Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Your Highness, after hearing that the Xiangyang garrison moved south to Jinxiangping and Zhanghekou, Jiangling King Li Laiheng transferred the troops of Anhui Duke Liu Tichun from Badong to Jiangling. Now that Badong is empty, I think we can send troops to attack it. This will cut off the shipping on the Yangtze River, making it difficult for the Ming army in Jiangling and Kuizhou to use the Yangtze River to connect with each other," the surrendered general Luo Maotong respectfully offered advice to Qi King Mailas.

In order to obtain the horse bones from Qianli Market, Mailas submitted a petition to the Wei court to retain Luo Maotong and Ma Jinyu, two former generals under Hao Yongzhong who surrendered to Wei, and to grant them the title of general. He also selected 8,000 elite soldiers from the surrendered troops and captives, and gave them 4,000 soldiers each. Unlike Ma Jinyu, who still cared about the friendship between them, Luo Maotong wanted to cling to the King of Qi and actively made plans for the new master. After all, he was "one of us" and was familiar with the situation in Kuidong, so he really came up with many good ideas.

"Great! Let you lead the way to attack Badong," Mailas was overjoyed. He ordered Asu Hussein to lead 10,000 cavalry and infantry and 8,000 surrendered soldiers from Luo Maotong and Ma Jinyu to capture Badong. He himself led nearly 40,000 main forces to attack Li Laiheng's old nest, Xingshan County and Maolushan.

The person guarding Xingshan County was Zhao Yun, the general of the Ming army. He had the same name as Zhao Yun in the Three Kingdoms period. He always regarded himself as Zhao Zilong of Xingshan, and his long spear made him a scene. Upon hearing that the Wei army was coming, he tried his best to mobilize the army and civilians to defend the city, regardless of the fact that he only had 4,000 soldiers and horses. Unexpectedly, before the war broke out, he received a military order from the mighty general Liu Rukui, ordering him to abandon Xingshan City and take all the people in the city to retreat to Maolu Mountain. The military order was like a mountain, so he had to send people to organize the people to retreat to the mountain with their families. Soon Xingshan became an empty city. When he got up the mountain, he saw Liu Rukui and asked angrily: "Xingshan is the base of King Jiangling. Why did you abandon it?"

Liu Rukui sighed, "The Wei army is powerful. His Highness the Regent and the father and son of Duke Yiguo all died for their country. Defending Xingshan County to the death is courting self-destruction. Relying on the rugged terrain of Maolu Mountain to deal with the Wei army and waiting for the army of King Jiangling to come to the rescue, there is a glimmer of hope. Moreover, King Jiangling's foundation is not the city, but the people of Xingshan. Moving the people to the village of Maolu Mountain can not only preserve King Jiangling's foundation, but also fortify the city and clear the fields to tire out the enemy army." Among the Kuidong righteous army, Li Laiheng's troops had the best military discipline, did not harm the people, and paid attention to people's livelihood. They often reduced taxes and provided relief to the poor, which won the hearts of the local people. That's why Liu Rukui said that King Jiangling's foundation was the people, not in Xingshan City.

Hearing that what he said made sense, Zhao Yun said in a bad mood, "General, you are wise," and said no more.

Mailas occupied Xingshan County without bloodshed, and soon received news that Asu Hussein had successively captured Badong, Changningso and Guizhou (Zigui). After Li Laiheng transferred the main force of Liu Tichun's troops, there were not many garrisons in these places, and they quickly fell into the hands of the Wei Army.

"Jiulianping on Maolushan was the former headquarters of Li Laiheng. I must capture Jiulianping and crush the enemy's morale." Mailas ordered arrogantly: "Send a message to Saihan to defend Guizhou and Badong at all costs and stop the Ming army from going north to rescue Maolushan."
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In the palace of Jiangling City, Li Laiheng frowned. After hearing the news of the fall of Fang County and the death of King Han and Hao Yongzhong, he realized that he had made two big mistakes: first, he misjudged that the Wei army would not launch a large-scale attack on Huguang; second, he misjudged that if the Wei army launched an attack, the focus of the attack would be Jiangling. He did not expect that the fake king was just bluffing at Jiangling, and the real target was Fang County and his old nest Xingshan.

