Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

After Li Haoxian surrendered the city to the Wei army, the Wei army took advantage of the situation and went around Taiyuan to the rear of Mengshan to launch an attack, defeating the unsuspecting Chahatai army. In desperation, Chahatai fled back to the city with only 5,000 defeated soldiers.

"Li Haoxian surrendered Taiyuan City to Wei?" Dasu and Bai Rumei were staring at Chahatai, the Manchu Melezhangjing of the Bordered Red Banner who had escaped from Mengshan, in shock. They did not expect that even Li Haoxian, the general of Taiyuan Town who had joined the Han Army Banner a long time ago and received great favors from the country, surrendered to Wei. Has the Qing Dynasty really declined to such an extent?

After a long time, Dasu calmed down and shouted: "Everyone has their own aspirations and cannot be forced. There is no need to pay attention to Li Haoxian's surrender to Wei. Let's just discuss how to defend Yangqu."

"What the Marshal said is right. I think we should immediately conscript all the postmen, yamen runners and all males aged between 14 and 60 in Yangqu City to help defend the city," Bai Rumei followed up.

"We also need to prepare more rolling logs, stones, gold soup, kerosene and other items, and arrange soldiers to patrol every day to prevent spies," Chahatai suggested.

As military orders were issued one after another, Yangqu, the capital of Taiyuan Prefecture, quickly entered a wartime state. All adult men were conscripted to help defend the city, especially the "Mancheng" located in the southwest corner of Taiyuan City. Not only adult men but also adult women were forced to fight in the city. After several twists and turns, there were actually "80,000 troops" in the city.

The Great Khan Lianhua led his army to the city of Yangqu without any hurry. The 170,000-man army, together with Li Haoxian's 10,000 surrendered troops and more than 20,000 Qing prisoners, had a force of more than 200,000, with flags covering the sky and a huge momentum. At this time, Liang Guogong Barsi and Baili Gong Suhe had led their troops to conquer Qinzhou, Fenzhou and Yongningzhou, and arrived at the eastern foot of Luliang Mountain, cutting off the connection between Yangqu City and Shaanxi; Lu Guogong Erke led his troops south from Huangyu Pass, captured Liaozhou, Lu'an Prefecture and Zezhou, and attacked Pingyang Prefecture occupied by the Qing army. The Pingyang defender Meilezhangjing Dardu was defeated in many battles and had to retreat to the west bank of the Fen River. Upon hearing the news, Jidu urgently dispatched 12,000 troops from Gao Bichang, the deputy general of the Yan'an Camp, to aid Pingyang, and the two sides confronted each other on both sides of the Fen River.

When the news reached Yangqu, Sultan could not help but smile and ordered Bars and Suhe to station troops in the Luliang Mountains to prevent the Qing army from coming to Linxian County to provide assistance. He also ordered Erke to bluff in Hongdong, Linfen, Quwo and other cities on the east bank of the Fen River, pretending to cross the Fen River into Shaanxi. Then he arranged for the siege. He always cherished the lives of his own soldiers, and ordered the surrendered general Li Haoxian to urge the 10,000 troops and more than 20,000 prisoners captured in the Battle of Hutuo River to take the lead in the attack.

"Boom~Boom~Boom~" The continuous artillery sound had just stopped, and more than 30,000 cannon fodder, no, surrendered troops launched an attack on Yangqu City amid the sound of passionate war drums.

As a newly surrendered general, Li Haoxian was eager to gain a foothold in David's court by making military achievements, so he personally led the supervision team to supervise the battle. However, after all, the combat effectiveness of the surrendered soldiers and prisoners of war was not strong. Although there were only 20,000 real combat soldiers in the "80,000 troops" in the city, the remaining 60,000 were all recruited soldiers and civilians, but they were still able to defend the city with a strong defense. After half a month, more than 20,000 prisoners of war were exhausted, and Li Haoxian's own troops also lost four rank, but they still failed to climb the top of Yangqu City.

Seeing that Li Haoxian's troops had suffered heavy casualties and were unable to fight again, the God of War Weilat finally showed mercy and ordered Li's troops to rest and replace them with the surrendered troops led by Admiral Yang Jie, Deputy General Ke Yongzhen, and Zhong Jida to attack the city. These troops surrendered earlier and were much better equipped and trained than Li Haoxian's troops. They soon put pressure on the city. The Wei troops attacked the city wall several times and were driven down by the defenders several times.

"It's very cold today and the ground is frozen. Water will turn into ice when poured. Why don't you order people to fetch water and pour water over the city? Ice is very slippery. Firstly, it will be difficult for the guards to climb the city. Secondly, it can defend against artillery fire." Shanxi Governor Bai Rumei offered a brilliant plan.

