As soon as the order to set off was delivered, everyone went into action, and the left and right battalions were very different in style due to their different compositions. The left team was formed with horse thieves as the team, and it was vigorous and resolute, but it was lost in casualness. The right team is the people of the old camp of the Gaoyang Army, and they are good at emphasizing discipline, and they are slightly rigid compared to the left team that jumps out.

The first heavy snow in Chongzhen's eleventh year had a tendency to be out of control, but for an hour, the snow on the ground had not reached the surface of his feet. If you go down at this pace for the rest of the night, I am afraid that it will be knee-deep, and then the march will be very difficult.

Li Xin's eagerness to set off was based on this judgment.

In the gap between the left and right two battalions preparing to set off with the whole army, Li Xin found Kong Youde, because he had fought in the Qing army for many years and knew the behavior and habits of the Qing army very well, so he wanted to know something about the deployment conventions of the Qing army guarding such a small Jin.

Kong Youde has revealed what he knows, and there is no need for him to hide it, after all, his safety has been tied to Li Xin's chariot. Although he hated Li Xin for ruining his good foundation and turning from a dignified prince into a tired thief, the reality is that before he has enough strength, dormancy is the best choice.

For example, in places like the Iron Lantern Lamp, dozens of Tartar soldiers are usually left behind and supplemented by hundreds or more Han troops, which can monitor the internal movements and intelligence of the Ming Dynasty, and ensure the smooth flow of information between the various departments.

Hearing Kong Youde's judgment, Li Xin was still full of confidence in the operation of this raid on the Iron Lantern Inspection Division, and the biggest enemy in front of him now was not the Tartars, but the snow-covered thief.

Looking at the soldiers again, they fed the only dry food they had on their bodies to the war horses little by little, preferring to be hungry themselves. The left team was born as a horse thief, and he loves the war horse more than himself. Although the right team is a strong people, there are also many people who are born in horse households, and they naturally know the importance of war horses since they were young. Only when the horses are fed will they have the strength to gallop on the battlefield.

Li Xin's gaze swept over the soldiers one by one through the curtain woven by goose feathers and heavy snow, and it was nothing more than that, there was no way out of this battle, only victory and not defeat.

The left and right battalions followed Li Xin out of the woods, and it was an open field with a flat river, but the snow was very deep and the visibility was very low, although Li Xin's heart could be rushed out of the fire, the marching speed was still slow and unacceptable.

Due to the extremely complicated weather and road conditions, dozens of horsemen were scattered far away to explore the road to avoid the brigade of men and horses from colliding head-on with the Tartars without knowing it. Zhang Shi urged the war horse a few times and went hand in hand with Li Xin.

"Teaching, there should be a section of the Pigpen River in Yangcun in front, and after the river is the territory of the Iron Lantern Inspection Division, I don't know what the water level is, but I can't get there."

As a local horse household in Gaoyang, Zhang Shishi obviously knows the terrain of Lixian County, which is hundreds of miles away, and it is not easy to distinguish the direction in the case of heavy snow. He continued: "To be on the safe side, we might as well go upstream along the Pigpen River, there are many villages along the Pigpen River, so it's better to find a place to settle down and wait for the snow to stop before making the next step." ”

He still insisted on his previous idea of being cautious.

"Captain Zhang's words are wrong, the soldiers are in danger, you must know that the soldiers are impermanent, the water is impermanent, and the Tartars will also think that in this ghost weather, no one will sneak attack, let's do the opposite, but there is a great chance of surprise, and one blow will win."

The person who spoke vigorously shook off the snow flakes on his body, revealing Zeng Mingwa's bright bright light armor, which was Kong Youde.

Li Xin was noncommittal about what the two said, but in all fairness, Kong Youde's words were more in line with him.

Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves from far and near, followed by a burst of whistles, Li Xin's heart suddenly tightened, this is the agreed signal, so the call sign is a warning of encountering a large number of tartars.

Lu Jiu followed with a whistle, and the cavalry of the left team accelerated to the right flank, keeping a distance of about twenty paces from the right battalion.

The war horse loomed in the snow, and the four hooves could be faintly seen digging the ground, almost galloping without regard for a single qiē, and the rider was faintly leaning over the horse's back. After a while, he galloped in front of Ma Xin, the rider strangled the reins of the horse, the horse stepped on the ground with its hind hooves, and the front hooves rose high, sighing for a strange cry. The rider could no longer hold on, and fell to the ground on his heels.

"Hu Ergou is you?"

Zhang Shi was surprised to find that the rider was actually Hu Ergou, a scout sent to investigate the Iron Lantern Inspection Division. Li Xin also recognized this person, and hurriedly dismounted and helped him up, but saw that his face was pale, his body was cold, obviously he was cold and hungry, and he hurried to this point.

"Teach, teach, ahead, in front of the estuary, there are tartars, many, many, many......"

Speaking of fainting halfway, Li Xin hurriedly put him flat on the ground, pinched the person and pressed the tiger's mouth, and tossed for a long time to find that there was a Yin Hong under him. Zhang Shi hurriedly turned Hu Ergou over, only to see that Hu Ergou had a broken arrow shaft inserted in his vest, which was submerged in the flesh and did not know the depth.

"Stone, arrange for two people to stay and take care of Ergou, the march must not be delayed, and I will come back to find them after this battle!"

"Teach! Ergou, I'm afraid he can't do it! Why bother to catch two more brothers......"

