Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Military report, our army has conquered Muce, Tangya, Longtan, Jindong, beheaded the pseudo-Ming general Yang Xun and the rebellious Jindong local official Tan Shiying, and Admiral Alinbao is leading his troops to Jianshi." King Qi, Mailas, who had just won the Battle of Jianshi, soon received another good news.

Chahar Admiral Alinbao and Deputy Chief An Bahai were ordered to lead 10,000 troops to attack the Ming army that had invaded the northwest corner of Shizhou Wei. When they reached the border between Gaoluo and Muce, they met the fleeing Muce chieftain Tian Jingguo. They learned that the Ming army was attacking Muce from Longtan and that the main force of Tian Jingguo's army had been annexed by Jindong chieftain Tan Shiying. Unable to resist, they had to flee to Gaoluo with their families.

"Admiral, please help me!" As soon as he saw Alinbao, Tian Jingguo burst into tears.

"The Ming army is attacking Mu Ce? So Longtan must be empty," A Linbao said to himself. He was too lazy to respond to the crying Tian Jingguo and asked him to lead the way to Longtan Anfusi. As expected, he easily annihilated the few defenders and occupied Longtan.

Upon hearing that Longtan had fallen, Yang Xun, the general of the Ming army, and Tan Shiying, the chieftain of Jindong, who were attacking Muce, joined forces to attack Longtan, fearing that their retreat would be cut off by the guards. At this time, Tan Shiying had been appointed as the pacification envoy of Jindong by Li Laiheng. After capturing Tangya and Longtan, he recruited troops and expanded his local soldiers to 7,000. Together with Yang Xun, they had a total of 12,000 soldiers. Although there were many new recruits, they were also hastily returned and were not well prepared.

As soon as the two armies engaged, the deputy commander of the Wei army, Chang'an Bahai, led 2,000 cavalrymen to attack the Jindong native soldiers. The new recruits among the Jindong native soldiers were quickly defeated, affecting the entire army. Alinbao took advantage of the situation and led his troops to attack. The Ming army was defeated and the main general Yang Xun was killed. The Wei army attacked Tangya and Jindong. Tan Shiying committed suicide in desperation. The chieftains who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, such as Tan Chengguo, the pacification envoy of Zhonglu, Tian Jing, the pacification envoy of Zhongxiao, and Tan Pingshan, the chief of Jiannan Chieftainship, changed their flags and returned to the embrace of the Great Kingdom.

After receiving the victory report, Mailas ordered Tan Hong, the son of Tan Zongyu, the Longtan pacification envoy and Tangya chief who was beheaded by the Ming army, to take charge of Tangya and Longtan. He also changed the native system in Jindong and demoted the rebellious Jindong chieftain Tan Shiying's clan to commoners as a punishment. Then he silently waited for Alinbao's tribe to come and join him.

"I am willing to lead the army across the river and directly attack Wushan," Alinbao asked the King of Qi as soon as he arrived in Jianshi.

"No, we are not going to Wushan, but to Badong," Melas excitedly pointed at the location of Badong on the map.

At Chenjiaba in Badong, Liu Tichun, the Duke of Wan in the Ming Dynasty, was fighting fiercely with the troops of Zheng Guoyin and Li Yingming, the deputy generals of the Wei army. After learning that the King of Qi had captured Shizhou and killed Wang Guangxing, Zheng and Li became more motivated and led more than 7,000 troops from Guizhou to counterattack Badong. Liu Tichun, who had long regarded Badong as his own territory, was busy leading his troops to resist, and naturally relaxed the defense of the rear.

The army of the King of Qi suddenly appeared behind Chenjiaba. Liu Tichun was a veteran of the Chuang army. Because of his bravery in battle, he was nicknamed "Two Tigers". Although he was caught off guard, he still resisted resolutely. The Ming army "relying on the dangers of the mountains, arranging camps and resisting layer by layer", but in the end, due to insufficient manpower and hasty preparation, the Wei army captured the key pass of Laomuzhi. In desperation, Liu Tichun had to lead the remnants to retreat hastily to Pingyangba, north of Badong River.

Zheng Guoyin, deputy general of Datong, lost Badong a few days ago. He wanted to redeem himself in front of His Royal Highness the King of Qi, so he led hundreds of small boats to take Pingyangba. After Liu's defeat, the army was in disarray, and his subordinates surrendered one after another when they saw the critical situation. Soon, only a few dozen guards were left around the dignified Duke of Wan.

