Chapter 163: Zhu Di: Spare No Cost to Obtain Zhu Ying!
In an instant!
The Dragon Gate Array, which had been as still as death, suddenly came alive.
It sprang to life.
Zhu Ying stood atop the platform, gripping the array flags tightly in both hands, and swung them violently— as the flags moved, the Dragon Gate Array truly activated.
Within the array, one hundred thousand Ming soldiers moved like agile dragons, swiftly and orderly weaving through the formation without a single gap; under their commanders’ control, every soldier coordinated perfectly, and a chilling aura of slaughter permeated the entire formation, as boundless killing intent quietly coalesced.
Back when he was in Daning Prefecture.
Zhu Ying had already trained his Daning frontier troops and the Huizhouwei soldiers using the Dragon Gate Array.
All for the day when the northern expedition would face the Yuan iron cavalry.
Now that the Dragon Gate Array was fully deployed and the soldiers moved in perfect harmony, it was the result of Zhu Ying’s earlier training.
And to the north!
Tread. Tread.
Tread-tread-tread.
Iron cavalry thundered forward, sweeping across the land in clouds of yellow dust.
Sixty thousand Yuan iron cavalry surged like two vicious serpents, charging from both flanks.
“My sons!”
“Charge! Kill!”
Dozens of Yuan generals roared.
The Yuan cavalry’s hooves pounded furiously, like muffled war drums striking the earth; every weapon in their hands gleamed with cold light, and as they charged, one could almost see the arrogance and recklessness etched on every Yuan cavalryman’s face.
It seemed.
They did not believe they could lose.
Their morale was high.
When the leading Yuan cavalrymen saw the Dragon Gate Array standing firm ahead, they froze.
But then.
The Yuan commander Meng Ha let out an unrestrained, booming laugh: “Hahahaha!”
“My sons! These Ming soldiers must be mad—they dare to use mere shield troops to block the sharp edge of our great Yuan iron cavalry!”
“This battle, our Yuan shall surely win!”
Meng Ha bellowed at the top of his lungs, and as the cavalry charged, his voice echoed through the air; he raised his battle blade: “My sons! Charge from the left flank and crush these Ming soldiers to dust!”
“Kill! Kill! Kill the Ming army!”
Countless Yuan cavalrymen roared in unison, and killing intent spread across the entire steppe.
Sixty thousand iron cavalry surged like a tide of slaughter, charging headlong at the Dragon Gate Array without hesitation.
Their speed increased rapidly; dust kicked up by their hooves blotted out the sky.
The iron cavalry charged.
Two hundred zhang.
One hundred and fifty zhang.
One hundred zhang.
……
At that moment!
“Arrows!”
At the center of the Dragon Gate Array.
Zhu Ying roared, his voice like thunder, brimming with killing intent.
He raised his right array flag high and slashed it down.
Instantly.
Though the archers at the front of the array could not directly see the Yuan cavalry, upon hearing Zhu Ying’s command, tens of thousands of archers spread throughout the formation swiftly nocked arrows and drew their bows.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Tens of thousands of Ming archers shouted in unison, their roar piercing the heavens.
Each soldier drew his bowstring taut as a full moon.
The next instant.
Countless bowstrings snapped with a deafening crack.
Shiiiiim! Shiiiiim!
Shiiiiim! Shiiiiim!
Countless arrows rose like a black locust swarm, blotting out the sky as they rained down upon the Yuan cavalry outside the array.
In the air.
Arrows fell like a sudden storm, shrieking with lethal precision, forming a net of death that rained down upon the enemy.
The oncoming Yuan cavalry had no time to react.
“Ahh… Ahh…”
“The Ming are shooting arrows!”
“Ahh…”
Instantly.
Piercing screams rose in waves; entire squads of Yuan cavalrymen and their horses were pierced like hedgehogs and crashed into pools of blood.
Even those who desperately swung their blades to block the arrows found their resistance utterly futile against this storm of arrows.
