Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The known strong city of Taiyuan (Yangqu) was captured without any effort. In joy, King Melas of Qi ordered rewards to be given to the three armies in the city to boost morale.

"The surrendered officials have no foundation in our dynasty. If Your Highness accepts them with generous rewards, they will surely be able to be used by you," Chen Hongzhu suggested.

"Yes," Melas nodded slightly, and then, in the name of breaking the city, he recommended Yu Jiqing, the former Shanxi Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of the Qing Dynasty, who had recently surrendered to the Wei Dynasty, as the Henan Provincial Governor, and Zong Yi, the prefect of Taiyuan, as the Shanxi Deputy Surveillance Commissioner. He also rewarded the meritorious soldiers, not only recording their military exploits in detail, but also giving them gold, silver, jade and silk. For a time, people were very happy, especially the recently surrendered officials who all regarded the King of Qi as their backer.

"Nephew Jian, speed is of the essence in war. We can continue to march north to wipe out the troops of Shangshan, the pseudo-Qing prince, Bai Rumei, the governor of Shanxi, and others," suggested Su Mur, the Liao king who was in his middle age but still ambitious.

"Well, uncle, what you said makes sense!" Melas agreed after hearing it. With the successive victories, the morale of the generals was high, and they all wanted to make more military achievements and give their wives and children a good fortune.

"No!" Chen Hongzhu was the only one who objected.

Melas now regarded this strategist as his treasure and obeyed his every word. Seeing his objection, he hurriedly asked, "Why does Mr. Chen say no?"

Chen Hongzhu analyzed confidently, "Victory leads to arrogance, and arrogance leads to defeat. Your Highness must not underestimate the enemy. The reason why our army was able to capture Taiyuan was because we caught them by surprise. However, the main force of the Qing army in Shanxi is still there. If we push too hard, they will inevitably fight to the death, and our army may not be able to gain the upper hand. Today, the Qing army's food and supplies in Ningwu and Yanmen are all transported by Taiyuan. We only need to defend Taiyuan and cut off their supplies. It won't be long before the Qing army runs out of food. The army will scatter without food, so why bother to go out of the city to confront them head-on? You just need to rely on the strong city and wait."

As soon as these words were spoken, not only the generals, but even the Liao King Sumur, who was the first to request to continue marching north, said that it was a good idea.

"Wonderful! How lucky I am to have Mr. Chen!" Melas praised repeatedly and ordered the city to be repaired and held firm, waiting for the Qing army to counterattack. He originally had 55,000 soldiers, and lost 5,000 in the battle, but he incorporated 10,000 surrendered soldiers and prisoners from Jingxing, Taiyuan and other places, and his strength increased instead of decreasing. He then led these 60,000 soldiers to strengthen the city defense and wait for the main force of the Qing army to return.
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In Daizhou City, Shang Shan was reading the news that Li Haoxian, the general of Taiyuan Town, and Chahatai, the commander of Melezhang, had sent from Ningwu Pass and Yanmen Pass respectively: the guards in Shuozhou and Mayi had all closed the city gates and refused to come out, and even the enemy's scouts could not be seen.

"How strange! What tricks are the guards playing?" Shang Shan repeatedly expressed his surprise. Previously, the guards were mainly defensive, but they often sent out cavalry to harass him and scout the military situation. Now, even the cavalry can't be seen, and they are all hiding in the city. How can this not arouse suspicion?

"Perhaps the Wei army deliberately showed weakness to our army in order to lure our army north?" said Shanxi Governor Bai Rumei.

"Well, what Bai Fuyuan said makes sense. The fake king Sulai is cunning. No matter what his plan is, our army must not act rashly. We only need to guard the Ningwu and Yanmen passes and protect the safety of Xuanfu," Shang Shan said with a frown.

"My Lord, Fulata escaped from Taiyuan, Taiyuan has been lost." Just as he was thinking, a personal guard came to report. In the sixth year of Shunzhi (1649), the Qing court set up a Manchu city in the southwest corner of Taiyuan City, sent the Zhenglan and Xianglan Banners to defend and garrison, and stationed thousands of soldiers and their families from the Zhenglan and Xianglan Banners of Manchu and Mongolia. Gushan Beizi Aisin-Gioro Fulata was Shangshan's fourth brother, and was responsible for governing Taiyuan Manchu City.

"What! Let him in!" Shang Shan was shocked.

