Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The road of escape was miserable and sad! Tan Zhi led the remaining soldiers to protect Zhu Zhixi and fled from Jinghai to Qingxian in one breath. He barely saved his life. After gathering his troops, there were only 2,000 people left. While he was grieving, suddenly another 3,000 or 4,000 troops arrived. It turned out that Wen Hui had led the defeated troops back. When they joined this defeated army, there were only more than 5,000 people.

"Did you get any news about Cao Xiao when you were defeated and retreated?" Zhu Zhixi stared at Wen Hui and asked about the news of another trusted general.

"Cao Canrong's retreat was too slow and he was surrounded by the Wei army. When I was retreating, I found that his flag had fallen down. I think he was in danger," Wen Hui said with a sad look on his face. His intuition was right. At this time, Cao Xiao's troops had been completely wiped out by the Wei army, and Cao Xiao himself was also lying dead in the wilderness.

"Alas! I wanted to serve the king, but I didn't expect to harm the soldiers!" Zhu Zhixi sighed to the sky.

"Zonghe, we must retreat along the canal immediately, otherwise it will be too late when the guards catch up with us," Tan Zhi advised.

"No, there are still many soldiers scattered outside. I brought them to the king and I should take them home!" Zhu Zhixi burst into tears. No matter how Ren Wenhui and Tan Zhi persuaded him, he refused to flee immediately and insisted on staying in Qing County for two more days to gather the defeated soldiers. After another two days, he did gather more than a thousand defeated soldiers, and the number of troops was restored to 7,000, but the pursuers also arrived.

In the battle two days ago, Niu Wancai's troops suffered only a hundred casualties, but they achieved an impressive record of killing two thousand and capturing nine thousand. Seeing through the weakness of the Qing army, in order to gain greater military merit in front of the Great Khan Lianhua, the general simply escorted the prisoners south along the canal and headed straight for Qing County. Originally, the army was not moving very fast, but Zhu Zhixi insisted on staying in Qing County to accommodate the defeated army, which delayed him for two days, and he was caught up.

"Quick! Climb the city and defend it." Hearing that the guards were chasing him, Zhu Zhixi was not afraid. He drew his sword and led his soldiers to climb the city and defend it. He had the character of a scholar and was willing to die for the Qing Dynasty, but people's hearts were different, and not all his subordinates wanted to be loyal. As soon as he climbed the north city of Qing County, he saw Wen Hui stumbling and running towards him, "General He, quickly follow me to retreat, the guards have entered the city."

"What! How did the guards enter the city so quickly?" Zhu Zhixi was shocked.

"The soldiers guarding the west gate were afraid of fighting, so they opened the city gate and fled, allowing the guards to break into the city," Wen Hui's face was full of sadness.

"Oh my God! I failed to come to the rescue and my whole army was wiped out. How can I face the emperor?" Zhu Zhixi beat his chest in grief and shouted to his subordinates, "This is where I will die. Don't worry about me. Let's get out of the city and escape."

The generals looked at each other, seeing the shouting and killing sounds getting closer and closer, Wen Hui sighed and said to Zhu Zhixi: "I am willing to die with General He, but Tan Youji's two elder brothers have both died in the battle. Please leave a descendant for the Tan family."

"No! I am also willing to die with General He!" Tan Zhi refused to leave.

"There are three types of unfilial behavior, and having no descendants is the worst. You should leave immediately, as this is a military order." Zhu Zhixi glared at Tan Zhi, and when he saw that he still refused to leave, he added, "Someone must be alive to report our deeds to the court."

After hearing this, Tan Zhi shed tears and said goodbye.

When the guards entered the city, most of the Qing troops in the city fled. Only in the north of the city, Zhu Zhixi and Wen Hui led more than 300 soldiers to fight to the death. Niu Wancai said to He Yuankui: "Brother He, we have fought for many days and finally met a decent opponent. This must be the commander of old man Zhu. Let's capture that old man for our town." "Yes", He Yuankui led his troops to the north of the city excitedly. Although the Qing troops tried their best to resist, they were much weaker than the enemy and were soon chopped down and stabbed in batches.

"Go to hell, you bastard!" Wen Hui rushed towards He Yuankui viciously.

