Chapter 149: Great Victory-Iron-Blooded Ming Dynasty(The Lonely Swordsman)

Early the next morning, inside the Jiannu encampment, military leaders such as Xifu, Soni, Turai, Lengsengji, Tantai, and Tazhan, along with the chieftains of the Tuohetuo and Jasag Mongol tribes, had already gathered in Hooge’s central command tent. They urgently demanded a strategic retreat toward Beijing to join Dorgon’s main forces as soon as possible.

By the previous evening, even the very last of their warhorses had collapsed, leaving the Jiannu completely stranded without mounts. If they did not retreat toward Beijing immediately, they might soon find themselves unable to leave at all.

Xifu dropped to one knee, cupped his fists, and said anxiously, "Master, we can wait no longer."

"Indeed, we can wait no longer."

"We must retreat toward Beijing at once to unite with the two Prince Regents."

"Quite right, staying here any longer is of no benefit."

Soni, Turai, and the others stepped forward one after another to voice their agreement.

With the crowd clamoring and feeling cornered, Hooge was just about to issue the order to retreat toward Beijing when a continuous, unbroken sound of horns suddenly echoed from outside the tent. Hooge’s expression changed drastically in an instant, and he demanded in a deep voice, "Where is that horn sounding from?"

Before Hooge’s words had even faded, a Goshaha rushed into the tent and reported, "Master, this is terrible."

Hooge frowned and barked, "What has happened?"

The Goshaha replied, "The rebel bandits from Leigong Mountain are charging toward us."

"What? What do those damned rebels want?" Hooge sprang to his feet in shock and snapped, "Let’s go and see."

Hooge and his generals hurried up to the watchtower. Looking out into the distance, they indeed saw a massive force of rebel cavalry sweeping across the northern wilderness. Just as they were about to approach the Jiannu camp, the rebel cavalry split into two separate units, circling around both flanks of the Jiannu encampment before coming to a halt outside the northern gate of the large city.

"Damned scoundrels!" Hooge clenched his fists in fury and growled, "Those warhorses were all snatched from our hands. I will never spare them. We must find a way to take back every single horse we lost."

"Kill the slaves!"

No sooner had Hooge finished speaking than the tightly shut northern gate of Datong slowly creaked open. Amidst a continuous, rhythmic cadence of labor chants, neat ranks of Great Ming regular troops marched steadily out from the city. Even more shocking was that the two units of rebel cavalry suddenly tightened their formations, respectively guarding the left and right flanks of the Ming regular forces.

"What!?" Hooge gasped in astonishment, "Is... is this real?"

Hooge truly had not expected that the rebels and the Ming regular troops, who had originally been mortal enemies, could actually fight side by side like close brothers.

"It's over," Xifu stamped his feet and sighed heavily. "I never imagined the rebels would actually join forces with the Ming army. With the rebel cavalry protecting their flanks, Wang Pu’s firearm corps will be able to attack our camp without the slightest restraint."

"What is there to fear?" Hooge roared angrily. "I refuse to believe that an army of thirty thousand cannot withstand the attack of a few thousand Ming soldiers!"

At the northern gate of Datong, once the regular troops and the rebels had finished arraying their formations, Li Yan slowly led Hongniangzi and over a hundred mounted guards to the rear of the Ming battle lines. Spotting them from afar, Wang Pu hurriedly urged his horse forward, accompanied by Nenniang, Lü Liu, and dozens of mounted guards. While still quite a distance apart, the two men cupped their fists in salute from their saddles and burst into hearty laughter simultaneously.

"Commander Li."

"Regional Commander Wang."

"I truly never expected we would meet again so soon."

"And what makes it even more delightful is that this time, we are still friends."

Wang Pu threw his head back and laughed loudly, saying, "As long as Commander Li honors our agreement, we shall be friends forever."

Li Yan smiled faintly and replied, "Li Yan will certainly honor the agreement, and I trust Regional Commander Wang will keep his word as well."

"Naturally," Wang Pu smiled slightly. "Commander Li, shall we begin now?"

Li Yan also smiled and said, "I await your command, Regional Commander Wang."

Wang Pu nodded slightly and slowly drew his waist saber, lifting it high above his head. Lü Liu, who closely followed behind Wang Pu, snapped open a tattered, fluttering banner. Seeing this flag, Li Yan, his wife Hongniangzi, and their hundred-odd mounted guards could not help but freeze for a moment. Indeed, they had never laid eyes on such a ragged banner before.

