Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 93

Chapter 93 Reversal of Victory and Defeat
The originally quiet night was filled with murderous sounds because of the sudden onslaught of the Meng people. The people in the city who were just about to fall asleep trembled in fear. They could only beg the heavens to bless them. The Guan army could once again display their divine might and repel the invading enemies.

However, it was clear that Guang Ling City could no longer be as stable as Mount Tai this time. Without Lu Zhen’s command, the defending army had already been completely messed up. Although some of the soldiers were also sent to the west gate to defend against the enemy, they could only last for a while.

Along with the collapse of the morale of the Ming army, the Meng people attacked the city wall. Soon, more than half of the defenders at the west gate were killed and the rest were forced to retreat by the Meng people. Seeing that the city wall was in danger, even the city gate that was blocking the enemy army might fall into Meng people’s hands.

Just as the city was about to collapse, a fire dragon was rapidly moving forward less than ten kilometers away from Guang Ling. This troop that took advantage of the rush of the night came from the Great Harmony. There were three thousand elite cavalry, and there were a thousand cavalry among them.

Li Xian rushed to Datong City for help and finally achieved the results. Hu Sui was also shocked when he learned that Meng people had invaded Guang Ling. Because he was worried that this was only the vanguard of Meng people, he immediately issued military orders and mobilized the surrounding troops to set up defenses. At the same time, he also lacked three thousand elites. His subordinates, General Huang Hu, hurriedly brought reinforcements to Guang Ling.

Although Huang Hu felt that Guang Ling City would receive reinforcements from the garrisons of the surrounding counties and provinces to block the enemy, he still didn’t dare to be underestimated and rushed over day and night. Therefore, even though it was already nighttime, their marching speed did not slow down much.

When they arrived only ten kilometers away from Guang Ling, the scouts who were scouting the way brought back the news that the city was on fire and killing intent.

When Huang Hu heard this, his expression became extremely nervous. “Those Dazi actually took advantage of the night to attack Guang Ling. Looks like they are determined to beat down the city.” As he said that, his expression turned solemn, “Send orders to the three armies to speed up their advance. Kill the enemy behind them and rescue Guang Ling!”

Along with this order, the army, which was originally suppressing its speed, suddenly increased its speed. Especially the cavalry that had been accompanying the foot soldiers as they slowly moved forward, they even let go of Huan’er and rode their horses at full gallop, rushing towards the bright light visible to the naked eye at the fastest speed possible.

This was also the side effect of the Meng people attacking Guang Ling City openly. The torches they lit became the brightest guiding lights at this moment. The cavalry of the Ming army did not even need to look for them and could follow the flames to directly pounce behind the enemy.

In just an hour, the cavalry of the Ming army had already rushed behind the Meng people. When they heard the sound of horse hooves and shouts of killing behind them, Meng Ren, who was desperately climbing up, was obviously stunned for a moment. Only then did someone let out a series of shocked cries, “It’s reinforcements, reinforcements from Ming Country have arrived!”

The screams spread out quickly. Not only did the Meng people at the gates know this, but even the Meng people in the city and the Ming army, who were almost surrounded in front of them and were about to be completely finished, also knew of this change.

Immediately afterwards, the Ming army, which had already closed their eyes and waited to die, had no confidence to fight back with all their might. They immediately burst out with astonishing counter-attack power. They shouted, brandishing their weapons in their hands and rushed towards the enemy.

Originally, he thought that he would die without a doubt, but unexpectedly, reinforcements suddenly came. This completely stimulated the will of these Ming army soldiers to survive. One had to know that those who could last until the end were all the people with the best physiques in the Ming army or the people. At this moment, when they suddenly erupted, their strength was still quite terrifying.

But under this situation, Meng Ren seemed to be in a panic. Although they had an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength, as if they could eat the stubborn opponent in front of them as long as they took a step further, they were actually pushed back by the defending army after a moment of hesitation, and their momentum suddenly shrank.

At the same time, the Mongol army finally caught up with the arriving Ming cavalry.

Without saying much, the first hundred cavalry immediately drew their bows and fired arrows when they saw that it was indeed the Tartars attacking the city. After shooting at the enemy in front of him, he held his gun, raised his saber, and shouted as he charged into the enemy formation.

At this time, the Great Ming army had yet to experience the changes in the Earth Castle. Although they were not as brave and capable as the Great Ancestor Taizong, they were not as afraid of the enemy as they were afterwards. There was nothing to say when they saw the Meng people. They just had to fight. As soon as the saber rose and the spear fell, the Meng people in front of them, who were hastily responding to the battle, were all stabbed backwards. Then, they rushed with their horses and trampled the defeated generals into pieces of meat paste.

If they had attacked the Mongol barracks in the north, the situation might not have been so bad. After all, the Meng people had some measures and defenses there. As long as they reacted and delayed a little, they would be able to resist them.

