Chapter Ninety-One: A Chance Meeting on a Narrow Path

Ten li west of the Yan'e Sea.

Across the boundless steppe, more than three thousand Tumed people were fleeing in panic, old and young together, driving hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep, and horses before them. Their men had already fallen on the battlefield, their homes had already been razed by the Ming army, and now they could do nothing but take the elderly and the children and drive their herds toward the camp of the Khorchin people.

The savage Ming troops followed close behind them like vengeful wolves that would not let go. Whenever they tried to stop and catch their breath, those wolves would surge up and tear into them. So they dared not stop. They could only run, and run again, and keep on running.

Ahead, the vast Yan'e Sea was already in sight. Once they crossed it, they would reach the Khorchin camp, and the Tumed would be saved. Yet before they could even rejoice at having escaped death, a sudden mass of Ming troops appeared and kicked them straight into the abyss of despair.

Under the clear blue sky, an endless army of Great Ming soldiers swept forward like a black tide of ants. The miserable Tumed women no longer had the heart to care about the cattle and sheep that were as precious to them as life itself, not even the old people. They could only lift their children onto horseback and scatter in all directions.

It was a merciless and brutal hunt, except that this time the Ming army was the hunter, and the Mongols the prey.

Over the course of two days of pursuit and flight, Wang Pu had deliberately driven the Tumed together with his four thousand iron riders. By the time the Tumed fled to the vicinity of the Yan'e Sea, more than six thousand old, weak, women, and children, along with over a million cattle, sheep, and horses, had been gathered into three large groups. The largest of them numbered more than three thousand people and over five hundred thousand head of livestock. It was this group that Zhang Zian intercepted.

More than ten thousand Ming soldiers were like more than ten thousand vicious wolves, cutting off the Tumed's road to escape and then baring their fangs as they charged into the crowd. Soon the steppe was packed with Tumed people fleeing in terror. Ming soldiers were pursuing them madly from behind, while countless cattle, sheep, and horses ran wild in every direction across the grasslands.

"Hahaha, so many sheep! These sheep are all mine."

"I want this herd of cattle. No one is allowed to snatch them from me!"

"Damn it, then this batch of horses is mine!"

A group of Ming soldiers did not go after the Tumed people who were fleeing everywhere. Instead, they picked up herding whips and fought over the cattle, sheep, and horses abandoned by the Tumed. One Tumed elder, too old to run any farther, sat on the ground waiting for death. Seeing this, he loosed an arrow at the Ming soldiers. To everyone's surprise, he actually managed to kill one of them.

The remaining dozen Ming soldiers first froze, then rushed over like madmen.

"Ride!"

Just as the old Tumed man was about to be hacked to pieces by those soldiers, a young Tumed woman suddenly galloped up from not far away, clearly trying to rescue him. As she drew level with the Ming soldiers, their commander sprang up like a pouncing eagle and launched himself at the woman on horseback with outstretched arms.

"Down you come!"

With a loud shout, the Ming commander barely managed to seize the Tumed woman's long, strong, beautiful body. The two of them tumbled from the saddle and rolled into the grass. Soon the Ming commander had sat up, pinned the Tumed woman beneath him, and thrown back his head in laughter. "The cattle, sheep, and horses are yours. This woman is mine. Hahaha..."

The surrounding Ming soldiers burst out laughing.

Then came a sharp whistle through the air.

The commander’s laughing mouth snapped shut. The dozen soldiers who had gathered around him looked closely and saw that a thumb-thick wolf-tooth arrow had already been driven through his throat. The feathers at the tail still trembled faintly.

He sucked in air with a hissing sound, struggling to raise both hands to pull the arrow free from his throat. But tragically, his hands had only lifted halfway before falling limp. His head then drooped, and he collapsed onto the Tumed woman, dead. His eyes were still bulging wide open, refusing to close in death.

In an instant, the faint sound of hoofbeats rose from the eastern horizon.

The group of Ming soldiers whirled around, and when they saw what was coming, they were struck dumb. On the endless steppe, a large force of Mongol cavalry had already surged into view. The leading rider had drawn his bow and was already sighting on them. Then another whistle cut through the air, and another Ming soldier was pierced through the throat, convulsing as he fell to the ground.

