Xiao Ye braved the rain and walked up to the fort wall of Eagle Claw, it was the time when the Tartars in the north began to storm the stone fort, the sky was overcast, and it rained heavily, and it was almost impossible to see far when looking down.

On the Gobi Desert, a mile away from the stone fort, ten ox carts are lined up, and a thick lantern is hung under the square tent set up about 20 steps apart.

This large lantern made of thin cowhide nitrate is a native product of the Tartars on the grassland, which is not afraid of wind and rain, and also gives them a kind of lantern when marching, showing the symbol of status.

Only the Tartar cavalry above the captain of ten thousand will carry this kind of light car; At present, the lantern cart, which was guarded by the Tartar soldiers, shone a hundred paces, and was placed forward one after another from the Tartar cavalry position, following closely behind the slaves.

A long bright spot, slowly approaching the tall dark stone castle on a rainy night.

The slaves who had been forced up by the Tartars under the stone fort were struggling to clear the vines and grass from the ground under the cover of their companions who were carrying thick planks in front of them; One by one, the slaves who were put down by the stinger would be dragged aside by their companions, drenched in the rain and waiting to wake up, and then they would continue to pick up short knives and sticks.

One night of clearing the vine grass, and at the speed of the slaves' advance, the Tartars could carry the long ladder and rush directly under the stone fort wall in the early hours of the morning at the latest; At that time, as long as the sky does not clear, this stone fort sticking out of the edge of the grassland will definitely become a place of celebration for the Tartars.

Tawolfwa is convinced of the strength of his wolf cubs, and he is also quite proud that he has obeyed the strategy of his beloved general.

In the two hidden bunkers that protruded from the stone fort, the water had already overflowed their thighs, and one of the chiefs with the guards guarded inside, holding fires/guns, but from the low shooting holes, the rain flew in with a torrent of water, making it difficult for them to open their eyes.

"Withdraw, guard to the entrance," the helpless chief, holding a fire/gun and a leather case, turned and retreated towards the entrance, and the guards holding the wind lamps behind him followed all the retreat; Needless to say, the situation in the other bunker was not much better than here.

On the fort wall directly north of the stone fort, along the stone battlements of the women's wall, the crooked cowhide tents were hastily erected on the road, and the guards hiding inside carefully guarded their fires/guns, and the leather boxes loaded with projectiles were even more tightly stuffed in their arms, and they all looked like their stomachs were bulging.

In the sound of the rain, from time to time, there were guards who stretched out their heads to look down, listened to the movements below, and led the team to shoot a few shots at the faint light in the distance.

This kind of blind shooting, although it does not play much role, but it is better to see the direction and harass those stubborn Tartars than nothing. On a cold rainy day, it's better to move your hands and feet a few times than to sit still and shiver.

In an open space on the fortress wall, under the sturdy tent, Liu Shuihe stood there with a solemn face with a few personal guards, and from time to time there were heralds next to him, loudly reporting the news of the letter from the people in the military house.

"In the northwest direction, there are more than 300 Tartars, 900 to 1,000 steps closer to the stone fort," as the herald repeated loudly, Liu Shuihe's personal guards ran quickly to both sides of the fort wall, informing the latest news to the guards and captains.

The guards in the east, west, and south directions, although the number of people is small, but it is necessary to keep in touch.

As the rattan grass kept spreading around, the sand table components that Xiao Ye took out from the basement, the big sand table that Wang Ziliang looked at tightly, had become several times larger.

Wang Ziliang, who was far away in the Madao Stone Fort, informed Duan Damin of the situation of the nearby Tartars through the display on the sand table, and the news naturally spread to the castle wall; This kind of relay type of enemy situation notification was invented in such a hurry.

However, the vines and grass outside the stone fort were constantly cleaned up, and the sand table obtained by Wang Ziliang showed that it was becoming more and more blurred, and it wouldn't be long tonight, and all the people in the Eagle Claw Fort had to be on guard against the fort wall.