Indeed, Hu Ergou was in the vest with an arrow, not to mention that it was difficult to treat the lack of medical treatment in the wild, it was difficult to climb to the sky if the arrow shaft was taken out, and if it was not done well, it would bleed to death.

Li Xin waved his hand.

"Don't say it, you trust me Li Xin, follow me Li Xin to kill the Tartars, and I, Li Xin, can't give up anyone!"

Zhang Shi stopped talking, and arranged for two people to stay behind to take care of the seriously injured Hu Ergou, while the rest of the men slowed down and continued to move forward. Tartar may not be far ahead, Li Xin is thinking about Hu Ergou's words, how many are there? How did Hu Ergou get hurt? Did he arrive at the Iron Lantern Inspection Division's station? And how did you encounter the Tartar? Question marks rose in Li Xin's mind.

Soon, the scattered horsemen returned one after another, and the news they brought answered some of Li Xin's questions. The estuary of the river was indeed passing through the army, and the crowds of men and horses meandered and dragged into a long line, but they did not see the head and tail, and crossed the river and went north along the river bank, probably because they were afraid of the snow and lost their way.

In fact, half a mile away was the mouth of the river, and because of the wind and snow, they did not realize until they came to the front that the Pigpen River was close at hand. Fortunately, Li Xin and the others came from west to east, and the Pigpen River went from south to north, so they did not collide head-on with the headless Tartar team.

It's also more to the terrain in front of you.

Half a mile away from the west bank of the Pigpen River is actually a mountain bag, and Li Xin's men and horses are in the west of this mountain bag, which happens to be blocked tightly.

Li Xin took a stone and followed the scattered horse to the top of the mountain bag, and looked up in the goose feather snow, a belt of black water divided the vast snow-white earth into two pieces, and a team without ending in the shadows was lying across it. Looking at the scale, there are not 50,000 but also 30,000, or even more.

Li Xin was afraid for a while, if he hadn't discovered it in advance, the consequences would be unimaginable once he bumped into it without a head. If it weren't for the heavy snowfall, there would have been a large number of cavalry in such a large marching procession, and more than 600 of them would inevitably be discovered, and it would have been difficult for them to escape their pursuit.

"Huh!"

Zhang Shi suddenly pointed to the team suspiciously.

"It's a little strange to teach and see there?"

Li Xin followed the stone finger and looked. Sure enough, there were bullock carts in the procession, and if you looked closely, it seemed that many people were pushing wheelbarrows, and these carts were all high and seemed to be full of goods.

It's a pity that the visibility is too poor, and the distance is far away, so I can't see the real thing.

"Teach and see!"

Zhang Shi shouted, only to see that there seemed to be a commotion among the long people and horses, dozens of people suddenly broke away from the team and ran in the direction of Shanbao, Li Xin and Zhang Shi unconsciously turned their horses backwards to prevent being discovered.

However, what stunned Li Xin was that the dozens of people fell down in just an instant, and someone behind them was shouting, as if they were firing their bows and arrows.

What's the situation, could it be that the Tartars caused infighting and mutiny?

Zhang Shi's eyes were sharp, and he pointed to a few people who were lucky enough not to fall and said to Li Xin: "That person doesn't seem to be a Tartar, yes, it's our Han people!" ”

The Manchurian hairstyle of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties was different from the shaved off forehead hair in the later Qing court dramas, and the hair in the middle of the brain was knotted back into a thick braid, and the hair on the man's entire head was almost completely shaved off, leaving only a piece of hair the size of a copper coin at the back of the head, and then knotted into a braid with the thickness of a mouse's tail, which is the so-called copper coin rat tail. Therefore, it is very easy to identify the Tartars, and if you look closely at the few people who ran forward without their lives, they had hair on their heads, and they were obviously the people of the Ming Dynasty.

In an instant, Li Xin understood what kind of Tartar army this was, and it was clearly a team of people, animals, and goods that the Tartars plundered. Soon, less than ten of the dozens of people who escaped were shot, but driven by the desire to survive, they did not give up running for their lives or kneeling on the ground to beg for mercy, but ran to the mountain bag even more recklessly, as if they would be completely free if they climbed over the mountain bag.

The snow was still falling, and there was no sign of abating, and Zhang Shi couldn't bear to look at it again. He knew very well how they could outrun the feathered arrows of the Tartars, and it was only a matter of time before they were shot one by one.

Li Xin put his fingers in his mouth and let out a long whistle, then pulled out the Yanling knife on his waist and wrapped it down.

"Zhang Shi listened to the order, everyone on the right team dismounted, the muskets were loaded, and the formation was fifteen steps behind the top of the slope."

Zhang Shi was suddenly stunned, and then looked at Lu Jiuzuo's team not far away, and after hearing the whistle, he accelerated and went straight to the top of the slope.

"Teaching and learning must not be rash and attack ......"

"Since you and I are under the banner of the Ming Dynasty, we must protect the people of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise how can we raise the battle flag behind us!"

Li Xin interrupted him!

Zhang Shi couldn't help but glance at the scarlet battle flags fluttering in the wind and snow in the team behind him, and a burst of blood surged into his heart, and he only felt that his whole body was about to boil.

Teaching Li Xin to forcibly save these unarmed Ming people under the condition that the enemy's situation is unknown, he no longer hinders him, nor does he have the slightest fear. For a long time, not to mention the people's strength, even the officials and soldiers have changed color when they hear the Tartars, and they have rushed to flee for their lives, regardless of a qiē, and let the people be ravaged, otherwise how could his wife and daughter-in-law who had just passed the door be poisoned by the Tartars?