Heavenly Soldiers Descend

……Soon, after a few more casual remarks, Qin Ning then left with Zhu Di, stepping through the portal leading to the Hongwu Era.

“Whew!”

A feeling of weightlessness struck, but it didn’t last long.

When vision returned, Qin Ning and Zhu Di found themselves in a research base outside Yingtian City in the Hongwu Era.

“Hongwu!”

“Mighty!”

“Hongwu!”

“Mighty!”

As soon as they appeared, these booming chants reached their ears.

Zhu Yuanzhang had assembled the army and was making final preparations before departure.

The Hongwu Era had fielded a total of fifty thousand troops: twenty thousand riflemen, and the remaining thirty thousand armed with self-forged percussion muskets, equipped with explosives, plus over a dozen mortars provided by later generations. Such a lineup could only be described as a dimensional strike.

But beyond that, Qin Ning hadn’t expected that Qin Shi Huang and Li Shimin had also each sent ten thousand men as reinforcements, bearing the banners of Great Qin and Great Tang respectively. Their weapons were also uniform percussion muskets.

Ten thousand from Tang, ten thousand from Qin, plus Hongwu’s fifty thousand—a total of seventy thousand men.

Seventy thousand heading to Tumu Fortress; to be honest, the numbers were still a bit lacking.

But the difference was that the weapons and equipment of these seventy thousand were clearly too advanced. Even against an army two or three times larger, they could crush them with ease.

“Master, seventy thousand men in total—should be enough, right?” Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shimin, and Qin Shi Huang approached together.

“It’s enough.”

Qin Ning nodded, then smiled, “Even if it’s not, we still have Old Fourth Zhu. He’s obtained true divine weapons from the later generations.”

“Oh? What kind of divine weapons are they?” Li Shimin asked curiously.

When they had last discussed heading to the Orthodox Era to rescue Tumu Fortress, they had learned of this from Qin Ning, but then he had been mysterious and hadn’t told them exactly what it was.

“You’ll know when you get there.” Qin Ning smiled, still not explaining, which left Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Qin Shi Huang itching with curiosity.

“Rest assured, Father. This time, watch me show you a good one.” Zhu Di held his head high, speaking with pride.

“Let’s go. Time to set out.”

At that moment, Qin Ning stepped forward.

“Master, you haven’t set up the portal to the Orthodox Era yet.” Zhu Yuanzhang spotted the oversight.

“No matter. A secondary realm portal is nothing—I can conjure it easily.”

Saying this, he walked to the center of an open area, produced spirit stones, and waved his hand.

In the next instant, a massive portal appeared out of thin air in the clearing.

“Let’s move.”

With Qin Ning’s command, the army marched in an orderly fashion through the portal.

“This place… feels familiar, but it’s not Tumu Fortress.”

On the other side of the portal, Qin Ning, Zhu Yuanzhang, and the others led the way at the front of the seventy-thousand-strong army, emerging onto a plain.

Zhu Di glanced at the surrounding environment and continued, “I think this looks like the outskirts of the capital. Master, did we go to the wrong place?”

“Uh……”

Hearing this, Qin Ning paused, then counted on his fingers. “Ahem… seems we did go wrong. This is indeed the outskirts of the capital.”

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang grew anxious. “Master, the capital is so far from Tumu Fortress. By the time our seventy-thousand army gets there, those five hundred thousand soldiers will…”

“Don’t worry, there’s time.”

Qin Ning smiled, unconcerned.

With that, he waved his hand. In an instant, an invisible force enveloped everyone.

The seventy-thousand troops rose into the air, like celestial soldiers, a swarming dark cloud pressing forward, swiftly flying toward Tumu Fortress.

The army stirred with murmurs.

These seventy thousand men felt that everything they had experienced that day was nothing short of miraculous.

First, they had crossed into another dynasty, and now they were actually flying in the sky.

……

Meanwhile.

Tumu Fortress.

Within the Ming army camp.

Emperor Zhu Qizhen, along with a group of ministers, had gathered in an open area, urgently discussing a strategy to repel the enemy.

“Report!”

Just then, a dusty soldier ran over quickly, “Your Majesty, we dug three feet deep and found no water.”

Hearing this, everyone present frowned deeply.

Fan Zhong said, “Your Majesty, the army has been cut off from water for several days. Moreover, Tumu Fortress sits on high ground; digging for water was always wishful thinking, as I pointed out earlier. Now the army lacks water, surrounded by the Oirats, and morale is low. I believe the eunuch Wang Zhen should be beheaded as a sacrifice to the flag to boost morale, and we should seize the chance to break out—that is the best course!”

“Fan Zhong, how dare you! Calling me a traitor!” Wang Zhen, the eunuch beside Zhu Qizhen, fumed.

But Fan Zhong drew his sword directly, “It’s because of you, this eunuch, who understands nothing and misdirected the army, that His Majesty and we are trapped here. If I don’t kill you, it’s hard to quell the anger!”

“Your Majesty!” Wang Zhen cowered next to Zhu Qizhen, knowing full well that Fan Zhong would not show mercy at this point.

“Enough!”

Zhu Qizhen sneered. “Fan Zhong, how dare you brandish a sword before me? Sheathe it this instant!”

Hearing this, Fan Zhong, no matter how great his anger, dared not defy, and could only throw his weapon to the ground in frustration.

“Report!”

Another soldier rushed over.

“Your Majesty, it’s bad! The Oirat cavalry is mounting up; it seems a full-scale assault is imminent.”

At these words, everyone present turned pale.

Given the current state of the Ming army, if battle actually broke out, they couldn’t possibly withstand the Oirat cavalry charge.

“Come!” Fan Zhong took a deep breath. “Escort the emperor to safety. The rest of you, follow me to fight to the death. Sound the war drums!”

Meanwhile, outside the camp, the Oirat cavalry was closing in.

Watching the dark tide of cavalry charging toward them, despair crept across the faces of all soldiers. Parched and weak, morale had plummeted, their combat power slashed severely—yet they still gripped their weapons tightly, vowing to fight to the last breath!

Esen charged at the front, shouting arrogantly, “All of you, lay down your arms and hand over your young emperor. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?”

Before the words faded, a thunderous roar echoed from the distant sky, like a divine voice, ringing clearly across a hundred miles.

Dark clouds pressed down.

All eyes immediately turned upward.

And then they saw that those so-called dark clouds were actually figures—like heavenly soldiers descending upon the mortal world.