Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The mighty army swept through Sichuan and Guizhou.
Why fear the dangerous and arduous journey of eight thousand miles?
Just about to ride the wind into Kunming,
Snow is surging in Jinsha District and the horses cannot move forward.

This poem was written by Ergalang, the Prince of Jin in the Kingdom of Dawei. It expresses his feelings about his recent victory in Jianchang. He was about to take advantage of the victory to cross the Jinsha River and sweep across Yunnan, the old nest of Wu and Zhou, but was blocked by the snow and had to stop his troops at the Jinsha River. Among the many sons of the Great Khan Lianhua, this prince had the best temper. He was gentle and elegant. He looked peaceful and easy to get along with, but he was actually very scheming. Once someone dared to offend his royal power, he would never show mercy to deal with them. When he first led the army, a minister advised: "The Prince of Jin is kind by nature, and I am afraid he will not be able to calm down the arrogant and fierce generals under his command." No one knows his son better than his father. The Great Khan heard this and laughed and said: "How can you talk about kindness to the son of a lion?"

Since he was so scheming, we cannot understand the author from the superficial meaning of the poem. The poem says that the army was blocked at the Jinsha River because of heavy snow. In fact, snow was a good thing for the Wei army. In the first month of the 1670th year of Qianyuan (), it snowed heavily and the surging Jinsha River froze. Crossing the river was as easy as walking on flat ground. It was a blessing from heaven for the Wei army. What really forced him to lead his army to stay on the north bank of the Jinsha River were two other reasons.

One is that the enemy has reinforcements. After Wu Zhimao fled to Yuanmou County, Wuding Prefecture, he gathered the defeated soldiers, strengthened the city defense, and continuously sent people to ask for help from Zhang Guozhu, the general manager of Yunnan Road who was left by Wu Zhou and the general of Dingyuan. After receiving the military report, Zhang Guozhu did not dare to neglect it. He ordered the deputy general manager Guo Zhuangtu and the governor of Yunnan Lin Tianqing to stay in Kunming. He personally led the personal army, the left general of the cavalry Zhang Zufa, the general of Wuding Han Tianfu, the general of Yongning Song Guofu, the general of Heli Li Famei, the general of Lin'an Li Yubin, the general Wang Pingduo, Guo Zhuangxun, and the local soldiers of the major chieftains of Yunnan, Tao Dou, the local governor of Jingdong, Zuo Xinghai, the local governor of Menghua, and more than 40,000 people, arrived in Yuanmou. After meeting with Wu Zhimao, they had 50,000 soldiers and regained their momentum. Yunnan is full of mountains, and Wu's army occupies a dangerous place. This battle is not easy to fight. In fact, Wu Sangui had taken great pains to manage Yunnan over the years and had built it into the stronghold of the Great Zhou. Not only did the Han soldiers obey his orders, but even the local chieftains surrendered to him and dared not disobey his orders. This was why Zhang Guozhu was able to immediately gather 50,000 troops after receiving the alarm.

Secondly, there were movements on both the east and west sides of the Wei army. Not long ago, the governor of Weilong Prefecture, Zhang Zhaoyuan, surrendered to the Kingdom of David and was ordered to be beheaded by Ergalang. On the surface, it seemed that this prince was angry that Zhang Zhaoyuan was attached to Wu Sangui and helped Wu's army to kill too many Wei army soldiers in recent years. In fact, the cunning Prince Jin had deeper considerations. First, before leaving, his father Khan had ordered him to seize the opportunity to weaken the Tusi power in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces to avoid future troubles. Zhang Zhaoyuan has not only occupied Weilong Prefecture in recent years, but also expanded his power to nearby Pujisi, Changzhousi, Miyiso, Malasi and other places, and he is ambitious. How can such a person be kept? It is just right to get rid of him for the crime of attaching himself to the enemy and harming the people; secondly, it is also to remind those Tusi who are still attached to Wu Sangui that if they do not surrender early, they will sooner or later end up like Zhang Zhaoyuan.

This method did have some effect. When the timid Sichuan Wumeng prefect Lu Chengjue saw the Weiguo army coming back, he ordered his second son Lu Tianlun to submit a letter of surrender. However, it had no effect on other powerful chieftains. The news from the scouts was that the great chieftain in northwestern Yunnan, Lijiang prefect Mu Yi, did not comment on the envoy he sent to persuade him to surrender, and sent his eldest son Mu Jingtu to lead 15,000 troops to Yongning Prefecture to attack the west bank of the Chong River. The original intention of the local emperor might be just to protect the safety of his territory, but after all, with such an army in the west, how could he dare to go south boldly?
Not only did the dissident forces appear in the west, but Yongsheng, the local governor of Dongchuan in the east, won the position with the help of Wu's army, so he was loyal to Wu Sangui. When he heard that the Wei army was attacking Jianchang, he and his two brothers Lu Yongbang and Lu Yonggao gathered 10,000 local soldiers to support Jianchang. When they crossed the Jinsha River and approached Huichuanwei, they received news that the Wu army was defeated and the Wei army had occupied the entire Jianchang. Without saying a word, he led his army back to Dongchuan and stationed troops on the east bank of the Jinsha River.