No sooner had Lü Liu unfurled the banner than the four thousand-men commanders standing before their respective arrays—Scarface, Tang Sheng, Zhao Xin, and Monk Zhang—also drew their waist sabers in succession. Following them, dozens of platoon commanders drew their sabers and raised them high overhead. Nearly four thousand musketeers simultaneously unslung their muskets from their shoulders and cradled them diagonally across their chests.

Behind the four thousand musketeers marched another four thousand Datong militiamen, each holding a thick wooden board in his hands. Seeing this, Li Yan could not help but silently praise the brilliant preparation. It appeared Wang Pu had indeed planned ahead. The wooden boards carried by these four thousand militiamen could serve both as shields and as material to fill in the trenches in front of the Jiannu camp.

Wang Pu flicked his waist saber forward and shouted in a resonant voice, "Advance!"

Lü Liu, following closely behind, swung his banner forward with great force. Scarface, Tang Sheng, Zhao Xin, Monk Zhang, and the dozens of platoon commanders likewise swung their sabers downward and roared at the top of their lungs, "Advance!"

"Charge!"

The four thousand musketeers, standing at the ready, immediately began to march forward in uniform steps, shouting in unison with every single pace they took. The intense wave of sound rushed straight into the clouds, deafening the ears. Li Yan glanced sideways at the insurgent cavalry formation, only to see a loose, disorganized, and disorderly scene. The chaos and disorder of the insurgent forces formed a sharp contrast with the strict discipline and orderly ranks of the regular army!

Li Yan’s expression turned solemn in an instant. The training level of Wang Pu’s firearm corps far exceeded his imagination; although the insurgent forces had stepped up their training during their time on Leigong Mountain, compared to Wang Pu’s firearm corps, the gap remained immense.

"Commander Li, you should return to command the insurgent forces in battle."

Just as Li Yan was observing the regular army’s military formation with rapt attention, Wang Pu’s voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

Seeing that Li Yan lingered and showed no intention of returning to the rebel ranks, Wang Pu had no choice but to bite the bullet and offer a reminder. Business was business, but Li Yan was not one of his own men after all, and there were certain things he simply could not be allowed to see—especially the paper cartridges invented by Nenniang. Those were lethal novelties; how could Li Yan be permitted to witness them?

"Heh heh," Li Yan smiled with a trace of awkwardness, "Then I shall take my leave."

Since Wang Pu had already issued a polite dismissal, Li Yan naturally could not shamelessly linger any longer.

Amidst the deafening labor chants, the four thousand Ming soldiers and eight thousand rebels slowly moved forward, halting when they were still an arrow's flight away from the Jiannu encampment. At such a distance, while the Jiannu arrows could certainly not reach the Ming and rebel forces, the Ming muskets were likewise unable to pose a significant threat to the Jiannu.

However, the Ming army possessed cannons, while the Jiannu did not.

The only five Red-Barbarian cannons the Jiannu had possessed had already been taken by Dorgon to Beijing.

At Wang Pu’s command, Xiaoqi led the personal guards to drag two mortar pieces mounted on horse-drawn carriages to the front of the formation. The guards drove iron stakes into the ground with the utmost speed, locking the mortars and their carriages completely in place so that during the recoil, the mortars and their anchored mounts would not be shaken into the air.

These two mortars were hopelessly antiquated antiques, and they could only fire solid iron balls, making it rather difficult to use them for inflicting casualties on the Jiannu. Yet, using them to blast open the palisade gates of the Jiannu camp was child's play.

Xiaoqi raised his waist saber, flicked it forward, and shouted sternly, "Fire!"

Two guards used slow matches to ignite the fuses outside the mortar barrels. The fuses sputtered with black smoke, burning rapidly into the powder chambers. Those two guards sprinted away to a distance of ten paces in the blink of an eye, covered their ears with both hands, and threw themselves flat onto the ground.

"Boom! Boom!"

Accompanied by two deafening explosions, two balls of blazing red fire roared out from the muzzle, flashing like lightning toward the gates of the Jiannu camp. Those fiery spheres struck the ground before reaching their target, but quickly bounced back up to continue their flight, ultimately slamming heavily into the palisade gates.

The sturdy gates were instantly smashed to pieces, with splinters and broken timber flying everywhere. After shattering the gates, the two solid iron balls fired by the mortars still retained immense momentum, plunging fiercely into the Jiannu ranks. Flesh and blood instantly flew through the air among the Jiannu troops, with severed limbs and broken bodies scattering across the ground. Those two iron balls carved two deep, bloody furrows through the crowded Jiannu formation like a pair of crimson plows.

