Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 416 The wind blows and the horse is drunk in Shaanxi (Part )
Things in the world are amazing. Zhang Yong, a famous general in Hexi Province, led a group of famous generals under his command to collect soldiers and horses, recruit people, and raise food and grass in Gongchang Mansion, preparing to defend Xi'an and prevent the guards from going south to Sichuan. However, they did not expect that this was just a harassment. In this war, the targets of the Wei army were only Lintao and Ningxia.

The Kingdom of David had just finished a war with the Junggar tribe and needed to recuperate. Emperor Qianyuan didn't want to fight a big war with the Qing Dynasty at all. He just saw rebels in his territory and empty border defenses, so he wanted to take advantage of the situation and gain some benefits. In fact, the war with the Junggar tribe had already emptied the treasury. Fortunately, he formed an alliance with Nanming and obtained 80,000 taels of silver from Emperor Yongli, otherwise he would not be able to fight even this smaller-scale war.

In order to save money, only half of the central imperial army and local troops were sent out for this expedition, and the other half were recruited farmers, herdsmen, and local soldiers. Not only did these militiamen receive less military pay, but they also brought their own weapons, which really saved a lot. Emperor Qianyuan issued an edict: After taking Lintao and Ningxia in this battle, and joining Wang Yongqiang in northern Shaanxi, he should stop and try to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty. Just let the bandits and the Qing army fight to the death. I, David, need time to recuperate.

After Alatancang, the governor of Gansu Province, captured the Lintao Prefecture and Zhidao on the orders of Tuoli, the governor of Gansu and Qinghai Province, he originally wanted to stop and attack Lanzhou, and then enter the Jinglu Guards to meet with the Xi Rimo tribe, another guard army that was attacking the Three Guards of Ningxia. division. But it was too easy to get to Hezhou, Didao and other places, so he tried to go south to Taozhou to defend. In order to preserve his strength, he integrated all the more than a thousand green battalions captured in Hezhou into the army of Ding Jiasheng, Zhe Ziming, and Gao Yixiang. He ordered these three soldiers to lead 3,000 soldiers as vanguards and go south to defend Taozhou. It turned out to be even smoother than in Lintao Prefecture. There was not a single defender anywhere, and the Taozhou Guard was captured without any bloodshed.

Alatancang was very surprised. After asking the locals, he learned that Zhang Yong had transferred all the garrison troops from Taozhou Guard to Gongchang Mansion. I couldn't help but secretly nod, Zhang Yong is really handsome, guarding Gongchang stopped our army from advancing eastward and southward. However, he had no intention of continuing to march eastward or south. As a confidant of Emperor Qianyuan, he naturally knew the nature of the dragon. It didn't matter if he lost the battle, but if he failed to obey his majesty's orders and lost the battle, he would definitely die.

However, now that we are here, it would be good to observe the strength of the Qing army, so we come to the foot of Shouyang Mountain. Looking up at Shouyang Pass on the mountain, I saw that all the defenses were well arranged, and the Qing troops on the mountain were advancing and retreating in an orderly manner. I couldn't help but praise Zhang Yong for his ability to lead the troops.

After he understood that Gongchang's enemies were not easy to mess with, he decided to act according to the original tactics. He ordered Sabir, Ding Guodong, Milayin, Qi Xingzhou, Wan Jin and others to garrison in Weiyuan County to confront Gongchang's Qing army, while he led the army. Return to Lintao and attack Lanzhou.

In the Hexi Corridor, Lanzhou is considered a wealthy city. In the third year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty set up the Lanzhou Guard. In the first year of Jianwen, King Su Zhu led the Central Guard of Ganzhou to move to Lanzhou, cultivated fertile fields, and built water conservancy projects, which greatly promoted economic development. No less than ten thousand districts."

Nan Yikui, a fierce general of the Qing Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, led 5,000 elite soldiers to guard the city. This man was originally from Kunming, Yunnan. He was good at wielding a sword. He served as a deputy general of the Ming army and was famous for his bravery. He was later demoted to Li Chuang and then to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He made many military exploits and was awarded the rank of General Soldier of Ningxia, a member of the Han Army with a red flag, and the third title. Waiting for the captain of the light chariot.

