Chapter 125: Rescue

Hei De Er Huo Zhe nodded, but the unease in his heart grew heavier.

He turned and left the stage, returning to the main tent. Inside hung a map of the Hami surroundings, studded with tiny flags.

The main Ming force was coming from the southeast, expected to arrive tomorrow.

Hami City still held twenty thousand defenders; though besieged, the grain and fodder could sustain them for half a month.

As long as the supply route remained open, he was confident he could defeat the Ming army in open battle.

The Eastern Chagatai cavalry was famed worldwide; fifty thousand against thirty thousand gave a great chance of victory.

But if the supply route…

"Report…" Imperial Troops rushed into the main tent, faces ashen.

"What's the panic?"

"General, Yiwu… Yiwu Grain Team was ambushed, General Yamu Er fell in battle, and the supply wagons were destroyed!"

The tent fell into dead silence.

Hei De Er Huo Zhe sprang to his feet: "Is the news true?"

"The routed troops have fled back, claiming it was a night raid by Ming cavalry, over ten thousand men, bearing the flag sign 'Wu'!"

"Prince Wu…" Hei De Er Huo Zhe slumped back into his chair, his complexion turning iron‑blue.

He finally understood where that vanished Ming force had gone.

They had skirted six hundred li, cutting his supply line—such a ruthless tactic.

"How much grain remains in the army?" he asked hoarsely.

The quartermaster stammered, "Only… only enough for ten days."

Ten days.

Hei De Er Huo Zhe closed his eyes.

After ten days, the fifty‑thousand troops would run out of grain and collapse without fighting.

"General, what shall we do now!" the commanders asked anxiously.

"Two options: first, withdraw immediately and fall back to Turpan; second, meet the Ming army in decisive battle tomorrow—if we win swiftly, we can seize their grain and fodder."

Hei De Er Huo Zhe opened his eyes, the veins of blood crisscrossing his gaze.

"Retreat… if the Ming forces in Hami City pursue…"

"Decisive battle… the main Ming force has arrived, and with Prince Wu's elite troops, our army would be attacked on two fronts…"

"…"

The tent was filled with endless debate.

Hei De Er Huo Zhe clenched his fists.

Retreat meant the eastern expedition had utterly failed, and his prestige in the Khanate would plummet a thousandfold.

Decisive battle—if victorious, there would be a chance; if defeated…

"Send the order: tomorrow at Chen Hour, the whole army shall form ranks and engage the Ming army in decisive battle." He finally gave his decision.

"Yes!"

The command was relayed, and the Military Camp bustled into activity.

Soldiers inspected weapons, fed the warhorses, and commanders inspected the camps, rallying morale.

Yet the news of the cut supply line spread quietly, and the troops' hearts began to waver.

…

In Hami City.

Feng Sheng stood on the city wall, staring at the enemy camp's lights to the west, his brows tightly knit.

He had been besieged for almost a month; out of a hundred thousand troops, thirty thousand were lost. Had Geng Bingwen not arrived in time, he might have perished on the battlefield.

This was the greatest defeat he had suffered since joining the army.

"General Feng, have a drink of water!" Geng Bingwen climbed the wall and handed him a Water Bag.

Feng Sheng took it but did not drink, instead saying, "Bingwen, when do you think the reinforcements will arrive?"

"Counting the days, they should be here. Prince Wu always moves his troops swiftly; since the emperor sent him, he will surely lift the siege," Geng Bingwen replied.

"Prince Wu… he is only seventeen. Though brave, he is still young. The Western Regions differ from Zhongyuan; the terrain here is complex and the tribes cunning…"

Feng Sheng said with a wry smile.

Before he could finish, a Horn Sound erupted from the east.

The two turned their heads simultaneously.

On the distant horizon, a black line appeared, drifting slowly in the dawn.

"Reinforcements!" the wall soldiers shouted.

Feng Sheng seized the Thousand‑mile Mirror and examined it closely.

He saw War Flags fluttering, Sword and Spear forming a forest—it was the Ming army's banner.

The foremost banner bore a single character "Guo".

"Guo Ying!" Feng Sheng rejoiced.

But he immediately frowned, "Only thirty thousand men… the enemy has fifty thousand, and with the Western Regions' allied troops, the total exceeds eighty thousand."

"Guo Ying's thirty thousand are probably insufficient."

Geng Bingwen also saw, "Where is Prince Wu? Didn't they say Prince Wu was coming?"

The two searched the reinforcements but saw no banner bearing the character "Wu".

"Could they have split their forces?" Feng Sheng guessed.

As he spoke, the western enemy camp blared horns, and the Eastern Chagatai army began to file out of camp.

The black, massed cavalry surged out like a tide, forming a formation on the Gobi.

Fifty thousand troops spread over the sky and earth, their momentum astonishing.

"They will fight to the death," Geng Bingwen said in a deep voice.

