Soon, Du Ruhu saw Durbert, behind him were those palace tent soldiers, he raised his voice and shouted, "Are the captives coming?" How many people are there? ”

"It's coming!" Durbot kicked the horse's belly with his toes, climbed the mound and came to Du Ruhu: "At least a thousand horsemen have caught up, and half a cup of tea is here!" ”

"That's good!" Dulbert pointed to the military formation behind him: "You take the cavalry to go around the back of the infantry formation from the right, and the right side will be handed over to you to command, and I will command the left, understand?" ”

"Understood!" Dulbert answered, he turned back and whistled, and ran with his cavalry to the right side of the infantry column. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Du Ruhu continued to stay on the mound until he saw that the enemy cavalry was only a hundred paces away from him before he beat his horse and retreated to his own army formation.

"Quick, quick, catch these rats, I'm going to hang them all in a tree and let the crows peck at their eyes!" On horseback, Neqi almost crushed his teeth, and it was the first time since he had broken through the border and entered the fortress that he had encountered a counterattack from the Ming army, let alone such a big loss. The anger carried over him, and it was as if a fire was burning in his chest, so much so that he did not notice that the attackers were also Mongols.

"Great Khan, Great Khan, there is a Ming army in front, it is an infantry team!" The sentinel's reply calmed Nezi a little, he didn't say anything, he urged his horse to the heights, and with the help of the rising sun on the eastern ridge, he could clearly see the ranks of the enemy, about four hundred paces away, the ranks of the Ming army were as straight as arrows, the brocades of armor, spears, and banners glittered in the sun, and the ends of those attackers had just disappeared behind the column of infantry. Seeing all this, Nezi hesitated.

"Great Khan, let's withdraw! We didn't enter the border this time to fight with the Ming army! A general next to him whispered. Neqi didn't speak, but he hesitated in his heart, indeed his purpose was to capture prisoners, livestock, food, cloth, and iron tools, not to fight with the Ming army, obviously the enemy in front of him was an elite who was good at fighting, and it was unnecessary to rashly engage with it and cause unnecessary losses. Nezi lifted the reins and was about to give the order to retreat, when suddenly a dozen paces to the left was splashed with dirt, and suddenly the frightened war horse scurried in all directions, and became a mess.

"What's going on?" Nezi's cheeks ached from the splashes of dirt, and he managed to control his mount without being thrown off his horse.

"It should be the artillery of the Ming army!" A guard pointed to a cloud of white smoke rising from the Ming army on the opposite side and replied in an uncertain tone.

"So far? Could it be a redcoat cannon? Neiqi's heart was shocked and angry, as the Great Khan of the Zalut Department, he still knew a lot about the firearms of the Ming army, and at a distance of four hundred paces, close-range firearms such as the Tiger Squat Cannon and the Bowl Mouth Gun that mainly fired shotguns were definitely not hit, and they were ordinary Frankie guns, and they were also not caught, only the red-coated cannons could be shot. He also saw the real thing of the red-coated cannon in the Han army of Huang Taiji, the barrel was several zhang long, weighing thousands of catties, and it had to be dragged by dozens of cattle and horses to advance, most of which were used for city defense and defense.

Neqi was hesitating, but the facts gave him the answer, and the two guards who were a few meters away from him were suddenly smashed to pieces, and half of his flesh and blood splashed on his body. At this moment, Qi could almost smell the smell of corpses brought by the god of death, and the blood in his whole body was almost about to coagulate, he turned his horse's head and shouted: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" ”

"My lord, the captives seem to have retreated!"

Although his face was expressionless, Du Ruhu's heart was quite disappointed. Compared with his nephew, Du Ruhu, who was born in the family for generations, established Wuxun, and the heart of his wife and son is still quite heavy, and he originally hoped to be able to defeat this team of captives, behead hundreds, and even capture and kill a few captive chieftains. But the captive chief was much more clever than he thought, and just after two shots, he turned around and ran away.

"Pass the order, let Durbot lead the cavalry in pursuit, and the infantry team will follow!" Du Ruhu ordered, he also knew that it was unlikely to catch up with the enemy, after all, the enemy was cavalry, and his main force was infantry, but at least he could take back most of the people and livestock that this gang of Tartars had robbed, which was not without a small supplement.

