MLMD -Chapter 86 Desperate Dodo

“Quick—speed up! If anything happens to my son-in-law, I won’t let them get away with it!”

On the vast grasslands, a cavalry force clad in furs and armor of all kinds was galloping across the prairie. The formation was rather chaotic—every sort of attire could be seen, and their weapons were equally varied. The force numbered roughly three to four thousand men. Trailing behind them was another cavalry unit, all wearing white armor. This second unit was much smaller, only about a thousand strong. These were the hastily arriving forces of Zaisang, Hailanzhu, and Dorgon.

At this moment, Hailanzhu was riding a white horse. Her pretty face was drawn tight with worry, and from time to time she lashed her riding crop against the horse’s flank, forcing it to go faster. Close behind her followed Zaisang and Dayu’er.

“Sister, slow down—wait for me and Father!”

It had been a long time since Dayu’er had ridden at such speed. She clutched the reins with both hands, not daring to relax or make any unnecessary movement. Having grown up on the grasslands, she knew all too well that in a mass cavalry charge like this, if anyone fell from their horse, the consequences would be terrifying—calling it a nine-out-of-ten chance of death would not be an exaggeration. All she could do was cling low to her horse’s back and shout desperately, hoping that Hailanzhu, racing ahead, would slow down.

After this stretch of wild galloping, Hailanzhu gradually calmed herself and began to ease her pace. Only then did Zaisang and Dayu’er seize the chance to spur their horses forward and draw up alongside her.

“S-sister, don’t worry. Dodo didn’t take many men with him. With Brother-in-law’s abilities, Dodo surely won’t gain any advantage. And although Dodo has a bad temper, he should still know what’s important. He probably just wants to make things difficult for Brother-in-law—he wouldn’t really dare do anything serious!” Dayu’er, long accustomed to a life of comfort, was now gasping for breath, her words coming out in broken fragments.

“Bang! Bang! Bang…”

Before her words had even finished, a dull volley of musket fire echoed from ahead.

“Oh no—they’ve already started fighting!” Even Dayu’er’s face changed color now. Once shots had been fired, the nature of the situation had completely changed. Before, it might have been written off as Dodo acting out of anger or immaturity. But once weapons were used, this was no longer something a simple misunderstanding could excuse.

Yet unlike Dayu’er, whose face had gone pale, Hailanzhu visibly relaxed upon hearing the gunfire. She could tell that the distant musket shots were orderly and disciplined, without the slightest hint of chaos. Clearly, the side firing was not at a disadvantage. And since the Later Jin had not yet formed firearms units, that meant the ones shooting could only be Yue Yang’s men.

Hailanzhu could realize this, and naturally Dorgon, following behind her, realized it too. Dorgon was both anxious and furious. What should have been a peaceful trip home to visit family had turned into this mess because of Dodo’s sudden madness. Now all he could hope was that the two sides hadn’t truly gone all out—otherwise, it would be impossible to clean up the aftermath.

Unfortunately, heaven did not favor Dorgon that day. When he spurred his horse desperately and reached the battlefield, the sight before him left him stunned.

On the grassland about a li away, two forces were locked in a savage fight. One wore white armor, the other silver-gray. Dorgon didn’t even need to look closely to know that the white-armored troops were his own Plain White Banner. The other force, however, was strange.

Despite the distance, Dorgon could clearly see that every one of them wore a full suit of gray armor unlike anything he had ever seen before. This force was divided into infantry and cavalry. Their cavalry—nearly a thousand strong—had surrounded a unit of just over a hundred Jurchen heavy horsemen and were attacking them relentlessly. Meanwhile, another formation of about a thousand infantrymen had formed a massive square, repeatedly bombarding a group of dismounted Jurchen warriors with muskets, layers of white smoke hanging thickly over their heads.

Dorgon could see it clearly: although the Jurchen warriors were desperately charging forward on foot, the distance was simply too great—they could never reach the square. With every volley of gunfire, another group of Jurchen warriors fell into pools of blood. What made Dorgon’s eyes split with rage was that within the surrounded cavalry unit stood a massive brocade dragon banner, symbolizing Dodo’s status. It was already swaying, on the verge of collapse. And that meant that once this banner fell, Dodo’s chances of survival would be slim indeed.

Dorgon’s mind went blank with a thunderous roar. Without thinking further, he shouted at a Jalan ejen behind him, “Akedun! Take five hundred men immediately and rescue Prince Dodo! If anything happens to Prince Dodo, I’ll take your dog head!”

“Yes, sir!”

That Jalan ejen had already seen that their forces were teetering on the brink under the attack of the numerically superior Ming cavalry. Without another word, he led five hundred men charging straight toward the location of the great banner.

Leaving aside the mixed emotions of the others, Dodo himself was now locked in a desperate struggle. He never imagined that what was meant to be a simple lesson for a Ming merchant would turn into a fight for his very life.