"Mongols!"

"The Mongols are here!"

"Run, brothers, run!"

The remaining dozen Ming soldiers shouted and fled in disorder. One of them, quick-witted, ran a few steps, then turned back. He threw himself beside the old Tumed man who had just been killed, smeared some blood from the corpse onto his own neck and face, and then lay motionless.

The Mongol riders who had arrived in time were the three thousand elite guards of the Khorchin. Leading them was none other than Baktu, the eldest son of Prince Huxetuliktu Uksan!

The Khorchin cavalry moved quickly, and the Ming scouts they had sent out had all been killed by them. So when the three thousand elite Khorchin guards suddenly appeared, the Ming soldiers who were pursuing the Tumed and seizing cattle and horses had no idea what was happening. Zhang Zian, waiting inside the camp for news, was equally unaware.

Before the campaign, Uksan had repeatedly instructed Baktu not to fight the Ming army in a decisive battle. His task was only to pin them down and prevent them from retreating in good order back inside the Great Wall, buying time for the following cavalry to arrive and encircle them.

But when Baktu led the three thousand elite guards to the Yan'e Sea, what he saw was a scene that made his blood boil. Thousands of Tumed women and children were running like frightened beasts across the steppe, while more than ten thousand Ming soldiers were in hot pursuit behind them. One after another, Tumed people were overtaken and hacked to death beneath the Ming blades, and the Tumed's hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep had become spoils of war for the Ming.

Because they were busy pursuing the Tumed and seizing livestock, the more than ten thousand Ming soldiers had already fallen into complete disorder. If a force of elite Mongol cavalry were to strike them from the rear now, the Ming army would be doomed without a doubt. Baktu, seasoned by a hundred battles, instantly sensed his opportunity and decisively led the three thousand elite guards in a surprise attack from behind.

The sudden appearance of the three thousand Khorchin guards turned the whole battle on its head. The Great Ming army, already thoroughly scattered, could no longer form an effective defensive line. The small pockets of resistance put up by scattered Ming troops were as useless as a cup of water tossed onto a blazing cartload of firewood. They were quickly shattered under the charge of the Khorchin cavalry.

The Ming soldiers who had only moments before been pursuing the Tumed became the prey of Mongol riders in the blink of an eye. The Tumed, who had been fleeing in panic, now turned back to hunt the Ming. The Ming army collapsed like a landslide and fled westward in terror, hating only that their parents had not given them two more legs, for even then they could not run as fast as the beasts beneath four hooves.

Yan'e Sea, Ming camp.

Zhang Zian was still waiting in his command tent for news of the victorious advance when a little eunuch suddenly ran in, his face pale with panic, and cried miserably, "Father, something terrible has happened. Something very terrible."

"What happened?" Zhang Zian asked. "Do not panic. Speak slowly."

The eunuch answered and gasped, "Just now, your son saw outside the camp, saw..."

Zhang Zian frowned. "Saw what?"

The little eunuch steadied himself and said, "At first, our Great Ming army already had the advantage and was killing Mongols everywhere. But for some reason, several thousand Mongol cavalry suddenly came charging out from the east and in the blink of an eye slaughtered our Great Ming army to the point of utter defeat. Now our troops are being chased westward by Mongol horsemen, farther and farther from the Yan'e Sea camp, farther and farther from you, Father."

"Impossible. That is absolutely impossible!" Zhang Zian was stunned. "The prince consort never said there were Mongol cavalry at the Yan'e Sea. Did you see wrongly?"

"Father," the little eunuch said bitterly, "there can be no mistake. Perhaps we should hurry back to Datong. If we wait until the Mongols turn back and kill their way here, it will be too late to leave."

"Leave?" Zhang Zian's expression turned cold, and he said with a vicious snarl, "You want to leave?"

The little eunuch shuddered violently. He had already heard the killing intent in Zhang Zian's voice, and hurriedly replied, "Wherever Father is, your son will follow. Your son will not leave your side for even half a step."

