The days are not that long in April, and the earth is completely plunged into darkness as soon as it passes seven o'clock. After seven-thirty, it becomes even more dark.
Modern people can no longer understand what the dark night felt like in the past, because there are street lights everywhere, and cities or villages have become sources of light pollution.
Human beings can find various lighting equipment everywhere they go, and the constant flow of cars can also illuminate everything.
But that didn't work in ancient times. In the era without electricity, lighting at night was a very difficult and very luxurious thing. After nightfall, there was endless darkness, and you might not be able to see any light even if you walked all night long.
Why was there a curfew system in ancient times? In fact, maintaining law and order was on the one hand, and on the other hand, it was indeed to provide protection for the people, because it was too dangerous to go out, not to mention wild beasts and rogues, and you couldn't get through the ditches!
White Wolf did not dare to save resources tonight. All the lights of the horse lanterns were adjusted to the brightest level, and all the peripheral cavalry lit torches.
However, accidents still occurred frequently. The cavalry walking on the post official road in the middle was fine, but the cavalry trampling on the farmland on both sides suffered.
No matter how good your horsemanship is, you can't withstand the bad environment. Within twenty minutes, dozens of horses have fallen and broken their legs. You can't even see the grass-covered ditches in the farmland unless you walk into them!
"Sir! Can you lower the speed a little...the road is too complicated..."
There was a crisp sound, and the white wolf whipped his subordinate on the face. "You bastard! The military order is like a mountain, won't you leave if you don't say it? You must see Prince Dun at midnight!"
"Isn't it just an injury? If a war horse is injured, he immediately breaks away from the team, forms a reserve team, and leads the horse away..."
"The war horses that can't walk will be fostered in the village, and the people will be ordered to take care of them. If they die, they will pay with their lives!"
"If the injured one can't survive, just give it a good life..."
"Sir Fu Qing said that if one horse is damaged, ten horses will be compensated. Will this account not be settled? Speed up, don't slow down, you have to speed up..."
The beaten officer did not dare to resist, so he turned around and passed on the order. This was a serious situation. The villages along the way that were still inhabited were in bad luck.
There were no serious disasters near the capital, and the capital was the most benign place, and the food supply was still sufficient!
This place is not like the southern part of Zhili, where all the rural areas are empty. More than 90% of the villages are still inhabited, but when the soldiers came, these villages were frightened.
Women began to wipe pot ash on their faces and hide in cabinets and haystacks. Even young men had to hide for fear of being raped.
Old men and women guard the entrances of every household in the village, carefully watching the dazzling river of lights flowing past the official road.
Countless people knelt on the ground and kowtowed, praying to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for help. However, under the great disaster, the gods and Buddhas closed their eyes, and whatever you feared came to you.
Bang, bang, bang... The sound of banging on the door sounded outside. The people in the house were so frightened that they didn't dare to speak out. Weird pronunciation of Chinese came from outside.
"Damn! Stop hiding... We know you are all hiding in the village..."
"We are His Majesty's army... the kidnappers outside the pass... the subordinates of General White Wolf..."
"There are twelve injured war horses currently stored in your village... You must raise them well. We will come back to collect them after the war..."
"If one of them dies, you will have to pay three of them... If more than half of them die, then you will have to kill your people to pay for it!"
"Did you listen? I'll just say it once... let's go!"
The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away, and the courageous Mr. Su secretly leaned on the wall and looked out. Then under the faint starlight and the light of the river of lights in the distance, he saw the dark shadows of more than a dozen horses at the end of the village.
Several figures came closer and saw that they were all injured war horses. The old men sat down on the ground with sadness, "Aren't you going to let people live? In the year of great disaster, people can't even feed themselves." What big animals do you care about?”
"If you die, how can we compensate you... You are a fool, you are a fool!"
"You don't want your life?" Several old men rushed over and blocked his mouth. The fear of imperial power in people of this era has been imprinted in their bones.
Just when several old men were discussing how to mobilize the whole village to feed these dozen ancestors, a few snapping sounds were suddenly heard in the distance, and the old men were stunned.
At this moment, the fast-moving but very silent river of lights suddenly became restless, shouts of death could be heard faintly, and the sound of horse hooves rolled like thunder.
"Fuck! There's a fight... Hide quickly..." Several old men ran faster than the young men, and swished into the deserted village.
Sure enough, a fight broke out. Just as the White Wolf Army accelerated its speed south, intensive gunshots rang out without warning after 7:30 in the surrounding darkness.
They were all cold shots. They would move after three or four shots. Anyone with experience in night fighting knows that whoever is guarding the light source in the dark will suffer the most.
Because people in the surrounding darkness can see people near the light source very clearly, but people near the light source see darkness all around and cannot see anything clearly.
The sneak attack is just in time! Master Qin leads more than two hundred servants who are the sons and daughters of Prince Zheng. They are his most elite direct descendants, and all of them are good at shooting foreign guns.
Prince Zheng was greedy and shameless on the surface, but a lot of the money he was greedy for secretly bought weapons and raised domestic slaves. These domestic slaves may not be very effective in charging into battle, but they are still accurate in shooting.
The best rifle in this era is the German Mauser. It is powerful, has a long range, and is accurate. One shot can knock down the cavalry on horseback one by one.
Bai Lang was not afraid to make a decisive decision, "This is a small sneak attack force... The Chinese army will ignore them and continue to move forward. The left and right wings will be divided into teams of ten to search..."
"Don't stop the army...keep fighting!"
The response was very good, but they underestimated Master Qin's cunning. When they heard a loud bang in front of the team, the medicine jar secretly buried in the field was ignited, and the blast of air shocked dozens of war horses. The front army was in chaos!
"Fuck! How could a good wolf hunter allow shameless wild wolves to sneak attack! Kill all these sneak attackers... White Wolf Army! Kill!"
Horse hooves trampled on the ground, and the sturdy riders formed a team to search in the direction of the attacker. Their eyes were bright and alert. They were all warriors who grew up eating meat. They were not lacking in vitamins and none of them had night blindness.
Pitch black like eyes catching all the clues in the dark night!
"There's movement on the left..."
Bang, bang, bang... a quick burst of gunfire came over, and a muffled sound was heard in the darkness. Apparently someone had been shot!
"Search...the others continue to fight...there is a pile of firewood directly in front, which is lit, illuminating the battlefield..."
Bang bang bang... In the dark night, Prince Zheng's domestic slaves also became murderous. Then, under the cover of night, they began to fight back against the cavalry. Amidst the gunfire, some kidnappers were shot and fell from their horses.
Bai Lang stared at everything in front of him coldly. He knew very well that the purpose of these people was just to delay the speed of the army, because you could tell by the sound of gunfire that the number of enemies was too small!
"Haha... Flies will always be flies. Do I still care about flies like you when I have an army of ten thousand?"
