Who killed the Ming Dynasty?

While fierce fighting was still raging at the breach in Zunyi Gate

Three lanterns were lit on the watchtower of the rear military headquarters in the north of the city—this was a secret signal used by Wang Ziqi and his personal guards when they played dominoes.

This is the battlefield where Zhou Dingchang is launching his main attack.

At this moment, the doors and windows were tightly closed, making it as stuffy as a steamer. On Wang Ziqi's bare arms, a few curly chest hairs were stuck together with oil and sweat.

The smell of liquor, the pungent odor of tobacco leaves, mixed with the clatter of dice and the laughter and jeers of the crowd, kept out the damp chill of Chengdu in September.

"Seventh Brother, you son of a bitch, you've cheated again!"

Wang Ziqi crossed his legs, his jade thumb ring clattering on the dominoes table.

A small mountain of silver ingots was piled up in front of him, his eyes were red-rimmed, and he seemed somewhat drunk.

"Yesterday you said you wanted to buy rouge for your wife, and I gave you ten taels of silver. Now you're trying to steal my money?"

The bodyguard, called Seventh Brother, shrank back and smiled obsequiously, a die still clutched between his fingers.

"The Commander-in-Chief is extremely discerning! How could I dare..."

Before the words were finished, a crow's caw suddenly tore through the night sky, startling everyone so much that the dominoes in their hands fell to the ground.

Suddenly, all around fell silent; even breathing stopped for a moment.

Wang Ziqi's dice were still spinning on the table, and the wine cups on the table seemed to be covered with fine ice patterns.

He frowned and reached out to touch it, but immediately pulled his hand back as soon as he touched the side of the cup.

"This is weird! This wine cup is chilly."

Almost simultaneously, the charcoal, which had been burning bright red, gradually turned bluish-gray, and the warmth in the room slowly dissipated.

The curtain was suddenly flung open!

The captain of the personal guards rushed in, and a cold wind carrying a fishy smell rushed in.

Wang Ziqi glared with drunken eyes:

"Zhang Mazi! You son of a bitch, you barged in reeking of death, spilled the hangover soup, and this wind..."

"boom--!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a muffled explosion came from afar, making the silver ingots on the dominoes table jump and sending shivers down people's spines.

Wang Ziqi's beard stood up in neat rows:

"You bastards! Which brother-in-law dares to fire a thunderbolt on my territory?"

He shoved aside the guard beside him, pointed at Zhang Mazi's nose, and roared:

"Zhang Mazi, are you stuffing donkey hair in your ears?"

"Why aren't you taking fifty...no! Eighty axemen to the city gate tower yet!"

"If we catch any troublemakers—I'll hang their bastard's head on the Wangjiang Tower as a lantern!"

Just as Zhang Mazi, the captain of the personal guards, was about to turn around, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.

"Report—!"

The messenger practically smashed through the curtain and tumbled in.

"The north...the north gate is breached! It's armored cavalry! Their chainmail reflects the moonlight..."

"The first five ranks of cavalry, carrying twelve-foot-long black iron banners, with the six gilded characters 'Governor-General of the Capital Garrison' gleaming in the moonlight, have probably already stormed Yongji Granary..."

"Governor-General of the Capital Garrison!"

"Soldiers from the Nanjing Garrison!"

Wang Ziqi felt as if those six words were ice picks piercing his heart, and his lower back slammed into the dominoes table, causing the silver ingots to tumble down.

"Governor-General of the Capital Garrison" is a legitimate title of the imperial court... not some bandit gang. It seems that the Eighth Prince has really gotten into trouble.

He thought this to himself, but he forced himself to curse aloud:

"Damn it...didn't they say the other day that Shi Kefa was kneeling before the Eighth Prince and licking his boots?"

He suddenly stopped, his drunkenness dispelled somewhat by the start.

"Those damn scholars are definitely not to be trusted..."

"How many men?"

"It was pitch black and stretched as far as the eye could see... All those vines in Yongji Granary had been trampled into a green mess, at least... at least 100,000!"

"Bullshit! The entire city of Nanjing can't even muster 100,000 soldiers. Are you blind?"

Wang Ziqi paced back and forth like a trapped beast:

"The three generals had already been transferred to Chongqing, and Chengdu only had a total of 30,000 troops."

He abruptly stopped, his eyes bloodshot.

"Zhang Mazi! You take three thousand men to Yongji Granary and hold them fast!"

Just as Zhang Mazi, the captain of the personal guards, was about to clasp his hands in a fist salute, Wang Ziqi grabbed him by the back of the collar:

"Listen up! If you dare back down even a step, I'll skin you alive when I get back."

