Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

In the bedroom of Emperor Zhenwu in Xi'an, the 35-year-old Aisin-Gioro Jidu was thinking about something with a worried look on his face. Although he was not very old, he had white hair on his temples.

"Your Majesty, let me sing you a little song," said Tong, the concubine, gently. After the fall of Beijing, Jidu's wives, concubines and sons were all captured by the guards. This Tong was from a branch of the old Tong family. Jidu married her after he became emperor. She gave birth to his sixth son, Kadalaku. One of the other five princes died young, and four were detained in Beijing. Kadalaku means "brave" in Manchu. Now that the Qing Dynasty was in danger, Emperor Zhenwu hoped that his son could bravely protect the country.

"With enemies all around me, how can I have the mood to listen to music?" Ji Du frowned and complained, but did not stop him.

The little tune was sung to the rhythm of the music, and it turned out to be a Jiangnan folk song. This kind of music was originally not allowed in the imperial palace, but Tong's father Wu Ge liked to listen to the music. Tong, who loved music since childhood, also learned some from the musicians at home. Seeing that her husband was sad, she wanted to sing a song to relieve his worries.

"Puff~ I didn't expect that my wife had such talent. She plays and sings better than the musicians in the palace." Ji Du was happy, but only for a short while. His face was full of dark clouds again. "Huilan is besieged in Yan'an, and Li Guoying is besieged in Hanzhong. I don't know how long the happy days can last?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Prince Qingyang will definitely bring a large army to protect you," Tong quickly comforted her husband.

When she mentioned that Prince Qingyang had gone to the camp, Jidu's face finally brightened. However, he was soon shocked by a shocking piece of bad news. Fu Kachan, the Angbang official, and Zhang Zide, the governor of Shaanxi, reported that the Wei army had annihilated the army of Prince Zhong Huilan and was heading towards Xi'an, successively conquering Zhongbu and Yijun counties. How could this be possible? The hundreds of thousands of troops commanded by my fifth brother were the main force of the Qing Dynasty. If they were completely annihilated, how could I defend Xi'an?
As if to dispel his doubts, the pseudo-Khan sent an envoy to Xi'an, not only to persuade him to surrender, but also to deliver the head of his fifth brother in a wooden box. Looking at the bloody head of Prince Zhong Huilan, Ji Du was overwhelmed with grief. He did not even look at the letter of persuasion to surrender, but ordered the envoy to be dragged out and hacked to death.

Killing the envoy to show his determination could not change the crisis. Another news came that the Wei army conquered Nanzheng and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Li Guoying, died for his country. Li Guoying was still loyal to the Qing Dynasty. Although his generals Cao Chunzhong, Liu Hanchen, Xu Xueyi, Yang Bingyin and others surrendered to the Wei army, he himself held on to Hanzhong and refused to surrender until the city was broken and he died. Ji Du sighed and issued an order to posthumously confer the title of Loyal and Brave County King on Li Guoying.

It seemed that the heavens had not brought enough suffering to the emperor, and the news came again: the puppet Khan's army continued to move south, captured Jinsuoguan and Tongguan County, and then followed Qishui to conquer Yaozhou and Fuping. Du Min, the Manchu general of the Bordered Red Banner, fought repeatedly despite repeated defeats. In the Battle of Fuping, he led 500 cavalrymen to rush into the Wei army's formation and repeatedly attacked, killing Li Haoxian, the general of the Wei army's Taiyuan Town, but was ultimately outnumbered and the entire army was trapped in the formation; Xihe Gong and Shaanxi Governor Zhang Zide were unfortunately killed by stray arrows during the retreat; Angbang Zhangjing Fu Kachan and Gushan Ezhen Suohong had to retreat to Sanyuan. Emergency military reports came like snowflakes.

Ji Du looked ashen, and he issued an order to posthumously confer the title of Jingyang County Prince on Zhang Zide and the title of Gaoling Duke on Du Min. Then, reinforcements were needed. But except for his own 20,000-odd troops, the rest of the troops in Xi'an were not able to fight, so where could there be extra reinforcements? He gritted his teeth and decided to lead the army himself. To make up for the shortage of troops, he ordered all men aged 13 to 70 and healthy women aged 18 to 50 in Xi'an to join the army.

Before the army set out, the damned King of Qi led his army across the Zhongnan Mountains (Qinling Mountains) from Ziwu Valley and entered the southwest of Xi'an Prefecture. The most infuriating thing was that the local officials of Gongchang and Fengxiang surrendered without firing a single shot, leaving only Xi'an Prefecture under the control of the Qing Dynasty. If he left Xi'an, what would he do if the King of Qi took advantage of the opportunity to seize the city? Emperor Zhenwu was worried and summoned his ministers to discuss.

"Your Majesty, the only solution now is to transfer all the nearby troops to Xi'an. Xi'an has high walls, deep moats, and sufficient food and grass, which is enough to hold out until the army of King Qingyang arrives," said Zhou Tianyi, Earl of Jingzhou and Left Governor of Shaanxi.