All this did not escape the eyes and ears of the guards. When Ergalang learned that there was a local army on the east bank of the Jinsha River stalking him, he smiled disdainfully, saying that they were just local soldiers, so why should he be afraid of them even if there were 10,000 of them? Although he looked down on this enemy, the cautious Prince of Jin still ordered his men to cross the river to investigate. The news he received shocked him: the enemy on the east bank of the Jinsha River was not 10,000, but 26,000.

When Zhao Tingchen, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou in the Zhou Dynasty, heard the news that the Wei army was attacking Jianchang, he urgently ordered the commander of Guizhou, Shang Jianguo, to lead 3,000 garrison soldiers as well as 13,000 local soldiers under the command of local chieftains including Song Liangyong, the pacifier of Leping, Song Hongji, the pacifier of Xintian, Song Zhiyin, the pacifier of Longli, Wang Shiru, the chief officer of Yange Village, Zhang Qi, the chief officer of Chen Menglan in Hejiangzhou, Yang Maogong, and Gu Weicheng, the chief officer of Ninggu Village, to rush to Jianchang. When they arrived in Dongchuan, they learned the news from Yongsheng on the battlefield. Shang Jianguo immediately joined forces with Yongsheng and stationed on the east bank of the Jinsha River.

Enemies appeared on both the east and west wings. Even though His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin was filled with passion, he had to control his temper and temporarily stop the attack. He divided his troops into two wings to monitor the enemy, selected elite troops from the captured Wu army to compensate for the casualties, and actively prepared to march south.

The war situation in Sichuan concerned all parties. It was not only the Great Zhou court that was making moves, but also the Great Khan Lianhua. Unlike the Great Zhou dynasty that sent troops to support, Sultan was fighting fiercely with Wu Sangui and could not spare any troops. He only wrote a letter to his son: "You are invincible. The gates of Yunnan and Guizhou are all mine. It is time to drink water from the Jinsha River. I am very pleased! However, Guizhou is the newly acquired land of the bandits, and Yunnan is the base of the bandits. How about splitting the troops into two groups and killing the enemy with one blow? I hereby order you to feint an attack on Guizhou and gather heavy troops to go straight into Yunnan. If you do this, you will not disappoint the Gray Wolf and the White Deer. The military situation is urgent, and you will be dispatched as soon as you see the letter."

After receiving his father's letter, Ergalang was dumbfounded. He, who was always calm, could not help but complain to his subordinates: "Father Khan has always been wise, how could he be so confused? Not to mention that Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan are mountainous and the roads are difficult, it took a long time to transfer the Tuoli troops from Zunyi to Jianchang. Even if I meet with Tuoli, there are enemies on both wings. How can I dare to go south without first eliminating the threats on both wings?"

The head of the Wanhu clan, Sebuten, was the son of Orolike and Shuoqi, two great nobles of the Huite tribe. He had followed the Great Khan in battles since he was young and was well aware of the nature of a dragon. After thinking for a while, he said, "The Great Khan is wise and intelligent, how could he not know that the march to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan is difficult? The reason for this military order is probably that the army in the central route has encountered trouble."

This statement speaks out the thoughts of the great Khan Lianhua, a brave warrior of his generation. Suletan led the main force of the guards to fight Wu Sangui in Huguang, thinking it would be easy, but Wu Sangui was very difficult to deal with, and he did not gain much advantage after several months of fighting. He wanted to mobilize Wu's army with the help of his son, but was too embarrassed to say it, so he just ordered his son to lead the army to attack Wu Sangui's old nest in Yunnan.

In fact, the Great Khan also wrote a letter to his other son, Prince Qin Chuo Siji, the commander of the Eastern Army. The general idea was that you are a descendant of the Yikmin An clan, and you should have the spirit of a gray wolf and a white deer, and you should help me pacify the southeast as soon as possible. However, he also knew that the Eastern Army led by the Prince Qin was not the main force of the Guard Army, and he did not have much hope for this route. But if you plant flowers with care, they will not bloom, but if you plant willows without care, they will grow into shades. Things in the world are often like this! (End of this chapter)