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

The guard, his face full of worry, gritted his teeth: "The wound is serious..."

"He won't die."

Zhang Meng tore off a piece of his clothes to hastily bandage his wound, then grabbed his knife and rushed towards the East Gate.

What I saw along the way was shocking.

The defending army was routed, the people fled in tears, and the Tatar soldiers burned, killed, and looted in the streets.

Zhang Meng's eyes were bloodshot. He killed any Tatar soldiers he saw, carving a bloody path through the enemy lines.

Finally, he arrived at the East Gate and saw Wang the Cripple.

An old soldier leaned against a broken wall, three arrows stuck in his chest, and a knife still in his hand.

Before him lay the corpses of seven Tatar soldiers.

"Old Wang!"

Zhang Meng rushed over.

Wang the Cripple looked up, saw him, grinned, revealing bloodstained teeth: "Zhang... Zhang Baihu...you've come..."

"Hang in there! I'll take you to a medic!"

"No... I can't take it anymore..." Wang the Cripple shook his head. "I... I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Chen boy..."

"Don't say that!"

"The secret passage... I was the one who told the people..." Wang the Cripple coughed up a mouthful of blood. "I'm old... I don't want to die in the city... I want to go out... I want to go back and see my hometown..."

Zhang Meng held his hand, speechless.

"But...but I regret it..." Wang the Cripple's eyes began to glaze over. "Seeing the Tartars...it reminds me of my youth...following Emperor Chengzu on his northern expeditions...back then...the might of the Ming army...how magnificent..."

His voice grew softer and softer.

"Commander Zhang... tell that kid Chen... I, Old Wang... am not a coward..."

His hand fell to his side.

Zhang Meng knelt there, not moving for a long time.

He slowly rose and gripped his knife as the sound of hooves drew near.

A dozen or so Tatar cavalrymen surrounded him. The leader, a commander of a thousand men, grinned and said in broken Chinese, "Ming dog, surrender and you will not be killed."

Zhang Meng smiled.

His laughter was cold.

"The night watchmen only die in battle; none surrender."

He raised his sword and pointed it at the commander: "Come, let grandpa teach you what the might of the Ming army is."

charge.

One against ten.

The blade flashed like snow, and blood splattered everywhere.

Zhang Meng had no idea how many people he had killed, nor how many times he had been stabbed.

He felt his body getting lighter and lighter, and his vision getting blurrier and blurrier.

Finally, he leaned against the city wall, using his sword as a crutch, and managed to stand.

There were more than twenty Tatar soldiers lying around.

The commander was still alive, but he had lost an arm. He looked at him in terror and dared not approach.

Zhang Meng smiled.

Worth it.

He looked up at the sky; the sunlight was blinding.

"Chen Yuan...you brat...you have to live...for us, for Ye Bushou, live well..."

Then, it slowly fell down.

East of the city, the Earth God Temple.

As soon as Chen Yuan and Chen Jin emerged from the secret passage, they heard shouts of killing.

The two men's expressions changed drastically.

Chen Jin asked in a trembling voice, "The city...the city has fallen?"

Chen Yuan didn't speak, but listened attentively.

The shouts of battle mainly came from the east gate, with fighting also taking place at the north gate, while the west and south gates were relatively quiet.

"It's not completely breached yet, but the east gate has fallen," he concluded.

"What should we do then?"

Chen Yuan's lips twitched slightly. "Find Zhang Meng first; he's the 'night watchman'."

The two men led their horses westward.

The streets were in chaos, filled with fleeing civilians and scattered Tatar soldiers looting.

Chen Yuan killed three groups of people, seized a set of Tatar soldiers' clothes and changed into them, and also made Chen Jin change into a set.

Disguised as a Tatar soldier, things went much more smoothly.

As they approached the camp where the night solstice had been held, they saw the dozen or so civilians left behind by Zhang Meng.

Those people hid in the courtyard, trembling with fear at the sound of horses' hooves.

Chen Yuan lifted his mask and asked, "Have any of you seen Commander Zhang before?"

The people recognized him and immediately cried out, "Brother Chen! You're back! Commander Zhang went to the East Gate! The East Gate has fallen!"

Chen Yuan's heart sank.

"You all stay here, lock the door, and don't open it for anyone."

He gave a brief instruction, mounted his horse, and sped towards the East Gate.

Chen Jin quickly followed.

What Chen Yuan saw along the way made his eyes grow increasingly red.

Burned houses, corpses lying in the streets, crying children... This is war, the cruelest and most real war.

Blood and fire intertwine, life and death cycle endlessly.

Human life is like a mustard.

The fighting was most intense near the East Gate.

Chen Yuan saw a familiar figure lying in a pool of blood, surrounded by the corpses of Tatar soldiers.

"One hundred households!"

He spurred his horse forward, his goose-feather saber sweeping across, beheading two Tatar soldiers who were about to finish them off.

He dismounted and rushed to Zhang Meng's side.

Zhang Meng was still breathing. When he saw him, his eyes lit up: "You...you rascal...you really came back..."

He then let out a heavy sigh, "You shouldn't have come back."

"Don't speak, I'll take you away." Chen Yuan tried to help him up.

Zhang Meng shook his head: "No...it's no use...my internal organs are ruptured...I can't live..."

Chen Yuan's hands were trembling.

"Listen to me..." Zhang Meng grabbed his hand, "Zhao Guang... escaped through the south gate... with his personal guards... fled... the city can't be defended... you... lead the people... out through the secret passage..."

"and you..."

"I am the garrison commander of Xuanfu... As long as the city stands, I will live... If the city falls..." Zhang Meng coughed up another mouthful of blood, "...and people die..."

His eyes began to glaze over, but his hand still gripped Chen Yuan tightly: "Chen Yuan...you're a real man...I believe in you...live on...kill a few more Tartars for us..."

My grip loosened.

His eyes were still open, gazing at the sky.

Chen Yuan knelt there for a very long time.

Great sorrow is speechless, and also silent.

Chen Jin also dismounted and stood silently behind him.

Finally, Chen Yuan reached out and gently closed Zhang Meng's eyes.

Then he stood up and took the blood-stained goose-feather saber from Zhang Meng's hand—it was exactly the same as his saber, a standard-issue saber of the Night Scouts.

He held two swords in his hand.

Chen Yuan turned around and looked at the Tatar soldiers who were surrounding him from all directions.

At least fifty people.

The leader was a commander of ten thousand, riding a white horse, who said in Tatar: "Warrior, surrender, and you will be given a thousand households."

Chen Yuan smiled.

His smile was cold and menacing.

He replied in Tatar: "Chen Yuan, night watchman. Today, I will take your dog's life."

Before the words were even finished, the person had already rushed out.

With twin swords like dragons, he charged straight at the commander of ten thousand men.

The Tatar soldiers roared and attacked, but Chen Yuan was incredibly fast.

He weaved through the crowd, and with each swing of his twin swords, a Tatar soldier fell.

Blood splattered on his face and body, but he was completely unaware.

Chen Jin also drew his sword—a curved sword he had picked up from the Tatar soldiers' corpses—and followed behind Chen Yuan, hacking and slashing desperately.

His hands were trembling and his heart was shaking when he killed someone for the first time.

But when I thought of my deceased family members, Zhang Meng, and the people of this city...

His eyes reddened.

After fighting for an unknown amount of time, Chen Yuan finally charged up to the commander of ten thousand.

The commander, a brave and valiant man, brandished his spiked club to meet the challenge.

"when!"

Knives and clubs clashed, sparks flying everywhere.