"Well, pass on the imperial edict, immediately transfer the garrison troops from all places to defend the city," Emperor Zhenwu became alert.

"Your Majesty, I captured dozens of officials' servants while patrolling the city, and found 29 letters of surrender," the guard commander Lai Da suddenly presented a pile of letters.

As soon as these words were spoken, the hall fell silent.

"Letter of surrender?" Ji Du sneered, took it and opened it, then read out the names one by one. Seeing that most of them were ordinary officials, and there were no important officials in the court, his face looked better. After reading out more than a dozen names in a row, he suddenly froze, stared at Xiao Shiyan, the Earl of Shangzhou and the Right Governor of Shaanxi, and asked gloomily: "Xiao Qing, have you betrayed me too?"

Xiao Shiyan was so frightened that he broke out in a sweat and knelt on the ground wailing: "I was foolish for a moment and failed the emperor's kindness. I beg the emperor to have mercy on me~"

"Show me mercy? If I spare you, what will happen if all the other officials follow your example and become disloyal and unrighteous?" Emperor Zhenwu waved his hand and ordered Lai Da, "Drag this traitor away and execute his entire family!"

"Huh~" Lai Da dragged the deathly pale Xiao Shiyan out of the hall.
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Angbang Zhangjing Fu Kachan, Gushan Ezhen Suohong and nearby garrisons retreated into Xi'an. Together with the existing garrisons in the city, the total number of troops was about 60,000. Emperor Zhenwu also forcibly recruited all the adult men and women who could hold swords and guns in Xi'an, the yamen runners of various government offices, and the young and strong Han people in the city to join the army, and finally gathered a "hundred-thousand-strong army". Outside the city, Lianhua Great Khan and Qi Wang Mailas successfully joined forces. The two armies had more than 260,000 people and surrounded Xi'an. Seeing the enemy's overwhelming force, Jidu felt as if a heavy mountain was pressing down on his heart.

He was under a lot of pressure, but Lotus Khan was not. He took his adviser Hu Lianqi to happily enjoy the scenery, no, observe the enemy situation.

"Your Majesty, this gate is the Anyuan Gate. It has been used to welcome guests since the Tang Dynasty and is known as the 'No. 1 Gate in the World'," Hu Lianqi pointed to the Anyuan Gate and introduced it.

"Anyuan Gate?" Sultan naturally knew what the word "Anyuan" meant. It represented the policy of appeasement and conciliation adopted by the Han court in the Central Plains towards remote ethnic minorities, hoping that the remote ethnic minorities would be grateful and submit to the Han court.

"Haha, the best gate in the world?" The arrogant Khan was touched by the word "Anyuan". Although he was a time traveler, he was a Mongolian since his mother's womb, so he was naturally the "far" that the Han people wanted to be "safe". He raised his whip, pointed at Anyuan Gate and ordered: "At most ten days, I want to enjoy the scenery at the best gate in the world!"

The Khan's words were military orders. 260,000 guards surrounded the walls of Xi'an and attacked from all sides, especially outside Anyuan Gate. They gathered heavy troops and ignored casualties. One group fell and another group came. In just seven days, the guards captured Anyuan Gate and rushed in. The defending general Suo Hong died on the top of the city. Afterwards, the guards captured Mancheng in the northeast corner of Xi'an. Because of the heavy casualties in the attack on Mancheng, the angry Khan ordered the massacre of all the people in Mancheng.

The brutal massacre frightened Zhou Tianyi, the Earl of Jingzhou in Qing and the Left Governor of Shaanxi, so much so that he knelt down tremblingly before the Great Khan and begged for surrender.

The Great Khan had never been interested in killing such spineless scholars. He comforted him with a smile and said, "I will kill those who are stubborn and unyielding. Don't be surprised, Mr. Zhou..."

The final battle took place in the Xi'an Imperial Palace. The commander of the imperial guards, Lai Da, led the Zhenwu Emperor's guards to put up a final resistance. Although they were outnumbered, they held out for seven days.

"Your Majesty, I have tried my best, but I am afraid I cannot hold on for much longer," Lai Da knelt respectfully in front of Ji Du and made his final report.

Ji Du understood that Lai Da was reminding him that the palace was about to be captured, and as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he must not be a prisoner of the enemy. He laughed bitterly and said slowly: "Please hold on for another incense stick of time."

"Yeah~" Lai Da knelt down and accepted the order.

Emperor Zhenwu came to his concubine Tong, his eyes filled with tears, and said, "Concubine, I am leaving, and you and my son should follow me."

"Please let me sing another song for the emperor," Tong hugged Kadalaku and hummed a Jiangnan folk song.

"Set fire!" Emperor Zhenwu ordered the guards to set the fire, while he sat quietly beside the woman and child.

The raging fire dyed the palace red! Seeing the fire in the bedroom, Lai Da and a group of guards bowed towards the bedroom and then committed suicide.

On February 1668, , the city of Xi'an was captured, and the Qing dynasty came to an end. (End of this chapter)