The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

More and more Duoyan Guard cavalrymen are surging towards the entrance of the North Valley.

Clearly, Zhu Houzhao's forces failed to inflict a fatal blow on the Doyan cavalry, allowing a large number of them to rush to the North Valley Pass in an attempt to break out.

Mongol cavalry were highly skilled in mounted archery.

Even though Zhu Yi's troops had occupied advantageous terrain at the North Valley Pass and effectively suppressed the enemy with firearms, the defensive line was still broken up by the Doyan cavalry.

Chen Qian stayed by Zhu Yi's side the whole time. Seeing the local soldiers guarding the valley entrance fall one after another, he, as the commander, could not bear it and immediately wanted to lead his personal guards to rush up and provide reinforcements.

In this respect, Zhu Yi admired him quite a bit.

Regardless of Chen Qian's abilities, this at least shows that he was not a coward. Historically, Chen Qian also died a glorious death in this battle.

"Give the order to open a gap at the valley entrance and let some of the Tartars through," Zhu Yi immediately ordered.

Chen Qian was momentarily stunned by the order.

Zhu Yi knew that Chen Qian was unlikely to let the Tatars escape and sit idly by, so he immediately explained, "The Tatars are surging in more and more, forming a trapped beast. Only by letting some of our troops out will we shake their will to fight to the death."

Seeing that Chen Qian still refused to obey orders.

Zhu Yi pointed to the elite troops led by his son and grandson and said, "We must release a group of them before they surge to the valley entrance! What could be more important than capturing or killing a rebellious barbarian bandit leader?"

Chen Qian then understood.

Letting the Doyan cavalry go was not the goal.

Instead, the goal is to sow discord within the enemy's ranks.

More importantly, we must concentrate our superior forces to fight against our sons and grandsons.

If things continue as they are, the Doyan cavalry will eventually break through the defensive lines at the mouth of the Daming Valley. At that time, not only will we be unable to annihilate the Doyan cavalry, but we will also let our children and grandchildren escape, and even more Ming soldiers will lose their lives.

"Release the grain at the mouth!"

"Remember to send the cavalry out to charge and drive away the Tartars they've released!"

Zhu Yi also reminded Chen Qian.

It's like a strategic game, and Zhu Yi's goal isn't to kill as many enemies as possible; his goal is to trap his children and grandchildren in the valley.

Because he has a next step in his plan.

……

……

As a narrow gap opened at the mouth of the valley.

The Duoyan Guard cavalry began to swarm towards the gap and break through.

The crowding of horses, coupled with the sniper fire from the Ming soldiers overhead, left the ground littered with the corpses of horses and men, as well as supplies, making the already narrow valley entrance even more congested and difficult to traverse.

However, a large number of cavalrymen still rushed out of the valley.

Just as they were preparing to cover the reinforcements and attempt a counterattack, they discovered that the Ming Dynasty had deployed a large number of cavalry on both sides outside the valley entrance.

Because it was nighttime, they couldn't determine how many Ming soldiers there were. The best option they could take at the moment was to head towards the North Nianyu Pass.

Giving up the valley entrance would also allow more of our own troops to break through quickly.

But just after more than half of the Tatar cavalry had passed through the valley entrance, cannon fire suddenly came from the Ming side.

"boom!"

The first shot landed squarely on a Doyan Guard wagon carrying supplies at the valley entrance.

As the carriage was blasted to pieces, the Ming musketeers, who had been nearly silenced, reloaded and launched an even more ferocious sniping attack.

The Ming soldiers who had previously retreated to the sides seemed to have regained their strength. Under the cover of musketeers, they blocked the valley entrance again. At the same time, the cavalry outside the valley entrance began to move towards the entrance, forcefully blocking back some of the Doyan cavalry who had already poked their heads out and were ready to charge out.

The seemingly broken pocket has been tightened again.

The Doyan cavalry had not expected that the Ming army would play a game of feigned indifference with them.

When the central army of the sons and grandsons realized that they could not get out, they could only regroup to defend against various stray arrows and fireballs.

Even more critically, the vanguard of the Ming Dynasty's southern army was now approaching the North Valley Pass, which suddenly increased the survival pressure on the central army.

"Your Highness, we still can't hold the valley entrance!"

Chen Qian appeared beside Zhu Yi once again.

