Chapter 79

Hong Hong Chengchou stared in shock at the towering flames in the distance, demanding harshly,

"What is happening in the west?!"

"Where are the scouts?!"

Just then, beneath Songshan City, several scouts in tattered clothes fled back to Songshan at the cost of their lives.

Before they could even enter the city,

they fell from their horses on their own, wailing loudly toward the ramparts,

"Regional Commander, it is reinforcements! Our Great Ming reinforcements have arrived!"

"Prince Fu, Prince Shen, Prince Shu, Prince Chu, and Prince Lu have all died in battle!"

"All who perished are imperial clansmen of our Great Ming!"

Hearing the wails from below the city,

Hong Hong Chengchou on the ramparts immediately felt the world spinning around him.

At the time of the expedition, the imperial clansmen from across the realm were indeed awaiting orders in the suburbs of the capital.

But Hong Hong Chengchou never could have imagined that this battle would be fought so brutally!

"Enter the city and report!"

Soon, under the gaze of numerous Ming Regional Commanders,

that scout, choking with sobs, looked at the crowd before him and said,

"Earlier at Xingshan, the various princes already engaged the Tartars."

"The lowest rank in that army was Commander of a Feudal State!"

"Regional Commander, these are all the dragon sons and grandsons of the Taizu Emperor!"

"Even the dragon sons and grandsons of the Taizu Emperor have taken the field."

"If Liaodong cannot be retaken, how shall we have the face to meet our ancestors..."

Inside the Commander's Headquarters.

All eight Regional Commanders stared with wide eyes, as if something were about to surge forth from them.

After the scout finished speaking,

Cao Cao Bianjiao did not even glance at Hong Hong Chengchou, but turned to the crowd before him, cupped his fists, and said,

"Gentlemen, I, Cao Cao Bianjiao, fear I shall not live to see our ancestors; I go first. Those of you remaining in Songshan, do not forget to collect my old Cao's corpse in the future."

With that, Cao Cao Bianjiao walked straight out of the Commander's Headquarters.

The scout's wailing from earlier had already spread throughout Songshan City.

Outside the Headquarters, Ming soldiers who had heard the news had already gathered in crowds.

Looking at these soldiers before him, Cao Cao Bianjiao finally could not hold himself back.

Choking with sobs, he looked at the soldiers and cursed angrily,

"Damn it! Over a dozen princes have died in battle; today, any man with balls follows me to fight to the death."

"Let me make this clear today: once we leave Songshan City, none of us expect to return alive!"

One hour later.

The gates of Songshan City swung wide open.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Personal Guard sent by Fan Fan Wencheng to Xingshan had already hurried back to Fan Fan Wencheng's presence.

With a "clang,"

a large sack of identity tags fell before Fan Fan Wencheng.

At this moment, the face of the Personal Guard before him was filled with joy.

"Mr. Fan, they are all here."

Fan Fan Wencheng had no patience to listen to the Personal Guard's nonsense.

He immediately stepped forward and opened the hemp sack.

"Commander of a Feudal State... General Who Guards the State... General Who Honors the State..."

Seeing this, Fan Fan Wencheng suddenly raised his head, looking at those Personal Guards in disbelief as he asked,

"Are these... are these all imperial clansmen?!"

That Personal Guard, unable to contain his joy, clicked his tongue and said,

"Mr. Fan, there is not a single commoner among them; this Ming army is entirely surnamed Zhu. This Zhu Emperor intends to fight until the Zhu family is utterly extinguished!"

"With this battle, our Great Qing shall go down in history."

The Personal Guard failed to notice

that Fan Fan Wencheng's expression before him had already twisted into sheer terror.

Fan Fan Wencheng cared about nothing else.

Grabbing the sack of identity tags, he headed straight for Huang Taiji's Dragon Tent.

Fighting had reached such an extent

that even if Huang Taiji were a fool, he would have sensed something was wrong.

Previously, killing one or two Princes of the Blood allowed the entire army to celebrate.

Now, there was only numbness left.

And just at this moment,

Fan Fan Wencheng, at a loss, clutching the sack of identity tags, rushed straight into the Dragon Tent, calling out repeatedly,

"Your Majesty, you cannot kill any more!"

Fan Fan Wencheng pulled out a series of waist tablets from his hand and, excitedly pointing toward the distant canyon, said,

"Your Majesty, these are all members of the Zhu imperial clan!"

When Huang Taiji saw clearly the waist tablets in Fan Fan Wencheng's hand,

he immediately drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

Meanwhile, Fan Fan Wencheng, beating his chest and stamping his feet, looked at Huang Taiji and said,

"Your servant has calculated ten thousand times over, yet never expected that Emperor Zhu would dare to make such a desperate move!"

"Since ancient times, no fallen nation or broken family has ever met such a heroic end."

"If our Great Qing slaughters this entire army, how will the people of the world view our Great Qing?!"

Fan Fan Wencheng's words instantly awakened Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji immediately raised his hand sharply and, raising his voice, roared at Dorgon and the others outside,

"Stop at once!"

"Go persuade them to surrender! Call back Jirhalang and the others ahead!"

"Without an edict from Us, no soldier is to kill a single person without authorization!"

The Eight Banners army, which had already gained complete superiority, instantly froze in place in bewilderment.

However, by this time, the Ming army had already been split by the Eight Banners into numerous small fragments.

They were trapped within the canyon, struggling bitterly.

Huang Taiji changed into a set of armor, rushed out of the main camp alone, rode his horse, and arrived before the two opposing armies.

Looking at the few Ming soldiers surrounded by the Eight Banners before him, Huang Taiji gritted his teeth and demanded harshly,

"Why do you not surrender?"

Hearing Huang Taiji's words,

those few Ming soldiers exchanged glances and smiled, then immediately shouted loudly,

"I am the eighth-generation descendant of Prince Wuning of Zhongshan; how could I humble myself to surrender to slaves?!"

"I am the Commandery Prince of Changyang of the Great Ming; surrender to slaves? In your wildest dreams!"

"Since the days of our ancestors, the household of Prince Zhongwu of Kaiping has never had the habit of becoming Han traitors!"

"..."

Listening to these cries of defiance,

even the Qing soldiers, whose faces had previously been twisted with ferocity, could not help but hesitate.

This was especially true for the Han Eight Banners within the Qing forces.

They all stood frozen in place, at a complete loss for what to do.