Chapter 123: Hami

Abdullah brandished his sword and met Zhang Wu, fighting at the same spot.

The two exchanged blows for more than ten rounds; Abdullah, lacking strength, was struck on the shoulder by Zhang Wu's sword and fell, unable to rise.

"Got him!" Zhang Wu shouted.

At that moment, shouts of battle came from behind the camp; it was the three hundred men led by Yang Thousand Household arriving.

With attacks from front and rear, the three thousand defenders fell into chaos.

Someone tried to flee into the gorge, but the gorge was narrow, and they were packed together.

The fight lasted half an hour; at dawn, the defending troops were either dead or surrendered, all completely eliminated.

Zhang Wu immediately ordered a tally of the results: 1,200 enemies slain, 800 captured, the rest having completely fled.

Our side suffered fewer than a hundred casualties.

"Quick, send the signal, let the Prince advance!" Zhang Wu commanded.

Three volley arrows shot into the sky, exploding in the darkness before dawn.

Ten li away, Zhu Yong saw the signal and immediately ordered: "All troops, depart, forced march!"

Forty thousand troops surged toward the Gate of Ghosts like a torrent.

At the beginning of the Chen Hour, the army reached the gorge entrance.

Zhang Wu had already led men to clear the roadblock, opening the passage.

"Well done!" Zhu Yong patted Zhang Wu's shoulder and said.

"Prince, we captured the enemy commander Abdullah; he is a general of Turpan," Zhang Wu said.

"Bring him up."

Abdullah was hauled up, his shoulder bandaged, his complexion ghastly pale.

"Can you speak Chinese?" Zhu Yong asked.

Abdullah nodded.

"How many ambushers remain in the gorge? Where is the main force of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate?" Zhu Yong stared at him and asked.

Abdullah gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Zhu Yong said no more and told Zhang Wu, "Pull him down and cut him."

"Yes!" Zhang Wu tugged Abdullah and left.

"Wait! I say… I say… there are five thousand people in the gorge, set in three ambush sections; the main force of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate is outside Hami City, about fifty thousand, led personally by the Khan Black's son, the Fire One."

Abdullah, panicking, said.

"Turpan, Bieshi Eight Li, why are you helping Eastern Chagatai?" Zhu Yong asked again.

Abdullah gave a wry smile: "If the Ming army occupies the Western Regions, the good days of our small kingdoms will be over. The Black's son, the Fire One, promised that after defeating the Ming army, they would divide Feng Sheng's troops' grain, fodder and equipment, and also pledged not to infringe on our lands."

Zhu Yong nodded, waved his hand and said, "Take him down, keep a close watch."

The army continued forward, entering the Gate of Ghosts gorge.

The gorge was indeed steep; cliffs rose on both sides, and looking up one could see only a sliver of sky.

Zhu Yong ordered the cavalry to dismount into Horse Stance and march, shield‑bearers at the front, archers behind, advancing slowly.

After marching a mile, huge rocks suddenly rolled down ahead.

"Raise shields!" the officer bellowed.

The soldiers lifted the large shields; the rocks struck the shields with a bang‑bang, and some were shaken so hard they spat fresh blood.

But the formation remained intact.

"Archers, fire upward!" Zhu Yong ordered.

Over a thousand archers shot arrows toward the cliff tops on both sides.

From the cliffs came wailing cries, and the number of rolling stones visibly decreased.

"Keep moving forward!"

The army, braving Arrow Rain and rolling stones, trudged forward with difficulty.

After another mile, a roadblock appeared ahead, a chaotic pile of timber formed a fortification, with enemy troops defending behind it.

"Break through it!" Zhu Yong said.

A squad of Heavy Armor infantry advanced, hacking the roadblock with axes.

The enemy fired arrows; the arrows clanged against the armor, with little effect.

The roadblock was quickly breached.

"Charge!"

The Ming army surged like a tide, engaging the defenders in close combat.

The narrow gorge limited troop deployment, but the Ming army's fine equipment and rigorous training gradually overpowered the enemy.

The battle lasted an hour; over half of the five thousand ambushers were annihilated, the rest fled.