“My sons!”
“Spread out! Charge and shoot!”
The Yuan commanders Meng Ha and Na Li, seeing the dire situation, shouted urgently.
The sixty thousand Yuan cavalry obeyed, rapidly reorganizing their formation to widen their spacing and evade the storm of arrows.
At the same time, the Yuan cavalrymen nocked and drew their own bows— all highly trained— and fired back at the Ming army.
Shiiiiim! Shiiiiim!
Shiiiiim! Shiiiiim!
The same sharp whistling of arrows pierced the air.
The two sides’ arrow storms interwove in midair, forming a breathtaking scene.
The Yuan cavalry’s arrow storm was equally like a sudden storm, brimming with killing intent.
But beneath the flawless layout of the Dragon Gate Array, the Yuan arrows inflicted no real damage on the Ming troops.
Once the Dragon Gate Array was fully formed, it became an impenetrable wall of bronze and iron, its defense unmatched.
“Shields!”
Zhu Ying swiftly swung his left array flag, his motion seamless.
In an instant.
All shield troops throughout the array raised their shields in perfect unison; even those on the outermost perimeter did the same.
Their shields locked tightly together, with not a single gap— a flawless, impenetrable defense.
“Defend! Defend! Defend!”
Countless shield troops roared in unison, displaying the Ming soldiers’ overwhelming morale, further amplified by Zhu Ying’s command and leadership.
Shiiiiim.
The sound of arrows whistling through the air never ceased.
Arrows fired from outside struck the shields with a clatter of metal on metal.
Inside the array, the soldiers remained unharmed; every single arrow was blocked by the outer and inner layers of shield troops.
Meanwhile, the archers inside continued firing, maximizing their slaughter of Yuan troops.
Beneath the torrential storm of arrows, countless Yuan soldiers fell forever upon the vast steppe; blood flowed like rivers, staining the entire plain crimson— a scene of brutal cruelty.
“Attack! Advance!”
“Crush the Ming army! My sons, kill!”
Under their commanders’ orders, the Yuan cavalry charged forward without regard for casualties.
At this moment, they were only a dozen zhang from the outer shield wall of the Dragon Gate Array, yet their charge remained ferocious, showing no sign of weakening.
And now was the critical moment that would decide victory or defeat.
“Open!”
Zhu Ying stood tall upon the platform, eyes blazing, taking in every movement of the Yuan army.
As the Yuan cavalry drew ever closer, Zhu Ying did not hesitate; he swiftly moved both array flags, his motions fluid as flowing water.
He issued another array command.
Instantly!
The Dragon Gate Array’s formation shifted again; the previously impenetrable outer shield wall suddenly opened dozens of gaps— especially on the side facing the Yuan cavalry, where the openings were most pronounced.
As if deliberately carved as a passage for the Yuan.
The countless Yuan cavalrymen who had been charging straight at the shield wall were stunned.
“What are they doing? Why did they suddenly open up?”
Many leading Yuan soldiers and commanders froze, their faces filled with confusion and shock.
The sudden opening of the shield wall caught them off guard, leaving them momentarily paralyzed.
Today’s Ming troops behaved in an utterly bizarre manner.
Their cavalry had already charged to within arm’s reach, yet the Ming soldiers continued only to shoot arrows—no spearmen or Ming cavalry appeared.
But.
The current battlefield situation allowed the Yuan no time for further thought.
“My sons! Our Great Yuan iron cavalry is invincible! Slaughter every last one of these damned Han barbarians—leave not a single soul alive!”
“Kill!”
From the rear ranks, Meng Ha and Na Li roared loudly, their voices thick with madness and confidence.
Clearly.
Though the Ming’s behavior was strange, they firmly believed in the might of their iron cavalry, convinced that no force on earth could stand against it.
Especially since they had confirmed that the Ming had no cavalry capable of matching theirs.
This battle, they would surely win.
“Kill, kill, slaughter the barbarians.”
