Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

On January 21st, 1671 (the 28th year of the Qianyuan era), in the General's Mansion in Wuzhou, General Sun Yanling of Guangxi was enjoying a beautiful woman's graceful dance. He had not attained this position through any remarkable military achievements, but rather through marrying Kong Sizhen, the daughter of Kong Youde, the former Prince of Dingnan of the Qing Dynasty. Relying on his wife's influence with the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, he was sent to Guangxi to command Kong Youde's former troops. Later, seeing Wu Sangui's growing power, he defected to Wu Sangui. When the Qing Dynasty was powerful, Kong Sizhen acted like a princess, bossing everyone around and dominating General Sun, who dared not utter a sound. With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Kong Sizhen lost her patron, and General Sun sought to regain his marital authority, gradually marginalizing Kong Sizhen, leading to a deterioration in their relationship. Previously, with the old general Xian Guo'an still alive, he dared not go too far, but after the old general's death a few years prior, Sun Yanling completely let himself go, becoming increasingly arrogant and indulging in sensual pleasures without any regard for Kong Sizhen's feelings. If it were just arrogance, that would be one thing, but in order to establish his authority, he also liked to punish his soldiers, which aroused resentment in the army.

If Heaven wishes to destroy a man, it first makes him mad. As the Wei army won successive victories on the battlefield and the Wu army retreated back to Yunnan, General Sun, who was used to changing his mind depending on the wind, was tempted. He secretly expressed his willingness to surrender to the envoy sent by the Great Khan of Lotus. He thought he had done something discreet, but little did he know that trouble was brewing within his own ranks. Kong Sizhen, who resented him for keeping a concubine and bullying her, secretly informed Emperor Zhaowu of the Great Zhou, Wu Sangui.

Who was Wu Sangui? He had long been making arrangements for Guangxi, which borders Yunnan. Besides actively courting Ma Xiong, the Guangxi Commander, and Jin Guangzu, the Guangxi Governor, he also cultivated goodwill with the former subordinates of Kong Youde. Emperor Zhaowu was adept at winning people's hearts, regardless of rank. He showed great respect to generals with real military power but low official positions, condescending to extend goodwill. Even after his defeat and retreat to Yunnan, he left 40,000 troops—including the Left Wing General of the Imperial Guard, Gao Dejie, the Right Wing General of the Imperial Guard, Tao Jizhi, and the General of Dinghai, Xie Juefu—to guard Guangxi, preventing the eastern barrier of Yunnan from falling into the hands of the Imperial Guard.

Upon receiving the military order, Gao Dejie immediately deployed defenses along the border between Guangxi and Huguang with Ma Xiong, the Governor of Guangxi, and Jin Guangzu, the Governor of Guangxi. He had initially worried that the Wei army would take advantage of their victory and advance south, leaving him no time to prepare defenses. Fortunately, after the Wei army captured Huguang, they turned to Jiangxi to eliminate Ganzhou, a major obstacle, giving him time to mobilize troops and build fortifications. Over the past few months, he had carefully arranged the defenses along the border and believed that his chances of holding Guangxi had greatly increased.
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"General Zuo, I believe that Guangxi has too few soldiers. Relying solely on local recruitment is insufficient. We should urgently request His Majesty to send reinforcements," Ma Xiong advised Gao Dejie on this day, as Gao Dejie was discussing Guangxi's defenses with Ma Xiong and Jin Guangzu.

Gao Dejie sighed, “How could I not know what Lord Ma is saying? It’s just that our army has just suffered a defeat and we need to reorganize. The Western Route Army of the State Defense Army has also reached the Jinsha River and is threatening Yunnan. His Majesty cannot send too many troops at the moment.”

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiong knew that Gao Dejie was telling the truth, and could only sigh in sympathy.

Jin Guangzu suddenly laughed and said, "General Zuo and Admiral Ma, don't worry. There are troops in Guangxi, and no less than 100,000."

"Is Jin Gong trying to deceive me? Besides our subordinates, where else in Guangxi are there any soldiers?" Gao Dejie was stunned.

Ma Xiong seemed to have a sudden realization, "Does the Jin Fu Yuan mean the wolf soldiers (Liang soldiers) under the command of the various chieftains in Guangxi?"

Jin Guangzu laughed even harder, “Exactly! Guangxi may not have much else, but it has a lot of local officials. There are hundreds, if not hundreds, of them. The Cen family of Sicheng, the Huang family of Siming, the Wei family of Donglan, the Mo family of Nandan, and so on—which one of them isn’t a powerful local force? Their wolf soldiers serve as civilians and farm for the local officials in peacetime, and as soldiers and fight for the local officials in wartime. If they were all conscripted, there would be at least a hundred thousand, if not hundreds of thousands. If we could bring these wolf soldiers here, Guangxi would have no shortage of soldiers!”

