Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

In Ba County, the capital of Chongqing Prefecture, Cheng Tingjun, the general of Chongkui Town, was horrified when he saw Wang Mingde, the general of Jianchang Town, fleeing back in a miserable state. "Brother Wang, how many soldiers did the guards bring? Why did it come to this?" There were more than 10,000 defenders in Jiangjin, but only more than 2,000 people fled back to Ba County with Wang Mingde. The defeat was so tragic that Cheng Tingjun said this.

"The Wei army has 30,000 naval troops alone, and the land force is probably even more," Wang Mingde said dejectedly.

"Just got the news that about 50,000 guardsmen and infantrymen have conquered Yongchuan. How strange! The number of Sichuan guards is not large, where did so many people come from?" Cheng Tingjun asked in surprise, and suddenly his expression became serious, "Could it be that the Guizhou guards entered Sichuan?"

"I'm afraid the Wei army wants to cut off the connection between Shaanxi and Huguang and Guizhou. If so, Shaanxi is in danger!" Wang Mingde's expression also became solemn, and suddenly whispered: "The Wei army is powerful, Brother Cheng, we are all Han people, why should we risk our lives for the Manchus? Why not..."

Cheng Tingjun understood what he meant and was frightened by the might of the Wei army, and had the intention of surrendering. He couldn't help but sigh, "This year, things have not gone well. First, the Eastern Bandits, who were repeatedly defeated by our army, suddenly rose up, seized the land of Jingyue and stationed troops in Yunyang and East, eyeing Chongqing. Then the Wei army came down the river and fought right under our noses. Even so, the matter of changing the flag must be cautious. No matter what, we have to inform Li Duxian before we can implement it!"

The Li Duxian he mentioned refers to Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi during the Qing Dynasty. Li Guoying was originally a general under Zuo Liangyu. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, he went to Sichuan and made many military achievements, defeating Zhang Xianzhong's former troops and Li Zicheng's former troops many times. He was very prestigious in the Qing army in Sichuan. Cheng Tingjun and Wang Mingde were both his confidants, so he said this.

Hearing him mention Li Guoying, Wang Mingde also sighed heavily and no longer mentioned surrender. Instead, he offered a suggestion: "If you want to defend Ba County, you must control the Fotu Pass."

Cheng Tingjun nodded and said: "My dear brother, what you said is very true. I would like to trouble you and the deputy general to guard Fotu Pass, and I will lead the troops to guard Ba County."

At Fotu Pass, the land and sea forces led by Xirimo and Narisong joined forces. Nearly 80,000 guards gathered at the foot of the city, with flags covering the sky and a huge momentum.

"A few days ago, Fang Fuyuan gave me advice: attacking the heart is better than attacking the city. He wrote letters to various counties to persuade them to surrender. The results are quite good. Qijiang, Rongchang and Nanchuan counties have surrendered. Bishan, Tongliang, Anju and Dazu counties have expressed their intention to surrender. It is estimated that they will follow the same path in a short time. What does Fang Fuyuan think about the battle in Ba County?" Xi Rimo asked Yunnan Governor Fang Yuxuan with a smile. Since he followed the expedition, this man has repeatedly offered good advice and is good at socializing, which made him like this Han Chinese and like to consult him when he encounters problems.

"In my opinion, the key to Ba County is Fotu Pass. The Qing army obviously understands this. About half of the 20,000 defenders are stationed at Fotu Pass. The Marshal can send a small number of navy to contain the Ba County defenders, order the main force of the navy to approach Fotu Pass and fire artillery, and then order the land army to attack in turns," Fang Yuxuan respectfully offered.

"Forced attack?" The Wolf of Oirat remained silent upon hearing this.

After spending a long time together, Fang Yuxuan understood the old marshal's intention. He was worried that a strong attack would result in heavy casualties and was reluctant to sacrifice the lives of his men, so he said with a smile: "Marshal, you can mobilize the newly surrendered garrisons of Qijiang, Rongchang and Nanchuan counties and the Qing prisoners captured in Jiangjin to take the lead in attacking the pass, and then use elite troops to attack the city."

After hearing this, Xi Rimo finally nodded slowly and uttered the word "yes".

On November 1665, , the Southern Guards launched an attack on Ba County, the seat of Chongqing Prefecture.

Xi Rimo, the commander of the Wei army, ordered Zhu Yangen, the Marquis of Yanchang, and Du Zixiang, the general of Xuzhou, to lead 10,000 naval forces down the river to feign an attack on Ba County. He ordered Na Risong to approach the riverbank with naval warships and fire at Fotu Pass. He also concentrated all the artillery of the land army in front of the pass to bombard it. The overwhelming shells kept exploding on the wall of the pass, bombarding the pass with holes, but the fortress still stood tenaciously.