Before the gunpowder smoke from the cannons had even dispersed, Wang Pu issued another order. Four thousand Datong militiamen immediately hoisted four thousand long wooden boards, forming a solid wall of boards directly above the heads of the musketeers. Shielded by this wooden wall, the four thousand musketeers slowly closed in on the Jiannu camp.

The Jiannu hiding within the encampment certainly would not sit idly by and await their doom. At Hooge’s command, wave after wave of arrow rain swept up into the sky from the Jiannu camp, showering down upon the heads of the musket formation, only to be blocked completely by the wooden wall of the Datong militiamen, posing virtually no threat to the musketeers hiding beneath it. Soon, the two opposing forces were less than a hundred paces apart, well within the effective range of the muskets.

The Jiannu archers changed their strategy as well, abandoning futile random volleys into the sky and being forced to aim their direct fire at the front ranks of the Ming musketeers. Unfortunately, the flying arrows were subjected to far too much wind interference, resulting in a hit rate of almost zero, whereas the musket bullets fired by the Ming soldiers were entirely unaffected by the wind.

Rank after rank of musket rounds whistled across the space, cutting down the Jiannu archers defending behind the wooden barriers like harvested wheat. In less time than it took to eat a meal, the corpses of the Jiannu piled up like mountains behind the fences. This was an utterly one-sided massacre; facing the superior firepower of the Ming firearm corps, the Jiannu were completely defenseless.

In the rear of the rebel formation, Hongniangzi said to Li Yan with a solemn expression, "My husband, this is terrifying."

"Indeed," Li Yan’s expression was equally grave as he murmured, "Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it was true."

"Husband, if the ones defending the camp opposite us were our insurgent army..."

Hongniangzi shivered uncontrollably at those words and dared not think any further.

"You need not worry, my wife," Li Yan said in a deep voice. "While Wang Pu’s firearm corps is formidable, it is not invincible."

"Oh?" Hongniangzi’s bright eyes burned as she looked at Li Yan and asked, "Does my husband have a way to defeat Wang Pu’s firearm corps?"

"Though it will not be easy, a method does exist," Li Yan frowned and said. "The offensive power of Wang Pu’s firearm corps is exceptionally formidable, practically unstoppable, yet it possesses a fatal flaw. Because the firearm corps must advance in neat, orderly shooting formations, its movement is sluggish. If the Jiannu camp opposite had even a few cannons, Wang Pu’s firearm corps would suffer heavy losses!"

Hearing this, Hongniangzi’s lovely eyes lit up with delight as she praised, "You are truly brilliant, Husband, to have thought of a countermeasure so quickly."

Li Yan shook his head with a bitter smile and replied, "Yet this is hardly a good solution. After all, cannons are much bulkier and harder to move, and reloading ammunition after firing takes a great deal of time. Taking advantage of that time interval, Wang Pu’s firearm corps could still charge forward. In truth, the best method is... to train a musket corps of our own."

Hongniangzi stared in astonishment. "But we have no muskets!"

Li Yan stated gravely, "If we have no muskets, we can manufacture them. Wang Pu’s muskets were forged by himself as well."

Inside the Jiannu encampment, the three trenches before the camp had already been filled in with wooden boards by the Datong militiamen. The Ming firearm corps had broken right up to the Jiannu camp, hurling hundreds of Dragon-King bombs like raindrops. Amidst a series of deafening explosions, the Jiannu crowded within the stockade were blown to pieces in the blink of an eye.

Having suffered casualties of over three thousand archers, the Jasag and Tuohetuo tribesmen had completely collapsed, and the remaining five thousand-odd Jiannu of the Two Yellow Banners were left trembling with terror.

Hooge’s eyes were bloodshot. Several times he tried to lead his personal guards to charge out of the palisade gates, only to be held back desperately by Tantai and Lengsengji.

"Let go!" Hooge struggled fiercely to break free from the grip of Tantai and Lengsengji, shouting harshly, "If you don't let go, this prince will cut off your dog heads!"

"Master!" Xifu and his uncle Soni rushed forward from the chaotic throng, dropping to their knees before Hooge with a miserable expression. "The Ming fire weapons are too powerful! The camp cannot be held!"

"Hold it we must," Hooge roared at the top of his lungs. "No one is permitted to flee!"

"Master," Soni pleaded anxiously, "staying here means certain death for nothing. We must flee."

"Master, run!"

"If we don't flee now, it will be too late."

Turai and Tazhan also rushed to Hooge’s side with their remaining battered troops, shouting, "The damned Jasags and Tuohetuos have already escaped!"

"Jasags? Tuohetuos!" Hooge clenched his fists and bellowed, "This prince will not spare them!"

