Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The first crossing of the river failed, and Great Khan Lianhua counted the troops and found 10,000 casualties. Compared with his army, it was not a large number, but they were all elite naval troops, which directly affected the subsequent crossing of the river. In addition, the strong defense of the enemy tested in the battle made him even more disappointed. With such a fighting style, even if they crossed the Miluo River, they would probably suffer heavy losses and it would be difficult to continue to capture Changsha and achieve the goal of destroying Zhou in one fell swoop.

"Although Wu Sangui has no integrity, he is a good commander in leading troops to fight! I underestimated him," Sultan picked up the ancestral horsewhip that symbolized the supreme power of the Kingdom of David, pointed to the south bank of the Miluo River, and said proudly: "After conquering the Zhou Kingdom, you can spare Wu Sangui's life and lock him up in the mansion I prepared for him. When I have nothing to do, I will go to him to talk about military affairs."

"Wu and Zhou established their capital in Changsha. The Miluo River is the barrier that protects Changsha, and the elite troops of the Wu army are gathered here. You are facing the main force of the enemy. It is normal that the battle is difficult. Don't worry," Hu Lianqi advised.

"Yes, wherever the Great Khan points his whip, either the army will be destroyed or the country will be destroyed. How can a mere Wu Sangui be your opponent? Your downfall is only a matter of time," Grand Secretary Bobe flattered the Great Khan as always.

If it was usual, this man would always make the Supreme happy after a round of flattery, but this time it was unusual. Instead of being happy, Suletan frowned and said, "The warriors have followed me to fight in the south and the north. In terms of combat power, I am confident that they are better than the Wu army. Unfortunately, we are blocked by the river and cannot defeat them. What can I do?"

Bobe rolled his eyes and said, "I think it's because our army is good at land battles but weak at water battles. As the saying goes, there are ships in the south and horses in the north. Why should we use our weakness to attack the enemy's strength? It is better to concentrate our forces to capture Mufu Mountain and go around Jiangxi to enter Changsha. Although there are tens of thousands of defenders near Mufu Mountain at this time, those Jiangxi troops are not Wu Sangui's direct subordinates, and it will not be difficult to defeat them."

"Capture Mufu Mountain?"

Sultan fell into deep thought after hearing this, and after a while he sighed, "The rapid river can stop the cavalry, and the steep mountain area can also stop the cavalry. Even if we take the Mufu Mountain route, it may not be beneficial to our army. Instead, it will make the warriors exhausted and hurt their morale!"

"Great Khan, General Fan Shaozu of the Dongting Navy requests to see you." The emperor and his ministers were discussing the matter when a personal guard came to report.

"Oh," the Great Khan's eyes flickered, and he said slowly: "Call him into the tent."

"Your Majesty, I, General Fan Shaozu of the Dongting Navy, pay my respects to you." As soon as he entered the tent, General Fan paid his respects with great ceremony.

"Alas, you Han officials are so polite! I have already issued an order that the army should just perform military salutes." Sultan laughed and walked up to him and helped him up. "Do you have any good strategies to defeat the enemy this time to tell me?"

Fan Shaozu was moved. It is said that "the barbarians are not as good as the Chinese without a king", but the Hu emperor in front of him was courteous, kind, knowledgeable, wise and intelligent, far superior to many Han emperors! After calming down, he slowly said: "I have been stationed in Dongting for a long time and am familiar with the geography. Dongting has a waterway that leads to Xiangyin. If we take Xiangyin, we can go south and take Changsha directly."

"It's a good plan, but Wu Sangui is an experienced warrior, so why wouldn't he deploy heavy troops on the south bank of Dongting Lake?" Suletan was both happy and worried when he heard this.

