Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1287 The Living Lü Bu

Northern grasslands.

While the Ming Dynasty was mobilizing warships in the southeast in preparation for war with the Dutch, somewhere on the northern grasslands, a war had just ended. The camp was in a mess, with thick black smoke billowing from some places. Yurts were overturned, oxcarts were scattered, and corpses and warhorses lay everywhere. Prisoners, gathered together, were tied up in a string and driven south along with cattle and sheep.

A cavalry general sat on his horse, observing everything before him. His armor was stained with bloodstains, likely from the previous battle. He was tall, with fair skin and a handsome face, and looked slightly different from ordinary Mongols.

"General Wang, what are you looking at?" A Mongol commander rode up to Wang Fuchen's side and, following his gaze, saw only the battlefield after the battle. He asked in confusion.

"Hehe, don't you think this scene is like a beautiful painting?" Wang Fuchen raised his hand and pointed ahead, saying with great emotion, "The devastation is everywhere, with corpses and limbs lying all over the place, and the setting sun is like blood. It's really exciting to look at!"

The Mongol commander stared wide-eyed. He understood every word Wang Fuchen spoke, but he didn't grasp their meaning, let alone what they were describing. Seeing Wang Fuchen's enthusiastic demeanor, the commander couldn't help but curse him inwardly as a madman. Indeed! As a Mongol, especially a general under the Tümed Shunyi King, this was the first time he had seen a Ming general so frenzied in battle. In the recently concluded battle, Wang Fuchen had led from the front with unstoppable force, killing more than a dozen people, including the enemy leader. His martial prowess was unmatched, and his bloodthirstiness was chilling.

If it weren't for the prince's prior orders, Wang Fuchen would have undoubtedly carried out a bloodbath after the battle, given his temperament. In today's battle, the commander truly experienced Wang Fuchen's ruthlessness. He never imagined that there could be such a bloodthirsty person among the Ming people. Moreover, judging from his appearance, Wang Fuchen was not the kind of person with a fierce and menacing face. On the contrary, with his handsome appearance, he looked more like a civil official than a military general.

After gazing intently at the now-concluded battlefield for a while, Wang Fuchen was filled with emotion. Then, seeing the bewildered look on the face of the commander beside him, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Let's go, the prince is still waiting for us," Wang Fuchen said to the commander. Then he turned his horse around, lightly tapped its belly with his heel, and the warhorse began to trot. Then it gradually increased in speed and galloped off in one direction.

Half a day later, Wang Fuchen returned to the camp with his men and prisoners. Shunyi King Tengger had already received news of Wang Fuchen's great victory and personally led his men to welcome him.

Upon seeing the main tent in the distance, Wang Fuchen dismounted and strode forward. Reaching it, he knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Tengger, and said, “Your Highness, the entire 2,300 men of the Ulanbari tribe have been annihilated. Ulanbari himself has been killed in battle, and his head is here!”

As he spoke, he handed over a leather pouch he was carrying. Tengger's man quickly took it, opened the pouch, took out a severed head, examined it carefully, and then nodded to Tengger. Tengger's face lit up with a gratified smile. He took two steps forward and helped Wang Fuchen up, holding his hand with great joy and praising his unparalleled martial prowess.

Wang Fuchen offered a few modest words, but his wide smile couldn't hide his inner joy. Coming to the grasslands this time was truly the right decision. If he had stayed in Yulinwei as before, where would he have gotten this exhilarating battle? Not to mention this achievement.

Wang Fuchen was originally a servant, the son of a Ming Dynasty official, whose original surname was Li. Due to the chaos in the Northwest when he was young, the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang and others raised an army, and the eunuch's house was destroyed by the rebels. Wang Fuchen's peaceful life was shattered. Later, because of his brother-in-law, he was forced to join the rebel army and became a minor leader.

He served in the rebel army for two years. Because Wang Fuchen was a gambler, he once lost six hundred taels of silver in one night. The problem was that this silver was the military pay given to him by his brother-in-law, which was originally intended to be distributed the next day. However, he had bad luck and lost it all.

Upon hearing this news, his brother-in-law was furious. He grabbed a bow and arrow and went to confront Wang Fuchen, intending to teach him a lesson. Unexpectedly, Wang Fuchen, feeling guilty, thought his brother-in-law was going to kill him. Just as his brother-in-law shot an arrow at him, but deliberately missed, Wang Fuchen suddenly lunged forward with his sword and beheaded his brother-in-law.

After doing this, how could Wang Fuchen dare to stay in the rebel army? He hurriedly fled the rebel army that very day. Not long after, Wang Fuchen, who had fled from Shaanxi to Shanxi, heard that the border army was recruiting people, so he directly joined the Datong border army and became a subordinate of General Jiang Xiang.

After joining the border army, Wang Fuchen calmed down considerably and changed his gambling habit. Because Wang Fuchen was good-looking, tall and handsome, and also had great strength and martial arts skills, he eventually earned the nickname "Living Lü Bu" after serving in the army for a long time.