"Tantai, Lengsengji," Xifu said decisively, "protect the master well and get away at once."

"Understood!"

Tantai and Lengsengji shouted in unison, hoisting Hooge up between them as they bolted.

Xifu ordered Tazhan and Soni to stay behind with three hundred men to cover the rear, then fled the encampment closely following Hooge alongside Turai. Long before this, the Jasags and Tuohetuos had already made their escape. Soon, the wilderness north of Datong was swarming with fleeing Jiannu soldiers, scattered everywhere across the mountains and plains.

In the rear of the rebel army, Li Yan let out a long breath, drew his long sword with a ringing chime, held it high overhead, and shouted in a resonant voice, "Pass down the order! The entire army will charge, and annihilate the Jiannu to the last man!"

At Li Yan’s command, the eight thousand rebel cavalry poured forth like a breached dam, sweeping away in pursuit of the fleeing Jiannu like a tide.

Li Yan, flanked by Hongniangzi and over a hundred mounted guards, joined the ranks of the pursuing army. On the question of how to treat the Jiannu, Li Yan and Wang Pu held views of striking consistency, though their motivations differed somewhat: Li Yan sought to capture the armor and weapons worn by the Jiannu, while Wang Pu genuinely intended to wipe them out entirely.

After capturing the Jiannu encampment, Wang Pu swiftly transferred two thousand horses from inside Datong City according to his predetermined plan. Leaving behind the thousand-man units of Zhao Xin and Tang Sheng to clear the battlefield, Scarface and Monk Zhang’s two thousand-man units transformed instantly from infantry into cavalry, joining the pursuit of the fleeing Jiannu under Wang Pu’s personal leadership.

Hooge’s Jiannu army had completely collapsed, having lost all courage to resist, knowing only how to flee in disarray across the wilderness like dogs. Yet, two legs could never outrun four; the rebel and Ming cavalrymen, mounted on swift steeds, quickly caught up. Time and again, lagging Jiannu stragglers were intercepted by the pursuers and hacked to death in short order.

As dusk approached, Wang Pu pursued a dozen or so Jiannu up Mount Baideng.

By this time, Wang Pu was accompanied only by Nenniang, Lü Liu, and seventeen personal guards. The rest of the cavalry had completely scattered during the pursuit because the Jiannu had fled in all directions, forcing Wang Pu to continuously split his forces until only this small group remained by his side.

Those dozen or so Jiannu had run until they were utterly exhausted, coming to a halt halfway up the mountain slope because they could run no further. Wang Pu’s band quickly closed the distance, dispatching the remaining Jiannu without the slightest effort.

Lü Liu looked up at the darkening sky and said to Wang Pu, "General, night is falling. Let us turn back."

Lü Liu could not help but worry for Wang Pu’s safety. Once night fell, continuing the pursuit of the Jiannu would become exceedingly difficult, and worse yet, they might fall victim to covert Jiannu arrows. Sustaining any injury to Wang Pu would be an unbearable loss. More importantly, after a day of relentless pursuit, the number of Jiannu who could escape alive back to the grasslands could now be counted on one's fingers.

Wang Pu nodded and was just about to issue the order to recall the troops when a faint sound of fighting suddenly reached his ears.

"Oh?" Nenniang heard the commotion as well and cried out in her clear voice, "It sounds like someone is fighting ahead."

Lü Liu cocked his ear to listen for a moment and declared decisively, "General, it is coming from the valley right ahead."

Wang Pu waved his hand and commanded in a ringing voice, "Let's go take a look."

As Wang Pu and his twenty-rider party crested the mountain ridge, the scene within the valley came clearly into view.

Seven Jiannu men were fiercely attacking a single woman. She was clad in vibrant red martial attire, her figure graceful and athletic. To everyone's astonishment, it was Hongniangzi! Hongniangzi and Li Yan were invariably inseparable; with Hongniangzi here, where had Li Yan gone?

Wang Pu narrowed his eyes and looked closer, noticing that dozens of corpses lay sprawled across the grassy field nearby—some Jiannu, some rebels. This came as a tremendous shock to Wang Pu. Could Li Yan have already fallen victim to the Jiannu?

At that moment, the seven Jiannu men also spotted Wang Pu and his party.

These seven Jiannu men were none other than Hooge, Tantai, Lengsengji, and Hooge’s four personal bodyguards.

When they had fled initially, Tantai and Lengsengji had led two hundred armored guards to escort Hooge northward at top speed. To avoid drawing attention, both Hooge and his guards had changed into ordinary Jiannu attire. Yet along the way, rebel pursuers had continually hunted them down. To draw off the relentless pursuers, Tantai and Lengsengji had been forced to split their forces repeatedly.

