Chapter 26: Pit Again

  On December 12th of the second year of Chongzhen, around noon, the sunlight under the fierce north wind appeared weak and powerless, making people feel little warmth.

  About 40 miles away from Ji State, under a mound near Mashen Bridge, more than a dozen Guanning Army soldiers were hiding here to avoid the wind.

  The treatment of Ye Bu Cuo was in accordance with the regulations for rewarding meritorious service. If the investigation proved to be true, Ye Bu Cuo could be rewarded according to the first-class merit of beheading an enemy general, and would receive 30 taels of silver. Those who unfortunately died or were captured would also receive consolation money of 30 taels of silver. However, when Ye Bu Cuo died in battle in Liaodong previously, his family often only received one or two taels of silver as consolation.

  This time, the main force of Jianwei's movement became the key, and there was no news for a long time. Yuan Chonghuan made up his mind to pour out a whole box of silver in the camp at night, stating that as long as he could find out the main force of Jianwei's movement, he would reward him according to the rules and never delay or deduct.

  Although Jian Yu's notorious name had been circulating in Liaodong for a long time, this night they did not return to collect the silver reward and instead actively approached Zunhua.

  Life is his own, so the actions that cannot be collected at night are extremely cautious. Every now and then, he takes a rest to reserve manpower and horsepower, preparing for a fight or escape at any time.

  The leader of the night watch was a small flag, called Hu Hao, with only one stick, and also had the guts to bring people over.

  Just as they were about to set off after resting, Guo Yanzhong suddenly called out "Wait a minute". It turned out that he had been lying down to rest and his ear was close to the ground, so he faintly heard some sounds. The others then also got down on the ground to listen.

  "Hu Ge, it's the sound of horseshoes, about twenty or more riders."

  Everyone under one flag, sharing life and death together, so when there are no outsiders around, they all address each other as brothers.

  Huhao listened and crouched at the top of the slope, searching for his target. Sure enough, after a while, on the official road ahead, a group of horseback riders appeared vaguely, but he couldn't see the details clearly.

  "Brother Hu, let's head back, it's getting close and it might be hard to walk." It was still Guo Yanzhong's voice.

  "Can't do that, it's not clear now, don't even know how many people are coming. If we go back with the current information and mislead Commander Yuan, I'm afraid we won't see tomorrow's sunrise. Get ready!"

  Everyone knows what Hu Hao's preparations are, taking down all the bows and crossbows from horseback, equipping them on himself, putting saddles on the horses, and stroking their necks to calm them down.

  The people in front are getting closer and closer, the sound of horseshoes is getting tighter, several nights without rest, and they actually sweat on such a winter day.

  "Damn it, they're Mongolian cavalry." Hu Hao spat out a mouthful of saliva, turned his head to look at the crowd, and found that several were still sweating. He couldn't help but add: "Look at you guys, you're so scared by the Mongolian cavalry."

  Several people looked embarrassed and secretly wiped their sweat, saying: "Who knew it was a Mongolian horse!"

  Hu Hao observed for a while, then slid down the slope and said: "There are twenty-five Mongolian cavalrymen in total. For now, no other cavalrymen can be seen behind them. These cavalrymen are probably the vanguard scouts, with very low vigilance, chatting while walking, bows and arrows on their backs, long weapons hanging from the saddle, I have an idea."

  The people around him gathered closer, listening to Hu Hao continue: "Our slope is invisible from the official road. If the Tartars continue to move forward along the official road, we can fall behind them. My intention is to attack these Tartars and capture a few alive for questioning!"

  Mongolian hooligans, who's afraid of whom, let's get it on.

  Everyone agreed with Hu Hao's plan, beating the Mongolian slaves, without any psychological shadow, let alone an unexpected attack.

  These Mongolian slaves didn't even realize that danger was approaching, and they were still walking and chatting. What they were talking about was nothing more than who had robbed what, their own good or bad luck in robbing something. I used to think that the Ming country was a big deal, but this time when the Jurchen people came over, it turned out to be a silver spear wax head, if you knew earlier, you would have come over to rob them earlier.

  When the group of women had passed a certain section of the slope, the Night Collectors quietly led their horses onto the official road and then took out their crossbows, beginning to fire in rapid succession.

  In the first round, five Huns were shot down and fell off their horses. Before they could even realize what was happening, the second round arrived, and another five Huns fell off their horses. It wasn't until then that the Huns realized they were being attacked from behind, and they began to turn their horses around in a flanking maneuver. In this process, three more fell off.

  At this time, Hu Hao waved his hand, and Ye Bu Shou threw away his bow and arrow, directly turned over and mounted his horse, starting to urge the horse to charge forward. Only three of Ye Bu Shou's divine archers were still shooting.

  After the Mongolian cavalry discovered that the Ming army was not collecting at night, they all shouted "heh heh" and started to urge their horses to speed up while holding their weapons. At this time, taking out a bow would be suicidal, as the distance was not far, and by the time one could take out a bow to shoot, the enemy would already be close at hand.

  One side, the night was not collected and had long been prepared, understanding the situation. The other side, the Mongolian cavalry was suddenly attacked, and in the chaos of their companions falling from their horses, they began to counterattack.

  These differences were immediately reflected in the results of the first close combat. During the charge, another was shot down, and twelve Japanese knights confronted eleven Mongolian cavalrymen. Two Japanese knights fell to the ground, while eight Mongolian cavalrymen fell off their horses.