In the early Qing Dynasty, it was a great blessing for a Han to join the banner. The reason why he was able to achieve this fate was all thanks to a noble person: Meng Qiaofang, the governor of Shaanxi. Meng Duxian had a vicious eye and promoted a group of good generals. Seeing that he had the courage to fight, he strongly recommended him and ordered him to garrison Lanzhou, a military important place.

On this day, Nanzong Town had just returned to camp after inspecting the city defense, and his men came to report to the Lanzhou Guard Commander for an audience. At this time, Lanzhou had not yet withdrawn its guards and returned to the state, so the commander of the guards was equivalent to the local official. When the Guards entered Shaanxi, Nanzong Town naturally heard the news and ordered the parents to recruit young men and raise grain and grass to help defend the city.

"Call the bird commander to come in," Nan Yikui said lazily, not taking this local snake seriously.

"Commander, according to your instructions, I have levied more than 5,000 young men, but there is not enough food and grass. Lanzhou is barren and the court has levied food several times. The people really have no food left," the commander of the Lanzhou Guard respectfully reported.

"Damn! If we don't have food, what can we let our brothers eat and drink?" Nan Yikui was furious. "The poor people don't have food, so they ask the rich families to collect it." "Commander, this can't be done. All the local big families have private soldiers. If there is a mutiny, the city will be difficult to protect." The guard commander objected. Most of the local officials were from local big families, so there was no reason to requisition their own food.

Nan Yikui scratched his head and thought of a bad idea. He found several merchants from out of town, falsely accused them of being spies for the Guards, slaughtered them all, and robbed them of their money and food.

Alatancang led an army of 20,000 troops to Lanzhou City. See the Yellow River roaring through the city, dividing the city into south and north parts. The city walls are tall and solid, especially the north city, towering into the clouds. I couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. It is said that there is a magical nest buried under the wall of the North City. The things inside can grow automatically, so it cannot be washed away by many floods. Such a majestic city is difficult to defeat!
Even if it was difficult to fight, we had to fight. Alatancang gritted his teeth and first released a large number of fire ships, igniting the ship bridge connecting the south and north cities. As the ship bridge caught fire, Lanzhou was completely cut into two halves. They then ordered people to bombard the city for several days. The north city was as solid as a rock. Although the south city was bombarded with many craters, it still stood firm.

It seems that the only way to fill it is with human life! Alatancang sighed in his heart, and ordered to summon Ding Jiasheng, Zhe Ziming, and Gao Yixiang, and encouraged him: "Three of you have just joined our army. I hope you can make great contributions!"

"Don't worry, Fu Yuan, we are willing to die for David!"

Since ancient times, when surrendering troops first surrendered, they wanted to make great military exploits so that they could gain a foothold in front of their new masters. Generals Ding, Zhe and Gao received the military order and immediately led 3,000 surrender troops to storm Nancheng. After seven days of bloody battle. The three men's men suffered nearly half casualties and finally captured Nancheng, but they were unable to fight anymore.

Alatancang ordered Xin Sizhong, the commander-in-chief of Lanzhou, Qi Zhizhen, the commander-in-chief of Xi'an, Fan Dingge, the commander-in-chief of Yan'an, and Ma Anbang, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, to besiege Beicheng from all sides. The military situation was raging, and he also wanted to make a great contribution before Xi Rimo, the head of the old family, so he personally supervised the battle.

Braving the rain of cannons, rocks and arrows, groups of soldiers climbed up the ladders. Some people were constantly being shot and fell, and others were constantly making up for them. The guards attacked the city wall many times, but were driven back by the defenders. Nan Yikui was very brave and organized a suicide squad himself, and would attack wherever there were guards.

After attacking for five days, more than a thousand soldiers were killed or injured, but they were unable to defeat Beicheng.

"I'm too impatient!" Alatancang sighed, and ordered the siege to be changed into a siege, digging trenches and building fences, vowing to trap the Qing army in Lanzhou to death.

(End of this chapter)