Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Having just concluded a brotherly alliance with the Zhou Dynasty in the south and acknowledged Wu Sangui, who was eight years older than him, as his younger brother, Great Khan Lianhua began to sharpen his sword and secretly ordered his two sons, Prince of Qi Mailas and Prince of Qin Chuo Siji, to store grain and train troops in Huguang in preparation for the campaign to destroy the Zhou Dynasty after the spring.

However, even brothers can have rifts for the sake of interests. Although the sixth son of the emperor, Prince of Qin Chuo Siji, was relatively young, he had made many military achievements in the southern expedition to Huguang. He also had the blood of the Ming Dynasty royal family. Most of the Han generals in Huguang were willing to obey his orders. When his elder brother, Prince of Qi, was ordered to leave Huguang to go to Shaanxi to help in the war, he recruited soldiers in Huguang and successively surrendered Fan Shaozu, the general of the Qing Dongting Navy, and Sangge, the admiral of Huguang. His strength grew rapidly, and his troops exceeded 100,000. On the contrary, when the second son of the emperor, Prince of Qi, Mailas, was ordered to go to Shaanxi to help in the war, many of his elite soldiers were withdrawn by the Great Khan. Although there were still 60,000 soldiers, many of them were newly surrendered soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was not as strong as before. As the forces rose and fell, Mailas, who was determined to seize the military power of Huguang, naturally disliked his younger brother, and the increasingly powerful Chuo Siji was not as respectful to his brother as usual, and the two brothers began to have a superficial disagreement. Of course, this was just a secret struggle among the princes. On the surface, they still maintained their brotherly friendship and deep affection.

"Your Highness, I have sent people to find out that Rongmei Xuanfu Envoy Tian Ganlin secretly harbored Li Laiheng's general Deng Bingzhi and harbored rebellious intentions. You can send troops to quell Rongmei. First, Rongmei is a rich place, and we can use it to expand the army; second, we can deter the major chieftains in western Hubei from having second thoughts; third, we can warn those generals who are attached to the King of Qin and remind them who is the commander of Huguang." Li Xuan, the counselor of the King of Qi, secretly reported to the King of Qi, Mailas. Since Chen Hongzhu was appointed as the Governor of Huguang and went to Wuchang, he stayed with Mailas and became the first counselor under the King of Qi. Although he held the position of Grand Secretary in the Qing Dynasty, he had to dismiss his official position after being demoted to the Wei Dynasty. However, Li Xun was not discouraged. Everyone knows that King Qi likes to promote knowledgeable civil servants, such as Shanxi Deputy Censor Zong Yi, Shandong Censor Xue Chenwei, Henan Provincial Governor Yu Jiqing, Huguang Governor Chen Hongzhu... There are vivid examples before his eyes. As long as he devotes himself to offering advice to his lord, he will never worry about not having an official job!

Because he had fewer troops under his direct command than his sixth brother, Mailas had been trying to win over the Tusi forces in western Hubei. With Wuwei, who had pacified Kuidong, Peng Zhaoxiang, the envoy of Baoshun, Peng Ding, the envoy of Yongjing, Tan Hongdao, the envoy of Shinan, Tan Xunlin, the envoy of Sanmao, Tian Yangmin, the envoy of Zhongjian, and Xiang Ding, the envoy of Sangzhi, all obeyed his orders. Only Tian Ganlin, the Tusi of Rongmei, did not buy his account. The Rongmei Tian family was not only a hereditary Tusi official, but also a "scholarly family". The brothers Tian Ganlin and Tian Shanglin were both famous poets. Scholars pay attention to loyalty and filial piety. Because the old Tian family had received great favors from the Ming Dynasty, the Tian brothers were naturally closer to Qin Wang Chuo Siji, who was half of the Ming royal family. His Royal Highness Qin Wang never refused anything he asked for. This naturally made Mailas very unwilling, thinking that his sixth brother had extended his hand into his sphere of influence and regarded Tian Ganlin as a thorn in his side. Li Xun came to remove the nail for his master.

"Are you saying that Tian Ganlin is harboring Deng Bingzhi, an old general of the Ming Dynasty, and is planning a rebellion?" Melas' eyes suddenly brightened up, and then he frowned and said, "But Deng Bingzhi is just a general. He has no soldiers left after the defeat. It seems a bit far-fetched to say that Rongmei has the intention of rebellion based on this."

"I have already thought of this for Your Highness. After Zhu Shengqun, the Prince of Dong'an, and Zhu Yunqun, the Prince of Tongshan, of the Ming Dynasty, were captured by our army, Your Majesty spared their lives and allocated each of them a thousand acres of good farmland to support their families. These two princes are stationed in Maliao and Tianping respectively, not far from Rongmei. You only need to submit a memorial saying that Tian Ganlin is harboring Deng Bingzhi, an old general of the Ming Dynasty, and intends to support Zhu Shengqun, the Prince of Dong'an, as emperor, and Your Majesty will naturally become suspicious," Li Xun said proudly.

Melas immediately understood that Li Xuan wanted to exaggerate the matter. His intention to support a member of the Ming royal family as emperor was much more serious than harboring a former Ming general. However, his father Khan had always been very wary of the influence of the Ming royal family, and this might really make his father Khan furious. But falsehood is falsehood after all, and once his father Khan ordered a detailed interrogation, the truth would always come out. Thinking of this, he sighed, "I'm afraid the court will investigate further!"

