Only two days after Huang Taiji's army retreated, the first snow fell in Liaodong. The snow is actually not large, and in recent years, Liaodong has also been affected by drought. If it was still in Longqing and Wanli, this snow should have fallen a few days earlier. And one game can withstand several of them now.

With this snow, the temperature in Liaodong dropped a lot rapidly, and almost overnight, a layer of ice formed on the Daliao River, but the ice was not thick enough to carry people and horses. Half a month later, there was another heavy snowfall, and by this time, the depth of the snow was already more than a foot deep.

Before dawn, Batu Zarigeri, dressed in a thick cotton robe, dragged a small sleigh to a small courtyard, and as soon as he approached the courtyard, he heard a whining howl inside. As soon as the courtyard gate was opened, a big dog pounced on it, put its two front paws on Batu Zazhigre's shoulders, and then opened its bloody mouth, spit out its pink tongue, and licked it towards Batu Zazhigree's face.

"Go! Go! Go! Buck, don't make a fuss! Batu Zarigli pushed Buck away with his hand as he turned his face to avoid his big tongue.

More dogs gathered around, whirring and wagging their tails, circling around Batu Zazhigli. Seeing that Buck was pushed away, several dogs also wanted to learn from Buck and pounced on him to lick Batu Zarigree.

"Don't make a fuss, be honest, and get ready to eat." Batu Zazhigre shouted as his apprentice Zhang Xiaoguang lifted the mat covering the small sleigh cart, revealing large chunks of whale meat and blubber.

Batu Zazhigli was a Khalkha Mongol who was a slave with dogs. The Zheng family's caravan took advantage of the trade with the Mongols and exchanged four fine snowflake steel knives from his master for several large dogs that looked like wolves, as well as him as an additional head. Then Batu Zazhigree became the dog breeder of the model army.

Since then, Batu Zazhigree has fallen into the honey pot, and he eats enough every day, and he vomits all kinds of whale meat and sea fish. Sometimes when he fell asleep, he would dream of the hard life when he used to be a slave, and every time he had such a dream, he would almost have this thought in the dream: "Unfortunately, it turned out to be a dream!" And when he wakes up from such a dream, it often takes him a while to be sure that it is indeed not a dream, and then he says with palpitations and great joy: "Fortunately, it was just a dream." "His dogs are also having a good life, they are well fed, they are round, and their coats are shiny.

The large dogs, which looked like wolves, were said to have been bought from a tribe of savages in the forests further north. These dogs, too, like those wild men in deerskins, are not afraid of the cold, have great strength, and have stupid heads. It's good to use it for sledding in winter.

It took a few years to use these dogs, and with sufficient material support, Batu Zazhigree and his apprentices raised nearly a thousand of these dogs, and now it is time to test whether this is worth the investment.

The dogs rushed up to eat, humming contentedly as they ate. Batu Zazhigree shook his head on the side, these dogs are just stupid, unlike the shepherd dogs he used to raise, smart and obedient, and he knows how to line up when eating.

Soon, the dogs were eating. Batu Zazhigree and his apprentices put the dogs on the halves. These dogs have long been accustomed to going out for a run after they have eaten their fill, and at this time they are meekly let them put on their halts and tie them to the sleigh.

Batu Zazhigre and his apprentices caught two sleds and went to the school grounds. There were already several sleds waiting there, and after a while the others were in place, a total of thirty sleds, each equipped with ten dogs, and could carry three heavily armed model soldiers or supplies of equal weight. Although the scale of such an attack is not large, it is also a test of the combat ability of the dog sled team in winter.

The soldiers got on the sleds, the sledders waved their whips, and one or two sleds left Niuzhuang Fort along the predetermined road and drove into the snowfields of eastern Liaodong.

The sun had just come out, and the reddish sunlight shone on the snow-covered fields, smearing the snow with a layer of rouge, and it looked very beautiful. But as the sun rises, the sunlight gradually becomes stronger, and now the beautiful snowfield will also become a piece of white flowers, stabbing people's eyes. If you look at such a white snowfield for a long time, it is easy to develop snow blindness. The soldiers were equipped with goggles made of brown glass, but even so, it was easy to develop snow blindness when looking under the snow for long periods of time. Because the goggles made by the model army are not like the polarizers of later generations, which can filter out most of the ultraviolet light, its effect is actually very limited. Therefore, when on the sled, according to tactical discipline, three people take turns driving the sled, and those who do not have their turn must wear blindfolds and close their eyes to protect their eyesight.

The sled team ran along the road along the river for a while, then turned east to get a long way around the fort that the Kengs used to block the river. In normal times, Jianzhi's scouts are moving around, and it is difficult to hide such an operation from them. However, after heavy snowfall, it was just as inconvenient for their horses to travel through the snow, so the range of their scouts was greatly reduced, which also gave the small sled team a chance to avoid their sight.

In the middle of winter, Jianyan also entered the state of cat winter, and everyone hid in the village and lived a boring life of eating, sleeping and beating his wife. Generally speaking, in such weather, there will be no chaos.

In the vicinity of Niuzhuang Fort, most of the villages in Jianzhuang are large and have relatively well-walled walls. This was one of the consequences of a series of previous raids on the Model Army. But farther afield, beyond the overnight voyage of the model ships of the time, the villages were not concentrated, and there were no complete walls and defenses. In the view of the Manchus, these places were relatively safe hinterlands, and there was no need to adopt these resource-consuming and inefficient practices. What they didn't expect, however, was that in winter, because of the presence of dog sledding, the range of activities of the Model Army would even exceed that of other seasons.

The sled team bypassed the two Manchu forts on the banks of the Great Liao River and stopped to rest in a leeward spot. The soldiers set up tents and let themselves and the sled dogs go in to rest, while the battalion commander Yang Wannian, who led the team, took out a map (most of the area of this map is drawn according to my Ming Dynasty's map of Liaodong, and the accuracy is very problematic, and some of it is based on the memories of the commanders and fighters of the cavalry unit in the previous battle. ), against the surrounding environment, determine their position and orientation.

"From here, we go here, and we can avoid all the big villages. We will be able to get here this afternoon, then spend the night here, leave early tomorrow morning, and arrive near Liaoyang by noon......" ()

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