In the army, whether it is the Central Plains army or the border guards, scouts are the most dangerous troops. As the eyes of the army, many times they need to go deep into the enemy's territory, and without protection, they are basically using their lives to find out the enemy's movements for the army.

They have nothing to rely on to save their lives, they are alert, fast horses, and many times they are not as lucky.

Most of the time, scouts die quietly, and even if they find out where the enemy is, they can't get the information back in time. Only scouts who are lucky enough and have good strength can be lucky enough to return to the camp with military intelligence.

Such a scout is undoubtedly a hero in the army.

Therefore, even if the commander-in-chief of the army meets them, he will show more concern and trust.

The first to discover the Khitan ranger was the Ergouzi who served as a lookout post on the low slope of the horse. When his anxious shout reached Niu Dan's ears, the latter's first reaction was not fear, but ecstasy.

The ecstatic cow egg abandoned the grass in front of him, got up and galloped to the grassy slope, and looked in the direction pointed out by the second dog. Not far to the east, a cavalry force of four or five hundred men was speeding toward them, rounding a gentle slope.

"Dutou, we only have a team of 100 people, they have four or five hundred people, we ...... What should I do?!" Ergouzi asked eagerly and loudly. He wanted to say that we should not run, but he felt that this was too cowardly, so he temporarily changed the word.

Niu Dan ignored the two dogs, put his hand on his forehead and looked at it carefully, carefully identifying the opponent's armor and blades, and even the tall and short breeds of the war horses under the seat. Because of the distance, it is quite difficult to see the cow eggs.

The second dog didn't know what the cow egg was looking at, and he wanted to ask, but it was inconvenient to urge, so he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. Although they are recruits, Ergouzi also knows that once they don't get out in time and are bitten by the other party, their team of 100 will be more than lucky.

The other rangers had already given up on observing the traces on the grass at the shouts of the old soldiers, and quickly mounted their horses, adjusting their formations, and preparing for both the battle and the retreat.

Compared with these soldiers, Zhang Zai, Liu Dahe and other three Confucian scholars were somewhat weaker in their restraints, and they followed Niu Dan on the grass slope as soon as possible, and looked in the direction of the Khitan rangers just like him.

It's just that in terms of understanding of military affairs, they are not even as good as Ergouzi, a recruit who has been trained, so naturally they can't see anything.

"Dutou, what are you looking at? The barbarians are about to rush over!" Zhang Zai couldn't help but ask.

Five hundred cavalry galloped rapidly on the grassland, and the power should not be underestimated, although there was no scene of the earth shaking the mountains, but the rumbling of horses' hooves was still like muffled thunder, and it kept exploding in my heart, and it was a lie to say that I was not panicked at all.

The key is that there are few people and no chance of winning, which is the most deadly.

When Zhang Zai was in Huainan, he looked down on the fighting men, and even the war with him, and always thought that it was just a barbaric collision of a group of vulgar people. Mobilizing the hearts and minds of the army and the people before the war, dispatching grain and straw during the war, and administering the localities after the war are really important matters.

As such, he is a complete recruit on the battlefield.

"They've crossed a safe distance!" At this moment, Ergouzi finally couldn't help it and screamed.

"These barbarians were dressed in leather armor, with swords hanging from their waists and carrying longbows, and their horses were neither scout fast horses, nor dwarf horses known for their endurance like ordinary cavalrymen...... This is not a distant scout, it is a rare elite cavalry in the army!"

When Niu Dan retracted his gaze, the ecstasy in his eyes became even stronger, "This can only show one thing: the Khitan army is nearby!"

Turning the reins of the horse, in the admiration of the two dogs, Zhang Zai's blank gaze, Niu Dan took the lead in running down the grass slope, shouting loudly: "Go quickly!"

Now that the location of the Khitan army has been found out and the core military information that has been discovered by itself, Niu Dan has no reason to delay any longer.

Only now, the situation is already very dangerous, although the Khitan rangers are still some distance, but when their cavalry speed increases, the distance between the two sides will be very close.

However, since Niu Dan dares to leave now, he will not kill himself, and the scout horse is fast, there is no doubt about it.

In fact, just as Niu Dan expected, before the Khitan elite cavalry caught up, their speed increased. Although in the vast grassland, five hundred elite horsemen pursued a hundred rangers, and there was no need to worry too much about the formation, and the speed would be very fast, but there was always a gap of hundreds of steps between the two sides.

Zhang Zai turned back several times, and after finally confirming that the Khitan Jingqi should not be able to catch up with him, he breathed a sigh of relief. If you don't really face the threat of death, you will never know what the fear of death is, and now you have picked up a life, Zhang Zai is very happy.

At this time, Zhang Zai was already very impressed by Niu Dan's calm military orders, bold moves, and meticulous responses. They have found out the approximate number and location of the Khitan army, and have made extraordinary contributions to the border army.

Even if he didn't do anything along the way, after all, he participated in this operation, took risks, and had many days of hard work, which no one could erase. After this experience, Zhang Zai felt that he had made a lot of progress in the army.

However, Jang Jae's happiness did not last long.

After they turned a blister, they found that in front of them, another Khitan cavalry team was rushing towards them!

Obviously, the Khitan elite cavalry will chase after them, and even though they know that they can't catch up, they still bite them tightly, not without reliance.

After discovering their group of scouts, the Khitan sent someone to notify the nearby rangers in advance, and cooperated with the brigade of elite cavalry to intercept them in front!

