Chapter 10: Rescuing Chen Heng! Zhu Ying Seeks the Glory of Beheading a General!
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The armies of both sides had become completely entangled in a chaotic melee.
At this point, even the Ming archers had been swept into the fighting.
Then—
“Archers of the First Thousand-Man Battalion, draw your blades and engage the enemy!”
Wei Quan’s thunderous shout rang out.
Numerous Tartar infantrymen charged forward, hacking wildly.
“Brothers, stay close to me! Follow me and kill!”
Zhu Ying likewise showed no hesitation, shouting to the soldiers around him.
“Follow the Banner Captain! Kill!”
The ten recruits roared to bolster their courage. Though fear still gripped them, seeing Zhu Ying before them made them feel far less afraid.
“Kill!”
Zhu Ying drew the refined-steel saber from his waist and charged toward the Tartar army ahead.
An entire group of Tartar soldiers came straight at him. One of them swung a long saber down at Zhu Ying.
“Go to hell!”
Zhu Ying raised his blade to meet it.
With a sharp clang, the Tartar soldier’s weapon was severed in an instant.
Before the man could recover from his shock, Zhu Ying struck again.
The refined-steel saber was razor-sharp. A head flew into the air, blood spraying in all directions.
“You have slain a Tartar infantryman. Twenty points of Strength acquired.”
Zhu Ying swiftly stepped forward, cut off the ear of the slain soldier, and tucked it into his robe.
This was military merit. The ear served as proof.
Zhu Ying had firmly resolved to rise through the ranks.
He would not let a single piece of military credit slip away.
“Damn Han!”
“Die!”
After Zhu Ying killed one of their number, several Tartar soldiers nearby glared at him in fury. Four or five of them immediately surrounded him and charged.
“Protect the Banner Captain!”
The ten soldiers beside Zhu Ying rushed forward at once, clashing with the Tartar troops in a chaotic melee.
“Kill!”
Zhu Ying brought his saber down upon the Tartar soldier before him.
Another Tartar was decapitated.
Blood sprayed as the severed head struck the ground.
“You have slain a Tartar infantryman. Twenty points of Speed acquired.”
The notification appeared on the panel.
After dispatching that man, Zhu Ying saw several of his own soldiers struggling and immediately charged forward, striking once more.
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The refined-steel saber was incomparably sharp, and combined with Zhu Ying’s tremendous strength, it was utterly ferocious.
The Tartar soldiers before him had no way to resist. They were cut down on the spot.
After several strokes, Zhu Ying effortlessly slew the five Tartar infantrymen in front of him.
He swiftly cut off the ears of the enemies he had killed, then shouted to the soldiers beside him, “Stay close to me. Kill!”
“Yes!”
The soldiers answered in unison, looking at Zhu Ying as though he were a god of war.
He was simply too formidable.
Those savage Tartars were no match for their Banner Captain.
“Kill!”
Zhu Ying plunged straight into the chaos of battle.
He raised his saber and hacked down.
In a struggle to the death like this, technique seemed almost useless. Everything came down to fighting with one’s life on the line.
Zhu Ying’s Strength had now surpassed four hundred points, making him an outright giant of a man. With the added power of the refined-steel saber, every downward stroke claimed the life of a Tartar soldier.
Whenever they tried to block his attacks with their blades, the impact left both their arms trembling violently. Their weapons could not withstand a single blow.
Gripping the saber with both hands, Zhu Ying hacked through the enemy ranks like a god of slaughter, advancing with irresistible force.
The battle continued.
The fifteen thousand troops of the Tartar border tribes had been deployed in full, advancing along several routes to encircle the Ming army.
Although the Ming forces numbered only half as many, their combat strength was in no way inferior. As the two armies clashed, the Ming soldiers refused to retreat and continued fighting a bloody battle.
Chen Heng, the commander of the Ming forces, rode through the fray with saber in hand, striking down enemy after enemy.
