Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Teams of Qing troops were moving slowly along the plank road from Changsha to Yuezhou. Among them, a gorgeous carriage was very conspicuous. The carriage stopped quietly under an old locust tree because the owner of the carriage needed to rest.

"Cough~ cough~" An old man with gray hair and one eye squinting breathed hard, looking as if he would die at any time. With the vicissitudes of life, who would have thought that he was the Deputy General of the Northern Expedition and the Governor of Five Provinces of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengchou? As an old minister who had experienced the seven dynasties of Wanli, Tianqi, Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, and Huang Taiji, Shunzhi, Xihe, and Zhenwu of the Qing Dynasty, this man was famous, but now he is just a dying man.

Suddenly, the old man opened one eye with great effort and looked at the piece of brocade in front of him. His cloudy pupils instantly sparkled. On the brocade were written four characters: "Loyalty penetrates the sun and the moon". These were the four characters bestowed upon him by the Zhenwu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Ji Du. When the Zhenwu Emperor was first enthroned, he desperately needed the support of local governors and governors-general. As the governor of five provinces, the respected old man Hong Chengchou took the lead in submitting a petition to persuade him to ascend the throne. In addition to his full support, he also took the initiative to ask for orders to march north, vowing to recover the lost territory for the Qing Dynasty. This was in stark contrast to Wu Sangui of Pingxi, who was also in Yunnan but was reluctant to submit a petition to persuade him to ascend the throne. After receiving the petition from old man Hong, the Zhenwu Emperor was very excited and shouted, "There are still loyal ministers in our Qing Dynasty." He then wrote "Loyalty penetrates the sun and the moon" on brocade in person to commend him and conferred him the title of Duke of Chongxin.

After receiving the imperial edict to confer the title of Duke, Hong Chengchou repeatedly declined, appearing to be very humble. This time, when Emperor Zhenwu ordered Tunqi to aid Huguang, he earnestly persuaded Wu Sangui to lend troops to Tunqi, making great contributions. Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhenwu was even more moved, and gave him clothes, medicine, and food, and constantly sent envoys to ask about his well-being, as if treating him as the most loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty.

However, how could the young Emperor Zhenwu understand the wickedness of the experienced bureaucrats? The so-called petition to persuade Wu Sangui to ascend the throne and ask him to send troops was just a play performed by Mr. Hong and Prince Pingxi.

Wu Sangui's ancestral home was Gaoyou, Jiangsu. He became rich because his father Wu Xiang married the sister of Zu Dashou, the first general in Liaoxi. Although Wu Xiang was not good at fighting, he was good at winning people's hearts. He wore coarse cloth and brown clothes while his subordinates wore silk and silk, ate simple meals while his subordinates ate fine wine and fat sheep, never delayed military pay, and even distributed the land that he had embezzled from military households to his subordinates, cultivating a private army that was absolutely loyal to the Wu family.

Wu Sangui was a student who was better than his teacher. He was not only handsome, with big earlobes, a high nose bridge, bright eyes, and a strong body, but also had outstanding abilities. He was proficient in riding, shooting, and martial arts, especially in using a broadsword. The most important thing was that he was very alert and good at building relationships. First, he worshipped Gao Qiqian, the military supervisor sent by the court to the Guanning Army, as his adoptive father. Then he worshipped Fang Yizao, the governor of Liaodong, and "formed an alliance with Fang Yizao's son Fang Guangchen" and "formed an alliance with each other". After Hong Chengchou became the governor of Ji Liao, he used the same trick again and worshipped Hong Chengchou as his teacher. In order to get into Hong Chengchou's core circle, Wu Sangui also took great pains to make friends with Xie Sixin, Hong Chengchou's most trusted aide, and called him a brother. Finally, in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, he became the general of the militia, and then gradually mastered the military power of Liaodong.

Old Master Hong, who had seen countless people, had actually seen the ambition hidden in the heart of the young man when he first asked to see him. However, he had just started working in Liaodong at that time and his foundation was not deep. The Liaodong generals were intertwined with each other, and one move would affect the whole body. In his opinion, the best way to rectify the Liaodong army was to promote outstanding talents to participate in the rectification. Wu Sangui was known for his courage to fight, and his family power was spread throughout Liaodong. It was easy for him to gain the trust of the Liaodong generals, making him the best target to win over. As for ambition, haha, who doesn't have it? Wasn't he ambitious back then?

