The moment they began their charge, the sentry in the watchtower shouted loudly.
"Strange people are trying to break through the checkpoint!"
The Qing soldiers all turned to look, confused.
If someone charged from the grasslands into Qing territory, they would immediately prepare for battle.
But this group was charging from Qing territory out toward the grasslands, which was much harder to understand.
"Are they criminals trying to escape?" someone finally reacted. "Stop them!"
From the fortress beside the watchtower, a group of Qing soldiers quickly mounted their horses and rushed forward to intercept.
Binsheng shouted,
"Accelerate! Run! Ignore them!"
The group charged forward desperately.
The Qing soldiers cursed.
"Damn it! They're forcing their way through. Fire arrows!"
But before they could act, Binsheng and his men moved first.
They raised their hand crossbows. The humming vibration of bowstrings filled the air as more than a dozen bolts shot forward.
They didn't aim at the riders.
They aimed at the horses.
Several Qing riders were thrown down instantly.
Before the Qing soldiers could recover, Binsheng's group pulled out short cavalry muskets.
These guns had short barrels, short range, and poor accuracy. They were only suitable for cavalry during a charge.
In simple terms: ride straight into the enemy's face and fire.
Binsheng and his men rushed close to the Qing troops.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A chaotic volley erupted.
Those Qing soldiers were terribly unlucky. They had thought they were intercepting a few fugitives trying to escape across the border.
Who could have imagined these people were armed to the teeth, even carrying cavalry muskets?
In a moment they were beaten so badly they could hardly tell east from west.
Binsheng's group rushed past them in a flash and burst through the border line.
Behind them the Qing soldiers roared.
"Chase them!"
Binsheng shouted,
"Run!"
Crown Prince Sohyeon and Prince Bongrim, along with their wives, had never experienced anything like this before.
They were terrified out of their wits.
Clutching their horses' necks tightly, they didn't dare raise their heads. They simply ran forward blindly.
Behind them they could hear the Qing soldiers shouting as they gave chase.
The four hostages were extremely nervous.
The more nervous they became, the closer the Qing soldiers seemed to get.
Their horses were the best horses of the Mongolian grasslands. In theory they should easily outrun ordinary Qing cavalry.
But there was a problem.
Their riders had absolutely no riding skill.
It was extremely embarrassing.
The Qing soldiers had horses with 5 points of strength and 5 points of riding skill, giving them a speed coefficient of 10.
The four hostages had horses with 8 points of strength but 0 riding skill, giving them a speed coefficient of 8.
They simply could not outrun them.
Not even close.
Crown Prince Sohyeon suddenly remembered what Binsheng had said earlier:
"We will not turn back to rescue you."
Just remembering that sentence nearly made him cry.
Beside him, the Crown Princess burst into tears.
"Husband, we can't escape!"
Prince Bongrim wailed,
"Waaah, we're going back to being hostages again!"
"I don't want that!"
Just as the four of them were crying in despair, a strange sound suddenly came from ahead.
"Wooooo!"
A steam whistle echoed through the air.
The moment that sound appeared, the Qing soldiers behind them panicked.
Not just a little panic.
Complete panic.
When people panic, their riding skill drops.
Instantly minus three points.
Their speed slowed at once.
The four hostages were overjoyed and confused.
"Eh? What's coming?"
They had been hugging their horses' necks with their heads down, but now they finally dared to lift their heads slightly.
And what they saw terrified them.
Several huge iron box-like vehicles were charging straight toward them.
Running at the front, Binsheng waved and shouted toward the iron vehicles.
"Friendly forces! Chang'an Factory Deputy Director Binsheng!"
From the iron vehicle a woman's head popped out.
No, not just a woman's head.
A female gorilla's head.
She burst out laughing.
"I recognize you! I saw you in the Gao Family News! Hahaha! A top model worker!"
Binsheng laughed as well.
"Instructor Zao, I've seen you in the Gao Family News too."
Once greetings were exchanged, the rest became simple.
Zao Ying pointed toward the Qing cavalry chasing behind and shouted loudly:
"Enemy forces will contact our army in thirty seconds."
"Crush them!"
The Great Iron Carts accelerated and charged toward the Qing soldiers.
When the Qing cavalry saw this formation, they immediately lost the will to fight.
Charge what you want.
But never charge a Great Iron Cart.
They weren't about to sacrifice themselves just to capture a few fugitives crossing the border.
"Retreat! Fall back to the defensive works!"
"Retreat! Retreat!"
The Qing soldiers collectively turned around and fled.
Meanwhile Crown Prince Sohyeon, Prince Bongrim, and their wives continued riding forward in confusion.
Even their horses were frightened by the massive iron vehicles and refused to collide with them directly, instead running past them from the side.
Up ahead, Binsheng and his group had already stopped.
The hostages' horses also slowed to a halt, snorting heavily.
They were exhausted after the long run.
More importantly, each horse had been carrying a useless rider hugging its neck the entire time.
The horses probably wanted nothing more than to kick those riders off.
The Great Iron Carts chased away the Qing soldiers and returned to Binsheng's group.
Zao Ying waved cheerfully.
"Director Binsheng, it seems your mission has been completed successfully."
Her gaze then landed on the four hostages.
Binsheng laughed loudly.
"Fortunately I did not fail my mission!"
"These four are Crown Prince Sohyeon, Prince Bongrim, and their wives."
"Next we still need to escort them back to Korea and deliver them to the King of Joseon."
Zao Ying nodded.
"I already received Dao Xuan Tianzun's orders earlier. We will cooperate fully."
"The transport vehicle is ready."
Soon the transport arrived.
It was a Great Iron Cart pulling a large trailer behind it.
In other words, the prototype of a tractor-trailer truck.
Crown Prince Sohyeon, Prince Bongrim, and their wives all climbed into the large trailer.
In modern times, transporting people in cargo trailers would be called mixing passengers with freight.
If the traffic police caught you doing that, you would receive a ticket big enough to make you cry.
But in the late Ming era, that obviously wasn't an issue.
Here, you could haul anyone however you wanted.
Of course, in modern times, carrying honored guests in a cargo trailer would be considered extremely disrespectful.
But in this era…
The four hostages looked at the enormous trailer with great curiosity.
They touched everything on it excitedly.
Their expressions were exactly like country bumpkins visiting the city, or Grandmother Liu entering the Grand View Garden, staring at foreign wonders.
"This Great Iron Cart is incredible!"
"It doesn't need oxen or horses to pull it!"
"It can carry all four of us so easily!"
"With such a big cargo bed, how much goods can it transport?"
"Being on this vehicle feels very safe. Much safer than a wooden carriage."
"The Ming Empire sent such an amazing Great Iron Cart to carry us. They must value us very highly."
"It feels wonderful to be respected."
"The Ming is truly superior to the Qing! Those Manchu barbarians are so rude."
"Exactly. Even their guards shout at us all the time. They don't know the meaning of respect."
The four hostages not only did not feel that riding in the trailer was low-class.
They actually thought it was extremely prestigious, and felt completely satisfied.
Binsheng couldn't bear to tell them the truth.
This cargo trailer was usually used to transport coal, supplying fuel for the Great Iron Carts used in battle.
Better to let them keep enjoying their illusion for a while.