Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

While Ma Bao and others were fighting in Zunyi, Wu Sangui, the King of Pingxi, was planning a big event in Zunyi. He had just received the news that the Wei army had broken through Xi'an and the Qing Zhenwu Emperor Jidu had passed away. The Manchurian state seemed to be over, but where should he go? The civil and military officials under him all believed that this was a good opportunity to restore the Han Dynasty, but there were two factions on how to restore it: one faction, led by Wu Yingqi and Liu Maoxia, believed that the descendants of the old Zhu family should be supported to win over the people in the name of the Ming Dynasty; the other faction, led by Fang Guangchen and Hu Guozhu, believed that Emperor Yongli died at the hands of Wu Sangui, and even if he supported the Ming Dynasty royal family, the world would not believe it, so it would be better to establish himself as emperor, which would be more open.

Just as he was struggling, two military reports arrived: one was that Ma Bao occupied Zunyi and was in a stalemate with the Wei army at Loushan Pass; the other was that Guizhou Admiral Li Benshen, General Wu Guogui, Xia Guoxiang, and Gao Dejie led troops to attack Bafan and killed Long Guorui, the chief of Wolong Fan, Long Dengyun, the chief of Dalong Fan, Shi Ruyu, the chief of Jinshi Fan, Long Guorui's son Long Yitu, Long Dengyun's son Long Feihan, Shi Ruyu's son Shi Wannian, Xiaolong Fan chief Long Zhengfei, Hong Fan chief Hong Guozhao, and Lu Fan chief Lu Dayong, who led the remnants of the defeated army to flee to Maxiang and met with the pseudo-Wei governor Ren Zhen and admiral Danbadarjijie.

After reading these two reports, Wu Sangui was quite proud. He ordered General Wu Zhimao and Deputy General Ke Duo to lead 10,000 troops to reinforce Ma Bao, and ordered Li Benshen to continue to encircle and suppress the remaining Wei troops in Guizhou. At the same time, he urgently summoned his two sons-in-law, Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu, back to Zunyi for discussion. Among the six sons-in-law, Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu were both civil and military, Guo Zhuangtu was talented in governance, Wei Pu was brave in combat, and the other two were mediocre and could not be used for important tasks. At this moment, he recalled the two sons-in-law he valued the most, naturally to discuss how to seize the world, no, to restore the Han Dynasty.
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"Yanzhai, how will you respond when His Highness summons you?" In Zunyi City, Liu Maoxia asked with a smile the old man in front of him who was already in his sixties but still had a handsome demeanor.

This person is Li Changxiang, an old minister of the Lu Regent, the Right Censor-in-Chief and the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. He was born in a family of officials and gentry, and was born with a heroic spirit and liked to talk about military affairs. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he led the people to resist the Qing Dynasty with Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Huangyan and others. He was defeated and stood up again and again, and was indomitable. Even though the Prince of Lu sailed to Zheng Chenggong, he still camped in eastern Zhejiang with the rest of the people, Zhang Huangyan, Wang Yi and others, and settled and cultivated, leaving the wells and towns undisturbed. Later, he was captured by the Qing army and detained in Nanjing. At that time, Yao Shu, a talented woman from Jinling, admired his name and helped him escape. The couple traveled through Xuanfu Datong and went south to Baiyue. At this time, the former master, the Prince of Lu, had died of illness. He heard that the Wei army had conquered Xi'an and Wu Sangui had the intention of restoring the Ming Dynasty, so he came to join him in seclusion.

"Of course, we should persuade the king to establish the descendant of Zhu Ming as emperor and revive the Ming Dynasty," Li Changxiang said seriously.

"Yanzhai (Li Changxiang's pen name) thinks Your Highness should not simply advocate enthroning the descendants of Zhu Ming as emperor. You should directly advocate enthroning the descendants of Huaizong (referring to Emperor Chongzhen) as emperor," Liu Maoxia said with bright eyes.

Li Changxiang immediately understood what he meant. Emperor Yongli died at the hands of Wu Sangui. If the emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty were to be enthroned, not only would the world not be convinced, but even Wu Sangui himself would not be able to get over it. He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Xuanchu (Liu Maoxia's pen name) for your guidance. I have saved my mind."

The next day, Liu Maoxia met Wu Sangui and said that Li Changxiang, the former left vice minister of the Ming Ministry of War, had come to surrender.

"Oh! Lord Li has come to surrender, great things have been accomplished! Please, please come quickly!" Hearing that the famous Li Changxiang had come to surrender to him, the Prince of Pingxi was so happy that he danced with joy and immediately ordered someone to invite him. As soon as he saw Li Changxiang, he treated him with courtesy, bowed, and served him tea. He was very polite. Li Changxiang did not refuse, and calmly accepted the courtesy of the distinguished guest, with a normal expression on his face, truly being unperturbed by praise or criticism, and neither humble nor overbearing.

The elegance of the famous scholar is unmatched by ordinary people! Wu Sangui secretly marveled at it and asked for a strategy with a smile: "Now that Manchuria has been destroyed and the world is in turmoil, I want to revive the Han Dynasty. I would like to ask Mr. Li for advice!"

Seeing his question, Li Changxiang did not beat around the bush and spoke directly from his heart: "Now the barbarians are rampant, and the people are suffering! We should take advantage of the opportunity of the fall of the Jiannu to quickly change the name of the Ming Dynasty to win the hearts of the people, and establish the descendants of Huaizong (referring to Emperor Chongzhen) to encourage loyalty. You are the Pingxi Earl conferred by the late emperor himself, and it is legitimate to establish the late emperor's son!"

