After listening to Li Changsheng's words, the sentry officer Wan Guangjin glanced at the place he pointed at. He couldn't help but think to himself: "These dog Tatars are really bold. They dare to smoke pipes in the wild. When they meet Master Li, With a nose like this that’s smarter than a dog, it’s so hard to die without even realizing it!”
The three of them whispered a few more words, and Liu Shouzhu swung his big hand back. Immediately, the three men in his team, Yanqiang, Blacksmith and Lockhead, crouched and hurried forward.
Liu Shouzhu gave a few simple instructions, then looked at Li Changsheng and said softly: "Master Li, do you have any other instructions?"
Li Changsheng did not speak, but just waved his hand to indicate that he could set off. Liu Shouzhu covered himself and hurried on. The smoker, blacksmith and lock head also followed him quietly. Their figures soon disappeared into the night and disappeared into the weeds. .
Although Liu Shouzhu has a thick body, he moves very quickly, like a cheetah, and his footsteps fall silently.
The smoke gun and blacksmith are also famous for their agility in the Tiger Guard camp, while Suo Tou is very good at grabbing and grabbing with one hand. Whenever he is chained, he will never let out a cry. He is a good capturer. .
They quickly turned around under the cover of darkness. Liu Shouzhu had a sinister smile on his face. Smoker, Blacksmith and Suo Tou also had excited expressions on their faces.
"There are only a dozen Tatars, so there is no need to be alert at all."
"good!"
A cold light flashed in Li Changsheng's eyes, and the left hand pressing on his mustache immediately moved away. He whispered: Sentinel Wan Guangjin will lead the soldiers of the second and third teams at night, lead the horses, and go first. Hidden in dense wormwood in the west.
After he personally led a team of Ye Bu Shu soldiers to deal with the dozen or so Tatars, they came up to pick them up, and together they ran to Dafu Fort to meet up with Zuo Qinghe, the right sentry stationed there, and then retreated to Daxing Fort.
It turned out that when Li Changsheng led the left sentry out, for the sake of safety and to prevent the team from being too large and easily exposing his whereabouts, he personally led the left sentry to investigate and arranged for the right sentry to follow up as a response.
Now, Zuo Qinghe's right outpost is lurking on the bank of the Nvren River two miles away to the west. They have set up outposts along the perimeter of Dafu Fort. Using this as a base, they can resist for a while when more than a hundred Tatar bandits are riding towards them.
Suddenly, Wan Guangjin stepped forward to stop Li Changsheng and said: "General Li Qian, you are the leader of the entire army. You should not infringe upon dangerous terrain. I'd better lead the first team of brothers up to hunt down these Tatar thieves. You can lead the second and third teams behind." Answer. How about it?”
Li Changsheng's eyes widened and he said urgently: "No need. Just wait until I set off from here and lead him to the west."
Although Wan Guangjin felt that it was inappropriate for Li Changsheng to personally involve himself in danger, he could not disobey orders in front of the battle. He turned around and arranged for the second and third teams to guard the horses and prepare to respond.
Liu Shouzhu and other Yebushou soldiers in the team were all excited. They took off their weapons from their horses and quickly prepared.
Wan Guangjin originally used a long sword, but this time he was preparing to attack the Tatar soldiers. The long sword was not suitable for use at close range. He held a side card in his left hand, inserted a short sword into his waist, and pulled out a short-handed blunderbuss in his right hand, checking stand up.
Liu Shouzhu still used a round shield and a short hammer, and the smoker used a short spear. He also used a short spear in his left hand and a short blunderbuss in his right hand. The blacksmith used a big hammer. He was a blacksmith and had great strength. He joined the army. Later, sledgehammers made from iron were also used as weapons.
As for the lock, he just had a side card on his left arm, a dagger in his mouth, some strange short-handed weapons stuck in his waist, and a short blunderbuss taken out in his right hand.
Li Changsheng glanced at them and said softly: "Put away the short guns. I don't know if there are any Tatars lurking around. Don't use short guns unless it is absolutely necessary."
Although this guy is powerful, the sound is also loud enough. Don't attract the Tatar brigade, which will be difficult to deal with. "
After hearing this, several people hurriedly put the short muskets back into their musket bags, took out Zhang Qiang's crossbow from their horses, strung them, and then took out a poisonous arrow from the crossbow case and set it on it.
Poison arrows were widely used among the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops. However, poison arrows also had a drawback, that is, the raw materials were difficult to extract, making it impossible to equip them on a large scale, and they could not be stored for too long.
If the medicine bottle is exposed to the air for a long time, the medicinal properties will evaporate quickly, so generally only Ye Fushou in the army will be equipped with some poisonous arrows.
The Xuanbei Army kept its men at night with two short-handed muskets. Although these weapons were extremely powerful, if they were hit at close range, even the three layers of heavy armor of Baya La soldiers could not withstand them.
