Chapter 292: Long Live the Great Ming Emperor

Gao Jie, locked in bitter combat, heard the news and gnashed his teeth in fury. Iron staff in hand, he stood atop the city wall and swore: "Liu Zongmin, you base brigand! Come face me in battle—today I will cut you down with my own hand!"

Ever since he had submitted to the court, Gao Jie had fought almost nothing but brutal battles that ordinary men could scarcely endure.

Let the past be past—at Xuanzhen, betrayed by the Eight Great Locust Merchants, he had been ambushed by Ajige's Jurchen cavalry. By Heaven's grace, Gao Jie found a small town, and after bitter fighting turned defeat into victory.

Even so, Li Chengdong, the most ferocious warrior under Gao Jie's command, was cut down by Ajige.

And now this—Hu Maozhen, who had followed him through dozens of battles great and small, his most seasoned veteran, who had even survived that encounter with Ajige, had been killed by this Liu Zongmin with two strokes of the blade, without even a chance to fight back.

The blow struck his heart; the pain was his own. Gao Jie flew into a rage on the spot, and by the look of it, he would not rest until Liu Zongmin was dead.

"Hahaha, Gao the Barbarian, it is you who will die!"

Liu Zongmin knew that Gao Jie was fiercely protective of his men—killing Hu Maozhen was precisely to provoke his anger. Seeing that the fool had indeed taken the bait and abandoned his troops to charge straight at him, Liu Zongmin was exceedingly pleased.

"Li Benshen, this place is yours. I'm going to cut down that base brigand myself and avenge our brothers!" Without another word, Gao Jie hefted his iron staff and charged straight at Liu Zongmin, murderous intent radiating from every pore.

Li Benshen was another valiant general under Gao Jie, and also his nephew. In the old days he had been a mountain bandit, but since submitting to the court, though still just as unruly and untamed, he had never once rebelled or defected a second time.

Had any ordinary man seen Gao Jie in his current state, he would likely have been scared out of his wits, let alone mustered the courage to resist. But Liu Zongmin took no notice, hefted his great blade, and met him head-on.

Staff and saber answered each other in turn; for a short while, the two fought to a standstill, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Gao Jie feinted, and seeing Liu Zongmin dodge without a second thought, burst into loud laughter and taunted: "Base brigand! They say you have strength beyond compare, able to lift a thousand catties. But seeing you today, I regard you as no more than a weed!"

Liu Zongmin was also hot-tempered. Provoked by Gao Jie, he sneered coldly and roared: "Gao the Barbarian, today you couldn't escape even if you grew wings! Surrender now, and this marquis can still beg the Dashing King to grant you a whole corpse!"

"Is that all you amount to—the Dashing King?"

Before Liu Zongmin could finish speaking, Gao Jie secretly grabbed a handful of sand and flung it at him, then swung his staff and leaped. As Liu Zongmin raised his hand to block, Gao Jie thrust his iron staff forward and struck Liu Zongmin square in the abdomen.

The blow was no light matter. Liu Zongmin took it full on, and with Gao Jie's strength being far beyond that of ordinary men, he spat blood and staggered back several steps before steadying himself.

Gao Jie fought entirely by the principle of pressing every advantage while your enemy is down. Seeing Liu Zongmin weakened, he pressed forward with savage ferocity, staff blow after staff blow, beating Liu Zongmin until he had no strength left to fight back.

The remaining bandits now swarmed up onto the wall one after another. Seeing their commander faltering, they had no time for surprise—shouting wildly, they surged forward to surround him. Gao Jie, seeing the bandits growing ever more numerous and realizing he could not kill Liu Zongmin, turned instead to slaughter the bandits.

Wielding his iron staff in one hand and snatching up a great saber from the ground with the other, Gao Jie swung both weapons and cut down over a dozen veteran bandits. As the bandits cowered in fear and dared not advance, Liu Zongmin cursed furiously and charged over.

"Fanshan Yao, you seek death!!"

Hearing Liu Zongmin call out even the nickname he had used back in the Dashing King's camp, Gao Jie laughed all the more merrily, knowing full well that this straightforward brigand had been thoroughly enraged by him.

Before he could react, Gao Jie was knocked down by a sweeping leg strike from Liu Zongmin. Before he could spring back up to resume the fight, Liu Zongmin brought his blade down at his head. Judging that he could not rise before the blade fell, Gao Jie rolled aside to dodge instead.

