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

The two dared not travel during the day, so they found a hilltop to hide in. Occasionally, scouts from the Later Jin would pass by outside the forest, and the two were extremely cautious.

Chen Feng learned from Meng Changgeng that it was September 17th of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, which was consistent with Chen Feng's guess and was indeed during the Battle of Dalinghe.

Chen Feng was exhausted and took a nap while Meng Changgeng was on guard duty. During this time, Meng Changgeng tried to escape several times but was caught by Chen Feng, who was only lightly asleep.

Because of his poor performance, Meng Changgeng only received a dry biscuit and a few beatings a day. He looked at Chen Feng's mare's milk wine and dried meat with great envy.

As evening fell, the sky gradually darkened, and a light white mist rose from the woods.

"Let's go," Chen Feng uttered simply.

Like ghosts in the forest, the two groped their way north, following the direction they had identified during the day.

Several hundred steps away from the Ge Wang Stele Bridge, one can see rows of tents and fires along the bridge.

On the Ge Wang Stele Bridge, the clanging of hammering, the crisp sound of whips cutting through the air, and the shouts and cries of pain mingled together and carried for more than a mile.

On a nearby hill, the two men could make out the scene on the bridge by the light of several bonfires burning at the bridgehead.

"The bridge has actually been repaired," Meng Changgeng murmured.

According to Meng Changgeng, after Tuanshanbao fell in mid-August, Qiu Hejia ordered the bridge to be blown up in order to prevent the Later Jin from advancing south to Jinzhou.

Now, the bridge has been completely repaired, and hundreds of ragged Han Chinese men are building railings under the supervision and whipping of bondservants and soldiers.

A simple wooden watchtower stands at the bridgehead, with a sentry post on it.

About twenty or thirty Later Jin armored soldiers were scattered at both ends of the bridge, while dozens of tents with bonfires lit were distributed on both sides of the bridge, and many people were walking back and forth between the tents.

Meng Changgeng shrank back, his voice extremely low, "General, there are probably four or five hundred people on this bridge; we simply can't cross!"

"Are there any shallows or ferry crossings downstream?" Chen Feng asked, his eyes fixed on the changing of the guard in the watchtower.

"It's already blocked." Meng Changgeng shook his head. "General Wu once sent night scouts (elite Ming army reconnaissance soldiers) to try to cross at night, but ninety percent of the night scouts failed to return."

"What about upstream?"

"The riverbed narrows upstream, the current is very rapid, and the riverbed is rugged and difficult for people and horses to cross... Commander, perhaps we should find a mountain to hide in for the time being."

"Let's go take a look." Chen Feng had already turned around and disappeared into the thicker fog.

Meng Changgeng had no choice but to follow, muttering a few words silently to himself.

Once we left the bridgehead, darkness enveloped us once more.

The two men and three horses waded upstream along the riverbank, their steps uneven, as the sound of the water grew louder and the damp chill in the air intensified.

Just as Meng Changgeng almost slipped again and was wondering whether he should persuade the man to turn back, a sound suddenly came from behind!

It wasn't in the direction of the bridge, but in the woods to the side of the road they came from.

"We've been discovered!" Meng Changgeng was terrified and instinctively tried to dart behind a pile of rocks.

Chen Feng looked back and saw the light of a few torches flickering among the arrows. Several soldiers were shouting incomprehensible Manchu as they chased after two fleeing figures.

Chen Feng's arm held Meng Changgeng in place like an iron clamp, "He's not targeting us."

His voice was calm. "They're chasing the people ahead. Four battalions of soldiers, chasing... three, no, two runaway slaves."

No sooner had he finished speaking than several arrows flew in and struck the figure running behind him in the back of the heart. The man fell to the ground without uttering a sound.

The remaining man panicked even more and rushed straight towards the riverbank where Chen Feng and the others were hiding.

The pursuers shouted and closed in, now only twenty or thirty paces away.

In the firelight, their ferocious faces and the unsheathed swords in their hands could be clearly seen.

Chen Feng looked behind the Tartars and found that there were no other pursuers besides the four pursuers.

After conducting a brief risk assessment of the current situation, Chen Feng made a decision.

"Stay put!" he shouted at Meng Changgeng, and his figure darted out from his hiding place like a leopard hunting its prey, intercepting the pursuers' flank!

Before Meng Changgeng could stop them, the other party disappeared into the darkness. Meng Changgeng cursed under his breath, "madman," but still grabbed his bow, ready to support his teammates at any moment.

The two soldiers in front were focused on their prey, which slipped and fell to the ground.

Just then, a tall figure pounced down from the high boulder. With a flash of light, the soldier's right arm, which was holding the sword, was severed at the shoulder, and screams erupted on the riverbank.

The sudden turn of events startled another soldier, who was about to call out when a handful of sand and dirt came flying at him.

In the instant his vision was blurred, Chen Feng's blade arrived, its thick back slicing upwards and deeply into the soldier's abdomen. With a twist of the blade, the soldier's life was completely cut off.