Under the guidance of the guards, Xiao Ye took Wang Meng, Shang An, and Shang Tie to climb the fort wall, and saw the guards who were sticking to the left and right, hiding under the tent in an orderly manner, and the angry wind lamps were swaying in the rain, and they couldn't help nodding secretly.

The terrain on the fort wall was narrow, and he couldn't put down so many troops, so the guards he brought, the personal guards, and the cavalry of Aman, could only be used as reserve troops to go to the military lodge to rest temporarily.

"Lord Baihu, you're here," Liu Shuihe, who ran over after hearing the sound, saw Xiao Ye and hurriedly crossed his hands to salute, and Liu Shuihe, who was fully armed, felt that the pressure on his body was suddenly reduced by half at this moment, and his expression became relaxed.

The arrival of Xiao Ye not only stabilized the morale of the troops in the fort, but also indicated that the reinforcements had arrived safely, and of course, the command of the enemy was immediately transferred to his hands.

"Be careful, the Tartars will take advantage of the rain to attack, and they will naturally retreat when the weather is clear," Xiao Ye smiled and patted Liu Shuihe's shoulder, for this loyal soldier, he took a very high look at it by scheduling the garrison tonight.

"How to defend here, it's still up to you, this official is just a spectator, fight well,"

Capable subordinates, Xiao Ye is willing to let them stand up and show their skills, let go of their means, compared to the original selection of flag officers in the thousands of households, this kind of real knife and gun/gun test, in order to find out the real cadres.

There are Liu Shuihe's hundred-man team on the fort wall, and Miao Biwu's hundred-man team, which is enough to deal with the night attack of the Tartars, and now that Wang Meng, who is good at defense, has also arrived, then there is no need for Xiao Ye to worry about it here.

Leaving Wang Meng and Liu Shuihe, Xiao Ye took his personal guards to the platform at the highest point of the stone fort, which was the real commanding heights of firepower, the night owl guards guarding it, plus Hao Yongliang's team, with the guards of the castle wall below, the upper and lower layers of firepower attack, Xiao Ye did not believe that the Tartars' crowd tactics could conquer this stone fort in one fell swoop.

This is also based on the fact that there is enough ammunition, if Xiao Ye would not have been so calm half a year ago. In order to deal with the Tartar threat faced by Eagle Claw Fort, he took out more than half of his resources and exchanged them for weapons and ammunition.

On the stone castle platform, Xiao Ye saw Hao Yongliang, who was busy, and Qin Shishi, who was idle in a daze.

Like Liu Shuihe below, Qin Shi put most of the family guards in the military house below to rest, and the weapons were carried with him, so that he could come up and defend at any time, so there was no need for everyone to hide in the shaking tent and stay up wet all night.

Only Hao Yongliang's team, under a fixed and sturdy tent, had set up the lightning cannon, covered with a thick tarpaulin, and boxes of guns and grenades were also tightly covered with tarpaulins.

He is the only artillery point in the stone fort, and he must be prepared as a deterrent, even if he can fire a cannonball, it is also an oppression for the Tartars below.

When he came to the platform, Xiao Ye saw two wind lanterns hanging under the flagpole, swaying constantly by the heavy rain, Qin Shishi, who was wearing a robe, with more than a dozen family guards, was hiding under the tent that was open on all sides, smoking dry smoke and laughing loudly.

Surrounded by them was the heavy machine gun, tightly wrapped in oilcloth, and an iron box was placed on a wooden bench at their feet, and several people were squatting aside.

On the flat roof of the stone fort is a fine stucco slope, the rain poured down, along the south side of several drainage holes, directly to the outside of the stone fort, there will be no worries about water accumulation here, but with the heavy rain of the north wind, the guards under the tent have been drenched obliquely.

"Lord Baihu, Lord Baihu is here," In the shout of a sharp-eyed guard, as soon as Xiao Ye's figure appeared on the platform, not only Qin Shi and they grinned, but even Hao Yongliang, whose brows were twisted, was secretly relieved and ran towards Baihu quickly.

