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

Gultai suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils were somewhat unfocused, and the whites of his eyes were full of blood vessels.

He finally realized what this dizzy feeling was—it was drugs…someone had laced his drink with drugs!

His previous suspicion was correct; Liang Siye was indeed problematic, a spy sent by the Ming dogs.

Kill! Kill this Nikan!

This thought struck him like a thunderbolt. He suddenly burst forth with strength, managed to push himself up from the ground with both hands, and stood up unsteadily!

Chen Feng was fully focused on preparing to exert his strength and never expected that the Tartar could get up! Caught off guard, his center of gravity was pulled backward by Gultai's standing body, and he groaned as he fell backward to sit down.

Wang Jie, standing nearby, was also startled, his heart nearly skipping a beat: The wrong medicine had been administered!?

"Damn Ming dogs! Kill!" Gultai roared, his right hand instinctively reaching for his waist to draw his sword.

However, in the eyes of Chen Feng and the other three, Gultai simply opened his mouth and made unintelligible "ho...ho..." sounds, with thick saliva uncontrollably dripping from the corners of his mouth.

His thick arms trembled in vain, his fingers spasming and clawing at the air.

Gultai quickly realized that his roars and movements were all figments of his imagination; he was completely immobile.

Thinking of this, he decided to escape and tell Orosechen to call for reinforcements.

As soon as he took a step, his already numb and weak legs gave way, and he fell heavily to the ground again.

This time, he didn't even have the strength to support his upper body. He could only rub his chin and cheek against the rough blanket and move forward a little bit with great difficulty.

The anger in his eyes was gradually replaced by despair. He couldn't even call for help, let alone leave the tent.

The sturdy linen belt was once again placed around his neck, wrapped twice.

Without saying a word, Chen Feng firmly planted one foot on Gultai's shoulder blade, grabbed the ends of the belt with both hands, and pulled upwards with all his might!

"Uh... gulp..."

Gultai's throat was being tightly choked, his eyes bulged out, his face quickly turned from red to purple, and the veins on his forehead and temples throbbed violently.

The paralyzed body could not make any decent struggles, only twitching slightly.

Chen Feng held on for a long time, until he felt the twitching of the burly body beneath his feet completely stop, and until his arms were about to give way, before he suddenly let go.

Gultai's head tilted limply to one side, his purplish-black tongue lolling out slightly, lifeless.

Chen Feng was panting heavily, but he dared not stop for even a moment.

"Quick! Strip those four of their armor!" He pointed to the four red-armored Bayara soldiers brought by Gultai on the ground and urged urgently, "And their helmets! Quickly!"

Without further ado, Meng Changgeng and Hao Dadao immediately took action. Wang Jie disliked Chen Feng, a man of unknown origin, pointing fingers at him, but after a moment's hesitation, he also quickly joined in.

Chen Feng searched through Gultai and Shen Qinghe, finding their waist tokens and stuffing them into his pocket.

The cloth armor worn by the Red Armored Baya La was much lighter than the iron lamellar armor or heavy cloth armor worn by the White Armored Baya La.

The four checked each other, fastened their collars tightly, covering most of their faces except for their eyes.

Then, the group tore open their cotton-padded coats and found items hidden inside, such as matchlock ropes, oiled cotton, and tinderboxes.

Then he gave his clothes to the four red-armored barbarians to change into. They were laid out haphazardly on the ground, and if you didn't look closely, they looked no different from the four men who were asleep.

"Lights!" Chen Feng gestured.

Hao Dadao blew out the flickering butter lamp, plunging the tent into darkness instantly, with only a faint glow from the campfire seeping through the gaps in the tent flaps.

A moment later, the tent flap was lifted. Four "Bayala" warriors, dressed in red armor, wearing helmets with plumes and covering their faces, filed out and stood outside the tent.

Just then, a patrol of soldiers came along the route. Chen Feng patted Wang Jie on the shoulder and said, "Commander Wang, have those soldiers guard the tent entrance and not let anyone in."

Wang Jie nodded and stepped forward. "Gurtai Ejen and Young Master Liang have just finished their banquet and are already fast asleep!"

