Chapter 100: Fight the Tartars to the Death!

"What place is this, and how much farther to Zhangjiakou as stated in the imperial decree?"

Li Chengdong, wearing the standard iron helmet and armor of an Assistant Regional Commander, first glanced at the sky, then reined his horse to a stop one horse-length behind Gao Jie before speaking:

"Reporting to the Grand Commander, this subordinate estimates we should be nearing Xiaoniu Village; Zhangjiakou is not far from here. The army can arrive by tomorrow morning."

"Mm." Gao Jie nodded, then suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air with a hiss and cursed: "Damn it, what kind of ghostly weather is this!"

Though the calendar had reached the sixth month, the temperature had not improved in the slightest—one could still see the cold breath exhaled from one's mouth. Many imperial soldiers who had long campaigned in the north carried thick mandarin duck battle jackets with them at all times, ready to change into them whenever needed.

The court's mandarin duck battle jackets had not been replaced for many years. Even when they were tattered and torn beyond any further use, many soldiers still could not bear to discard them—after all, for most people, this was their only garment for keeping out the cold. If they threw it away, what would they wear in the future?

Now the Chongzhen Emperor valued men of arms, and not long ago had finally issued a new batch. For the soldiers, this was truly a wise and sage act—fuel delivered in snowy weather.

Gao Jie had been appointed Regional Commander of Xuanfu. When one man attains the Way, all his followers rise with him—the one who had just answered was Li Chengdong, recently promoted to Assistant Regional Commander.

Hearing Gao Jie's grumbling, Li Chengdong nodded in agreement and said:

"With the weather so abnormal, in this subordinate's view, it would be more peaceful to stay in Jiangnan. Why come to this godforsaken Xuanfu?"

By all accounts, the climate in the Jiangnan region was pleasant nearly year-round. What Li Chengdong said was almost everyone's consensus.

Gao Jie, however, did not agree. He waved his hand directly and said:

"Tingzhen, you must not have such thoughts. Stay in Jiangnan too long, and a man will grow dull!"

Li Chengdong did not understand and was about to ask more, when Gao Jie suddenly raised his hand for silence and listened intently. After listening for a short while, his expression changed drastically and he shouted:

"Not good! Bandit troops are coming!"

At this moment, Li Chengdong also felt the ground trembling slightly beneath his feet. His face sank instantly as he said to Gao Jie:

"Grand Commander, for such a commotion to be raised, it can only be a mounted force of over two thousand men..."

Silence here spoke louder than words. Li Chengdong's meaning could not have been more obvious. Gao Jie understood full well—although the court had shown some signs of recovery recently, it could not possibly muster two thousand cavalry.

The Dashun army had not yet attacked, so who the approaching force was had an obvious answer. Gao Jie hoped it was not Jianzhou barbarian cavalry. The Mongols were fierce enough, but compared to the Jianzhou horsemen, the difference was like heaven and earth.

Just then, Li Chengdong spoke with a tense expression:

"Grand Commander, for Tartar horsemen to suddenly strike here, there must be traitors stirring trouble behind the scenes. In this subordinate's view, we should temporarily withdraw to Xuanfu town—after all, your lady wife and the families of our brothers are all settled within the town walls. Once the town is secure, we can march out again and fight the Jianzhou barbarians to the death!"

Gao Jie knew the Tartars' fighting prowess. This time he had only seven or eight thousand infantry with him, and his mounted force numbered less than a thousand. Even the Mongols would be hard to withstand, let alone the Jianzhou cavalry.

Since Li Chengdong had already raised the suggestion, and Gao Jie himself had no heart for battle, he went along with the current and turned to shout the order to run at once.

It was almost laughable—these several thousand imperial troops who had set out with great enthusiasm on imperial orders to confiscate property in Zhangjiakou had not even caught a glimpse of the enemy, yet at the mere rumor of Jianzhou cavalry, from top to bottom they fled in utter terror.

Even as he ran, Gao Jie's heart was pounding with anxiety.

After all, nine out of ten of his men were infantry. If the enemy cavalry wanted to pursue, there was no way to escape. His only thought at this moment was the hope that this mounted force was not coming for him—only then might there be a chance of getting away.

But heaven did not grant his wish. The farther Gao Jie ran, the lower his hopes of luck sank. He could clearly hear the 'thud-thud' sounds behind him growing closer and closer, yet for some reason, he could not see anyone catching up.

