The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 527

"Brothers, charge!"

At Anda's command, the Mongols charged out on horseback in an instant, but before they had gone far, the Mongol cavalrymen in front were tripped by the tripwires and fell over in a series of crashes.

"out!"

Zhou Chu gave the order.

As soon as Zhou Chu gave the order, tens of thousands of garrison soldiers who had been hiding in the residences rushed out and surrounded the Mongols in front of them almost instantly.

When Anda saw this, he was dumbfounded.

"Fell into a trap!"

At this moment, Anda finally realized what was happening, and his expression changed.

"withdraw!"

"Anda roared."

By the time Anda gave the order, it was too late. Yun Jin had already led the Xuanwu Army to block the city gate. Each Xuanwu soldier held a flintlock pistol, ready to riddle any Mongols who came out.

"Zhou Chu! You tricked me!"

Anda roared, and upon seeing the Xuanwu Army outside the city gate, he instantly understood everything; he had been completely outmaneuvered.

"Scheme? If you didn't intend to kill me, how could I have schemed against you? To put it bluntly, it's your insatiable greed. You ran away in the first place, why did you turn back?"

Zhou Chu, riding his black horse, looked at Anda and sneered.

These words left Anda speechless.

"Kill them all, leaving no one alive."

Zhou Chu said coldly.

After saying this, Zhou Chu ignored Anda and rode his horse to the rear of the army to prevent the Mongols from shooting arrows at him.

At this moment, the Mongols were surrounded from both sides, completely losing any room to maneuver. The garrison soldiers in front of them were holding shields to block their way, and the Xuanwu Army behind them were armed with flintlock muskets. This situation filled Anda with despair.

"My life is over!"

Anda sighed.

The garrison soldiers and Xuanwu Army, having received their orders, paid no heed to Altan Khan's sighs. They all charged at the Mongols before them. In the end, after more than half an hour of fighting, all the Mongols were killed, including Altan Khan, who died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Zhou Chu had no intention of capturing Anda alive. Anda was too young, and youth meant that his future held countless possibilities. Even if he were captured now, it would be a bad thing for the Ming Dynasty if he were to escape back to the grasslands one day.

In that case, why doesn't Zhou Chu nip this potential crisis in the bud?

"Clean up the battlefield, and we'll celebrate your victory tomorrow."

Zhou Chu looked at the group of soldiers and shouted.

Upon hearing this, everyone perked up and began cleaning up the battlefield.

After the battle with the Mongols ended, Shen Lian arrived at the place where the people were being held.

"Gentlemen, Lord Zhou invited you here before because he had no other choice. The Mongols attacked the city at midnight, and Lord Zhou devised a plan to trap you like turtles in a jar. Inviting you here was just a temporary measure. Lord Zhou said that each of your families can come here and receive one tael of silver. This is Lord Zhou's compensation to you."

These people were initially terrified. Most of them were asleep when a group of soldiers suddenly stormed into their homes and brought them here without any reason.

They had all prepared themselves to be killed, but they never expected this outcome, and for a moment, they were all overjoyed.

Not only is everything alright, but I also get paid. Is there anything better in this world?

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

Some of these people knelt down in front of Shen Lian and kept kowtowing.

They weren't concerned about the money, but rather about their safety. They had been living in fear and now all they wanted was peace and quiet.

Shen Lian handled the distribution of compensation, which Zhou Chu was extremely relieved about. If it were someone else, although the amount of money was not much, Zhou Chu knew very well that for these people, being able to return home safely and alive was already a great favor, and they would never dare to mention compensation. In that case, the person in charge of compensation would most likely have just gone along with it and pocketed the money.

"Sir, everything has been cleaned up."

All the captains of the garrison came before Zhou Chu and said respectfully.

If their previous respect for Zhou Chu stemmed from the fact that Zhou Chu had helped them recover their military pay more than half a year ago and had also helped them train their troops, then their current respect was entirely different.

This Commander Zhou of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is simply a genius in military strategy. Those were tens of thousands of Mongol cavalrymen, and he annihilated them all so easily.

If it were them, it's uncertain whether they could have held Datong, since these Mongols arrived much earlier than they expected, and they probably wouldn't have been prepared.

"Count all the surviving, uninjured warhorses and send them all into the army. I will later organize a cavalry unit of two thousand men."

Zhou Chu said.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, the captains became excited, each of them imagining their men being transformed into cavalry by their superiors.

"Sir, all the people have been properly dealt with, and the compensation has been distributed."

After Shen Lian finished his work, it was already late at night. He came to Zhou Chu to report.

"Okay, go to bed early."

Zhou Chu yawned.

The next morning, news of the complete annihilation of the Mongols within the city spread like wildfire, and the people of Datong were overjoyed.

"Let me tell you, at that time, Lord Zhou was like a god, standing in front of thousands of Mongols and stopping them."

In a tavern, a storyteller told his tale with great enthusiasm, and the patrons listened with rapt attention.

"That can't be right. I heard that Lord Zhou prepared dozens of tripwires in advance."

One of the drinkers raised a question.

"What do you know? Without Lord Zhou's brilliant strategy, would there even be a tripwire? Wasn't it Lord Zhou who stopped it?"

The storyteller remained calm and continued...

"Yes."

Others echoed.

"Pass down the order: all Mongols east of Wuhai who are willing to join our Great Ming will be granted Ming household registration; those who are unwilling will be directly expelled to the west of Wuhai."

Inside the Datong Prefectural Government Office, Zhou Chu issued an order.

"Yes, my lord!"

The officials readily accepted the order.