"I have already found out that Wu Sangui has indeed deployed a large number of troops on the south bank of Dongting Lake. Wu Guogui, the former general of the Jinwu Army of the Pseudo-Zhou Dynasty, leads 50,000 troops to guard here. However, Wu Guogui's army is mainly stationed in Yingtian. Only the 5,000 naval forces of Zhou Zhen, the left general of the royal navy, and the 5,000 land forces of Tao Jizhi, the right general of the royal cavalry, are stationed in Xiangyin. Zhou Zhen is just a man without any strategy, and Tao Jizhi is over 60 years old and useless. If we send elite troops to launch a surprise attack, we will surely succeed in one battle. I am willing to lead my troops as the vanguard."

"How great! If you can capture Xiangyin for me, I will make you the Marquis of Xiangyin," Sultan was overjoyed.

On October 1669, the th year of Qianyuan (), Fan Shaozu, the general of the Dongting Navy, led naval forces as the vanguard, followed by Admiral Sangge and General Ma Jinyu's cavalry and infantry by boat. Sangge was originally the admiral of Huguang in the Qing Dynasty. He was dissatisfied with Wu Sangui's rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and led his army to join the Kingdom of David. He was retained by the Great Khan Lianhua as an admiral. Ma Jinyu was a surrendered general from Kuidong. Although Fan Shaozu said it was easy, the Great Khan, who had experienced many battles, still felt that the attack on Xiangyin City was dangerous and was reluctant to send out his own troops. After much deliberation, it was most appropriate to send these surrendered troops.

Zhou Zhen, the left general of the Wu army's personal navy, was an old subordinate of Zheng Chenggong at sea. He was quite good at fighting naval battles, but he was good at fighting and not good at strategy. These days, seeing that the Wei army had been attacking the Miluo River and even their Dongting Lake navy had been transferred to the north bank of the river, he became lazy and only sent out a team of patrol boats every two hours.

Fan Shaozu's troops had been stationed in Dongting Lake for a long time and were familiar with the water conditions in the lake. He ordered the entire army to turn off the lights, and only the leading boat lit an oil lamp and took advantage of the night to sneak towards the Wu army's water fort. The Wu army's sentry boat saw a single lamp and suspected it was a fishing boat for night fishing. They did not take it seriously, and the Wei army's boat approached the gate of the fort. After leading his men to land near the water fort, Fan Shaozu suddenly rushed into the Wu army's water fort without saying a word, killing people and setting fire to it. Soon the water fort turned into a raging sea of ​​fire. Zhou Zhen woke up from his sleep and hurriedly looked for a knife to summon his troops to resist. In a hurry, he only gathered more than ten personal soldiers, and the Wei army came to kill him. He was a brave man who fought to the death and was hacked to death by the Wei army.

After easily capturing Wu Jun's water stronghold, Fan Shaozu excitedly sent a signal to the lake. Upon seeing the signal, Sangge and Ma Jinyu immediately landed with 22,000 cavalry and infantry and headed for Xiangyin City. Fan Shaozu then controlled the outlet from Dongting Lake to Xiangyin, guarding the retreat for his army.

There were only 5,000 soldiers and horses under Tao Jizhi, the right general of Wu's cavalry, in Xiangyin City. Tao Jizhi, who was over 60 years old, had followed Wu Sangui very early and was also the oldest general under his command. Although his troops were not many, they were extremely elite and were known as "the elite of all armies." As a veteran with rich military experience, he ordered people to light torches on the top of the city at night, patrol the city every night, and prepare all kinds of supplies for defending the city. After hearing the news that the defeated army in Shuizhai was coming, Tao Jizhi immediately beat the drums to gather the troops to the city. The well-trained 5,000 Wu troops quickly climbed the city wall and prepared for battle. As soon as they climbed the city wall, the guards swarmed in.

"General Ma, we are all surrendered generals, and we must work hard to serve the court," Sangge said to Ma Jinyu.

"You are right. We have no way to retreat. We can only move forward bravely. You attack the north gate and I attack the east gate, okay?" Ma Jinyu nodded and asked. "Let's do it this way. The first one to enter the city will get the first merit." Sangge let out a long roar and led his troops to attack the north gate of Xiangyin. In his eyes, Wu Sangui was a ungrateful slave who received great favors from the Qing Dynasty. He was determined to defeat Wu's army and gain merit.