The one outcome Gao Jie least wanted to accept surfaced: this mounted force was not here to take cities or seize territory, nor even to plunder supplies—it was coming for him specifically.

Countless figures of those who had once wished him dead flashed through Gao Jie's mind, but the next moment he filtered them all out. Apart from Li Zicheng, no one else could have pulled off such a grand scheme.

Thinking it over, Gao Jie suddenly felt the whole affair was deeply suspicious. He had just received the imperial decree, and on the road to Zhangjiakou he was intercepted by a mounted force. Could those seven great merchant houses be behind this?

Gao Jie was fleeing in blind panic with no mind for anything else. Since the enemy had not caught up, the thing to do was keep running. Wasting time at a moment like this was wasting one's life.

Gao Jie seethed with hatred inwardly. If he survived this time, those seven houses would be confiscated even if Chongzhen issued no decree—he would see to it himself!

This was truly infuriating! Back in the Central Plains he had been chased and beaten by Li Zicheng, and after finally climbing to the high position of Regional Commander of a garrison town, now he was being run down by some mounted force that had appeared out of nowhere.

If he did not vent this hatred from his heart, where would the dignity of a true man stand? If he lost all authority in the army from now on, how could he lead troops and guard the passes!

Just as Gao Jie was gradually steeling his resolve for a fight to the death, a city of moderate size appeared before his eyes. It looked to be a long-abandoned garrison fort, with even the Ming banner atop it tattered and torn.

At that moment, Gao Jie finally made his decision. He led his men charging into the fort and began hastily reinforcing and arranging defenses—clearly intending to hold fast and await reinforcements.

Though the enemy was cavalry, their pace was neither hurried nor slow. By the time Gao Jie's several thousand men had finished their preparations, there was still no sign of them.

Standing on the city wall, Gao Jie looked at his subordinates standing in strict battle formation, and a sliver of security finally returned to his heart.

That was right—fleeing at the mere sight of the enemy was not Gao Jie's style. If he kept running, he would end up in the same company as Zuo Liangyu and Madman He.

The Chongzhen Emperor trusted him so much. Even that Tang Tong had been ennobled as a marquis after a single battle. Was Gao Jie not far superior to him? He ought to earn at least a count's title—how could he run at the sight of anyone?

Moreover, Gao Jie had realized that the enemy had never truly intended to catch him. If they had spurred their horses to full speed, he would never have made it here.

Thinking of this, Gao Jie suddenly started—only now did he become aware of a serious problem. Could it be that they had deliberately driven him here?

But by now, thinking of anything more was too late. Amid the startled cries of the Xuanfu soldiers, several yellow dragon banners suddenly appeared on the horizon, followed immediately by countless Eight Banner soldiers charging in with howling war cries.

At their head was a man with a shaved forehead and a single rat-tail queue, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist—this was the banner master of the Plain Blue Banner, the Prince of Rao Yu Abatai, who had suffered a minor setback at military pay and provisions earlier.

Abatai reined his horse to a stop beyond the range of the imperial archers. Seeing the southern barbarians indeed holding fast within the city, he burst into loud laughter and pointed at Gao Jie like one watching monkeys, saying:

"The Prince Regent is truly formidable—how did he guess it?"

The Bayara janggin beside him also wore a face full of ferocity and said:

"Congratulations to the Prince, felicitations to the Prince! This time we annihilate the Ming army completely, washing away our previous shame—and on top of that, we win great merit and future prospects. Promotion to Prince is not out of the question!"

Looking at the ugly-faced Jianzhou barbarians, Gao Jie had lost his earlier fear, and a gleam of light appeared in his eyes.

He had expected, from the earth-shaking thunder behind him, that there would be a great many cavalry. But who would have thought—though the sound suggested a large number, what met his eyes could not even surround one side of the fort. There were probably only a little over a thousand men.

Li Chengdong, just as puzzled as Gao Jie, also could not understand it. From the sound, there had to be at least two thousand—why had only this many come? Could part of them not have arrived yet?

Then Li Chengdong discovered in surprise that these Tartar cavalry were different from what many had imagined. Among the mounted force of over a thousand, many riders actually had two horses each.

Especially the several hundred Bayara soldiers guarding Abatai's flank, clad head to toe in gleaming silver-white iron armor—each of them had three horses. It seemed that although these Tartars were well equipped, their numbers were actually not great.

Gao Jie's eyes blazed with sharp light. Even the hand gripping his saber trembled continuously from extreme excitement. This battle was worth attempting—fight the Tartars to the death!