Chapter 780: The National Gate Fell

The fall of Jinzhou began underground.

When Zu Dashou committed the last two reserve hundred-man squads to the struggle for the breach in the north city wall, the ground beneath his feet suddenly emitted an unprecedented, deep rumbling sound.

It was not a localized blast.

It was the entire urban area below, as if something huge were churning and tearing apart the rock strata.

"General! West City! The underground monitoring array in West City has been wiped out!"

The personal guards came crawling, their faces devoid of blood.

"It's not destruction... it's, it's the strata of the entire array area that have collapsed!"

Zu Dashou abruptly turned his head to look westward.

All that could be seen was that, on the west side of Jinzhou City, the area originally consisting of residential blocks and warehouses, the ground surged violently like waves.

Immediately, amid the continuous, teeth‑gritting sound of rock shattering, the entire area collapsed downward!

A pit exceeding a hundred zhang in diameter and bottomless appeared instantly within the city!

Azure‑blue light, like a volcanic eruption, shot up from the pit's bottom, casting half the city in an eerie hue.

Thick, inseparable poisonous mist mixed with dust swept outward in all directions.

This was not merely a tunnel.

This was a "sunken zone" forged beneath Jinzhou City by the Qing Army using countless earth‑digging beasts and Yuneng explosions!

The city wall lost part of its foundation support; the already‑damaged wall emitted groans under excessive strain, and cracks spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.

What was even more deadly, the pit became the most direct landing ground.

Countless Iron Bone War Slaves and the newly‑released Heavy Armored War Slaves—bodies fully covered in heavy plate armor, wielding gigantic crystallized tower shields—swarmed up the pit walls like ants from hell, emerging directly inside the city!

"Attacked from front and rear......"

Zu Dashou's lips twitched once, then turned into a roar.

"Detach troops! Block the West City breach! Don't let them throw the city into utter chaos!"

But the orders had become difficult to convey effectively.

The defenders on the city wall, seeing the blue fire soaring from within the city behind them and the enemy surging forth, felt their morale instantly waver.

Meanwhile, the frontal wave of war slaves seized the opportunity to intensify their assault.

One breach after another fell.

"General! The south gate is still in our hands! Break out!" the deputy commander grabbed Zu Dashou's armor and shouted hoarsely.

Zu Dashou looked around.

The city wall collapsed in multiple places, beacon fires and poisonous smoke filled the air.

In the familiar streets, came the cries of the populace and the anguished shouts of clashing weapons.

He slowly shook his head.

"If Jinzhou falls, Ningyuan becomes an isolated city, and the flank of Shanhaiguan lies wide open."

"If I leave now, how can I face the people behind me, how can I face His Majesty?"

He raised his blade, pointing toward the direction of the west city pit where enemies kept pouring out.

"Gather the brothers who can still move."

"We'll go there."

"Every moment we can delay is a moment gained."

The final resistance took place at the edge of the west city pit.

Zu Dashou and the over‑thousand remnant troops that had gathered, backs to the burning streets, faced the endless stream of enemies crawling out.

There were no stirring slogans.

Only silent hacking, hoarse roars, and the muffled thuds of bodies falling.

With their flesh and blood they hastily erected a dam.

Until Zu Dashou was pierced through by three bone spurs thrust from different directions.

He leaned on his sword, gazing at the twisted azure pupils before him, as if looking through them toward Ying Tian farther to the south.

Then, together with a charging Heavy Armored War Slave, he plunged into the bottomless azure‑blue pit behind him.

On the Jinzhou city wall, the tattered "Ming" flag slowly fell at dusk.

In its place rose a crude banner made of some dark‑red beast hide, bearing twisted symbols that seemed carved from crystal.

That was the symbol of the Qing, and also the mark of Yuneng pollution.

The news of Jinzhou's fall spread like the harshest winter wind, sweeping across Bei Jing overnight.

Ningyuan.

Xu Da stood on the city wall, gazing northward at the horizon where the azure‑blue haze grew denser and slowly drifted southward.

He knew what that meant.

"Jinzhou…… is gone."

Behind him, the generals fell into utter silence.

"General, with Jinzhou lost, Ningyuan stands alone. The Qing Army will surely unite to attack us—"

Xu Da raised his hand, cutting off the deputy commander's words.

His face showed no expression, only his eyes suffused with bloodshot veins.

"His Majesty's decree: all garrisons in Bei Jing must hold fast, buying time for the rear."

"But His Majesty also granted this commander the authority to act on the spot."

