Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

When Hao Yongzhong led the guards to the Jiulianping general's tent, Li Laiheng, the leader of the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, was negotiating with Huang Xigun, a Qing Dynasty academician who was on a diplomatic mission. Li Laiheng was in his early forties this year. He was originally a farmer in the northern border. Because he could not survive, he joined the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng with his family. Later, the Chuang army organized a military team with the strong and brave young men in the old camp, and Li Laiheng was the captain. Li Guo, who commanded the old camp, liked him very much when he saw his heroic appearance, so he adopted him as his son and changed his surname to Li. Li Guo's nickname was "a tiger", so his son was naturally "little tiger".

It is said that the Qing Dynasty and the rebels are mortal enemies, but Li Laiheng chatted and laughed with Huang Xigun, as if they were old friends. After countless bloody battles, this young tiger had already developed mature political skills, otherwise he would not have made so many leaders older than him willing to obey his command. Finally, the two ended the talks, and the young tiger personally saw Huang Daxueshi out.

Seeing this, Yuan Zongdi, the Duke of Jingguo, and Liu Tichun, the Duke of Wanguo, were quite disapproving. One of them was the General of the Right Camp during the Li Zicheng era, and the other was the General of Right Guoyi. Both were veterans of the rebel army and figures of the same generation as Li Laiheng's grandfather. If it hadn't been for the Qing army's sneak attack, the King of Rebellion would have won the world. Over the years, they have been fighting bloody battles with the Qing army, and their hatred is as deep as the sea.

"Does Duke Lin want to surrender to the Tartars?" Yuan Zongde asked dissatisfiedly.

"We are Han people. If we shave our heads and surrender to the Qing Dynasty, how will we face our ancestors in the future?" Liu Tichun was also very dissatisfied.

"Duke Jingguo and Duke Wanguo have misunderstood. This time the Qing army is not here to persuade us to surrender, but to form an alliance. Huang Xigun said that the pseudo-Qing general Tunqi is willing to form an alliance with us. He will take Wuchang and we will take Yunyang and Xiangyang. The Wei army will retreat, and the Ming and Qing dynasties can follow the example of Sun and Liu fighting against Cao and form an alliance to fight against Wei," Li Laiheng said with a smile.

"Hmph! What alliance? It's obvious that they suffered a defeat and want to borrow our troops to defend Jingzhou," Yuan Zongde sneered.

"Yes, the Qing army had difficulty defending Jingzhou and Yuezhou after the defeat. The counterattack on Wuchang was just empty talk. The real purpose was to lure us to attack Yunyang and Xiangyang to relieve their pressure," Liu Tichun muttered. These older generation leaders of the rebel army had seen a lot of things and pointed out the Qing court's conspiracy.

"What you two gentlemen said is right. However, this is indeed a good opportunity for us to expand our strength! My idea is to wait and see for a while, and then send troops after the Qing and Wei armies are both defeated. However, the direction of the troops is not Yunyang and Xiangyang, but Jingzhou and Chengtian Prefecture. These places have a large population and rich resources. They can become the basis of kingship and hegemony," Li Laiheng said his thoughts with a smile.

"Are you planning to form an alliance with the Qing government to resist?" Yuan Zongde asked with a serious face.

"Yes," Li Laiheng was not afraid at all and stared straight into the other person's eyes.

"I heard from Hao Yaoqi that Wei State also sent envoys. Do you still want to meet them?" Liu Tichun asked. "We must meet them. Not only that, but we must also form an alliance. It doesn't matter who we form an alliance with, the key is that Jingzhou must be in our hands," Li Laiheng grinned.
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The Wei envoy and the Qing envoy both completed their mission of forming an alliance with Kuidong and returned with joy on their faces. Chuo Siji and Tunqi, who heard the news, were relieved and prepared for the upcoming war. Before the land division started fighting, the Huguang Navy of the Wei army had already fought several battles with the Dongting Lake Navy of the Qing army. Previously, Hu Maozhen's subordinates had successfully attacked the Wuchang Water Camp of the Qing army, allowing the Wei army to obtain more than a hundred ships of various sizes, and the strength of the Huguang Navy increased a lot. Guo Yi, the admiral of the Huguang Navy of the Wei army, commanded the navy to go up the Yangtze River. In the Linxiang section of the waterway, they fought fiercely with the Dongting Lake Navy commanded by the Qing general Fan Shaozu for several days, but failed to gain an advantage. They had to moor their ships at Shitoukou and wait for an opportunity to fight again.