"Dutou, there are Khitan barbarians ahead!" Zhang Zaigang's heart immediately hung in his throat.

Niu Dan turned his head and glanced at him coldly, very dissatisfied with his shouting behavior, "But more than twenty scouts, what are you panicking about?"

Scouts are different from elite cavalry, in order to reduce the burden of fast horses, pursue the ultimate speed, facilitate the escape of danger, and bring back military information, their armor is simple, and they generally do not wear armor. Such an opponent is not difficult to deal with.

Niu Dan and the others, just wearing the lightest leather armor, can defend against arrows in the distance. And when the two horses gallop against each other, the blades of knives and spears stabbed at extremely high speeds, the leather armor is not much different from a layer of paper.

Scouts weren't meant to exist for combat.

"Kill!" Cow Dan drew his horizontal knife.

Pong, the sound of metal rubbing of the long knife out of the sheath made Zhang Zai's hairs stand on end. Although Confucian is not known for his combat power, as a Confucian scholar, he also has some combat power, and he also draws the horizontal knife on his waist at the moment.

It's just that his hands were a little trembling, and he didn't listen to the command, and he pulled out several times, but he didn't pull out the knife.

At this time, the two sides have already begun to make mistakes.

The sound of the fighting and ping-pong pong came and went, mixed with the sound of long knives slapping into the flesh, and then being shocked by the terrible screams of dying, Zhang Zai couldn't help but be clever, almost fell off the horse, and hurriedly held the reins with both hands.

Suddenly, a fountain of blood burst out in front of him, and warm blood spilled on his face, and when he turned his head in shock, he saw a soldier who had lost his head, spurting blood from his neck and falling from his horse.

Zhang Zai recognized the soldier, and they also said a few words to each other, knowing that the other party was a simple man who loved to laugh, which made him quite fond of him. Unexpectedly, he was beheaded by the Khitans now.

Before Zhang Zai could shout, his head was suddenly slammed, and his eyes went black.

Thinking that he was hit by a Khitan scout and was about to die in Huangquan, Zhang Zai could no longer control his fear, and the screams were worse than killing pigs.

He didn't fall, it was only a broken arm that hit him on the door of the head.

Zhang Zai didn't know how he rushed past the Khitan cavalry, and his mind was blank.

Scholars always think that they are invincible, even if they break into the army to take the head of the general, they will not be afraid for half a point, even if they are surrounded and killed by the enemy in a desperate situation, they can shout to serve the country and fight to the death.

If you don't know how hard it is to make your hands and feet obedient in the face of a sudden forest of swords, guns and swords on the battlefield, and how much courage it takes to be able to twist a knife and slash at the opponent's vital point with the techniques that you have trained on weekdays.

"Take them away!"

Because of a roar, Zhang Zai finally came back to his senses. He looked left and right and saw that there were fewer people in his ranks, not much, but they were indeed less.

After shouting these words, he took half of the rangers out of the brigade, turned a corner, and turned his head to meet the Khitan four or five hundred elite horsemen who had caught up.

The battle with the Khitan scouts just now, although it did not cause much damage to the cavalry, the speed of the team still slowed down a few points, and the Khitan elite cavalry behind had already caught up.

At this time, Zhang Zai ignored the fact that he was wetting his pants, and his heart trembled tremblingly, so that he couldn't help but shout in a hoarse voice that changed his tone: "Dutou, there are many barbarians, if you go back, you will be sent to death!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhang Zai trembled.

Dozens of cold gazes fell on him together.

"Shut up!" the deputy head sighed.

Jang Jae opened his mouth and couldn't speak anymore.

Of course, Niu Dan knows that he will definitely die if he turns back to face the battle.

But only in this way can we slow down the opponent's horse and win the opportunity for others to bring back the military report.

Zhang Zai saw Ergouzi and the others, although they were red-eyed and gritted their teeth, but they didn't mean to look back and take a second look, they just desperately urged the horse to speed, and he instantly woke up, it was obvious that the scouts had been mentally prepared for such a situation.

This is the fate of the scouts.

Turning around, his eyes passed through the comrades behind him, and he vaguely saw the resolute backs of more than forty horsemen, rushing towards the surging crowd of Khitan elite horsemen without hesitation, Zhang Zai only felt that his throat was as hard as a rock in an instant, and tears came out of his eyes.

Of course, he knew that if there were no cow eggs to return to death, he himself would definitely not survive, everyone would not survive, and the military intelligence would not be able to reach the border.

Zhang Zai, Liu Dahe and others, who had just joined the army, no matter how unbearable they behaved, at least at this moment, they experienced first-hand what it means to be comrades. How can it be said that there is no clothes, and the son is in the same robe, these are simple eight words, but how heavy the heroism and pathos contained in them are, and those who are not the parties cannot deeply taste them.

Retracting his gaze, his vision was blurred by tears, and Zhang Zai, who was ashamed, self-blaming and hot, gritted his teeth.

He used to look down on the generals in the army.

But now, he finds himself not even qualified to be a fighter.

"Ergouzi, you take someone back!"

Suddenly, the deputy head shouted in a deep voice.

In front of them to the right, another group of Khitan scouts appeared, and there were quite a few of them.

They were too far away from the border and too deep into the steppe. When they came, with their experience and shrewdness, they avoided many Khitan scouts, but now, on the run, they could no longer hide their tracks.

When they encounter an enemy who has the strength to hinder the progress of the whole team, their only way to survive is to leave people behind again and again.

Until only the last person remains.

Or, there is none left.