Chapter 1 Datong General

  Dark clouds fill the sky.

  Under the dark sky, the fierce wind howls, and the grass and trees are withered.

  "Carry!"

  A dazzling flash of lightning cut across the sky, illuminating the earth.

  Wang Puqiang looked up at the sky with a solemn expression, his face more serious than ever before. This damned weather, is it really going to rain?

  "Hurry up and push the war chariot up."

  "Drive the iron stake firmly."

  "Stop slacking off, I'm talking to you, didn't eat lunch at noon?"

  Curses and shouts filled the air, Wang Puhui looked around, 20,000 Ming soldiers were tensely arrayed on the open plain, sturdy war chariots were pushed to the periphery, archers expressionlessly arranged arrows in their quivers, arquebusiers and cannoneers busily loaded lead bullets into the barrels, while row upon row of musketeers sat cross-legged on the ground with eyes closed, the air was filled with the tense atmosphere before a great battle.

  *sigh*...

  Suddenly, a loud neighing sound came from afar.

  Wang Pu suddenly turned his head back, and the dazzling lightning illuminated the earth again. In the distance, a lone horseman emerged from the barren mountain ridge like a ghost.

  The knight on horseback wore iron armor, with an iron helmet on his head. The iron armor and helmet were yellow in color, with bright red edges. On top of the helmet was a bundle of high-standing tassels, as red as blood. As soon as the knight raised the cavalry sword in his hand, thousands of cavalrymen emerged from behind him, all wearing yellow armor and bright red edges.

  "It's Jian Nu!"

  "The master is coming!"

  The Ming army's formation was filled with the sound of alarms, as archers, arquebusiers and cannoneers quickly formed up to prepare for battle. The long spear-wielding soldiers who had been resting on the ground also hastily got to their feet, forming up behind the chariots under the angry shouts of their commanders. The furious shouts of the commanders, the panting of the soldiers, and the clashing of weapons all blended together into a single cacophony, as an icy killing aura spread out like poisonous weeds.

  "Wooo..."

  A bugle call suddenly sounded from the distant mountain ridge.

  In the desolate and distant sound of the horn, the leading Jian Nu drew his horse knife forward, and the tens of thousands of Jian Nu cavalry behind him were like a burst dam, rolling forward.

  "Artillery ready."

  The Jinu cavalry came with a mighty force, but the Ming generals were unafraid.

  Just as the Janissary cavalry was about to enter the range of the cannons, the Ming soldiers were about to ignite the fuse when a sudden heavy rain mixed with hail poured down from the sky. The rain mercilessly drenched the fuse and also extinguished the fire in the hands of the Ming soldiers, rendering not only the powerful red barbarian cannon useless but also turning the firearms of the musketeers into mere firewood.

  Heaven won't help me, great Ming!

  What's worse, the dark sky and thick rain seriously affected the Ming army archers' field of vision. They couldn't see their commanders' gestures and could only fight on their own. The arrows they shot were also blocked by the wind and hail, which greatly weakened their killing power. As a result, they couldn't inflict any substantial damage on the Jinnu cavalry's solid iron armor.

  The heavens are trembling, the earth is quaking.

  In the midst of a thunderous iron hoof sound, tens of thousands of Jianzhou cavalry had already charged to the front of the Ming army formation. The cunning Jianzhou cavalry did not directly charge at the solid war chariot array but instead circled around the massive Ming army formation, continuously shooting arrows and spears to kill the Ming soldiers behind the war chariots. The Ming soldiers lacked iron armor protection and fell down row by row.

  "Hmm."

  In the midst of a shrill and piercing sound, an arrow shot through the throat of a Ming soldier. The soldier's frail body suddenly jerked to a halt before falling forward stiffly. Nearby, another tall and burly Ming soldier rushed forward with large strides, picked up the wounded comrade and tightly hugged him in his arms, shouting hoarsely: "Little Three, hold on! You must hold on!"

  Xiao San's eyes were dull and she would never be able to speak again.

