Chapter 77

Yet Dorgon's face was flushed with a sickly redness.

All the Qing troops were immersed in an abnormal state of excitement.

Hong Taiji, looking at the Ming corpses scattered everywhere, finally managed to calm his previously suspended heart.

The battle had already reached this state.

It was impossible for any ambush or the like to exist.

Only Fan Fan Wencheng, standing beside Hong Taiji, gradually assumed an increasingly grave expression.

Noticing the anomaly on Fan Fan Wencheng's face, Hong Taiji hurriedly asked,

"Mr. Fan, what is this...?"

Fan Fan Wencheng stared fixedly at the commander's banner bearing the character "Blue" several li away.

Gritting his teeth, he whispered in a low voice,

"Your Majesty, I feel something is amiss."

Hong Taiji looked at Fan Fan Wencheng with confusion and asked,

"What is wrong?"

Fan Fan Wencheng took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and whispered in a low voice,

"Your Majesty, listen..."

Hong Taiji abruptly raised his hand, causing the guards, bond servants, and personal guards surrounding him to stop in their tracks immediately.

The wailing cries of the Ming troops faintly drifted into Hong Taiji's ears.

"Father... Father."

"Eldest Brother, Third Brother has died in battle."

"Uncle, I want to go home..."

"..."

Hearing these sounds, Hong Taiji's expression gradually turned grave as well.

Fan Fan Wencheng, however, stared fixedly at that distant commander's banner and said through gritted teeth,

"This subject understands!"

"The Zhu Emperor intends for our Great Qing to train troops for the Great Ming!"

Upon hearing Fan Fan Wencheng's words,

Hong Taiji's expression also gradually turned grave.

In this campaign of "The Princes Venturing Beyond the Pass," there were one hundred thousand combat troops and one hundred and fifty thousand auxiliary soldiers, totaling two hundred and fifty thousand men.

Even if only one-fifth survived, that would still amount to fifty thousand soldiers.

That would be sufficient for the Great Ming to forge an army of seasoned veterans bearing a national and familial hatred toward the Qing forces!

Thinking of this,

everything the Qing army currently faced became perfectly explicable!

Fan Fan Wencheng stared fixedly at Hong Taiji and said,

"Please, Your Majesty, make preparations immediately."

"In this battle, we must annihilate this entire Ming force within Liaoxi."

"If we fail to do so, the situation in Liaoxi may become irretrievable within three to five years..."

Having raised armies for so many years,

how could Hong Taiji not understand this principle?

Never give your enemy a chance to catch their breath.

Especially a colossus like the Great Ming.

Once they gain a moment to breathe, what awaits you is a catastrophe that topples the heavens!

Years ago, Lu Lu Xiangsheng trained a Tianxiong Army of two thousand men and fought from inside the pass to outside the pass.

Last time Hong Taiji breached Xifeng Pass to enter the interior, Lu Lu Xiangsheng actually managed to block over ten thousand elite Eight Banners troops with just those two thousand men of the Tianxiong Army.

If the Tianxiong Army was so formidable,

what would happen if this force were allowed to return?!

Hong Taiji's face turned iron-green; staring fixedly into the distance, after pondering for a long time, he gave a low-order command:

"Go and summon Jirhalang and Ajige back for Us."

"Ja!"

Within the Ming army camp,

the entire encampment had already turned into a living hell.

Even the most dissolute and absurd person would undergo an internal and external psychological transformation upon witnessing flesh-and-blood kin dying one by one before their very eyes.

Zhu Zhu Shenxuan, the Prince of Jin, who originally valued wealth above life, watched as the male members of the Prince of Jin's household died one after another before his eyes.

This prince, who had once been so high above others,

was now slumped sitting inside his tent, staring fixedly at the charging Qing troops outside.

The simple saber clutched in his hand was already soaked with sweat.

Just as Zhu Zhu Shenxuan was still hesitating,

a sudden thunderous shout erupted from behind the adjacent tent.

"I am the seventh-generation descendant of our Taizu High Emperor!"

With that, a princely vassal with white hair and beard, clad in a python robe and armor, burst forth from the tent on his own.

He charged straight toward Dorgon, who was fighting in the very center of the Ming camp.

Caught off guard, Dorgon received a deep gash on his arm from the princely vassal's blade.

Dorgon's face instantly filled with rage.

With a wave of his hand, he struck back, cutting the princely vassal down from his horse.

At the very moment the princely vassal fell in battle.

A wail of grief immediately erupted from within the Ming camp.

The personal guard beside Zhu Zhu Shenxuan, tears in his eyes, looked at Zhu Zhu Shenxuan and said,

"Your Highness, Prince Shen has fallen in battle."

Zhu Zhu Shenxuan felt as though a massive boulder had been stuffed into his chest.

The entire Ming camp was instantly shrouded in an inexplicable despair.

Meanwhile, as Dorgon tended to his wound in the distance, he suddenly heard his personal guard beside him shout with great joy,

"Master! Master! It is a relative of the Zhu Emperor! The Shen Prince of Great Ming!"

"Congratulations, Master, on slaying a prince of Great Ming!"

Dorgon, who had been inexplicably slashed a moment before, immediately showed a hint of joy on his face.

He at once shouted loudly toward the distant Ming troops and the Qing forces of the Plain White Banner,

"The Shen Prince of Great Ming has been slain by me and cut down from his horse!"

The surrounding Qing troops immediately erupted in cheers and jubilation.

Even Duoduo's face could not help but reveal a trace of envy.

This was a princely vassal of Great Ming!

And he had been hacked down by his own elder brother as easily as chopping melons and slicing vegetables!

However, Dorgon did not notice in the slightest.

The expressions on the faces of the Ming soldiers fighting throughout the camp had become suppressed to the point of near distortion.

At this moment, the Qing forces of the Eight Banners had already begun to split up and surround the Ming troops, who were trapped in place and unable to move.

The front, center, and rear armies; nearly every camp had plunged into a bloody melee.

Just as the Ming army was on the verge of total collapse.

Lan Yu, who had been sitting upright in the Ming center army, suddenly opened his eyes.

He casually grabbed a long spear and, biting down within the tent, said,

"It is about time!"

Before Zhu Zhu Zhu Cilang could even collect his thoughts.