"You all have families, you don't have to die with me." At the last moment, Liu Tichun dismissed his men, picked up the bowstring and came to his two daughters, "Don't blame Da (father) for being cruel, I would rather kill you than let you be humiliated by the barbarians! Go first, Da will follow soon." After that, he strangled the two girls with his own hands, and then ordered his wives and concubines to commit suicide. Pingyangba was filled with crying, and as the bodies fell one by one, it returned to calm.

"Hahaha~ It's my turn~" Liu Tichun laughed miserably, hung the bowstring on a tree, tied a knot, and hanged himself to death.

"Your Highness, the elders of Badong want to see you." After the unexpected attack on Badong, King Melas of Qi was in a good mood. When he heard that the people wanted to see him, he thought they were here to reward the army. He wanted to appease the people, so he ordered an audience.

Unexpectedly, these people came to plead for Liu Tichun, asking for a proper burial for his body. It turned out that Liu Tichun treated Badong as his own territory. In order to appease the people, he collected low taxes and treated the local people very well. Upon hearing the news of his death, the people of Badong were so sad that they shed tears.

"I never thought that a mere thief could be so popular among the people!" Melas sighed after hearing this and ordered to follow the will of the people and bury him with proper ceremony.
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After Jiangling King Li Laiheng withdrew to Wushan, he counted his troops and found that he still had more than 40,000 men. He stationed his central army on Baidi Mountain where Baidi City was located, with Fengjie to the west and Wushan to the east. He relied on the danger of Qutang Gorge and built solid fortifications, thinking that it was impregnable.

Unexpectedly, just after he had arranged the defense, he received a series of bad news. First, the generals Yang Xun and Qin Shiying, whom he had sent to Shizhou Wei, were killed in battle; then Badong was lost and Liu Tichun, the Duke of Anhui, hanged himself; the next news made him feel heartbroken: Xi Rimo, the general of the pseudo-Wei who conquered the south, captured Dachang and Daning, He Daoning, the Marquis of Fuping, surrendered, and Yuan Zongde was captured and died unyieldingly.

After the old general Xi Rimo of Wei State learned that Li Laiheng led the main force of the Ming army to the south to fight against the King of Qi, he joined forces with the 4,000 troops of Liao Lian'an, the deputy general of Yunyang who came from Fang County, and crossed the Daning River on August 23 to attack Dachang. The defender of Dachang, Yuan Zongdi, the Duke of Jingguo of the Ming Dynasty, fought desperately, but was eventually defeated due to being outnumbered and was forced to set fire to the houses and food in the city and retreat to Chayuanping.

Seeing the raging fire in Dachang City, the governor appointed by Emperor Yongli, Hong Yu'ao, brought several guards to rescue his old friend, Pan Yinglong, the eunuch who was also appointed by Emperor Yongli to supervise the army. Unexpectedly, when they entered Pan's house, they saw that the white-haired eunuch Pan had hanged himself. In desperation, he bowed to the corpse and left in tears.

After taking Dachang, Xi Rimo and Na Risong attacked Chayuanping in two directions. Although Yuan Zongde led his men to fight, they were outnumbered and more than 4,600 of them were killed or fell off cliffs. More than 2,000 were captured. They had no choice but to retreat to Bashiping. They were defeated again and had to move to Huangcaoping in Daning in the heavy snow to meet with Fuping Hou He Daoning's troops stationed in Daning. He Daoning, who was stationed in Daning, was so frightened when he saw Yuan Zongde's defeat that he surrendered the city to Xi Rimo.

His surrender put Yuan Zongdi's troops in a desperate situation. The guards came from all directions and surrounded Huangcaoping tightly. By September 6, Yuan Zongdi's men were less than a thousand. At the critical moment, the Duke of Jingguo found the governor Hong Yu'ao and said, "I am a warrior and I will die on the battlefield. You are a civil official, why don't you abandon the army and run away?" Hong Yu'ao glanced at Yuan Zongdi and replied calmly, "If the teacher dies, where will the general go!"

"The situation is over. Even if you stay and die, it will be of no use," Yuan Zongde sighed.

Hong Yu'ao replied with emotion: "I know the times, but there are those who do not seek rank or salary, cut their throats and open their stomachs, and die without seeing the world for eternity. Even a foster son can do that, let alone someone like Ao who is deciding the fate of life and death!"

The words of this civil official inspired Yuan Zongde, Duke of Jingguo of the Ming Dynasty, who led his subordinates in a desperate fight. Three days later, the entire Ming army was wiped out, and Yuan Zongde and Hong Yu'ao were exhausted and captured.

Upon learning that Yuan Zongde and Hong Yuao had been captured, Xi Rimo was overjoyed. These two were influential figures in the Kuidong army. If they could be persuaded to surrender, it would greatly shake the enemy's morale, so he personally went to persuade them to surrender.

