Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Are you sure that the King of Qi from Wei State only brought 5,000 cavalry to Xiangyang?" In the study of the palace in Jiangling City, Li Laiheng, the King of Jiangling of the Ming Dynasty, sat upright and listened carefully to the report of his subordinate general Wu Zhiqi.

"I sent people to find out clearly that the pseudo-King of Qi indeed only brought 5,000 cavalry. As soon as he entered Xiangyang, he claimed to attack Jingzhou. He ordered Hu Maozhen to lead 10,000 troops to move to Jinxiangping, and Yang Laijia to lead 10,000 troops to move to Zhanghekou. It seems that he intends to move south to Jiangling. Your Highness must be careful," Wu Zhiqi replied respectfully.

"How strange! I have deployed 80,000 troops in Jingzhou. Does the fake king think that he can capture Jiangling City with only 20,000 troops?" Li Laiheng frowned and asked, "Where is the fake king himself?"

"The False King of Qi did not go south and remained in Xiangyang City."

"It's even more bizarre! How can the commander stay behind when the army is on the march? Moreover, since ancient times, the military has used cunning tactics and the emphasis is on taking the enemy by surprise. How could he tell us in such a high-profile manner that he is coming to fight us? If this is the pseudo-king's first expedition, it would be fine, but this guy followed the pseudo-khan into the war when he was young, and he is considered a veteran on the battlefield. How could he act so stupidly?" Li Laiheng's sword-like brows were furrowed even deeper.

"A few days ago, the Qing court sent envoys to ask us for a passage. You let Qing troops from other provinces enter Shaanxi. Wei Ting must be angry. But they are busy besieging Shaanxi now and have no time to take care of Huguang. I think the pseudo-Khan sent the pseudo-King of Qi to Xiangyang just to bluff and intimidate us not to borrow the passage from the Qing," Wu Zhiqi said after thinking for a while.

"What you said makes a lot of sense," Li Laiheng nodded slightly.

"In that case, we don't have to pay any attention to the Xiangyang guards," Wu Zhiqi said with a smile.

"No, there is no trivial matter in war. Immediately send a message to all places, not only Jingzhou, but also other places to strengthen vigilance and guard against the attack of the guards," Li Laiheng said solemnly, and then sighed, "It seems that the plan to attack Baojingzhou has to be slowed down!"

Some time ago, he sent Duke of Jing Wang Guangxing to lead an army into Shizhou Wei, and successively subdued chieftains such as Shinan Tan, Sanmao Tan, Dongxiang Wulu Tan, Rongmei Tian, ​​Longzhang Tian, ​​Dawang Tian, ​​Gaoluo Tian, ​​Zhongdong Tian, ​​and Sangzhi Xiang, and completely controlled Shizhou Wei and the western part of Yuezhou; thereafter, he continued to put pressure on Yongshun Xuanwei Office, and finally succeeded in forcing Yongshun Xuanwei envoy Peng Hongshu to submit to the Ming Dynasty Regent King Han not long ago.

The surrender of the chieftain Yongshun Peng, who commanded "three prefectures, six chiefs, 58 banners, and 380 guilds", made the Ming Dynasty's rule in western Hubei more stable and also made the Yongshun Peng clan's Baojing Peng clan more isolated. However, Baojing Prefecture Xuanfu Envoy Peng Ding did not dare to surrender and only kept asking the Qing Dynasty for help.

The song "Youshui Boat Song" circulated in Baojing Prefecture goes like this: "Li Chuangwang, not on the way, the war burned Shashanbu" sings about the blood feud between Baojing Tusi and Dong. Back then, General Aerjin of Ningnan and King Gongshun Kong Youde led their army to Chenzhou. The Peng family of Yongshun and Baojing Peng family, who had been loyal to the Ming Dynasty for generations, surrendered to the Qing court under pressure. Later, the troops of Kong Youde, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao attacked Guangdong and Hunan and Guangxi. The Loyalty Camp was defeated and retreated from Qingyuan to western Hubei, passing through Baojing. In order to show his loyalty to the Qing court, Peng Chaozhu, the father of Peng Ding and the former envoy of Baojing Prefecture, mobilized the Tujia and Miao native soldiers of each flag under his command to fight day and night and fight tenaciously. The Qing army also sent troops to rescue. The two sides fought in Shashanbu. Gao Bizheng (Gao Yigong), the commander of the Loyalty Camp, was shot dead by the Peng family's ambush with poisonous arrows. The rest of the troops were led by Li Laiheng, the adopted son of Li Guo, to Kuidong. Peng Ding still remembers the scene of the day when Gao Bizhen was shot and killed. The You River was dyed red with blood, and there were corpses everywhere. How could he dare to surrender?