“Slaughter the Han barbarians…”
Emboldened by their commanders, the Northern Yuan cavalry charged forward with even greater frenzy.
Facing the gaping opening in the Ming shield wall, they naturally avoided striking the wall itself and instead surged unhesitatingly into the gap opened by the Dragon Gate Formation.
The Dragon Gate Formation, deployed by one hundred thousand Ming soldiers, covered an enormous area. From either flank, dozens of gaps had been left open in the formation.
The Yuan cavalry detected no danger, like moths drawn to flame, streaming through the openings of the Dragon Gate Formation.
Not long after.
More than half of the sixty thousand Northern Yuan cavalry had been drawn inside the Dragon Gate Formation.
And at this very moment.
Change erupted again.
“Encircle!”
Watching the Yuan forces fall into the trap, Zhu Ying smirked.
Immediately.
Zhu Ying swung his battle flag violently, issuing a new command.
Boom!
As if heaven and earth itself had shifted color, the dozens of open shield wall passages closed in perfect, orderly sequence.
The closing was swift, instantly blocking the outer Yuan cavalry while trapping those already inside with no escape.
Then.
The shield wall, which had appeared merely defensive, suddenly bristled with lethal intent.
Shhh-shhh-shhh!
Spear after spear shot out from between the shields, moving so fast they took the enemy completely by surprise.
This sudden transformation turned the shield wall into a deadly barrier, impossible to approach.
Outside the formation.
The two Yuan commanders overseeing their troops stood frozen in shock, eyes wide, their expressions shifting instantly from confidence to horror and terror.
Tens of thousands of troops had been swallowed whole by the shield wall before them, yet they themselves were barred from entering.
In the blink of an eye, they were utterly bewildered.
“My sons! Attack, attack!”
At this moment, Meng Ha and Na Li felt a flicker of panic, yet they still tried to salvage the situation, immediately ordering an assault.
“Kill, kill!”
Under their commanders’ orders, countless Yuan cavalry charged recklessly toward the shield wall.
Horses neighed, rearing high on their front hooves; many that could not stop in time were impaled straight through by the spears on the shield wall, blood spurting out.
The Yuan cavalry also hurled themselves forward, slashing and thrusting with their long swords and spears against the shield wall.
Yet.
Even with the momentum of their charging horses, the shield wall before them seemed fused with the plain itself—unbreakable.
No matter how hard the Yuan attacked, the shield wall did not budge.
Inside the Dragon Gate Formation, under Zhu Ying’s flag signals, the Ming troops continued to reorganize in orderly fashion.
The tens of thousands of Yuan soldiers drawn inside were like lambs lost in a labyrinth, utterly disoriented.
As the formation shifted continuously, their ranks grew increasingly chaotic.
“This is bad!”
“This is a Han formation! We’ve entered a Han battle array!”
“Quick! Follow me—charge forward and break out! Kill! Smash through this shield wall!”
The Yuan soldiers already trapped inside the Dragon Gate Formation were in utter panic, their faces etched with fear and despair.
The Dragon Gate Formation was like a monstrous devourer, slowly consuming them step by step.
But now.
These trapped Northern Yuan cavalry, aside from blindly charging forward and wildly slashing at the surrounding walls of shields, seemed to have no other option.
Zhu Ying continued to wave his flag calmly and steadily, directing the Dragon Gate Formation’s transformations.
This time, over forty thousand Yuan cavalry had been drawn into the Dragon Gate Formation; Zhu Ying’s goal was to scatter them completely, then pick them off one by one.
Under Zhu Ying’s skillful maneuvers, the outer shield wall became an impassable wall of bronze and iron.
Spears continuously thrust from the shield wall, preventing the outer Yuan cavalry from drawing near.
At the top of the shield wall, Ming archers relentlessly loosed arrows, killing the outer Yuan forces and keeping them at bay.
Inside the formation, the great array continued to shift, splitting the Yuan cavalry into dozens of isolated pockets.
