Chapter 110: Wu Xiang, You Ran Off Again (Please Favorite, Please Recommend)

Is that… the Yi Ding cavalry?

Weren't they supposed to have gone to the north city long ago? How could they appear on East Cross Street in the south city of Tianjin Garrison!?

At that moment, it was not only Wu Xiang and the hundred-plus golden-armored riders under his command who were frozen with fright. The thousand or so "Shun Old Camp" soldiers across from them also stood rooted to the spot, as if struck by a body-holding spell, not moving a muscle.

These Shun Old Camp soldiers were, of course, counterfeit goods as well. They were a volunteer force raised by Juren Zhang and Juren Fan here in Tianjin Garrison. Calling them a volunteer force was putting it kindly—in truth they were sons of the household, bondservants, street toughs, and local ruffians, scraped together by every means the two juren could devise and dressed up in blue coats and white caps to scare people.

And so, on East Cross Street in the south city of Tianjin Garrison, there appeared a standoff so tense it made it hard to breathe.

Fake Yi Ding cavalry facing off against fake Shun Old Camp soldiers!

The fake Old Camp soldiers had the numbers—nearly a thousand of them, packed shoulder to shoulder in the street with no small show of force.

The fake Yi Ding cavalry, by contrast, had only two banners, and even counting Wu Xiang's old household retainers, they numbered at most a hundred and seventy-odd men. Still, since they were all mounted, they had a certain presence about them.

If Wu Xiang had been ten years younger, or if his son Wu Sanfu had been here in his place, they would have led the cavalry in a charge right now.

East Cross Street was quite broad, after all. Once a hundred-odd ironclad riders got moving, never mind a fake Shun Old Camp—even a real Shun Old Camp, so long as it had not formed ranks or mounted up, could not have withstood their impact!

But Wu Xiang had, as it happened, lost the chance to launch a charge. And the golden-armored riders following him were mostly sons of the ennobled and privileged—worse even than the Han Generals of the Guard! The latter at least were big in stature, strong, well-formed in ranks, and passable horsemen. If it came to a real fight, the street toughs of Tianjin Garrison would be no match for them. That was because the Han Generals of the Guard were big and strong, after all.

But this bunch Wu Xiang had with him were sons of the ennobled and privileged, and the more useless ones at that—the bolder and better fighters among them had all been drafted into the New Army of Endurance as officers, or had gone off to join Li Jicheng in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Only the most useless had been kept in the Guard of Attendants to idle away their days… If they had to dismount and fight the ruffians led by the two juren, they would most likely be beaten to death.

Just as Wu Xiang stood frozen by the fake Shun Old Camp soldiers, unsure what to do, the rapid, dense sound of hoofbeats rose from behind the old man. Old Wu turned his head for a look—and what fury!

Behind him, quite a few of those bastards had already wheeled their horses and were about to flee. That was desertion in the face of the enemy—a beheading offense!

Juren Zhang and Juren Fan also spotted men fleeing from the "Yi Ding cavalry," and both let out a great breath of relief. In truth, there were men slipping away behind them too, but the commotion of two-legged deserters was nothing compared to the racket of four-legged ones, so it had not drawn much attention.

"The Zhu traitor is fleeing! The Zhu traitor is fleeing…"

Juren Fan had the quicker reaction. Seeing men bolting from the ranks of the "Yi Ding cavalry," he immediately opened his throat and bellowed: "The Zhu traitor is fleeing—charge with me!"

With that shout, he raised a spear more than ten feet long and, howling, led the charge himself.

Across the way, Wu Xiang, seeing how this swarthy roving-bandit general held his spear, was momentarily taken aback. Why was this roving-bandit general pointing his spear tip at the sky? What school of spear technique was this? Was he planning to club people with the spearhead? But his own side was all cavalry—mounted, tall in the saddle. Could he even put any force into a downward swing?

"Old Commissioner… the roving bandits are coming—perhaps we should fall back a step!"

An elderly household retainer, seeing Wu Xiang in a daze, hurried forward, loudly urging him while reaching out to take hold of Wu Xiang's horse's reins.

Wu Xiang quickly tapped the man's hand lightly with his riding crop and cursed: "His mother's—I'm not senile yet!"

With that, he wheeled his horse with remarkable skill and, leading the few dozen riders who had not yet fled on their own, galloped off down the street.

"Wahaha! So much for the Yi Ding cavalry—all of them crumple at a single blow!" Juren Fan laughed heartily. This could count as a victory in his first battle, and a triumphant one at that—how thoroughly satisfying!

