Chapter 15: Smashing Through

The darkest moment before dawn.

Fifty li north of Kaiping City, the Ming army's Vanguard Camp's Eight Hundred Cavalry galloped through the night.

The horses' hooves were wrapped in cloth, and the hoofbeats sounded muffled.

Lan Yu rode at the front, Shiniu shouldered the Double Hammers and followed on the right, while Wang Gui stayed on the left.

Three days earlier they had lost track of Yuan Shun Di; the main force searched the Grassland for a full two days, finally picking up a trail. Yuan Emperor's remnants fled toward the northwest, apparently trying to detour to Helin.

Chang Yuchun ordered, and Lan Yu led the Vanguard Camp in the initial pursuit, clamping onto the enemy, with the main army following behind.

Because of Shiniu, Wang Gui, this personal guard, was also taken along.

"How much farther..." Lan Yu lowered his voice and asked the scout beside him.

"At most twenty li; they are carrying supplies, so they can't run fast..."

"Accelerate!"

The Eight Hundred Cavalry sped up again.

Shiniu rode his horse, the Double Hammers positioned horizontally in front of the saddle.

That dark red horse, it was unclear whether it had already adapted to the weight, but it ran quite steadily.

His eyes fixed on the darkness ahead, his ears listening to the surroundings.

The Hammer Method Diagram swirled in his mind, but he didn't think further; when it's time to smash, his hands would move on their own.

When the sky lightened to a fish‑belly white, the terrain ahead changed.

The Grassland gradually narrowed, and hills rose on both sides.

"Stop..." Lan Yu suddenly raised his hand.

The whole army halted their horses.

Ahead was a valley mouth; the slopes on both sides were low but sufficient to hide troops.

"Something's off... too quiet," Lan Yu said, squinting.

Wang Gui spurred his horse forward and said, "General, should we send scouts ahead to probe?"

"It's too late, dawn is near; if Yuan Emperor is truly ahead, we must catch him before daybreak," Lan Yu shook his head and said.

He looked at Shiniu and said, "Han Zi, you take a hundred men through the valley first; if all is well, send a signal."

Shiniu nodded and replied, "Fine."

He signaled the hundred cavalry behind him, hefted the Double Hammers, and said, "Follow me."

The hundred cavalry stepped out, walking slowly toward the valley mouth.

The valley mouth was about thirty zhang wide, with lush vegetation on both slopes.

Shiniu rode his horse at the front, scanning left and right with his eyes.

When they reached the center of the valley mouth, a horn sounded suddenly from the left slope.

"Woo..."

In the next instant, Arrow Rain poured down from both sides.

"Ambush!" Wang Gui shouted from the rear line.

Shiniu moved almost the instant the horn sounded.

He swung his left hammer upward, forming a black‑gold disc above his head.

"Ding—ding—ding—ding—"

Arrows struck the hammer face, sparks scattering, and the shafts snapped.

A few of the hundred cavalry behind were hit by arrows and fell from their horses, but most raised shields in time.

"Retreat! Exit the valley!" Shiniu shouted.

The hundred cavalry turned their horses, but from the opposite end of the valley a large force of Yuan Cavalry surged out, blocking the retreat.

From the slopes on both sides, ambush troops emerged; judging by the banners, they were not Yuan Emperor's remnants but Yuan General Yesu's forces, a rear‑guard left behind, numbering at least three thousand.

Yesu had escaped him last time; he didn't expect him to show up again.

"We're surrounded!" a Hundred Household Officer shouted.

Shiniu turned his head and glanced at Lan Yu's main force beyond the valley; they too were entangled by Yuan troops emerging from the slopes, unable to break through for the moment.

The hundred cavalry inside the valley became isolated.

"Form a circular formation!" Shiniu dismounted.

Horses couldn't maneuver in the narrow valley.

The hundred cavalry quickly dismounted, using the horses as cover, forming a circle.

The Yuan army pressed in from three sides.

At the front, a Thousand Household wielding a spear pointed at Shiniu and shouted in stiff Chinese, "Surrender! No killing!"

Shiniu ignored him.

He glanced at the slopes, then at the battle outside the valley, and calculated in his mind: Lan Yu's eight hundred against two thousand could hold for now, but if this hundred inside the valley were lost, the ambush could strike Lan Yu from behind.

They cannot be lost.

He hefted the Double Hammers and stepped out of the circle.

"Shiniu! Return!" Wang Gui shouted urgently from the formation.

Han Han turned his head, saying, "Wang Ge, you hold the line, I'll go smash a way through."

"You alone..."

"Enough."

Shiniu turned around, facing the Yuan army.

The Thousand Household saw this Han Zi step out alone, froze for a moment, then sneered, "Seeking death!"

He waved his hand: "Kill!"

Fifty Yuan Cavalry in the front rank urged their horses forward, charging.

The ground at the gorge mouth was uneven, the horses' speed was not fast, but the fifty riders' charge still had a terrifying momentum.

Shiniu did not retreat.

He walked forward, his steps unhurried, but each foot landed firmly.

The first rider charged to the front, his saber slashing down.

Shiniu lifted the left hammer upward.

Clang!

The saber flew into the air.

The right hammer swept horizontally.

Bang!

The horse's head shattered, the warhorse whinnied and fell, the rider tumbled down, and before he could rise, the left hammer came down.

