A few years ago, after Xiao Liuzi gave Gu Zhenying a dressing mirror, Ambassador Gu not only comforted him with nonsense, noted down Xiao Baihu's goodness, but also said a piece of news that was not confidential, and it could be regarded as the news that Xiao Ye got by mistake.

Things were busy a while ago, and I didn't remember Gu Zhenying's words at all, but there was no money in my pocket, Xiao Ye racked his brains, and then I remembered that in the northeast of the grassland, there seemed to be Tartars, which was the intelligence obtained by the spies in Wuguan Town, which was revealed by Ambassador Gu.

Gu Zhenying's original intention was to let Xiao Ye be careful of the tartars, where would he have thought that Xiao Ye would take the initiative to come to the door to greet people.

Xiao Ye, who is very confident in his fire/gun, can't wait for the materials exchanged for the yellow plaster, which can barely feed the people in Tunli.

Due north of Wuguan Town, out of Qingfeng Valley and then eight hundred miles to the north, after a swamp area next door, that is, the Tartars occupy the Yiji Naita Shuanghu; There, the water and grass are luxuriant, and it is also a gathering point for the Tartars, and even in winter, there are tribes stranded and will not crowd into the Hetao area.

Xiao Ye, who was poor and a little anxious, had already looked at the map several times with him, until he had accumulated the firearms and projectiles in his hand, and then he made up his mind; "Grab a handful and run,"

If you are not of my race, you have robbed it for nothing, and since the Tartars dare to threw the grass, they can also go to the grassland to beat the threshing grass; Xiao Ye, who surrounded and suppressed the wild wolves several times, unconsciously became infected with a faint wolf nature.

A snowmobile was drawn by a war horse, on which sat five scouts, who took the lead five hundred paces away, and the rest of the team followed, and sat on fourteen snowmobiles; Double-horse-drawn carriage, if the Tartars saw these Han people abusing the war horses so much, they might jump up and scold what they would be.

First to the northwest, around the northern edge of the Altai Mountains, and then to the north, deep into the hinterland of the steppe, the convoy was out of sight of the mountains behind it; The next day, the team was lost.

"Baihu, how long will it take to go further?" Running from the car at the head, Wang Hu asked nervously; Xiao Ye was wrapped in a silk coat, although he was still wearing a tartar coat outside, and his body was already freezing hard.

Xiao Ye, who was huddled next to the sergeant, took out the map with a trembling rope, looked at it for a while, and then looked at the vast grassland around him, which was not a landmark.

Yesterday the team passed through a small Gobi desert, which he knew was the westernmost Gobi, but there were no markings along the map, which made him regret it a little.

Without complete information, without scouts, he led the sergeants into the grassland, if it weren't for the individual tents, I am afraid that they would all freeze to death in the wasteland by now.

On the map, the Gobi Desert is an irregular triangle, narrowest in the west and wider in the east; "Go back, find the Gobi Desert, walk northeast along the Gobi Desert, and set up camp in two hours,"

Turned around and found the Gobi Desert, the sky was already dark, and they couldn't wait to put away the snowmobile, put a thick felt cloth on the war horses, and everyone got into the individual tent with bruised faces.

Take care of and feed the horses, and have their own sergeants on duty to take care of them.

"I can't do it again in the future," Xiao Ye, who was leaning on the tent, chewed on the hard dry food, and his heart was weak; The open lookout, the cold wind kept sweeping in the fresh air, clearing his mind.

When he set off again in the morning, a sergeant suggested that the tent should be propped up on a snowmobile, and everyone would take turns to go in to escape the cold, which made Xiao Ye laugh and readily agree; He had had enough of the cold on the road for four days.

Sure enough, the tent with the spire was propped up on the snowmobile, and two people sat outside to ride the war horses, and the others got in, and as soon as the body was warm, the silent convoy became much more lively.

Yiji Naita Shuanghu Lake is directly north of the Gobi Desert, which is the final point of the Xilong River, and there are two low mountain packs on the west side of the lake, one large and one small, like two mountain towers, blocking the cold current in the south.