This was the fierce valor of the Great Ming commanders. They did not merely direct their troops from behind the lines—they charged into battle themselves.
During the Hongwu era, most commanders had fought their way up through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The nation’s strength had been forged in the same manner.
“There’s the Ming army’s banner!”
“The Ming commander is there! Kill!”
Jin Guda spotted the battle standard of the Commissioner’s Battalion and immediately shouted as he charged forward.
At his cry, numerous Tartar cavalrymen followed, rushing straight toward the banner and Chen Heng.
“Soldiers of Great Ming!”
“Kill!”
Chen Heng was utterly unafraid. He raised his saber and led his personal cavalry guards in another assault.
By now, the two armies were locked completely together. The struggle had become a contest of morale and endurance.
Once reinforcements arrived and the Tartars were surrounded, victory would be assured.
“That must be a Tartar commander.”
“Killing him will surely earn us promotion and honor!”
Jin Guda’s shout also caught the attention of Zhu Ying, who was less than a hundred yards away.
Zhu Ying saw Jin Guda charging on horseback. While the other Tartars wore leather armor, that man alone wore iron armor—a clear sign that he was a commander.
Moreover, Tartar cavalrymen behind him were carrying a great banner.
At that thought, Zhu Ying did not hesitate. Fixing his gaze on the charging Jin Guda, he gripped his refined-steel saber and hurried straight toward him.
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The battlefield was in utter chaos. Both armies had lost all formation and were locked in individual struggles.
Whenever Zhu Ying encountered an enemy, he struck with a single blow. Other soldiers grew weaker the longer they fought, but Zhu Ying only grew stronger. With every enemy he killed, another attribute was added to him, and he could clearly feel his power increasing.
Zhu Ying charged swiftly through the melee, closing in on Jin Guda’s position.
“Damn Tartars!”
“Kill!”
Chen Heng gave a cold shout and led his cavalry into a chaotic clash with the Tartar horsemen before him.
Jin Guda, meanwhile, raised his saber and charged toward Chen Heng.
The two commanders’ blades met in a fierce collision.
After only one exchange, Jin Guda realized that Chen Heng possessed greater strength than he did. He immediately waved his hand and shouted, “Kill this Ming commander, and victory shall belong to our people!”
“Kill him!”
“Slay him and you’ll be promoted to a commander of a thousand and receive ten Han women!”
At those words—
“Kill!”
The surrounding Tartar soldiers surged toward Chen Heng with blazing enthusiasm, quickly completing the encirclement.
Chen Heng swung his saber with all his strength, while the Tartar soldiers attacked furiously with blades and spears.
The Ming soldiers around them were also fighting desperately and had no attention to spare for him.
“Damn it.”
“Why hasn’t that bastard Liu Zhen arrived yet?”
Chen Heng cursed inwardly.
At that moment, a Tartar soldier thrust a spear at him.
Chen Heng’s expression changed. He dodged violently, losing his balance and tumbling from his warhorse.
“Kill!”
The Tartar soldiers immediately closed in and hacked down at him.
“It’s over.”
A deathly despair flashed through Chen Heng’s eyes.
But just then—
A blood-soaked Ming soldier charged in. With a sharp slash, he cut down one enemy; with a second stroke, he slew another.
In the blink of an eye, the several Tartar soldiers surrounding Chen Heng had all been slaughtered.
“Hm?”
Chen Heng stared at the man before him in astonishment, having narrowly escaped death.
Yet after dispatching the Tartar soldiers, the warrior merely glanced at Chen Heng before turning his eyes toward Jin Guda. With his bloodstained saber in hand, he charged straight at him.
“Don’t go over there! Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Chen Heng sprang to his feet and shouted.
But in the next instant, something occurred that Chen Heng had never anticipated.
Zhu Ying charged forward at astonishing speed, his saber flashing through the air. Each stroke felled an enemy, and in the blink of an eye, he had cut his way to Jin Guda.
…
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