However, the greedy Yu Tai moved his army to the west of the city and put on the appearance of attacking with all his might. As a result, their backs became abnormally empty. The cavalry of the Ming army had already disrupted his entire rear with just a single charge, and dozens of cavalry had even charged forward like red steel knives piercing into butter, quickly cutting through their formations and charging straight towards the Zhongjun army.

The Mongol people had always fought with offense as their defense, and rarely had they been so passively beaten up. Now that the cavalry that was suddenly killed had charged, everyone had become headless flies. No one restrained their subordinates. They only knew how to fight on their own, struggling with the Ming army that was galloping and killing everywhere.

Fortunately, there was a group of elites of a hundred people who had been working as guards beside Yu Tai. Seeing that the cavalry of the Luming army was actually charging straight at them, they didn’t dare to slack off at all and immediately attacked, helping Yu Tai block the fatal attack. But this was enough to shock all the Meng people, because they had never encountered such a thing before …

Yu Tai stared blankly at everything in front of him, almost unable to believe his eyes. How did this battle end up like this? He was clearly going to take down Broad Spirit City, but why did he end up in such a chaotic situation?

“Yu Tai, hurry up and restrain your troops to resist the enemy. Otherwise, we will be finished!” Finally, with a roaring reminder, he finally regained his senses. He knew that things couldn’t be done, so Guang Ling definitely wouldn’t be able to take it down.

Although he was unwilling to accept it, he could only accept it now: “Blow the trumpet, summon the troops back and retreat to the north! Let’s stabilize the formation first.” After all, he had led troops for many years, and once he calmed down, he immediately issued the wisest military order.

As the horn sounded, the Meng people on the city wall began to return to the ground. Although there were still guards behind them fighting for their lives, they could no longer afford to fight back. Most of them followed the ladder they had set up and safely returned to the city gates. However, some of the unlucky ones either missed or were stabbed by the defenders and fell down the city with miserable screams. Although this height might not necessarily kill a person, but this fall, unable to get up, is almost like death.

Yu Tai hurriedly gathered his troops and led them to the north, hoping that the cavalry of the Ming army would not be able to sustain their strength after charging for a while, thus giving them a chance to catch their breath.

This really made Yu Tai look forward to it. After traveling day and night for two days, the cavalry’s endurance was already insufficient. In addition, they had already reached the end of their rope after nearly ten li of wild running and the ensuing assassination. Although they knew that as long as they continued to chase after him, the Dazi in front of them would quickly collapse and eventually win. However, the loss of their physical strength and horses caused them to finally stop chasing after him. However, they only stood horizontally in front of the western gate of the Broad Spirit Sect, just like a strong dam blocking a torrent that pounced on them.

However, these Ming cavalry were not depressed because they were unable to continue chasing after the enemy. Even their killing intent was still the same. Looking at the retreating monsters was like looking at a pack of prey that had fallen into a trap.

The enemy’s judgment was undoubtedly correct, but they clearly underestimated the strength of the Ming army. Apart from their cavalry, who were the first to attack along the way, there were also twice as many infantry who were rushing over. Judging from the time, they should have already arrived. The reason why they didn’t attack in time was naturally not because they were at the end of their rope, but because they had chosen a better location to deal a fatal blow to the enemy!

As a general, Huang Hu’s ability to lead the troops was naturally not low. When he saw Meng Ren retreat after the chaotic battle at the gates, he quickly made the corresponding adjustments and led his men towards the north.

Therefore, when Yu Tai led his men to retreat northward, they were actually crashing into the Ming army’s pocket array on this side. When they realized that there was already the Ming army waiting behind them, it was already too late for them to continue changing directions.

“Crossbowman, release the arrow!” After seeing Meng Ren enter the shooting range, Huang Hu waved his hand and gave the order.

“Whoosh-whoosh whoosh!” The rain of arrows covered the sky and poured towards Meng Ren in front of him. In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of Meng people at the front fell under the dense rain of arrows.

After two rounds of continuous firing and completely destroying the morale of the enemy, the drums suddenly rang out. The Ming soldiers took large strides forward in the form of a square formation, quickly shortening the distance between the enemy and us and covering them up.

Facing such a strong enemy, the Meng people were finally unable to hold on any longer. In their cries of alarm, they turned into a tray of scattered sand and fled in all directions on their own.

As a result, their ability to fight the Ming army for the last time disappeared. Many people fell into the encirclement of the Ming army and were killed by the assassination. Their miserable screams rushed into the sky, as if they were about to shatter the night.

At this moment, the defenders of the city were also firing arrows, killing the enemies beneath them one by one and venting the hatred in their hearts. Because Lu Zhen wasn’t around and no one gave the order, they didn’t take the opportunity to kill out of the city and pincer with the reinforcements outside to completely annihilate these Dazi.

However, even so, this two-day offensive and defensive battle had suddenly reversed just before the city was destroyed, and the roles of both sides had changed abruptly. The Ming army had already won!