What had been tens of thousands of troops was now utterly disarrayed, their command structure shattered.
Even as they charged and fought desperately, within the ever-changing Dragon Gate Formation, they could barely glimpse a single Ming soldier—only the impenetrable walls of shields surrounded them on all sides. A strange, oppressive atmosphere enveloped the entire formation—and every single Northern Yuan cavalryman within it.
Fear spread.
“Annihilate!”
At this point, tens of thousands of Northern Yuan cavalry were split apart, completely trapped within the Dragon Gate Formation, their morale shattered to its lowest point.
The final moment of retribution had arrived.
Zhu Ying wore a cold smirk, as if pronouncing the final judgment upon the Northern Yuan cavalry.
Then.
Zhu Ying gripped his battle flag and swung it violently, unleashing the command to slaughter.
The next instant.
The Dragon Gate Formation, once merely a trap, transformed abruptly—a wave of intense killing intent surged forth.
“Kill, kill, kill!”
Every single Ming soldier within the Dragon Gate Formation roared with deafening fury, their battle cry rising like a tidal wave, crashing into the heavens, their morale so high it filled the entire void.
The Northern Yuan cavalry both inside and outside the formation trembled involuntarily, overwhelmed by this overwhelming killing intent.
From the top of the shield wall, countless Ming archers swiftly emerged.
In their hands, they gripped bows and crossbows, their faces filled with murderous intent.
“Kill, slaughter every last Tartar.”
“Kill them all…”
Seeing the Yuan cavalry trapped below, they loosed their arrows without hesitation.
Shhh-shhh-shhh!
Shhh-shhh-shhh!
Arrows rained down like a dense storm, endless killing intent descending upon them.
“Ahh… ahh…”
One Yuan soldier after another was pierced by arrows, tumbling from their horses and crashing to the ground, blood staining the earth around them.
Screams echoed throughout the Dragon Gate Formation, chilling to the bone.
But this was only the beginning.
The next instant.
Hssss, hssss!
Spear after spear thrust out from between the shields, each gleaming with lethal cold light, brimming with killing intent.
At the same time.
The seemingly motionless shield wall began slowly closing in, its pace deliberate yet unstoppable.
The trapped Yuan cavalry were now tightly encircled by walls of bronze and iron—and these walls continued to converge.
“What do we do?”
“Commander, what do we do?”
“We’re doomed! We’ve been ambushed! What do we do?!”
Countless Yuan cavalry were filled with terror, their faces etched with despair, their eyes darting frantically, searching desperately for any escape route.
But the path ahead was cut off, the path behind gone—like turtles in a jar, they had nowhere to run.
When the shield wall, transformed into a bronze and iron barrier, forced the Yuan cavalry into a tight cluster, arrows rained down from above, while spears thrust wildly through the gaps between shields.
Plop!
Plop!
Repeated sounds of spears piercing flesh echoed as countless Yuan soldiers were impaled and shot down, their blood spraying everywhere.
Amid the constant screams of the Yuan troops, the entire Dragon Gate Formation was shrouded in endless slaughter.
This was a complete one-sided massacre!
For the Northern Yuan cavalry who had entered the Dragon Gate Formation, it was an utterly passive, defenseless slaughter!
Outside the formation!
The screams of the Yuan troops inside pierced like sharp arrows, echoing out and making listeners’ scalps tingle and bodies tremble.
One could imagine how desperate and terrified the Yuan soldiers inside were.
Outside the formation, fewer than twenty thousand Yuan cavalry stood helplessly, listening to their comrades’ screams, exchanging glances, utterly at a loss.
Yet despite repeated attempts, they could not break through the rock-solid bronze and iron wall before them.
This shield formation seemed naturally perfect, with no gaps, no weaknesses.
In contrast, the Ming archers on the shield wall kept firing arrows; any Yuan soldier who dared approach faced near-certain death.
“General! What do we do?”
