Late Ming Dynasty: From the Defeated Soldiers at Daling River to Ascending the Throne

When Chen Feng said he wanted to continue, everyone gathered around him.

"Sir, where are we going?" Hao Dadao asked, leading the group of hair. "Aren't we going to rob the Tartars?"

"Go to Yizhou," Chen Feng replied succinctly. "Staying here is not a long-term solution. Within a month, Dalinghe City will fall, and the Tartars will launch a full-scale campaign to wipe out the surrounding areas. Staying in this area will only lead to our demise."

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged bewildered glances. "Ah!? This..."

"How did you know, sir?" This time it was Meng Changgeng who asked the question. Although he was literate and intelligent, he did not know the specific details of this battle. Therefore, he always thought that the Tartars' siege of the city was like their siege of Beizhili a few years ago, which would be a short-term siege and then they would withdraw.

Chen Feng didn't explain, but continued, "We can't go back to Jinzhou for now. There's no way we can break through the Tartar cavalry with just these few people. We can only head north."

As Chen Feng spoke, he drew a diagram on the ground.

"But Yizhou has long been occupied by the Tartars! Going there is just suicide!" Hao Dadao objected, and the new recruits also became restless.

Meng Changgeng knew that Chen Feng planned to leave the pass through Yizhou and then circle back inside the pass from outside the Great Wall, and he also wanted to oppose it. However, due to Chen Feng's tyrannical power, he dared not utter a word.

Chen Feng stared at Hao Dadao, his eyes cold. "I told you I'd take you to rob the Tartars. If we're going to rob them, we'll do it big!"

"Yeah! The Tartars in Yizhou must be rich!" Hao Dadao was excited for a moment, then scratched his head, "But we only have eight people."

When Meng Changgeng saw that Hao Dadao was really considering seizing Yizhou, he was so anxious that he wanted to rip open Hao Dadao's skull to see what was going on in his head.

Chen Feng chuckled and patted Hao Dadao on the shoulder, "Brother Hao is a man who can take on a hundred men single-handedly. With a good brother helping you, what's there to worry about in achieving great things?"

"Hehe, Commander Qian is really good at judging people." Hearing Chen Feng praise him, Hao Dadao laughed like a fool.

Meanwhile, Meng Changgeng, who was anxiously watching from the sidelines, had completely given up hope on Hao Dadao, that fool.

"Once we've robbed the Tartars and have some capital, I'll lead my brothers back to the interior, buy a huge piece of land, and we'll all be landlords!"

"Alright! We'll do as Commander Qian does! Let's go pull off a heist!"

At this point, someone else asked, "But we can't cross the Ge Wang Stele Bridge!"

Chen Feng nodded and looked at the crowd. "Does any of you know a shortcut around the Ge Wang Stele Bridge?"

One of Hao Dadao's soldiers, named Wang Shitou, shrank his neck and leaned forward, timidly saying, "General... General, I... I used to be from Qilihepu."

Chen Feng looked up at him and said, "Go on."

"Going east from here, along the forest north of Wuding Mountain, there is a rough path worn out by old hunters and herb gatherers that can take you all the way up to the Ge Wang Bei Bridge."

Wang Shitou swallowed hard. "We can go around it. Ahead is Nangou. That ditch... is about two miles wide and very deep. It was carved out by the river changing its course in the old days. There's no way to go around it; we can only cross it from the bottom. After crossing Nangou, we'll go through a narrower ditch called Heiyugou, and then we'll be able to see the shadow of the Dadingbao wall."

"What's the situation at the bottom of Nangou now?" Meng Changgeng pressed.

"Nangou is dry now, it's a valley, but now..." Wang Shitou shook his head, "The Tartar cavalry and the capture soldiers are definitely roaming around there, looking for stragglers like us."

Chen Feng stared at the scratches on the ground for a moment, then tapped the branch: "Let's take this path. No matter how difficult it is, it's better than hitting a metal plate on a bridge."

The road was indeed difficult to travel.

It's called a road, but it's really just the tracks left by wild animals and a few scattered mountain people, intermittently passing through dense forests and piles of rocks.

In many places, one had to cut through the thorns with a knife to get through, and people stumbled and staggered as they walked, while horses had to be pulled and pushed.

The mountain path, which was only seven or eight miles in a straight line, took them two whole days to traverse.

At night, they would find a sheltered spot to curl up, not daring to light a big fire, and could only eat some dry food and wild fruit.

Along the way, they encountered three or five distraught defeated soldiers, some hiding in tree hollows, others running away in a panic at the sight of people.

Chen Feng ordered Hao Dadao and his men to surround them, while he himself stepped forward and waved his hand, "Come with me, I'll take you home!"

These defeated soldiers had long since lost their minds. Seeing that Chen Feng was an official and had taken out some dry rations, they all followed him eagerly.

The team gradually grew to eleven people, and as the number of people in the team increased, Chen Feng's heart tightened even more.

Two days later at noon, they finally emerged from the last patch of forest on Wuding Mountain.

Suddenly, a vast valley, seemingly split open like the earth itself, stretched out before us – this was Nangou.

The gully walls are steep and the vegetation is sparse. The bottom of the gully has been carved out by the dried-up riverbed, with some boulders scattered among the weeds.

Chen Feng climbed a nearby hilltop and looked out from the treetop. Sure enough, there were small groups of cavalry moving about at the bottom of the gully and on the opposite gentle slope. They were about three to five men in a group, several miles apart, patrolling the valley in a lazy but regular manner.

