Chuang Wang (Li Zicheng) led his army to Shixia Pass and immediately defeated the vanguard force of the Ming court.  Li’s force took over the enemy’s barrack and besieged the Pass from the outside. Li knew that he must finish this battle quickly; otherwise, he would lose the last hope of breaching the Shixia Pass if reinforcements arrived from Badaling.  Li ordered the back army to put up the barrack, while the front army focused all efforts on taking over the Pass, and Li himself led the middle army to supervise the battle.  During the battle, as part of the fighting tactics, Li’s front army put up ladders outside the Pass and lined up numerous cannons in the back; then, soldiers climbed up the ladders while holding swords in their mouths to try to get into close combat distance.  Cannons fired in the back and covered the climbing soldiers.  Though there were not many Ming soldiers stationed inside the Pass, they had great geographical advantage with an ample supply of throwing materials, including exploding bottles, rocks and rolling woods.  Hence, even though Li’s front army was a formidable force to reckon with, they could not immediately breach the Pass.  The breach turned into a battle of endurance where neither side was willing to budge. Li grew deeply anxious and was worried about Badaling Pass sending over reinforcements.  He gave a secret order for the troops stationed at Badaling to launch a hard attack at the enemy force to keep them busy, so that the enemy force could not send over reinforcements.  Meanwhile, Li ordered his front army to temporarily halt their attacks.

      Half an hour later, seeing that the enemy force guarding the Shixia Pass gradually lost their will to fight, Li immediately ordered all the catapults and cannons to fire at once.  The enemy force was completely caught off guard, and suffered great loss. After the catapults and cannons attack, there were three rounds of drum rolls.  When the drum rolls ended, Li pulled out his sword, rode his horse and was the first to charge forward.  Seeing that their commander-in-chief was so valiant and showed neither fear of injury nor death, the entire army was greatly heartened, and a most brave and inspiriting battle was fought. After another hour, seeing that the outcome of the battle was already clear, the enemy force surrendered.  It was just about sunset, and the smoke of the cannons still hovered in the air.  Li’s troops climbed onto the Shixia Pass and cheered in unison.  Their cheerful cries rumbled deeply in the valley, shaking the heaven and the earth.  That was a chapter in history hundreds of years ago.  Today, the path Li Zicheng took is still here, yet beacons are no longer burning on the Great Wall.  The walls have worn off, yet proudly they still stand.  This is a moment to reminisce about the past, and the great battle that left a mark in history.