Chapter 33

Just as Li Dingguo led the last few thousand men under Zhang Xianzhong to make their final effort, Ai Nengqi also led a thousand men in a desperate retreat to Zhang Xianzhong.

Seeing Ai Nengqi, who almost fell off his horse, with his helmet askew and armor disheveled, Zhang Xianzhong was furious. Without a word, he lashed him with a whip and shouted, "You good-for-nothing! You can't even defeat a few hundred of the enemy with over three thousand men. Do you still have the nerve to come back!"

"Great King, this isn't my fault. That Ming army is too damn strange. It's not that my men didn't try, but we couldn't break through their armor. No one wants to die in vain, so we had to retreat," Ai Nengqi, who had been whipped several times, felt deeply wronged. This Ming army was too difficult to deal with; their armor was too strong. He had lost most of his men, but hadn't even scratched the enemy.

In fact, Zhang Xianzhong had seen the battle clearly and knew that he couldn't blame Ai Nengqi entirely. Facing such an "invulnerable" army, he wouldn't have fared much better. After lashing Ai Nengqi twice, Zhang Xianzhong stopped and said angrily, "Alright, quickly reorganize your men. Once Sun Laoer comes down, we'll retreat immediately!"

"What? Retreat? We're not attacking Yingzhou anymore?" Ai Nengqi was shocked. "Great King, how will we explain this to the Rebel King if we retreat now?"

"Explain what?" Zhang Xianzhong roared. "Can't you see the situation? If we can't take Yingzhou, the worst we'll get is a scolding from the Rebel King. But if we lose everything here, we'll have nothing left. Do you understand?"

Ai Nengqi, who had been momentarily stunned, immediately realized the urgency of the situation. Not taking Yingzhou was just a temporary setback, but if they lost all their men out of pride, that would be truly foolish. Understanding this, Ai Nengqi immediately began to reorganize the retreating troops and prepare to flee.

"Woo woo woo..."

The mournful sound of the horn echoed on the battlefield. The bandits who were desperately attacking Yingzhou began to retreat in chaos. This allowed the soldiers on the city walls, who had been fighting hard, to breathe a sigh of relief. Many immediately collapsed on the ground, unable to move, and some were so happy that they wept with joy.

"Woo woo... We're saved! We don't have to die!"

"Great! The bandits have been repelled, and the reinforcements have finally arrived!"

More soldiers, excited, rushed to the battlements to cheer as the bandits retreated like a defeated army.

As a standard bandit, Zhang Zizhong had his own unique insights into observing the battlefield and fleeing. When he saw Ai Nengqi, who was leading a group of men in strange armor, defeated in less than two hours, he realized that this Ming army was not something his men, mostly armed with hoes and wooden clubs, could handle.

Thus, he naturally decided to retreat. For a bandit, taking advantage of opportunities and fleeing when they couldn't win was a normal thing. Pride was as worthless to Zhang Xianzhong as the dirt used to wipe his bottom.

Li Dingguo, who was loyal to Zhang Xianzhong, knew about his leader's retreat. However, he didn't become disheartened; instead, he worked even harder to command his bandits to attack Yueyang's army. Unfortunately, Li Dingguo forgot one thing: not everyone had his level of determination. The bandits, already terrified by the fully armored Ming soldiers, saw their own men retreating and immediately turned around and ran.

Seeing the bandits start to flee, Yueyang did not order a pursuit but instead commanded his troops to stop advancing and reorganize, counting the casualties.

"Master, let's quickly chase them down and kill all the bandits!" Shunbao, who had appeared from somewhere, eagerly requested to lead the pursuit.

"Chase what? Do you think you can catch them?" Yueyang glared at Shunbao, though the fully armored soldiers had the upper hand in the battle, the bandits' crude weapons were no threat to them. However, the invincibility came at a cost; the forty-pound armor made it impossible for the soldiers to run as fast as the bandits.

Looking up at the still smoking city walls of Yingzhou, Yueyang smiled slightly and turned to his men, shouting, "All of you, form up in marching order and follow me into the city!"

"Yes!"

When Yueyang led his troops to the gates of Yingzhou, the previously closed city gates were wide open. Zheng Fakui, along with Wang Shoucheng, Li Yuan, Lin Yuanteng, and other officials, came out to welcome them. Yueyang, who had removed his helmet and face mask, walked at the front of the formation and soon met Zheng Fakui.

As soon as they met, Zheng Fakui lowered his posture, clasping his hands and saying, "Master Yue, on behalf of the scholars and gentry of Yingzhou, I thank you for your rescue. Please accept my gratitude!"

Although victorious, Yueyang remained clear-headed and quickly stepped forward to support Zheng Fakui, "Oh, Sir Zheng, you are too kind. You are the father and mother of this state. How can I bear such a gesture! Besides, it is my duty to come to your aid, and I dare not accept such a great honor!"

"Ah, it is your duty. Today, Master Yue has saved tens of thousands of people in Yingzhou. No matter how I thank you, it is not too much. Now that the bandits have fled, please enter the city, Master Yue!"

"Would I dare refuse? Sir, please lead the way!" Yueyang made a gesture, inviting Zheng Fakui to go first.

Although Zheng Fakui spoke so politely, he was secretly observing Yueyang's reaction. When he saw that Yueyang remained humble and cautious despite his rescue efforts, he nodded inwardly, realizing that he had underestimated this scholar from Wulizhai.

When Yueyang led his troops into the city, the people of Yingzhou, who had learned that the bandits had retreated, spontaneously took to the streets to welcome the troops who had saved their lives. When they saw the fully armored soldiers, with only their eyes visible, they all marveled.

"Heaven! Is this the militia from Wulizhai? What is their armor made of, that it shines so brightly?"

"Idiot, those armors are definitely made of fine steel. I've been a blacksmith all my life, and I wouldn't be wrong about this," said a blacksmith.

"Really? All made of fine steel? How much good steel would that take for so many armors!" The people around were shocked. Steel was a rare commodity in this era, and the saying "a hundred refinements make steel" was not an exaggeration. A weapon made of steel was considered a divine weapon, and using fine steel to make armor was a wasteful act that people had never seen before.

"Wasteful, too wasteful! The Yue family must be incredibly wealthy!" This was the first impression people had of Yueyang's troops.

This was Yueyang's second visit to Yingzhou, but the treatment he received this time was vastly different from his first visit a few months ago. The first time, Yueyang, along with Shunbao, Hu Laosan, and a dozen servants, had waited for hours outside the governor's office and were even looked down upon by the gatekeeper. Inside, he was threatened and intimidated. Today, he came as a savior with five hundred soldiers and was welcomed by the entire city. The difference was like night and day, just as the old saying goes, "Thirty years on this side of the river, thirty years on the other."

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