The August apocalypse was unusually hot, and as far as the eye could see, it was all yellow-black earth and almost withered grass, and the earth that had been sunburned all day was constantly exuding heat, and occasionally a few small animals appeared only in a hurry, and then they did not know which shady place to hide.

A messy sound of horses' hooves sounded, accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves, five or six cavalrymen turned out of a hill, these cavalrymen were wearing leather armor, and the outside of the leather armor was covered with the traditional Mandarin Duck Jacket of the Ming Dynasty, but these Mandarin Duck Jackets were all worn out, and the original red color had been transformed into gray-brown. However, it is worth noting that these cavalry are all one person and two horses, which is very rare for the Ming Dynasty, who lacks horses, and there is only one kind of person who can be equipped with such extravagant equipment, that is, the most elite in the border army.

The word also represents the most elite troops in the Ming army, they are generally active in the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchen, the junction of the Mongolian tribes, responsible for spying on the enemy's intelligence to capture the live mouth and even assassinate the work, the nature of the work is equivalent to the later army special forces or the mixture of the assault force behind the enemy, the danger is naturally undoubted, so they are both equipment and personnel The quality is also the highest in the Ming army.

In such a scorching sun, marching is not only a great test for people, but also for horses, because a bad person will not only suffer from heat stroke, but also if the war horse does not replenish water in time after sweating a lot, it will also suffer from heat stroke, which is unbearable for the night that regards the war horse as a second life.

A knight on the right wiped the sweat from his face and said in a voice that became hoarse because of thirst: "Boss Zhao, we can't go on like this, even if we can stand it like this, our war horses can't stand it, if something happens to the war horses, we can't go back to Dalinghe Fort with our legs alone." ”

"Yes, and it's already very close to Quang Ninh, so it would be bad if you ran into a Tartar!" A relatively thin and dark-skinned Ye Bushu also echoed: "Let us investigate the situation, let's just take a look, don't put your life into it!" ”

"Shut up Lao Tzu!"

The knight at the head suddenly turned his head and shouted angrily: "Don't do this if you're afraid of death!" Who are we? We don't collect it at night, we are the most elite of the border army, and we are also the eyes and ears of more than 100,000 brothers behind us. It's not because we are the eyes and ears of the whole army, and what we see and hear is related to the safety of the whole army, so we are treated so favorably, otherwise why would we receive such a high salary? Since you have to work hard for others after serving this bowl of rice, do you still want me to teach you this truth? ”

Although the knight at the head was not tall, he was unusually burly, and two scars were drawn down from the left and right foreheads respectively, which made people feel terrifying at first sight. He had a heavy sword hanging from his left waist, a spear hanging from the saddle on his right, a horned bow and a quiver behind his back, and a dagger stuck in his waist.

Led by the Zhao boss scolded, the knights behind him lowered their heads and did not say a word, the knight slowed down his voice a little, "You all don't have a bitter face anymore, go forward for five miles, and we can go back to the bend to investigate, if we are lucky, we can return to Dalinghe Fort tomorrow evening, take a good bath and sleep, if the adults are kind to us for a few days off, I will take you to Yuncui Tower in Jinzhou to have fun!" ”

As soon as Boss Zhao's words fell, several knights who were still depressed were all shocked, and the thin knight said urgently: "Is Boss Zhao's words serious?" Will you also give us the money that went to the kiln? ”

"Get out of the way, Lao Tzu will invite you to eat and drink, is it difficult for you to go to the kiln to have the money that Lao Tzu will give?" Boss Zhao was furious, and then he glanced at the thin knight with disdain: "But I said Heizi, I only have to stare when you go to Cuiyun Tower, and then you can drink." ”

"Hahaha......"

