However, the horsemanship and horses of these infantry could not be compared with the selected Mongol athletes, and the cavalry left them behind, and if the cavalry slowed down and waited for the infantry, I was afraid that they would not be able to reach the bottom of the mountain until dark. Ozil thought for a while, looked at the hill in the distance, and shouted to Ah Gui: "You go with the cavalry first, and I will go to the infantry to urge!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Ah Gui answered, whistled, and the cavalry rushed over, and immediately the soil was splashed everywhere, splashing Ozir's face. Ozil spat a mouthful of saliva, wiped his face, and scolded: "This rabbit cub, you have to clean them up when you come back!" So saying, he threw his horse and went to the side of the infantry.

Ozil returned to the infantry team, and was whipped and reprimanded, and loudly urged the infantry to speed up, but the infantry team had many mules and horses, and the falling snow flakes melted when they landed, and the ground was soaked, and the cavalry stepped on it, and immediately turned into muddy ground, and many mules with heavy baggage hurried too much, and they did not have enough to eat, and their feet were soft, and they slipped on the ground step by step, and the speed was never fast, and they walked for about half an hour, and there were still more than two miles from the mountain. Ozil looked at the vanishing orange on the horizon, and his heart couldn't help but be anxious.

At this time, a gust of north wind blew, bringing a row of birds, Ozir restrained the war horse, listened carefully, and could vaguely hear the sound of shouting and killing, and a twilight bird arose on the hill in the distance. Then there was a trumpet sound, which was the signal for the pre-agreed encounter with the enemy. Ozil heard it clearly, and hurriedly turned his head to the infantry team and shouted: "The striker has encountered a thief, and this team has left fifty people to guard the baggage, and the rest only bring weapons, medicine, and horses to the mountain!" “

In accordance with the old habit of not collecting the night, Gui rode his gray mare and walked at the front of the line. The side of the hill facing him was quite gentle, but it was overgrown with a kind of thorny bush, and Gui had to jump off his horse and carefully cut a path up the hill in the bushes. The snow covered many rocks, tree roots, and dirt pits, making it easy for both humans and horses to fall. Ah Gui could hear the whining behind him, and everyone thought that it was a stupid thing to climb the mountain hungry at this time, but he knew very well that it was best to pretend that he didn't hear anything at this time, and with his past experience, before he had gained the respect and trust of the soldiers by virtue of his strength and merit, indiscriminate punishment would only bring shame on himself.

The twilight is sinking and the sky is turning a deep purple like a bruise, and the moon is rising. Gui couldn't help but secretly thank himself, fortunately the moonlight could help a lot, at this time the ridge was already in sight, and only knee-high grass was left on the ground, he jumped on his horse, clamped the horse's belly hard, and the mount ran briskly towards the ridge. Suddenly he heard a neighing of horses, which he at first thought was a subordinate behind him, but then he reacted incorrectly - in order not to attract the attention of the Tushetus, all the horses were attached to the wooden pieces, and could not be called at all, and besides, the sound came from the front, not behind, and there was only one possibility - it was the enemy's striker.

"One by one, the Tushetu people also came up, they are all ready, light the fire rope, and put on good medicine!" Ah Gui lowered his voice and ordered his subordinates, while pulling out his waist knife, jumping off the war horse, bending down and trotting towards the ridge, as he got closer and closer to the ridge, the sound of people and horses climbing the mountain from the other side of the mountain became clearer and clearer, and he couldn't help but secretly rejoice that the wind was blowing towards him, otherwise the situation of the two sides would have changed.

There is an oak tree on the ridge, there are three or four people hugging each other, compared to the small shrubs around, it is simply a giant, Ah Gui quickly ran behind the oak, poked his head out and looked down the mountain, only to see that there were more than a hundred torches dotted on the hillside, and there were six or seven hundred enemies in a rough calculation, and the front was only thirty or forty steps away from him, with the help of the fire in the man's hand, he could almost see the pockmarks on the other party's face.

At this time, Ah Gui heard a rapid gasp behind him, and when he looked back, he saw that a group of people from the front came up, about twenty or thirty people, about ten people were holding arquebuses, and green smoke came out of the rope wrapped around the beak-shaped clamp. The one at the front asked in a low voice, "Where are the Tushetu people?" How many people are there? ”

Ah Gui didn't answer, just stretched out his hand and pointed to the bottom of the ridge, and the man also poked his head out to take a look, and suddenly his face changed greatly, and he said in a low voice: "There are so many people, several times more than us!" ”

Agui poked his head out again to look at the enemy below, and by this time they could hear the complaints of the Tushetu people very clearly—these unfortunate ghosts were also complaining about their generals, making them hungry to climb the mountain, and maybe spending the night here.