Hearing that Baojing Peng refused to surrender, Li Laiheng, who was already in his forties, remained calm. This situation was within his expectations. He was no longer the young man sixteen years ago, but the King of Jiangling of the Ming Dynasty and a mature politician. If Baojing Peng was willing to surrender, the past grievances would not be mentioned. If not, then let me avenge the loyal camp soldiers who died in Shashanbu!
So he ordered Jingguogong Wang Guangxing, general Deng Bingzhi and Yang Xun to lead 20,000 troops to station at Shiyaguan, intending to attack Baojing along Youxi. As an experienced politician, he wanted to capture Baojing Prefecture not just for revenge. Baojing and Yongshun, which are close to Shiqian and Youyang, have rugged terrain and can serve as a barrier for Yuezhou and Shizhou. In addition, the local people are tough and simple, and the local Tujia and Miao people are brave and fearless, making them excellent soldiers. If the two places can be controlled, the strength of Kuidong will be greatly enhanced.

After conquering Yongshun, the capture of Baojing was already imminent, but Weiguo intervened and showed signs of attacking Jingzhou. Regardless of whether it was true or false, it was not appropriate to use force against Baojing at the moment. "Your Highness is right. A gentleman's revenge is never too late, so spare the lives of Peng Chaozhu and Peng Ding for now. There will be a time for revenge in the future," Wu Zhiqi advised.

"Yeah," Li Laiheng nodded slightly.

The two were discussing this when a personal guard came to report, "Your Highness, Governor Mao wants to see you.

"Mao Duxian" refers to Mao Shoudeng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Chief Censor-in-Chief, who was sent by Emperor Yongli to Wang Guangxing's army as a military supervisor. After Emperor Yongli's death, this man tried his best to get close to Li Laiheng and was recommended by King Jiangling as the Governor-General of Huguang, who was actually in charge of Kuidong's foreign affairs.

"Oh, please come in," Li Laiheng seemed thoughtful when he heard Mao Shoudeng asking for a meeting.

"Greetings, Your Highness." As soon as they met, Mao Shoudeng paid his respects with great ceremony.

This satisfied Li Laiheng, and he asked with a smile, "Did the Wei State send someone here, Mr. Mao?"

"Your Highness is a real fortune teller! The Wei State's chief envoy Fu Yijian and deputy envoy Chen Tingjing led a delegation of 26 people to Jiangling," Mao Shoudeng said admiringly. He attached himself to Li Laiheng just for survival at first, but after getting to know him for a long time, he found that this man was not only good at fighting, but also good at governing. He cultivated land in the country and reduced the salt tax, which won the support of the people. A few days ago, he took advantage of the war between Qing and Wei to seize a large area of ​​territory. Under his rule, the Ming Dynasty gradually showed signs of revival, so he regarded him as a worthy lord and was willing to be driven by him.

"Recently, the Emperor Qianyuan of Wei sent his second son with 5,000 cavalry to Xiangyang. As soon as he arrived, he mobilized the Xiangyang troops with great fanfare and claimed that he would attack Jingzhou. Haha, if they really want to mobilize troops against us, how can 5,000 cavalry be enough? And why make such a big fuss? I think it must be for diplomatic pressure. Sure enough, the envoy of Wei is here," Li Laiheng stroked his beard with a little pride.

"Your Highness, you are very smart. I tested the bottom line of these two people before coming. These two people are openly trying to persuade us to surrender, but in fact, the Emperor of Weiguo blames us for borrowing the passage from the Qing Dynasty, so he sent these two people to put pressure on us." Mao Shoudeng said with a smile: "The envoy said that as long as the Regent and you are willing to surrender, you can still be a prince. What do you think?"

"Humph! I am a Han Chinese, how can I bow to the barbarians?" Li Laiheng said contemptuously: "The Emperor of Weiguo has a good plan. He hopes to send some troops to bluff us and send two envoys to talk to us and induce us to surrender. This is really absurd!" (End of this chapter)