His Jurchen language was somewhat rusty, not as fluent as Zhao Sheng's, but it had the feel of someone who was drunk and had a slurred speech.

"Ejen has ordered that we are to escort Ejen on a patrol of the camp. You all must remain here and guard the camp well, and no one is allowed to disturb us! Any misconduct will be punished according to military law!"

The squad leader of the night patrol dared not question Gultai's personal guards in the slightest, and quickly bowed, replying, "Yes, sir! I understand! I will certainly guard this place well!"

Chen Feng and his three companions said no more, lined up in two columns, and swaggered towards the east side of the camp.

There was still some time before dawn, and the four of them were going to set off a grand fireworks display before daybreak.

........................

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Xiaoling River, inside the Ming army camp.

Zhang Chun was awakened from a chaotic nightmare.

The guards dared not enter the tent, but instead urgently reported from outside: "Sir! Urgent military order! Governor Qiu has sent a command!"

Zhang Chun sat up abruptly, put on his clothes, got up, and lifted the curtain. The chill of late autumn made him completely awake.

He saw the messenger kneeling on one knee in front of the tent, holding a command arrow high in both hands.

"Speak!" Zhang Chun had a bad feeling.

"Reporting to Your Excellency! Governor Qiu has issued a strict order for my troops to immediately divide into separate forces, move camp under cover of night, and launch a fierce attack on the Later Jin detachment at Wulizhuang to protect Jinzhou!"

"What?!" Zhang Chun felt a surge of evil fire rush to the top of his head, and his vision went black for a moment.

He had made it clear to Qiu Hejia the necessity of advancing now to fight the Jurchens, but this guy was only thinking about his personal grudge against Zu Dashou at this critical moment!

Previously, it was this guy who arbitrarily decided to start construction on both Dalinghe and Youtun cities at the same time, which caused the construction of Dalinghe city to be delayed.

The rescue operation was repeatedly postponed over two months, causing the best opportunity for rescue to be missed.

What good would it do him to sit idly by and watch the outcome and the fall of Dalinghe City now?

With his backer gone, does he really think he can escape unscathed after the fall of Dalinghe?! Why can't this kid even understand this simple logic?

"You scoundrel! You're not worth discussing strategy with!" Zhang Chun was so angry that his beard trembled. "This is self-destruction, a waste of manpower! The Daling River can be breached in a day or two. Dividing our forces now would only be playing into the hands of the Jurchens!"

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of horses' hooves came again from outside the tent! Another messenger dismounted and almost rushed to Zhang Chun, his voice trembling with tears: "My lord! Governor Qiu... Governor Qiu has sent another letter!"

The messenger handed over not a command token, but letters sealed with sealing wax.

Zhang Chun ripped it open and looked at it through the torches held up by his personal guards.

The words, though seemingly harsh, were actually veiled attacks: "...Erton's troops have not advanced, hesitating and observing, repeatedly violating orders. If he continues to defy military orders and fails to move his troops to Wulizhuang, it would be tantamount to secretly colluding with border generals like Zu Dashou, nurturing bandits to enhance his own power, plotting rebellion, and intending to surrender to the enemy. I, the governor, will certainly petition the Emperor immediately to impeach you for the crime of 'colluding with the enemy and delaying the war'! Be careful!"

"You bastard!!!"

Zhang Chun's roar shattered the silence of the military camp in the dead of night. His hands trembled violently as he crumpled the letter into a ball and slammed it to the ground. Still not satisfied, he stomped on it several times.

His chest heaved rapidly, and his face first flushed red, then turned ashen.

"Qiu Hejia! You cowardly rat who only knows how to protect yourself! You stupid worm! You traitor!" He pointed in the direction of Jinzhou and cursed, "You call yourself a knowledgeable military and civil official! You know nothing about soldiers! You're going to kill these 40,000 soldiers! You're going to ruin Liaoxi! You're going to destroy my Great Ming!!"

The guards and messengers knelt on the ground, trembling, not daring to raise their heads.

He knew that he had no choice but to obey this order, and the decision to divide his troops at Wulizhuang was already a done deal.

But what was being sent out was not just military force, but also a lifeline for Dalinghe.