"Don't be afraid, they don't know how many people we have on our side, let's put a row of bird guns later, and then we will blow the trumpet together, get on the horse and rush down, and kill them by surprise!" Gui Mali took his arquebus from the saddle, lit the arquebus, and took out the fixed medicine from the small bamboo tube on the belt around his waist and began to reload it. His composure infected his subordinates, and the soldiers spread out around the big oak tree, those with arquebuses set up arquebuses, those without arquebuses picked up their horned bows, and aimed at the Tushetu people who were climbing the mountain below, waiting for Gui's order.

Gui was very fast, he had used arquebuses when the Ming army did not collect them that night, but at that time he preferred to use bows and arrows - the reason is very simple, the quality of most of the firearms in the Ming army was very worrisome, especially the arquebuses and three-eyed guns used by individual soldiers, and many times not only could not shoot the enemy, but injured their own people. However, after coming to Liu Cheng's command, he immediately discovered the special features of this general's use of various firearms for his subordinates: the materials are exquisite, not to mention the fine preparation, and there are all kinds of whimsical ideas, such as each arquebus is also equipped with a mold specially made of lead bullets, twelve bamboo barrels for fixed gunpowder and lead bullets, a fine brush for cleaning the inner chamber of the barrel, a woolen flannel cloth and grease for special maintenance, and even a booklet of more than ten pages, which uses concise pictures to tell the user how to use and maintain the weapon. Even the Mongols, who could not read a word, could understand it. With the exception of the bamboo tube, which was attached to the archer's cowhide belt, the others were packed in a marching pocket made of cowhide tanning, which could be easily carried on the back. And unlike other arquebuses, Liu Cheng's arquebus butt is curved, and the end is slightly concave and varnish. At first, Ah Gui thought that this was because there was no suitable wood and it was a defective product, which was normal in the Ming army. However, he later discovered that these butts were deliberately made to be made like this—a curved butt that was more conducive to aiming than a straight butt, and the shooter could place the butt against his shoulder, and the sunken bottom would better match the contact surface of the shoulder to counteract the huge recoil generated when firing, so as to avoid muzzle jumping. All this gave Gui a very strange feeling—these things were not like weapons used to kill people, but like those precious utensils offered to dignitaries, on which craftsmen spent countless energy in order to please the superiors, regardless of the cost; The officials of the Ministry of War would not put too much thought into the weapons issued to the Imperial soldiers for use, anyway, the cost of recruiting soldiers in the Empire was extremely low, and it was not even as valuable as the weapons in their hands, and it was completely unnecessary to give the soldiers too good weapons.

Soon, Ah Gui finished the preparations before shooting, he looked left and right, there were already thirty or forty men on the ridge, and the first few enemies were only twenty steps away from him, he could even smell the smell of horse manure emanating from them, Ah Gui was surprised why those Tushetu people hadn't discovered themselves yet. Finally, he raised his arquebus, aimed it at the chest of the man in front, put the butt of the pistol against his shoulder, and pulled the trigger.

Almost at the same time, Gui felt a heavy punch in the shoulder, and his vision was obscured by the white smoke from the muzzle of the gun, and in one last glance he saw the target jerk back, its head bursting like a ripe watermelon. The dense gunfire ignited his courage, and Ah Gui picked up the horn at his waist and blew it vigorously, and the sound of the desolate horn immediately spread throughout the ridge.

Like all armies that were attacked as they approached the end, the Tushetu were immediately thrown into confusion, their terrorists terrified by the sound of their horns. In the moonlight, the cavalry rushed down the ridge and down the hillside, cutting down the enemy like a mowing grass, and the corpses were scattered like patches of hay. Gui rode on his horse, while swinging his sword and slashing, he kept blowing the horn vigorously, and the whining horn resounded in the sky, which sounded like the hooves and shouts of the enemy to the Tushetu people, and it was impossible to distinguish the number of enemies in the twilight, and most of them dropped their weapons and turned around and ran, maybe they could not outrun the enemy's horse, but as long as they could outrun their companions.