On the meadow between the mountain bag and the lake, which is more than ten miles wide, the Tartars set up cowhide tents at the foot of the mountain, and a large herd of livestock locked in the mountain col, quietly survive the bitter cold of winter in the snow; Some ragged Han Chinese slaves, wrapped in foul-smelling skins, tended their livestock and cleaned up their dung every day.

When the fifteen-grain snowmobile slowly appeared on the west bank of the lake, the war horse pulling the cart was already swaying and unable to stand, and it was frozen in the wild for six days in the cold winter, and it was devastated for thousands of miles, they were able to hold on to this place, and Xiao Ye was also quite surprised.

Seeing the two white mountains from the telescope, as well as the tents under the mountains, Xiao Ye breathed a long sigh of relief, although there was still dry food, but if the war horses died on the road, they would be miserable.

It's just that the Tartar tribe in front of him is also too big, Xiao Ye hesitated for a while, in case the Tartar brigade came over desperately, the consequences would be unpredictable. Holding the binoculars and looking at the full stick of incense, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the distance and direction along the Xilong River are conducive to a surprise attack, the Tartars are not stupid, and once the cruising spies are alarmed, they can't run, and they really don't have to.

Not to mention the gravel under the snow, which was also a problem for horses to step on, and the more unfamiliar swamps, which he did not dare to risk.

But since he was here, he didn't fight it, Xiao Ye was willing, he could only gamble, gamble on the cavalry of the Tartar brigade, and transferred to the grassland of the southeast Hetao.

"Order, rest for a while, attack at noon," in the urging of the guards, the sergeants of the small banners, gathered the snowmobiles, simply ate some dry food, scooped a handful of snow from the ground and stuffed it into their mouths, and began to assemble the team and organize the equipment.

The strip of cloth stuffed on the muzzle of the musket was removed, and the bolt was pulled to clear the magazine, and the crossbow and handcuffs were also prepared; "Drip," the sharp suona sounded on the grassland snow.

Seventy sergeants, divided into two columns, the front and rear, with the fire guns high on their shoulders, followed Xiao Ye's order, took neat steps, and slowly approached the tribe of the Tartars.

Ascending a gentle slope, when the frozen mirrored lake appeared before the sergeants, the Tartars also spotted the uninvited guest to the west.

The heavy snow covers the grassland, which also makes the Tartar horses inert, who does not know their territory here, to say that a thick layer of snow in the winter, they are too laborious to ride a horse, not to mention the Ming people who came from afar; No one would have thought that the Akito would dare to pick such weather to attack.

The leather coats and leather jackets of the seized Tartars on their bodies made the suspicious Tartars keep looking, but there were still people scolding the slaves for cleaning the pens for the cattle and sheep; It wasn't until they saw two rows of fiery guns raised high that the Tartars cried out in confusion.

This is definitely not a tribe that has fled, no tribe has so many fires/guns.

The low sound of bull's horns made the Tartars hiding in the tents walk out of their tents one after another, carrying knives and bows, and the grass outside the tribe was thicker than the calf-thick snow, and the war horses could not run.

Groups and strands of Tartars gathered together, howling in the black and black of men, women, and children, began to meet Xiao Ye's team; This scene made Xiao Ye secretly gasp, he was here to rob, but there were too many Tartars here.

Thousands of Tartars, seventy sergeants, the difference is really big. But now at this juncture, retreat is impossible. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Ye, who was standing on the outermost side of the first row, clenched the fire/gun in his hand.

He is dressed like a sergeant, but he is not so conspicuous.

The silent queue was still approaching, making these hideous-faced and menacing Tartars suddenly boil and shout louder.

A few tribal elders in the crowd, dressed in white gold-painted robes and hats with pointed horns, quickly brandished the scimitars in their hands, and hundreds of Tartars on war horses sped up to pounce on the hateful Han people.

The horses rushed into the snow, and their speed was almost halved, but the momentum of the Tartars was still terrifying.