"Lord Baihu, why are you here, these Tartar soldiers have been waiting outside for more than ten days, and there is no movement at all," Qin Shishi, who was holding a cigarette pouch, followed Hao Yongliang and approached Xiao Ye and said with a smile.

"That's not the time, when it's time, you have to resist the official, don't tremble," Xiao Ye chuckled and raised his chin, pointing at the machine gun, "That big guy is useful?" ”

"Yes, it's so useful, when my subordinates came back from the Haixi people, they kept holding on to it, and waited for the Tartars to start attacking the stone fort before they showed their might," Qin Shishi, whose eyes flashed, smiled maliciously, obviously preparing to give the Tartars a trick.

"Don't think so well, this time the Tartars may do the opposite, they will attack while the rain is clear, once the weather is clear, they will not attack," Xiao Ye shook his head, "Your machine gun should also be careful, but the body is about to be wasted, don't be reckless and hurt the brothers,"

"Hey, I know, Liu Shuihe has already greeted me and Yongliang, this tartar is also very ghostly, not easy to deal with," Qin Shi snorted heavily, wiped the water stains on his face, and pulled Xiao Ye to the tent behind.

This tent, which faces the opening to the south, is hung with wind lanterns on the top, and in it are all kinds of projectiles, earth-shaking thunder, canned dry food, and boxes are set on square stone slabs, under which thin water flows.

A family guard was guarding the small iron stove in the tent, and the small pot on it was boiling with hot soup, and when he saw the Lord Baihu coming, he was surprised to pick up an iron box stacked next to him, "Lord Baihu, come, drink some hot soup, the small one is about to send it to Qin Tou."

Xiao Yele took the soup box, this kind of iron box that the sergeant picked up as a cooking box, it was originally a box for guns and grenades, but he didn't expect it to find a use. Those canned food boxes have become a good thing that the guards are reluctant to discard, find a blacksmith to clean up, drink water and eat is extremely convenient, and it can't be broken if it is deformed.

Seeing that Baihu was drinking the broth without disgust, the guards happily handed the soup boxes to Qin Shishi, Hao Yongliang, Shang An, and Shang Tie, took a square food box, and placed the soup box inside, it seemed that it was going to be taken out for those guards.

After the hot soup was in his stomach, Xiao Ye's whole body was cold and cold, and he was empty, and his eyes were sleepy with warmth; After talking to Qin Shi and Hao Yongliang, and sending them out, Xiao Ye looked around and found a raised soft couch, and he wanted to sit down and rest.

After running for most of the night, it is dawn now, not to mention that he is exhausted, even Shang An and Shang Tie are also full of fatigue.

At this moment, heavy footsteps came from outside, and the herald shouted loudly through the tent, "Lord Baihu, news from Madao Stone Fort, just north of Stone Fort, the Tartars have been assembled, and the number is thousands,"

Hearing this, Xiao Ye suddenly had a spirit, and ran outside with his personal guards, and as soon as he stood in the rain, he heard crackling fire/gunfire in his ears, and the fort wall under the platform was also roaring.

"Hehe, it's coming, it's coming," rubbing his swollen face, Xiao Ye sneered and ran quickly to Hao Yongliang, passing by the tents of the night owl guards, the heavy machine gun inside had been neatly removed from the cloth, and the shiny bullet chain was taken out of the iron box.

As soon as he ran into the tent where the lightning cannon was placed, Xiao Ye saw Hao Yongliang's team, eleven soldiers, two in a line, standing in the front row and the back row, with a fist-sized grenade on the shotgun in his hand, obliquely raised.

"Lord Baihu, the Tartars are here," Hao Yongliang, who was on the outermost side, nodded at Xiao Ye, shouted loudly with a shotgun, and when he saw Xiao Ye waving his hand at him, he turned his head to look at the herald beside him; The heralds who were all sent to various places in the stone castle by the broken Daming, there was also one by his side, and he was already pressing the earmuffs at the moment, with a solemn expression.

"100 steps, roughly in 100 steps," the excited herald had just shouted out the news he heard, and Hao Yongliang had already issued the order.

