There were messy horse hoof marks everywhere at the mountain pass. It seemed that a lot of Qing army spies had come in. Chang Yu frowned and rode his horse in a circle near the mountain pass. With a wave of his hand, his attendants dispersed to investigate.
"Lord Governor, to the west." At this time, an attendant raised his hand and pointed to the west. Everyone looked at it with doubts on their faces, and found nothing unusual.
"Smoke, smoke, smoke..." the attendant said urgently, Chang Yu squinted and stared, and sure enough, a wisp of green smoke was looming at the foot of the mountain in the distance to the west. It was really difficult to spot it if you didn't look carefully.
The Ming army had strong walls and clear fields with no human habitation for dozens of miles around. The army stayed at night and acted cautiously so as not to leak any traces. There was only one possibility for not being afraid of exposing traces: the Qing army's scouting horses!
Chang Yu, Wu Zhong, and Li Tiezhu looked at each other with murderous intent in their eyes.
In a sheltered mountain col at the foot of Mohu Mountain, twenty miles northwest of Ningyuan City, a dozen strong horses were exploring grass roots in the snow. Not far away, a dozen big men gathered around a bonfire with several game animals on the fire. It was sizzling with oil, and the big men were feasting with greasy hands. Sometimes they even drank a few sips of strong wine, shouted something loudly from time to time, and sometimes burst into laughter.
These people were the scouts of the Qing army. They were hiding in this mountain valley to take shelter from the wind. They were drinking, eating meat and making loud noises, but they did not pay any attention to the Ming army in Ningyuan City who was just around the corner.
Of course they didn't take the Ming army seriously, and their defeated generals fled. Those Ming army scouts never dared to confront them head-on. As soon as they found traces, they would stay away from them. When they couldn't avoid it, they would flee or be beaten by them. Sack.
Hush, suddenly a Qing army spy who was peeing in the distance whistled and looked outside the mountain. Everyone stood up in a hurry and looked around. They were suddenly startled. A mile away, more than 20 riders were coming slowly.
Damn this person, he doesn't look like one of their own. The Qing army spies immediately walked towards the war horse, reached out and pulled out their sabers, got on their horses, gathered together and stared at the group of people closely.
Chang Yu stared with both eyes at the Qing army spies in the mountain col. Some were wrapped in animal skins, and some were wearing leather armor. Their eyes were fierce and they looked rough and savage. It turned out that these were the legendary Tatars, the legendary warriors. The invincible warriors of the Qing Dynasty were very different from the uniform soldiers with long pointed hats and colorful armors in the TV series I watched in later generations. Maybe it was because they were Tanma irregulars.
But they are not like those weak and incompetent Qing soldiers in the late Qing Dynasty who wore bloated cotton clothes, were thin, and had long ponytails. At this time, the more than 20 people in front of them exuded two words, fierce!
As if they had discovered the identities of Chang Yu and others, the group of Qing army spies murmured something and then rode straight over, shouting something loudly from time to time, accompanied by bursts of laughter.
Wuzhong tightened the spear in his hand, looked at the Qing army coming slowly from the opposite side, and then looked at the little eunuch.
Chang Yu frowned. In fact, even he himself was not sure of the purpose of leaving the city today. When he heard Xiao Ran report that there were Qing spies outside the city, his first reaction was curiosity, and then he wanted to surround and kill them.
Everyone is curious. What is the Qing army like after defeating the Ming army? Is it really that powerful? This question has been lingering in Chang Yu's mind since he left Beijing.
Although the victory or defeat of a war involves many factors, repeated defeats mean that the combat power is indeed inferior to others. However, the little eunuch has always wanted to know how much stronger the Qing army is than the Ming army.
He knew all the major battles of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and he also remembered that several small-scale conflicts ended in the disastrous defeat of the Ming army.
During the Battle of Daling River, when Wu Xiang and Song Wei went to support Zu Dashou, they were discovered by Huang Taiji and prepared to ambush. It happened that Ming army spies also discovered Huang Taiji's ambush, so they started to attack. Wu Xiang had six thousand soldiers and horses, and Huang Taiji He Duduo had 200 men at that time, and the Ming army was defeated miserably! Six thousand versus two hundred were defeated miserably!
In the early days of the Songjin War, Zu Dashou was ordered to defend Ningyuan. He selected 300 Mongolian and Han soldiers, a total of 600 men. At the mouth of the Wuxin River, they met the 160 Manchu and Mongolian troops of the Qing general Arsalan. The Ming army was defeated and 80 of them were beheaded. Four people, one hundred and fifty horses.
There were also several small-scale battles of hundreds of people recorded in historical data. No matter whether it was an encounter with a probing horse or an ambush, the Ming army could not win!
Is the Ming army really so weak, and is the Qing army really so powerful and invincible?
