the ground, and some simply slept with a stone as a pillow. There were not many soldiers and horses under the command of this governor who could fight. Most of them were just doing their job. But with more than 10,000 men and horses, it was boundless. More than 20,000 troops scattered in the small Pingyuan County were still spectacular.

"General He loves the people like his own children, which is a blessing for the people!" Seeing that he never forgot the people during his march, Fang Zhao sincerely admired him. Thinking back to the time when he went to Henan with Zhu Zhixi to supervise the work of plugging the breach, he was deeply impressed by his character.

"Zonghe~Zonghe~" Suddenly a figure came running quickly. Upon closer inspection, it was the secretary Tan Pu. "We were deceived by Yang Jie. That villain kept talking about loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, saying that he would join forces with us to rescue the capital. But when I went to Dezhou, I found that the military camp was empty and there was no one guarding the army. I asked the local officials and learned that the villain was afraid of the powerful Wei army and actually abandoned Dezhou and fled to Anyang. What's more infuriating is that he looted the Dezhou treasury before leaving." Tan Pu panted heavily, angry.

After these words were spoken, everyone present fell silent. After a long while, Zhu Zhixi smiled bitterly, "The current situation is unstable, and everyone has their own aspirations. We cannot force them. It's just that Yang Shaobao is too stingy. He is unwilling to serve the king and dares not tell the truth. Instead, he sneaks away, which is a breach of trust."

"Zonghe, if others are unwilling to learn from Yue Wumu, why bother to be Prime Minister Wen?" Wen Hui, a trusted general, advised.

"Yes, General He, Yang Jie's subordinates are stronger than us and we dare not fight them. Why should we take the risk?" Another trusted general, Cao Xiao, also objected.

"Shut up! We are paid by the emperor and we should be loyal to him. Now that our emperor and father are in trouble, how can we as subjects not help them? Anyone who dares to talk about retreat and disrupt the morale of the army will be executed. Go to Dezhou early tomorrow morning and go north along the river to rescue the capital," Zhu Zhixi shouted angrily, and said to the guerrilla commander Tan Zhi, "You lead your men to strengthen patrols. If you find anyone trying to escape, kill them all."

"Hmm~" Tan Zhi took the order and left. He was Tan Pu's third brother, had some martial arts skills, and was deeply trusted by Zhu Zhixi.

Zhu Zhixi was not stupid. He knew the moral character of his soldiers very well, so he ordered Tan Zhi to patrol the camp and arrest deserters. Even so, this army, which was mainly composed of civilians, continued to desert. When it reached Jinghai County, more than 1,000 of the 23,000 soldiers fled, leaving only 22,000. But Zhu Zhixi, who was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, was not afraid and continued to lead his troops northward along the canal.

At this time, there were 5,000 troops under Niu Wancai, the general of Tianjin Town of the David Kingdom, stationed in Jinghai County. Niu Wancai was originally a general under Li Chuang, a well-known bandit. He surrendered to the Ming Dynasty first and then to the Qing Dynasty. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, he suffered a lot of bullying. Seeing that the Wei army was powerful, he simply defected to the David Kingdom again. Lianhua Great Khan knew how to use people. Seeing that he was brave, he appointed him as the general of Tianjin Town. There were originally 6,000 surrendered troops under his command. When he heard that the Qing army was coming along the canal, General Niu did not dare to neglect it. He left 1,000 troops to guard the Tianjin Wei City and led 5,000 men to Jinghai from the south of the canal to intercept them. After arriving in Jinghai County, he learned that the Qing army was large in number, more than 20,000 people. The general felt a little uneasy and sent people to ask for help from Lianhua Great Khan in Beijing.

"General, the Qing army is still thirty miles away from the county town," guerrilla He Yuankui reported to Niu Wancai. Niu Wancai stroked his shaggy beard and squinted one eye in thought. He was nicknamed "Blind Niu" because he was injured in one eye during the battle. After a while, Blind Niu suddenly said, "Go out of the city and line up, and prepare to fight!" As a veteran of many battles, he knew the danger of being trapped in an isolated city. Even if the enemy's troops were several times his own, he would bite the bullet and fight.

“Yes!” He Yuankui was a famous brave general of the Niu tribe. When he heard that they were going out of the city to fight, he happily gave the order.

Five thousand guards lined up in the south of the city. Although they were all surrendered soldiers, most of them had fought in battles and had rich war experience, especially the old brothers who had followed Niu Wancai for many years. They were all bloodthirsty bandits who fought fiercely. When they were in battle formation, there was a murderous aura emanating from them.

The Qing army was rolling in! Cao Xiao led 6,000 troops on the left, Wen Hui led 6,000 troops on the right, and Zhu Zhixi and Fang Zhao led 10,000 troops in the center. The battle was imminent, but the Qing army's formation was in a mess. Not only was it not neat, but there were even people talking in the ranks.

"Huh?" Niu Wancai was suspicious, could it be that the enemy was cheating?

"General, I am willing to lead the cavalry battalion to attack," He Yuankui asked loudly. Niu Wancai's army had few war horses, originally only 100 cavalrymen, but after surrendering to Wei, Lianhua Khan liked his bravery and generously allocated him 200 war horses. General Niu was very happy and used these war horses to form a cavalry battalion of 300 people and handed it over to his trusted general He Youji for command.

Niu Wancai also wanted to test the strength of the Qing army. Hearing this, he slowly nodded and said: "You lead the cavalry battalion to charge the enemy's center and remember, if you encounter any obstruction, you must not fight and return quickly. I will support you from behind."

"Yes!" He Yuankui received the order and happily led 300 cavalrymen to attack the Qing army. His subordinates were all old brothers of Niu Wancai when he was a thief in the past, and they fought bravely.

Seeing this, Zhu Zhixi hurriedly ordered Tan Qi, the guerrilla of the Weidang Camp, to lead 700 soldiers to stop them. Tan Qi's subordinates were originally from the water camp and had training from time to time on weekdays. They were considered to be strong in this Qing army, but they could not stop the vicious guard cavalry, and soon the army was disrupted. Tan Qi wanted to resist, but was killed by He Yuankui who was running over. After the death of the commander, the Weidang Camp lost its fighting spirit and fled to the rear in a mess, disrupting the army commanded by Fang Zhao of Jining Dao behind. Fang Zhao's troops were mostly composed of servants and civilians, and their combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the Weidang Camp. Seeing that the Weidang Camp was defeated, they had no more fighting spirit. I don't know who took the lead, but they all ran away. Fang Zhao also wanted to run, but he fell off his horse in a panic and was hacked to death by the guard cavalry.

Seeing that the Qing army on the opposite side was so weak, although Niu Wancai was confused, he still ordered one thousand infantrymen to attack the two wings of the Qing army, and he led the rest of the infantry and cavalry to kill them.

This time, the Qing army's central army could no longer hold out, and Tan Pu died in the chaos. In a panic, the guerrilla Tan Zhi escorted Zhu Zhixi to flee southward, and even the commander's flag was lost in the chaos. (End of this chapter)