"Pass down my military order!" Zhang Zian shrieked. "Tell the remaining two thousand men to hold the camp at all costs. They must wait for the prince consort to fight his way back!"

By now, Zhang Zian had no path of retreat left. Even if he could run, he no longer wanted to. What use would fleeing back be? Not only had he failed to secure the six hundred thousand taels of military pay, but he had also lost more than ten thousand border troops from the Datong garrison out here beyond the frontier. If he fled back like this, how could the emperor and the old ancestor ever spare him?

At this point, whether Zhang Zian was willing or not, Wang Pu had already become his lifeline. Only if Wang Pu returned and his army defeated the suddenly appearing Mongol cavalry would there still be a chance of turning the situation around. Only then could Zhang Zian slowly gather up his shattered troops and drive the Tumed cattle and sheep back to Datong.

If this battle was won, Zhang Zian would be safe. If it was lost, then all would be lost.

Just as Zhang Zian waited for Wang Pu to come save his life, Wang Pu himself was frantically occupied by something else.

That task was gathering the cattle, sheep, and horses the Tumed had abandoned along the way. The Tumed had fled in great haste and chaos, and naturally they could not take all their livestock with them. All along their retreat they had been leaving behind cattle, sheep, and horses, and Wang Pu and his four thousand cavalry followed behind collecting them.

He could do without the cattle and sheep, but not the horses. Horses were precious strategic resources.

Wang Pu's surprise raid on Guihua had two purposes. One was to train the troops, and the other was to seize the Mongols' horses.

But rounding up scattered horses was no easy matter. Horses are lively by nature and swift as the wind, unlike cattle and sheep, which move slowly and often remain in one place waiting for herders to drive them on. In order to gather the more than ten thousand horses abandoned along the route by the Tumed, Wang Pu's four thousand cavalry had to search everywhere and repeatedly block and encircle them, falling dozens of li behind.

Otherwise, before the three thousand Khorchin elite guards arrived, Wang Pu's four thousand cavalry should already have joined up with Zhang Zian.

When fleeing Ming soldiers suddenly appeared on the steppe ahead, Wang Pu had just gathered more than fifty horses beside a small river. At that moment, there were only more than eighty loyal retainers under his command led by Xiao Qi, together with one hundred men under Scarface, fewer than two hundred riders in all.

"General, look!" Lu Liu was the first to spot the Ming troops fleeing in panic, and shouted, "It looks like the Great Ming army!"

Wang Pu was shaken and quickly looked in the direction Lu Liu pointed. Sure enough, he saw a large number of Ming officers and soldiers racing for their lives from the front. Not far behind them, several dozen Mongol riders were in hot pursuit, drawing bows and loosing arrows as they rode. One after another, fleeing Ming soldiers screamed and fell into pools of blood.

Farther out on the steppe, still more Ming fugitives were running in every direction, and still more Mongol cavalry were pursuing them.

Scarface shouted, "General, it really is the Great Ming army!"

Zhen Youcai drew in a sharp breath and cried out, "It is the Datong border army. It looks like Eunuch Zhang has run into trouble!"

"General," Scarface asked urgently, "what do we do now?"

"Our brothers are scattered all over the steppe rounding up horses. If I give the order to withdraw now, we will end up like those fugitives, picked off one by one by the pursuing Mongols," Wang Pu said decisively. "We can only advance and attack. If we defeat the Mongol cavalry in front of us, there may still be a thread of hope!"

"General," Zhen Youcai said uneasily, "but we have fewer than two hundred cavalry in total, while the Mongol riders ahead of us look to number at least more than a thousand!"

"We can worry about that later," Wang Pu thundered. "Xiao Qi, raise the banner!"

"Yes!"

Xiao Qi answered with a booming shout, lifting the folded military banner high into the sky and shaking it with all his strength. The bloodstained standard unfurled in the wind at once. On the pure white field, the two dark red blotches of blood looked like a pair of enormous exclamation marks crossing each other, and under the blazing sun they reflected a blood-colored gleam that made the heart tremble.