"We can't go during the day," Chen Feng whispered to the people who had gathered around him as he slid down. "We should wait until night, preferably when it's foggy. Now, let's rest and fill our stomachs."

Upon hearing the words "feed them," everyone's eyes lit up. Then they looked at the shriveled satchels, where the dry rations had long been gone, leaving only a few sour wild fruits.

Just then, there was a rustling sound from the bushes behind them, and everyone looked over warily.

Suddenly, Aji emerged from the bushes, but this time Aji brought back not wild fruit, but a sika deer.

The sika deer had an arrow stuck in its chest and was still alive.

Hao Dadao's face lit up with delight, and he laughed heartily, "Spotted deer! This stuff is great! Very nourishing!"

As he spoke, he took the sika deer and began sucking its blood from the wound. The others also scrambled for the sika deer, which disgusted Chen Feng.

Hao Dadao took a big sip, pushed through the crowd, and handed the deer to Chen Feng, "Boss, you should try some! It's good stuff!"

Chen Feng waved his hand dismissively, "Get out of here! Go start a fire! Cook it before you eat!"

Seeing that the new recruits were really going to start a fire, Meng Changgeng quickly stopped them, "No way! The Tartars will be here as soon as the fire starts! Are you looking to die?! You actually believe the commander is joking with you?!"

Chen Feng shoved Meng Changgeng aside. "Shut up, scholar! Who's joking with you? We're going to make a fire and cook. Today, I'm taking you guys on a picnic!"

"Xiucai" was a nickname Chen Feng gave Meng Changgeng because he would tell everyone he had passed the Xiucai exam.

"Huh!?" Meng Changgeng thought Chen Feng had gone mad.

"You two stay here and keep an eye on things down the ravine. The rest of you, come with me!" Chen Feng didn't give Meng Changgeng a chance to speak again, and called to the others as they walked down the slope behind them.

Once they reached a sheltered spot, Chen Feng instructed Aji to kill the sika deer. Then he gathered Hao Dadao and the others together, saying, "Come here, I'll teach you how to make a kitchen tool, the kind without smoke."

As he spoke, he found a spot with loose soil, marked out an area, and had people dig a pit.

Instead of digging straight up and down, they first dug a main pit, then carved out a fire pit on one side at an angle to get firewood, and on the other side dug two narrow, winding channels leading to a distance. After that, they covered the two narrow chimneys with branches and leaves.

"Put firewood on top of the main pit and start a fire. The smoke will spread out along this winding passage. It won't be very strong when it reaches the far exit, and it will spread out quickly and won't be easily seen," Chen Feng explained while demonstrating.

The soldiers found it novel and followed suit, digging holes in the soil. Although the smokeless stove took some effort, being able to eat a hot meal without being exposed under these circumstances was better than anything else.

Then Chen Feng sent a few people to find firewood nearby.

Hao Dadao shouted, "Remember to find dry firewood! If you dare bring back wet firewood, I'll chop you up!"

Before the stove was even fully dug, Aji had already disassembled the entire sika deer.

A low cheer erupted from the crowd, their eyes glued to the chunks of meat.

Chen Feng deliberately set aside the best pieces of meat, skewered them with tree branches, and placed them on the newly dug stove pit.

The rest of the meat and offal weren't wasted either; someone used a helmet to fetch some spring water to cook them.

Once the fire was lit, sure enough, very faint wisps of blue smoke drifted from the distant chimney opening, quickly merging into the moisture of the mountain forest. Up close, neither the flames nor the smoke were visible.

The venison sizzled over the fire, dripping fat and rising smoke with a smoky aroma, which was then drawn into the earthen chimney.

The aroma lingered, making one's stomach rumble even more.

The meat is roasted until it's about 70-80% cooked, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Chen Feng first cut off a few pieces and had Hao Dadao take them to Meng Changgeng and the others before distributing them to the others.

Without bowls and chopsticks, they would grab the food with their hands, burning their left hand and then their right, but they couldn't bear to throw it away.

Although it was only seasoned with coarse salt and the wild deer had a strong, fishy smell, it was an indescribable delicacy for these long-starved, defeated soldiers.

No one spoke, only the sounds of chewing and the occasional satisfied sigh.

As Wang Shitou was eating, tears suddenly streamed down his face, which he swallowed along with the meat.

The other newly joined defeated soldiers were similar, wiping their eyes with their dirty sleeves while eating.

Chen Feng slowly chewed the meat in his hand, watching the group of people wolfing it down.

This team included seasoned veterans and greenhorns, Han Chinese and Mongolians, and at this moment, all the barriers were slowly disappearing in these pieces of venison.

He knew that a meal of meat alone was far from enough to rally the troops, but it could at least significantly boost the morale of this routed army.

With their stomachs warmed and their bodies regaining strength, everyone's eyes gleamed with a new light.

"Boss," Hao Dadao leaned closer, still holding a half-eaten deer leg in his hand, mumbling, "After crossing Nangou, it seems that Dadingbao has also been captured. It's also Tartar territory."

Chen Feng looked at the gentle slope opposite Nangou and said in a low voice, "Let's talk about it after we get there. But there's one condition: follow me, and I'll try my best not to let you fight on an empty stomach in the future."

He paused, his voice growing deeper, "Eat your fill, everyone. We'll be crossing the ditch tonight, so get your spirits up. This meal isn't for nothing."

Just then, a noise came from the northwest, and a tall, thin man emerged from the bushes.

Hao Dadao leaped up, sword in hand, and charged forward, shouting, "Die, you Tartars!"