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

Chen Feng lay on the horse's back, the buzzing sound still lingering in his ears.

Before heading into the mountains, he glanced back and saw that Zhao Sheng's night watchmen had caught up with them, about two miles away, while Erosaichen's men followed closely behind.

He didn't know how far he had run—three miles? Five miles?

The mountain path was difficult to traverse at night. As soon as they entered the forest, the horses slowed down, allowing the people behind them to close the gap considerably.

After crossing another hill, several figures suddenly appeared directly in front of us.

Chen Feng's pupils contracted, and Wang Jie beside him instantly recognized them as Mongol cavalry.

About ten riders were descending the slope, seemingly heading southeast to check on the explosion.

The Mongols also saw them.

From a distance of more than a hundred paces, illuminated by the firelight, one could clearly see that the horses had stopped and the riders were looking in this direction.

The leader raised his hand, as if trying to identify something.

Chen Feng looked down at his body; it was a cloth armor from Bayara.

Since we didn't have torches, the other side probably couldn't see our faces and hair clearly.

Waiting for Zhao Sheng's reinforcements would be too late, and with his equipment sluggish, he couldn't possibly outrun the Mongol light cavalry if he tried to escape. He had no choice but to charge through.

"Don't stop!" he whispered. "Charge!"

The four men did not slow their horses and charged straight at the group of Mongols.

Before the Mongols could react, their leader, Arban Noyan, raised his hand and shouted a Jurchen phrase, as if asking a question.

Chen Feng and his three companions ignored him, their hands already gripping the hilts of their knives.

Fifty steps, thirty steps...

The leading Mongol finally realized something was wrong. He saw that the four "Bayala" did not reply or slow down, but were poised to charge with their swords drawn.

He opened his mouth as if to shout, "Kill..."

Wang Jie suddenly spurred his horse, and the warhorse bolted forward, instantly covering the ten-step distance.

With a flash of light, the leader of the Mongols was left speechless as his head flew off.

Hao Da Dao followed closely behind, slashing diagonally with his saber. A Mongol next to him raised his sword to block, but the Mongol's curved sword was not as good as the Later Jin's straight sword.

Hao Da Dao's slash severed the curved sword in the man's hand, and the broken sword, along with half of his head, flew off.

Chen Feng charged toward the third Mongol, thrusting his blade straight through him. With the added momentum of his charging horse, he pierced the Mongol right through.

However, the knife got stuck in the bone. Chen Feng tried to pull the knife out with force, but the body was severely exhausted and his fingers could not grip the handle.

The Mongol screamed and fell backward, taking Chen Feng's knife with him.

Before Chen Feng could even feel regret, a curved blade came slashing down from the side.

He could only crouch low on the horse's back, the blade slicing along the tasseled helmet, shaving off a small tuft of the tassel.

"Boss!!" Hao Dadao roared, spurred his horse forward, and slashed down the Mongol who had launched the sneak attack.

Meng Changgeng also killed one. His hand holding the knife trembled violently, and the split nails felt like they were on fire.

The remaining five Mongols finally dispersed.

They spurred their horses backward, shouting as they went, and began to run in circles, taking off their bows.

"Don't let them scatter!" Wang Jie roared.

An arrow flew and landed in the ground in front of Chen Feng's horse, followed by a second and a third.

As Chen Feng watched the Mongol cavalry roaming around, he recalled the group of Mongol soldiers he had encountered a few days earlier in Nangou who were capturing prisoners.

This time, however, he couldn't wait for a cavalryman like Zhao Sheng to descend from the sky.

He waved his hand, "Let's go!"

We can't wait here. If we linger any longer, Orosechen will catch up with his men, and the scouts will gather in greater numbers.

The four continued their escape up the mountain on horseback.

Seeing that Chen Feng had no weapons and seemed to be bad at horsemanship, the remaining five men drew their bows and shot arrows at him.

Arrows whizzed past his ears, and Chen Feng was hit by several arrows. One of them seemed to be an armor-piercing spike, but fortunately it did not hit the armor seam. The armor plate blocked most of the force, and it did not penetrate deep into the flesh, only causing a graze.

"Protect the leader!" Hao Dadao roared at Meng Changgeng, brandishing his sword.

He and Meng Changgeng charged forward on horseback, flanking Chen Feng from the left and right, using their bodies to block the direction from which the arrows came.

Hao Dadao was hit in the back by an arrow. He groaned, his body stiffened for a moment, and then he gritted his teeth and pulled the horse even closer.