"Haha~ Your Highness, you worry too much! In this kind of thing, it is better to believe it than not, and you have a large army, you can just kill first and report later, first kill all the members of the Rongmei Tian family, and then report to the court. You are His Majesty's biological son, would His Majesty investigate you in detail just because of a local official with ulterior motives?" Li Xun laughed.

"You want me to kill first and report later?" Melas was stunned for a moment, then he understood and nodded slowly, saying, "Let's do it this way. First, lure Tian Ganlin into Cili City under the pretext of discussing military affairs and kill him, then take advantage of the Turkish army's lack of a leader to attack Rongmei."
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In the central hall of the Rongmei Xuanfu Office, after receiving the order from the King of Qi to go to Cili County for discussion, Rongmei Xuanfu envoy Tian Ganlin became somewhat uneasy and summoned his local officials to discuss the matter.

"The King of Qi is a vicious person, you must not go!" Tang Juren, the chief of Shiliang Xiadong Chieftainship, firmly opposed.

"If I don't go, I'm afraid the King of Qi will blame me. It's better to write a letter to Marquis Fuping to ask about the situation before deciding whether to go or not," Tian Shanglin suggested. The Marquis Fuping he mentioned was He Daoning, the former Marquis Fuping of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to Wei and was one of the leaders of the Thirteen Families of Kuidong. The Tian brothers had some friendship with He Daoning.

Tian Ganlin nodded slowly and immediately sent someone to rush into He Daoning's camp to inquire. Unexpectedly, since He Daoning was appointed as the general after being demoted to the guard, he only wanted to follow His Royal Highness the King of Qi to get promoted and make money. When he saw Tian Shanglin sent someone to inquire about him, he patted his chest and said that the military meeting was just to discuss the defense against the Wu army and there was no conspiracy. He also received the order. As soon as the messenger left, He Daoning went straight to the Melas camp to report, and received continuous praise from His Royal Highness the King of Qi.

On December 1668, , the th year of Qianyuan, heavy snow fell from the sky. Tian Ganlin ordered his younger brother Tian Shanglin to take charge of the government affairs of Rongmei, and arrived at the Prince Qi's Palace in Cili with personal guards.

As soon as he arrived at the palace, there was a great bustle of people. Dozens of chieftains, big and small, including Peng Zhaoxiang, Peng Ding, Qin Hongdao, Qin Xunlin, Tian Yangmin, Xiang Ding, etc., came. Li Xuan, who was in charge of welcoming guests, smiled kindly when he saw him. Tian Ganlin finally put his heart at ease and walked into the meeting hall calmly. As soon as he sat down, he heard His Royal Highness the King of Qi questioning: "Tian Ganlin, David has been very kind to you, why are you rebelling?"

"Treason!" Tian Ganlin was shocked and felt something was wrong. "It's unfair, Your Highness. I am loyal to David, how could I rebel?"

"Since you have no intention of rebellion, why do you want to take in Deng Bingzhi, the former general of the Ming Dynasty?" Melas grinned.

"Deng~Deng Bingzhi?" Tian Ganlin's voice trembled.

Melas didn't want to let him go, and asked calmly, "Is there such a thing?"

Seeing his expression, Tian Ganlin knew he couldn't hide it, so he answered truthfully: "Deng Bingzhi and I are old friends. He came to me alone after the defeat. I took him in because I felt sorry for him. He has no intention of rebelling!"

"Haha, you dare to take in the former Ming general without any rebellious intention? If I hadn't noticed this, I'm afraid your plan to support the former Ming King Dong'an would have been implemented? Drag him away and behead him!" Melas shouted.

"Your Highness, I am wronged! I never intended to support the King of Dong'an," Tian Ganlin cried out. But the guards deployed by Melas didn't care whether he was wronged or not, and dragged him out and chopped off his head with a knife. In the camp, the guards who had been ambushed earlier also killed all of Tian Ganlin's 300 personal guards.

All the chieftains looked pale when they saw this. Melas smiled and said, "Tian Ganlin had rebellious intentions, so he was executed. You are all loyal subjects of David, so there is no need to panic. I have ordered people to prepare wine and food to calm you down."

While hosting a banquet to entertain the chieftains in western Hubei, they had sent their generals, Chahar Admiral Alinbao, General Zhong Jida, and Ma Jinyu, to lead an army of 20,000 to attack Rongmei, defeating the leaderless Rongmei native army. Tian Shanglin, Jiaoshan Agate Commander Liu Yuelong, Wufeng Shibao Commander Zhang Liuqian, Shiliang Xiadong Commander Tang Juren, Shuijinyuan Tongtaping Commander Tang Zhenbang, and former Ming General Deng Bingzhi, who was taken in by Tian Shanglin, were all beheaded. Then they sent people to rush to Dadu 800 miles away to report to the Great Khan Lianhua that the Rongmei Tian family was plotting a rebellion.

The Great Khan was already wary of the existence of the Ming royal family, and had always intended to change the natives to commoners in western Hubei. He did not check the authenticity of the memorial, and directly ordered the revocation of the Rongmei Xuanfu Envoy, and beheaded the Dong'an King Zhu Shengqian, Tongshan King Zhu Yunqian, and the entire Rongmei Tian family. (End of this chapter)