Xiangyin City was like a sleeping beast, silent and still. "Boom~Boom~Boom~" The guards unloaded the cannons from the warships and fired at the city walls. Despite the roar of the cannons, the beast was still sleeping.

"Haorui~Haorui~Haorui~" The attacking army shouted "Haorui" as the real Mongolian army often shouted, and rushed in like a tide. The wooden poles of the ladders slowly approached under the push of many soldiers, like a moving forest. The giant beast continued to sleep, indifferent.

It was getting closer and closer, and it was within the effective range of bows and muskets. As a dull horn pierced the night sky, the giant beast suddenly woke up, and countless arrows and musket shells were fired at the infantry attacking the city, and the cannons on the city wall also began to fire deep into the guards.

The fierce shooting made the attacking guards a little nervous, but they were outnumbered after all, and with their numerical advantage, they were able to get close to the city wall. Ladders were set up on the city wall, and the soldiers climbed up like ants. Experienced veterans held the crossbar of the ladder with one hand and waved their weapons with the other to deflect the arrows.

"Pass on my order. Anyone who shrinks back in battle will be killed!" Tao Jizhi stared at the enemy who was attacking the city expressionlessly and gave the order coldly. Under the command of generals at all levels, some defenders used long poles to push down the ladders; some poured hot oil down. Once the boiling hot oil was poured on the soldiers, the air was filled with the smell of burning flesh and the screams were horrifying.

The brutal siege lasted from early morning to afternoon. During the fierce battle, Tao Jizhi's left arm was shot by a stray arrow from the guards. The old general broke the arrow shaft as if nothing had happened and continued to command the battle. Seeing his bravery, his subordinates were greatly encouraged and fought desperately to resist the attack of the guards.
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The fire in the Wu army's water fort alarmed the Wu army stationed in Yingtian. Wu Guogui, Wu Sangui's favorite general and former general of the Jinwu Army, wanted to order his men to rush to Xiangyin for assistance, but the enemy situation was unclear at night and he was afraid of being ambushed. After much deliberation, he decided to send Lin Xingzhu, the right wing general of the personal navy, to lead 5,000 naval troops first, and the cavalry and infantry would be dispatched after dawn the next day.

Lin Xingzhu and his uncle Lin Risheng once followed Zheng Chenggong to fight against the Qing Dynasty, but later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty after their defeat. An extremely tough mountain rattan is produced in the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou areas of Fujian Province, which can be used to make rattan armor, hats and rattan shields. This rattan shield is not only light and does not get wet in water, but can also be soaked in tung oil for several months and then exposed to the sun for several months. After more than ten times of repeated use, it can block arrows and swords and reduce the lethality of gun bullets. It can be used as a shield in land battles and as a ship in naval battles. It is extremely powerful. Zheng Chenggong had many such rattan shield soldiers. Lin Xingzhu had been under Zheng Chenggong for a long time, and had seen the power of rattan shield soldiers and was familiar with their use skills. He also trained a group of such rattan shield players.

Relying on their rich experience in boating, Lin Xingzhu's troops approached the Wei army's water fort quickly under the cover of night. Fan Shaozu did not expect the enemy's reinforcements to arrive so quickly, and hastily defended the fort, ordering his men to shoot the Wu army with muskets and arrows. Unexpectedly, the rattan shields of Lin Xingzhu's troops were impervious to swords, spears, and arrows, and even muskets could not penetrate them if they were far away. The Wu army rushed into the Wei army's camp under a hail of arrows and bullets, and a fierce hand-to-hand fight began. The Wei army had fought for a while before and was physically exhausted, while the rattan shield soldiers of Lin Xingzhu's troops were agile, holding the shield in their left hand to protect their bodies and wielding the sword in their right hand to kill, unstoppable, and soon gained the upper hand.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Fan Shaozu led hundreds of his personal soldiers to attack Lin Xingzhu's flag, intending to kill the enemy general. Seeing him coming, the thin Lin Xingzhu calmly fought back. After more than ten moves, he saw the flaw and cut off Fan Shaozu's right foot with one sword, and then killed him with another sword. Without the main general, the Wei army and the navy were terrified and fled away from the camp by boat.

