It's March 26th.

Eight days have passed since the coal mountain was hanged.

It has been seven days since the surprise attack on Changping City.

It has been three days since Zhu Gaoyuan led the Ming army into the grassland.

Here, Zhu Gaoyuan played another surprise move.

According to normal people's thinking, after the unknown valley severely damaged the Gongtu cavalry, the Ming army would definitely flee back to the depths of Yanshan to avoid the retaliation of the pursuers of the Gongtu Division.

But Zhu Gaoyuan came to do the opposite.

Instead of leading his army back to Yanshan, he went deeper into the grassland.

Of course, before going deeper into the grassland, he also made some illusions to try to mislead the pursuers.

However, just as Wu Sangui seriously underestimated Jiannu's ambitions, Zhu Gaoyuan also seriously underestimated the speed of gathering troops and the tracking ability of the Gongtu Division.

Kim Hyun led a dozen horses to catch up from behind at night.

Zhu Gaoyuan turned his horse's head to meet Jin Xuan, and said in a deep voice: "How? ”

"Phew!" Kim Hyun stopped and said, "Holy Lord, there are only thirty miles left!" ”

"Why did the pursuers of the Arch Rabbit Department come so quickly?" Wang Jiayan said in disbelief, "Didn't the suspicious formations we set up in the Nameless Valley and along the way work? ”

Kim Hyun shook his head and said, "It shouldn't work." ”

"That's a problem." Wang Jiayan frowned and said, "I will definitely be caught up tomorrow morning at the latest." ”

Zhu Gaoyuan looked around at the endless grassland, and suddenly felt a little dry and panicked, but he knew better that he must not show a panicked appearance at this time.

Not only must you not panic, but you must also pretend to be in your chest.

Otherwise, this little morale that has been accumulated with great difficulty will be lost.

A rabble, and scattered to the grasslands, if even the last remaining bit of morale is lost, then there is only one result waiting for them, and that is to be hunted one by one by the cavalry of the arch rabbit like a rabbit.

Zhu Gaoyuan didn't want to be shot like rabbits by the cavalry of the Arch Rabbit Department in the Chahar grassland.

"No trouble." At that moment, Zhu Gaoyuan said lightly, "This was already expected. ”

"Huh? Yes? What? Wu Linzheng, Meng Zhaoxiang and other officials cast stunned glances.

Kim Hyun and Wang Jiayan looked away, and at the same time tried to control the muscles on their faces, otherwise they were worried that they would not be able to help but sneer.

These two are the ones who know the soldiers,

Naturally, it can be seen that Zhu Gaoyuan is just pretending to be calm.

But at this time, stabilizing the morale of the military is more important than anything else, so it cannot be dismantled.

"It's just two thousand Mongolian cavalry, it's not a big deal." Zhu Gaoyuan stretched out his hand and pointed ahead, and said, "Do you see the river bay in front of you?" The whole army entered the river bay and camped! ”

Since you can't run away, you just don't run.

While there is still some time, let's hurry up and repair the fortifications.

Flying a kite on the steppe will definitely not be able to fly the Mongolian cavalry.

That is, to camp to the death, and to compete with the Mongolian cavalry.

As for what to do next, it can only be done at the opportune moment.

……

At the northern foot of Yanshan Mountain, a settlement of the Gongtu tribe was attacked, more than a dozen yurts were burning, and dozens of herdsmen, all women and children, were also driven together.

Hu Xinshui stepped forward and looked down at the women and children of the Arch Rabbit Department in front of him.

"What about your men?" Hu Xinshui said sharply, "All dead? ”

The women protected the child behind them and looked at Hu Xinshui with frightened eyes.

Hu Xinshui didn't talk nonsense, just made a gesture, and when even two Yiding rushed into the group of women and children, dragged a young child out of the crowd, and dragged him to the side of the carriage.

One of the idrins drew his scimitar and compared it to the wheel.

The child's head is found not to reach the top of the wheel.

According to the Mongol rules, each tribe conquered could kill adult males who were taller than wheels, but children and women who were not as tall as wheels could not be killed, and had to be kept as slaves.

But Hu Xinshui didn't want to follow these rules at all.

Hu Xinshui bowed slightly, and Na Yiding wiped it lightly.

The toddler, who was no taller than the wheel, had his throat cut off immediately.

"Child, my child!" The mother who lost her child let out a heart-rending wail.

Hu Xinshui's eyes flashed with cruel pleasure, and he asked with a cruel smile: "Let me ask you again, what about the men of your tribe?" Have you been taken by a wild beast? ”

Still no one responded to Hu Xinshui.

Hu Xinshui bowed his head again, and two more Yiding rushed into the crowd and dragged out a young child.

"My child! No, don't! The child's mother also wailed heartbreakingly, desperately trying to rush forward to take back her child, but was kicked to the ground by the other two Yiding.

Seeing her child being dragged on the wheels of the carriage, the child's mother finally had a nervous breakdown.