"Win, win, the Tartars are defeated, that what Zarut Khan fled, we can survive! Is there alcohol? Whatever, we're going to have a drink! We are saved! ”

On the beacon, Wang Yike laughed loudly while jumping with his feet in turn, and almost fell off the beacon. Because of the high position, the people above could clearly see the fleeing of the enemies who had been triumphant the previous night, leaving behind their tents, cattle and sheep, everything that the captives had plundered, and the slopes were littered with abandoned weapons, horses and corpses that had lost their owners. The early morning sun shone on the dust splashed by the war horses, turning everything into gray, only the red Ming army flag, reflecting everything, like the morning sun!

Nezi leaned on his horse as much as he could, and his heart was full of remorse, he never expected that the retreat would turn into defeat, and the defeat would turn into a rout, and the rout would eventually turn into an escape. When he gave the order to retreat, more than half of his cavalry was still halfway through, and as a result, they just blocked the way for the retreat of the front army, and clashed with each other. Seeing this, the experienced Durbot did not rush his cavalry into battle, but divided them into a dozen squads, spread out in formation and rounded to the sides, shooting arrows at the Zaruts while blowing trumpets and shouting loudly to intimidate the defeated army. Most of the Zaruts had no idea how many enemies there were, and thought they were surrounded, trampling on each other in a panic, looking for a way to escape. Neqi tried to regain control of his men at first, but the arrival of the infantry gave him a fatal blow, and after two volleys of birds, three columns of spearmen in depth launched an assault, and the Mongol cavalry, which had lost its speed, quickly fell apart in the face of a dense formation of spearmen, and Nezi realized that he had to choose between escaping and becoming a prisoner of the Ming army.

With a good horse, dozens of loyal guards, and a bit of luck, Neqi finally escaped from the Shura field, but the 1,500 Zarut athletes he brought with him this time were gone. Tears flowed uncontrollably, drawing two deep grooves on the dusty face, and the shouts and guns behind him were like countless invisible ants, gnawing at Neiqi's heart, the big mistake had been made, everything was irreparable, he really didn't know how to face the eyes of those orphans and widows in the tribe on the chessboard.

"Great Khan, be careful!"

Before Neqi could react to what was going on, he only felt that he was empty, so he fell off the horse, rolled out more than ten meters on the ground, hit his head on a tree stump, and fainted in front of him.

Datong.

At night, the guards lit torches along the walls.

Midnight is approaching, Yang Sichang stood on the north gate tower, staring at the north, behind the darkness is the vast grassland in the clouds, since ancient times, there is the grassland on the grassland of those "proud sons of heaven" to invade the Central Plains. The cold wind is like a knife, bringing the sound of Hu Ji, although he is wearing a light fur cloak, but he still feels a chill through the bones, I don't know if it is the weather or the blade of Hu Cai.

"Young master, it's not too early, go back and rest!" The old servant Yang Qing said in a low voice, he looked at Yang Sichang's eyes full of concern and love, his grandfather worked in the Yang family as Yang He's scholar, he watched Yang Sichang speak out, enlightenment, admission, middle lift, entrance examination, Jinshi, and Shishi have been until today, decades of time have long changed the relationship between him and Yang Sichang from a master and servant to a kind of family affection similar to flesh and blood, especially after Yang He's death, the feelings in the relationship are even stronger.

"Hmm!" Yang Sichang nodded, he was about to turn around and go down to the city, but when he heard a commotion below, he hurriedly walked down the city tower and shouted in a low voice: "What is it?" ”

"Tell the Governor, it seems that there is an urgent envoy from Ningwu Pass, and he wants to open the city gate at night!" The general guarding the door hurriedly whispered, and his voice couldn't help but tremble a little in the face of this holy overseer.

"Open the gates!" Yang Sichang couldn't wait for the messenger to be brought up, and went straight down the city along the horse road, only to see a post man coming in through the crack in the city gate, only to see the person coming on horseback bumping, still whipping the mount, the horse was already half lame, and the steps were like a drum that was about to stop. The rider swayed on horseback like a drunk. The gatekeeper with torches met him and took hold of the reins of his horse. With the help of the light of the torches, Yang Sichang could see that the face of the post man was covered with air-dried dust, mixed with dark blood marks, I don't know whether it was the traces of the fight or the cold wind blowing out, the horse's nostrils flashed scarlet when they gasped, and blood foamed in their mouths.