By the time they managed to flee into Mount Baideng, Hooge had been left with only a dozen or so armored guards by his side.

At that exact moment, Li Yan and Hongniangzi, accompanied by over thirty mounted guards, had caught up with Hooge’s party. Li Yan’s situation was much like Wang Pu’s; due to dividing his forces to hunt down the Jiannu, the guards remaining by his side were few.

Believing this to be merely a band of ordinary fleeing Jiannu stragglers, Li Yan had launched an attack without a second thought. However, the moment the two sides clashed, more than half of Li Yan’s guards were cut down by the Jiannu.

By the time Li Yan realized the danger, it was already too late.

Because that valley was a dead end and the Jiannu had already secured the exit, Li Yan’s group had either to abandon their horses and climb the mountain to escape or break through the Jiannu blockade to exit the valley. Hongniangzi made a resolute decision, ordering the remaining dozen guards to protect Li Yan as he scaled the mountain to escape, while she remained behind alone to cover the rear.

Hooge was a notorious lecher who despised missing out on a beauty. Seeing that Hongniangzi possessed a snow-white lotus face and an athletic figure, evil thoughts had stirred within him, and he ordered her to be taken alive. Instead, Hongniangzi unleashed her fierce martial prowess, stabbing and killing over a dozen armored guards in succession. Hooge himself had been pierced in the thigh by Hongniangzi’s sword and could only watch the battle from the sidelines.

Yet Hongniangzi was ultimately only one person; no matter how high her martial arts proficiency, she could not withstand an overwhelming number of foes.

After killing a score of Jiannu in succession, Hongniangzi finally grew completely exhausted. Just as she was on the verge of being captured, Wang Pu and his men arrived in the nick of time.

Tantai was the first to spot Wang Pu’s group and shouted, "Master, it looks like rebel reinforcements have arrived!"

Lengsengji also cried out, "Master, we must flee at once! Forget about this woman, or we won't be able to get away!"

Seeing the fat morsel about to slip from his jaws once more, Hooge’s eyes blazed with fury. A murderous intent flashed in his gaze as he roared savagely, "The woman this prince cannot have, no one else shall possess either! Tantai, Lengsengji, and you four—kill her at once!"

"Understood!"

Tantai, Lengsengji, and the remaining three armored guards shouted in unison, stepping up their assaults. Dispensing with their previous cat-and-mouse tactics, every single blow they struck was aimed at taking her life. Hongniangzi was already utterly spent, and under this onslaught, she found herself in grave peril. Before long, Tantai stabbed her left shoulder with his sword.

Stumbling, Hongniangzi collapsed onto the ground. Though she mustered her remaining strength to parry Tantai’s follow-up thrust aimed at her chest, she had no strength left to block the horizontal slash of Lengsengji’s waist saber.

Just as Lengsengji’s blade was about to cleave Hongniangzi in two, a deafening explosion rang out. Lengsengji’s body jerked violently before he toppled backward, his waist saber flying upward from the momentum and brushing lightly past Hongniangzi’s head, neatly lopping off the head of a nearby Jiannu guard instead.

Nenniang had taken down Lengsengji with a single shot, saving Hongniangzi’s life.

"Bad news! It's the Ming army's firearm corps!"

Tantai turned and fled in a panic.

The three remaining Jiannu guards hurriedly rushed forward to haul Hooge up in an attempt to escape.

"Charge, brothers! Do not let a single one escape!"

Before slipping into unconsciousness, Hongniangzi saw Wang Pu spur his horse down into the valley, leading a dozen Ming cavalrymen in pursuit of those damned Jiannu.

After drifting in endless darkness for an unknown length of time, Hongniangzi finally opened her eyes and awoke.

Instinctively attempting to push herself up, a sharp pain flared across her left chest, causing Hongniangzi to let out a soft groan as she collapsed back onto the ground.

"If you don't want to die, stop moving around."

A blunt voice suddenly sounded from behind Hongniangzi. Turning her head with some difficulty, Hongniangzi saw a figure sitting leisurely not far away. By the faint glow of a campfire, she recognized the face of this person—none other than Datong Regional Commander Wang Pu.

Hongniangzi asked weakly, "Regional Commander Wang... did you save me?"

"Nonsense," Wang Pu retorted ungratefully. "If I didn't save you, did some immortal fairy save you?"

"Thank you." A sudden thought of Li Yan crossed Hongniangzi's mind, and she asked with some tension, "Regional Commander Wang, where is this? Have you seen my husband?"