  The three Tartars on horseback were frightened out of their wits and didn't dare to come again to confront them, nor did they dare to go and rescue their fallen comrades. They ran away in the direction they came from. In the process of running, one of the Tartar's horses was shot down, fell to the ground, and as a result only two escaped.

  At night, he couldn't help but glance at the two fleeing rascals. One of them spat and said, "What a weakling! I can take down three of his kind with one hand."

  Hu Hao didn't look at him, while going to rescue his fallen comrade, he tossed a sentence over: "Most of these are just Mongolian tribal herdsmen, they haven't experienced much killing."

  The night watchmen despised the Mongolian cavalry, but they didn't dare to slow down their movements under their hands. Who knew how quickly the two escaped cavalry could call for reinforcements?

  Two comrades-in-arms were injured, one with a wounded arm and the other with a wounded leg. After bandaging them, they directly retreated to the rear.

  Eleven Mongolian slaves died on the spot, seven were seriously injured, two were moderately injured, and two were lightly injured. One was not injured at all; that night only three with injuries lighter than the above remained, while the others had their heads chopped off directly.

  At night, many of them understood Mongolian. In order to get a clear understanding of the situation, one of them was beheaded. The other two were very honest and answered whatever they were asked.

  After inquiring clearly, Ye Bucong and others were shocked to find that the 100,000-strong army of Jianzhou and Mongolian cavalry had come this way, and they quickly retreated.

  The vanguard of the Mongols received a report from two people who ran back: twenty-five people were killed by about twenty people (they didn't dare to count carefully, just estimated), and they were also frightened, knowing that they had encountered a powerful enemy, so they hurriedly reported to the Jurchen Khan.

  After hearing the report, Ah Min no longer dared to indulge his subordinates and began to take things seriously. As a result, this Qiang Jie team suddenly changed its appearance like a woman's eighteenth change, revealing a strong and sharp aura, no longer paying attention to other things, strictly following battlefield discipline, and the elite Bayaer cavalry also began to gallop forward across the Mongolian tribes.

  Of course, the Chinese military vehicles also got used to the local environment.

  The main force of the Tartars had crossed the Ma River Bridge when a scouting party returned with news that the city of Ji was flying large flags for their old adversary, General Yuan Chonghuan.

  Emperor Taizong ordered to set up camp on the spot and hold a military expansion meeting, except for the Mongolian leader and the Eight Great Beiles, all the solid mountain true also participated in the meeting.

  After everyone arrived, Huang Taiji had Suo Ma make an announcement in the great tent: The current garrison of Ji Zhou is Ming General Yuan Chonghuan, and there are many cannons on the city walls. From the decorations on the defending soldiers' armor, they are all Guan Ning troops.

  After listening to the report, Manggultai, Amin and Daisan exchanged eye contact with each other, it wasn't a waste of effort after all.

  Emperor Taizong of Tang asked everyone to speak out and see how we can do better.

  The leader of the Mongolian tribe stood up and shouted, "What's so great about Yuan Chonghuan? He was defeated by the Great Jin and is now hiding in the city, not daring to come out. Who is Yuan Chonghuan anyway? I've never heard of him. If he has any skills, let him come and challenge me one-on-one, I'll give him two legs." Someone asked, "If you give him two legs, how can he fight?" The man sneered, "Stupid, he's riding a horse!"

  Anyway, the Mongolian tribe means one thing: who cares who it is, just fight. Nonsense, with great effort, our main force has been exhausted, we've managed to come out and drink soup, but we haven't had enough yet, can't go back.

  The Jurchen people all despise these Mongolian dumplings, you haven't seen the tortoise of Yuan Chonghuan, its shell is hard, fought many times, can't bite down.

  Three Beile Menggutai watched this group of Mongolian monkeys performing in the big tent, "Pffft" and spat out a mouthful of saliva, stood up and shouted: "All of you shut up, do you have the right to speak first here? Don't be impudent!"

  The big account was quiet immediately, and no one dared to provoke him.

  After the noise subsided, Manggultai said to Huang Taiji: "Great Khan, the scout just reported that the artillery in Jizhou City is extremely numerous, and it is also commanded by Yuan Chonghuan's turtle-like general. I'm afraid it will be a futile loss of our men."

  Hong Taiji smiled and nodded. Manggultai saw him and said, "Ah, you also hold the same opinion? Well, in that case, let's go back. This time we have enough to get through the winter."

  The emperor still smiled and remained silent, appearing mysterious and unfathomable.

  Manggultai saw Huang Taiji not speaking, and having lost interest, sat down.

  Manggultai sat down, and the emperor asked for others' opinions. Manggultai secretly made eye contact with Daisan and Amin. Daisan was annoyed by this and stood up to agree with Manggultai's suggestion, fearing that if he continued to make eyes at him, people would think they had an illicit relationship.

  Hong Taiji looked at Abahai and asked for his opinion.

  Amin took one look at Huang Taiji's demeanor and his heart skipped a beat. A kind of intuition made him feel that Huang Taiji was digging another pit. This man was too cunning, often first showing weakness to mislead others, then pulling out the killer move after they fell for it. Every time he used this trick, yet there were still people who fell for it.

  Amin glanced secretly at Daishan and Manggultai, then said to Huang Taiji: Great Khan, you are our leader, I have no opinion, let's listen to you.

  This fox is really cunning, several times did not fall for it, next time must get you. Huang Taiji thought after finishing, temporarily put aside this idea, said: "Everyone, I have an idea here that can be a win-win situation, both can avoid losing the child and continue to make money."