The girl washed her hands and looked at the neatly arranged dumplings on the curtain, which she had created, like a group of little white geese with round bellies, and couldn't help but smile happily.

"Let the pillars in!" Yingzi's father lifted the curtain and walked out, with the smell of smoke on his body and the smell of wine in his mouth, and said with a smile: "No one is with you, let me drink wine for the New Year?" ”

Zhang Zhuzi not only brought the pork allocated to him, but also took a few young men from the reserve army to Lao Tieshan and beat some quails, yellow-footed three-toed quails (yellow lazy people), and pheasants to distribute to the villagers.

These wild things are burned with the mountain mushrooms that have been picked, and the taste is fragrant. Yingzi's father drank the wine bought by Zhang Zhuzi, smoked cigarettes, and ate roasted game, which was so beautiful.

"I'll be in a moment and he's loading the three eyes!" Yingzi lifted the lid of the pot and looked at it, the water was already boiling, so he reached out and lifted the curtain and put dumplings into the pot, "When the dumplings come out of the pot, I will set off firecrackers and put three eyes!" ”

"The girl's guns and guns." Yingzi's father shook his head and said, "Fortunately, I went to the shop to sell goods, otherwise I would definitely have to join the reserve army." The court is the same, how can even women be accepted? ”

Yingzi rolled her eyes and said unconvinced: "What's wrong with the woman, she can still fight with a gun." The female generals of the Yang Gate, Mulan, are not all women. ”

Yingzi's father pursed his lips and did not argue with his daughter. Just as Zhang Zhuzi came in, he greeted warmly: "Come, come, accompany me to drink." If you want to say that the wine transported from the capital, it is really strong. The burning knife is worthy of its name, but it hasn't been drunk for many years. ”

Zhang Zhuzi said with a smile: "The burning knife is too strong, and it is cold to drink in winter." However, when spring comes, we have to plant chili peppers, and I heard that it can also invigorate blood and remove moisture. ”

"Chili peppers are a vegetable?" Yingzi asked casually, "If it's spicy, I like to eat it too." ”

Chili pepper was introduced to China during the Jiajing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty at the latest, and gradually spread from the southeast coast to the northwest inland.

Even if there is no chili pepper, there are alternatives in the Chinese diet, such as green onions, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, dogwood, and so on. So, when it comes to spicy, Yingzi is no stranger to it.

"It can be eaten as a vegetable, and it can also be used as a seasoning." Zhang Zhuzi said: "There are also sweet potatoes and pumpkins, which are all promoted and planted by the government next year." ”

Yingzi's father was not very interested in this, and he still stuck to his plan and felt that it was better.

The dumplings floated up, Yingzi stirred them skillfully, boiled the skin, scooped them up with a fence, put four large bowls, and added a pot of dumpling soup.

"Alright, it's time to go out and set off the cannon." Yingzi brought the dumplings into the house, walked out with her hands, and said to her father, "Dad, let's go and have a look?" ”

"Go ahead!" Yingzi's father waved his hand, "Come back quickly and eat dumplings, don't be cold." ”

Yingzi and Zhang Zhuzi came to the courtyard, and the girl took the bamboo pole that had been tied to the firecrackers, put it on the fire and lit it, turned her face sideways, covered one ear, and laughed crisply and cheerfully in the crackling sound.

The firelight burst out, the confetti flew, and Zhang Zhuzi looked at the girl who was immersed in simple happiness, with a smile on his face.

Hahahaha, Yingzi shook the bamboo pole, still a little unsatisfied, and said with a smile: "Buy more loud ones next year, and there will be flower cannons, fly high, and explode flowers in the sky." ”

Zhang Zhuzi nodded vigorously, took the three-eyed gun from the wall, and said, "This recoil is not big, but you didn't let it go, or I'll help you keep it!" ”

"Okay!" Yingzi nodded briskly, stepped forward to hold the wooden pole with both hands, and asked with a smile, "Towards the sky?" ”

Zhang Zhuzi pulled a piece of firewood from the fire, came over and reached out to hold the three-eyed gun, adjusted the lower angle, handed the firewood to Yingzi, and said, "You come and light the fire, I will make it strong, and it is no problem for you to hold it with one hand." ”

Yingzi agreed, took the firewood with one hand, and stretched out the lead.

The two men held the pole with three hands, and their bodies were naturally close together. But no one cared about this somewhat intimate move, and they all looked up slightly and looked at the mouth.

Boom, boom, boom!

The fire bolt was launched, spewing out fireworks, and the pole was slightly down, but it was held firmly by Zhang Zhuzi, and Yingzi only felt a relatively slight vibration.

"It's a year older!" Yingzi glanced at Zhang Zhu with a smile, pursed the corners of her mouth slightly, but she didn't let go, as if she was muttering to herself.

Zhang Zhuzi smiled, but this time he didn't avoid his eyes.

The white smoke was still curling from the mouth, and the two of them just leaned close to each other, and their eyes turned to the night sky with scattered snowflakes.

The light snowflakes could not fall happily, and fell on the bodies and faces of the two. Neither of them moved, not knowing what they were thinking, or praying to the heavens.

…………………

The hot dumplings are dipped in garlic sauce and vinegar and eaten in the stomach, well, the taste is so delicious.

With the cooperation of the flying cavalry battalion, the Liaozhen Dragoon Battalion finally completed the blocking task, withdrew to Ningyuan on Chinese New Year's Eve, and ate Chinese New Year's Eve dumplings.

And blocking and delaying Jiannu's advance speed was Xiong Tingbi's order, but there was no hard and fast rule. It's good that you can hold off for a few hours, even for half an hour.

But the principle is certain, not to fight to the death with Jiannu, to preserve strength as the first priority.

As a result, the dragoon battalion and the 2,000 Ming troops who abandoned Jinzhou and Daling River retreated alternately, using the preset positions to block Jiannu repeatedly.

The hardest hit was not Mang Gurtai's blue banner, but the Mongol vassals. These vassals were all cavalry, and they served as the vanguard with the Blue Banner.

To say that Mang Gurtai is rude and simple-minded, this is not nonsense. But he's not a fool and will put his own men at the forefront.

As for the Mongol cavalry, they were obviously more unsuitable for the new style of play of the Ming army. Just the weakness of the armor protection made them pay heavy casualties when facing the musket fire of the Ming army.

After the Mongol vassal army was confused by muskets on the official road, Man Gui led the flying cavalry battalion to kill at the right time, using bows and arrows and sabers to attack.

Equipped with complete armor and excellent weapons, the fierce charge of the flying cavalry battalion made the Mongol vassal army even worse, and it was defeated in disarray.

When Mang Gurtai led the blue flag to come for reinforcements, the flying cavalry battalion retreated from the battle, leaving the blue flag with musketeers relying on the position.

Fortunately, the dragoon battalion did not have to defend the hard top, and when the losses of both the enemy and us were not large, the dragoon battalion withdrew to Ningyuan, and Jiannu would have to wait at least a day at night before the troops could come to the city.

"If you don't rush back to eat dumplings, the dragoon camp can hold it for another two or three days."

Yang Guozhu stuffed a dumpling into his mouth, chewed and said: "Not to mention the positions on the official road, Guangxing Mountain, Daxingbao, and Tashan, if you stick to it with all your might, which one of them is enough for Jiannu to gnaw for seven or eight days." ”

This is a bit of a blow, but if you really want to block it, you can indeed lag behind the Jin army for a few more days.