"Alas! I never expected that the fake king would be so cunning!" He sighed slowly.

Just as he was feeling annoyed, Liu Tichun, the Duke of Wan, rushed in. As soon as he saw the outspoken old general, he shouted, "Little Tiger (Li Laiheng's nickname), the Wei invaders were disloyal and attacked Fang County. Jian Guo and Duke Yi were killed in the battle. Now the enemy has conquered Xingshan and Badong. Brother Liu is retreating to Maolushan and the situation is critical. We must send troops to rescue him as soon as possible." Badong was the territory of the old Duke Liu, so he had no choice but to be anxious.

"I have already dispatched Duke Jingguo and Marquis Fuping to gather troops in Wushan and go down the river to retake Badong. You can lead your troops up the river to retake Guizhou, and then go north to reinforce Maolushan after joining forces with Duke Jingguo and Marquis Fuping." Li Laiheng remained calm on the surface and gave the order calmly.

Yuan Zongdi, the Duke of Jingguo, was originally stationed in Dachang County, Kuizhou, and He Daoning, the Marquis of Fuping, was stationed in Daning County, Kuizhou. As the territory of the Kuidong Army expanded, Li Laiheng redistributed their garrisons and ordered Yuan Zongdi's troops to move to Yunyang, Fengjie, and Wushan, leaving Dachang to He Daoning. The two were very happy and became more supportive of King Jiangling. Now the situation is critical, Li Laiheng thought of them and ordered them to lead troops to reinforce immediately. Together, the two had about 25,000 soldiers and horses, and Liu Tichun's headquarters also had 15,000 people, which was equivalent to mobilizing 40,000 troops, but Liu Tichun was not satisfied, and asked with a pout: "Little Tiger, don't you lead the army to rescue Maolushan in person? Your subordinates are the main force of our army."

"No," Li Laiheng shook his head slowly, "I want to attack Xiangyang. The main force of the Wei army is gathered in Xingshan, Xiangyang must be empty, and it will be easier to conquer it. Moreover, Xiangyang is an important military town. When the false king hears that our army is heading north, he will definitely lift the siege of Maolushan and send reinforcements to Xiangyang. This is called besieging Wei to save Zhao," Li Laiheng said with a little pride, obviously very satisfied with his strategy.

"But the Wei army's Hu Maozhen's troops are stationed in Jinxiangping, and Yang Laijia's troops are stationed in Zhanghekou, blocking our army's way north to Xiangyang. These two are veteran generals, and this battle may not be easy to fight." Liu Tichun, a veteran of the Chuang army who was used to speaking casually to Li Laiheng, objected.

"It doesn't matter. Since there are powerful enemies blocking us along the Zhang River, we will cross the Yang River (Jian River) here," Li Laiheng highlighted the location of the new town on the map, "and go up along the Han River, first attack Zhongxiang and then Wuchang."

"Up along the Han River?" Liu Tichun was shocked. This route was long and vulnerable to attacks from the side and rear by the Wuchang Guards. Normally, no one would choose it. But because of this, the Guards did not deploy too many troops on this route.

The old Duke looked at Li Laiheng with admiration. The little tiger was going to take a risky move! Only he dared to command the battle in this way!

"I also know that it is easy to be attacked by the guards stationed in Wuchang if we go up the Han River. But Yuezhou reported that the fake Qin King has left Wuchang and headed towards Baling along the river. It is estimated that there are not many troops guarding Wuchang. If we can mobilize the fake Qin King to return to Wuchang, it will be worth it," Li Laiheng smiled.

"I will obey your orders," Liu Tichun solemnly accepted the orders after hearing this.

Li Laiheng ordered Feng Qifeng, the Earl of Xinhua, to stay in Jiangling, and personally led 65,000 troops to the Han River on September 8. As he expected, the guards in this area were weak, and the vanguard Ta Tianbao easily captured Xincheng Town on the west bank of the Han River, killed the guards of Xincheng Town, and then marched along the Han River to Zhongxiang, the capital of Chengtian Prefecture.

At this time, there were only 2,000 troops under the command of Lieutenant General Yan Zhu of the Guards in Zhongxiang City. Upon hearing the bad news, Yan Zhu was so frightened that he kept asking Yang Laijia and Hu Maozhen for help. (End of this chapter)