"Brother, I am incompetent. Taiyuan was lost, and the whole city was lost~ Woo~" As soon as he saw Shangshan, the 40-year-old Fulata cried like a child. Shangshan's face was bulging with veins, and he grabbed his neck and yelled: "Tell me quickly, how did Taiyuan get lost?"

"The Wei army bypassed Jingxing to attack Taiyuan. Yu Jiqing, Zong Yi and other Han officials surrendered one after another. The most hateful one was Taiyuan prefect Zong Yi, who opened the city gate without firing a single arrow. Shu Shu, Song Jiaxuan, Li Wenhuang and others were all killed in the battle. I closed the door and defended it, but all the elite soldiers in the city were out with you. There were only a hundred bannermen left in the city, plus all the old people and women who could hold swords and guns, there were no more than a thousand people. How could we defeat the enemy? They were breached in just one hour. I wanted to die for my country, but I thought that someone had to report the news, so I broke out at the risk of my life. I am willing to be punished by military law for the crime of losing land! I only regret that I could not kill a few more enemies to avenge the late emperor! Woo~ Woo~" When talking about the sad part, Fulata burst into tears again.

The crying made Shang Shan's expression soften, "It's not all your fault. After all, you only have a hundred soldiers. It's normal that you can't defend the whole city. Don't cry anymore. A man sheds blood, not tears. Go down and rest first."

"Hmm~" Fulata choked and retreated.

"My Lord, our army's food and supplies are all transported from Taiyuan. The army's food reserves are only enough for three months. Many soldiers' families are also in Taiyuan. If we don't take them back as soon as possible, I'm afraid the army's morale will be shaken~" Bai Rumei said.

"Yuan Bai is right. Now we can only concentrate our forces and fight to the death to take back Taiyuan!" Shang Shan said gritting his teeth.
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Shangshan quickly assembled all 65,000 troops from Ningwu and Yanmen and marched towards Taiyuan. When wild beasts are in desperate situations, they become particularly ferocious. The Qing army was like a ferocious beast in desperate situations. They would spare no effort to find a chance to recapture Taiyuan. It took only ten days to march south from Daizhou through Gangxian and Xinzhou and reach the city of Taiyuan.

Looking at the thick city wall, Shang Shan frowned. Having stayed in Taiyuan for a long time, he naturally knew the strength of this city, but the army had little food left, so he had to hurry to break the city. Just after he led his army out of Daizhou, the news came that General Haraqi of the Wei State and General Elinqin Batur of Datong led their troops to attack Ningwu and Yanmen. If they were not worried about the friendly forces in Xuanfu attacking Datong, these two Wei armies would probably chase him. So now there is no way to retreat, and the only thing he can do is fight to the death.

"My Lord, you can fire cannons at the city first and then attack it," Bai Rumei suggested.

"Well, fire," Shang Shan gave the order fiercely, like a ferocious wolf.

Cai Yuan, the lieutenant general of Zezhou in the Qing Dynasty, commanded the artillery camp to start bombarding the city. More than 120 artillery pieces of various sizes fired at the same time. The shells hit the city walls densely like meteors, which was quite spectacular. Qi Wang Meilas was not to be outdone and ordered the artillery on the top of the city to fight back. On the Taiyuan city wall, the Qing army originally deployed more than 30 artillery pieces. With the addition of more than 80 artillery pieces of the Wei army, the firepower was not weaker than that of the Qing army. The fierce artillery battle lasted for a whole morning. Neither side gained much advantage, and the city wall still stood.

"Attack! Tell Li Haoxian that anyone who retreats without orders will be killed!" Shang Shan gave the order with a sneer.

After receiving the military order, Li Haoxian, the general of the Qing Taiyuan Town, bit his lip hard and ordered the garrison Zhou Shanyin's troops to lead the charge. Zhou Shoubei was originally a bandit who was rampant in the Shanxi area. He was recruited by General Li and now is the time to use him. In fact, if we go back a long time, Li Haoxian himself was once a hero who was rampant in Shandong. He was recruited by the Qing Dynasty to be where he is today. These days, it is not uncommon for bandit officers and soldiers to change their identities frequently.

"Brothers, General Li thinks highly of us, so he lets us take the lead. We must fight to the fullest later!" Zhou Shanyin shouted to his subordinates and made a pre-war mobilization. Then, holding two swords and hiding behind a shield cart, he rushed towards the northern city wall of Taiyuan.

Seeing this, King Melas of Qi, who was observing the enemy through a telescope at the north gate, was delighted and said lightly, "I have been waiting for you for a long time!" (End of this chapter)