After receiving the news from the navy, General David Guodingyuan and King Qin Chuo Siji were not in a hurry. The Wei army was good at archery and horsemanship, but not good at naval warfare. It was unrealistic to build an invincible navy all at once. This time, he did not place too much hope on the navy, but on the land army. David's cavalry traveled across the world, so he took the land route and first took Baling, the capital of Yuezhou Prefecture.

The morale of the Guards was high. The vanguard, the admiral Xuan Youcai of the Huguang Army, and the deputy admiral Zhang Wei, defeated the Qing Yuezhou Lieutenant General Chen Wuheng in just one day and captured Yantou Mountain. Chen Wuheng had no choice but to retreat to Longyao Mountain for defense. When he was in a panic, suddenly, the deputy general of Huguang Changde, Hao Erde, was ordered by Tunqi to lead his troops from Changde to support. Hao and Chen defended the mountain and thought they could hold out until the reinforcements arrived. To make matters worse, the Yao people of Qianjiadong, who had long been angry at the oppression of the Qing government, took the opportunity to riot. Under the attack from both inside and outside, the Qing army was defeated, and the Guards captured Longjiao Mountain without much effort.

Hao and Chen Er continued to retreat to Tumen Town, Baling County (the seat of Yuezhou Prefecture). After counting the remaining soldiers, they only had 5,000. In a hurry, they once planned to abandon Baling. Hearing that the land division was defeated, Fan Shaozu, the general of the Dongting Lake Navy, ordered the warships to be moored at Junshan, and planned to retreat to Changde by water once Yuezhou was lost. Du Chong, the deputy general of Jingzhou stationed in Jianli County, was also in a panic, fearing that the Wei army would cross the river to attack him. However, their worries soon disappeared without a trace. Tunqi, the general of the Qing Dynasty's Northern Expedition and the Prince of Qingyang, arrived with 45,000 troops, including Wenqi, the Duke of Fuguo, Fuertai, Li Sixing, Liu Zhen, Ma Weixing, Wu Zisheng, Ma Siliang, Hu Shundu, Wang Daoheng, and Fusen, the deputy generals, Meng Yimao, etc.

Tunqi was a veteran who had experienced many battles. As soon as he entered Baling, he learned about the strengths and weaknesses of the guards from Hould and Chen Wuheng. He quickly deployed defenses based on the geographical advantages, and Baling's defenses became stable. Xuan Youcai and Zhang Wei commanded their troops to attack Tumen Town, but were blocked by the Fuguogong Wenqi and the general Ma Weixing. Seeing that the Qing army had strict defenses in the direction of Tumen Town, Qin Wang Chuo Siji ordered Hangzhou General Chen Shikai and Shanhaiguan General Feng Duo to lead 20,000 troops to attack Linxiang County. Although the Qing army commanders Li Sixing, Liu Zhen, and Meng Yimao who defended Linxiang only had 8,000 troops, they were extremely elite and could not be defeated for a while.

Chuo Siji thought that it would only take time for him to lead an army of 110,000 to conquer the entire Huguang region. However, he encountered a tough opponent, Tunqi, on the way. Chuo Siji was upset. One day, he was sitting in the big tent and feeling depressed when he was informed that the Hangzhou General Chen Shikai had sent troops to the city.

"Could it be that General Chen has conquered Linxiang?" Chuo Siji thought it was a victory report, but when he opened it, he found something else. Chen Shikai reported that he had intercepted a letter from Hong Chengchou, the governor of five provinces of the Qing Dynasty, to Hu Maozhen, the governor of Huguang in the Kingdom of Dawei. After opening the letter, Hong Chengchou first talked about some old things with Hu Maozhen, and then persuaded Hu Maozhen to submit to the Qing court again, promising that he would not be guilty of past crimes and could be granted the title of Marquis.

"Hu Maozhen?" Chuo Siji was suspicious. Everyone in the world knew that it was Hu Maozhen who killed Li Changgeng, the governor of Huguang of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty. If he killed the governor of a province, there should be no way out. But why did Hong Chengchou write to him instead of others? Chuo Siji was a little suspicious and simply called all the generals to discuss.

All kinds of things were said. Henan Admiral Cai Lu suddenly laughed: "Hu Maozhen was ordered to garrison Zhongxiang, and deliberately left his family in Wuchang when he left. If he really wanted to rebel, how dare he do so? And what kind of person is Hong Chengchou? How could he fail to deliver a letter and let our army intercept it? This is clearly a counter-espionage plot! Your Highness must not fall into it!"

Yes, Hong Chengchou is such a person, how could he let our army intercept his letter? It is obviously fake! Chuo Siji had a plan, picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Hu Maozhen, and ordered someone to send it to Zhongxiang (Chengtian Prefecture) together with the intercepted letter. (End of this chapter)