I slaughtered my way through the border at the start, I am the Great Ming's Night Raider!

Chen Yuan slowly turned around, facing the still-shaken officials: "My lords, you have been frightened. I will report today's events truthfully to the court. Until the court's decree arrives, the administration of Nanjing will be temporarily handled by..."

He paused, then looked at Han Cheng: "Temporarily under the command of Han Cheng, Commander of the Nanjing Navy. Commander Han."

Han Cheng stepped forward: "Your subordinate is here!"

"The navy is to be deployed into the city to maintain order. The Duke of Cheng's villa, the Duke of Wei's mansion, and the residences of the eight commanders are to be sealed off. All those involved are to be imprisoned."

"yes!"

Chen Yuan then looked at Hall Master Zhou: "Hall Master Zhou, the Azure Dragon Society has made a contribution by assisting in maintaining public order. I will report this to the imperial court."

"Thank you, Young Master Chen!" Master Zhou bowed.

With everything arranged, Chen Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked outside the hall and looked at the prisoners tied up in a string, but felt no joy of victory.

Xu Huizu is right, he probably didn't win.

Empress Sun, that woman hidden deep in the palace, is the biggest threat.

And then there's what Xu Huizu called "that hand"...

Just then, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from afar.

A rider on horseback galloped into the Confucius Temple. Covered in dust, he held up a token: "Urgent dispatch! Report from the capital—!"

Chen Yuan's heart tightened: "Speak!"

The knight dismounted and knelt to present the military report: "Juyong Pass has fallen! Minister Wang is seriously wounded! The Tatar cavalry... have reached Changping!"

Changping.

It is only 120 miles from Beijing.

Chen Yuan took the military report, his hands trembling.

Both the north and south were in chaos, and the country was beset by internal and external troubles.

The Ming Dynasty has truly reached a critical juncture of life and death.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with determination.

"Uncle Zhao!"

"exist!"

"Prepare the horses! We're heading back to the capital!"

"Now?"

"Now!"

Chen Yuan turned to Han Cheng and said, "Commander Han, Nanjing is in your hands. Defending the Yangtze River means defending half of the Ming Dynasty's territory. Can you do it?"

Han Cheng knelt on one knee: "This humble general swears to live and die with Nanjing!"

"it is good."

Chen Yuan mounted his horse and glanced at the Confucius Temple one last time.

The morning mist had dissipated, and the sunlight shone brightly on the golden roof of the temple.

The statue of Confucius stands quietly in the main hall, his gaze compassionate, as if he has seen through a thousand years of rise and fall, and human strife.

"Walk!"

The sound of horses' hooves rose, shattering the sunlight on the ground.

Chen Yuan rushed out of the Confucius Temple, out of Nanjing, heading north, towards the capital, towards the war that would determine the fate of the nation, and sped off.

Behind me, the bells of the Confucius Temple rang again.

This time it wasn't the sound of sacrificial bells.

It is a wake-up call.

This serves as a wake-up call for this turbulent dynasty.

The 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, at midnight.

Chen Yuan reined in his horse and stood on a hill ten miles north of Juyong Pass, looking at the scene before him, almost unable to believe his eyes.

The fortress is burning.

Huge flames leaped from the city walls, licking the night sky and turning half the sky blood red.

Thick smoke billowed out, and even from this distance, one could smell the pungent odor of burning and blood.

The walls were piled high with corpses—some were Ming soldiers, but most were Tatars.

Arrows, like autumn reeds, densely covered the city walls and the ground.

On the plains in front of the pass, the Tatar camps stretched for miles, brightly lit, like an inverted galaxy.

Cavalry squads would occasionally gallop in and out, their hoofbeats carrying far in the quiet night.

"Young master, the pass...the pass is breached?" Uncle Zhao's voice trembled.

Chen Yuan remained silent.

He pulled a monocular telescope from his pocket—equipment of the night scouts, seized from Tatar nobles—and peered carefully.

In the footage, the Ming army's banners still flutter on the city walls of Juyong Pass.

Although it is broken, it is still there.

"It hasn't fallen yet." He put down his binoculars. "But it won't hold for long. Look, the Tatars are building siege weapons overnight."