"Water, water!" The post man's words were not military information, he unconsciously waved his arms, praying, the soldiers on the side hurriedly untied the water bladder on his waist, pulled out the plug and handed it to the post man, the post man poured a sip, but most of the water flowed to his chest, after drinking two sips of water, the post man finally regained some senses, he mustered up the last bit of strength and said in a hoarse voice: "Great victory, behead three hundred people, capture more than 200 people, and capture Zarut Khan alive!" ”

The silence in the cave of the city gate was terrifying, and everyone held their breath and stared at the post man, as if a breath of air would ruin the victory. Yang Sichang pushed away the guards who were blocking in front of him, walked quickly to the post guard, and asked sharply: "What the hell is going on, tell me the ins and outs!" ”

The post guard can be regarded as well-informed, seeing Yang Sichang's clothes, he hurriedly rolled down from the saddle and wanted to salute, but he galloped all the way, changing horses and not changing people, his legs were already stiff, and he fell to the ground and couldn't get up as soon as he landed. Yang Sichang simply knelt in a low voice, and shouted: "The ceremony is exempt, quickly report the military situation, say well, this superintendent has a reward!" ”

"Two days ago, Li Dongguo, the imperial historian of Hedong Patrol, led the Yansui Town Staff General Du Ruhu to pass through Ningwu Pass, and it happened that the captive chief Zalut Khan Neqi led the troops to raid Heishiyu, and General Du led the troops to break the thieves, captured the chieftain alive, and captured a lot!" The postman cleared his throat and roughly recounted it, then took out a letter from his bosom and presented it with both hands: "Lord Li's Tang Newspaper is here, please read it!" “

Yang Sichang snatched the letter, glanced at the seal, and then opened it and read it. For a while, he had mixed feelings in his heart, and after leaving Beijing, he was afraid that the war situation would be unfavorable, and he was afraid that someone in the court would attack him; anxiety about an unfavorable situation; the comfort of those who have been entrusted; The joy of winning was mixed together, and he didn't know what to say for a while. After half a ring, he turned his body, knelt down in the direction of the capital to the east, and solemnly kowtowed three heads: "Yang Erzu is blessed, the Son of Heaven is blessed, and the king is a thief!" “

As soon as he returned to the house, Yang Sichang returned to the study, spread out the pen and paper, and drafted the recital. If before this, he was still hesitating whether he should ask Chongzhen for the power to rule the two towns of Ningxia and Yansui, then this victory and Li Dongguo's letter completely dispelled this hesitation - this Li Daren praised Du Ruhu's generals and the elite soldiers of Ningxia Town in the letter: "The armor soldiers are strong, the firearms are mighty, and there are hundreds of captive horses, light and brave, and they are famous horsemen among the captives. Ningxia soldiers are the best in the world. The deeds of adults should not be separated from this town! And at the end of the letter, Li Dongguo also mentioned an important piece of information from the captured Zarut Khan Neqi - that the troops of the Eastern Captives had withdrawn from the border wall and should not be long before they returned to Liaodong. This is undoubtedly good news for him, he can completely link the retreat of the Eastern Capture with this victory, although he knows very well in his heart that the withdrawal of the Eastern Prisoner is only because of the arrival of winter, but this is not important, as long as the Son of Heaven does not know.

Yang Sichang wrote quickly, but he wrote the song in half a meal, and he did not emphasize his own merits, but copied the content of Li Dongguo's letter almost unchanged. In this way, his master Wen Tiren will naturally not oppose himself, anyway, as a supervisor, all the victories of his subordinates are his own share, not to mention that Li Dongguo's transfer of troops from Yansui Town was also approved by himself, with Chongzhen's character, he will definitely not hold a victor accountable afterwards.

"Young master, let's have a bowl of hot soup!" Yang Qing put down a tray and said with a smile: "Seeing you like this, the old servant is also very happy!" ”

"Huh!" Yang Sichang smiled, he took a sip of hot soup, and nodded the song on the table with a spoon: "Speaking of which, there is also an acquaintance in this excerpt, do you remember General Liu in Ningxia Town?" “

"How don't you remember?" Yang Qing smiled: "Is that the old man who selected Liu Cheng in his own army?" Am I not old yet? Speaking of which, he was born with a good appearance, tall and tall, and dignified, and he is not an ordinary person at first glance! ”

"Yes, Liu Zhentai is indeed a rare hero!" Yang Sichang tapped the letter with his finger, as if it was Liu Cheng: "After a few years of hard work, he has risen from a white coat to a town commander, with tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command, and the first in the world, in the past three hundred years, it is also an outlier!" Speaking of this, he paused: "I plan to invite the Holy Lord, the capital governor of Yansui, Ningxia, Xuan, and Dasi Towns, that is, the Shanxi military, and let Liu Cheng come to supervise the soldiers and horses of the Dao to resist the Eastern Captives." (To be continued.) )