Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The Niulan River was formerly known as the Tanglang River. It originates from the Jialize in Songming Prefecture, Yunnan, passes through Xundian, passes through the northeast of Huize, and then merges into the Jinsha River in Ludian. The surging river nourishes the people in the basin. It is also the boundary river between Dongchuan Prefecture and Wusa Prefecture, and between Dongchuan Prefecture and Wumeng Prefecture. The chieftains of the three places divided their territories along this river.

Prince Pingxi, who had fought wars all his life, was no ordinary man. He had long seen the military importance of Dongchuan Prefecture. "Dongchuan controls Jinsha and faces the south of Zhaotong. It is surrounded by high mountains and clouds, and is the north gate of the provincial government. It connects to Weining in the east and Huili in the west. It has the power of the country internally and is connected to Guizhou and Shu externally." Therefore, he chose this place as the first target of the army's march north.

At this time, the power of Dongchuan was in the hands of the local governor Yongchang. The old chieftain Lu Wanzhao did not like his eldest son Lu Yongchang, and wanted to make his sixth son Lu Yongming, born to his second wife An, his heir. With the support of his wife's maiden family, Yongning Sheshi, and the two chieftains of Zhenxiong Longshi, who had been married to Sheshi for generations, Lu Yongchang killed his father, stepmother, and two sons born to his stepmother, and seized the position of chieftain of Dongchuan. Later, he followed Yongning Sheshi and Zhenxiong Longshi to submit to the David Kingdom. Although his father, stepmother, and two younger brothers were actually killed by the local soldiers of Sheshi and Longshi, it was considered as patricide to establish himself in the eyes of the outside world. In this era, loyalty and filial piety were the most important, and patricide was a serious crime. In addition, the Wei and Qing countries fought for years. In order to raise military supplies, the Wei army often asked the chieftains of Sichuan and Guizhou for money and food, which invisibly increased the burden on the people under the rule of the local government. On the surface, Lu Yongchang held the power of Dongchuan, and no one dared to disobey him, but secretly, undercurrents had already surged.

Lu Yongchang was not unaware of these, but his position as a prefect was conferred by David. Without David's support, he would not be able to keep his position. Therefore, although he knew that the increase in taxes would displease the people, he had to actively raise food and money to please David. This time, the general Xi Rimo led the main force to attack northern Sichuan, and was also worried that the Qing army would counterattack Sichuan and Guizhou, so he ordered the local chieftains to be careful. After receiving the military order, Lu Yongchang did not dare to neglect it. He organized all the men aged 14 to 60 in Dongchuan into an army, ordered his confidant Lu Hei'er to lead 3,000 soldiers to defend along the Jinsha River, and his eldest son Lu Yingzhong to lead 5,000 soldiers to garrison Ma'anshan south of the city, while he himself defended the city.

Wu Guogui and Gao Dejie, the chief and deputy vanguards of the Wu army, were both famous generals of the time. When Wu Guogui was outside the Great Wall, he followed Wu Sangui and participated in the battles against the peasant army, the Qing army and the Southern Ming army. He was also one of the executioners who executed Emperor Yongli. He was not only experienced in the battlefield but also cruel and ruthless. Gao Dejie was famous for his bravery and good fighting skills in the Wu army. The soldiers he led were all elite soldiers, and he often defeated the enemy with fewer troops in battle. The two were very cunning in fighting. They marched along the reeds on the banks of the Niulan River, avoided the sight of the Ma'anshan defenders, and went straight to the city of Huize, the capital of Dongchuan Prefecture.

"I've long heard that Wu Sangui is good at using troops, but I didn't expect him to be so cunning!" Lu Yongchang muttered to himself in shock when he heard that the Qing army was approaching the city.

"Don't worry, sir. If an enemy comes, we will fight him; if a flood comes, we will block it with earth. There are still thousands of soldiers in the city. If things really don't work, women can also help. We can rely on the strong city to defend and the Qing army will not be able to break through for a while." Yongchang's wife, She Guixiang, is a heroine. She holds two swords and generously asks for a fight.

"Yeah," encouraged by his wife, Lu Yongchang regained his composure, and organized the military and civilians to go up to the city and hold the city together with his second son Lu Yingyi and his confidant Lu Fu.

Wu Guogui was not in a hurry to attack the city, but ordered his men to surround the city and set up an ambush outside the city to wait for the local soldiers from Ma'anshan and Jinsha River to come back for help. The local soldiers fell into the trap and learned that his father was surrounded in the city. Lu Yingzhong hurriedly led his troops from Ma'anshan back to Huize City, but was ambushed outside the city and all 5,000 soldiers were wiped out. Lu Hei'er's troops on the Jinsha River suffered the same fate.

Wu Guogui was very proud of himself for wiping out the main force of the local soldiers outside the city without suffering too much loss. He ordered his men to send the bodies of Lu Yingzhong and Lu Hei'er into the city to persuade them to surrender.

