At the head of the line was a vanguard of 200 pikemen, all of whom and horses were clad in iron armor. Their horses had horned bows on the left side, quivers on the right, and five-meter spears on the sergeant's belt. The vanguard marched in four columns with torches, cloth soaked in tung oil wrapped around the torches and burned brightly, and the flames drifted backwards in the galloping wind. In the light of the fire, the shadow of the spear jumped and trembled with the sound of the horse's hooves, as if it were fighting on the battlefield.

The vanguard team was followed by a thousand cavalry of the front army led by Vice General Liu, which was a mixed weapon unit, and the cavalry wore soft chain mail and were equipped with long-handled eyebrow sharp knives, three-eyed sharps, bows and arrows, sabers and other weapons. The cavalry of the front army carried torches at intervals, maintaining a formation and following the light of the forward team's fire.

The front army was followed by the 2,000 cavalry of the Chinese army led by Zhao Shujiao, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, and the troops were led by the senior deputy general, and Zhao led the 500 cavalry of the standard battalion in the center to coordinate and command the whole army.

At the end of the procession was a rear army of 1,000 cavalry led by Vice General Wang, as the rear strength of the whole army.

The cavalry of 4,000 people, all of whom are soldiers, is the most elite unit in the Daming Guanning Iron Cavalry. Each cavalryman had two horses for rotation, and the team of four thousand men had a total of eight thousand horses. At this time, the four towns of Guanning under the jurisdiction of Yuan Chonghuan had a total of 153,182 soldiers and 81,603 horses ("Chongzhen Chang Bian" vol. 25), and military expenditure consumed three-quarters of the country's fiscal revenue every year.

On the moonless night of the first day of November, darkness shrouded the land of northern China. A team of 4,000 horses on two horses danced like a fire dragon that stretched for miles, rushing towards the direction of Zunhua City with the earth-shaking sound of horses' hooves. The fire dragon is surrounded by boundless darkness. This darkness is so deep and eerie, like a demon with a huge mouth that wants to devour all living beings!

On the city wall of Zunhua, a row of torches and lanterns flickered in the cold wind, and Xu Ze, the magistrate of the county, and Wu Qiqian, the former magistrate, were commanding the soldiers and the people to transport the stones and rolling wood to the city, preparing for tomorrow's battle to defend the city. This Xu Zhixian has only been in office for seven days, and he encountered the Houjin army breaking the border and attacking the city, although the predecessor Wuzhi County has stepped down, but has not yet left Zunhua, so the two went into battle together.

Governor Wang Yuanya stood motionless, looking into the distance with a gloomy gaze, as if trying to see through the boundless darkness.

"It's not too early, please go back to the house to rest first, there are Xiaguan and Xu and Wu two magistrates here, please rest assured." The official He Tianqiu bowed down and said to Wang Yuanya.

"Strange, where the hell have the Tartars gone?" Wang Yuanya muttered to herself.

※Wang Yuanya's official residence is the imperial history of the left capital, so it is called "General Constitution".

After the Jin army entered the fortress from Xifengkou, Liankemalanyu, Hanerzhuang, Panjiakou, Hongshankou and other border cities, on October 27, the troops approached Zunhua City. At this time, there was no formed force in Zunhua City, and a group of officials organized the people in the city to defend the city. The strange thing is that in three days, the Houjin army, which was sharp all the way, seemed to be tired of the offensive under Zunhua City, and did not put too much pressure on the defenders. And tonight, the entire Houjin army seemed to have disappeared, and even the sparks and fires of the camp could not be seen.

In the fire dragon that could not be seen in front and back, the sixty-year-old chief soldier Zhao Shujiao rode a war horse and galloped forward under the escort of his own soldiers holding torches. The fire shone on the old general's weather-beaten face, reflecting the resolute face like a knife, and with the rapid sound of horses' hooves, Zhao Shujiao's tall and mighty body rose and fell vigorously, and the mountain armor on his body made a fine sonorous iron sound, and he could vaguely feel the strong muscles under the scale armor.

With decades of military career, he has served as a commander, guerrilla, general, deputy general, and general soldier, and Zhao Shujiao has rich experience in military operations and command. This time, Zunhua City has been besieged for three days, and it is in danger, and it must be rushed to relieve the siege as quickly as possible. Advancing all the way, Zhao Shujiao was not worried about ambushes, unless the other party had the ability to predict the future, with the speed of his cavalry marching rapidly, there was no early warning of any sentry cavalry to have enough time to form an ambush circle against his 4,000 cavalry troops.

Zunhua City is ahead!

Four thousand horses, eight thousand horses, the iron stream rolls forward! Forward!

On Zunhua City, Governor Wang Yuanya was still standing in the biting cold wind. The equipment for defending the city such as rolling stones, crashing cars, fork rods, flying hooks, and yaksha rings have been replenished, and the people have gone down to the city to rest, and the officials in charge of guarding have carried torches to patrol around the city wall. He Tianqiu, Xu Ze, Wu Qiqian and other officials stood behind Wang Yuanya, quietly looking at the supreme governor of Zunhua City, waiting for his instructions.

A ray of red light appeared on the horizon, piercing the boundless night. Gradually, the red light spread, connecting into patches, swaying on the horizon.

"Reinforcements are coming!" He Tianqiu shouted excitedly. The people around were jubilant.

Wang Yuanya didn't speak, and her brows furrowed even deeper.

