"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Close the city gate, quickly, close the city gate!" A commander shouted loudly on the top of Xinpingbao.
Under the city wall, the city gate that allowed pedestrians to enter and exit was slowly closed, and some pedestrians and caravans who failed to enter Xinpingbao in time were all locked outside the city gate.
No matter how these people shouted at the city gate, the city gate never opened again.
The commander on top of the city stared nervously into the distance, and in the direction he was looking, dust and smoke filled the air, and a cavalry team appeared in sight.
"Damn it, there must be more than a hundred riders here, how did those Tatars get in?" A general sentry stood next to the general, looking in the direction filled with dust and smoke, and murmured to himself.
The boss next to him scolded: "Who the hell did you get in here? Go and notify the adults immediately."
"Yes, my subordinates will go right away." The general sentry agreed and hurried down from the city.
As the Tatars in the distance gradually approached the city gate, a sharp-eyed soldier behind the wall said hesitantly: "Sir, I don't think they look like Tatars, but they look like people from our Ming Dynasty."
Hearing the words of the soldiers next to him, Na Bao put one hand on the wall and leaned out from the crenel to look into the distance.
After a long while, he looked away, but his brows furrowed.
The soldier next to him asked again: "Sir, could he be a horse thief?"
Mr. Jiang pondered for a moment and said, "Let's take a look."
At this moment, I heard the soldiers on the side shouting: "Come here, come here, they are horse thieves, horse thieves, not Tatars."
As the cavalry team in the distance approached, the soldiers at the top of the city could tell from the clothes of the cavalry outside the fort that the other party was not the Tatars from the north.
Most of the Tatars wear fur coats, and their heads are either full of braids or bald, making them very easy to recognize.
"No, they're not horse bandits." The commander on top of the city suddenly said, "Horse bandits, everyone wears armor, and they all wear iron armor."
Standing on the top of the city, the boss swallowed hard.
The armor is very easy to recognize. When the sun shines on it, the light is refracted out, and the top of the armor is bright and dazzling.
There was still some distance away, and the cavalrymen who were always seen in the distance were each wearing a strange iron armor, which was like two iron plates, wrapping the person inside, without any connection in the middle, very tight.
"Could it be that the General Soldier sent his own soldiers to our Xinping Fort, or that it was the Governor's personal guards." The soldier standing on the top of the city said hesitantly.
The soldiers who can wear a suit of iron armor, not even the soldiers of their generals, can wear one. And the cavalry near Xinping Fort are all wearing black iron armor.
"Don't make blind guesses. It's impossible for all the soldiers of Lord Commander-in-Chief to wear iron armor." The boss replied.
As a general, although his rank is not high, he has seen his own soldiers. The soldiers of the general only have cotton armor, and they look shabby. They are no different from the soldiers of their generals. The number is larger at most, and generally only the personal guards and the personal leader will wear mail armor.
But the cavalry in front of them all wore black armor, and they looked like a black cloud from a distance.
"Look, sir, someone is coming." The sharp-eyed soldier pointed at the bottom of the city.
The galloping cavalry stopped about three hundred steps away from the head of Xinpingbao.
One of the cavalrymen rode forward a few steps, looked up at the top of the city, and shouted: "Brothers on the top of the city, please tell the general that we are a team from Lingqiu."
"May I ask which lord's cavalry they are?" The general shouted down from the top of the city.
Lao Wu shouted: "We are the guards of the Tiger Flag Mule and Horse Company. We are here to deliver goods to the General. Please go and tell the General."
"Okay, you wait."
When I heard that it was the person carrying the tiger-character flag, I was relieved, knowing that the person coming was not an enemy.
He is no stranger to the name Tiger Character Flag. Last time, hundreds of bandit heads in Daliang Mountain were given to them by the Tiger Character Flag. This time, he also got a few heads, so he can be regarded as inheriting the Tiger Character Flag. The word flag's favor.
As soon as the general walked down the corner of the city, he saw the general walking over with his soldiers.
Coming closer, Li Huaixin said seriously: "How many Tatars have come? Have they attacked Xinping Fort? Have the smoke been lit?"
The boss said hurriedly: "Sir, these are not Tatars, but the cavalry team from Lingqiu. They say they are here to deliver things to you."
"Let's go up to the top of the city and have a look." Li Huaixin stepped up to the top of the city.
Standing in front of the crenel, he looked up and looked down the city. He saw a group of cavalry in black armor, followed by a dozen four-wheeled carts and a guard team of several hundred people. There was also a tiger flag on the cart. .
Seeing this, he was already sure that the person coming was from the Tiger Flag, but he still asked: "Is the person coming from the Tiger Flag?"
At this time, a man walked out from behind the cavalry at the bottom of the city. He stood in front, raised his hands toward the top of the city, and said, "Master Li, I am Zhao Yutu. On orders from our master, I came to Xinping Fort to meet with you."
"It turns out to be Mr. Zhao. Wait a moment. I will ask someone to open the city gate." Li Huaixin shouted from the top of the city, and then ordered the commander beside him, "Go and open the city gate."
The general agreed, walked to the city head, and ordered the soldiers behind the city gate to open the city gate.
Click! Click! Click!
The iron rope started to rotate, and the city gate opened little by little. It didn't stop until the city gate was completely opened.
Zhao Yutu, who was at the foot of the city, said to Ma Yunjiu on the side: "Captain Ma, please stay outside the fort with the cavalry, and I will lead the convoy into the fort."
Ma Yunjiu nodded.
Zhao Yutu turned around, waved to the convoy of four-wheeled carts behind him, and said, "Follow me into the fort."
Driven by the driver, the four-wheeled carts entered the fort one after another. Five of the dozen or so four-wheeled carts entered the fort. Also entering the fort was a squadron of muskets.
Li Huaixin had already come down from the top of the city and was waiting at the city gate. After seeing Zhao Yutu, he smiled and said: "I have been waiting for you since I received the letter from Dongzhu Liu. I didn't expect you to come in such a big battle this time. My commander almost thought that the Tatars were coming to attack Xinpingbao."
As he spoke, he glanced at the tiger-shaped flag cavalry outside the fort.
The last time he saw Liu Heng, he had never heard that the Tiger Character Banner had its own cavalry. Only a few months ago, the Tiger Character Banner actually had its own cavalry.
As a military general, he is very aware of the money it costs to raise a cavalry, especially the cavalry of the Tiger Flag. Everyone wears iron armor, is equipped with a saber, and also carries various short-term soldiers.
The money spent on such a cavalry team can support three to four hundred cavalry in the hands of a general like him.
Zhao Yutu said with a smile: "It's my first time to go to Beilu territory, so I have to be more prepared. I heard that there is a lot more chaos there than in our Ming Dynasty."
After hearing this, Li Huaixin nodded and said: "The Beilu are a group of barbarians. Even a small tribe can turn into bandits at any time. Therefore, when arriving at the Beilu territory, Mr. Zhao must be more careful and retreat as soon as possible when encountering danger. As long as I am here at Xinping Fort, no matter how fierce the Northerners are, they will not dare to cross my Xinping Fort to show off their evil deeds."
"I would like to thank Mr. Li here." Zhao Yutu bowed his hands and bowed.
Five four-wheeled carts arrived at the gate of the General's Mansion and stopped on the street in front of the General's Mansion.