Jiang Xiang had a subordinate general named Wang Jinchao who, having no son, took a liking to the handsome and young Wang Fuchen and adopted him as his son. From then on, Wang Fuchen officially changed his name, thus acquiring his current one. In the Datong border army, Wang Fuchen fared quite well. Thanks to his adoptive father, he quickly rose from a common soldier to an officer. Furthermore, his bravery and strength in battle led him to become Jiang Xiang's personal guard, holding the rank of deputy centurion, further recommended by his adoptive father.

During the Chongzhen era, there were not many battles on the Datong border, mainly because the Tumed tribe in the north was very peaceful, and the threat of bandits within the Ming Dynasty had gradually shifted from the northwest to the Central Plains. There were no battles in Shanxi for the time being.

Wang Fuchen originally thought he would spend his life painstakingly gaining seniority in the border army, but unexpectedly, the situation in the Ming Dynasty suddenly changed. After the current emperor seized power in the capital through the Jingnan Campaign, Emperor Chongzhen abdicated and became the Retired Emperor. Subsequently, the border army in Datong was reorganized, and Wang Fuchen was transferred away from Datong to serve as a general under Sun Chengzong. He made meritorious contributions in several battles to suppress bandits in the Central Plains, and was promoted from deputy centurion to garrison commander, which can be considered as making a name for himself.

Following several reorganizations and adjustments to the Ming army by the imperial court, Wang Fuchen's military rank was promoted to Anyuan School, and he continued to serve as a garrison commander before being transferred to Yulin Guard.

Although life in Yulin Garrison was leisurely, the problem was that there were no opportunities to make meritorious contributions. Wang Fuchen had longed to return to the battlefield and establish his own merits for many years. In his view, he was born for the battlefield, not to stay in Yulin Garrison doing nothing every day. After waiting for several years, the opportunity finally came. One day, he suddenly received an order from the imperial court to lead three hundred men to Tumed and join the army under the command of Prince Shunyi, Tengger, to participate in the war against the Mongolians in the north.

Upon receiving the transfer order, Wang Fuchen was overjoyed. He quickly mustered his men and rushed to Guihua City. Once there, Wang Fuchen became Tengger's temporary subordinate.

Because he arrived just in time, just as Tengger had assembled his troops and was preparing to march north, Wang Fuchen volunteered to serve as the vanguard. Tengger was unaware of Wang Fuchen's abilities at the time and only gave him the position of deputy vanguard, while the commander-in-chief was still a capable and experienced general from Tumed.

Unexpectedly, Wang Fuchen soon demonstrated his talent in cavalry, achieving numerous victories on his northward march. Therefore, in this surprise attack on the Ulanbar tribe, Wang Fuchen finally got the opportunity to be the vanguard commander. He led his 300 men plus 500 Mongolian cavalrymen, totaling 800 cavalrymen, and launched a sudden attack that crushed Ulanbar's 2,300-plus men, directly annihilating the tribe.

Although the Ulanbarri tribe was not considered strong, being just an ordinary tribe among many in the northern desert, Tengger was still very pleased that he could take it down so easily and in such a short time.

This military expedition is not only to cooperate with Agudamu in the east, but Tengger also intends to completely subdue these tribes in the northern desert.

Although many tribes in the northern desert have submitted to the Ming Dynasty and participated in the last Guihua City Alliance, there are still some tribes that outwardly comply but inwardly defy it, and even secretly form alliances to try to become independent.

The previous ambush that Agudamu suffered proved this point. The Sichinbal tribe not only sheltered the false Qing empress dowager and the young emperor who had fled to the northern desert, but also dared to attempt to kill Agudamu. If it weren't for Agudamu's good luck, and the fact that his subordinates fought desperately to create an opportunity, that old bastard Sichinbal might have succeeded.

Having suffered a great loss, Agudamu was not about to let it go. Upon returning to the Khorchin tribe, he began mobilizing troops and simultaneously wrote to his elder brother Tengger to inform him of the situation. Tengger, upon learning of this, was equally enraged and seized the opportunity to launch an attack on the northern desert. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui also received news from Mongolia and, after careful consideration, agreed to the military action of the Tengger brothers, sending a portion of the Ming army to participate in the battle. Wang Fuchen thus led troops from the Yulin Guard northwards and temporarily joined Tengger's army.

After a great victory, Tengger held a banquet at the main camp to reward the meritorious officials, with Wang Fuchen, as the commander-in-chief, naturally taking the lead in the credit.

After drinking several bowls of wine, Wang Fuchen patted his chest and assured Tengger that the various tribes in the northern deserts were no threat. He said that as long as the Prince of Shunyi could allocate him another two thousand elite cavalrymen, plus the men he currently had, he would definitely sweep away the entire northern desert for Tengger and make the various tribes in the north tremble with fear.

Tengger laughed and nodded repeatedly at Wang Fuchen's boastful words, but he didn't take them seriously. In his view, while Wang Fuchen was indeed a capable fighter, the tribes of the Northern Desert were not to be underestimated. Moreover, his expedition this time was not truly intended to annihilate the tribes of the Northern Desert. After all, the tribes of the Northern Desert comprised dozens of large and small tribes, with a total population of nearly one million. In terms of overall strength, they were divided into three major tribes, all of which were powerful. It was impossible to completely resolve the situation by force alone. Even if Tengger mobilized all of Tumed's troops plus Agudamu's forces, it would still be impossible.

(End of this chapter)