All the knights laughed, and the men were all the same when they mentioned this kind of thing, and they were also in good spirits when they were originally drowsy, and they saw that this Zhao boss laughed and scolded. After laughing, Boss Zhao sighed again: "Alas...... It would be good if Yang Daniu was here, this kid made a good archery skill, and if he met us here, if he met the Tartar outpost, he would be a little more secure. ”

As soon as they heard the name Yang Da Niu, the people who did not accept it all night also sighed lightly, although Yang Da Niu was not very old, but he was the most elite archer among them, as long as a longbow and a pot of arrows in hand, even if they met more than a dozen Tartar outposts, they were not afraid at all, but it was a pity that after receiving a letter from his parents at the beginning of the year, he quit his errand in the army and went home.

Seeing that everyone's mood was a little low again, Zhao Laodaqiang smiled and said: "Okay, everyone, don't be depressed, you will reach the turning corner in a few miles, cheer me up, otherwise if you touch the Tartar, you will lose your life in vain." ”

With the encouragement of Boss Zhao, everyone turned the hill and prepared to move in the direction of due north, when they turned the last dirt slope and were about to speed up, the sunspot walking on the right suddenly changed his expression, and his original languishing appearance disappeared immediately, and the whole person jumped off the horse like a nimble monkey, and he put his ear on the ground that was so sunburned that he could almost bake eggs.

Seeing Kuroko's movements, everyone immediately became alert, among their group of people, Kuroko's ears and eyes are the best, especially the unique ability of one hand to the ground to distinguish sound is the crown of the crowd, as long as his ears are so close to the ground, but he can hear any big movement within a few miles, and in everyone's experience, since he made this action, it must mean that he has noticed something.

Kuroko only listened to it for less than ten seconds, and his face immediately changed, only to hear him blurt out: "It's not good, there is a group of cavalry in front of us approaching our side!" ”

Boss Zhao frowned: "How many people?" ”

"At least hundreds!"

Hearing Kuroko's words, everyone's faces changed, this place is already very close to Guangning, and after the Golden Tartars occupied Guangning, they regarded this place as their sphere of influence, so many cavalry appeared here without asking to know that it must be Tartar's men and horses. If they are discovered by the Tartars, they will surely die.

Boss Zhao said with a dark face: "It's too late to leave now, everyone immediately go to the back of the hill and hide, put the horses on the halter, and then hide, whether we can avoid this wave depends on the will of the thief." ”

These nights are all experienced old fritters, as soon as Boss Zhao's words fell, they immediately urged the horse to run to the hill behind them, tied the war horse, and then several people lay on the ground, a relatively dense artemisia grass from the inside quietly looking north.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves gradually sounded, and after a while hundreds of cavalry appeared in their sight, these cavalry looked very strong, the armor was dark blue, and the edge of the armor was inlaid with a red border, and the thick copper nails could be seen clearly.

Seeing this, Boss Zhao gasped, gritted his teeth and said: "His grandmother's is actually a tartar with a blue flag, and it seems that she is just a striker." ”

The night next to him was silent, and the man with a Shandong accent closed his lips tightly, and his right hand clutched the hilt of the knife at his waist. The thin Kuroko grabbed a few artemisia grasses in front of him and was silent.

The hundreds of Tartars were very rampant, talking and laughing loudly as they walked, and they didn't have the idea that there were a few Ming soldiers who were only a few hundred steps away from them, watching them quietly.

After the hundreds of Tartar cavalry walked away, Ye Bushu on the left whispered: "Let's go quickly, these are just the Tartar forwards, let's rush back immediately before their brigade arrives." After speaking, he was about to get up, but was stopped by Boss Zhao.

Boss Zhao shouted in a deep voice: "Da Zhuang, what are you anxious about, you just know that these Tartars are just some forwards, so we have to find out how many men and horses they have, and report to the military gate after they go back, this is a great achievement!" Da Zhuang, don't you always complain that Chunni's father wants a dowry that is too high, as long as you do this ticket of the military gate, the reward will definitely be indispensable, not to mention the dowry for marrying Chunni, even the silver for the concubine will be available. ”

"His grandmother's, this bounty is not easy to take, if you don't even have to lose your life here." Da Zhuang muttered, but Boss Zhao's words were still very customary, and he lay down again.

