Chapter 37 Be polite
The weather was nice. Although there was no sign of warming, it looked like it wouldn't snow in the next few days. The eighteen brave generals and soldiers heading north were riding on their horses and exchanging their understandings of the Tatars.

Another eight people were distributed in an area of ​​several hundred steps in front, behind, east and west to scout for the enemy and prevent themselves from encountering the Jiannu scouts without knowing it.

"If a large group of Tatars went out, their Niulu usually had 40 Tatars with foot bows, managed by two to three Bashiku, and another 40 Tatars with horse bows, managed by four to eight Bashiku. The Baoyi who transported the halberd arrows were the common property of the Niulu, and they delivered arrows to both the mounted and foot Tatars.

A Niulu of white Bayalas wearing armor usually consists of eight to ten people, with a Bashiku. Usually, the most dangerous work is done by these Bayalas, such as climbing the top of the city wall with two layers of armor, moving the chevaux de frise under the fire of guns, etc.

Huang Long explained in detail to General Li and others the intelligence he knew about the Jiannu.

"You are a Jiangxi native, and you went to Liaoxi to serve as a soldier. It is rare for you to have such a detailed understanding of the Jiannu."

When leaving the city, this person volunteered to fight. Li Hao was quite impressed by him. After learning that his name was Huang Long, he suspected that this person was Huang Long, the Dongjiang general who died in a fierce battle with the Later Jin in the sixth year of Chongzhen. After an in-depth conversation, he was 90% sure.

"But I still have a question. There are a hundred armored Tatars in a Niulu. Why are there about ten of them not in the main force? What are they doing?"

Li Hao asked.

Huang Long pointed at this group of people and said, "They are just like us, raiding and scouting. They often form a team by themselves, with the number of people ranging from four or five Tartars to eight or nine Tartars. Niulu'ezhen cannot command these Tartars. The ones who command them are the so-called scouts.

Generally speaking, there are two scouts in a flag, called the left wing scout and the right wing scout. There are two large flags, the Bordered Blue Banner and the Plain Yellow Banner, and there are also vanguard scouts and rear wing scouts. Those who can serve as scouts are relatives of the old slaves, or brothers and nephews of the Tartar generals. "

Zu Kuan, a servant of the Zu family, added a few points: "These sentry cavalry Tatars and horse archers Tatars are often from the western part of the sea, because the western part of the sea has frequent exchanges with the Mongolian tribes, and they also herd sheep and horses, so they have high horsemanship and can ride and shoot.

The infantry Tatars are usually from Jianzhou, and some of them are deerskin Tatars, who are brought out from the mountains by the old slaves. They are ferocious and cruel, and will fight to the death, but their horsemanship is much worse. The shield car is a defensive chariot that the old slaves specially built for these infantry Tatars. "

This is another tough guy. Li Hao also knows his name and has a good impression of him.

Zu Kuan has no relationship with Zu Dashou's ancestral family. He is not a relative of Ning Yuan's ancestral family. He just happened to have the same surname and became a servant for Zu Dashou. He only became a servant two years ago.

This man was transferred to the interior during the Chongzhen period, and successively fought against Kong Youde, the peasant rebel army, and the group of Zu family generals who surrendered to the Later Jin during the Battle of Dalingh River.

"The deerskin Tartars and the fish-skin Tartars are the same group, right? Their leader is Bomubogor of the Three Sauron Tribes?"

Li Hao was troubled by the names that the Ming Dynasty people used for the three major Jurchen tribes, as each region often had its own name and they were not consistent with each other.

"Yes and no. The Solons are indeed called Deerskin Tartars because they wear deerskin, but a small number of the Solons also wear fish skin. In addition, there is another group of Tartars to the east of the Solons. They are the authentic Fishskin Tartars who only wear fish skin."

Cao Wenzhao explained to General Li.

"Anyway, they are not the Jianzhou Tartars." Li Hao took note of this point of knowledge.

"Godfather, the Tartars are coming~"

At this moment, Wu Sangui came up from behind on horseback.

He stopped in front of the generals, took a breath and reported: "Godfather, a group of Tartars are coming from behind, heading north at full speed. There are more than a hundred of them, with more than two hundred horses, all of them are white-armored Bayalas, and they are only seven or eight hundred steps away from us."

The group was near the post road, with large open spaces on both sides. The trees had long been cut down, and the only high point nearby was a hill on the west side.

"You're here for the taking. We have to kill at least two waves of Tatars today. This is one wave, and there's another wave inside Tashanbao. Let's go to the top of that hill first. You guys prepare muskets and weapons, and some food."

Li Hao made a judgment immediately and ordered his men to drive the pack horses up the hill.

The reconnaissance cavalry in four directions were also called back.

Looking at this group of people, General Li himself felt a little happy.

The two Caos, Wu Sangui, Zu Kuan, Huang Long, and all the reckless men outside the Great Wall are almost gathered together.

In order to prevent this group of people from rushing forward rashly, Li Hao specifically emphasized: "In a small-scale field battle, military discipline must be strict! Without my order, no one is allowed to charge on horseback. Only when I lower the three-barreled gun, you can prepare to rush within a hundred steps."

These twenty-five brave generals and soldiers were all resting under their horses at the moment. After hearing General Li's order, they responded in unison, and then fed the horses, took care of their meals, and checked their muskets, making full preparations for the upcoming battle.

The Tatars' horses are indeed good, much better than the war horses of Li Hao and his gang, and their normal marching speed is much faster than that of the Ming army.

The people on the hill could see the reflection of the armor from four or five hundred steps away. Even with a brave general like Li Hao in charge, the moving herd of horses and the sound of horse hooves coming from far away still caused considerable psychological pressure on everyone.