Chang Yu wants to find out!
So he went out of the city to find him.
But he was conflicted about whether to kill him or not. These detectives were obviously ordered to verify the information in Wu Sangui's "begging teacher" letter. If they killed him, wouldn't it be a mistake?
But he was relieved immediately. These Qing army spies were by no means the same group. Xiao Ran had previously reported the discovery of several groups, and judging from the horse hoof marks, several groups of people and horses had crossed Ningyuan and ran to the south.
So, it’s better to just kill this group...
Just when he made up his mind, the Qing army spies were already more than ten meters in front of him. At this time, Chang Yu was shocked to realize that he was overthinking, because no matter whether he took action or not, they had no intention of letting him go!
A total of seventeen Qing army spies, with unruly faces and disdain in their eyes, slowly approached and then dispersed, waving the swords in their hands and shouting loudly. They did not pay attention to the Mingren in front of them. In eyes.
"They are trying to surround us." When he saw the Qing troops dispersed, Chang Yu sneered: "Tie Zhu, kill them all, leave no one behind!" After saying that, he clamped his feet and let out a cry from Baoju on his crotch. With a long hiss, the Qing army rushed towards the opposite side.
"Suffer death!" Chang Yu shouted, and stabbed the Qing army with the horse spear in his hand, but the man suddenly disappeared from the horseback. Chang Yu was suddenly startled. He secretly thought something was wrong, and the two horses crossed each other. At this moment, a cold light suddenly struck from the ground and passed directly across the facade. It turned out that the Qing army was highly skilled in riding. At that moment, he hid under the belly of the horse, and with a counter-attack, he put the young eunuch in danger.
Chang Yu was no longer the Amen he was in the past. When he saw that the man was gone, he turned back to protect himself and narrowly blocked the knife. However, there was another cold light flashing from the side, and another Qing army came to kill him. He hurriedly turned sideways to avoid it. He swept it down, then his hand shook and blood splattered everywhere.
Riding his horse, he looked back and saw that his attendants were already fighting with the Qing army. In just a few rounds, one of them fell off his horse and rolled over in the snow. This made Chang Yu feel a pain in his heart. He was shocked that the Qing army was really fierce. .
The Qing army's riding skills were superb, as if they were on horseback, and they could roll up and down with ease. The eunuch army was far inferior to them in this regard, but the eunuch army also had its own advantages. They were all strong and strong, and as Chang Yu The attendants must be the outstanding masters in Gongzi camp, and they all have armor on their bodies. As long as they don't get hit in the head with a knife, it won't be that easy.
Regardless of whether it is the Ming or Qing army, Tan Ma is the most ferocious and tyrannical, because they are always walking on the edge of a knife. When the two sides fight, it is a life-and-death struggle, which is extremely fierce.
The men and horses of Gongziying were equal to those of the Qing army, and there was no distinction between them for a while. Only then did the Qing army realize that this group of Ming people was a little abnormal. They dared to show up and fight. They really had two brushes. But not enough to scare them.
However, what surprised Chang Yu the most was Wuzhong. He had the worst riding skills, had never participated in horse fighting, and was not good at using a spear. I was worried that this guy would make a mistake, but unexpectedly, this guy was usually a bit stupid and would start a fight. It's like a different person.
If the spear is not easy to use, then don't use it. As soon as the fight started, the spear in his hand was thrown hard, hitting a Qing army horse in the middle, and it was instantly overturned to the ground.
If you are not good at horsemanship, then you will not ride. As soon as the spear was released, he pulled out the long knife behind his back and jumped off the horse. He struck the Qing soldier on the ground and rolled on the spot to avoid another blow. With a horizontal strike of the long knife, the hind hooves of the local war horse were cut off. , fell off the horse, and slashed forward...
In a short period of time, this guy rolled and crawled in the snow and killed three Qing soldiers.
On the other side, Li Tiezhu was not so relaxed. The Qing army clearly recognized that he was the leader of this group, and they made a tacit understanding of him as a key target for elimination. They attacked and intercepted him in various ways. Fortunately, they deployed around him to resist with all their might, otherwise they would have been defeated. Unexpected.
But even so, he had been stabbed twice. If it were not for the protection of his armor, he would have died long ago.
"Brothers, these dog Tartars are nothing more than that. Even if they are cut with a knife, they will hurt and die. They think they have three heads and six arms... Ning Yuan's army is really a bunch of weaklings..." Li Tiezhu waved his knife to fend off his opponents. One blow, roaring at the top of his lungs.
But he didn't notice that a Qing army was passing by on horseback behind him, and the saber went straight towards his neck and passed by...
"Be careful!" the person nearby exclaimed, but found that there was no time to rescue him.
The blade passed by and the cold air pricked his skin. Li Tiezhu closed his eyes and felt unwilling to give in. My life is at risk!