As a prince, Dodo’s standards were undoubtedly high. That very morning, when he accompanied his secondary consort into the great tent and first laid eyes on Hailanzhu, all his attention had been stolen by her. Her open, graceful bearing and peerless beauty conquered his heart in an instant. At that moment, Dodo swore that he would make this unparalleled beauty his own, even if it meant falling out with Zaisang and Dayu’er—and even taking troops on his own authority to teach a lesson to that presumptuous Ming merchant who dared, like a toad lusting after a swan, to reach beyond his station.

But the outcome was far beyond his expectations. That Ming merchant had a well-equipped army at his side, and his infantry was armed with a terrifying kind of musket. These weapons had an astonishing range of three hundred paces, an extremely low misfire rate, and a rate of fire fast enough to inspire despair. Dodo had seen with his own eyes how brave Later Jin warriors—men who had trained for years in the arts of killing—never even had the chance to display their skills before falling in hopeless heaps amid the rolling volleys. For Dodo, long accustomed to killing enemies with powerful bows, heavy crossbows, and cold steel, this was nothing short of world-shattering.

“Am I going to die here today?” Surrounded by dense ranks of Ming cavalry, a flicker of despair crossed Dodo’s eyes.

“Prince, we can’t hold on any longer! This servant will lead the men in one final charge against the Ming dogs—please take this chance to break out!” A battalion commander, his back bearing a two-foot-long banner pole, a black tassel on his helmet, and his body soaked in blood, rushed to Dodo’s side and shouted.

“Break out? Can I still break out?” Dodo gave a bitter smile as he looked at the dense ranks of Ming cavalry around him. Though only nineteen, he was no novice on the battlefield. He had fewer than a hundred riders left, surrounded by nearly ten times their number. Without reinforcements, even with wings he couldn’t escape. Rather than be captured alive by the Ming, it was better to die gloriously in battle—at least that way he wouldn’t disgrace the Aisin Gioro clan.

Dodo drew the long blade from his waist and said with a bitter smile to the loyal subordinate who had served him for many years, “Enough. Among us Jurchens, there are only warriors who die in battle—no princes who are captured. As a descendant of the Aisin Gioro, I absolutely cannot fall into the hands of the Han dogs. Achang’a—when the Ming dogs charge in later, remember to give me a blade. Do you understand?”

Seeing Dodo’s youthful face and resolute expression, Achang’a suddenly broke down in tears. He fell to the ground, crying and begging, “Prince, please listen to this servant—fight your way out with me! I’ll stake my life to escort you to safety!”

“It’s useless, Achang’a. Ming dogs are everywhere—we can’t break out.” At the brink of life and death, Dodo clenched his teeth and added, “It’s all because of that damned woman. If it weren’t for her, how would I have ended up like this? The ancients said beauty brings disaster—so it’s true after all!” One had to admit, some people’s thinking was truly bizarre—he had already shifted all his hatred onto a woman.

At that moment, Achang’a noticed that the gunfire in the distance, which had been sounding off repeatedly, was gradually dying down. His heart sank even further. He knew that Gerutu’s unit was finished—three hundred Jurchen warriors had been completely wiped out by the Ming.

“Is it finally our turn?” A surge of unwillingness rose in Achang’a’s heart. His eyes instinctively turned eastward—and suddenly his expression froze. Then a blaze of excitement erupted in his eyes. Pointing forward at the figures emerging in the distance, he shouted, “Prince! We’re saved—we’re saved! The Fourteenth Prince has brought men to rescue us!”

“Woooo—wooooo…”

From afar came the low, muffled sound of horns, followed by the distant thunder of urgent hoofbeats. Not only Akedun, but even Yue Yang—who was directing the encirclement of Dodo—heard it.

Yue Yang quickly raised his binoculars. A three-pronged dragon banner appeared in his view, topped with a silver finial shaped like blazing flames, with two centipede banners behind it. Anyone familiar with Later Jin institutions would know at a glance that this was a banner reserved only for a banner lord. But Comrade Yue Yang, of course, knew none of that—he only knew that the newcomers were definitely enemies.

“Shunbao… Shunbao… damn it, where the hell has that brat run off to?!”

Yue Yang shouted twice with no response, then remembered that Shunbao had already gone ahead to command the troops cleaning up the battlefield.

There was no time to worry about that. Yue Yang immediately ordered the bugler at his side to sound the call, commanding the troops to stop clearing the battlefield and prepare to reform their positions.

“Di-da, di-da, di-da…”

A sharp series of trumpet blasts echoed across the battlefield. The infantry who had been cleaning up paused in confusion for a moment, then, under the shouted orders of officers at every level, quickly re-formed into a massive square—ready to plunge back into slaughter once more.