With a "Bang!" a deep gash appeared in the ground where the two had just stood. Gao Jie's heart trembled—thank Heaven he had dodged quickly; had that blade struck him, he would likely have gone straight to meet his old father.

"Fanshan Yao, today you will surely die by my hand!"

Seeing Liu Zongmin speaking again, Gao Jie's face remained impassive, but his right foot had already hooked an iron spear on the ground. Seizing the moment, he suddenly flicked it upward—swift as lightning, it flew straight at Liu Zongmin's face.

Liu Zongmin, seeing this, had no time to finish what he was saying. He dodged frantically and barely escaped, but the iron spear, its momentum undiminished, pierced a veteran bandit standing behind him. The old bandit let out a great cry, clutched his wound, and rolled about in agony.

Liu Zongmin flew into a rage, pulled the iron spear from the old bandit's body, and whirled around to stab fiercely at Gao Jie. Gao Jie dodged repeatedly, then gathered his strength into his right hand's iron staff and struck out, snapping the iron spear in Liu Zongmin's grasp.

More and more veteran bandits surrounded Gao Jie, pressing in so tightly he could not move, all thrusting their spears at him. By this point Liu Zongmin had grown deeply wary of Gao Jie and dared not be overconfident; seeing the situation, he said nothing more.

Gao Jie was about to counterattack but was forced to abandon the attempt as the other veteran bandits swarmed him. He retreated several steps, his eyes sweeping across the pass wall until they landed on a large boulder. Throwing his iron staff to the ground, he lifted the boulder and hurled it at the bandits.

Some of the bandits leaped straight off the city wall; others, with nowhere to dodge, were crushed into pulp; still others threw down their weapons and fled to the rear—each reacting differently.

Gao Jie hooked his iron staff back up with his foot and was about to press forward again when suddenly a chorus of battle cries rang out from behind the pass. He listened intently, and his face lit up with joy. Laughing loudly, he said:

"Base brigand! It seems Heaven has not abandoned me, hahaha!"

Liu Zongmin at first thought Gao Jie was up to some trick again, but then a veteran camp soldier came scrambling over in utter panic, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Reinforcements have arrived! The court's reinforcements have arrived!"

Having shouted this, the veteran camp soldier actually threw down his weapon and began climbing back down the wall the way he had come.

Liu Zongmin turned to look and saw a sight he could scarcely believe. Countless soldiers in deep black armor had suddenly appeared atop the main gate of Guguang Pass. Under their leadership, the hard-pressed government troops rapidly recovered and routed the Dashun army that had already climbed onto the city wall, sending them fleeing in utter defeat.

With a grating screech of iron, the gates of Guguang Pass were thrown open, and rank after rank of black-armored officers and soldiers charged out. They fell upon the Dashun troops without a word of explanation and cut them down—even those who surrendered were slaughtered without mercy.

These black-armored soldiers shouted in unison, and behind them poured out a great number of cavalry dressed in the garb of the lands beyond the pass. These horsemen were each and every one valiant and fierce, and amid the ever-chaotic battlefield they cut through the heart of the entire Dashun army like a sharp blade.

In Liu Zongmin's eyes, a figure in striking golden armor climbed atop the wall of Guguang Pass—even Chen Qiyu and Mou Wenshou and the others were bowing to him in salute.

The man drew the sword at his waist and pointed it toward Li Zicheng's great tent on the mountainside. The government troops seemed to be injected with stimulants in an instant, launching their counterattack with maddened fury.

"Long live the Great Ming Emperor!"

"Long live the Great Ming Emperor!"

Hearing the soldiers' shouts, even Liu Zongmin understood—the man in the golden armor was none other than Zhu Youjian, the exalted Great Ming Emperor himself. How could this be?

With the Chongzhen Emperor personally leading the imperial guard onto the battlefield, the tide turned in an instant. The Dashun army still outnumbered the imperial guard several times over, but their morale had completely collapsed.

After the front ranks were routed, those behind assumed the reinforcements must be vast in number. Moreover, this new style of armor was extremely similar in color to that of the Guanning army. The bandits were already terrified at heart, and upon hearing the soldiers' cries of "Long live the Emperor," their fear only deepened—they had no will to fight whatsoever.

Before long, the tents on the hillside were being packed up, and a messenger came running up breathless, saying the Dashing King had ordered the gongs sounded to recall the troops, and that battle would be joined another day.

In his fury, Liu Zongmin could even see from afar that Li Zicheng, faced with such a situation, had simply packed up, mounted his horse, and ridden away.