The moon is at the zenith.
Guo Ning slowly rode his horse along a slope slightly above the water.
The slope was obviously built artificially, but it has been abandoned for a long time.
Some areas are still wide and horses can walk comfortably; some areas have collapsed on both sides, leaving the middle passage very narrow and obviously sloping. Even though Guo Ning had outstanding riding skills, he had to be careful in riding the horse to prevent the horse from spraining its hooves.
Since the former Song Dynasty dug rivers and built edge ponds, Hebei, which was originally a whole, has been divided into two major regions by water and swamps. The pond area between the two major areas only has military functions, and many of them rely on shuize. The walled city. As Dajin took over the territory, military fortresses and fortresses were abandoned; thus, this area inevitably declined and became gradually desolate.
The south side of the slope was probably a paddy field a few decades ago. But now there were chest-high weeds. When people and horses passed by, the swarms of gnats in the weeds were disturbed by the fire and flew up in a buzzing manner.
You can't see clearly in the night, but you can feel their tiny bodies flying around and even hitting people's faces. Guo Ning's yellow gelding was annoyed by the gnats. It snorted angrily and flicked its tail.
Fortunately, the knights in front moved faster. Without waiting for Guo Ning to hurry up, the yellow gelding neighed twice and started to trot.
A few miles further, the team descended from the slope and moved along a semi-dry stream.
This stream meanders and stretches downstream to Anzhou. The section on the Xinqiaoying side is called Jigequan. However, here in the upper reaches, several streams are connected to each other, and between them are swampy wastelands. No one has given them names.
The cavalry team kept walking along the stream. Sometimes they were blocked by the rugged terrain and had to cross the stream to the opposite river beach before they could continue forward; sometimes they even had to dismount and walk through the mud ponds.
The night was dark, and the road was full of potholes and mud, making it difficult to walk.
The soldiers were soaked to the skin and almost exhausted. Many people were afraid of tiring their horses, so they forced themselves to dismount and lead the horses forward.
As a result, while walking, several people slipped and fell. They had to rely on their companions to help them up. Otherwise, they might suffocate in the mud.
Wherever they passed, there was no one inhabited, and they could only occasionally see a few houses that had collapsed to the point where only their foundations were left, which told people that this place used to be a certain fort or a certain military stronghold.
At that time, this place was a stable place for soldiers and civilians to live and live, but the current situation changed and it was abandoned.
That's okay.
Perhaps this year, many wealthy places in Hebei and the Central Plains will turn into ruins. Together with the billions of soldiers and civilians on the land, they will all be turned into bones and buried under the flames of war. The situation is a hundred times more desolate than what we see now.
While they were marching, another rapid whistle sounded from behind the team, mixed with roars one after another.
At this moment, the team was passing through a depression. Thousands of people were stretched into an extremely long column, and the head and tail could not look at each other. If the Mongols suddenly attack, it will be terrible!
Many soldiers were immediately frightened.
Ni Yi stepped back a few steps and looked at Guo Ning.
Guo Ning said calmly: "Let's not stop and get to Ya'er Village ahead as soon as possible."
Having said this, he straightened up on his horse, looked around at the soldiers in front and behind, and raised his voice: "Go to Yaerzhai to rest for a night. Tomorrow we will find an opportunity to give the Mongols a hard blow!"
Everyone responded with a roar.
Guo Ning sat back on the saddle and said to Ni again: "It doesn't matter if Li Erlang is behind. He can withstand it!"
At this moment, Li Ting, who had gained Guo Ning's trust, was furiously unfurling his bow and shooting at the fast running hounds.
But the hound ran wildly in circles among the crowd, moving extremely quickly. It was difficult for the arrows to hit the target. The sharp arrows shuttled through the air and fell into the soil and water one after another.
Li Ting's archery skills were average, but he fired his arrows very boldly, almost hitting the soldiers on the opposite side several times.
In order to avoid the arrow, the soldier subconsciously turned aside.
As a result, the hound, which was finally surrounded, aimed at the gap that he had stepped aside and rushed over.
In the past two hours, the Mongolian pursuers behind them relied on the keen sense of smell of the two hounds to pursue Li Ting's men. Li Ting thought of several ways, but failed to get rid of them. Several encounters broke out between the two sides.
When it comes to military strength, Li Ting is actually stronger.
But first of all, there are no troops deployed in the swamp, and every contact is a small-scale fierce battle between three, five, or a dozen people; secondly, the soldiers have been fighting early in the morning, and then have traveled a long distance until now, and they are generally extremely tired. But the Mongolians are naturally tough and hardworking. Even if their eyes are blood-red, they still run around like crazy, howling like evil ghosts.
So after several fierce battles, Li Ting's troops suffered a lot. If it were not for the fact that the Mongols had difficulty holding their bows and shooting from a distance at night, the number of casualties would have increased.
Li Ting became ruthless and determined to get rid of the hounds first and then get rid of the enemy, so he set up multiple traps along the way to catch the animals.
