Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

In the prefectural mansion of Pudingwei in Anshun Prefecture, the sixty-year-old Wu Sangui sat majestically, patiently listening to his trusted adviser Fang Guangchen reporting the battle situation to him, and his expression became more and more amiable the more he listened. Taking advantage of the battle between Wei and Qing, he led his army to the north and gained a lot of advantages. His second son Wu Yingqi led a small army to attack Sichuan, forcing the guards of Jianchangwei into the Daliang Mountain area; the main force led by himself not only controlled Dongchuan, Wumeng, and Wusa, but also captured Guiyang, forcing the Weiguo Guizhou Governor Ren Jian to hide in the territory of Jinzhu Tusi Wang Yingzhao. After that, he took Jinzhu, and the old man Ren fled to Anshun Prefecture. Now that he has taken Anshun Prefecture, where will this old man flee?
"Your Highness, according to the confessions of the captured Wei army prisoners, the pseudo-Wei Guizhou governor Ren Xun, the general Danbadarjijie, the Anshun Prefecture Langdai envoy Long Anfan, the Guangshun Prefecture Jinzhu pacification envoy Wang Yingzhao and others have fled to Zhenning Prefecture Kangzuo Si," Fang Guangchen said slowly.

"Tingxian (Fang Guangchen's pen name) what do you think that old man Ren Zhen is trying to do by fleeing to Kangzuo?" Wu Sangui frowned and asked. Ren Zhen was originally a Ming official. He first attached himself to Sun Kewang and helped him usurp the throne. Later, he surrendered to the Wei Dynasty and worked for the Wei lord. He surrendered many times and his reputation was not very good. Who would have thought that now he was loyal and would rather be chased all over Guizhou than surrender. His army was tied down in Guizhou and could not continue to move north. It was really annoying!

"I thought Ren Xun wanted to go to Annanwei City. After all, there are still some soldiers in Annanwei and Pu'anzhouwei Army," Fang Guangchen said after thinking for a moment.

"Hmm," Wu Sangui looked at another strategist, Liu Maoxia, and asked, "What do you think, Xuanchu?"

"A few days ago, you sent Zhao Duxian to attack Pu'an Prefecture. Zhao Duxian is good at using troops and has just received reinforcements. The guards of Pu'an Prefecture and Annan Guard can hardly protect themselves, so how can they be relied upon? In my opinion, Ren Zhen is likely to go from Kangzuo to Dingfan Prefecture to seek the protection of Long Guorui, the local official of Bafan (Buyi ethnic group)," Liu Maoxia expressed his opinion.

"Your Highness! Governor Zhao has a good news!" Pudingwei was an evil place. As soon as everyone started talking about the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, Zhao Tingchen, Wu Sangui's son-in-law, Xia Guoxiang, came with the good news about Zhao Tingchen.

Zhao Yanchen was kind and gentle to his subordinates on the outside, and was nicknamed "Zhao Fo". In fact, he was cruel and ruthless, and he was quite good at leading troops in battle. After receiving Wu Sangui's order to attack Pu'an Prefecture, he immediately mobilized more than 15,000 Qing troops with his own Du Biao as the main force to launch a fierce attack. At the beginning, they were stubbornly resisted by Wang Mingchi, the deputy general of the Wei Army stationed in Annan Weicheng, and Long Jizhao, the local governor of Pu'an Prefecture, and the two sides were evenly matched. But soon Wu Sangui sent Yu Youde, the deputy general of the left camp under the command of Li Benshen, the governor of Guizhou, to lead 5,000 troops to reinforce. After receiving the reinforcements, the morale of the Qing army was greatly boosted, and the situation on the battlefield was completely different.

Zhao Yanchen ordered Wang Kejiu, deputy general of Pianqiao, to lead his army to pretend to be defeated at Pingyi. Deputy general Yu Youde and Lieutenant General Zhao Kexiu of the Central Army led their troops to ambush on both sides of Pingyi. Wang Mingchi and Long Jizhao did not know it was a trick. Seeing Wang Kejiu's defeat, they led their troops to chase him. They were ambushed and defeated. Long Jizhao's chieftains Long Jizuo and Long Jixiang were killed in the battle. Wang and Long had no choice but to lead their troops to flee to Annanwei. However, "Zhao Fo" refused to show mercy and led his men to chase them. They defeated the Wei army again and killed Wang Mingchi, deputy general of the Wei army, and Wen Yuan and Hu Shichang, generals of Long Jizhao. Long Jizhao was shocked and fled to Muyi with his army. Yu Youde, a Qing general, led thousands of troops to chase him. Fortunately, Kuang Rong, a general of Long Jizhao, was very brave. He killed Li Dengkui, a thousand commander of the Qing army, when he was guarding the rear, so that Long Jizhao could escape to Kangzuosi.