"If you two are willing to surrender, I will report to the Ming court to confer high positions on you. What do you think?" The Wolf of Oirats smiled and asked kindly.

"Humph~" Yuan Zongdi snorted disdainfully and said nothing. Hong Yuao, on the other hand, kept talking, pointing at the wolf's head, and it was unclear what he was saying.

"What did that sour scholar say?" Xi Rimo didn't understand a word and asked Fang Yuxuan, the governor of Yunnan who was accompanying the expedition.

"Marshal, this man is arrogant and rude. He called you a barbarian, uneducated, and worse than a beast..." Fang Yuxuan was sweating as he translated.

"You are so shameless! How despicable!" The Wolf of Oirat was really angry and howled and ordered: "Kill these two people and throw their bodies into the Daning River."
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Hearing that Xirimo had captured Dachang and Daning, Mailas was overjoyed, as this meant that the encirclement of the Ming army had been formed. In order to prevent the enemy from breaking out, he ordered all units to build fortifications and encircle the Ming army on all sides. He also ordered Chahar Admiral Alinbao and Du Qianhuzhang Ada to lead the army to attack Fengjie fiercely. Fengjie's defender, Xingping Hou Dang Shousu, was defeated in repeated battles with the Wei army, and the situation was critical. Li Laiheng ordered the fierce general Yidu Hou Ta Tianbao to lead elite troops to help, but they were ambushed by the Wei army on the way and Ta Tianbao was shot and killed.

The deaths of Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi, Ta Tianbao and He Daoning's surrender triggered a chain reaction. Dang Shousu, who had been defeated in successive battles, was frightened and received letters of persuasion from the surrendered generals such as Ma Tengyun, Marquis of Tongcheng, He Daoning, Marquis of Fuping, and Ma Jinyu, the general, which shook his confidence and he surrendered the city.

After the fall of Fengjie, the Ming army became increasingly isolated. The guards attacked Baidicheng from three sides. Xirimo's troops were particularly brave and captured Jigong Mountain to the north of Baidicheng on September 29. Upon hearing that Jigong Mountain had fallen, Li Laiheng knew that Baidicheng could no longer be defended, so he ordered the entire army to retreat to Wushan. Wushan City was built on a mountain with a dangerous terrain. The guards attacked for fifteen days and nights, using various methods such as artillery bombardment, cards, ladders, and earthen mounds to attack the city. They also dug tunnels during the rain, but all failed.

On the evening of October 16, Li Laiheng took advantage of the unpreparedness of the guards and attacked the camp. In the fierce battle, the general of the Ming army, Suo Yanlong, holding an iron spear, led the way and rushed into the camp of Hu Maozhen's guards, killing Zhao Liang and Yang Mingfeng, the deputy generals of the guards. Upon hearing the news, Mailas urgently dispatched the general Zhong Jida and the deputy general Ma Zhilin to help, and only then did they stabilize the camp.

In retaliation for the Ming army's attack on the camp, Melas ordered a massive attack on the city regardless of casualties. "Warriors of David, you have fought countless battles and conquered many strong cities. Can a small city stop your horses? Go forward, warriors! Whoever can bring the head of Li Laiheng, King of Jiangling, to me will be promoted three levels, rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver, and 100 horses." In order to boost morale, His Royal Highness the King of Qi promised a generous reward.

"Haorui~Haorui~Haorui~" "Kill~Kill~Kill" Countless guards roared and attacked the city from all sides.

Although the defenders fought hard, they were outnumbered. On October 27, Wushan City was captured, and Xinhua Earl Feng Qifeng, General Suo Yanlong and Wu Zhiqi were all killed.

Li Laiheng led hundreds of his personal guards to retreat to the mountain stronghold inside the city. Although the defeat was inevitable, none of the loyal personal guards were willing to surrender. Looking at the endless enemies below the mountain, Li Laiheng sighed and said to his subordinates: "I am the King of Jiangling of the Ming Dynasty. I cannot be humiliated by the barbarians. Firewood has been prepared in the stronghold. You should quickly set fire to the stronghold. After the fire starts, you can all disperse and escape!"

"Your Highness~ Your Highness~" The guards cried. Most of them had received great favors from Li Laiheng and could not bear to set the fire.

"Do you want me to be insulted by the barbarians? Why don't you do it?" Li Laiheng shouted.

The subordinates cried and set fire to the village. The entire family of Li Laiheng, the King of Jiangling of the Ming Dynasty, turned into ashes in the billowing smoke. (End of this chapter)