"Stop, raise the fire gun to load," Xiao Ye, who was standing on the far side of the team, stopped his steps, raised the Shiguan fire gun in his hand, and pulled the bolt to load.

"Shotgun aim," Wang Meng counted the distance of the other party's approaching, and continued to shout with a firecracker, "Five hundred steps, five hundred and fifty steps, the shotgun will attack at will,"

"Peng, Peng," the seven shotguns in the front row of the team fired the first shot, and the sergeants led by Xiao Liuzi and Qin Dazui pulled the trigger fiercely; Suddenly, the Tartar, who was still rushing forward on his horse, had a ball of blood blooming on his chest, and fell on his back on his horse and dragged him down on the snow.

The constant sound of fire, stimulated these Tartar cavalry, screamed and lowered their bodies, trying with all their might to close the distance in order to release the sharp arrows in their hands.

"Peng, Peng," less than two hundred and fifty paces of charging road, two rounds of shotguns were fired in succession, knocking down these fierce Tartars on their horses without landing; At this time, they were nearly two hundred steps away from the sergeant queue, and they did not even have the opportunity to shoot arrows.

"Whoa, whoa," the Tartars probed behind their horses, and countless Tartars who rushed up on foot, wielding scimitars and holding horned bows, screamed and rushed up, and the death of the warriors was enough to stimulate the crowd to surge.

The sergeants in silk cotton coats were reluctant to tear them and put them on the snowmobiles early; One by one, the sergeants in leather cuirass, holding the big hands of the firearms, rubbed a few times on the hem of the leather jacket from time to time to wipe off the sweat stains in the palms of their hands.

"Peng, Peng, Peng," the sporadic shotgun sounded, and with the rapid flow of people, the frequency of shooting was also accelerating, but the Tartars who kept falling couldn't stop the footsteps of the big stocks rushing upward.

When a pair of hateful eyes became clear again, the sergeants finally heard Wang Meng's command, "Squat in the front row, all of them, shoot in place,"

"Peng, Peng, Peng," the sound of the gunpowder sounded, and the faint smoke of gunpowder filled the side, which was quickly swept away by the cold wind, and the sergeants who fired like a machine, according to the trained shooting speed, pulled the trigger, pulled the bolt to retract, cleaned the magazine, and loaded the ammunition, all these actions, after the completion of the two breaths, aimed and fired again.

Seventy firecrackers faced the Tartars who came forward, and soon the Tartar crowd rushed to a distance of fifty paces, and the first row of sergeants dropped the firecrackers in their hands and took out the firecrackers in their waists in the shouts of Wang Meng.

Although the rain of bullets and arrows caused hundreds of Tartars to fall and hundreds to be injured, the steppe Mongols, who were mentally tough, raised their bows and arrows in their hands despite the casualties.

"Poof," a sergeant fell down holding his neck, and another sergeant screamed miserably, pressing the sharp arrow on his face and fell, Xiao Ye couldn't help it, "Shocking thunder, shaking thunder," his shout made the sergeants wake up one after another, took out the earth-shaking thunder and pulled off the fire rope, crackled and threw it out.

"Boom, boom," a series of earth-shattering thunderbolts rang out, two for each of the seventy people, a total of one hundred and forty explosions, and then a large chunk of the Tartar crowd was missing.

The continuous explosions finally broke the crowd of the Tartar brigade, and when they saw that several sergeants had been knocked down by bows and arrows, the two rows of expressionless sergeants were ignored at all, and the crowd dispersed far away.

Tartars are also people, and they don't want to face the constantly ringing fire, suffocating themselves to death under the gun, and the powerful earth-shattering thunder is not the kind that scares people at all, and the bloody fighting spirit is immediately blown away; They are warriors on horses, not unjust ghosts on foot.

"Peng, Peng, Peng," the sound of the guncorps continued to sound, until the crowd of Tartars had dispersed two hundred paces away, and then Wang Meng shouted for the gunners to cease fire, and he ignored the seven shotguns, allowing them to continue firing from a distance.