In this way, the two formed a deep friendship. Wu Sangui treated Hong Chengchou as a teacher, and Hong Chengchou also regarded him as his nephew. In the spring of the 15th year of Shunzhi, Wu Sangui went south to conquer several provinces in the south. He was worried that his achievements would be suspected, so he asked Hong Chengchou for advice. Old Master Hong narrowed his eyes and uttered the nine-character mantra, "Don't let Yunnan be free for a day!" After hearing this, Wu Sangui bowed his head and accepted the advice, and then he did it completely: "Sangui pretended to be a border bandit and sent an order to suppress it; when he arrived, he said that the bandits retreated and sent an order to return. The vassal officers and soldiers were wasted on huge salaries and salaries, and the provinces were short of taxes. They were collected from the south of the Yangtze River, more than 20 million per year. If there was a shortage, they would file a petition and the winnings would not be audited again." The extra military expenses that could not be spent were put into Wu Sangui's pocket. If the court gave less, Wu Sangui would send chicken feather letters like snowflakes...

A few years ago, under the pressure of the Qing army, the Burmese king handed over the Yongli Emperor. In order to show goodwill to the Qing court, Wu Sangui executed the Yongli Emperor and his son. Soon after, Li Dingguo died of illness. He almost wiped out the remnant Ming forces in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces through appeasement and suppression. Even Li Dingguo's son Li Sixing and Liu Zhen, the son of King Liu Wenxiu of Shu, surrendered to him. Taking advantage of the war between the Qing and Wei countries in the north, Wu Sangui desperately expanded his power in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. After hearing the news that Emperor Xihe died in battle and Emperor Zhenwu succeeded to the throne, he thought he was strong and wanted to secede from one side and asked Mr. Hong for advice again. Mr. Hong offered a plan to sing the same tune, which was to say that one was singing the red face and the other was singing the white face. Wu Sangui showed his strength and contacted the two vassals of Pingnan and Jingnan who were reluctant to submit to Emperor Zhenwu and ask for the qualification of fake Huang Cheng. Hong Chengchou pretended to be a loyal minister and asked for more benefits for Wu Sangui.

Huguang was in danger, and Emperor Zhenwu ordered Tunqi to provide assistance. Tunqi asked Wu Sangui to borrow troops, but Wu Sangui didn't want to borrow them. It was old man Hong who gave him an idea: use a small number of troops in exchange for Tunqi leaving Yunnan and allowing you to dominate the province. It's worth it!
"But my dear teacher, Tunqi asked me to send out 20,000 troops, and they must be elite soldiers. Wouldn't I be seriously injured if I lose 20,000 elite soldiers?" Wu Sangui was reluctant.

"Why is Changbo (Wu Sangui's pen name) confused? Although the remnants of the Ming army that surrendered recently are elite soldiers who have fought in battles, most of them are hard to change their evil nature. Especially Li Sixing and Liu Zhen, who have special identities and are young, it is not appropriate to keep them in Yunnan. It is better to send them to Huguang," Hong Chengchou smiled.

Wu Sangui suddenly realized that Li and Liu had a high status among the remnants of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and unlike Bai Wenxuan, who was old and injured, it would be a hidden danger to keep them in Yunnan. He took the opportunity to send them to Huguang, which would make it easier for him to dominate Yunnan. He then ordered the generals Li Sixing and Liu Zhen, and the generals Ma Weixing, Wu Zisheng, Ma Siliang, Hu Shundu, Wang Daoheng and others to lead 20,000 Southern Ming surrendered troops to follow Tunqi to Huguang.

Among these people, Wu Sangui was more confident in Ma Weixing, who was originally a general under Li Chengdong and was considered to be from the Chuang Army, and had a gap with other Southern Ming generals who were from the Dashi Army. So he ordered Ma Weixing to cooperate with him in the northward march and report to him at any time about the situation of the northern expeditionary army.

"Cough~ cough~" The coughing sound became more and more intense, as if it was going to shake the tip of the heart out. Hong Chengchou covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and the handkerchief showed bright red blood. In another time and space, he had died of illness a few months ago. In this time and space, perhaps stimulated by the rise of Wei State, the old man wanted to assist the King of Pingxi in changing the dynasty and was reluctant to leave the world immediately.

"Father, the general is here," the eldest son Hong Shiming came to the carriage to report. Hong Shiming was a Jinshi in the 12th year of Shunzhi and served as Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple.

"Oh, please come in quickly," Hong Chengchou retracted his fiery gaze and returned to his dying state just now. (End of this chapter)