Indeed, behind the main camp, illuminated by the firelight, dozens of siege ladders and battering rams could be seen being assembled.

The Tatars came prepared this time.

"Where is Minister Wang?" Chen Yuan asked the scout who had led the way.

The scout was a young soldier with smoke and fire marks on his face: "Inside the pass... but he was badly wounded. Yesterday, the Tatars used a catapult to bombard the city wall, and one of the stones hit the watchtower. Minister Wang was inside... He had four broken ribs and his left leg was broken as well."

"Who's in command now?"

"Deputy General Guo Deng," the scout reported, "but we don't have enough soldiers. Originally, there were 30,000 guarding the pass, but now... less than 10,000 are fit to fight."

Thirty thousand men were reduced to only ten thousand.

It's only been a few days?

Chen Yuan felt heavy-hearted.

He recalled what Zhang Meng had said in Xuanfu: "In a city defense battle, the most frightening thing is not the ferocity of the enemy, but the cowardice of our own people."

Juyong Pass is a natural barrier; if commanded properly and with sufficient supplies, it could be held for three to five months without any problem.

But now...

"Enter the city." He turned his horse around. "Go through the secret passage."

The secret passage mentioned by the scout was an escape route reserved when Juyong Pass was built, and few people knew about it.

The group descended the mountain in the dark and circled around to a cliff on the west side of the pass.

There is a huge rock at the bottom of the cliff. Pushing it aside reveals a hole that can only be passed by one person at a time.

The secret passage was dark, damp, and cold. After walking for about fifteen minutes, a light appeared ahead.

The exit was under the stove in a house—the house was empty; the owner had either fled or was dead.

Emerging from the residential houses, the scene inside the fortified city was even more shocking.

The streets were littered with wounded soldiers; some sat against the walls, while others lay directly on the road, their groans and cries filling the air.

Military doctors and civilian laborers moved through the crowd, but there were clearly not enough people, and many wounded soldiers could only wait to die.

Most of the houses were burned down, and occasionally, unburied corpses could be seen among the ruins.

"Where is the granary?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Near the East Gate... but it was hit by a rocket two days ago and half of it burned down," the scout said in a low voice. "Now they only give us two meals of thin porridge a day, and it's even mixed with sand..."

Chen Yuan gritted his teeth.

Is this the border defense of the Ming Dynasty? Is this the formidable pass that the imperial court relies on?

They arrived at the temporary command post—the original garrison residence, which was now half collapsed, so they could only set up tents in the backyard.

Inside the tent, a middle-aged general was looking at a map with a troubled expression when he heard a noise and looked up.

"Who are you..."

"Chen Mingyuan, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, has come to assist in the battle on the orders of the Grand Princess." Chen Yuan showed his waist token.

The general in charge was none other than his deputy, Guo Deng, a man in his forties with a square face and a thick beard, but with sunken eyes, clearly indicating he hadn't slept for days. He glanced at the waist badge, then at Chen Yuan, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes—too young.

"Commander Chen, you've seen the situation inside the pass," Guo Deng said without any pleasantries. "We lack soldiers, food, and the wounded are everywhere. The Tatars will definitely launch a full-scale attack tomorrow. To be honest... we can't hold out."

Chen Yuan walked to the map. "General Guo, how many cavalry do we have left?"

Guo Deng smiled bitterly, "Originally there were five thousand, but now less than a thousand can ride. Horses are more precious than people; every one that dies is one less to go."

"One thousand is enough."

Chen Yuan pointed to a spot on the map, "This is the Tatar camp's grain storage area. I've observed it. Tonight at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), I'll lead a thousand cavalry in a surprise attack and burn their grain supplies. Without grain, the Tatars won't last three days."

Guo Deng's eyes widened: "Are you crazy? That's deep within the Tatar camp, heavily guarded! A thousand cavalrymen going in would be committing suicide!"

"That's why we have to take advantage of the night," Chen Yuan said. "And it's not about forcing our way in, it's about outsmarting them."

He pulled out a bronze token from his pocket—the one he had obtained after killing a commander of ten thousand at the border—engraved with Tatar script: "This is the waist token of a Tatar commander of ten thousand. I have a way to sneak in."

Guo Deng stared at him for a long time: "You...are you really a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"