After a quarter of an hour or so, a heavy sound of horses' hooves sounded in the distance, accompanied by bursts of dust and smoke rushing into the sky, and soon a group of soldiers and horses appeared in front of them, both cavalry and infantry, and they passed in front of them in groups of oxen as units. Zhao Lao Da and others covered their mouths while silently recording the passing soldiers and horses, behind the soldiers were a huge number of carts pushing cattle and sheep and Han looking slaves, until more than two hours later, the Tartars all passed through, and the matter was close to dusk.

After the people and horses, an artemisia grass shook from the inside, and several, dusty figures who could no longer see the color of their original clothes staggered to their feet.

"Phew...... Phew......"

Da Zhuang spat vigorously, at this time he only felt that his mouth and nose were all filled with mud and sand, and the Tartars had endured extremely hard when they passed by just now, and now they could finally spit them out.

Boss Zhao, who was also disgraced, did not pat the dust on his body like other nights, but said in a deep voice: "Heizi, have you written it down?" ”

"It's all written down!" Heizi nodded: "The Tartars have passed through a total of twenty-five Niu Lu, as well as miscellaneous auxiliaries and coats, etc., the number is about 12,000 people, and the blue flag has poured out of the nest this time." ”

Boss Zhao kept his face calm and silent, the blue flag is the second largest flag in the Houjin after the yellow flag, a total of thirty-three Niu Lu, and now twenty-five Niu Lu were dispatched at once, although it is a bit exaggerated to say that it is a bit exaggerated, but it is not far off.

"These damn Tartars, can't they attack Jinzhou?" A tall and thin man suddenly scolded.

Da Zhuang urged: "Boss Zhao, let's hurry back and report to the military gate, our reward for this report alone will definitely be indispensable." ”

"Not yet!" Boss Zhao shook his head and said, "We still have to catch a few tongues and ask, we must know what the purpose of the tartar is?" ”

Several Ye Bushu glanced at each other, and could only nod helplessly, who made Boss Zhao the leader.

That night, after a day's march, the Houjin army began to set up camp, piles of bonfires were lit, countless clothed minions and auxiliaries were constantly busy, some of them were busy killing cattle and slaughtering sheep, some were busy setting up tents, some were busy carrying firewood, and those bannermen with blue flags began to unload their armor one by one under the service of Baoyi, drinking wine and eating meat while talking and laughing loudly.

These bannermen with blue flags, who were drinking and eating meat, did not expect that less than three hundred steps away from them, several figures were quietly lying on the ground staring at them. Since the Battle of Sarhu, the Jurchens' attitude towards the Ming Dynasty has changed from fear to contempt, and in the subsequent years of fighting, as Tieling, Fushun, and Shenyang fell into the hands of the Jurchens, their attitude towards the Ming Dynasty changed from contempt to contempt. The Jurchen slogan of being invincible was shouted from this time, which can be seen from the attitude of the Jurchen army when they marched.

As the night deepened, most of the well-fed and well-fed Jurchens began to sleep. In a relatively remote camp, several figures slowly approached, and after dodging a patrol of infantry soldiers, these figures quickly rushed in, and then only heard a low sound of fighting and muffled snorts and screams, and after a while several figures rushed out of the tent, two of them carrying two struggling red striped men on their shoulders.

They ran as fast as they could, and as soon as they ran out of the camp, they were spotted by a patrol who happened to be passing by. The patrol chased after him while shouting, and after being discovered, these people took out their crossbows and shot at the patrol without saying a word, and shot the three patrol soldiers who rushed to the front to the ground, and saw their companions being shot to the ground, and the patrolmen were not to be outdone, and also took out their bows and arrows and shot over, but at this time the figures had already jumped on the war horses and walked away, leaving only a few corpses and thunderous tartars......