Chapter 114: The Outcome Is Settled? (Seeking Favorites, Seeking Recommendations)

While the slaughter unfolded atop the southern wall of Tianjin Garrison, the slaughter at the gate of the Governor's Office inside the city was still going on.

At this critical moment, where the hell had Wu Xiang gone off to? In any case, he still hadn't come to rescue Chongzhen.

And the Embroidered Uniform Guard, responsible for keeping order inside the city, had been tied down by the disturbances near the four city gates and couldn't rush over to help.

According to Wu Xiang's orders, once the battle for the southern wall of Tianjin Garrison began, Li Ruolian and his men were to hold the areas just inside Tianjin's four gates — they absolutely could not let the rioters inside and the roving bandits outside link up and seize a single gate, or everything would be lost.

As for the rioters inside the city, they were nothing but a rabble no matter how you looked at it — could they possibly take the Marshal's Office and the temporary imperial residence?

Turning back to the fighting at the Governor's Office, it was a case of well-matched opponents, a meeting of worthy adversaries!

Whether the attacking rioters or the defending guards, all were packed together in a milling mass, crowding outside the gate of the Governor's Office. Corpses lay everywhere, most of them in blue clothes and white caps. Yet outside the gate there were still around a thousand of these fake Shun old-camp soldiers in blue clothes and white caps, still a formidable sight.

Fortunately, the gate of the Governor's Office was not very wide, and the walls on both sides were quite high. The rioters couldn't find ladders to climb over for the moment, so they could only squeeze toward the gate. But it was blind shoving with no order at all, and they couldn't bring their numerical advantage to bear.

Likewise, Qin Mingtao, the banner commander of this improvised new army, was not much of a fighter either. Under his leadership, the several dozen gold-armored soldiers were a chaotic mess too, holding the rioters back only by virtue of their long weapons and fine armor.

But Zhu Chunchen, the Commander, displayed extraordinary valor. He and a riot leader who looked like a fierce Zhang Fei (Juren Fan) traded blows back and forth, clashing spears for dozens of rounds with no clear winner...

Zhu Chunchen, who hadn't practiced martial arts in he didn't know how many years, was panting from exhaustion, but inwardly he was immensely pleased.

The man he was fighting now was a great general of the roving bandits' old camp! One look at that black face told you how fierce he was, and yet he himself could fight him to a standstill. It seemed he really did have a talent for martial arts. If he'd trained more in his youth, he might have become a great general who could take an enemy commander's head amid a million troops. Truly, the young who do not strive will grieve in old age...

On the other side, Juren Fan was likewise astonished by his own martial skill. He didn't remember ever having trained, yet today he had fought this gold-helmed, gold-armored Ming general to a draw... No wonder people said "all pursuits are base, only study is noble" — it turned out that once you truly understood the sages' principles, you picked up anything quickly!

......

"You little bastards! See this bow and arrow in my hand? I'm a crack shot who can thread a willow leaf at a hundred paces — if I aim for your left eye, I won't stray to your right eyeball. This time, whoever the hell leads a retreat, I'll damn well shoot him full of arrows like a hedgehog, you hear me!"

"We hear you..."

"Damn it, if you hear me, then charge properly for me! Charge along East Cross Street, don't get tangled up fighting anyone, just charge. Only when you hear the bronze gong may you wheel your horses and pull back..."

"But Commander, we don't seem to have brought a bronze gong!"

"Damn it, then it's advance or die — if we don't succeed, we die trying!"

Somewhere on East Gate Avenue, the man frightening a group of iron-armored riders with a horn bow was none other than Wu Xiang, who had been "missing" for quite a while. The old man was teaching a bunch of silk-pants young masters how to execute a cavalry charge!

They were already on the battlefield, and he still had to teach his men on the spot how to charge. Wu Xiang was truly dizzy with frustration... but teach he must — who asked them not to know how?

Still, a full mounted charge couldn't be taught in one go; he could only briefly explain the signals for advance and retreat. He didn't bother with couching lances either — this bunch couldn't master the timing of releasing the long spear (the horse lance had a cord tied to the saddle, so it wouldn't be lost). If they really tried to skewer men with a long lance from a galloping horse, their wrists would surely break.

So keep it simple — just ram people with the horses' chests!

"Now! Charge for me!" Wu Xiang bellowed. "Trample those roving bandits to death, crush them to death..."

At his command, over a hundred and a few dozen gold-armored riders actually produced the effect of a surging torrent, charging down the widest street in Tianjin toward the dense crowd gathered in front of the Governor's Office.