At this time, most of the soldiers' old muskets had barrels deformed from repeated firing, many were no longer able to fire, or some had even exploded.

The newly forged flintlock musket in Zhu Yi's hands was still functioning normally after firing more than a dozen fireballs.

Zhu Yi said, "We won't force a move towards the valley entrance; the key is to prevent our children and grandchildren from escaping! Capture the leader first!"

"yes!"

Chen Qian seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He also realized how absurd his previous insistence on holding the valley entrance to the death had been.

Fortunately, Zhu Yi pointed him in the right direction. If he had followed his previous idea and held on to the bitter end, his men would probably be almost wiped out by now.

……

……

The valley entrance then adopted an intermittent passage strategy.

The Doyan cavalry charged too fiercely, so they let some of them out, and then tightened their grip again.

This gave the Doyan cavalry a glimmer of hope.

But with the Southern Army joining the battle, the Doyan Guard cavalry could no longer sit still and launched a final assault.

"Move people! Immediately trap your children and grandchildren! Right there! Ignore everyone else!"

Seeing that his side had also suffered heavy losses and was about to lose control of the valley, Zhu Yi immediately changed direction and attacked only the central army, which had less than fifty men left.

Although the Ming Dynasty's Northern Army still has more than 400 men at the valley entrance, the number actually under his command is probably less than 200.

In Zhu Yi's view, it was quite hopeful to use two hundred men to trap the central army, which consisted of less than fifty men.

Nearly a hundred soldiers from the Southern Army also rushed to the battlefield, fighting like chickens but not to the death.

Clearly, the Southern Army had already amassed considerable military merit in the previous battles, and upon witnessing the horrific scene at Beigukou, they were not in a hurry to rush forward and claim credit.

Upon hearing Zhu Yi's order, Chen Qian immediately led his elite troops out from all directions of the valley entrance, using crossbows, muskets, and other weapons to specifically attack Ba Ersun's central army.

Another group of Doyan cavalry charged out of the valley.

The main force of the Ming Northern Army was also entangled with the Doyan Guard cavalry outside the valley entrance. It seemed that the Doyan Guard cavalry also realized that their leader had not yet come out, and they also intended to attack the Ming army from both inside and outside.

Therefore, outside the valley entrance, the offensive and defensive situation shifted, with the Ming cavalry mostly defending the valley entrance to prevent anyone from leaving.

Those inside want to get out, while those outside want to fight their way back in.

Meanwhile, Ba'er Sun, the leader of the Duoyan Guard, discovered that he had fewer and fewer men at his disposal. He, who should have been in charge of the central army, was now forced by the Ming army to become the rearguard.

"what!"

With another scream, another shield bearer standing close to his son and grandson fell.

At this moment, none of the people around him were still on horseback. They had all given up riding and shooting and were hiding behind the defensive circle formed by shields and horses, and the defensive circle was gradually narrowing.

Chen Qian took the lead at this moment.

After listening to Zhu Yi's advice, he felt that he was about to receive a tremendous achievement.

At the same time, he also wanted to cover up his crime of not defending the valley entrance to the death, and wanted to prove that he was not cowardly, but only had to let some of the Di barbarian troops go because of the previous situation.

"General Chen, let your troops rest and recuperate!"

Just as Chen Qian was preparing to abandon ranged weapons and lead his men to fight to the death with the few remaining troops of the Duoyan Guard,

He was stopped by Zhu Yi.

Chen Qian, now bloodthirsty and wounded, roared with a ferocious expression, "Your Highness, let me go up and kill that villain myself!"

Zhu Yi shouted, "What's your hurry? This credit isn't yours!"

Chen Qian's brain isn't quite up to par.

He was thinking, if it's not mine, could it be yours?

Is Your Highness trying to steal my credit?

Zhu Yi pointed south to the torchlight that had already appeared, and the dragon flag that could be vaguely seen, which was the location of the Ming Dynasty's central army.

Zhu Yi shouted, "You went through so much trouble to let so many Tartars pass through, wasn't the purpose to give the final credit... to the person who most deserves it?"

"You mean His Majesty? Uh..."

Chen Qian seemed to instantly grasp the key to it.

The credit for capturing and killing the bandit leader belongs neither to Chen Qian nor to the young prince before him.

Instead, it belonged to the Ming emperor who seemed to have done nothing, but in fact orchestrated the entire war!