Chapter 41 Close your eyes and enter the world

At this time, Suhetai had already led his men to the south gate.

As a standard thousand-household fortress, the base of Tashanbao's wall is about two zhang wide, and the upper part of the wall is usually 13 or 14 feet wide. Converted into international units, it means that the bottom is about six meters wide and the top is about four meters wide.

Therefore, the depth of the South Gate archway reached two zhang, or six meters.

The master of the Niulu had learned from his subordinates that there were still many Ming soldiers guarding the gate, but now they were nowhere to be seen. So he came up with an idea and swung his whip at the buttocks of the horses of several of his personal guards.

These war horses were all castrated and had docile temperaments. They would run hard when whipped, so the four guards passively rushed to the front, while Suhetai stood in front of the door on horseback and looked back to observe the situation.

This sight gave him a shock. The archery army formation had been dispersed, and the killer god of the Ming country was rushing towards the south gate quickly. Fortunately, there were still many flag soldiers on the road, and the killer had to chop them down one by one, so there was still some room for him to maneuver.

"My fellow Ahuns and Abuqins (brothers and sisters, here meaning elders and fellow villagers), ride horses that fit your stature and sleep on kangs that fit your buttocks. This Ming general is too powerful, we are no match for him. The wind is blowing and we need to save our lives. I will explain myself to the flag master, Beile, and the old Khan!"

Sukhothai gave the order to retreat.

Of course, he did not do this out of kindness to save the lives of the bannermen, but he hoped that the remaining bannermen would escape faster after hearing this, so that they could rush forward and crowd into the South Gate archway to block the Ming killer and buy him time to escape.

After saying that, he turned his head and looked towards the other side of the South Gate archway.

Two flowers bloom, one on each side.

Cao Wenzhao led two teams of brave soldiers to hide on both sides of the gate. Later, two teams of archers including Wu Sangui and Gou Quanzhong also rushed over. After everyone decided that ordinary means could not stop the fleeing Tartars on horseback, they used two prepared trip ropes to block the gate, and six brave soldiers held one end of the rope.

The twenty-four brave generals and soldiers outside the gate now had work to do.

After hearing that someone had arrived near the gate, Cao Wenzhao quietly ordered the two teams to pull up the first trip rope. After the sound of horse hooves, the twelve men on both sides held on tightly, and finally knocked the four riders and horses to the ground.

Some Ming soldiers could not resist and wanted to rush forward to cut off the heads. Cao Wenzhao shouted, "Don't move. The number of people is not right. There are also Tartars."

Then the second tripwire was also raised, and the twelve men at the first one fiddled with the rope, straightened it, and placed it on the ground half tight, ready to trip the horse for the third time.

After hearing the loud thuds of horses and men falling to the ground coming from the doorway, Suhetai no longer had any doubts and led the remaining guards to gallop out of the doorway.

"Hahaha, even if you kill a hundred people and no one can stop you, can you catch up with me? If you have the guts, then chop me up!"

In less than a quarter of an hour, this Ming general caused great psychological pressure on Suhetai, causing his heart to beat wildly.

Now that he has escaped, the sea is wide enough for fish to leap and the sky is high enough for birds to fly. The ups and downs of his mentality made Suhetai unable to help but speak out his true feelings.

Unexpectedly, the next second, his horse tripped and he and the horse fell upside down, and they were unable to get up for a long time.

At this time, a pile of human and horse flesh had been piled up in front of the south gate on this side of the city wall. Cao Wenzhao was still worried and ordered the two teams he led to pull up the lassoes.

As expected, the third wave of Tartars, eager to escape, also bumped into the ropes. There were more Tartars this time, and even people with strong arms like Cao, Da Cao, Huang Long, etc. were pulled back a step or two by the huge force.

In the dim light, it can be seen that the third wave of Tatars are all wearing armor.

The pile of human and horse flesh had reached waist height. Even if there were more Tartars behind them, they could not charge out on horseback.

"The general has ordered that no Tartar be allowed to escape. Brothers, the time has come to build our career!"

Cao Wenzhao shouted a slogan, and as soon as he opened his mouth, more than 20 fierce generals and soldiers rushed out to grab heads. By the time he finished shouting, the nimble ones had already rushed to the side of the Zhajia Tatar, ready to harvest heads.

Da Cao did not delay any longer and rushed forward in two steps to start working.

On the other side, General Li, swinging a huge axe, was chasing a dozen Tartars towards the city gate. The remaining Tartars were mostly riding horses, rushing out from the gate on the side of the inner city.

There was no way. The god of death inside was too scary. With one heavy chop of his axe, the bannerman was cut into two.

Earlier, when they heard that the Great Beile was killed in battle, they thought it was because of the group of idiots in the Zhenghong Banner who were greedy for merit and acted rashly, which led to the loss of the banner leader's life. Later, after listening to what the eight Bayaras from the Bordered Yellow Banner who came today said, they felt that the victory was achieved because the Ming general and his servants worked together and fought side by side.

But in just a quarter of an hour, not long after they met, the performance of this god of death overturned the cognition of these people of the Bordered Blue Banner, making them understand the truth of the previous war.

Such a powerful general could not be resisted by a single Niulu of the Bordered Blue Banner. After Niulu Ezhen Suhetai set an example by running away, the remaining bannermen followed suit and just found a horse to save their lives.

Anyway, their Niulu is at the forefront of smuggling in Liaohai and is much richer than the two poor Red Flags in the north. Losing some horses and supplies is nothing. Saving their lives means saving Niulu Ezhen's most important property.