However, the musket caused a lot of noise. Even though the Tiger Guard camp was closed at night and there were more than 200 people nearby, if it attracted a large group of captives, it would not be worth the loss.
After all, they were sent out to check the enemy's situation, and they did not dare to engage in a cavalry battle. Therefore, they quietly replaced the strong bows and crossbows they usually used when sentrying out for sneak attacks and assassinations.
Under Li Changsheng's arrangement, the person in charge of the attack was a group of more than thirty soldiers from the left sentry who stayed up all night. Most of them took out their crossbows and prepared to kill the Tatar sentry riders silently.
This is not a competition in the ring. Naturally, whatever is beneficial to you, do whatever comes. Poison arrows and poison crossbows are all arranged.
"What are you doing here? Go to Officer Wan Sentry's house and help look after the horses!" Li Changsheng said softly, slightly angrily.
It turned out to be Zhang Cheng's adopted son, Zhang Jintai, who had slipped into a group of people at some point. Like everyone else, he was holding a shield and a sword, looking like he wanted to attack.
"Master Li, my father asked you to take us out on a sentry mission, but he didn't ask me to take care of your horses!"
Zhang Jintai has always wanted to be an outstanding night warrior. In his dream, he had galloped many times, crisscrossing with Tatar bandits and cavalry, with arrows passing close to him and guns and cannons ringing around him.
As early as when the Xuanbei Army had just stationed outside Songshan Fort, Zhang Cheng asked everyone about their future ideals, and Zhang Jintai had unabashedly expressed his desire to become an outstanding night warrior.
"It is true that the general ordered you to accompany me on the sentry mission, but in terms of specific actions, you must still follow your military orders."
Li Changsheng kept a straight face and continued in a deep voice: "Now, the military order given to you is to guard our horses and be ready to assist our retreat at any time."
He had no choice but to take Zhang Jintai on a sentry trip for the first time. His original intention was just to let him go with him to gain experience. Naturally, he would not be asked to accompany him unless necessary.
Although there were only a dozen Tatar soldiers in front, it was not certain that there were no other Tatars around. Moreover, the Tatars' fighting power was also extremely strong, and they were attacking at night, so the danger was also great.
However, Zhang Jintai was not afraid of tigers as a newborn calf. He did not appreciate Li Changsheng's love and care, and said slightly stubbornly: "Temur said, 'A wolf is always a wolf, and you can't expect it to eat grass.', and besides, 'A storm that breaks an eagle's wings will only make it stronger'.
The "Temur" he was talking about was the sentry officer under Su Huhu on the right side of the Tiger Guard Camp. He was currently leading four Mongolian warriors to cooperate with Li Changsheng on the sentry mission. Their main task was to step forward and take a look at the enemy when they encountered it. , if you can get through it, you won't have to fight.
This Temur is also an excellent Mongolian mounted archer. He is a pure Mongolian hunter. He once faced off against a pack of wolves in the desert and is a master hunter.
Recently, Zhang Jintai has made him his master, learning from him the techniques of riding, archery and bow hunting, as well as tracking and lurking in the wild.
In this way, many people were influenced by him. At this moment, they learned and applied the Mongolian proverbs they just learned during the day to themselves to deal with Qian Boss Li Changsheng.
He then softened his tone and said: "Master Li, my father asked me to come here for training. I am here to learn how to be a sentinel and fight slaves. I am not here to hide under your wings like a bird."
He added: "Uncle Li, if you don't think so, I will follow you and promise not to take a step forward. How about that?"
"Just let me follow..."
Li Changsheng shook his head helplessly and sighed: "Good boy, you are right. Just follow us. Don't rush around, disrupt the rhythm, and disturb the Tatars. It will be difficult for us to deal with them."
"Yes, Uncle Li, don't worry, I will be well-behaved!"
Li Changsheng took Zhang Jintai out for a few days. According to his observation, Zhang Jintai was indeed a good young man who never harvested at night, but his experience was too little.
He believed that after some training in actual combat, Zhang Jintai would be able to grow up quickly. At first, he only wanted him to take care of the horses and take care of them out of love.
But later on, he couldn't withstand his nudges. Moreover, Li Changsheng had been by Zhang Cheng's side for a long time, so he naturally knew about the more than 30 adopted sons Zhang Cheng had adopted. Raise it up.
Instead, he wanted to train them all into elite warriors who were only loyal to themselves. Of course, the more outstanding ones among them might become leading generals and guard Zhang Cheng's side in the future.
…………
Li Changsheng and the others were quickly prepared. Under the starlight and moonlight, their eyes were flashing with faint light, like a group of wolves preparing to hunt, waiting for the order of the alpha wolf.
