Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

"Has General Du made contact with Fuyuan Ren?" In the guard camp at Erlangba on the east bank of the Chishui River, Governor-General Altan Cang of Yunnan and Guizhou asked Deputy Admiral and General of Xuzhou Du Zixiang hopefully.

This time, under the order of Khan, Altan Cang was appointed governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. He had only 23,000 soldiers under his command. In addition, the troops of General Liu Ding, Biaolin Xuanfu Envoy She Baoshou, Zhenxiong Xuanfu Envoy Long Hongxun, etc., who were stationed in Bijie and Chishui, also had only 30,000 soldiers. Therefore, it was urgent to establish contact with the remnants of Guizhou Guards led by Guizhou Governor Ren Jian and Guizhou Admiral Danbadarjie. Du Zixiang, who was good at observing people's words and expressions, said that his troops had been stationed in Guizhou and were familiar with the terrain, and volunteered to send people to sneak into Guizhou to make contact.

"Reporting to the governor, General Wang Pingfan, who defeated the pseudo-Zhou, Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou Zhao Tingchen, and Admiral Li Benshen of Guizhou are all veteran generals. They have set up checkpoints at every level and are on very tight precautions. I have sent several groups of people to Guizhou in succession, but there has been no news from them. I think the situation is very bad."

"Oh?" Altan Cang frowned and pondered in silence.

"You're useless! A few days ago you said you were familiar with the terrain of Guizhou and had a way to contact Ren Xun and Danbadarjijie, but now you say you can't get in touch with them. You are truly a liar!" A Mongolian general nearby could no longer bear it and shouted at him.

Du Zixiang was ashamed and annoyed when she heard the words, but when she looked at the person who spoke, she dared not refute, and could only hide her shame and humiliation. Because the person was very important, he was Menggudi, the son of the second-class Sawubo Elinqin Batur. Elinqin Batur was born in the Durbet tribe, the empress's mother's family, and was the empress's uncle. Menggudi was also a prominent relative of the David Kingdom, so how could he dare to offend him?
Fortunately, Vice Admiral Du was quick-witted and thick-skinned, so he said with a smile: "In my opinion, the fact that the Wu army is on such tight defense just proves that Fuyuan Ren and Admiral Danbadarji are still fighting a bloody battle with the enemy. It also means that when our army captures Sichuan, the Wu army in Guizhou will find it difficult to support Sichuan."

Fang Yuxuan, the governor of Yunnan, who was standing by, laughed and said, "A blacksmith must be strong himself. You can't rely on others for support. Since we can't get in touch with them, why not fight a few battles to create momentum, and then the friendly forces will naturally come looking for us when they hear the news."

"Well", Altan Cang nodded, "What Fang Fuyuan said is very true. A good horse can be known on the racetrack, and a hero can be known in the wrestling arena. Since we can't rely on our friendly troops in Guizhou, we will go south with our own strength. I have ordered Liu Ding, She Baoshou, Long Hongxun and other troops to come to Erlangba from Bijie and Chishuiwei. When the troops are gathered, they will march to Loushan Pass (Loushan Pass)". After that, he looked at Du Zixiang and smiled meaningfully, "General Du can be the vanguard, don't let this governor down."

"Don't worry, Governor. I will not fail in my mission!" Du Zixiang's face turned red when he heard that, and he said proudly.

After the military meeting, Yunnan Governor Fang Yuxuan walked leisurely to his tent. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him from behind, "Governor Fang, please wait a moment." He turned around and saw Du Zixiang. He laughed and said, "What do you want, General Du?"

"The governor ordered me to be the vanguard to take Loushan Pass. This pass is built on Dalou Mountain. Local people say that 'the towering Dalou Mountain (Dalou Mountain) is three feet high from the sky. People have to bow their heads when passing by, and horses have to dismount when passing by'. Such a dangerous pass is truly 'one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it'. The pseudo-Zhou governor-general Zheng Jiaolin who is guarding the pass is a veteran who has been on the battlefield for many years. His military orders are as heavy as a mountain. I am worried that I can't take it down and the governor will blame me. You are resourceful, please save me!"

"Alas, I am just a civil servant, how can I know about military affairs? Even if I want to lend a helping hand to General Du, I am unable to do so," Fang Yuxuan shook his head.

"Who would have known that you were the former number one counselor under the King of Qin (referring to Sun Kewang), and also a famous and capable minister of this dynasty. Please save my life for the sake of being a fellow Han minister. I will repay your kindness one day, even if I have to repay you with a favor!" After saying this, Du Zixiang knelt down and begged bitterly.

You rascal, you were so arrogant a few days ago because you relied on the governor's favor, and now you come to me for help! Seeing him being humiliated, Fang Yuxuan was secretly proud, but after all, they were all surrendered officials and they were all Han people, so he still had to help them! "It's difficult! Dalou Mountain's 'millions of peaks pierce the sky, and there is only one line in the middle', it's not easy to fight!" After emphasizing the difficulties, Fang Yuxuan slowly pointed out: "Such a dangerous pass, the military rations all rely on the civilians to carry, you might as well think of a way to deal with the enemy's baggage train."

