Chapter 22: Let the dog go eat dirt!

  Turo was furious and frantic, he didn't know whose team had attacked him, but he knew the opponent was very strong, this was absolutely his arch-nemesis.

  Since entering the pass, the Ming army's troops have always been one touch and collapse, or tightly closed city gates without going out. When did these timid Ming people have such courage?

  When Tulo got the officers around him to form up as quickly as possible, and he saw the shadow of that troop preparing to meet them, an even more infuriating situation arose. Those few Ming army cavalrymen actually turned back again like lightning, they went to slaughter their own infantry again, and didn't come to engage in battle.

  A large number of auxiliary soldiers and Baoyi slaves, who had never experienced such a battle before, were only there to transport supplies. The massive army was somewhat disorganized. As the situation began to get out of control, Tu Luo quickly gave orders to suppress the troops, and then he hastily began organizing his cavalry to prepare for pursuit.

  The Manchu army had a clear hierarchy, with the first-class soldiers being cavalrymen, but not all cavalrymen had horses, and some infantrymen were also called cavalrymen, which was just a title for their rank. The second-class soldiers were called war soldiers, who were also known as armored soldiers, and there were white armor and red armor distinctions among them, belonging to professional combat troops; the third-class soldiers were called guard soldiers, actually servant soldiers. Most of the real Jianzhou embroidered white flag war soldiers and cavalrymen were by Tuluo's side, which was his main force.

  When Tuo Luo's cavalry was in formation and started to pursue, the rear of Jian Nu's main force, Zhou Yuji also led his own cavalry to rest and reorganize. Seeing the enemy cavalry slowly approaching, Zhou Yuji suddenly shouted: "Hold the flag!"

  With a shout, a pole with a scarlet Zhou character large flag instantly rose to meet the wind, and in the strong wind, the red background black character banner was so eye-catching.

  "General! It's a banner with the character 'zhou' on it!"

  "Zhou Zi Qi... Zhou Zi Qi... It's definitely Zhou Yu Ji! It can't be anyone else!"

  Tu Luo's face turned ugly, he knew who it was. In the capital of Ming Dynasty, at this moment, the only person who could be under the banner with the character "Zhou" was Zhou Yuji, and only Zhou Yuji would dare to come to battle like this. Now, Tu Luo knew he was in trouble. Because, although he had no record of fighting against this Zhou Yuji, he knew Zhou Yuji's military achievements. Zhou Yuji had fought against the brave warriors of Jianzhou, Tu Luo knew that he was an absolutely fearless Ming army general, and his subordinates were the same, not afraid of death, fierce and good at fighting.

  This is one of the few armies in the Great Ming Dynasty that still dares to fight!

  Zhou Yu's outstanding military achievements were there, and Tuo Luo did not have the confidence to kill Zhou Yu. He knew that was a crazy man, and these cavalrymen should be the most powerful elite cavalry under Zhou Yu's command. Tuo Luo understood that he could hold on, nearly a hundred times more than the enemy, and what about Zhou Yu? As long as there were no massive reinforcements, Zhou Yu's cavalry would only have so many people, and no matter how strong they were, it would be useless.

  "Charge forward and drive them away! Set a limit of three miles, do not pursue!" Tuo Luo Ke was no fool, he had been through many battles, these most powerful cavalrymen were his reliance. Once Zhou Yuji adopted the tactic of baiting, all that was needed was for 20,000 to 30,000 brave soldiers to appear, and his main force would collapse. As for the consequences of the collapse, Tuo Luo didn't even dare think about it.

  On the other side, Zhou Yu looked at the approaching Jianlu cavalry in front of him, the distance was just right, his face rose again with a strong desire for battle, and the bloody sword was raised by him with great force.

  "Father!" It was Zhou Huchen's voice, this time he didn't go to the middle of the team, but followed Zhou Yuji, and Liu Qi, who was good at cavalry battles, also caught up.

  Zhou Yu looked at Zhou Huachen with an inexplicable gaze, and Zhou Huachen hastily continued: "We don't need to clash head-on with Jian Nu, what we need is to kill them, so now we should turn right, let these Jian Nu cavalry eat dirt behind us!"

  Zhou Yuji smiled, his son's tactics were very despicable, but it was the best tactic. He didn't need to clash head-on with Jian Nu, as the difference in military strength was too great and losing men would be a waste. Letting Jian Nu eat dirt from behind was undoubtedly a good choice.

  "Listen to my command, now turn right!" Zhou Yuji no longer hesitated and continued to slaughter the enemy, which felt just as thrilling as fighting for his life.