  "Xiao San, don't die, you can't die!" Ming Jun frantically shook Xiao San's lifeless body and wailed loudly, "Mother told me to bring you back to Datong no matter what, waaaahhhh..."

  Xiao San's body gradually stiffened, and General Mingjun finally knew that he could no longer wake up his brother.

  "Kill a thousand swords, I'll fight you all to the death!"

  Ming Jun suddenly stood up, looked up at the sky and let out a long roar, then rushed forward several steps, jumped onto the war chariot, and from the war chariot pounced on the Jian Nu cavalry like a starving tiger, rushing past them.

  Expansion

  A loud crash, General Ming's horse had already collided heavily with Jian Nu's.

  The two men fell to the ground from horseback, heavily thudding on the earth. After falling, Jian Nu was motionless again. Before he even hit the ground, Ming Jun had bitten through his throat. Ming Jun sat up from Jian Nu's corpse, laughing maniacally towards the sky, with bright red blood flowing clearly on his white teeth, looking like a malevolent demon.

  "Humming."

  In the midst of the heavy breathing of war horses, another mounted soldier suddenly appeared from behind and struck the Ming army general with a ferocious blow of his wolf-toothed club, which weighed over 100 catties. The strong body of the Ming army general shook violently before falling straight down.

  After a fierce battle that lasted for half an hour, Jian Nu finally broke through the Ming army's chariot array, advancing into the formation from more than a dozen breaches at the same time, attempting to destroy the last resistance of the Ming army. The Ming army's long spear soldiers, who had been waiting in a tight formation, swarmed up, sacrificing their bodies to block the breaches. This was the Liao Xi Plain, and once the Ming army lost the protection of their chariot array, they would become lambs to be slaughtered by Jian Nu's cavalry at will.

  The war horses are neighing mournfully, the warriors are shouting angrily, and the entire battlefield is like boiling water, surging and rolling.

  Wang Pu sat astride a white horse, gazing indifferently at everything around him. He was not originally from this world, but an accident had brought him back to ancient times.

  Wang Pu graduated from a third-rate university six years ago.

  Because he couldn't find a job, Wang Pu became an idle and lazy rascal. Relying on his martial arts skills honed since childhood and his ruthless behavior, Wang Pu quickly made a name for himself in the underworld and established his own territory.

  It all started three days ago.

  Three days ago, Wang Pu led his brother and another group of thugs to fight, as a result, he was hit on the head with an iron rod and knew nothing.

  When Wang Pu woke up again, he found himself lying on a lush green grassland, surrounded by a group of soldiers wearing ancient armor, who were surrounding him like stars and moons. Wang Pu almost thought he had gone to heaven.

  It wasn't until later that Wang Pu realized he had died in his original world, but his soul had crossed over to the year 1641 of the Ming dynasty and possessed the body of an ancient person who may have just died.

  That ancient person also had the surname Wang, and his name was homophonous with Pu's. His name was Wang Pu.

  Wang Pu, 24 years old, General of Datong Town, Great Ming Empire.

  If everyone thinks that Wang Pu is a brave and fierce general who rose to the rank of General through his military exploits, then they are greatly mistaken. In fact, Wang Pu's position as General was bought with money, and he is actually a cowardly and timid young master.

  Wang Pu's father Wang Dayou was the richest man in Shanxi, because the Wang family had money but no power and suffered losses from the government, so he spent a lot of money to buy his second son Wang Hua a position as the governor of Datong Prefecture, and also bought his third son Wang Pu a position as the commander of Datong Town.

  Who would have thought that this Wang Xu actually has a bit of good luck.

  Three years ago, in the autumn of Chongzhen 11th year (1638), Wang Pu had just been appointed as a touring general for a few days when Dorgon, the Prince Rui of Qing, led 100,000 Qing soldiers into the pass and looted extensively. Emperor Chongzhen ordered the garrisons of the nine borders to advance to Beijing to defend the capital, and Wang Pu, although afraid of death, had no choice but to follow Lu Xiangsheng, the then commander-in-chief of the three borders, to go to the capital.