Rumble!
More than two hundred horses stopped in front of the hill, and the two sides were about one hundred and fifty steps apart.

The Tatars did not launch a charge immediately, but dismounted and changed horses, taking a short rest during the period.

The leading Tatar, however, continued to ride his horse up the hill alone.

"It turned out to be this Tartar who came."

"It seems to be Turush!"

Cao Wenzhao and Huang Long exclaimed at the same time, and then they smiled at each other.

Li Hao was a little confused, "Is this Tartar famous?"

Da Cao explained to everyone: "This is a leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner, who is very famous in Dongjiang. This guy likes to fight alone, and often patrols the four guards of Liaonan with a dozen or twenty Tartars. When he encounters the brothers of Dongjiang, he often asks the brothers of Dongjiang to send someone to fight him alone in front of the two armies. If they win, he will let the brothers of Dongjiang go."

"So when the people from Dongjiang encountered this man, they sent one person out to fight him in single combat, and then the rest of them fled in all directions. Before the winner was decided, the Tartar's men would not chase after them."

Huang Long also told Li Hao the details he knew, and Li Hao understood how this Tartar became famous.

"Man, I heard that your name is Li Hao. I respect your loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, but now is different from the past. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is not doing his job, and the ministers are fighting among themselves. It is not worthy of a man like you to be loyal. How about this, I will give you a chance to fight me. If you beat me, I will allow you to surrender and be loyal to my Later Jin. If you lose, let me take your head. How about it?"

This Turushi spoke Chinese fluently, with no difference in accent from the Han people in Liaodong.

Li Hao laughed, "I couldn't ask for more."

There is actually a fool in this world who ignores hundreds of archers and runs over to challenge him in a duel.

"Okay! I see you are a straightforward person, so let's not waste time talking about irrelevant things. You and I will both chop each other with our swords. In order to prevent someone from escaping on horseback, we can fight each other on horseback. What do you think?"

Turush yelled again.

The Yanling-style waist knife is relatively slender, and is fine for chopping off heads, but it is not very effective in breaking armor.

Huang Long reminded him, "General, this Tartar's armor is made of single material, much thicker than normal cloth armor. The brothers in Dongjiang have all suffered from this."

"Or is it a custom-made one?"

Li Hao was a little tempted. The armor he was wearing was a common one and he had no time to customize it.

He then shouted to Turush: "I don't use a sword, how about I use a hatchet?"

He originally wanted to use his axe to quickly kill the Tartar and then rush over to fight to the death with the group of Bayara. But now that they have taken a fancy to his custom-made armor, he could not be so violent.

Using a hatchet to chop the neck can keep the armor intact.

"Great! Come on, let's fight it out."

Turush was overjoyed. He had known for a long time that the Ming general Li Hao was good at using an axe, so he proposed to fight with swords. Unexpectedly, the stupid Ming general agreed.

General Li then ordered everyone: "Stay here and wait for me to kill those Bayalas and call you over before you come over. Do you understand?"

These brave generals and soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment, but due to General Li's prestige, they could only reply, "Understood."

So Li Hao jumped on his horse, borrowed Cao Bianjiao's big sword, put it on his back, and rode slowly forward.

The broadswords used by the Caos and their servants were not the oxtail-shaped broadswords carried on the waists of the yamen runners in later film and television dramas, but goose-feather waist knives with widened blades and a relatively square tip, somewhat similar to the Tang Mo Dao, except that the handle was shorter.

Turush also rode closer again, and both sides dismounted thirty steps apart and then approached on foot.

"Hanzi, your great poet Li has an old saying, 'When the Hu people are gone, the Han will flourish.' But now outside the Great Wall, it is the Later Jin that is flourishing, so it should be you Han people who are gone. But a man like you has appeared. I think you are the same as Li Chengliang, a Jurchen. How about we become sworn brothers?"

Wearing a fox fur hat over his iron helmet, Turushi slowly walked towards the Ming general he mentioned, but the more he walked, the more he muttered in his heart.

Because he could clearly see the look in the eyes of this Ming general.

Turushi had killed many Han people before. He had seen fear, horror, despair in their eyes, as well as fortitude, determination to face death with indifference, and resentment for not being able to kill the enemy. But he had never seen the look in the eyes of the Ming general before him.

For a moment he couldn't tell what was so strange about the look, he just felt uneasy, so he wanted to retreat and stopped five steps away.

He didn't dare to turn around and run, as that would expose his back and he would die faster.

Li Hao strode forward and entered the attack range of the Tartar's waist knife. He smiled and said, "Say thank you!"

Turush knew that he couldn't escape the fight today, so he tightly grasped the knife in his hand, slashed at Li Hao, and asked: "Why do you want me to say thank you?"

The heavy armor on his body gave him confidence. The hatchet in the opponent's hand was shorter and it seemed unlikely that it would be able to cut through his armor.

In order not to damage the armor, Li Hao only attacked the Tartar's neck.

The two sides stood one step apart, swinging their knives at each other. During this process, no one spoke until four slashes, when Turushi fell to the ground with an unbelievable look on his face.

"Be polite and say thank you. I'll give you a gift."

Turush covered his neck and uttered with difficulty, "Thank you."

At the last moment of his life, he finally remembered why the eyes of the Ming general in front of him were so strange.

This is how wild tigers look at people when they are hungry.

Just a look in his eyes could reveal his intense hunger, which could only be suppressed by killing and eating.

"I'll send you to hell!"

After saying this, Li Hao first bent down and took off the Tartar's leather hat, and then stabbed the Tartar's eyes with a hatchet.

The Caos, Da Cao, Xiao Cao and others shouted and cheered for General Li. The Bayaras at the foot of the hill were a little agitated. Apparently, after the death of their commander, they were ready to form a battle line.

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(End of this chapter)