At the very front of the formation rode Wu Xiang's white-haired armored retainers, every man wearing double-layered heavy armor, brandishing horse lances as they charged straight ahead.

Wherever these heavy-armored riders passed, flesh and blood flew, and screams rose to the heavens. The backs of the rioters, who had been focused solely on attacking the Governor's Office, were suddenly trampled by iron cavalry, and they nearly collapsed on the spot.

Don't underestimate just over a hundred iron riders — once they got up to full charge, even one or two thousand regular Ming troops without proper formation couldn't withstand them, let alone a mob of rioters pretending to be roving bandits.

The rioters who moments ago thought they could capture the Chongzhen Emperor and present him to Li Zicheng were now either fleeing, being bowled over by warhorses, clipped or grazed by some weapon, or trampling each other — in short, suffering horrific casualties. The common folk watching from the sidelines no longer dared sing their songs welcoming the Roving King... They'd welcomed him twice already, so how come they still couldn't beat the Ming troops? Could it be that the Ming's fate was not yet exhausted?

Better hurry and find somewhere to hide, before the Embroidered Uniform Guard hauled them off!

Juren Fan was probably too absorbed in his duel, howling as he traded blows with Zhu Chunchen, completely unaware that chaos had erupted behind him. But a white-haired retainer of Wu Xiang's had already spotted him dueling Zhu Chunchen. The old man didn't care how much fun the two were having — he simply rode his horse straight past Juren Fan, and at the same time drew his waist saber and lightly slashed it across Juren Fan's neck. Blood instantly sprayed out, splashing all over Zhu Chunchen's face.

A black head tumbled to the ground with a thud, rolled a few times, and came to rest face-up, its wide eyes still glaring, full of unwillingness — my martial skill is so high, how could someone cut off my head? Who's so despicable as to strike from behind!

Watching his fine opponent get his head chopped off just like that, Zhu Chunchen felt rather uncomfortable inside — in this day and age, finding a worthy opponent wasn't easy. Just as he was about to order his men to collect the hero's head and bury it properly with the body, someone suddenly shouted nearby: "The south gate, fire at the south gate... could the roving bandits have stormed the wall?"

......

Bang bang bang...

When the sound of volley fire rang out on the battlefield north of Tianjin Garrison, Tang Tong's veterans could no longer hold back the rout of the rabble before them.

Close-range volley fire, like a massed charge of iron cavalry, was enough to throw even a regular army into crisis, let alone a mob.

And at the very moment the volley fired, Wu Sanfu had already driven his cavalry to charge the flanks of the disorderly bandit formation.

With volley fire and iron cavalry coming together, even Tang Tong's own veterans might not have held, let alone that cannon fodder.

Tang the Fourth, supervising from the rear, didn't dare hold on any longer. He simply waved his hand sharply: "Retreat! Pull back into the fortifications!"

Then he led his thousand-odd men, sweeping away like a gale scattering clouds, running toward the fortification where Tang Tong was. When he saw Tang Tong's livid face, he didn't ask for punishment, just shouted: "Commander, it's no good — the government troops are fierce..."

Before he finished speaking, a sharp pain exploded across his left cheek — he'd taken a solid slap across the face!

Tang Tong jumped up and down cursing: "Bastard, what do you mean the government troops are fierce... who's the government army now? Who's the bandit army?"

"Commander..." Tang the Fourth clutched his face aggrievedly.

Tang Tong's anger had not subsided. He cursed: "You son of a bitch, the moment Zhu's bandits charged you ran — what the hell are you good for? Useless thing, what kind of Mobile Corps Commander are you? Get lost! Get the hell away from me!"

Seeing Tang Tong's fury, Tang the Fourth didn't dare talk back and quickly slunk off to one side. Tang Tong, still seething, loudly ordered Tang the Fourth stripped of his rank, demoted all the way down. Then he sternly ordered his men to hold the fortifications. In his view, this battle at Tianjin Garrison was the Ming dynasty's closing act. So what if the Ming troops fought well? The whole realm belonged to the Shun now!

The pontoon bridge over the Wei River was already burned, the Zheng family's naval force had fled, and the southern part of Tianjin was under siege by Chen Yongfu's troops.

He stood up, craned his neck to look at the southern part of Tianjin Garrison in the distance, and saw thick smoke rising into the sky!

It seemed the outcome of the battle for Tianjin was already settled, and the Ming dynasty was finished...

(End of Chapter)