12: Chapter 12: A lone rider charges into a three-thousand-strong army!
General Chen Heng clearly saw them too; he slowly urged his warhorse forward a few paces, his halberd pointing from afar at Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, his voice booming like a bell.
"Who goes there! State your name!"
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong did not answer, merely raising his hand to slowly remove his helmet.
The morning sunlight shone upon his young and handsome face, and his blood-stained dark armor made him look like an Asura returned from hell.
The moment he saw Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's face, although he had been mentally prepared, General Chen Heng's pupils constricted sharply; he took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "So it is the Third Imperial Prince.
Your Highness is not studying in the Eastern Palace, yet you are clad in armor, wielding a deadly weapon, and leading rebels to storm the palace; do you intend to imitate Li Er of the Tang Dynasty and carry out the Xuanwu Gate incident?"
"General Chen Heng." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's gaze bypassed the layers of Imperial Guards and locked directly onto General Chen Heng, stating bluntly, "You are a smart man; you should know what I want to do."
"I will give you one chance."
"Lay down your weapons now and open the path, and I can spare your life."
Hearing this, General Chen Heng scoffed; he raised his halberd and slammed it down with a loud crash, then looked at Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong with pity and said, "Your Highness, you are still too young."
"Do you think that relying on General Lan Yu and these few hundred desperadoes is enough to overthrow the Great Ming dynasty?"
"Stop dreaming!"
General Chen Heng continued, his voice suddenly becoming stern, "I eat the Emperor's salary and must be loyal to the Emperor's affairs! The Emperor has treated me with immense kindness; even if I die in battle here, I will never retreat a single step!"
"Your Highness, turn back! Go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum now to beg for the Emperor's forgiveness; perhaps you can still save your life. If you remain obsessed and unrepentant..."
He slowly raised the halberd in his hand.
"Kill without mercy!"
Three thousand Imperial Guards roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.
"Kill!"
An aura of grim slaughter rushed toward them.
General Lan Yu's face was ashen, and the veins on his hand gripping his blade bulged. It seemed this battle was unavoidable.
"Your Highness, I am willing to serve as the vanguard!" He stepped forward abruptly, requesting the command.
"There is no need."
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong stopped General Lan Yu and put his helmet back on, "Great Uncle, you take the men and charge from the flanks."
"Leave the rest to me."
General Lan Yu was stunned, "Your Highness, what... what did you say?"
A single person, directly charging a three-thousand-man military formation?
Is he crazy!
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong did not explain; he squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and the warhorse he had pulled from the Armory let out a whinny and reared up.
The long blade in his hand pointed from afar at General Chen Heng opposite him.
"General Chen Heng, you are a loyal subject, but unfortunately, you are stubborn. Today, I will personally send you on your way!"
The moment his words fell, he moved.
No probing, no maneuvering, just the simplest, most direct, and most violent charge!
One man, one horse, one blade.
Like an arrow released from a string, he charged toward the three-thousand-man formation without hesitation.
That lonely and resolute figure was magnified infinitely in the eyes of the three thousand Imperial Guards.
Everyone was stunned by this scene.
Including General Chen Heng.
He had imagined countless possibilities, whether General Lan Yu leading the charge or the enemy harassing them with arrows, but he never expected that the seemingly delicate Imperial Grandson would choose this kind of suicidal attack.
"Courting death!"
General Chen Heng recovered from his shock, a hideous rage appearing on his face.
This was the greatest humiliation to himself and the three thousand Imperial Guards!
"Archers! Fire!" He roared.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Hundreds of arrows, carrying sharp whistling sounds, covered the sky like a black cloud, raining down upon that lone rider.
Under the rain of arrows, all beings are equal.
General Lan Yu's heart instantly jumped into his throat, and he almost subconsciously roared, "Your Highness, be careful!"
However, the scene that followed let everyone present, including General Lan Yu, see what true unreasonableness meant.
Facing the rain of arrows that could turn an elephant into a hedgehog, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong not only did not slow down but instead let out an earth-shattering roar.
"Roar!"
The blood in his body boiled completely at this moment, and that violent power hidden deep within his bloodline erupted without reservation!
The long blade in his hand was swung by him into an airtight silver wheel of light.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
A series of dense metallic clashing sounds rang out; those sharp arrows capable of piercing armor were all knocked away or severed by him!
Sparks flew everywhere!
He just like that, braving the rain of arrows, forcibly broke through the blockade!
The warhorse's speed did not slow down in the slightest!
"This... this motherfucker..." General Lan Yu watched until his eyeballs were about to fall out, his mouth open wide enough to fit a fist.
Opposite him, General Chen Heng was so shocked he almost fell off his horse.
A monster!
Before he could react from the shock, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong had already charged to the front of the military formation.
"Stop him!" General Chen Heng roared hoarsely.
The dozens of shield bearers in the front row roared as they slammed their heavy tower shields onto the ground, forming a wall of steel.
Behind the shields, countless long spears poked out, forming a forest of death.
Ordinary cavalry, facing such a shield wall and forest of spears, had no other possibility but to be skewered like candied haws.
But Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong was no ordinary cavalryman.
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong used the momentum, leaped from the horse's back like a roc spreading its wings, jumped directly over the forest of spears in the front row, and landed inside the formation!
Like a tiger entering a flock of sheep!
"Kill!"
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong landed, gave a violent shout, and swept his long blade horizontally; the three spearmen blocking his path, along with their spears, were cut in half at the waist!
With a vertical slash, an officer attempting a sneak attack was split in two, helmet and head alike!
He was like a human meat grinder; wherever he passed, severed limbs flew, and the scene was a bloody mess.
Those well-trained Imperial Guards were no different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered before him.
Their blades struck Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's armor, only sparking, while Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's blade took several lives with every swing.
General Chen Heng's eyes were splitting with rage; no, he couldn't let him keep killing like this, or the formation would fall into chaos!
He squeezed his horse's belly, raised his halberd, and charged toward Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong.
"Pay with your life!"
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong seemed to sense his killing intent; he kicked away a corpse in front of him, turned around, and those eyes exposed through the gaps in his helmet locked tightly onto the charging General Chen Heng.
"Well come!"
General Chen Heng's martial arts were top-tier in the army. The halberd in his hand danced, whistling with wind.
"Clang!"
The halberd and the long blade collided fiercely in mid-air.
With a deafening boom, General Chen Heng felt a massive force come from the halberd, shaking his tiger's mouth until it split, his arms going numb, almost unable to even hold his weapon.
The warhorse beneath him let out a mournful cry, its four legs softened, and it was actually pressed to its knees by this recoil force.
How is that possible!
General Chen Heng's eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
His full-force strike was actually received by the opponent so nonchalantly?
Before he could make his next move, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's second slash had already arrived.
General Chen Heng only had time to hold his halberd horizontally across his chest to block.
"Crack!"
A crisp sound rang out.
The halberd shaft, made of fine steel, was actually cut in two by Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's blade!
The cold blade, without the slightest hesitation, carried an unstoppable momentum, sliced through General Chen Heng's armor, and embedded itself deep into his chest.
General Chen Heng's movements froze.
He looked down at the wound on his chest, deep enough to see the bone, and the long blade stuck in the wound, his face full of bewilderment.
"Im... Impossible..." He murmured.
Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong was expressionless as he slowly withdrew his long blade; General Chen Heng's body swayed twice, rolled off the kneeling horse, and fell heavily to the ground.
The Commander of the Imperial Guards, the strongest shield of the Great Ming imperial city, General Chen Heng, was dead.
"General Chen Heng is dead!"
"Surrender and you shall not be killed!"