"Angle four, raise the gun," Hao Yongliang, who raised the shotgun in his hand diagonally, and the butt of the gun was tightly pressed against his shoulder, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw ten brothers on the side, followed his point, and also took a pose, and then pulled the trigger.

"Peng," After a dull sound, Hao Yongliang unloaded his gun and loaded the muzzle with grenades again, he was a javelin-thrower, and the others had to fire grenades at the angle he was pointing.

The tactics of the bow and arrow array in the Ming army were copied by Hao Yongliang, and it seems that the effect is good.

"Peng Peng, Peng Peng Peng," there was a series of muffled sounds, and the tent was already filled with gunsmoke, but the oncoming cold wind immediately blew away the smoke.

"Boom," although the light of the fire under the fort wall was short-lived, Xiao Ye also saw that the Tartar soldiers who came up under the black pressure and the wooden shield in their hands were blown away several times, and they couldn't help shouting loudly.

It is true that he is the supreme commander, but how the centurions in the stone fort defend have long been customized, let them fight, and only when there is a gap Xiao Ye will come to support; What's more, Wang Meng still has a team of guards there, Aman's cavalry, which can be pulled up at any time to fill the gap.

The rows of guns and grenades fired from the platform also caused the chiefs on the fort wall below to put down their not very easy guns, and shouted for their brothers to open the iron box under their feet.

There were only a dozen rifles, and they were still shooting outside, but their momentum was significantly lower.

There were heralds running around, shouting loudly about the approximate distance of the Tartar soldiers below, and one after another the earth-shattering thunderbolts with fire ropes were thrown far away.

Although the effect of the earth-shattering thunder that rained down was not satisfactory, it was better than the crackling shrapnel in the vine grass with a constant number of fires.

The continuous explosions made the tower wolf tile who was ready to overwhelm the stone castle with the number of people, and he was directly dumbfounded; In the Gobi Desert north of the stone fort, the tower wolf tiles standing on the rocky slope on horseback gnashed their teeth.

After dropping out to become a captain, he could no longer easily call in artillery from Jinong, and the terrain here, he couldn't even find wood for trebuchets built on the spot, so he could only rely on the rain to borrow a large number of people to see if he could capture this stone fort in one fell swoop.

Sure enough, under the heavy rain, the fire/gunfire that sounded in the stone fort was not as sharp as imagined, but his own fire/gun team, even the sharp archers, could only look at the other side with their eyes, and they couldn't help at all.

Gritting his teeth, Tawolfwa waved his hand, and the elite archers of the two centurions, led by the centurion, walked towards the stone fort.

Ranelte, who was beside Tawolfwa, also had a gloomy face, although his two thousand-man team was the main force of the third wave of attacks, but looking at the explosives that were constantly dropped on the stone fort, he felt that it seemed that his own idea was not the best strategy.

"Soldiers, you need to suppress them with pressure, and the best strategy is to fight against injuries," suddenly remembering the words of the old talent in his tribe, Lanelt thought about the black flag on the stone castle again, and unconsciously had an idea.

Although the game between the tribes on the grassland is cruel and bloody, no one wants to fight to the death, as long as they see that they can't get benefits, they basically end the hostilities through negotiations.

However, seeing the whirring air in Tawolf's nostrils, Ranelt wisely did not try to persuade him.

With the archers sent by Tawolfwa, the guards defending on the stone fort gradually suffered casualties, but the guards who had learned a lesson retracted their bodies, listened to the heralds scurrying back and forth, hoarsely looked at the distance between the tartar and the stone fort, and threw the earth-shattering thunder continuously from time to time.

The thunder that shook the sky with a roar, and the flames splashed under the stone fort, and also blew up the soaked Tartar soldiers into the distance.

"Peng," when a signal flare with a red ball of fire shot diagonally from the platform, a faint light swept across the north side, and the sky-shattering thunder continuously thrown from the fort wall stopped.

At this time, the attacking Tartars had already withdrawn to three hundred paces away, standing in the rain anxiously waiting for the horn of the next attack.