"My lads!" Juren Fan, now feeling himself transformed into General Fan, roared again. "Never mind the Zhu traitor's cavalry—follow me and take the dog emperor Zhu's life! Wa-ya-ya…"

Wa-ya-ya indeed… If his Chiliarch ancestor who had followed Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the realm could see him now, he would surely stride up and slap him hard across the face.

Because Wu Xiang's withdrawal was not flight—it was to reform his ranks.

Battles between cavalry and infantry were rarely settled in a single clash; usually they required many rounds of repeated slaughter before victory or defeat was decided.

Moreover, both cavalry and infantry had to mind their formations and fight in ranks. Cavalry charged as a unit; infantry held by forming a solid line. Whichever side's formation broke had to reform as quickly as possible. Generally speaking, if infantry were scattered, they might well collapse into rout. Cavalry, being four-legged and faster, could fall back and reform.

The four banners of armored riders under Wu Xiang, having encountered the enemy unexpectedly while marching through the city, had not formed a charging formation, and the distance to the foe was too short to build up speed. Therefore, falling back first, then regrouping, and then charging in waves was the standard tactic.

As for the infantry of the two great juren, they should have seized the buildings at the crossroads, placed archers on high ground, and at the same time set up barricades to block the cavalry's charge.

But Great Juren Fan thought he had won, and in his impatience to seize the Chongzhen Emperor, he completely ignored Wu Xiang's cavalry.

Fortunately, the golden-armored riders under Wu Xiang were also useless trash, and the old man could not reform his ranks in a short while, so Great Juren Fan could continue his performance for a bit longer.

Since Juren Zhang had already found out where the Chongzhen Emperor's temporary palace was, the two bungling volunteer-force leaders, Juren Fan and Juren Zhang, led their rabble off toward the Tianjin Governor's yamen.

And inside the Tianjin Governor's yamen, the Chongzhen Emperor of the Great Ming was at this moment fully armored, sword in hand, standing before the hall, looking every bit the part of an emperor about to lead his troops in person.

He knew his son was not in the south city, and he knew the pontoon bridge had been burned… which meant that, right now, within the south city of Tianjin, he, the Emperor, was the highest authority!

He must seize this opportunity well and recover some of his prestige!

Before the great hall—that is, the main hall of what had originally been the Tianjin Governor's yamen—there still stood quite a number of civil and military officials. They had not come to pledge loyalty to Chongzhen; rather, they had fled here from the civilian houses near the Governor's yamen to take refuge.

The civil and military officials who had followed Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang to Tianjin numbered several hundred households, some of whom had been swept up by the Marshal's Office of the Army-Pacifying Commander. They had all been lodged in the Regional Commander's yamen and the nearby military camps.

The rest were placed under Feng Yuanyang's charge and lodged near the Governor's yamen and the Provincial Military Commander's yamen—these two yamens were situated together. The Governor's yamen was relatively new, with fine buildings and even a rear garden, so it had become the temporary palace. Feng Yuanyang the Governor, for his part, had moved next door to the Provincial Military Commander's yamen. His governor's escort battalion was gone, but he still had a few runners, clerks, and aides under him. Apart from handling a small amount of official business, they could also keep him constantly informed of the situation on the battlefield.

Thus, the news that the south city of Tianjin had come under attack and that the pontoon bridge over the Wei River had been burned was delivered to him at the first possible moment. Old Feng's reaction was also quite swift—he immediately dispatched the three shifts of yamen runners to notify the officials and ennobled families living in civilian houses, telling them to bring their households to the Governor's yamen (the former Provincial Military Commander's yamen) and the temporary palace (the former Governor's yamen) to take refuge.

But the civil and military officials who had fled to the temporary palace were startled by the sight of the Chongzhen Emperor, fully armored and intent on leading his troops in person.

The roving bandits were already assaulting the city—and this Emperor wanted to go up onto the walls? Was he not afraid of being killed by the roving bandits?

Yet this time, no one tried to dissuade him… If he were to die, would not Zhu Cilang become Emperor with perfect legitimacy? By now everyone could see clearly that Zhu Cilang's cunning and ruthlessness were absolutely on the same level as Dorgon and Li Zicheng.

If there was anyone who could lead the Great Ming in contesting the realm against the Qing and the Shun, it was without doubt Zhu Cilang.

So the death of Chongzhen would actually be of benefit to the Great Ming…

But what no one had expected was that the roving bandits' Old Camp had actually entered the city and charged all the way to the Governor's yamen, running head-on into the Chongzhen Emperor as he was leading his troops out to fight!

"The yellow dragon banner!" Great Juren Fan roared. "The dog emperor is right there! Lads, follow me—kill the Emperor!"

"Kill—!"

In an instant, the killing cries rose, and the Chongzhen Emperor was once again in peril.

(End of Chapter)