"Hmph~" He Yuankui snorted coldly, raised his long sword diagonally, and cut off the throat with one blow.

"Mr. Zhu, you are originally a Han Chinese. Why do you have to die for the Manchus? The Great Khan of the Kingdom of David, Lotus, is an outstanding leader. If you are willing to submit, you will not lose your title of duke or marquis." Niu Wancai looked at Zhu Zhixi, who was thin but holding a sword, and could not help but admire him and tried to persuade him to surrender.

"Bah!" Zhu Zhixi spat and cursed, "You are a traitor who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, then to the Qing Dynasty, and then to the pseudo-Guardians. You are truly a slave to three families. You are shameless and what do you know about loyalty?"

He had spared his life with good intentions, but he spoke harshly to him, calling him a traitor, which made Niu Wancai furious. Without saying anything, he rushed forward and slashed with his sword. Zhu Zhixi raised his sword to block, but he was not prepared for the opponent's feint, and the blade was slashed, and the man's head fell to the ground.

“Bah!” Niu Wancai grabbed Zhu Zhixi’s pigtail and lifted his head, then spat in his face and cursed: “If you were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, I would respect you as a loyal minister. Now that you have a rat tail, how dare you call me a slave of three surnames? At least after I die, I can still wear Han clothes to meet my ancestors!”
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"Gee~Gee~Gee~" Tan Zhi led several riders and galloped south, aiming for Cangzhou, Hejian Prefecture. "Someone must be alive to report our deeds to the court", Zhu Zhixi's words were still ringing in his ears. He couldn't die, and had to tell the court about Zhu Zonghe, Wen Canrong and their loyalty. As they were on their way, a group of soldiers suddenly blocked their way.

"My life is over!" Tan Zhi secretly cried out. When he got closer, he saw that the other party was actually flying the flag of the Qing Dynasty. After careful questioning, he learned that the other party was a subordinate of Gao Mingzhong, the general commander of the Han army who served as the governor of Jiangnan. In another time and space, Gao Mingzhong had received an order from the Qing court to return to Beijing to take up his post, and handed over the position of governor of Jiangnan to Liang Huafeng, who had made great contributions in the Nanjing War against the sea rebels. However, in this time and space, due to the rise of Weiguo, the Qing court's rule in the south was not as stable as before, and it was not very confident about the generals of Han origin. Gao Mingzhong, who had already joined the Han army flag, was able to stay for a few more years. It was not until not long ago that he received an order to return to Beijing and Liang Huafeng took over the position of governor of Jiangnan. When the handover was in progress, he received news of the crisis in the capital. Admiral Gao did not waste any words, left some troops to Liang Huafeng, and immediately led 10,000 Han troops to the north to defend the king. His subordinates consisted of 9,000 cavalry and infantry under the command of Zhang Guojun, deputy general of Jinshan Camp, Xu Dengdi, lieutenant general of Du Biao Camp, and 1,000 sailors under the command of Wang Dacheng, the guerrilla commander of the Right Camp of the Navy. They came to Cangzhou by water. Although the numbers of his subordinates were varied, most of them were veterans who had experienced the Battle of Nanjing, with rich combat experience and strong combat power.

"General, please send troops to rescue Qing County as soon as possible. Zhu Zonghe is in danger!" Tan Zhi cried to Gao Mingzhong.

After hearing his reasons, Gao Mingzhong sighed, "I didn't expect Zhu Zhixi, a mere scholar, to have such courage! But it's too late. In my opinion, Qing County has probably been breached by now, and Zhu Zonghe is in great danger!"

"The guards have only a few thousand soldiers and they don't know the army has arrived. If we send troops immediately, we will be able to defeat the enemy. Please be sure to save General Zhu," Tan Zhi knelt down and begged, kowtowing again and again, and refused to stop even when he bled.

Gao Mingzhong could not help but be moved, and nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, I will not let a loyal minister fall into danger without saving him. Order the entire army to march north. Even if we cannot rescue Zhu Zonghe, we must avenge the dead soldiers!"

As soon as the order was given, the Qing army boarded their ships and headed north, heading straight for Qing County. (End of this chapter)