Chapter 272

In the middle of the night, the hazy people who were sleeping because of hunger were awakened by the sound of shouting and killing, Song Nan thought that it was the Tartars who launched a new round of attack, but jumped up and saw Wan Zhi on duty at night with a few guards standing on the edge of the cliff and looking down.

Song Nan ran quickly, looked at the Tartar military camp below, and was immediately taken aback.

In the valley outside Xinping Fort, the shouts of killing were deafening, torches were swaying, human figures were pupils, dozens of tents were on fire, and the neighing of people and horses was incessant.

In the firelight, people were fighting each other, the sound of clanging blades and the screams of dying could be heard in the distance, and from time to time new tents were on fire, and the scene was chaotic.

Zhengde and Liu Jin were also awakened and rushed to watch, Liu Jin said happily: "Your Majesty, it was our reinforcements who attacked the Tartar barracks at night, now it's okay, the emperor can get out of trouble." ”

Zhengde said: "Really? This is great, Song Nan, should we rush down and join forces inside and outside? ”

Song Nan sighed and was silent, and Zhengde was surprised: "What? Isn't it my Ming reinforcements? ”

Song Nan said: "Your Majesty, naturally the soldiers and horses of Ulzhou are attacking the Tartar barracks at night, but it is just a small group of harassment, look at this scale is only a few hundred people attacking the enemy's southern camp, hey, Lord Jiang is asking people to die." ”

Zhengde was stunned and said, "Is it just a tentative attack?" ”

Song Nan said: "This is a suicidal attack, Lord Jiang must want to explore the reality of the Tartars, and at the same time contain the Tartars, so as to divert the attention of the Tartars and relieve our pressure." ”

The shouting and killing sound below lasted for half an hour, and slowly became sporadic, dozens of tents in the southern camp of the Tartars were on fire and burning, but the other Tartar barracks, especially the Tartars stationed in Xinping Fort, did not move, except for the patrolling soldiers looking at the wall, almost no one went to reinforce, it can be seen that the Ming army that attacked the Tartar barracks at night had been killed, and the Tartars did not care about this night attack at all.

"This Jiang Bin, taking the lives of my soldiers is so careless, it's child's play." Zhengde is both disappointed and angry.

Song Nan shook his head and said: "Don't worry, the emperor, Lord Jiang can't help it, the reinforcements of the brigade have not arrived, and he can't sit back and watch the Tartars attack us, so he can only take the initiative to distract the Tartars." Night raids are a good idea, the Tartars are not good at night fighting, I believe that the losses of the Tartars must be much greater than ours, and the constant harassment will make the Tartars impetuous; If my guess is correct, there will be many night attacks tonight, that is, the Tartars will take the initiative to attack, and the Ulju army must have built fortifications and is ready to fight, and fighting a defensive battle is our strong point. ”

Zhengde's face turned slightly pale and said, "So Jiang Bin did it on purpose?" ”

Song Nan said: "Lord Jiang has been fighting with Tartars in the border town of Ulzhou for more than ten years, his combat experience cannot be doubted, the emperor can rest assured, it is still early before dawn, and Gonggong Liu will wait for the emperor to go to sleep." ”

Zhengde sat on the ground on the edge of the cliff and said: "I don't leave, I want to watch my Ming soldiers attack the enemy camp at night, they are desperate, how can I sleep?" ”

Song Nan was not reluctant, and beckoned the other guards to hurry up and rest, as soon as the morning dawned, the Tartars would definitely attack again, and it was only right to save some effort to kill the enemy.

This night, as Song Nan expected, almost every other hour, there was a shout of killing, and the Ulzhou army attacked as many as three times in one night, and each time a small death squad of more than 100 people rushed down from the mountain beams on both sides.

These guys are not afraid of death, they cut down when they see people, and burn tents when they see them, which seems to be out of order, and they are soon killed by the Tartars, but the losses brought are really not small, three batches of 500 Ming troops were all killed, but more than 600 Tartar soldiers were killed, more than 300 tents in the south camp were burned, and more than 200 horses were hacked to death in the stables; What's even more annoying is that this night's tossing almost made the five thousand Tartar soldiers in the southern camp stay awake all night, exhausted one by one.

Song Nan and the guards slept very soundly, Zhengde and Liu Jin acted as night watchmen, and everyone could rest assured that the shouting and killing sound below would be a lullaby. At dawn, everyone woke up one after another, but found that Zhengde and Liu Jin were still sitting on the edge of the cliff and looking down, the green smoke in the southern camp of the Tartars was a mess, and the Tartar soldiers were slowly cleaning up the scattered camp tents, carrying the corpses to dig pits and bury them.

"Your Majesty, rest and go, recharge your energy to meet the attack of the Tartars, it is time for the Tartars to go crazy again at dawn." Song Nan persuaded softly.