Wang Jie was at the front. In his mind, as long as he could outrun Chen Feng and the other two, he could survive.

But fate seemed to be against him; an arrow whizzed by from the side and struck the belly of his warhorse.

The horse neighed and reared up, throwing Wang Jie off, who fell heavily to the ground.

He rolled to his feet, his vision blurred, his mind buzzing. Before he could even regain his balance, a curved blade was already slashing at him.

He instinctively raised his knife to parry.

"Clang—" The two blades clashed, sparks flying.

Wang Jie managed to block the blow, but lost his balance and fell backward.

Seeing someone fall from their horse, two more Mongol soldiers surrounded them.

Seeing Chen Feng and the other two run ahead of him, Wang Jie's heart sank to the bottom.

Chen Feng and his two companions ran past Wang Jie. Seeing Wang Jie fall from his horse, they quickly reined in their horses, which stopped after running twenty paces.

"Go back and save him!" Chen Feng roared.

He didn't think things through; this was a habitual way of thinking he had developed over more than a decade in the military.

Seeing Chen Feng turn his horse around, Hao Dadao didn't say anything and spurred his horse back.

Wang Jie fell so hard that half of his body was numb and he couldn't even stand up, while a rider was already less than ten steps away from him.

This is terrible!

Wang Jie closed his eyes.

"Bang!"

A horse suddenly charged out from the side and knocked the Mongol away.

It's Hao Dadao!

With a single sweep of his broadsword, Hao cleaved the Mongol in two, his intestines spilling onto the ground.

Chen Feng rode his horse toward the other man. Seeing that Chen Feng was unarmed, the man revealed a cruel smile and swung his knife at Chen Feng.

Chen Feng's adrenaline surged, and he felt the world slow down. Before the Mongol could swing his knife, he used his legs to propel himself off the horse, mimicking Wang Jie's leap, and pounced on the enemy.

The two collided in mid-air, and Chen Feng grabbed the enemy tightly with both hands, pulling him off the horse.

He went through all the things he learned in the military later on, such as vehicle jumping techniques and ground combat, in his mind.

He wrapped his arms around the other person's waist, buried his head in the other person's chest, and used his back to absorb the impact of the roll. While airborne, he pressed the enemy down firmly, and the two rolled on the ground more than a dozen times before stopping.

Chen Feng was breathing heavily as the enemy pinned him down, while the enemy, his face covered in blood, was motionless.

He groped around with both hands for a while before finally finding the enemy's fallen scimitar.

He gripped the curved sword in reverse and plunged it into the enemy's throat, spraying blood all over his face.

He lay on the ground, panting heavily, his vision blurring.

Another clatter of hooves sounded as another Mongol charged forward, his horse's hooves raised high, poised to stomp down on Chen Feng's head.

At that moment, Meng Changgeng rode his horse and rammed into us!

Meng Changgeng also leaped off his horse, holding his sword in front of him, and then, with the force of his lunge, pressed the blade of the sword into the enemy's throat.

Chen Feng, panting heavily, pushed the corpse off him, used his knife to support himself as he slowly stood up, the plume of his helmet nowhere to be seen.

He looked up and around.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the remaining two Mongols ran in the direction they had come from, and disappeared into the night two breaths later.

Wang Jie was still kneeling on the ground, clutching his ribs, his face covered in sweat.

Hao Dadao reined in his horse, an arrow still lodged in his shoulder, blood streaming down his arm, but he remained silent.

Meng Changgeng got up from the ground, looking disheveled. His right hand was trembling violently, and blood was still seeping from under his fingernails.

The four looked at each other without saying a word.

There were pursuers behind them, and they could almost hear the sound of horses' hooves.

We've already lingered here for far too long.

"Mount up." Chen Feng glanced around at everyone and uttered these two words calmly.

Wang Jie gritted his teeth, stood up, and staggered toward an unclaimed warhorse.

Hao Dadao pulled the arrow out of his shoulder, blood gushing out. He pressed it with a cloth and then mounted his horse.

Meng Changgeng also mounted his horse, muttering to himself, "I'll never do this kind of life-threatening work again!"

Chen Feng was the last to mount his horse. He held the Mongolian scimitar he had picked up, tested its weight, and found it wasn't quite comfortable to handle.

He looked behind him and, it wasn't his imagination; he could indeed hear the faint sound of horses' hooves.

I just don't know if it's Zhao Sheng or Erossen.