Seeing the bodies of his eldest son and his beloved general, Lu Yongchang was momentarily distracted, and was hesitating whether to surrender to the Qing army. Suddenly, he heard a loud cry of killing in the city. It turned out that his three younger brothers, Yongsheng, Lu Yongbang, and Lu Yonggao, opened the city gates to surrender to the Qing army. Although these three brothers had the same father and mother as him, they had planted a knot in their hearts as early as the day of their father's murder, and they endured it until now. "It's urgent! Master, hurry up and rush out with me." In the crisis, She Guixiang came to him with two knives. Lu Yongchang nodded, and together with his second son Lu Yingyi and his general Lu Fu, they gathered hundreds of local soldiers to open the north gate and break out. Unfortunately, they met Gao Dejie, a fierce general of the Wu army. In less than an hour, the local soldiers were wiped out, and Lu Yongchang's family and his general Lu Fu were all killed in the army.
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Wu Sangui was delighted to hear that Wu Guogui and Gao Dejie had taken over the entire territory of Dongchuan in just three days. He ordered Wu and Gao Er to continue their eastward advance, and ordered Lu Yonggao to take his personal letter to Wumeng to persuade the local governor Lu Chengjue to surrender. Lu Yonggao was close to his sixth brother Lu Yongming, the son-in-law of Lu Chengjue, and had some friendship with Lu Chengjue.

As the ruler of Wumeng, Lu Chengjue was faced with a difficult choice. The Xuzhou Prefecture to the north of Wumeng and the Mahu Prefecture to the west were both Wei Tu. The two chieftains Zhenxiong and Wusa to the east had already surrendered to the Kingdom of David. Only Dongchuan to the south fell into the hands of the Qing army. Geographically, it was more advantageous to surrender to David. However, the main force of the Wei army had been transferred to northern Sichuan. With their own strength, they were no match for the world-famous King Pingxi. If they did not surrender to the Qing, they were afraid that their ancestral foundation would not be preserved! In desperation, he asked his two sons Lu Tiande and Lu Tianlun to discuss the matter.

"Ada (father), why don't you submit a surrender letter to Wu Sangui while writing letters to the general (referring to Xirimo) and Fuyuan (referring to Asumu, the governor of Sichuan Province of Weiguo) to explain that we only pretend to surrender to the Qing Dynasty because of our weak strength, and we will immediately turn against them once the imperial army fights back," Lu Tiande said slowly.

"Hey! De'er is experienced in his work, Ada can finally rest assured~" Lu Chengjue sighed, ordered his men to present a letter of surrender to Wu Sangui, and donated a large amount of silver and food as military supplies.

Wu Sangui had long known about Lu Chengjue's character. His target was Guiyang, and he was not very interested in Wumeng. After seeing the surrender letter and the money and food, he smiled slightly and ordered someone to write a reply letter with a warm tone, which was regarded as accepting the surrender of Wumeng Tusi.
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While Wu Sangui was communicating with the Tusi of Wumeng, a fierce battle was breaking out on the sea of ​​grass in Wusa (now Weining, Guizhou). An Zhongsheng, the Tu prefect of Wumeng, was the eldest son of An Kun, the envoy of Shuixi. Because his father was tragically killed by the Qing court, he was able to save his ancestors' family business in Wusa with the help of the guards. He was loyal to the Kingdom of David. Upon hearing that the Qing army was coming, he wrote letters to the governor of Guizhou Ren Jian, the governor of Sichuan Asumu, the Long family of Zhenxiong, the She family of Yongning, and the Lu family of Wumeng for rescue, while actively organizing troops to resist with his Mukui (tuanguan) Anwu and Anfu. An Zhongsheng's mother Lu Tianxiang was the daughter of the Tusi of Wumeng Lu Chengjue. In his opinion, with his mother's face, it was hard to say about other Tusi, but the Lu family of Wumeng would definitely send troops to help, but he didn't know that the Lu family of Wumeng had already surrendered to Wu Sangui!
The Wusa An clan is a branch of the Shuixi An clan. Although they suffered heavy losses in the Qing army's attacks on Shuixi and Wusa in previous years, the An clan is, after all, a great chieftaincy with hundreds of years of history. An Zhongsheng was still able to gather 15,000 Luoluo soldiers to defend Wusa.

"Damn it~" Looking at his subordinates who were defeated again, Gao Dejie cursed angrily and said to Wu Guogui: "Brother Wu, let me lead the elite soldiers to charge."

"I am aware of your bravery, my dear brother. But the terrain of Wusa is complicated and a forceful attack would cause heavy casualties. Let's wait for the artillery battalion to deliver the artillery," but Wu Guogui was unwilling to risk his subordinates' lives.

Soon, Wu Sangui's son-in-law Guo Zhuangtu arrived with cannons. More than a hundred cannons fired at the same time, shaking the sea of ​​grass. After three days of continuous bombardment, a large gap was finally opened in the Wumeng earthen city, and the Wu army rushed in. Mukui (native officials) Anwu, Anfu and others died in the battle. Seeing that the failure was irreversible, An Zhongsheng sighed and ordered people to light the dry firewood and dry grass that had been prepared in the earthen palace.

The fire was raging, and the An family chieftains who had ruled Shuixi and Wusa for hundreds of years became history in the torrent of time and space. (End of this chapter)