General Liu Ding, Biaolin Xuanfu Envoy She Baoshou, Zhenxiong Xuanfu Envoy Long Hongxun and other generals led their troops to Erlangba, and the 30,000 guards were ready to go. Seeing that everything was ready, Alatan Cang ordered Du Zixiang's 5,000 troops to be the vanguard. Fearing that his troops were insufficient, he ordered him to select 3,000 elite troops from other tribes to accompany him. "I just want to select another 1,000 warriors who are used to walking on mountain roads," Du Zixiang requested.

"Oh? You only want a thousand soldiers?" Altan Cang was slightly surprised, then agreed, and ordered She Zhen, the younger brother of She Baoshou, the Biaolin envoy, and An Xiangheng, the deputy chief of the Manyi Chieftainship, to lead a thousand soldiers to follow him.

Du Zixiang led 6,000 troops and quietly hid in the forest under Loushan Pass. He then sent She Zhen and An Xiangheng to lead 1,000 soldiers and 500 agile Han soldiers to cross mountains and ridges to harass the enemy's grain transport team.

Generals She and An were extremely lucky. Not long after they climbed over the mountain and ambushed, Chen Yaoyuan, a general under Zheng Jiaolin, arrived with 500 soldiers and more than a thousand conscripted (Yi) civilians, pushing grain carts.

"It's so annoying! This damn mountain road is so winding, and it's so tiring to transport grain up the mountain! No wonder those barbarians say 'You can only see Loushan Pass after winding the mountain for eighteen bends'!" Chen Yaoyuan cursed the heavens and ordered his men to push the grain carts to the roadside and carry the grain up the mountain. Fortunately, the grain transport team was already accustomed to this scene. The laborers pushed the grain carts and carried the grain bags up the mountain in a familiar way, while the soldiers watched them vigilantly to prevent them from stealing the military rations.

"Swoosh~Swoosh~Swoosh~" Suddenly arrows rained down, and the unprepared Zhou army and civilians were shot down.

Chen Yaoyuan panicked and called his men to line up, when suddenly an arrow hit his forearm. The arrow was short and not the arrow used by soldiers, but rather the small crossbow commonly used by mountain people. He did not take it seriously at first, thinking that they were bandits who were robbing him. After resisting for a while, he realized that something was wrong. This group of people were well-equipped and well-trained. They were not bandits at all, but an army!
Suddenly, he felt dizzy, nauseous, and nauseous. "Oh no! The arrow is poisonous!" Chen Yaoyuan woke up, but it was too late. He soon fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

After successfully wiping out the Wu army's grain transport team, She Zhen and An Xiangheng ordered their troops to strip off their battle robes and armor, and ordered their subordinates to disguise 500 Han soldiers as Wu soldiers and 1,000 soldiers as civilian laborers. They also found a subordinate whose appearance and figure were similar to Chen Yaoyuan's and put on Chen Yaoyuan's battle robe to march towards Loushan Pass.

In order to prevent the enemy from getting suspicious, the two generals deliberately chose to transport food at night. Seeing their baggage train transporting food up the mountain and seeing "Chen Yaoyuan" vaguely flashing under the torch, the gatekeeper did not suspect anything and opened the city gate.

Unexpectedly, after the grain transport team entered the city, a dark and strong man in the lead suddenly swung his sword to cut off the head of the captain and led his men to control the city gate. After seizing the South Gate, She Zhen and An Xiangheng led their men to the North Gate, killed the guards and opened the city gate. At the same time, they shot three burning arrows into the sky and ordered their men to set fire everywhere. Seeing the signal, Du Zixiang was overjoyed and immediately led the guards hidden under the pass to attack Loushan Pass.

Seeing fires everywhere in the city and hearing that the guards had entered the city, Zheng Jiaolin, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, was at a loss for a moment. This governor-general Wu Zhou was actually not very courageous. When he was the commander of Songshan in the Ming Dynasty, he was afraid of the might of the Qing army and surrendered without a fight. Now that the "situation was critical" and saving his life was the most important thing, he hurriedly fled from the west city with only a few dozen personal soldiers.

Once the commander fled, the 10,000 subordinates lost their will to fight. Some followed him to escape, some were killed by the guards, and some were smart enough to simply kneel on the ground and surrender.

Zheng Jiaolin, who escaped, gathered the remnants of his army, and only 3,000 of his 10,000 men remained. He fled back to Zunyi with the remnants in shock. Du Zixiang counted the results of the battle and found that only 400 of his men were killed or wounded. He had achieved the brilliant results of beheading 1,500 people and capturing more than 4,600 enemies, so he proudly reported the victory to Altan Cang, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. (End of this chapter)