The whole process took no more than three or four breaths.

The other two pursuers, who were a little further away, finally reacted. The two soldiers drew their bows and shot arrows. One arrow missed its target, while the other landed on Chen Feng's shoulder armor.

Chen Feng had already pulled up the terrified runaway slave and quickly retreated towards the pile of rocks where Meng Changgeng was hiding.

Just as the soldiers behind were preparing to fire again, an arrow flew in and struck a soldier in the chest. It was Meng Changgeng who had aimed at the firelight and fired the arrow.

The last soldier, seeing that there was still an ambush, dared not fight any longer and quickly retreated.

"Go!" Chen Feng roared at Meng Changgeng and the escaped slave, and the three of them ran upstream.

After running for nearly fifteen minutes, the three of them collapsed behind a large rock in a river bend, panting heavily.

Meng Changgeng looked at Chen Feng with lingering fear, his voice tinged with resentment: "General, please don't take such risks next time. I... I can't bear to be frightened like that by you!"

Before the group could catch their breath, they faintly heard the sound of horns coming from downstream, and soon they saw torches twinkling in the woods below.

"The guards at the bridgehead have been alerted! They're conducting a search of the mountain with nets!" Meng Changgeng's face turned pale.

"Let's go!" Chen Feng said without hesitation.

The group abandoned their plan to continue exploring the upstream crossing point and instead fled northwest, away from the river and deep into the hills and forests.

This runaway slave seemed to have a natural intuition for the terrain. Without being told, he took the initiative to rush to the front and choose those steep slopes and ridges that seemed to have no way out but could be stepped on.

Meng Changgeng led his horse, gritting his teeth and following closely, while Chen Feng brought up the rear.

That night was spent in endless fleeing. The pursuers behind them were like maggots clinging to their bones, sometimes near, sometimes far. Several times, the pursuers even came within three hundred paces of them, and the shouts and curses of the Tartars could be clearly heard behind them.

With no time to think and no chance to rest, Meng Changgeng felt his lungs about to explode and his legs felt like lead several times. He was only able to hold on because of the fear of the pursuers behind him and the silent but firm back of Chen Feng in front of him.

Chen Feng was in an even worse state. He was wearing armor, and his body was not in good condition to begin with. Running all night had pushed his body to its limit.

As the sky began to lighten and turn slightly blue, they finally emerged from a dense forest onto a main road. By then, the fog had reached its peak, reducing visibility to less than twenty paces.

Chen Feng didn't care about anything else, he mounted his horse, and the other two also got their own horses and rode up the mountain along the main road.

After running a few more miles, Chen Feng led them into a forest.

Only after Chen Feng dismounted did he have a chance to examine the runaway slave he had rescued.

The man was not tall, but had a sturdy frame. His hairstyle did not resemble that of a Han Chinese, but it was also quite different from that of a Manchu.

"Thank you... thank you sir for saving my life..." The man immediately knelt down and kowtowed, his words slurred and his tone strange.

"Tartars?" Chen Feng touched the hilt of his sword.

"I... Aji. Not a Jurchen... Dorot tribe." He stammered out the words, "Captured, made to work, repair bridges... and escaped."

Meng Changgeng leaned closer, carefully examining his facial features and bone structure, and whispered, "General, judging from your cheekbones and eye sockets, you are indeed a Mongol. The Dorot tribe... was scattered by Huang Taiji a few years ago, with only a few scattered troops wandering outside the Great Wall."

Chen Feng stared into Aji's eyes. "Mongolian, what are your plans next?"

"Abu (father)... is dead, Taiji (chieftain) is dead too... Aji... doesn't know..."

Although Aji's words were fragmented, Chen Feng roughly understood what he meant: "Do you want revenge?"

"What?" Aji's eyes were blank.

Chen Feng roughly assessed Aji's Chinese proficiency. "Want to kill the Tartars?"

Aji nodded.

"Can you ride a horse?"

Aji paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

"Can you shoot arrows?"

Aji nodded again, his eyes finally showing some life.

"Follow me."

Aji immediately kowtowed, "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

Chen Feng helped Aji up, saying, "Don't kneel down so easily in the future. I don't care about that here."

Aji seemed to have misunderstood Chen Feng's words and knelt down to kowtow again.

There was no further movement, but they didn't dare stop and moved forward a little further.

The fog seemed to have dissipated earlier today than yesterday. Just as the fog was about to clear, the dark silhouette of a large fortress appeared in the distance.

"Da Mao Fort!" Meng Changgeng stared blankly at the wide-open city gate.

Chen Feng followed Meng Changgeng's gaze and saw that the entire fort was silent, with many cannon marks on the city wall and several Ming soldiers' corpses hanging on the city tower, clearly indicating that it had been breached.

They were chased all night, and by some twist of fate, they ended up in this place.

"There can't be any Tartars inside... can there still be?" Meng Changgeng swallowed hard.

Chen Feng gripped the hilt of his knife tightly and whispered to Meng Changgeng and Aji, "Go in and take a look. Be on your guard."