Xie Qingyuan, who was galloping in the standard camp team, suddenly heard the sound of Yu Ling breaking through the air. A qualified archer can judge the direction of the arrow and the approximate location of the landing point according to the sound of the arrow, and it is obvious that this wave of arrows is coming from the right side of the river, and the target is the marching standard camp. A cavalryman was hit by an arrow, and the arrow made a dull popping sound as it entered the flesh. A cavalryman rolled off his horse, the horses behind him stepped over him, and the sound of broken bones and wails drowned out in the torrent of iron hooves. More of the cavalry endured the pain, grabbed the reins tightly with both hands, fixed their bodies on horseback, and continued to gallop.

The cavalry on the far right took their bows and arrows as they galloped, twisted their bodies backwards in a counterclockwise direction, and fired a rain of arrows back in the direction of the incoming arrows. In a team of 4,000 horsemen, all the cavalry were equipped with bows and arrows, but not every cavalry was an archer, just as every modern infantry has a rifle, but snipers were always only a few. The enemy chooses to attack from the right in order to maximize the opponent's ability to fight back. After all, there are only a few cavalrymen who can shoot the bow left and right, and the right arm can only twist the body backwards to the limit before shooting to the right.

Zhao Shujiao sensed the disturbance of the formation in front of him, and based on his years of combat experience, he judged that this was a disturbance from the enemy.

"Keep going!" The torrent of the iron rider did not stagnate, and the horse's hooves rolled and continued to move forward.

The second wave of arrows soon struck again, and this time there were more people who were hit by arrows. The body that landed on the ground even tripped the war horses behind, and there was a wave of chain reactions, and several war horses fell to the ground one after another, and these horses, together with people, were trampled to death by the follow-up war horses.

"Ranger Strike!" Zhao Shujiao gave the order.

Fifty cavalrymen armed with long-handled swords broke away from the ranks and rushed into the darkness in the direction of the arrows, tasked with finding out the enemy's position and strength. These cavalrymen have bamboo whistles in their mouths, and the long-handled eyebrow sharp knives they hold are about 1.6 meters long, the wooden handle is 1 meter long, and the tip of the knife is 60 centimeters long.

"Keep going!"

A terrible whistle sounded in the darkness in the distance, and the rangers engaged the enemy. The sound of slashing and screaming came one after another, and Zhao Shujiao silently counted the time, one, two, three...... The final whistle was gone, and another rain of arrows came down from the sky.

"The whole army stops advancing!" Zhao Shujiao's eyes flickered, and an ominous feeling instantly enveloped his whole body, this was no longer an ordinary attack, in this boundless darkness, lurking was an extremely powerful enemy force.

"Mingjin!" Zhao Shujiao immediately made a decision, "Dismount, extinguish the fire, and prepare the archers!" ”

The cavalrymen held on to the reins, and the galloping horses snapped their noses and came to a sharp halt. The cavalry carrying the fire threw the torches to the ground, stepped on them with their feet, and extinguished them with leather.

Before the police gong could be sounded, the fire dragon of the front army suddenly began to jump and twist, and at the same time, the sound of the police gong of the rear army also came, and the sharp gong sound was particularly harsh in the dark night.

The whole army is ambushed! Zhao Shujiao felt his heart sink suddenly.

Xie Qingyuan and a hundred other archers lined up in two columns towards the right flank, drew arrows from the quiver on their waists, put on the bowstring, raised the angle, and the squeak of the ox tendon bowstring pulling the bow body sounded lowly, and a rain of arrows sprinkled into the sky.

I vaguely heard the sound of the body falling to the ground in the darkness, and someone on the enemy was hit by an arrow, followed by the sound of a feather feather breaking through the air.

The torches of the front and rear armies were also extinguished, and the whole land was darkened, and the thousands of troops and horses of the warring sides were hidden in this boundless dark night, and the sound of feathers like a storm sounded all over the world.

An archer fell to the ground with an arrow, his tired body writhing on the ground, the shaft of the arrow inserted in his body touched Xie Qingyuan's leg, the arrow with a barb churned in his body, and the archer's throat let out a low roar of pain - even if the arrow was hit, it was not allowed to wail loudly, and the enemy could not be aware of his location and battle damage.

Xie Qingyuan shot the tenth arrow, and felt his arm feel as heavy as lead. The first row of archers stepped back to rest and regain their arm strength, and a third of the archers fell forever to the front row. The second platoon of archers quickly stepped forward and continued to shoot.

"All two rounds of rapid fire, pikes attack, saber men cover!" Zhao Shujiao ordered calmly.

The archers who can also shoot their bows are joined by all the cavalry to shoot a rain of arrows at the enemy in the dark. Immediately after that, the second round of arrows had just left, and a hundred cavalrymen with five-meter spears and a hundred cavalry with sabers and shields rode out, and the sound of horses' hooves rolled into the darkness ahead.

The surging sound of the tide crashing against the levee came from within a hundred paces, and the rain of arrows on both sides stopped for the time being. The dull sound of spears breaking through armor, the screeching of sabers on iron armor, the neighing of war horses, the roars of warriors, and the wails of the dying resounded in the night. A howling cold wind blew, and the pungent smell of blood in the air hit everyone's heartbeat.

Torches were raised in the darkness ahead, one, two...... Like the lamps in front of the mourning hall, the torches were lit in rows and rows, connected into patches, and spread all over the earth.

Around the 4,000 cavalry taught by Zhao was the entire strength of the Houjin Eight Banners plus the vassal Mongol soldiers, 40,000 cavalry!