Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Song Gong, what do you think of Wang Zongchen's letter for help?" After receiving the letter from Macheng, Huanggang Deputy General Wu Qizhen did not dare to ignore it and invited Huangzhou Prefect Song Lu to discuss it. Song Lu's father Song Quan was a Grand Secretary of the Qing Dynasty Academy of History. Because of this relationship, he was appointed as a third-class guard. He had been in and out of the palace for many years and was familiar with the rules and regulations. He was recently promoted to Huangzhou Prefect. For this reason, Wu Qizhen respected him very much and liked to ask him for advice when he encountered problems.

"I think Deputy Marshal Wang's worries are justified. The people of Huangzhou are fierce. If we allow Liu Qizhen and his ilk to cause chaos and do not put it down immediately, it will probably turn into a prairie fire. We should take advantage of the initial stage of the rebellion and quickly lead our troops to suppress it to prevent future troubles," Song Lu said after thinking for a while.

"Hmph! No matter how fierce the fire is, there is always a surging water. I will lead the troops to Macheng to fight the enemy, and the defense of Huanggang will be handed over to Lord Song," Wu Qizhen said in a deep voice.

"Don't worry, Deputy Commander. After you leave, I will order people to close the gates of Huanggang City tightly, and not even a bird can fly into the city." Song Lu accepted the order happily. At the age of just over thirty, it is the time for a man to establish his reputation. This prefect thought he was very talented, so what was the difficulty in guarding a small city?

Wu Qizhen ordered the prefect Song Lu to lead 2,000 regiments to guard Huangzhou, and he led 4,000 green camps to Macheng. In order to quickly put out the small flames, the Qing army marched very fast and arrived at Qitingzhai between Huanggang and Macheng in less than two days.

"Pass the order down, rest after we reach Elong Town. If we encounter attacks by bandits, drive them away," Wu Qizhen gave the order arrogantly, completely unaware that a large army of more than 7,500 people was lurking in the deep reeds on the bank of the Jushui River not far away.

"Brother Huang, the Qing army has been ambushed. Should we attack? Please give us your instructions," Widow Yang came to Huang Jinlong and asked for a fight.

“Don’t be alarmed, my dear sister. Wait a little longer and attack when the fire starts.” Facing the beauty, Huang Jinlong smiled faintly, looking so calm as if Wu Hou had been resurrected.

The Qing army continued to march, getting closer and closer to the reeds, and did not notice that the hay on the ground had a sulphurous smell.

"Set fire!" Huang Jinlong gave the order decisively.

Upon receiving the military order, the rebel leader Fang Gongxiao, who was lying in wait at the front, ordered his men to fire rockets.

"Whoosh~whoosh~whoosh~" Rockets rained down like rain, quickly igniting the hay sprinkled with sulfur and gunpowder on the ground. The rebel leaders Zhou Tiezhua and Bao Shirong, who were lying on both sides, also ordered their men to ignite the surrounding reeds. The fire spread quickly, and thick smoke billowed out everywhere.

"Attack!" Huang Jinlong ordered the attack. He glanced at the beauty beside him, and suddenly he was filled with heroic spirit. He drew out the big knife behind him and rushed towards the Qing army. Widow Yang's eyes were full of tenderness. She drew out her sword and rushed to kill. Leaders such as Zou Junsheng, Chen Dingye, He Shirong, Zhou Tiezhua, Bao Shirong, and Fang Gongxiao all led their troops to fight bravely.

The Qing army was caught off guard and their formation was in chaos. Although Wu Qizhen tried his best to resist, he was ultimately powerless and had to break out with a few personal guards.

"Don't run, Wu thief!" The rebel leader He Shirong led his troops to chase after him.

Wu Qizhen gritted his teeth, took out his bow and arrow, and listened to the distance with his ears. When He Shirong got close, he suddenly put an arrow on him and shot him. What a fast arrow, it killed him in the throat.

"Ah~" He Shirong covered his throat, widened his eyes, and fell to the ground unwillingly.

After shooting He Shirong, Wu Qizhen and his guards continued to flee. When they fled to Tuanfeng Town, there were only a hundred people left with them. When the pursuers came again, the leaders of the rebel army, Zou Junsheng and Chen Dingye, led more than a thousand men to surround them.

"I never thought that after my whole life of military service, I would end up dying at the hands of a group of bandits!" Wu Qizhen howled to the sky and fought like a trapped beast.