Lin Xingzhu ignored the defeated soldiers and led his army back to Xiangyin City. When they reached the north gate, Sangge was leading his troops to attack the city. He saw the enemy coming from behind and was caught off guard and could only withdraw the troops to resist. Seeing this, Tao Jizhi led more than a thousand elite soldiers to attack from the city. The guards were defeated and corpses were everywhere. Sangge didn't know how many enemies had come, so he had to lead his men to board the ship and escape in a hurry.

He was lucky, but Ma Jinyu, who was attacking the East Gate, was not so lucky. Because he was far from the dock, he was defeated by Tao Jizhi and Lin Xingzhu and could only flee north on foot. During his escape, he encountered Wu Guogui's army, and his entire army was annihilated, and he was also captured by Wu's army.

In the Battle of Xiangyin, the Wei army lost 16,000 soldiers and horses. Although most of them were surrendered soldiers and generals, they were also rare elite soldiers who had fought many battles. When the news reached the north bank of the Miluo River, the Great Khan Lianhua was upset and ordered compensation for the fallen soldiers and refused to attack easily.
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"Shang Kexi is such a cunning old thief that he actually took advantage of the situation to rob people!" In the Wu army camp on the south bank of the Miluo River, Emperor Zhaowu of the Great Zhou was angrily scolding King Shang Kexi of Pingnan from a distance.

Shang Kexi had previously sent his eldest son Shang Zhixin to Changsha to expand his power. Unexpectedly, Wu Sangui led his army to invade Huguang, forced Tunqi to surrender and reorganized Tunqi's army. Shang Zhixin saw that the situation was not good, and immediately led his army back to Guangdong. If that was not enough to make Wu Sangui angry, what made him most angry was that Shang Zhixin did not leave after arriving at Guiyang County, Chenzhou, and stationed troops in Guiyang City. Not only that, he also seized the southern part of Chenzhou and the two counties of Linwu and Lanshan in Hengzhou Prefecture in one breath. How could Wu Sangui swallow this breath? I am resisting the Wei army in the north, and you are seizing territory in the south. This is really unreasonable!

"Now is not the time to offend the Pingnan clan. Your Majesty, please hold back your anger for a while," Liu Maoxia quickly persuaded.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the most important thing at the moment is to defeat the Wei Army. As long as we defeat the Wei Army, it will not be difficult to wipe out Shang Kexi," said the trusted adviser Fang Guangchen.

"Your Majesty, victory news! Jinwu General Wu Guogui and Imperial Cavalry Right General Tao Jizhi defeated the Wei army that attacked Xiangyin, beheaded the Hu Lu general Fan Shaozu and 69 generals under him, captured alive the Hu Lu general Ma Jinyu and 16 generals under him, annihilated 50,000 enemies, beheaded 7,000 people, captured more than 8,000 people, and another 35,000 people fell into the water and died." As they were discussing, their son-in-law Xia Guoxiang excitedly delivered the victory news.

Wu Sangui was delighted to hear that "50,000 enemies were annihilated" and "another 35,000 people fell into the water and died". How could he, who had fought all his life, not hear the water in these words? However, with a powerful enemy at hand, morale should be boosted but not let down. In this era, it was common for military commanders to falsely report their military exploits. Moreover, even if only more than 10,000 enemies were annihilated, it would still be a great victory.

"Your Majesty should inform the entire army of this victory and reward Wu Guogui and Tao Jizhi handsomely," Fang Guangchen said proudly.

"Tingxian and I have the same idea!" Wu Sangui laughed and ordered a heavy reward for Wu Guogui and Tao Jizhi, and posthumously conferred the title of Earl of Xiangyin on Zhou Zhen who died in the battle.

After hearing the news that the friendly army had won a great victory in Xiangyin and annihilated 50,000 guards, the morale of the Wu army was immediately boosted. The north and south banks of the Miluo River fell into a strange confrontation. (End of this chapter)