The second and third riders charged simultaneously.

Shiniu's Double Hammers spread left and right like a bow.

Bang...

Two horses toppled at the same time.

He continued walking forward.

Yuan Cavalry surged forward one after another, but the gorge mouth was narrow, allowing at most three riders to charge at once.

That became a death march.

Shiniu's Double Hammers turned into two jet‑black and golden whirlwinds in the morning light.

One hammer strike, both rider and horse were shattered.

Two hammer strikes, people were thrown head over heels.

Three hammer strikes, flesh and blood flew everywhere.

He walked slowly, but every step moved forward.

No living thing survived under the hammer.

A touch meant death; a graze left a wound.

After the fifty riders charged, the ground at the gorge mouth was littered with fifty corpses and more than thirty dead horses.

Shiniu stood amid the pile of corpses, the Double Hammers slowly dripping blood, his own body splattered with blood as well, yet he did not even gasp.

The Thousand Household's face turned pale.

He had never seen this fighting style; no dodging, no parrying, no blocking, just smashing.

One strike can subdue ten opponents.

"Fire arrows! Fire arrows!" Thousand Household shouted in panic.

Archers on both hillside slopes released arrows again.

Shiniu's Double Hammers whirled; the Arrow either got smashed away or was deflected by the hammer wind.

He kept walking forward, heading toward the Thousand Household.

Beside the Thousand Household stood two hundred infantry, holding spears in formation.

"Thrust!" the Thousand Household ordered.

Long spears surged forward like a forest.

Shiniu's left hammer swept across, cutting a line of spear tips cleanly.

The right hammer followed, smashing into the shield formation.

Boom!

The front‑row shield soldiers, together with their shields, were blasted away, crashing into those behind.

The formation broke.

Shiniu charged into the formation, Double Hammers turning like wheels.

One hammer strike sent three or four people flying.

Another hammer strike sprayed flesh and blood everywhere.

He had no technique, just smashing.

But each hammer hit was perfectly timed, striking the densest part of the crowd, hitting the crucial point of the Formation.

The two hundred infantry, in less than twenty breaths, were instantly cut down.

The Thousand Household drew his sword, gritted his teeth and charged forward.

He was a Mongol warrior, his swordsmanship exquisite, his strength boundless, having once cut down seven Ming soldiers in battle.

Shiniu watched him charge, and casually swung the right hammer.

The Thousand Household hurriedly swung his sword to block.

Clang!

However, the sword snapped cleanly.

The hammer's momentum did not lessen, striking his chest.

The Thousand Household was flung backward, crashing into a stone on the hillside; his chest caved in a deep pit, his exhalation far greater than his inhalation.

With the commander dead, the remaining Yuan forces panicked.

Shiniu did not stop; he lifted the Double Hammers and walked toward the other end of the gorge mouth, where nearly a thousand Yuan troops still blocked the road.

"Stop him!" a Centurion shouted.

The Yuan army formed a formation again.

This time they were clever, not charging, but forming a dense spear formation, trying to trap Shiniu dead in the center of the valley mouth.

Shiniu glanced at the spear formation, then looked at the sky.

The sky was brightening quickly.

The shouts of battle on Lan Yu's side continued, but they seemed to be gradually gaining the upper hand, after all the Ming army were elite.

He took a deep breath, gripping the Double Hammers tightly.

Then he began to run.

He didn't charge toward the spear formation, but toward the right-hand slope.

There were archers on the slope; seeing him rush, they hurriedly loosed arrows.

Shiniu used his left hammer to shield his head, and the right hammer struck the ground.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled, and shards of stone splashed.

He used the force of that smash to leap Three Zhang high, landing on the middle of the slope.

The archers were outright terrified; is that even a human?

Shiniu landed, swinging the Double Hammers outward like a bow.

The archers on the slope, lacking melee ability, scattered instantly.

Shiniu kept moving, running sideways along the slope toward the other end of the valley mouth.

The Yuan army's spear formation was below the slope, looking up at him; their spears couldn't even reach him.

Shiniu ran to a point directly above the formation and leapt down.

The Double Hammers led, and the man fell like a meteor.

"Boom..."

He smashed into the center of the spear formation.

The ground formed a crater, and more than ten Yuan soldiers around were thrown by the shock.

The spear formation instantly fell into chaos.

Shiniu rose from the pit, sweeping the Double Hammers horizontally.

The front‑line spearmen collapsed in a wave.

He charged forward, like a wild ox charging into a flock of sheep.

Where the Double Hammers passed, men were thrown head over heels.

There wasn't a single opponent; there was no one who could block a single strike.

He kept smashing his way through, from one end of the formation to the other.

Then he smashed straight through.

At the other end of the valley mouth, the thousand Yuan soldiers blocking the road were smashed through by him alone.

Behind him, Wang Gui timed it well and led a hundred riders to charge up.

"Charge out with Shiniu!"

The hundred riders rushed through the breach and linked up with Lan Yu's main force outside the valley mouth.

On Lan Yu's side, they had already crushed the Yuan army before them and were charging toward the valley mouth.

With both sides pinching, the remaining Yuan troops inside the valley mouth instantly collapsed, scattering in all directions.

The battle fought from dawn to sunrise finally ended.

The three thousand ambushes left by Yesu were completely annihilated.

The Ming army suffered about two hundred casualties, most of them from the initial volley of arrows.