He turned his body, his gaze sweeping over every weary, panicked, or resolute face.

"Ningyuan's city is small, its provisions insufficient; it cannot hold out long."

If we defend this place to the death, it will become another Brocade Prefecture within ten days.

Issue the order.

His voice was firm and resolute.

Starting tonight, evacuate the civilians and important artisans and documents in batches.

Burn all supplies and weapons that cannot be taken, and spread lime in the wells.

Three days later, the entire army will abandon the city and retreat south to within Shanhai Pass.

What we must defend is not just a single city or land.

It is Shanhai Pass, it is the Great Wall, it is the vital point of the mountains and rivers behind us for ten thousand li!

He pointed toward the south.

There, we will rebuild the defensive line!

The retreat order brought a sliver of cruel hope amid despair, and also triggered greater chaos and sorrow.

Countless soldiers and civilians wailed as they left their ancestral homes; looking back, Peaceful Distance City lay in the black smoke of burning supplies, like a huge tomb.

However, the Qing army's advance speed exceeded imagination.

After consuming Brocade Prefecture, Daisan's central army hardly paused, marching straight on Peaceful Distance.

Amin's remnants of the Bordered Blue Banner also clung tightly from the flank.

Xu Da's retreat operation in the final stage turned into a bloody rearguard action.

Tens of thousands of Ming troops fought while retreating, leaving countless corpses and baggage, and only barely managed to retreat the main force into Shanhai Pass before the Qing armies closed in.

But Peaceful Distance, five days later, was still submerged by the deep blue haze and the silent battle-slave formation.

Thus, the Liaodong defense line that the Ming had maintained for years lost two of its three major strongholds.

Only Shanhai Pass remained, this mighty pass hailed as 'the Number One Pass under Heaven', standing alone at the edge of the spreading Yuneng Pollution zone, like the last reef in a stormy sea.

On Shanhai Pass, Xu Da and the generals withdrawn from Peaceful Distance gazed northward.

As far as the eye could see, the land was a gray-black interwoven with deep blue, all vitality cut off.

The former horse roads, fields and villages had all vanished in the ever-expanding pollution zone.

Farther off, in the directions of Brocade Prefecture and Peaceful Distance, a vaster, more unsettling Yuneng response loomed, gathering and rising.

That was no longer merely an army.

It was more like some kind of entity rooted in the earth, continually growing... a living fortress.

"They have stopped to digest."

Tang He spoke in a hoarse voice, having just arrived from Heaven-Responding after escorting a batch of urgently manufactured firearms.

"But they won't stop for long."

Xu Da nodded, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the cold bricks.

"Shanhai Pass must be held. If it falls, the Yuneng Pollution will sweep straight into the North China Plain, with no more defenses to rely on."

"His Majesty has already ordered the whole nation to lend its strength to support this place."

"What we can do is……"

He looked toward the interior of the pass, where there was a bustling, noisy camp and fortifications being reinforced.

"It is here that we will shed our blood until it runs dry."

"We cannot let them advance even one step further."

The walls of Shanhai Pass, in the coming days, were thickened and heightened at a visible pace.

More cannons were hauled up onto the battlements.

The Investigation of Things Institute's latest trial-produced 'Thunderfire Gun', with greater power but also less stability, was distributed to the elite Purification Dust Battalion.

Arrays of energy-neutralizing generators were densely deployed, and Huang Guang wove across the sky above the pass into a thin yet tenacious light shield, resisting the slowly southward-invading deep blue mist.

Inside the pass, the atmosphere was heavy to the extreme.

Everyone knew that this was now the nation's gate.

Behind us lay our homeland.

There was no road left to retreat.

In the imperial palace of Heaven-Responding, Zhu Yuanzhang gazed at the ever-expanding blue area on the map representing fallen lands and pollution, silent for a long time.

The battle reports of the loss of Brocade Prefecture and Peaceful Distance, along with casualty figures, lay at his side.

He felt no anger, nor did he roar.

He merely used his finger to repeatedly trace the thin black line on the map representing the defense line of Shanhai Pass.

Then he picked up his brush and slowly wrote on a blank imperial edict:

"I, the emperor, have resolved to personally lead the campaign."

The brush tip's force penetrated the back of the paper.

"If the nation's gate falls, I shall die before it."

"The Ming has no emperor who retreats."

The ink had not yet dried, reflecting his icy resolve in his eyes.

The final battle was about to unfold its curtain before the ancient stronghold.