After hearing the news that Long Jizhao had fled to Kangzuo, "Zhao Fo" showed his ruthless side again and ordered the massacre of the two chieftain families, Muryili and Du, who had hosted Long Jizhao, and also beheaded more than 5,000 captured Wang Mingchi and Long Jizhao's subordinates. When the news spread, the chieftains in southwestern Guizhou were terrified. Ningguzhai Chief Gu Weicheng, Xibao Chief Sha Yuqi, and Deputy Chief Wen Jiegui surrendered to Wu Jun, and others consciously kept their distance from the Wei Army. As a result, Ren Zhen received much less support.

"Great! It seems that the only way left for Old Man Ren is to flee to Dingfan Prefecture. But I have heard that the Eighth Army soldiers are always brave. If we attack Dingfan Prefecture, I am afraid that many soldiers will be lost. Can we persuade them to surrender?" Wu Sangui was happy at first, but then he became worried after mentioning the Eighth Army soldiers.

The so-called Eight Fan refers to the Buyi people living in southern Guizhou. The Buyi people originated from the "Baiyue". Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, they were called "Pu Yue" and "Pu Yi". In the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Six Dynasties, they were called "Liao". In the Tang and Song Dynasties, they were called "Fan Man". In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, they were called "Eight Fan" and "Yi people". The reason why they are called "Eight Fan" is that there are eight big surnames of the Buyi people in Guizhou, namely Long, Fang, Shi, Cheng, Wei, Hong, Lu and Zhang. Nowadays, except for the weak Zhang family, the other seven surnames are still quite powerful. Don't look at the low rank of these chieftains, they are just six-rank chief officials, but together they have more than 100,000 people and can fully mobilize more than 20,000 troops. Moreover, these local soldiers who grew up in the mountains are famous for not fearing death in battle. The Wu army, which has been chasing the Wei army in the mountains these days, has suffered a lot from the Miao and Yi local soldiers. Therefore, Wu Sangui became wary after hearing that the eight local soldiers were brave and good at fighting.

"Although the eight chieftains are all from the Yi people, they belong to different surnames. I think they can be divided and disintegrated," Liu Maoxya smiled and offered advice to his lord, "The eight chieftains are nominally headed by Cheng chieftain Cheng Minxin, but the Long chieftain has the greatest power. The Wolong chieftain Long Guorui, the Dalong chieftain Long Dengyun, and the Xiaolong chieftain Long Zhengfei are of the same clan as the escaped Long Jizhao, and they are difficult to win over; the Cheng chieftains have always been at odds with the Long chieftains, so we should actively win over Cheng chieftain Cheng Minxin and Xiaocheng chieftain Cheng Dengyun; the rest of the Shangmaqiao Fang chieftains, such as Guan Zhenggang, Jinshi chieftain Shi Ruyu, Wei Zhang, Hong Guozhao, and Lu Dayong, can all be won over."

"Xuanchu's plan is very good!" Wu Sangui thought for a while and said, "The territory of Ninggu Village Chief Gu Weicheng is close to the Eighth Army, and they have some friendship with each other, so I ordered him to write a letter to persuade them to surrender. Although the Long clan officials of the three divisions of Wolong, Dalong and Xiaolong are of the same clan as Long Jizhao, they can also write letters to persuade them to surrender. Even if it is Ren Laor and Long Jizhao, if they are willing to surrender, I will not hold them accountable. 'The sea accommodates all rivers, and tolerance makes it great'!"

"Your Highness has a broad mind and will surely accomplish great things!" Everyone was impressed by Wu Sangui's words. Only Wu Sangui knew that although the Northern Expedition had achieved brilliant results and captured most of Guizhou and southwestern Sichuan, fighting in the mountainous areas was not only laborious, but also consumed a lot of food and money. If it dragged on, the old soldiers would probably be exhausted. If the enemy could be persuaded to surrender, it would be great!
"Your Highness, I think the most important thing at the moment is not to encircle and wipe out the remnants of the Ming army in Guizhou, but to send Ma Bao and Li Rubi to continue north to control Zunyi. Zunyi is a barrier to guard Guiyang, and can also be used as a stronghold to seize Shu in the future. How can its importance be ignored?" Liu Maoxia offered another plan.

"Haha~" Fang Guangchen smiled and waved his feather fan, "Xuanchu and I have the same idea. Wen Ruzhen, the magistrate of Meitan, and I are old acquaintances. I have written a letter to persuade him to surrender. According to Wen Ruzhen, he has already contacted He Shihong, the native official of Yanmen in Huangpingzhou, Zhang Weizhen, the native official of Chong'an, and Feng Shitai, the native official of Langcheng, and they are waiting for the arrival of the army to rise up and welcome General Wang. There is no time to lose, please ask Your Highness to immediately order Generals Ma and Li to march to Zunyi!" (End of this chapter)