Chapter 64: Killing the Jiannu!

Chapter 64: Killing the Jiannu!

“How do we get to Yehe City?”

Yang Xin stood on the vast grassland, reining in his horse as he gazed towards the eastern mountains.

This place was roughly south of Siping.

To avoid the Jiannu, they had set out northeast, skirting the upper reaches of the Liao River. They had traveled through a flat corridor between mountains until reaching the Liao River, then turned north and forded the river at a point upstream from an estuary, likely somewhere east of Kangping. After that, they maintained a northeastern course, galloping across the boundless grassland until a continuous mountain range appeared in the distance. Their current position could only be south of Siping. Nearby, a small river flowed southwest. Mongolian cavalry were watering their horses there…

Nangnuke watched the telescope in Yang Xin’s hand with a wide smile.

Yang Xin naturally had a telescope.

He had only managed to make three before leaving. He gave one to Wanli, but the emperor later bestowed it upon Xiong Tingbi. Tianqi took another. The last one, Yang Xin kept himself. However, Xu Guangqi was still supervising craftsmen in making more.

In fact, he was overseeing production by imperial decree.

Thus, Xu Guangqi landed a lucrative job.

Yang Xin tossed the telescope to him.

“This isn’t me being a bad friend. In the whole of Liaodong, apart from Military Commissioner Xiong having one, only I possess the other. If you want one, wait until I return, and I’ll figure something out. As long as you continue to stand with the Great Ming and keep the border markets open, obtaining one won’t be difficult. We’ve fought for centuries, but ultimately, the fact remains that neither side can truly overcome the other. We cannot go farm your grasslands, and lands we cannot farm are lands we cannot hold, even if we conquer them. Your issue is simply that during famines, you must raid southward to survive. But in truth, through trade, you can obtain grain just the same. Once spring comes and the grass grows, your numbers recover.

If that’s the case, why continue this endless struggle?

As for your so-called Khan, treat it as a joke.

Who among you actually listens to him?

Not the Oirat tribes in the west, nor the closest ones near him: the seven Right Wing tribes to the north, the twelve Tumed tribes to the west, or even minor factions like the Khorchin Tribe. None heed him. He is merely the leader of the Chahar Eight Tribes alliance, and now even the Chahar Eight Tribes themselves dislike him.

What benefit is there in following him?

Look at the Duoyan Thirty-Six Banners. Backed by the Great Ming, they have silver when they need silver, grain when they need grain. Why can’t you be like them? In the future, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will decide matters. He will grant you official titles, assign each of you your own pasturelands, help you build temples, and Ming merchants will freely trade with you. Wouldn’t such a life be far better than wandering the grasslands, where one heavy snow could kill all your livestock and leave you to starve?”

Yang Xin tempted.

Then came the whole set from the Great Qing.

It must be said, this set of tactics was practically perfect, a soft knife solving problems silently.

“Those two mountains over there. The path between them leads to Yehe City. It takes about half a day to travel.”

Nangnuke pointed at two close peaks in the distance.

“Here.”

He handed the telescope back to Yang Xin, smiling meaningfully. “We also know what kind of man your emperor is.”

Yang Xin dropped the subject.

He waved to Zhou Yuji behind him, but Zhou Yuji did not move. Instead, he looked southeast with a serious expression. Yang Xin’s eyesight was superior. He immediately spotted something unusual there. He quickly called out to Nangnuke, who was giving orders to his men. Nangnuke turned his head…

“A large group of cavalry!”

He exclaimed.

“Quick! Get to the mountain pass first!”

Yang Xin shouted.

Whoever was coming surely had the same goal: to reach Yehe City through the mountain pass Nangnuke mentioned ahead. They had to reach the pass before the others. At their shouts, the five hundred Mongolian cavalry who were already mounted swiftly urged their horses forward. A flood of horsemen charged at full speed towards the gap between the two peaks. Soon, the people to the south spotted them. The dust cloud raised by the newcomers also quickened. The two cavalry forces saw each other after about ten minutes. A red banner entered Yang Xin’s view first.

“Jiannu!”

He shouted.

He then threw the telescope to Nangnuke.

“Plain Red Banner. Beile Daišan!”

Nangnuke shouted, holding up the telescope.

Soon, the other side also identified them. This much larger tide of cavalry immediately split. One group continued straight for the mountain pass. Another group swerved to cut behind them, clearly aiming to encircle. Now it was a race. Whoever reached the pass first would win. Unfortunately, the newcomers were slightly faster because the Mongolian cavalry had been galloping non-stop, while these Jiannu horsemen had clearly been traveling at a normal pace, conserving their horses’ stamina. Their elite vanguard would obviously outpace Yang Xin’s group. They only needed to block the pass, and this Mongolian cavalry would be surrounded and annihilated on the plain.

“Take your men and keep going!”

Yang Xin shouted to Nangnuke.

With that, he grabbed his own warhorse, leaped from the horse he was riding, caught the saddle, and mounted. He then snatched up his iron mace. Nangnuke stared at him in shock…

“If I die, this is yours!”

Yang Xin said with a laugh.

He then spurred his horse straight at the Jiannu vanguard.

Zhou Yuji looked at Nangnuke.

“If I die, send someone to Jinzhou to inform my family!”

He said.

He quickly dismounted, landing and hopping onto a spare horse beside him in one motion. He took out his bow and arrow and charged after Yang Xin towards the Jiannu vanguard. Nangnuke stared at them in disbelief, then drew his saber. He hesitated briefly but ultimately did not point it at the Jiannu. Instead, he pointed towards the mountain pass…

“Hurry!”