"Yes, sir!"

"Also... send orders to all the guards at the gates, saying... saying that General Anxi's reinforcements have arrived at Longquan Post Station."

Zhang Mazi dared not say more and led everyone out, leaving only his personal guard, Lao Qi.

As Wang Ziqi turned to grab his cloak, he caught sight of the table full of silver ingots. Suddenly, as if possessed, he swept all the valuables on the dominoes table into a brocade bundle:

"Give me the warehouse keys! Now!"

The seventh guard, his back hunched, handed over the keys.

"Prepare the horses! No, prepare the carts! Load all eighteen chests of gold leaves from the silver vault into the carts."

A silver ingot rolled to Lao Qi's feet. He subconsciously bent down to pick it up, but Wang Ziqi stepped on his hand, snatched the ingot back, and glared at him fiercely.

When Wang Ziqi's carriage, loaded with gold leaves, fled south in panic, the gate of the rear military headquarters was smashed open.

Amidst the flying sawdust, shouts of battle erupted.

Zhou Dingchang took the lead, his goose-feather saber slicing through the night as he swung it down:

"Raze Yongji Granary to the ground!"

A thousand iron cavalrymen swept in like a black, raging tide. In the darkness, their iron hooves crushed the vines on the ground, and green sap mixed with black mud splattered everywhere.

Thirty-six barracks on the west side of the military camp are arranged in a fishbone pattern, and the wooden roof ridges look like saw teeth in the moonlight.

A barracks was ignited by the fire and burst into flames, the flames licking at the bamboo and mud walls and illuminating the surroundings.

This was precisely the gap through which Zhou Dingchang's cavalry broke through.

The dozen or so warhorses at the forefront reared up, and the cavalrymen threw torches at the wooden barracks.

In an instant, the flames, like venomous snakes, climbed wildly up the wooden beams and thatch, and amidst the crackling and popping sounds, thick smoke shot straight into the sky.

"kill!"

Zhou Dingchang's roar mingled with the sounds of horses' hooves, shouts of battle, and cries of agony.

In the firelight, the soldiers of the Great Western Army were filled with terror.

A cook wearing only short trousers stood blankly in the middle of the road, holding a fire poker, when he was instantly engulfed by iron hooves, without even being able to utter a scream.

Some were wearing only thin pajamas, while others held only a wooden stick in their hands. They were all knocked away by the iron cavalry as soon as they met.

The cavalrymen brandished their lances, piercing the soldiers' chests like harvesting straw; warm blood splattered onto the cold iron armor, instantly freezing.

At the tightly closed camp gate ahead, ten armored warhorses roared and pounded the wooden gate with their iron hooves. Amidst the flying wood chips, the cavalrymen charged into the camp like ghosts.

A dark cloud suddenly rose from the infantry formation behind them!

A dense rain of arrows, accompanied by a whistling sound, hurtled towards the Great Western Army, which was attempting to rally and resist.

The soldier who was hit by the arrow screamed and fell down, his blood quickly soaking the ground beneath his feet.

The fleeing soldiers jostled and cried out amidst the flames and the iron wall, when suddenly a roar erupted from behind the shields:

"Those who throw blades and kneel will be spared!"

The soldiers of the Great Western Army felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and they smashed their sabers on the ground with a clang.

Zhou Dingchang's warhorse trampled over corpses, and the glint of his blade flashed in the firelight.

He cleaved a Daxi army general who tried to stop him in two with a single stroke. Blood splattered on his face, carrying a salty, fishy smell, but he did not slow down his momentum at all.

The fire grew larger and larger, illuminating the entire rear military compound.

The wooden barracks groaned in the fire and collapsed with a roar, burying the soldiers who tried to escape in the inferno.

The resistance of the Daxi Army quickly crumbled under the dual blows of iron cavalry and raging fire, and the soldiers began to scatter and flee.

Zhou Dingchang reined in his horse after the battle, his voice piercing through the clamor:

"Form ranks! Lock them down!—"

Three hundred heavily armored infantrymen stood shoulder to shoulder, their shields merging into an impenetrable wall.

The fleeing soldiers had just rushed out of the fire when they were met with a formation of erected rattan shields.

The five-foot-long hook-and-sickle spear extends like a venomous snake, specifically designed to sever a person's ankle.

Amid screams, the fleeing soldiers in the front ranks fell like wheat being harvested, while the crowd behind them was forced to surge forward by the sea of ​​fire, creating a human ramp in front of the shield formation.