"Blow the trumpet, continue to attack, kill," the commander who had injured half of the hundred-man team, after gathering his men, looked behind him a few times, helplessly waved the scimitar in his hand, and gave the order to attack loudly.

It's not that he wants to attack the city in embarrassment on a rainy night, but there is a thousand-strong phalanx behind him, staring coldly at his back, not attacking the henchman of the ten thousand masters, Haoge, but a murderous lord who does not blink.

"Kill," the Tartar soldier with a wooden shield and a long ladder howled and ran quickly under a tight horn, aiming at the blazing stone fort opposite.

The slaves in front of them are basically dead, and the rest is to attack with their lives, as long as they can quickly run under the castle wall, the chance of survival is still half and half.

And this time, the flow of people under the fort wall gradually approached again, except for the sporadic gunfire above the stone fort, there was no continuous roar, and the effect of the heavy rain on the paper shell projectile was finally revealed.

It wasn't until hundreds of Tartars rushed to within a hundred paces of the fort wall that patches of earth-shattering thunder fell overhead, but the Tartars holding thick wooden shields spread out in formation, and their boots in the muddy water ran harder.

Letting the earth-shattering thunder fall from their heads, the Tartar soldiers trampled on the corpses of their companions and broke through the sparse Coptis trees; The open ground not far from the stone castle made them all happy, and their howls became louder and louder.

"Bump, bumper bump," when the constantly jumping thunder once again unleashed a large rain of bullets, sweeping away the Tartar soldiers running in the front, the panicked waves of people, a slight footstep, more earth-shattering thunder, gun grenades, and even dense short arrows smashed down above their heads, directly scattered the second attack.

However, there were also some Tartar soldiers who were lucky enough to run under the fortress wall, and the slightly curved fortress wall, the wall recessed into it, happened to be their hiding place.

In order to prevent climbing, this kind of fort wall was built, but it also made the guards above unable to hit the people below for a while, and they couldn't throw the earth-shattering thunder down the wall and blow up the wall, they didn't dare to imagine the consequences.

The stucco stones, which are not reinforced with iron bars, are not as strong as the high walls of the merchants.

When the thousand-man team responsible for opening the way in front rushed to the foot of the stone castle wall, the second wave of thousand-man team led by Wohauge had already taken a step forward and followed closely; However, the sound of explosions outside the walls of the castle and the splashing of fire made him stop in his tracks.

He had never seen Wo Haoge used so intensively by the Earthquake Thunder, constantly wiping the rain on his face, and the scimitar in his hand trembled a little, he seemed to understand now that the Ming people in the stone castle also had their means.

Thinking about the flag he saw during the day, Wohauge's heart moved, if he desperately took this stone fort, the damage to the troops would be too great, and the stone fort in the valley, how to deal with it, he couldn't fight all the three thousand people.

It seems that he and Lanelte have thought of one thing.

After several successive attacks, the Tartar soldiers had already transported the long ladder to the stone fort wall, only to find that the height of the fort wall seemed to be a little higher, and a dozen ladders could not reach the stone battlements of the fort wall at all.

Of course, the two long stairs are connected, and there is still hope of climbing the fort wall.

However, when a long tongue of fire spat out on the platform at the highest point of the stone fort, a low and continuous sudden sound cut the Tartar soldiers who continued to rush up into two; Without follow-up troops, the Tartars who stood under the walls of the fort became targets.

The sharp arrows that attack head-on are not on the same level as the earth-shattering thunder and projectiles that are smashed by the head.

When the guards were attached to the stone battlements, the short fire/guns in their hands rang out one after another, and the Tartar soldiers who were wailing under the fortress wall completely broke off the idea of attacking the wall.

Although some guards were constantly pierced by sharp arrows, those Tartars with bows and arrows were soon smashed by the earth-shattering thunder, which broke up the formation, and the rain of bullets swept across made them completely lose their confidence in shooting.