Li Changsheng gave the order with hand gestures, and they quickly divided themselves into several groups, with three or five people in each group, dispersed in all directions, and then moved towards the hiding place of the Tatar soldiers from several directions.
Soon, Li Changsheng and others tiptoed to a forest. This forest was not dense, and it looked extremely deserted. It was surrounded by overgrown weeds, except for a few tall poplar trees in the middle. There was a flat open space between the poplar trees. .
Under the moonlight, several Tatar soldiers were resting quietly against the big tree. All of these Tatars were short and stocky, with obvious bow-legged marks.
Looking under the dim light of the night, they all seemed to be wearing blue armor, equipped with scimitars and horned bows. Only one of them had a wolf-skin Sulu ingot hung diagonally on his shoulder. He looked like a sentinel of the Mongolian Zhenglan Banner.
They were very careful and only exchanged a few words occasionally, and their voices were kept low.
Some horses stood quietly aside, and they were also bitten. In addition, the terrain was surrounded by grass, making it inconvenient to search. It was really a good place to hide.
However, there was a Beilu who was happily smoking a cigarette inside. He never thought that his little hobby would expose their location and put the group of people in danger.
Tobacco smoking was very popular in Liaodong at this time. Nobles like Dorgon, Prince Heshuorui of the Qing Dynasty, Hauge, Prince Heshuosu, etc. were famous smokers, and were even imprisoned for this extravagant elegance. Chief Huang Taiji was punished, but he still couldn't let go of it.
In this area of Liaodong, both the Ming and Qing armies were like this, and most of them had this good idea. These Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers may have lived in the Qing country for a long time, and they also got into the habit of smoking guns.
Li Changsheng quietly hid himself in the grass. The dense weeds completely covered his figure. Wan Guangjin also covered himself beside him and gently pushed aside some of the weeds. , peeking in through the cracks in the grass.
The two saw what seemed to be a sentinel from the North, hiding under a big tree.
Suddenly, the Beilu sentry seemed to notice something, or maybe he felt that the surroundings were too quiet and strange. This was an indescribable intuition for a warrior who had fought many battles.
It was at this moment that he suddenly turned his head and looked towards Li Changsheng.
"Whoosh"
A stream of light flashed through the slightly dim moonlight.
"Puff!" There was a soft sound.
The Beibei sentry fell to the side obliquely, and a crossbow arrow shot out from the left like a gust of wind, hitting him in the middle of the neck.
After all, the distance was too close, and the crossbow arrow was extremely powerful, sending him rolling to the right. He raised his hands to cover his neck, trying desperately to struggle, but he could not stop the continuous spurting of bright red blood.
The Beilu sentries resting in the forest were all shocked, and their reaction was not slow. They immediately jumped up, rolled and jumped, and went to get their respective bows and arrows.
However, they just reacted.
"Whoosh...whoosh...whoosh..."
The dense crossbows were fired one after another, and the direction of their arrival was uncertain. It seemed that there were Ming army crossbowmen from all directions.
The sound was muffled and humming. In the blink of an eye, most of the Mongolian Zhenglan Banner sentries in the forest were rolling on the ground, rolling and struggling.
The crossbows fired by the Huwei camp all night long are so powerful, and the arrows they use are all poisonous. As long as these northern warriors are hit by arrows, they will either die or be seriously injured in the blink of an eye, and lose the ability to resist.
And the Beilu sentry, whose position was exposed because of the smoking pole, was shot straight into the entrance by a crossbow arrow. The powerful crossbow came out of his head, and a little cold star flashed behind his head, driving him into a big tree behind him.
With a "bang" sound, the Beibei sentry was nailed to the trunk of the tree by a crossbow arrow. He opened his eyes wide, feeling confused and full of unwillingness. His body could not help but twitch and shake with force until he died. He was motionless, but his eyes never closed.
Only Zhenglan Banner Beilu Zhuanda, who was holding the Sulu Ingot, reacted the fastest, as if he didn't even think about it and relied on his body's natural reaction. He suddenly rolled on the ground, barely able to avoid a few cold arrows.
Immediately afterwards, he jumped up again, and with a sudden movement of his right hand, the Sulu Ding was already in his hand.
He jumped up and charged forward. Under the moonlight, his figure was as strong as an ape, and it seemed that his premonition was also very strong. While jumping like an ape, he narrowly avoided several incoming crossbow arrows one after another.
However, he is still a human being after all, and his body's reaction speed is still limited after all, and his opponents, the Yebushou of the Xuanbei Army's Tiger Guard Camp, are also not easy to deal with.
"puff!"
A powerful crossbow was fired at an extremely tricky angle. The shot flew forward and penetrated his left shoulder. The power of the crossbow was unleashed, and the crossbow arrow even came out from his back.
The force of the powerful crossbow shot brought huge momentum, causing him to stumble backwards, and finally fell down on his back!