By the time the Ozir reached the ridge, the first battle had ended, and the cavalrymen were sitting on stones and tree roots, some were feeding their horses with their burrows in their mounts, and many more were resting while munching on dry food. Ozil looked around, but did not see Gui's figure, so he asked the short man who was sitting on the stone next to him and sharpened his knife with a stone, "Where are your heads?" ”

"On the hillside below!" The short man said, pointing to a few moving riders on the hillside.

"What is he doing there?"

"Clean up the battlefield!" The short man replied with a smile: "Originally, whoever got the loot was whoever got it, and the head said that this is unfair, and those who fight desperately often don't take much more than they steal and cheat, so they let everyone know that they will take those who have not seen blood behind to search for corpses, and then divide the things back, and let them see blood by the way!" ”

"This Ah Gui's gripping hands and feet are very fast!" Ozil snorted coldly, a little unhappy in his heart, but now is not the time to make such a trivial matter. He said to the short cavalryman: "The thief is about to fight, what are you doing with these Laoshzi, you go and call him back, just say I'm waiting for him here!" “

"Yes!" The short man jumped off the stone and went up the hillside. Ozil looked back at the infantry team that was struggling to climb the mountain, and then at the enemy camp about six or seven miles away, and couldn't help but sigh.

Almost at the same time, Liu Cheng also heard the sound of the horn on the ridge, he immediately grabbed the reins, and turned his eyes to Chechen Taiji on the side: "Did you hear that?" Seeing the Ozir, they are in trouble! ”

"Hmm!" Chechen Taiji nodded: "What are you going to do?" ”

"Now that the bottle is opened, it's time to finish the wine!" Liu Cheng's answer made Chechen Taiji a little confused for a while, Liu Cheng ignored him, and said directly to Wang Anshi on the side: "Vice General Wang!" ”

"The last general!" Wang Anshi responded.

"You take another infantry team, bring Sancho and the three cannons with you, and all the teams on the mountain are controlled by you, and you must hold them, understand?"

"The last general understands!" Wang Anshi responded, clasped his fists on the horse and saluted, and then turned to leave. Liu Cheng looked back at Chechen Taiji: "We came from afar, the horses are tired, if the horsepower is definitely not comparable to the opponent, now the only way to do this is to play to the strengths and avoid the weaknesses, first defend and then attack." Tomorrow you will place the camel city at the foot of the mountain, I am the east, you are the west, the soldiers will all dismount and fight on foot, in order to raise the horsepower, and the other will hide in the woods with fine horses, and wait to fight, what do you think? “

Chechen Taiji thought about it, the small mountain is next to the Tushu River, and the gap between them is only more than a mile, and the battle line in the east is much wider, six or seven times as much as the west, obviously Liu Cheng is taking the difficulties on himself, he nodded with satisfaction: "It's okay, let's arrange the formation according to your brother-in-law's strategy!" ”

Tushetu camp, king's tent.

The tent was filled with a sweet and dizzying scent, and a dozen dancers were dancing rhythmically around the incense burner in the tent, their bare thighs and breasts already covered with beads of sweat, and the silver bells on their braids sounded rhythmically with the dance steps. These dancers have no contemplation, and with a misty smile on their faces, as if they are already in a dream, they have a special charm compared to the usual.

"Gunbu, I didn't think you had such an interesting thing here, why didn't you invite me to see it earlier!" The music in the tent was interrupted by a somewhat gruff voice, speaking of a stout man sitting side by side with Tushetu Khan Gunbu, his hands thick and muscular, and at first glance it was a pair of hands that were accustomed to drawing bows and swinging knives, in stark contrast to the white, fat, white bread-like palms of the gunbu beside him.

"Great Khan!" Perhaps sensing the pressure of the people around him, Gunbu's voice was much quieter than usual: "You are a distinguished guest that I can't invite, if you like it, just bring these dancing girls back together!" ”

"Yes, of course I do! Then I'm not welcome, so I have to thank that Chechen Taiji, otherwise where can I have such a good dancer? The man laughed and patted Gon Bu's thigh, his hand was very strong, Gon Bu was in pain, and he almost screamed, the fat on his face couldn't help twitching, and he didn't know if it was the pain or the distress of being taken to his beloved dancer. It turned out that this stout man was one of the three most powerful tribal alliances in Mobei, the Chechen Great Khan Shuo Lei, Tushetu Khan learned that Chechen Taiji and Liu Cheng attacked, he sent a messenger to ask for help, Shuo Lei brought 6,000 cavalry to come to the aid, his physique is strong, ambitious, often foreign attacks to expand power, Tushetu Khan is very wary of it, lest it take the opportunity to annex himself. (To be continued.) )