He roared.

The tide of Mongolian cavalry continued its desperate rush towards the pass.

Yang Xin and Zhou Yuji, one after the other, hurtled towards the Jiannu vanguard. Behind this vanguard was a tide of cavalry that blotted out the grassland. Clearly, this was Wild Boar Skin’s main force.

They had not taken the usual main road straight to Yehe City.

The reason the city was built among the mountains was that all Jurchen tribes trading with the Great Ming to the east had to use the Yehe River valley, travel south several dozen li to where modern-day Kaiyuan’s Lianhua Town is located, and then enter the Liaodong Frontier Wall through the Zhenbei Pass. The Yehe Tribe’s two cities, plus the original Shanyan City (or Shangjianfu City), formed a triangle locking down the route. Anyone going south or returning north had to pay them taxes. Similarly, since Wild Boar Skin had already taken Kaiyuan, attacking the Yehe Tribe along this main road was the shortest route for him.

But he did not do that.

Instead, he went north directly from Kaiyuan, bypassed through the plains outside the mountains, and attacked Yehe City from the flank for surprise.

Yet he unexpectedly encountered Yang Xin.

The Jiannu vanguard opposite paid them no mind. Two men were simply not worth it. Their courage was admirable, but their actions were truly foolish. Their target was still to block the pass ahead.

Yang Xin and Zhou Yuji soon rode side by side.

Just as they neared the Jiannu vanguard, Zhou Yuji suddenly veered to run parallel, raised his bow, aimed, and shot at the Jiannu. But Yang Xin kept charging straight ahead. Simultaneously, four Jiannu cavalrymen turned to engage. The foremost one thrust his Long Spear, but before he could strike Yang Xin, an arrow hit him right in the face. The corpse fell straight down. The two riders behind hurriedly swerved to avoid his falling body. Immediately, Yang Xin collided with one of them. His right-hand iron mace smashed down on the man’s head. The Jiannu raised his Long Spear to block, but how could he withstand Yang Xin’s immense strength? The blow instantly bent his arms, and the iron mace, along with the spear shaft, still smashed into his head.

His helmet grotesquely caved in instantly.

The corpse fell.

Almost at the same time, the Long Spear was in Yang Xin’s left hand. He flung it backward, and it pierced through the back of the Jiannu who had circled around him and was heading for Zhou Yuji. An arrow shot by Zhou Yuji flew over Yang Xin’s head and struck another Jiannu, who was raising his bow to aim, in the chest.

The fourth Jiannu’s Long Spear thrust arrived simultaneously.

Yang Xin leaned to the side, his left arm trapping the spear shaft.

The Jiannu tried to pull back, but he couldn’t budge it. He stared at Yang Xin in shock. The next moment, the iron mace whistled down onto his head. Before he even fell, the Long Spear was back in Yang Xin’s left hand. Yang Xin then hurled it backward, hitting a Jiannu warhorse charging forward. The horse whinnied in pain and fell, tumbling forward from momentum. A Jiannu rider behind couldn’t avoid it in time and tripped over it. Almost simultaneously, Yang Xin arrived. He tugged the reins. His horse neighed and leaped, jumping over the fallen Jiannu horse and landing its hooves on the chest of the fallen Jiannu.

The charging formation was instantly thrown into chaos.

The Jiannu cavalrymen swerved. Zhou Yuji had already fired six arrows, knocking down four Jiannu. To pierce their armor, he had drawn his bow almost to full each time. Now he could hardly continue. He simply cast aside his bow, grabbed his lance, and quickly caught up to Yang Xin. But by then, both of them were surrounded by countless horsemen.

Meanwhile, the foremost dozen or so Jiannu riders reached the mountain pass.

But at the same moment, dozens of arrows shot from among the Mongolian cavalry. Nearly half of the Jiannu riders fell from their horses. The remaining few had barely assumed defensive postures when Nangnuke and his men, wielding Long Spears, arrived. These Jiannu riders, lacking reinforcements, were almost instantly engulfed by the Mongolian cavalry. The Mongolian horsemen, charging at full speed, almost trampled the corpses as they poured into the pass like a rushing flood. Nangnuke took one last look towards where Yang Xin was surrounded, but he could see nothing. There were only densely packed Jiannu there. He resolutely turned and disappeared behind the mountain.

What he didn’t know was that the moment he turned, Yang Xin had burst out like a wild beast.

And Zhou Yuji was right behind him.

“Can you still fight?”

Yang Xin turned to look at Zhou Yuji, covered in blood, and shouted excitedly.

He himself had forgotten how he fought his way out. He just kept swinging that iron mace. If a head was in range, he struck. His left hand kept grabbing—weapons, men, anything—and then hurling them back as weapons. He had long lost count of how many enemies he’d killed. He’d even forgotten about Zhou Yuji behind him. Once in a fight, how could he mind others? That Zhou Yuji could survive and fight his way out alongside him from among hundreds of Jiannu cavalry was a genuine surprise.

“I killed seven Jiannu! Even if I die now, I’ve broken even!”

Zhou Yuji roared back, equally excited.

Clearly, most of the blood on him was not his own.

“Then let’s continue!”

Yang Xin looked at the Jiannu who were now attacking the Mongolian cavalry entering the pass. After saying this, he spurred his horse and charged straight at them.