Hearing him mention Emperor Chongzhen, Wu Sangui could not help but feel deeply moved. The late emperor valued him very much, and died heroically, and many people in the world pitied him. It was indeed a good idea to make the late emperor's son the heir! But such a big thing, how could it be decided on the spot? He still needed to consult with more people, so he said, "Thank you for your advice, sir. I will think about it."

A leader must listen to both sides. Wu Sangui knew that Fang Guangchen and Hu Guozhu opposed the enthronement of the descendants of the Ming Dynasty, so he wanted to hear their opinions and summoned them to meet. "Your Highness once killed Yongli, although you had to do it, but this matter is known to everyone in the world. If you enthronize the descendants of the Ming Emperor again, you may be criticized," Hu Guozhu advised.

Wu Sangui shook his head, "When Beijing was broken in the past, Emperors Zhou and Tian had a close meeting with the eunuch Wang Feng, who held the three-year-old third prince of the late emperor and entrusted him with his life. The late emperor died for his country, and the throne should have been inherited by his son. However, Prince Fu and Prince Gui are traitors who dared to usurp the title of emperor! I killed Prince Gui to restore social order, so why should I fear criticism?" He spoke with great confidence, as if he were a great hero who saved the Ming Dynasty from extinction!
Seeing that he even made up a story about entrusting his life to the care of his son, Hu Guozhu knew that his father-in-law had actually made up his mind. He became very anxious and kept looking at Fang Guangchen.

After all, Fang Guangchen had known Wu Sangui for many years and understood his intentions very well. He calmly advised: "Your Majesty has already executed Yongli, do you want to execute the son of the previous emperor in advance?"

Wu Sangui was furious when his weakness was exposed. "What does Tingxian mean by that? I want to support the Ming Dynasty, how could I harm the bloodline of the late emperor?"

"I spoke out of turn, please calm down, Your Highness." Seeing him angry, Fang Guangchen was secretly happy. After apologizing, he slowly said, "Since ancient times, there has never been two suns in the sky, and there has never been two kings in a country. In the past, Xiang Yu established the Righteous Emperor, but later killed him, which aroused the troops of the world. Now the world is in your hands, so where will you place the descendants of Emperor Huaizong in the future?"

Yes, there can only be one emperor in the world. When one dies, another one is appointed. Today, you have appointed the third prince of the previous emperor as the emperor under the banner of the Ming Dynasty. When you gain control of the world in the future, how will you deal with this emperor? You can find out by looking at the story of Xiang Yu and the Righteous Emperor. Back then, Xiang Yu appointed Xiong Xin, the grandson of King Huai of Chu, as the Righteous Emperor in the name of reviving the Chu State. Later, in order to establish himself, he secretly ordered Ying Bu to kill him, which in turn caused heroes to rise up and the world to be in chaos. You have already killed an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Are you going to kill another one in the future?
This sentence hit Wu Sangui's vital point. It was enough to kill the emperor once, how could he do it twice? He knew his own affairs. The so-called third prince of the previous emperor was just a fabrication to gain support from the people. When he got the throne, he would naturally replace this puppet emperor. One emperor died and another emperor was established. How to deal with this puppet emperor at that time? Could he kill the emperor again?

What a headache! Wu Sangui couldn't make a decision for a while and ordered the two to leave. Suddenly, he remembered his other son-in-law, Xia Guoxiang. Among the six sons-in-law, Xia Guoxiang was the best in both civil and military skills and was the most valued. Why not ask for his opinion on such an important matter? So he ordered someone to summon Xia Guoxiang to the palace.

"Your Highness, don't worry. This is easy!" Unexpectedly, after listening to his father-in-law's story, the Prime Minister of Xia said it was easy. "Xiang Yu killed the Righteous Emperor because he and the Righteous Emperor had already established a monarch-subject relationship. He had to kill him. You and the third prince of the previous emperor did not have a monarch-subject relationship, so why should you kill him?"

Wu Sangui seemed to understand. Xia Guoxiang continued, "You only need to state in the letter of attack on Wei that you have taken in the third prince of the previous emperor, and raise an army in his name, without having to make him emperor. In this way, you can call on those who want to restore the Ming Dynasty to join you, and you will not have to bear the name of regicide in the future."

"Great! Let's do it this way!" Wu Sangui was overjoyed and immediately called himself "the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World" and ordered Fang Guangchen to draft a manifesto to fight against the Huns. The manifesto claimed to expel the Tartars and revive the Han Dynasty. He also made up a story that "it happened that the two emperors Zhou and Tian had a close meeting with the eunuch Wang Feng, who was holding the third prince of the previous emperor. He was only three years old, and he pricked his thigh as a mark, entrusting his life to the care of the orphan, and the clan society depended on him." He also stated that he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and endured humiliation and "took tears and endured it, and did not dare to act rashly. Therefore, he lived in a poor place, kept a low profile and waited for the right time, selected generals and trained troops, secretly planned to restore the country, and kept his weapons on his body, kept his horses on the lookout for leaks, and sharpened his teeth and kept alert for 25 years!"

This article indeed deceived some people who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty and came to surrender. However, people with insight saw that Wu Sangui was unwilling to establish the descendant of Emperor Huaizong as the emperor, but instead called himself "the Grand Marshal of the Army of the World", and they understood his intention. As soon as the article was published, Li Changxiang immediately thanked him and left. (End of this chapter)