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

The sound of gunfire must have alerted the nearby cavalry.

Chen Feng didn't dare delay and headed towards the horse hiding place with this unwanted burden. He tied the reins of the two hidden horses to the saddle and glanced at the panting, tall, thin man.

The tall, thin man ran while shouting, "General, wait for me!... Please, General, grant me a horse!"

Modern military training does not include horsemanship training. He was unfamiliar with horsemanship and could only barely control the horse. If this stranger were to ride away, he would not be able to catch up at all.

After riding for a while, Chen Feng stopped in another dense forest and calmly loaded ammunition into his pistol.

"Thank you so much, General, for saving my life!" Meng Changgeng said breathlessly as he jogged.

Once Meng Changgeng started talking, he couldn't stop. "General, you are truly invincible, like Guan Yu reincarnated! May I ask your esteemed name? Which camp do you serve in? Your pistol skills just now were truly..."

Chen Feng suddenly reined in his horse and turned it around.

While Meng Changgeng was still rambling on, a cold gun barrel was pressed directly against his forehead.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Meng Changgeng froze on the spot, his fawning smile turning into terror: "General... what does this mean? Don't play tricks on me..."

"Playing games?" Chen Feng's voice was icy. "I, Chen Feng, am a centurion under General Song. You defected to the enemy in the face of battle, allied with the enemy chieftain, and committed a heinous crime deserving death. I will now execute you according to military law. Do you have any last words?"

Meng Changgeng's legs buckled and he knelt down, urgently pleading, "General, please understand! I was feigning surrender! It was a ruse! I only wanted to preserve my life so I could escape and serve the court!"

Meng Changgeng kowtowed repeatedly: "My name is Meng Changgeng, a native of Xiningbao in Guangning. I was a scholar in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign. I am well-versed in the classics, how could I possibly submit to the enemy? The killing of that bondservant just now is clear proof!"

He spoke very quickly, cold sweat streamed down his face, and his eyes darted around rapidly.

Chen Feng stared at him, showing no intention of moving the pistol in his hand.

The man reacted faster than he expected and spoke clearly, but the shrewdness and calculation in his eyes displeased him.

But considering that he didn't know the way, he decided to leave this person behind to guide him for the time being.

After a long silence, Chengfeng slowly moved the pistol away. "I'll trust you this once. Follow me!"

Meng Changgeng felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and almost collapsed to the ground, but then he scrambled to his feet and followed.

He secretly observed Chen Feng's retreating figure, and while running, he struck up a conversation with Chen Feng, trying to extract some information from him.

Chen Feng didn't want to pay attention to this seemingly slick guy, only occasionally replying with a comment.

"Is the general from Southern Zhili?" Meng Changgeng asked cautiously.

Chen Feng glanced at Meng Changgeng, realizing that perhaps his modern Mandarin had given him away, and replied in Shandong dialect, "Don't think nonsense!"

This is a skill I learned by imitating my comrades' dialect when I was a new recruit. I even got beaten up several times for trying to speak like the squad leader.

Meng Changgeng was taken aback, then continued the conversation, only to find that Chen Feng's accent had switched back to Central Plains dialect, and occasionally he would even throw in a few words of Lingnan dialect that Meng had never heard before.

Upon hearing the Hakka language, which sounded unlike any human language, Meng Changgeng finally fell silent, his suspicions growing ever deeper.

Why does this person have such a mixed accent? Where is he from?

He claimed to be a commander but did not bring any personal guards, and what was with his Tartar attire?

On the other horses were several sets of blood-stained armor and Ming army officers' armor. Could it be that this man was also a defeated soldier who had seized a general's armor and killed a few Tartars?

This person is incredibly brave?! But judging from his previous skills, it's certainly possible.

The more Meng Changgeng thought about it, the more unfathomable this man seemed, and he felt both respect and fear towards Chen Feng.

Meng Changgeng secretly glanced at Chen Feng's riding posture. He was obviously a novice. What military general couldn't ride a horse?

Something's not right. Something's nine out of ten things is wrong.

Upon reaching a secluded mountain hollow, Chen Feng finally dismounted and then spread out the several sets of Bayala cotton armor and the Ming Dynasty cloth armor that he had captured.