  The bright red banner of the Zhou character suddenly moved southward in the sight of the Jinwu cavalry. This time, Zhou Yuji's cavalry adopted a double-row attack method. The outer cavalry kept a certain distance from their comrades and were responsible for dealing with those Jinwu scouts, while the inner cavalry was naturally dealing with the Jinwu infantry.

  Zhou Yu's cavalry executed with great force. As the large flag began to turn, one by one, the fierce knights started moving at a certain distance, their horses' hooves flying in the air. When the last of the cavalry rushed out of this area, they indeed left behind a trail of dust that filled the sky.

  Zhou Huchen was on the periphery, ranking around tenth. He understood very well that this position could fight but wouldn't be too dangerous, it was a deliberate arrangement after all, since he was going to war for the first time.

  As the cavalry corps turned eastward, hundreds of Jinwu's cavalry appeared in front, and on the left were the main forces of Jinwu's infantry.

  Still, Zhou Yuji was the first to charge forward on his horse. As they drew closer, it seemed like in an instant, a swarm of arrows suddenly came pouring down. It appeared that the infantry at the rear of Jian Nu's army had been prepared for this moment. Zhou Yuji had anticipated this situation and all his cavalrymen were equipped with double-layered armor - chain mail on the inside and iron armor on the outside. This rain of arrows would not cause significant harm to these knights in double-layered battle armor; all they needed to do was raise their left hand's shield to cover their face.

  On the outskirts of the Jinwu army, more than 100 Jinwu cavalrymen also began to counterattack. As the war horses accelerated, the speed of the cavalry was astonishing, and in less than half a moment, Liu Qi encountered his first opponent, a Jinwu officer wearing iron armor.

  A loud shout, Liu Qi and the Jin slave cavalry officer's war knives collided fiercely, both sides were evenly matched, and the sparks from the collision of the war knives flashed by. The second Ming army cavalry officer's war knife slanted upwards, this Jin slave officer reacted extremely quickly, swinging his war knife again, bringing up another string of sparks.

  The two sides clashed at an incredible speed, in the blink of an eye, the Jinuo officer's warhorse began to shift southward, for behind him were countless battle knives waiting for him, if he continued to fight like this, he would undoubtedly die. With a third Ming army cavalryman's battle knife colliding again, this Jinuo officer finally opened up some distance.

  Zhou Wanjiang was ahead of Zhou Huchen, his task was simple, to escort and protect Master Zhou. Sometimes people are like this, when you escape a dangerous situation, you think it's nothing, and always think it's a manifestation of your own ability. Now, this Jurchen military officer thought so too. He bravely approached the Ming army's cavalry again, he wanted to prove himself, when did the Jianzhou warriors ever fear the cowardly Ming people? He wanted to use his knife to prove this point.

  Zhou Wanjiang was the leader of the Zhou family's household knights. He used to be the instructor of all cavalrymen under Zhou Yuji. Even on horseback, Zhou Yuji didn't have confidence in being a match for Zhou Wanjiang. Now, this Jianzhou officer had unfortunately clashed with Zhou Wanjiang.

  Having gone through many battles, Zhou Wanjiang's experience was extremely rich. As the enemy cavalry approached, Zhou Wanjiang lightly urged his warhorse forward. In that instant, Zhou Wanjiang's sword flashed out like lightning. Zhou Wanjiang's battle knife was identical to Zhou Yuji's, weighing nearly twice as much as an ordinary battle knife and made of tempered steel. Just as Zhou Wanjiang was about to strike, his body had already quickly leaned forward, with his arm fully extended.

  This is not a regular martial arts technique, as this swing of the sword is fully extended, so there is no possibility of returning to defend in a short period of time. Zhou Wanjing relied on his instincts and experience, judging the distance of combat. At lightning speed, Jian Nu's officer sensed danger, instinctively swinging out his own sword, the two swords intersected, and Jian Nu's officer was tragically killed, Zhou Wanjing's sword was too sharp and too heavy, Jian Nu's officer's sword snapped in an instant, that sharp steel knife slashed across his ribs.

  The misfortune did not come from Zhou Wanjiang alone. The man behind him, Zhou Huchen, had already seen the familiar movement of Zhou Wanjiang and similarly pulled on his own war horse.

  Zhou Huchen's sword trailed behind him, his horse and man merged into one, he fiercely swung his battle knife upwards at an angle. Zhou Huchen's sword was as fast as lightning, just like Zhou Wanjing's, the battle knife brought with it a sharp blade edge that sliced through, from behind Zhou Huchen, a helmeted head shot up into the sky.

  As the blood light continued to flash, behind the Ming army cavalry, as Zhou Huichen said, they left a rolling and boundless yellow dust, flying in the air. The dust seriously affected the vision of the Jianzhou cavalry and also affected their breathing. At the same time, this was undoubtedly a kind of provocative contempt.