  In the Battle of Julu, Lu Xiangsheng died on the battlefield. Wang Pu, who was hiding in a ditch and escaped with his life by chance, gained the reputation of being "brave and good at fighting" because he picked up a few Manchu queues. The officials of the imperial court recommended him one after another, and Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed and promoted Wang Pu from the commander of Datong to the general of Datong Town with a stroke of his pen.

  Two months ago, Liaodong was in a state of emergency, and Emperor Chongzhen urgently summoned the three town battalions of Datong, Miyun, and Xuanfu to rush to its aid.

  Three days ago, Wang Pu led a large army of 20,000 men to Lian Mountain when a fierce tiger suddenly emerged from the thistle bushes beside the official road, injuring several people. Wang Pu's horse was also frightened and galloped wildly, eventually throwing both the rider and the horse off the cliff. Wang Pu died but came back to life, only that the revived Wang Pu was no longer the original Wang Pu.

  That's it, this is the whole process of Wang Pu coming to this world.

  As for the fierce battle before our eyes, it was King Wu who led the army to advance on Songshan and encountered a surprise attack by a large group of Jianlu cavalry. Due to the weather conditions, the Ming army's firearms were unable to exert their power, and the situation had become precarious.

  "General!"

  The shrill voice pulled Wang Pu's thoughts back to reality.

  Wang Pu lowered his head and Deputy General Zhao Muzhu had stumbled to the front of his horse, saying: "The brothers can't hold on anymore."

  "We can't hold on but we must." Wang Pu said coldly, "Tell our brothers, if they want to survive, they have to fight with their lives!"

  "Yes."

  Zhao Wu Zhuo responded loudly and turned away.

  It was unknown when the wind stopped, the rain stopped, and the dark clouds in the sky dispersed. Wang Pu looked around and saw that all around him were JinNu cavalrymen wearing bright yellow armor, launching a frenzied attack on the Ming army from more than a dozen weak points. Although the Ming soldiers fought back desperately, they continued to retreat, and it seemed that they would soon be unable to hold their ground.

  "General, let's break through quickly." Qīn Xìn Jiā led Little Seven to ride forward on horseback and said loudly, "If we wait for the enemy to breach our outer defenses, it will be too late."

  "Nonsense!" Wang Pu shouted sternly, "Now all the brothers are relying on their last breath to hold on. If we order a breakthrough at this time, the brothers' last breath will be exhausted, and the army will collapse like a mountain."

  Xiao Qi said: "If things go on like this, it will be a dead end."

  "Don't worry, just wait a bit longer." Wang Pu's gaze passed over the Jianlu cavalry and looked towards the distant mountain valley, saying, "Our reinforcements should be arriving soon."

  The front is not far from Songshan Castle, and a battle of this scale cannot be hidden from the Ming army's scouts. The governor of Songshan, Hong Chengchou, must have received the news, and as long as he holds on for a moment, there will definitely be a large army coming to support him.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, before long, the clarion call of the Ming army sounded in the distance.

  In the midst of the endless horn sounds, the dark and dense Ming army had already charged out from behind the mountain ridge in the north. Charging at the forefront were thousands of Ming iron cavalrymen, their galloping hooves trampling on the muddy ground, splashing up mud all over the sky, the thunderous sound of the iron hooves surging and rolling between heaven and earth, deafening to the ears. The Ming army officers and soldiers who were fleeing for their lives and the Jian slaves simultaneously looked northward with raised heads.

  "Reinforcements!"

  "It is the reinforcement of our Great Ming!"

  "Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived, kill them, wipe out these damned Janissaries!"

  The arrival of the reinforcements greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army, and the defensive line that was on the verge of collapse became as solid as a rock again. In some places, the Ming army even launched counterattacks, forcing the Jianzhou cavalry to retreat. Knowing that they could no longer gain any advantage by continuing to fight, the Jianzhou troops quickly began to withdraw. By the time the vanguard of the Ming army's iron cavalry arrived on the battlefield, the last of the Jianzhou cavalry had already crossed over the mountain ridge to the south.

  "PS: Brothers, new book uploaded, need recommendation votes support, thank you."