"What Bai Fuyuan said is right, let's do it this way," Dasu happily obeyed. The Qing army acted according to the plan, which indeed caused great inconvenience to the guards who climbed the city for a while, but it could not change the situation where the two sides had a huge disparity in strength and combat effectiveness. Seeing that the strong attack was ineffective, Sultan ordered the artillery to load shotgun shells and shoot at the city. He sent out small troops every day for feint attacks, and carefully selected 30,000 archers with excellent archery skills, in groups of three or five, and took turns approaching the city wall to snipe and kill the defenders, causing huge casualties to the defenders.

Three months passed in a blink of an eye. Spring came and the ice melted. The situation in the city was precarious. Not only were there only 40,000 troops left out of the original "80,000 strong" but the huge casualties had caused low morale and the air was filled with the smell of death.

"Our army has been delayed at the city of Yangqu for three months. We have been resting for nearly two months and have not fought any hard battles. Now that spring has arrived and the flowers are blooming, if we don't capture the city, I'm afraid people all over the world will laugh at our incompetence!" Inside the guard army's tent, Great Khan Lianhua kicked off the general offensive with a joke.

"I am willing to capture the city for the Khan~" "I am willing to die for Your Majesty~" The generals' calls for battle in the tent were deafening.

"Okay! At the beginning of the morning of tomorrow (five in the morning), the entire army will launch a fierce attack. Sumur will attack the east city, Mailas will attack the south city, Ergalan will attack the west city, Biligenda will attack the north city, Mandulatu, Urgendale, Orros, and Sonomceling will each lead their troops to patrol the four city walls to prevent the enemies in the city from escaping. Enhe Batu and Shilabu will guard the central army. When the war drum sounds, all generals must march forward bravely. Whoever loses face for our army will be killed without mercy!" Sultan's words seemed to be a joke, but the princes and generals who were familiar with the nature of dragons knew that the Supreme was not talking nonsense. Those who flinched in battle would never escape military law. They all held their heads high and obeyed the order loudly.

On April 1666, , the Wei army launched a general attack on Chaoyangqu City. The siege troops were mainly well-equipped imperial guards, and they fought fiercely, repelling wave after wave. On the first day alone, they attacked the city wall several times. After three days of fierce fighting, the city fell. Melezhang Jing Chahatai was beheaded by Liao Wang Sumur, Dasu died in the chaos, and Bai Rumei hanged herself in despair.

After the city was captured, the Great Khan counted the troops and found that not only did he lose 24,000 surrendered soldiers and prisoners of war from Li Haoxian's army, but also 20,000 of his own 170,000 troops were killed or wounded, which was a heavy loss. In order to maintain the army's combat effectiveness, he ordered the army to rest in the city for ten days before sending troops to attack Shaanxi.

During the rest period, he suddenly received news that Wu Sangui's army went north to capture Guiyang, and Shang Kexi ordered his eldest son Shang Zhixin to lead 15,000 troops to reinforce Huguang and arrive in Changsha. Wu's army went northward, which was expected by Sultan. However, after hearing the news that Guiyang had fallen, the god of war was still very angry. He secretly made a small account to the Prince of Pingxi. This beast dared to touch my tiger's beard, and he must be killed! However, the news about the Guangdong army was somewhat intriguing. When Shang Zhixin led his army from Nanxiong to Ganzhou, he was actually obstructed by Hu Qitai, the general of Nan Gan Town, and was released after a long negotiation. This shows that Hu Qitai did not join the King of Pingnan. If he dared to obstruct Shang's army, he must have relied on something. Who did he join? After thinking about it, the Supreme Master made another small account to the Prince of Pingxi.

These did not move Sultan. What really made him change color was the news from Kuidong: Qing Admiral Shen Yongxing, Gushan Ezhen Wang Guoguang, General Du Yonghe, Cangling Yatali, Guerrilla Zhao Ju and other generals led 30,000 troops to arrive in Shaanxi via Kuidong to reinforce Jidu. Shen Yongxing was the younger brother of Xu Shungong Shen Yongzhong stationed in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. Although Wang Guoguang had a Han surname, he was actually a Jurchen. He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with his father Wang Yiping very early. He was a Han army Zhenghongqi Gushan Ezhen stationed in Nanjing. Du Yonghe was originally a general under Li Chengdong. After surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, he was assigned to the command of Li Lutai, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and was sent to Shaanxi by Li Lutai. Yatali was a Manchu Cangling stationed in Hangzhou, and Zhao Ju was a subordinate of Jingnan Wang Geng Jimao.

What was important to the Great Khan was not the mere 30,000 troops, but the intention of the small Southern Ming court in Kuidong to let the Qing troops from other provinces enter Shaanxi. He was busy encircling and annihilating the Qing troops in Shaanxi. How should he deal with the unfriendly behavior of the "allies" in Kuidong? Should he fight or not? The Great Khan Lianhua fell into deep thought. (End of this chapter)