"I say! I say! The child's mother wailed loudly, "The men have been summoned to the White Horse River by the head!" ”

"Wouldn't it be like this earlier?" Hu Xinshui snorted and turned around and shouted, "Let's go, go to Baimachuan." ”

In the blink of an eye, more than 1,000 horsemen rushed out of the settlement with a bang, and Hu Guozhu couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart, and hit his horse to catch up with Hu Xinshui.

"Child, do you have a lot of questions?" Hu Xinshui's face was full of kindness.

"Abba, how do you know that you can ask Chongzhen's whereabouts from this small tribe?" Hu Guozhu asked blankly, "What if their man went to Baimachuan for something else?" ”

"No in case." Hu Xinshui said firmly.

"At this time, the large-scale gathering of troops by the Gongtu Department can only be used to deal with the Ming army."

"Still not right." Hu Guozhu scratched his head and said, "Chongzhen can't be so stupid, he fled to Yanshan just to take refuge, so he should find an inconspicuous corner to hide, how could he provoke the Gongtu Department?" ”

"Boy, you don't understand this." Hu Xinshui laughed and said, "There is a chance that things are unsatisfactory in the world, and Chongzhen Xiao'er can't hide even if he wants to, because the three battalions of the Beijing battalion will not stop!" ”

Hu Guozhu sighed softly as if he didn't understand.

……

On the other side, Li Yan had also led two thousand light horsemen to chase to the northern foot of Yanshan.

Although Li Yan's cavalry entered Yanshan later than Li You and Gu Kecheng's cavalry, the progress was the fastest, and the traces of the Ming army had already been discovered.

"That's right, it's them." Li Yan said, "They used to settle here. ”

"Brother, come and see!" Not far away, Li Mu suddenly shouted, "There are traces of battle here!" ”

Li Yan and Li Nian rode their horses to Li Mou's side, and when they looked down at the ground, they saw many traces of battle, in addition to messy hoof prints, broken arrows and lead, there were even residual blood stains.

"Brother, there was a fierce battle here." Li Mou said, "A lot of people died. ”

Li Nian said: "Judging from the traces, it should be the Mongolian cavalry attacking the defense line set up by the Ming army in the valley. ”

Li Mou said: "The Ming army should have also set up a parapet, and in the end, it should be the defeat of the Mongol cavalry." ”

Although the three brothers of the Li family are young, they have been in the army for 12 years since Chongzhen has been in the army for 12 years, and they have been in the army for five years now, so they can be regarded as veterans in the real sense, so they can see a lot of details.

Li Yan said: "It doesn't matter, what matters is where did Chongzhen go?" ”

Li Mu turned over and dismounted, picked up two pieces of horse dung from the ground and twisted them twice, and said: "There are two kinds of horse dung left in the valley, one is delicate and soft, and it is obviously eaten fine grain, which must be the war horse of the Ming army." ”

"And judging from the direction of the horse manure splashing, the Ming army is heading west."

Speaking of this, Li Mu pointed to the reckless Yanshan Mountain Range on the west side with the horsewhip in his hand.

Li Nian laughed and said: "Chongzhen Lao'er was supposed to hide here for a while, but he made a mistake and was discovered by the Mongolian cavalry, and the two sides fought here. ”

"Although the Ming army won in the end, there is no way to hide here."

"So Chongzhen Lao'er can only take the Ming army to re-enter Yanshan and live that bitter cold life."

After a pause, Li Nian said firmly: "Brother, Chongzhen Lao'er has fled back to Yanshan, let's hurry up and chase after it." ”

"Wait." Li Yan always felt that something was wrong, frowned and said, "Don't you two think it's strange?" With such an obvious flaw in horse manure, Chongzhen didn't know it, and none of the civil and military generals under him found it? I didn't know to remind Chongzhen to clean up the horse manure left along the way? ”

"Brother, it's useless to just clean up horse manure, right?" Li Nian said, "There are all kinds of other traces, which can't deceive people." ”

"Second brother, do you want to talk about horseshoe prints?" After Li Yan finished speaking, he controlled the war horse under his crotch through the reins of the horse, and walked backwards.

Because it had just rained a few days ago, the ground in the valley was still wet and soft, and I saw that where Li Yan's people and horses passed, they soon left a clear line of horseshoe prints, but they were horseshoe prints forward.

Li Yan said: "You say, am I going forward or backward?" ”

"Ahh Li Nian and Li Mu were stunned when they saw this.

Li Yan pointed to the horse manure and horse hoof prints left on the ground, and said: "Seeing may not be true, it may be that the enemy deliberately left it for us to see, if we catch up, we will fall for the Ming army!" ”

"This old man Chongzhen." Li Mu scolded, "It's too cunning." ”

"yes." Li Nian also said, "If it weren't for my brother, we would have been fooled." ”

"It's not necessarily Chongzhen's idea." Li Yan said, "But it doesn't matter. ”

After a pause, Li Yan said again: "The important thing is to arrest Chongzhen back as soon as possible." ”

Li Nian said: "Brother, if the Ming army does not enter Yanshan, then we have to look for traces again." ”

"You don't have to look any further." Li Yan said confidently, "I think I already know where the Ming army went." ”

After speaking, he pointed to the grassland in the north and said: "If I didn't make a mistake, Chongzhen should have led the Ming army deep into the Chahar grassland!" ”