Unexpectedly, the two beasts were extremely smart and the trap was completely useless. They still followed him.
In the vast night, the two sides were fighting and walking, and it was difficult to judge the distance between them. There were even times when the two teams were intertwined in complex terrain. Once their whereabouts were discovered, their lives depended on the attack.
This time, Li Ting led some people to crawl in the sewage pond beside the road. Everyone only exposed their eyes and used reed pipes to breathe, waiting for the two hateful dogs to pass by, and then ambush the Mongolian pursuers behind them.
As a result, God knows how those two beasts' noses could be so smart?
As soon as they got closer, the two dogs immediately started barking. Fortunately, at this time, Li Ting's second-in-command, Shi Jiang, rode his horse to kill Hu Tai from a diagonal thrust, and joined forces with the Mongolian Alkinchi in the rear.
Li Ting didn't waste this opportunity.
If I can't ambush a person, why can't I ambush a dog?
He immediately jumped out and tackled the hounds.
Unfortunately, it didn't go well with more than a dozen people surrounding the two dogs. A dog was stunned on the spot, threw its legs and ran away. Seeing that there was only one left, it was time to escape again. In this dark night, once it escapes from the crowd, how can it be caught?
Li Ting was furious. He rushed forward and grabbed the hound's tail.
The hound barked wildly, opened its mouth, and bit Li Ting's throat. Li Ting used his arms to protect himself, and the dog's teeth were embedded in Li Ting's cowhide arm guards, making him unable to penetrate for a moment.
At that moment, a man and a dog were rolling around on the ground.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly. While the hound was biting the arm guard, he pulled out the knife with his other hand and slashed wildly. The surrounding companions also came to help.
In an instant, Li Ting's face was covered in blood again.
He waved his sword and shouted sternly: "Hu Tai can't hold on for long, come with me to support him!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Mongolian pursuers arrived again.
Hu Tai, who was a little further away, really couldn't support it anymore.
There were only ten cavalrymen in total who followed him with a diagonal stab. As a result, they bumped into the main force of the Mongolian Hundred Households. Both sides were outnumbered, and half of the ten cavalrymen were gone in an instant.
Hu Tai had rich experience in fighting. When he saw something was wrong, he turned his horse and left.
He was also a member of the Three Prefectures Defeat Army, and he had a number of close subordinates who had gone through life and death together. In order to cover him, several knights jumped off their horses and waved their spears to drive away the rushing Mongolian knights.
Unexpectedly, a giant man with yellow beard and yellow hair in the Mongolian army had already dismounted, walked through the water and walked around behind the reeds, and rushed to Hu Tai's side in a few steps. This giant man was not wearing armor, his rags were stained with blood, and there were several gaps on the blade of the ring knife in his hand. He was Huga, the Shaojiezi from Beihai.
Hu Ga suddenly rushed to the side of Hu Tai's horse, stretched out his hand to grab the horse's mane, swung his long knife and slashed upward.
The horse was hurt by the drag, and suddenly jumped up in fright, and suddenly the long knife slashed across Hu Tai's thigh. The sharp blade tore open the cowhide skirt, then penetrated deep into the flesh, cutting a foot-long wound from the thigh to the knee to the calf in one breath, exposing the white bones.
Hu Tai was also stubborn. He just grunted and urged his horse repeatedly. The horse had just taken a few steps when suddenly Ga threw away the long curled knife, hugged Hu Tai from the waist, and slammed him off the horse.
Poor Hu Tai's right leg was still in the stirrup. At this time, he fell down on his back and landed on the back of his head. He immediately fainted and was then dragged by the horse and rushed into the swamp and bushes. Those dense shrub branches have been growing for who knows how many years, and are as hard as stone. Even if a war horse steps among them, it has to be careful about the horse's legs being cut, let alone a person being dragged across?
The sound of water was heard, and the smell of blood in the air became stronger in an instant.
At this time, several people who protected Hu Tai were also dead on the ground. Na Minfu stepped on the pool of blood with a cold face, feeling no joy. All because there was only one of his hounds left, and he was whimpering in front of him.
In this environment, missing a dog is like missing an eye or an ear! When you are in a hurry, it means you are missing a life!
Naminfu suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered with a sneer: "Keep moving forward! We keep a close eye on the enemy and can't let them out of sight... But don't fight anymore easily! Keep an eye on them, just keep an eye on them! Four The prince’s subordinates will be able to catch up tomorrow!”
Li Ting had just forced back a group of Mongolian knights who were chasing him, and he took a breather three to four hundred steps away from Na Minfu.
The sky was as dark as ink, but no one dared to light torches for fear of being discovered by the Mongols. I heard Li Ting sneer repeatedly: "Damn, this post-departure job is really hard to do... Hu Tai is finished! We took ten lives and replaced it with a Mongolian dog!"
He laughed twice and gritted his teeth again. The muscles on both sides of his cheeks burst out because of too much force: "However, since a dog has died, the Mongols no longer dare to approach at will... Let's seize the time and leave quickly. !”
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