At the time of the tea, the shotguns stopped firing one after another, and the Tartars ran a mile away.

"The first platoon got up, and all the guns were on their shoulders," the two columns were advancing horizontally, and the sergeants' dark faces could not see expressions, but their bright eyes were already hot and red. The scarlet snow beneath their feet, the overlapping corpses, and the struggling tartars, no one paid attention, and the cowhide boots stepped on them heavily.

Approaching the ranks of the Tartar tribes, on the shore of the lake, they formed a formation.

In front of him was a cowhide tent with no end in sight, and Xiao Ye's leather boots were full of mud, and his eyes narrowed when he stepped on the sparse dead grass.

More than a dozen old Tartars in gorgeous leather clothes, without any weapons in their hands, behind them, panicked Tartars, old and young, women and children, black pressed into a piece.

"Guests from afar, please don't kill, our Datl tribe is a tribe under the Saiyin Arakjin Nong Tent, and we have no intention of clashing with you," the earnest Tatar leader bowed to his chest and spoke in stammering Chinese.

If it weren't for the heavy snow that made it impossible for the war horse to gallop, if it wasn't discovered too late, if, wait, even a wild wolf on the grassland, when it encounters a fierce hunter, it will become a well-behaved hunting dog, let alone a tartar who respects strength.

"We are the official army of the Ming Dynasty, I heard that you have plundered our people, and we have come to rescue us," Xiao Ye, who was righteous and righteous, did not dare to confide in his subordinates, and said loudly, "Hand over all the Han people, and we will leave,"

The Tartar leader, who was very surprised, didn't expect that the Ming army that came to attack the tribe on a snowy day turned out to be just for those humble and dirty slaves, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "Okay, Anda is on top, I will hand over all the Han people immediately,"

More than 300 ragged Han slaves were hastily gathered on the shore of the lake, Xiao Ye pointed at these slaves, and looked at the Tatar leader angrily, "You wait for me to serve the Han people of the Ming Dynasty, and destroy them like this, do you want the army to destroy your tribe?" ”

The Tartar leader didn't need to look at it, but he also knew the miserable condition of these slaves, so he bowed down and kept silent, and his heart was a little worried. The word "army" made him very uneasy.

Could it be that this is just a vanguard, and there is a large Ming army behind it? This is bad, most of the elites in the tribe have already transferred to the Hetao, and it is impossible to rush back.

"Handing over five thousand taels of gold, one thousand cattle and sheep, and fifty carts are considered compensation," Xiao Ye, who was staring, pondered for a moment and said.

For his lion to open his mouth, the Tartar leader naturally stopped, and began to cry out again and again, saying that in other tribes, there were more Han people robbed than him, and he was just a small tribe left behind.

After several bargains, in the strange eyes of the sergeants, Xiao Ye reluctantly agreed, and the Tartars compensated two thousand taels of gold, five thousand taels of silver, one hundred war horses, thirty carts, twenty brand-new cowhide tents, and a number of leather goods, and promised not to go south to threshing grass.

Cattle and sheep are the life/root of the Tartars, so naturally they will not be handed over easily, but if they can get the gold and silver, Xiao Ye is also secretly happy; Guarantee? He didn't believe it, and I guess the Tartar wouldn't believe it either.

After promising not to attack the Datel tribe again, Xiao Ye accepted these Han slaves and received the gold and silver as compensation; These bright gold and silver made him think differently.

Threshing grass, it is true that the money comes much faster.

Thirty oxen pulled carts, two loaded with jerky and cheese, three loaded with leather goods, and the others pulled forage, and the leader of the Datel tribe saw the Han army retreating, and hurriedly gathered his subordinates, treated the wounded, and gathered the scattered troops.

Xiao Ye, as an officer of the Ming Army, also received a bag of jewels from the Tartar leader in private, which he handed over to Wang Meng, the small flag on duty, and returned to Shiguantun to score points to the officers.

I have to retreat quickly, if the Tartars react, for the sake of what they have in hand, I am afraid that people will chase them to Shiguantun and fight to the end.