An hour later, the fighting in Tuanfeng Town subsided, and the body of Huangzhou Deputy General Wu Qizhen was sent to the rebel leader Huang Jinlong.

"Haha, you Huang thief, how many brothers from the Forty-Eight Villages have you killed? Did you expect this day would come?" Huang Jinlong spat at Wu Qizhen's corpse.

"Brother Huang, what should we do next?" "After the great victory, should we attack Macheng or Huanggang? Please give us your instructions." "Yes, brothers are willing to listen to Brother Huang's orders." All the leaders asked in unison. At this moment, he was their backbone. "Huanggang is the seat of Huangzhou Prefecture. If Huanggang is attacked, the Macheng defenders will surely collapse without a fight." Huang Jinlong was full of confidence.

"Let's go to Huangzhou~ Follow Brother Huang to Huangzhou~" All the leaders cheered in unison. They had come to the gates of Huangzhou several times over the years, but they had never been able to take down this strong city. Now they finally had a good opportunity to take revenge.

More than 7,000 volunteers quickly arrived at the foot of Huangzhou City and bravely climbed the city walls. Earlier, some defeated soldiers had fled into the city and brought the news that Wu Qizhen had been defeated and killed. At this time, there were no Green Camp soldiers in the city, only 2,000 militiamen who had not received formal training. For a while, people were in panic, and defenders often jumped out of the city and fled.

Song Lu had read "Mencius" and knew that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. So he simply followed the will of the army and ordered his subordinates to open the city gates and escape.

For safety reasons, he only brought a few followers with him. After running for thirty miles, he thought he had escaped the pursuers and rested against a tree.

"Prefect Song, you are so leisurely. Would you like me to make you another pot of good tea?" The leader of the rebel army, Chen Dingye, appeared in front of him with a big laugh.

"How can you guys chase so fast?" Song Lu screamed.

"Haha, I'll let you die knowing full well. Brother Huang had anticipated that the defeated army would flee, so he asked me to take a shortcut and ambush here, but I didn't expect to catch such a big fish as you," Chen Dingye laughed.

Inside Macheng County, Macheng Lieutenant General Wang Zongchen and Magistrate Wang Lu were sitting on a corner of the city wall discussing matters concerning the defense of the city. Ever since the arrival of reinforcements led by the Weijun Shangcheng garrison commander Tan Yicong, the bandits in Macheng had been as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood. They attacked the city for more than ten times in a row, and several times they even climbed the city wall, and the defenders had to fight hard to drive them down.

"Sir, here they come! Reinforcements from Huanggang are here!" Suddenly, a personal guard came running over excitedly to report.

Wang Zongchen and Wang Lu looked at each other and said with a smile: "We have been looking forward to it for a long time and finally the reinforcements from Wu Furong have arrived. Let's go and take a look."

Wang Lu readily agreed. He had pretended to be calm these days, but he was actually very nervous. Now that the reinforcements had arrived, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief!

When the two men arrived at the city wall, they saw a group of people approaching quickly, and there were more than 7,000 of them.

Wang Zongcen was suspicious. There were only 4,000 troops in Huanggang City, and even with the militia troops included, there were not that many. Could it be that Wuchang sent reinforcements?
"Oh no! Deputy General, the ones coming are the Wei Army!" Wang Lu suddenly exclaimed.

Wang Zongchen took a closer look and discovered that there was a picture of a fishing rod on the other side's flag, with a large word "Wei" written on it.

"The Wei Army is coming to attack Macheng?" Wang Zongcen was panicking. He was already in a state of panic just with this bunch of bandits, and now the Wei Army was coming too. How could he be their match?

The defenders were terrified when they saw the fishing rod and the fishing flag, but they didn't know that this was just Huang Jinlong's plan: to pretend to be a guard in order to confuse the defenders of Macheng.

"People on the city wall, listen up! Our army has captured Huanggang. Huangzhou deputy general Wu Qizhen and prefect Song Lu, who refused to obey fate, have been beheaded. Those who surrender will be spared, but those who resist will be killed without mercy." After Huang Jinlong ordered his men to deliver the heads of Wu Qizhen and Song Lu to Macheng, the defenders became agitated. Someone opened the city gate, and the rebel army swarmed in.

Wang Zongchen and Wang Lu had no choice but to surrender with their subordinates, but because they had killed too many rebels in the Forty-Eight Villages before, they were hacked to death by the angry rebels. (End of this chapter)