Zhengde glanced back at Song Nan, and his eyes darkened a little after staying up all night, but his expression was a little excited: "Song Nan, as you said, Jiang Bin tossed the tartar badly enough this night, and I can't wait to go down with my wings to help fight." ”

Song Nan sighed: "Your Majesty, Tartar is not a vegetarian, haven't you seen other camps not moving?" Lord Jiang is only an expedient measure to do this, we can't help, let's deal with the current crisis first. The emperor is afraid that he is hungry and can't stand it, he has to find a way to get some food, Liu Gonggong waits for the emperor to go up and rest for a while, you can't sit on the cliff after dawn, the strong bow of the Tartar is not a joke, I will go around to find something that can be satisfied. ”

Liu Jin responded, helped Zhengde down to the pit, and let Zhengde rest against the pit wall, Zhengde was really tired, and closed his eyes to recuperate.

Song Nan looked at the bare peak, and there was nothing but gravel and gravel; The only thing you can find to be hungry is the cliff on the north side with some weeds and low trees, fasting for three meals, no matter what, you have to get something to pad your stomach, even if it is grass roots and tree bark, you have to chew it and swallow it, otherwise how can you have the strength to cope with the torment of the seventh day?

Song Nan took Wan Zhi and several guards who still had the strength to climb down the cliff slowly, down to the mountain beam where they were hidden yesterday, everyone looked down, the corpses of the Tartar soldiers who were buried by the mud and rocks yesterday had begun to decompose, and the stench emitted was steaming upward, and the stench could still be smelled on the mountain beam more than ten zhang high; Everyone held their breath and searched along the rock wall, and almost all the thatch roots, tender bark, and young grass sprouts were swept away.

Song Nan found a foot-high elm tree in a rock crevice, on which strings of elm coins grew vigorously, and he immediately uprooted it and kicked it in his arms.

"My lord, there are living creatures." Wan Zhi's voice of surprise came.

Song Nan looked over and saw Wan Zhi climbing the edge of the rock with one hand, leaning down to face a gap in the rock, and waving towards Song Nan with the other.

"Living creatures?" Song Nan was overjoyed.

"It's like a snake." Wan Zhi reached for it, and Song Nan hurriedly shouted, "Don't move, I'll come." ”

According to Song Nan's experience, the snakes that appear between such rock walls must not be good, they are likely to be poisonous snakes, and poisonous substances will be produced in barren and bitter places, which is similar to the poor mountains and bad waters.

Wan Zhi's body moved away, and Song Nan went over, Song Nan looked into the crack, a colorful flower snake entrenched in the crack of the rock, raised his head and spit out a letter and looked at Song Nan coldly, Song Nan recognized this snake, the two meat horns on the head and the color on the body betrayed its identity, it was the unique rock-dwelling viper in the north, which likes to entrench in the mountains and rocks, preying on birds and pikas and highly poisonous things, but in Song Nan's eyes, this big snake is already a big meal, looking like it is four feet long, it is a plate of nutritious meat.

Song Nan teased a few times with a dry branch, and the short-tempered viper couldn't bear the fierce lightning-like probe bite in his eyes, Song Nan's eyes were quick, and he took advantage of the moment when it stretched out his head, reached out and grabbed the back of its neck and pulled it hard, and then pinched the big snake in his hand.

"Your Excellency is very skilled." Wan Zhi praised.

Song Nan smiled and said: "I don't know how many times I have done adventures and hikes in later generations to set traps and catch wild things, what is a snake." The probe looked into the crevice in the rock, made sure there was nothing inside, and quickly climbed to the top.

A small piece of roasted viper per per person, plus a few elm leaves, plus a few tender bark and some sweet grass roots, was the only meal everyone had from yesterday to this morning. No one has any complaints and pickiness, the black snake meat with a fishy smell usually looks disgusting, but now, whether it is Zhengde Kangning or Dai Suer, Liu Jin, Song Nan and others, they all eat with relish, and they don't even leave a trace of belt bones.

"Snake, snake, thank you for dedicating your body to us to become our stomach, this palace will crown you as the snake god, and after returning to Beijing, you will be given a small temple to receive incense." Princess Corning found a small pit in the surprised eyes of everyone, buried the severed snake head, and inserted a small wooden stick as a tombstone.

Everyone laughed, and Zhengde smiled: "The imperial sister is really kind-hearted. ”

Kangning said, "Shouldn't it?" ”

Zhengde nodded again and again and said: "Yes, after getting out of trouble, the Internal Affairs Office will allocate money for you to build a snake temple in the imperial garden." ”

Song Nan turned his head to look at Dai Su'er and said in a low voice, "How is the snake meat?" ”

Dai Su'er nodded and said, "It's delicious, it's the first time I've eaten it, I didn't expect it to be so delicious." ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "How do I remember that it's not the first time you eat it?" When you were in Mashuikou Fort, didn't you tell Hong Chou, who guarded the fort, that you liked to eat snake meat the most? ”

Dai Su'er's face turned red, and she was about to speak, when she heard a swish of wings, and an arrow fell from the air and stuck directly in front of the two, at the same time, Wan Zhi's hoarse voice sounded: "Tartar shoots arrows again, hide quickly......"