weaving

Outside the western city of Xingtai, Shunde Prefecture, within a radius of more than ten miles, smoke and dust swirled, obscuring the sky and the sun.

Standing atop the city wall and looking in that direction, one could see the shadows of men and horses flashing constantly amidst the yellow dust, with the booming of cannons occasionally ringing out, sounding particularly deafening amidst the crackling of muskets.

The sounds of fighting, screams, and the wailing of warhorses were heart-wrenching...

The sound came from afar, like the ghostly voices of hell, making the officials and soldiers on the city wall tremble. Some even had their legs shaking uncontrollably.

They were thankful that government troops came to their rescue; otherwise, Xingtai City would have been difficult to defend!

At the same time, they also began to worry about the government troops fighting fiercely against the Jurchen Tartars outside the city, fearing that they would not be able to withstand the Tartar offensive and that Xingtai would be in danger if the government troops were to collapse.

"Sir, should we go out of the city and help the government troops?" Deng Renhe, the commander of the central army, seemed to have noticed something and whispered a reminder from the side.

At this moment, Ji Kongjia, the prefect of Shunde, was also staring intently at the battlefield outside Xiguan, his expression very solemn, as if he was making a decision in his heart.

"Sir, if the government troops are defeated, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold Xingtai City," Deng Renhe reminded him again.

Ji Kongjia slammed his palm on the battlement and shouted, "Deng Renhe, immediately gather your men, recruit suicide soldiers, and come out of the city to reinforce the government troops. Let's join forces to attack the Tartars from both sides!"

"Yes, sir."

…………

Hu Zichen had already been struck in the left shoulder by an arrow, and blood stained half of his robe...

Fortunately, thanks to the veteran soldiers under his command, they successfully repelled the invading Jurchen invaders. However, the five hundred veteran soldiers also suffered heavy casualties, with a rough estimate of forty or fifty dead and more than a hundred wounded.

However, Sha Shiguang's side was still besieged by the Tartars. Although the situation was unclear due to the smoke and dust, it could be guessed from the shouts and screams that they were struggling to hold on.

Meanwhile, the cavalry that went to attack the rear of the Jurchens were also intercepted by the Jurchen cavalry. Now, even if they wanted to retreat to support Hu Zichen, it was impossible.

Hu Zichen realized that the situation was extremely critical, so he immediately summoned two of his personal generals and said to one of them, "Han Zikai, you go back to the abandoned village immediately and order Liu Gengshan to lead the new army to support General Sha."

"Yes, sir." Han Zikai accepted the order and left.

With bloodshot eyes, Hu Zichen shouted loudly to another of his close generals, "Hu Zhen, gather the troops, let's join forces with Sha Shiguang to attack the enemy."

"Here."

…………

Although Sha Shiguang had two thousand soldiers, they had not experienced the tempering of major battles. Suddenly encountering the fierce attack of the Jurchen invaders, it was already commendable that they had been able to hold out for so long without being defeated.

Even though Sha Shiguang was extremely anxious, he was helpless and could only desperately hold his position. His voice was hoarse from shouting, and he was stabbed twice, without even having time to bandage himself.

"General, the Tartars in the east are in chaos."

A loud shout from someone caught Sha Shiguang's attention. He grabbed one of his personal guards and pushed him forward, yelling, "Block the Tartars!"

He himself leaped onto a chariot, craning his neck to look east. Sure enough, it was Hu Zichen leading troops to the rescue. The Tartars divided their forces to intercept them, which greatly weakened the eastern offensive.

He leaped down, pointed east, and shouted, "Quickly, to the east! Attack the Tartars to the east with all your might! General Tiger has come to our rescue..."

After saying that, Sha Shiguang flew towards the east, swinging his cleaver with great force, first cutting down one Tartar, and then knocking away the waist knife of another Tartar.

In the blink of an eye, Sha Shiguang had plunged headlong into the Tartars' ranks, charging and crashing like a tiger descending a mountain.

The duty of the personal guards is to protect their commander. There is no reason for the commander to be on the front line. They immediately rushed forward and closely followed Sha Shiguang to protect his safety.

…………

Tan Tai, perched on a high point, surveyed the entire battlefield from horseback. Initially, a cold smile played on his lips, but as the battle progressed, his expression grew increasingly grave. "These southern dogs are truly stubborn; why haven't they run away yet?"

Tan Tai originally thought that the Ming army in front of him might be stronger than the Ming army he had encountered before, but in any case, as long as his warriors charged up and fought for a while, they would surely collapse and flee.

But everything unfolded contrary to his expectations. The Ming army's battle formation not only did not collapse, but they fought quite well. In fact, the smallest Ming army force even drove back the warriors who were attacking them.

"I really underestimated these Southern dogs."

Tan Tai pointed to the battlefield where cavalry were locked in combat on the outskirts of the battlefield and shouted loudly, "Send another eight hundred warriors to attack, first defeat the Southern Dogs' cavalry, and then turn around and deal with their infantry."

"Whoo."

No sooner had the messenger left than a Bayara soldier rushed up to Tan Tai and shouted, "Tan Tai, the Southern dogs in the city have also come out to fight!"

Tan Tai was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then shouted angrily, "Damn it, even a coward like you dares to show your face now?"

After turning his head, he casually asked, "How many Southern dogs came out?"

There were four or five hundred people.

"Only four or five hundred?" Tan Tai pointed at the Bayara soldier and roared, "I'll give you two hundred men, go and kill them all!"

"Yes, sir!" Bayara accepted the order and left.

But no sooner had Bayara left than another Tartar general came running up and reported, "Tan Taigushan, the scouts report that two thousand Southern soldiers from the abandoned village are coming to kill us."

"Oh? Two thousand more southern dogs?"

Tan Tai's eyes narrowed into slits, and he lowered his head slightly, seemingly deep in thought.
The officer dared not disturb him and could only stand aside awaiting orders, but he heard Tan Tai mutter to himself, "This battle... is getting more and more interesting... hehehe..."

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes gleaming, and looked at the distant battlefield, shouting in a deep voice, "Order the troops to retreat."

"Withdraw the troops?" the Niru repeated, slightly doubtful.

"Hmm? Are you questioning Ben Gushan's military orders?"

"Ah...this servant dares not,this servant dares not."

"Why aren't you relaying the order yet?"

"Whoo!"

…………

"The Tartars have retreated... the Tartars have retreated..."

The first cheers to erupt came from the west city wall of Xingtai. As the saying goes, "the higher you stand, the farther you can see," the soldiers and civilians watching from the city wall were the first to see the Tartars retreat.

The soldiers who were actually on the battlefield only realized the Tartars had escaped when the enemy they were fighting to the death with retreated...

"The Tartars have fled... the Tartars have escaped..."

Many people... especially the soldiers under Sha Shiguang's command, were among the most excited on the battlefield...

The arrogant Tartars, the ruthless Tartars, the bloodthirsty Tartar soldiers, were actually... were actually defeated by their own hands?

Even after the Tartars retreated, some people still couldn't believe that they had driven off the Tartar soldiers with their own bare hands... (End of Chapter)