He pointed to the relatively most complete set of white cotton armor: "You, help me put it on."

Meng Changgeng responded and quickly picked up the armor.

His gaze swept over the armor and the three horses, lingering for a moment on the cloth armor and the bulging saddlebags beside the saddles, a hint of greed flashing in his eyes.

He picked up the armor plate, deliberately moved it closer to the saddlebag, and said, "General, you are truly skilled, capturing so many..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Feng suddenly turned around, grabbed the wrist of the man handing over the armor with one hand, twisted it, and then stomped on it with his foot.

Meng Changgeng suddenly felt his feet slip and was thrown heavily to the ground. His arms were twisted behind his back, and he grimaced in pain.

"If you try anything funny again, I'll twist your arm off." Chen Feng released him, his voice calm.

Meng Changgeng felt his hair stand on end; this man's skills were definitely not those of an ordinary military general.

Meng Changgeng obediently got up, endured the pain and helped Chen Feng put on his armor. He had already given up the idea of ​​stealing and looked around for an opportunity to escape.

The cotton armor was worn over the Bayara battle robe, and some parts were stained with dark blood. Meng Changgeng even breathed on it and wiped it with his clothes.

When putting on the breastplate, Meng Changgeng's fingers accidentally touched Chen Feng's waist. There was something hard there, and upon closer inspection, he realized it was the short gun that had been pointing at him.

His last shred of hope vanished. He focused all his attention on the task at hand, even carefully tying the knots on the rope so that they were both secure and easy to untie in an emergency.

After putting on his armor, Chen Feng moved around a bit and found it fit him fairly well.

He looked at Meng Changgeng: "Are you familiar with this area?"

Meng Changgeng tugged at his earlobe and bowed his head, saying, "General, I know a little. I remember some of the main roads and smaller paths, the abandoned fortresses and villages around Jinzhou. But nowadays, there are Tartar cavalry everywhere..."

"Which road to the west is the most secluded and can bypass the large contingent of Tartars on the way back to Jinzhou?" Chen Feng interrupted him.

Meng Changgeng looked bitter. "This... if we go west, we'll reach Xiaoling River. The northwest is all mountains, so we can't go any further. The official roads are blocked by Tartar cavalry, so we can't go back."

"Are there still people stationed in the nearby fortified villages?" Chen Feng asked as he put on his equipment and waist knife, his tone seemingly casual.

"Liushui Fort and Damao Fort have both fallen, and those places are full of Tartars. I had nowhere to go, and I wanted to find a mountain to hide on for a while, but I was captured by the Tartars..." Meng Changgeng stopped midway through his sentence, thinking of his own experience, and couldn't continue.

Chen Feng pondered for a moment. Now that his escape route was cut off, he could not go to Tunbao either.

Then he asked, "So, what about heading towards Yizhou?"

Meng Changgeng's face darkened further. "Yizhou is Tartar territory!? Going there would be suicide! Besides, Tartars are stationed along the Tuanshan Fort line; there's no way we can go!"

"Are there any side paths?"

Meng Changgeng had a bad feeling, but he still answered with a forced smile, "There's a small road between Tuanshan Fort and Dading Fort, but there are often soldiers (Mongol or Qing cavalrymen disguised as Ming soldiers) patrolling there, so we're likely to run into them. Why don't we find a small hill to hide on and wait for the Tartars to retreat..."

"Let's go that way, go around to the outside of the pass and go back."

"But……"

Before Meng Changgeng could object, Chen Feng had already mounted his horse and tossed him a dagger commonly used by Later Jin cavalry. "Lead the way! From now on, you are my guide and prisoner. Saying another word of nonsense, or leading me astray..."

He patted the pistol at his waist. "You know the outcome."

Meng Changgeng took the knife, his heart sinking to the bottom. This man was absolutely insane! Following him would surely mean certain death on the road!

He glanced at Chen Feng's incongruous yet menacing attire, then looked at the vast, desolate mountains to the west.

With an uncertain future ahead, pursuers behind, and a mysterious "commander" by his side who is determined to die, he is a man of unknown origin.

He tugged at his earlobe, then silently walked forward, took the reins of his warhorse, and began to trot.