Feng Sheng gritted his teeth and said, "Open the city gates; we will sally forth and attack Guo Ying from front and rear."

"Impossible! The city holds only twenty thousand usable soldiers, and they are weary from prolonged battle. If we fight outside, the enemy cavalry may overwhelm us. Better to hold the city, tie down part of the enemy, and lessen General Guo's pressure," Geng Bingwen quickly objected.

Feng Sheng calmed down, realizing Geng Bingwen was right.

"Send the order: all troops on alert, prepare Crossbow Cannon, Rolling Log and Boulder; if the enemy assaults the city, strike them hard!"

"Yes!"

The city walls bustled with activity.

On the Gobi, the two armies faced each other.

Guo Ying led thirty thousand Ming troops into formation, shields at the front, long spears behind them, and archers at the rear.

The formation was strict, the killing aura rising.

Opposite, the Eastern Chagatai's fifty thousand cavalry had adopted a charge formation, with the Black Fire One positioned at the very front center.

"The Ming army has only thirty thousand; we have fifty thousand, the advantage is ours. Send the order: all troops charge, crush the Ming army in one blow!" the Black Fire One shouted to his left and right.

The horn blared loudly.

Fifty thousand cavalry began to accelerate, their hooves sounding like thunder, shaking the ground.

Smoke and dust billowed, obscuring sky and sun.

Guo Ying gripped his sword hilt tightly and inhaled deeply.

"Archers, prepare..."

Three thousand archers drew their bows and nocked arrows.

"Fire!"

A rain of arrows rose into the air and fell into the charging enemy formation.

Men fell and horses toppled, yet the charge's momentum did not wane.

"Again, fire!"

A second volley of Arrow Rain.

The enemy had charged within Hundred Steps.

"Spear formation! Hold firm!" Guo Ying shouted.

Front‑line shield‑bearers half‑kneeled, long spears thrust through the shield gaps like a forest of steel.

Cavalry slammed into the spear formation, cries of agony rose from all sides.

But fresh cavalry kept coming, and the spear formation began to loosen.

"Hold! Hold!" the officer roared.

At that moment, louder hoofbeats suddenly came from the west.

A cavalry unit, like a sharp sword, slashed into the enemy formation from the flank, its banner bright…

"Wu!"

Zhu Yong arrived.

Ten thousand Longxiang Army cavalry appeared on the battlefield flank at the crucial moment.

"King Wu! It's King Wu!" The Ming army's morale surged.

Zhu Yong rode at the forefront, swinging Double Hammers, cutting a path of devastation.

Ten thousand riders followed tightly behind, like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

The Eastern Chagatai army's flank fell into chaos.

"Do not disorder! Split forces to block!" the Black Fire One ordered urgently.

But it was already too late.

Longxiang Army cut into the enemy formation, splitting the Eastern Chagatai great army in two.

Zhu Yong rushed straight for the central command, his target clear: the Great Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, the Black Fire One.

"Stop him!" the Black Fire One's bodyguards surged forward.

Zhu Yong did not dodge nor yield, galloping straight forward. His left hammer swept sideways, sending three bodyguards flying.

His right hammer came down, killing two more.

It was as if entering a realm with no one.

The Black Fire One's face turned pale; he finally saw with his own eyes the legendary King Wu.

He was not a man, but a war god descended.

"Retreat... retreat!" he shouted hoarsely, ordering.

But the order could not be passed on; the whole army fell into chaos.

Guo Ying seized the opportunity, leading his forces to press forward on the entire front.

Hami City gates flung open, Feng Sheng and Geng Bingwen led twenty thousand garrison troops to charge out.

A three‑sided encirclement.

The Eastern Chagatai army was routed.

The Black Fire One, protected by bodyguards fighting to the death, fled westward.

Zhu Yong tried to pursue, but was blocked by the disordered troops; with his right hammer he slew dozens of enemy riders, watching helplessly as the enemy commander escaped.

The battle continued until noon.

On the Gobi, corpses lay scattered everywhere, broken flags and broken spears visible everywhere.

The Eastern Chagatai fielded fifty thousand troops, with over ten thousand dead or wounded, twenty thousand captured, and the rest scattered.

The Ming army won a great victory.

Zhu Yong dismounted his horse and stood in the center of the battlefield, drenched in blood, his Double Hammers dripping blood.

Zhang Wu and Chen Heng rode up, excitement on their faces.

"Prince, we have won!"

Zhu Yong nodded, looking west.

The black fire ones fled, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate's main force scattered, but the war had not ended.

The Western Regions are vast, there is still Turpan, another Eight Li, Yutian...

This battle is only the beginning.

Zhu Yong looked up at the sky, the scorching sun overhead.

In the Western Regions of Hongwu Year Five, the iron hooves of the Ming Imperial Army finally arrived.

And farther away, an even larger world awaits them.

But that is a matter for later.

For now, Zhu Yong wants to first clear the battlefield, soothe the captives, and then...