At noon, the army finally emerged from the Gate of Ghosts.

Before them opened a bright expanse, a Gobi plain, where distant oases and city silhouettes could be seen.

"Is that Hami?" Zhu Yong asked the guide.

"Sir Prince, that is a beacon tower belonging to the Hami Guard; Hami City lies over a hundred li away," the guide replied.

Zhu Yong ordered, "All troops, rest for two hours, set up cooking pots, and treat the wounded."

The soldiers finally could sit down to catch their breath, many so exhausted they collapsed straight onto the ground.

Zhu Yong walked to a high ridge and used the Thousand‑mile Mirror to survey the surroundings.

The Gobi stretched endlessly, yellow sand billowed, and only a few clusters of camel spines swayed in the wind.

"Prince, we captured a tongue." Chen Heng dragged a man dressed in Western Regions attire over.

The man was in his thirties, his skin dark, his eyes flickering.

"Who are you?" Zhu Yong asked.

The man knelt and kowtowed, shouting, "General, spare my life. I am a merchant from Hami City, captured by the Eastern Chagatai and made a guide."

"How is Hami City now?" Zhu Yong asked.

"General, Hami City remains in the Ming army's hands, but it is besieged with no water flow. When I escaped, I heard they say the city's Grain and Fodder will last only half a month."

Zhu Yong felt a tightening in his heart.

From Gate of Ghosts to Hami is still a hundred li; even a forced march would take two days.

And the city has only half a month's Grain and Fodder left.

"Where is the black fire's Military Camp?" Zhu Yong asked again.

"It is twenty li west of Hami City, camped by the water, extending over ten li," the merchant replied.

Zhu Yong ordered Chen Heng to take the merchant down and spread out the map.

"General Guo, look... our army has forty thousand, the enemy has fifty thousand in Hami, and with reinforcements from the various tribes of the Western Regions, the total may exceed eighty thousand.

A head‑on fight is not the best strategy," he said, pointing at the map.

Guo Ying nodded, "Prince is right, but General Feng is trapped and must be rescued."

"Rescue must be done, but with skillful force. This is Yiwu, a must‑pass grain route behind the Eastern Chagatai. If we dispatch a special force to go behind the enemy and cut their grain route, the enemy will be thrown into chaos."

Zhu Yong pointed to a spot on the map and said.

"Going around the rear... in the Gobi, a large army's movement is hard to conceal," Guo Ying frowned.

"No need for a large army... I'll take the Longxiang Army, ten thousand cavalry, lightly equipped, marching at night, lying low by day and moving by night," Zhu Yong replied hurriedly.

"Too risky! Prince is a body worth a thousand gold, how could you personally risk it?" Guo Ying said anxiously.

Zhu Yong chuckled naively, "General Guo, don't worry, I know my limits. You lead the main force of thirty thousand, depart tomorrow, march toward Hami with great fanfare, drawing the enemy's attention.

I'll take the Longxiang Army around the north; within five days we will surely cut the enemy's grain route."

Guo Ying tried to persuade further, but Zhu Yong waved his hand, "The situation is urgent; it's decided."

He turned to Zhang Wu and said, "Send orders to the Longxiang Army: each man carries only three days' Dry Rations, fill the Water Bag, unload Heavy Armor, and prepare for night travel."

"Understood!"

The setting sun sank in the west, and the wind over the Gobi grew stronger.

Zhu Yong stood in the camp, watching the soldiers busy with preparations.

He knew that the next five days would decide the outcome of this Western Regions war.

It also decided the lives of Feng Sheng, Geng Bingwen, and the fifty thousand Ming troops.

Night fell, and the Longxiang Army's ten thousand cavalry completed its assembly.

Everyone was lightly clad, wearing only leather armor, bearing bows, arrows, and sabers.

"Depart!" Zhu Yong flipped onto his horse.

Ten thousand iron cavalry vanished like ghosts into the night of the Gobi.

Behind him, Guo Ying stood at the camp gate, gazing for a long time toward the direction they had gone.

"Prince Wu, you must return safely..." he murmured.

The night wind howled, raising yellow sand, erasing all traces.