In this realistic war game, only I understand the course of the battle.

Shen Du raised a finger and pressed it to his lips. Wang Er immediately shut his mouth, tumbled and crawled into the ditch, lay down next to Shen Du, and trembled like a leaf.

The shouts of battle outside grew closer. Ming cavalry were flanking the Yan army from the flank, and the flags on the left flank of the Yan army fell one after another.

Through the gaps in the reeds, Shen Du saw that the Prince of Yan's personal guards had already moved up, but they were too few in number and were simply a drop in the ocean compared to the overwhelming Ming army.

Wang Er lay beside Shen Du, trembling more and more violently, his breathing becoming rapid and shallow, his eyes fixed on the outside of the ditch.

"Jingzhong..." Wang Er's voice was extremely low, trembling with sobs, "We...we're just going to lie here like this?"

"What if the Ming army wins? When they clean up the battlefield, we won't be able to hide." Wang Er became increasingly frightened as he spoke, his mind already gripped by fear. "What if the Yan army wins? If we keep lying down, we'll be deserters when we go back. Deserters get beheaded..."

Before Shen Du could answer, Wang Er suddenly propped himself up, one foot already stepping onto the edge of the ditch.

"I...I have to go..."

Shen Du released the spear with his right hand, reached for the dagger at his waist, and without hesitation stabbed it diagonally into Wang Er's left rib, through the cotton armor, through the flesh, all the way to the hilt.

Wang Er's body suddenly stiffened. He opened his mouth, but only a "hoarse" sound came from his throat, completely drowned out by the sound of horses' hooves outside.

Wang Er lowered his head and saw that only the hilt of a knife was protruding from his side, and his cotton armor was being soaked with blood, turning it a dark brown.

Wang Er's body twitched twice and then stopped moving.

Shen Du quickly pressed his body back down to the bottom of the ditch.

Shen Du pulled out the dagger, wiped it clean on Wang Er's clothes, and tucked it back into his waistband. He didn't look at the corpse again.

The sounds of battle shouts outside came and went, sometimes near, sometimes far. Several times, Ming cavalry swept past the reeds, the sound of their hooves causing the soil along the ditch to fall down with a rustling sound.

In the ditch, Shen Du lay motionless, his eyes fixed on the northwest horizon through the gaps in the reeds, for an unknown amount of time.

The clouds there had piled up into a wall of earthy yellow, so thick it was almost solidified, as if someone had hung the entire desert in the sky.

Suddenly the reeds on the riverbank moved.

It wasn't the kind of movement caused by the wind. It was a sudden gust of air that pressed in from the northwest, bending the entire reed bed down in unison. The reed stalks rustled softly, and the reed flowers were swept into the air, swirling and dancing.

The air has changed. The moist, warm wind that used to blow from the southeast has stopped. In its place is a dry breeze carrying the scent of sand.

The wind chilled the sweat on Shen Du's face.

The wind is blowing.

It didn't gradually increase in strength. It jumped directly from a gentle breeze to a raging northwest wind, without any transition. The wind howled in like a thousand horses, whipping up sand and gravel into the sky, blotting out the sun. The sky darkened abruptly, turning from day into dusk.

The reeds were blown so low they almost touched the ground, creaking under the weight. Shen Du crouched down and peered out through the gaps in the reeds.

Chaos has broken out outside.

Warhorses are more afraid of sandstorms than men. When they get sand in their eyes and their faces are hit by sand and stones, they are so frightened that they let out long neighs, their front hooves leap up, and they throw the riders off their backs.

The shouts of the Ming soldiers and the loud cracking of flags being torn by the wind mingled together, like a pot of boiling porridge.

Finally, Shen Du heard the voice he had been waiting for.

"Snap!"

The sound was crisp and piercing, like a giant tree snapped in half. It pierced through the sandstorm and shouts of battle, incredibly clear amidst the chaos of the battlefield.

Shen Du saw that in the direction of the Ming army's central command, the ironwood flagpole had been broken in half, and the huge "Li" character commander's flag was slowly falling into the swirling sandstorm.

The commander's flag has fallen.

Shen Du stood up from the ditch. Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed aside the reeds and rushed out.

The sandstorm was still raging. The sand and gravel stung his face, making it difficult to even open his eyes. But Shen Du didn't need to look too far; he only needed to look at what was close at hand.

The scene before me was like the end of the world.

The 600,000-strong Ming army was collapsing. It wasn't an orderly retreat; it was a massive, avalanche-like collapse. Ming soldiers threw down their weapons, removed their armor, and desperately fled south.

The officers rode their horses recklessly, trampling and injuring more of their own men than the Yan army had killed. Everywhere were routed soldiers, and everywhere were abandoned weapons and armor.

Some people were pushed into the river and struggled in the icy water; others were trampled in the mud, screaming at first, but then falling silent.

Meanwhile, on the Yan army's side, Zhu Di personally led his personal guard cavalry in a flanking attack. The royal banner embroidered with gold fluttered in the wind and sand, and hundreds of cavalrymen, like a red-hot dagger, plunged fiercely into the torrent of fleeing soldiers.

Shen Du did not charge with the main force of the Yan army. Instead, he cut in from the side, along the edge of the fleeing troops, like a shark swimming close to a school of fish. His target was the stragglers.

First.

A Ming archer, having already thrown away his bow, was desperately pushing his way back. His armor was better than that of the ordinary soldiers; at least he was wearing a small flag.

Shen Du crept up from behind, and under the cover of the sandstorm, slashed the man across the back of the neck. The man collapsed without a sound, blood splattering all over Shen Du's face.

Shen Du didn't stop to look. He bent down, picked up the knife the man had thrown away, tucked it into his waistband, and continued walking.

the second.

A Ming infantryman, wounded in his left leg, limped to the back of the fleeing troops. Shen Du approached from the flank and plunged his knife into the man's lower back. When the knife was pulled out, the man's body was as limp as a sack of chaff.

The third one. The fourth one. The fifth one.

Shen Du couldn't remember how many he had killed; his face was covered in blood, indistinguishable between his own and the enemy's. His eyes narrowed into slits in the sandstorm, fixed on the retreating figures one after another.

The wind gradually stopped.

The Ming army's routed soldiers had fled far away, and the Yan army's pursuit had gradually ceased. The water of the Baigou River was still flowing, but its color had changed from a murky yellow to a pale red.

Corpses, broken flags, shattered shields, and several warhorses still convulsing floated on the river.

Shen Du stood on the ravaged battlefield, panting heavily. His armor was covered in blood, and the hilt of his sword was so slippery that he could barely hold it.

As Shen Du walked back from the battlefield, the Yan soldiers had already begun to clean up the battlefield, dragging the weapons and armor abandoned by the Ming army back in twos and threes.

Just then, a system notification popped up in front of him without warning.

[Battlefield Conclusion: Battle of Baigou River]

[Personal Achievements: Killed 19 Ming soldiers, 3 junior officers, and 1 captain.]

[Overall Assessment: He preserved himself during the initial rout and launched proactive counterattacks, single-handedly inflicting heavy casualties on the fleeing enemy. His exceptionally high kill-to-death ratio is not a matter of luck, but rather demonstrates remarkable battlefield judgment.]

[Reputation Settlement: +312]

Current Reputation: 312

[Unlock Permissions: Public chat channels, friends and private chat functions]