“It’s a trap! We’ve fallen into the Ming army’s trap!”
“The Ming… they’re too cunning.”
“The men inside… they probably won’t escape. We can’t break this shield formation either.”
The Yuan officers stared helplessly at Meng Ha and Na Li, the two vanguard commanders, their eyes filled with despair.
Faced with this situation, although stationed in different locations, both Meng Ha and Na Li wore grim expressions.
They had originally believed that, on cavalry terrain, they could easily crush the Ming army and win a decisive victory.
But now, they hadn’t even seen the Ming soldiers face-to-face, and most of their men were already trapped within the Ming formation, surrounded and slaughtered.
And most infuriating of all, they had no way to respond.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Almost simultaneously, Meng Ha and Na Li issued the order to withdraw.
They led the remaining Yuan troops away northward, like dogs fleeing their homes.
At this moment,
They clearly realized they could not break through the Ming shield formation.
This shield formation could not be shaken by human force alone; even if one section were breached, the Dragon Gate Formation’s unpredictable shifts and interlocking structure made it impossible to break with a single strike.
At this moment, Zhu Ying had also anticipated that the Northern Yuan cavalry, overconfident, would not bring cannons.
The shield wall could block human charges, but it could not withstand cannon fire.
Inside the formation!
The trapped Northern Yuan cavalry still scrambled like headless flies, desperately trying to resist, but all efforts were futile.
The Ming soldiers continued their slaughter; the sounds of blades piercing bodies, screams, and spraying blood intertwined, enveloping everything in death.
This… was slaughter.
On the Ming rear command platform, until now, the officers had only known the Dragon Gate Formation’s power from ancient records.
Now,
Zhu Ying had deployed this formation to face the Northern Yuan cavalry because he had no better strategy against their hundred thousand horsemen.
Though they trusted Zhu Ying, they had still been anxious inside.
But now, at the moment the Dragon Gate Formation truly activated, whether Guo Ying, Zhu Di, or Li Jinglong, all were stunned into silence by its overwhelming power.
Standing atop the platform with an unobstructed view, they could clearly see the formation’s inner workings.
They had watched tens of thousands of cavalry charge into the formation, initially fearing it would collapse under the sheer weight of the assault.
But under their own eyes, those tens of thousands of cavalry were swiftly split apart, lost within the formation, disoriented.
And now, faced with the crushing force of the bronze and iron wall, the Yuan troops had no means to fight back.
Spears stood like forests, arrows fell like rain — a complete, one-sided massacre.
Faced with this mighty Dragon Gate Formation, the Northern Yuan cavalry’s once-unstoppable battlefield dominance was completely neutralized, pinned down and trapped.
“Now I finally understand the power of the Dragon Gate Formation.”
“Once inside, you’re lambs waiting to be slaughtered.”
“If I didn’t know the Northern Yuan cavalry were so formidable, I’d think these men trapped inside were fakes.”
Li Jinglong’s face was filled with awe, his eyes shimmering with disbelief as he spoke with deep admiration.
Though he was not skilled in military command, the scene before him was crystal clear.
From the platform, he clearly saw the famed best cavalry in the world being slaughtered without mercy, denied even a chance to retaliate.
He had never witnessed anything like this before.
“General Zhu Ying will become a pillar of the state. Among the younger generation, none can match him.”
Guo Ying, the battle-hardened Grand General, also felt profound emotion.
Even more,
Though he was old enough to be Zhu Ying’s ancestor, he now regarded Zhu Ying with deep admiration and respect — clearly, he had been utterly won over.
Beside him, Zhu Di had also witnessed the Dragon Gate Formation’s wonder and power firsthand.
At this moment, Zhu Di’s mind held only one thought: “I must find a way to secure Zhu Ying. No matter the cost, I must make him serve me.”
“I must.”
In Zhu Di’s heart, a madness surged — as if he had already resolved to spare no effort to bring Zhu Ying under his command.
…
(End of Chapter)
End of Chapter