Seeing that the wall of the pass could not be brought down after bombarding it for five days, Xi Rimo had no choice but to order a strong attack on Fotu Pass. More than 4,000 "Guardians" composed of surrendered soldiers from Qijiang, Rongchang and Nanchuan counties and Qing prisoners captured in Jiangjin took the lead in attacking the pass. The Qing troops guarding the pass were extremely well prepared and responded calmly under the command of Wang Mingde, the general of Jianchang Town, and Shang Yingcheng, the deputy general of Chongkui Town. Arrows, guns, kerosene, rocks and logs flew towards the attacking guards like snowflakes. In just five days, the "Guardian vanguard" was almost completely killed or wounded.

On the eleventh day, Xi Rimo had to dispatch the elite troops. Wang Juji, deputy chief of the Nixi Commandery, led 1,500 Guizhou native soldiers who were good at climbing to the city wall like a cat. Zhang Mingan, the commander of the Qing army, tried to stop them, but was shot in the chest by the poison crossbow that Wang Juji carried with him and died of poison. Wang Juji was feeling very proud when he was hit in the forehead by a stray arrow from the enemy and died.

Such scenes were played out every day. Under Xi Rimo's strict order to spare no effort, on the 16th day, the guards finally took Fotu Pass. Shang Yingcheng, the deputy general of the Qing army, died on the wall of the pass, and Wang Mingde was shot in the back and died on the way to Ba County.

After learning that Fotu Pass had been lost, the morale of the Ba County defenders was greatly reduced. Cheng Tingjun, the general of Chongkui Town, held out for another two days, but he could not hold on any longer and the city wall was captured by the Wei army. In a hurry, he ordered his men to throw away their weapons and hang up the white flag to surrender. However, the Wei army suffered heavy casualties in Ba County. After the battle, Xi Rimo counted the number of people and found that only 74,000 of the 80,000 troops were left. In anger, he ordered his men to behead Cheng Tingjun as a public display.

The Oirat Wolves knew that speed was of the essence in war, so after taking Ba County, they continued down the river. Along the way, Changshou, Fuzhou, Fengdu and other major cities along the river surrendered without a fight, and Bishan, Tongliang, Anju, Dazu, Wuling, Pengshui and Youyang also surrendered one after another.

Unexpectedly, when the army reached Fengdu, news came that the leader of the Kuidong righteous army, Li Laiheng, King of Jiangling, had persuaded the Qing army deputy general Xue Wanzhu stationed in the west of Kuizhou and the Qing army commander Cai Kui stationed in Zhongzhou to surrender. These two were Ming generals who surrendered to the Qing under duress, but now they took advantage of the battle between the Qing and the Wei to rebel and return to the Ming. Li Laiheng also ordered Ma Tengyun, Marquis of Tongcheng, and Dang Shousu, Marquis of Xingping, to lead the army to capture Dianjiang and Shiqian, occupying a large area in the northeast corner of Chongqing, forming a mutual response with Kuizhou.

"The Ming army is hateful! They actually dared to take advantage of David! Pass the order down, immediately go down the river to attack Zhongzhou!" The wolf of Oirats was aroused to show his vicious wolf nature, and wanted to teach the "friendly army" in Kuidong a lesson.

"Absolutely not! Marshal, this move will push the Kuidong bandits to the Qing army, which will be detrimental to our army's capture of Shu," Fang Yuxuan hurriedly advised.

"The Khan ordered me to capture Chongqing and the western part of Kuizhou and completely cut off the connection between the Qing army in Shaanxi and other places. Now the Ming army has captured the western counties of Kuizhou and Dianjiang, Zhongzhou, and Shiqu. How can I explain to the Khan if I don't fight?" Xi Rimo asked distressedly.

"There is a deep blood feud between the Ming and Qing dynasties. If those places fall into the hands of the Ming army, it means that our army has completed the task of cutting off the Qing army's transportation in Shaanxi. Moreover, Chongqing is a strategic location and we must guard against the Qing army's counterattack. It is not advisable to make another strong enemy at the moment," Fang Yuxuan advised earnestly.

"Military report! Li Guoying, the pseudo-Qing governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, ordered Liang Jiaqi, the general of the pacification and suppression, to lead 20,000 troops to aid Chongqing, and they have now arrived in Hezhou." While they were discussing, a military report suddenly arrived.

Xi Rimo breathed a sigh of relief and slowly gave the order, "Immediately send a fast horse to report the battle situation in Sichuan to the Khan, and then send people to Kuidong to make peace with the Ming army. Na Risong will lead 20,000 troops to garrison Chongqing, and the rest of the troops will follow me north to Hezhou!"

(End of this chapter)