"Boom, boom," when a flowering bomb exploded under the fort wall, not only the tower wolf tile in the distance, but also the Wohaoge approaching three hundred steps to the stone fort, looking up at the sky, but also the face changed drastically.

"Woo, woo," a long horn sounded behind him, and when the Tartar soldiers retreated in embarrassment, they realized that the heavy rain overhead, at some point, turned into a drizzle.

The Tartars, who had left the ladder and the wooden shield, hurriedly retreated to the Gobi Desert with a horned bow with a weak bowstring. Taking advantage of the fact that the sky was getting white, the lightning cannon on the platform was a bombardment of the retreating Tartar soldiers.

The cannonballs that could shoot five miles away, chasing the backs of the Tartar soldiers, and directly driving the Tartars of the brigade out of range, even the vague Tartar banner quickly retreated.

The light cart that gradually moved away heralded this rainy night attack, which ended in a complete defeat for the Tartars; But Xiao Ye, who was standing on the stone castle platform, felt even more uneasy.

If the Tartars attack during the daytime and take advantage of the heavy rain, then what would it be. Looking back at Qin Shi's panicked expression, Xiao Ye didn't know how long he could hold on to the next step.

The angry Tartar Commander returned to the place of departure in a rage, and when he wanted to go to find the theory of Wohaug, he learned that Wohaug had gone to Captain Wan.

And the thousand-man team led by the commander of ten thousand men was moving in a northwesterly direction, obviously retreating to the grassland.

"Bah, cowardly fellow, Vohaug, you don't deserve to be a commander," the angry commander scolded loudly at the few generals left behind by Wohauge.

If Wohaorg led his troops to follow his attack, he might still have a chance to attack the stone fort wall, but his follow-up troops were not good, so he could only hide under the wall and let it be beaten and blown up, and there were more than dozens or hundreds of casualties.

On the drizzling fortress wall, when Liu Shuihe and the others saw the Tartar soldiers, in the cold wind of the early morning, they gathered and retreated to the western grassland, and they couldn't help cheering loudly; They were echoed by the shouting of the platform from above.

From the platform down to the fortress wall, Xiao Ye listened to Liu Shuihe and Wang Meng's reports on the battle at night, and his pale face became even more ugly.

The Tartars just rushed under the fort wall, and in the heavy rain they did not use firearms such as the Three-Eyed Fire System, and with the bows and arrows in their hands, they let the guards behind the stone battlements suffer no less than thirty casualties, so what if it was daytime, if they brought artillery and trebuchets.

The disadvantage in numbers made Xiao Ye and Tartar unable to consume such consumption.

"Lord Baihu, our remaining firearms and projectiles are less than half in stock, especially the earth-shattering thunder, which is basically consumed," Wang Meng took Huang Hanxiang and came to Xiao Ye, although he repelled the attack of the Tartars this time, but next time it will not be so easy.

Madao Stone Fort, the future is worrying.

The long ladder discarded by the Tartars under the stone castle indicates that next time, there may be the possibility of climbing the wall.

On the platform, Qin Shi and Hao Yongliang shot out the earth-shattering thunder and gun grenades, leaving behind empty boxes one by one, which made Xiao Ye shake his head secretly; The machine gun, which had been fired at a critical moment, had not yet finished firing, and the barrel suddenly exploded, almost injuring the eye of a guard.

Fortunately, the Tartars retreated, but the next time they attacked, the combat strength of the Night Stalker Guards fell straight to the level of an ordinary hundred-man team.

When the warm sun sprinkled on the green grass and the slight steam rose from the Gobi Desert in the north, the sergeants sent from the stone fort pulled the ox cart and pulled the Tartar soldiers who died under the fort wall and the wounded back to the stone fort.

More than a dozen wounded people who were not seriously injured, some medical soldiers bandaged their wounds casually, and some people watched them in the first-floor military dormitory, and the other more than 200 corpses, plus those seriously injured and disabled Tartars, Xiao Ye waved his hand and let the guards send them to the black room.

The guards guarding the black house have been replaced by the four knives who have just returned, and the guards led by Sun Xiaoming and Shang'an converged.