"Damn it, you old man, let me provoke you."

Li Hao no longer held back, his arms remained tense, and he swung the axe in a circle with each move.

When the Tartar leader ran away, he mocked him, which made Li Hao feel an unknown fire in his heart.

Unfortunately, he could not kill Niulu Ezhen, so he could only vent his anger on these ordinary bannermen.

Thirty or forty cavalrymen rushed in from the gate on the inner city side in a few breaths, causing a very serious stampede. It turned into people slamming and horses squeezing each other. Coincidentally, the killing god behind them was coming fiercely, and the surviving bannermen were afraid that they would fall behind the bannermen, so they desperately rushed forward, which made the stampede worse.

"The Tartars of the Bordered Blue Banner are all good Tartars. Those trained by Amin are always obedient."

Although he had never met Amin, the Prince of Later Jin, Li Hao had already determined that he was a good man and decided to give him a decent ending.

At least it won't be planed into two pieces or split into two pieces horizontally, just simply chop off the head.

After General Li had cleared out the scattered flagmen, he quickly ran to the gate and started working slowly and methodically.

"Close your eyes and enter. This cave is quite comfortable."

While swinging the axe and chopping flesh and blood everywhere, Li Hao was also trying to persuade the Tartars to slow down.

He said this purely out of kindness, in order to prevent these Tartars from squeezing in and crushing themselves to death, leaving him no chance to kill them.

What made Li Hao worried was that the thing he was most worried about really happened. By the time he had dealt with the outermost layer of Tartars, a pile of meat had already formed at the doorway. Not only could he not chop down the Tartars inside, he couldn't even see them.

As it happened, there were still quite a few living Tartars inside the doorway, and they were squeezed so hard that they cried for their fathers and mothers. There were also the neighing and roaring of horses, and Li Hao didn't know what to do.

After confirming that there were no more movable Tartars in the city and that those in the gate could not get out, he climbed up to the top of the city wall and went to the gate tower to ask Cao, Cao, Zu Kuan and others outside what was happening.

"General, we have blocked this area. Not a single Tartar escaped. We beheaded all the Tartars we could get. There is really nothing we can do about the rest."

Cao Wenzhao stood on the pile of meat and reported the situation inside the city wall to General Li on the top of the city wall.

"You guys fought well. Keep the head of Niulu'ezhen for me. I want to use it as a chamber pot."

Although he was upset that the fight turned out like this, Li Hao was very happy that he did not let a single Tartar go.

Yuetian's name was saved.

The brave generals and soldiers under the city had no idea how to deal with the current situation. Anyway, the Tartars in the gate would be dead if they were left alone for one night, so they went out to drive over their pack horses, war horses, and more than 80 good horses of the Later Jin captured in the afternoon, preparing to camp in the city circle for the night.

They also found a ladder from the military supplies prepared by the provincial government, and set it up for General Li to climb down.

After the two teams of twelve people went up and tried again, they finally confirmed that they could not proceed further, so they left two people on the city wall to keep watch, and the rest went down to set up tents and sleep and rest.

"I will guard one of the city gates tonight, let's say the East Gate. You will take turns guarding the West Gate. Get plenty of rest. We still have to rush to Songshan tomorrow, and you can't do it without enough rest."

The 瓮城 is a defensive measure. In order to prevent the enemy from rushing to the main gate from the 瓮城 gate, gates are usually opened on both sides of the 瓮城 circle.

The inner city circle at the south gate of Tashanbao has two small gates facing east and west.

"How can this be? The general has worked hard to kill the enemy, how dare we let him keep watch all night!"

"We are not as good as the general in killing enemies as we are with our small shoulders. We should do the chores. It is better for the general to have enough rest."

"Since ancient times, there have been soldiers who keep watch at night, but there have been no generals who keep watch at night. General Li has fought two fierce battles, and he must not be so exhausted again."

Everyone was deeply moved, and felt sorry for their commander who had fought so hard against the Tartars. They all rushed to keep watch so that the commander would have enough time to rest.

"If you are a soldier, you must obey my orders. If the Tartars attack in large numbers and I am unable to prepare my weapons in time, the twenty-six of us will be killed here on the spot. I have made up my mind. You can go to sleep. Call me if there is any situation at the East Gate."

Li Hao scolded and went to guard the West Gate of the city with an axe in his arms. Since he had enough health, he didn't need to sleep much.

Huang Long, a southerner, was so moved that he burst into tears and helped light a fire for his commander. Wu Sangui also brought a lot of steamed buns, meat paste, dried meat and other food, as well as two pots of wine, and shouted that he would keep watch with his godfather.

The rest of the people went into the tent and went to sleep with a guilty mood. They were uneasy about their commander's behavior and they all made up their minds to fight harder in the next battle.

……

"Can you be any more useless? I told you to form a formation and shoot arrows, why are you still fighting like this!"

On Juehua Island, in the Later Jin camp.

At the first watch of the night, that is, between seven and nine o'clock in the evening, the Bayalamen who were defeated in the afternoon finally arrived at the Later Jin camp that was besieging Juehua Island.

The Great Khan Nurhaci, the on-duty Beile Huang Taiji and other nobles of the Eight Banners who had already fallen asleep were awakened. After learning about the battle in the afternoon, Huang Taiji angrily scolded the group of Bayala who had escaped on the spot.

PS: This is another chapter of 3,000 words. Please vote for me and give me monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)