"Oh dear, how could I forget about these local chieftains?" Gao Dejie patted his head and bowed to Jin Guangzu, saying, "I am new here and not familiar with the local officials. I entrust the matter of recruiting local soldiers to Governor Jin!"

"General Zuo, rest assured, this is my duty!" Jin Guangzu hurriedly returned the greeting.

"General, His Majesty has sent an imperial edict!" As the three were discussing, Li Maozhu, the deputy general, delivered Wu Sangui's secret letter. Gao Dejie opened the letter, read it, and his face changed drastically.

"General Zuo, what did His Majesty write in his letter?" Seeing his expression change, Ma and Jin hurriedly asked.

"In these turbulent times, there are always villains harboring treacherous intentions. Please take a look, gentlemen," Gao Dejie said with a cold smile, handing Wu Sangui's letter to the two men. In the letter, Wu Sangui wrote about Sun Yanling's secret surrender to Wei, and said that he had ordered Hu Tongchun and Li Yidi, Sun Yanling's generals who had secretly defected to him, to eliminate the traitor, and asked Gao Dejie to send troops to help Hu and Li succeed.

"Alas! No wonder this scoundrel lingers in Wuzhou and refuses to come to Guilin to join us. It turns out he has secretly surrendered to the guards, intending to betray us for personal gain!" Jin Guangzu roared in anger. Since gaining military power, Sun Yanling had become extremely arrogant and never took Governor Jin seriously, leading to deep-seated resentment between the two.

"Please, General Zuo, quell the rebellion immediately; delay could lead to unforeseen circumstances," Ma Xiong said. Although he had no major conflicts with Sun Yanling, he had to take a stand in the current situation. "Yes, you two are right. Let General Tao go then. These clowns will be easily captured by the old general," Gao Dejie decided. General Tao referred to Tao Jizhi, the Right General of the Imperial Guard, the oldest general under Wu Sangui, with extremely rich military experience, and whose troops were known as "the most elite among all armies." Admiral Gao had confidence in him.
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Inside the general's mansion, Sun Yanling was admiring the most beautiful of his many concubines as they danced gracefully, his gaze fixed straight ahead. Sensing her master's burning gaze, the beauty suddenly flashed a seductive wink, making General Sun unable to resist, and he involuntarily drank a few more cups.

"Ah~ Uh~" Suddenly, screams of agony rose up in the mansion.

"Who dares to disturb this general's refined pleasure?" Sun Yanling roared in anger.

The door was pushed open, and the guard who opened it, covered in blood, collapsed inside without uttering a word. Peeking through the door, one could see a series of corpses lying there. Lieutenant General Hu Tongchun and Li Yidi coldly barged in, drops of crimson blood dripping from their knives.

"What are you two doing? Are you plotting a rebellion?" Sun Yanling roared in anger.

"The one who is plotting a rebellion is none other than you!" Li Yidi sneered.

Hu Tongchun then took out a secret edict from his blood-stained sleeve: "General Sun Yanling of Guangxi has been secretly colluding with the barbarians. His Majesty has decreed that he be executed as a warning to the entire army!"

"This...this...this is a misunderstanding!" Upon realizing that the plot had been exposed, Sun Yanling sobered up, his face turned pale, and he cried out that it was a misunderstanding.

"If you have a grievance, you can go to His Majesty in a dream to plead your case." Hu Tongchun ignored him, drew his sword, and ended the matter with a single stroke.

After killing Sun Yanling, the two generals went all the way and slaughtered the entire household, taking all their wealth with them. Hu Tongchun planned to return, but was stopped by Li Yidi, who asked, "Brother Hu, what should we do with the eldest daughter?"

“Naturally, she must be protected and left to His Majesty’s disposal,” Hu Tongchun, a former subordinate of Kong Youde, was unwilling to harm his former master’s daughter.

“Brother Hu, you are mistaken. No matter what, Miss is still the wife of that traitor Sun. If we don’t get rid of her as well, she will inevitably seek revenge on us in the future,” Li Yidi said sinisterly. Seeing that Hu Tongchun remained silent, he added, “Today, you and I have robbed the Sun family of all their wealth. Given Miss’s temper, do you think she will let this go so easily?”

Upon hearing this, Hu Tongchun finally nodded, pointed towards Kong Sizhen's bedroom, and made a murderous gesture to his confidant, "Go, and do it cleanly. Don't let the young lady suffer!"

When Tao Jizhi arrived, the heads of dozens of people from the Sun family had already been presented by Hu Tongchun and Li Yi. Tao Jizhi was overjoyed, never expecting the trip to be so easy! Smiling, he ordered his men to bring out the official documents already stamped with the official seal, "Congratulations on your promotions, Brother Hu is now the Deputy General of Wuzhou, and Brother Li is now the Deputy General of Pingluo." (End of Chapter)