Chapter 52 Why am I torn apart?

In ancient times, many civilians suffered from night blindness. In the Later Jin Dynasty, where supplies were scarce and the diet was monotonous, the phenomenon of night blindness was more common among the Han people of the banners and the able-bodied men in the manors.

This was both good and bad news for the Ming army.

The good news is that the Han people in Liao who were trapped will not escape secretly after dark because they cannot see the road clearly.

The bad side is that without brave generals and soldiers to supervise the battle, whip them and give them guidance, they simply won't move a step.

It is very inconvenient to move around.

In order to save arrows, Li Hao's archery competition was only conducted in two sections, with one round of arrows shot in each section.

The results of the battle were actually very mediocre. The only nineteen remaining brave generals and soldiers only shot about twelve arrows.

The reason why the statistics were so accurate was simple. Once the shots hit the target, the torches held by the Tatars would fall behind the parapet, thus creating the effect of "extinguishing the lights".

"General, the group of Tartars chasing us are coming soon. The ground is shaking a lot. There are at least 300 horses."

Gou Quanzhong, who was lying on the ground feeling the enemy's movements, stood up and reported.

Li Hao pointed to the top of the city wall and said, "The White Banner Tartars in this city may come out to help me fight after I fight Tulai and others. What do you think, how should we deal with them?"

There were at least two hundred Tatars gathered on the city wall. The Han people from Liao who were included in the group had little combat capability and were instantly destroyed when they rushed out of the city.

"General, we can first fight the two yellow flag Tartars and then come back to attack the city." Cao Wenzhao suggested.

There were immediate objections.

Wu Sangui shouted, "When we are attacked from both sides, Godfather and I may rush out, and these Liao people will definitely be killed. It is better to stay here and be a deterrent to those in the city. I bet they dare not leave the city."

General Li felt that this was even more ridiculous. It would take time for him to kill the bannermen of the two yellow flags at home. The Plain White Banner Tartars in the city would definitely not sit idly by and watch such a good opportunity slip away.

"Then let's do this first. You guys look for a flat area and prepare the long ladder. Once I kill the Tartars behind me, we can rush over to attack the city. As long as I get to the city, it will be like we have broken into it."

Due to insufficient manpower, they can only deal with it in this way.

After a discussion, everyone found dozens of trustworthy Han people from Liao and ordered them to light all the torches in the team. Each person held two torches and rode back and forth among the group of Han people from Liao to create the illusion that there were a lot of people and horses.

After everything was ready, the commander Li Hao rode his horse to charge alone.

He had to rush into the enemy camp before the enemy had a firm foothold and had no time to deploy their formation or draw their bows and shoot arrows.

……

"Is someone coming over here?"

The marching column was only two hundred steps away from the Ming army under the city, but Tu Lai and others in the lead could vaguely distinguish a horse coming from the opposite direction.

They didn't know whether the people coming were Ming soldiers or messengers from Gaizhou City, so Jueluo Yabulan drew his bow and shouted in Manchu: "Banner Tongming!"

Li Hao immediately responded loudly: "Bibalamafa!"

Mafa means grandpa, grandfather, and elder in Manchu.

"Are you grandpa?" Yabulan was a little confused. How could a bannerman give himself such a strange name?

He didn't turn around, but Tulai next to him became anxious.

"It's the Ming soldiers coming. Shoot him, shoot him quickly, shoot him to death."

It was the middle of the night and the leading bannerman had a torch in his hand. The man on the opposite side was unsportsmanlike and didn't light a torch, so wouldn't he become a sitting duck?
"Minions at the back, spread your wings and prepare your bows and arrows!"

Tulai turned his horse around and headed backwards while giving orders.

He is the leader of the army, how can he be on the front line and fight against the Ming soldiers?
Yabulan received the order and shot three arrows in succession, all of which hit the target.

"Why hasn't this Marfa died yet?"

Even a top archer like him would have to rest for a while after shooting three beryllium arrows. You know, in actual combat, these horse archers would often approach the enemy within ten steps, shoot only one arrow, and then charge into the battle array without drawing their bows, holding a knife in one hand and a bow in the other, and after rushing to the other side, turn around, shoot again, and charge again until the enemy is defeated.

Yabulan was surprised, and suddenly he understood: "This man must be dead, but he is hanging on the horse and has not fallen off. The horse is obedient and has been carrying him forward."

So he shouted to the flagmen around him who were aiming arrows on their bows, "Don't shoot, I've already shot that man dead. This horse is so docile, I like it, don't hurt it."

After giving the order, he finally had time to turn around and look at the obedient horse that had approached him.

You don't know until you see it. When you see it, you will be shocked. A huge axe is pointing straight at his face, and the image reflected in his eyes is getting bigger and bigger.

How did I break apart? This was Yabulan’s last thought.

"This Tartar is so obedient! He didn't move at all and let me chop him down."

Li Hao also praised it.

The rest of the Tatars were not so obedient. Even when the enemy with three arrows stuck in his body was within two or three steps, they were ready to draw their bows and shoot arrows.

Since it was both a small-scale encounter and a night battle in the wild, no one dared to dismount and shoot with a bow, so the two sides fought on horseback.

Only after the Ming soldiers who were rushing over came into the range of their torches did Tulai see the specific situation clearly.

Obviously, the man holding the huge axe should be the sturdy commander.

Tulai admired the man's courage, but he reasonably suspected that he was often confused.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have done such a thing as charging into a military formation of nearly three hundred people alone.

"The Plain Yellow Banners are on the north wing, and the Bordered Yellow Banners are on the south wing. Deploy them into a battle formation. Ignore the bannermen around General Ming, and shoot them twice in a row."

Tulai gave orders continuously. He didn't believe that after shooting these two rounds of beryllium arrows, this fierce Ming general could still rush over.

The well-trained flag soldiers quickly carried out their master's orders, forming two rows on each of the north and south wings and deploying quickly, but they obviously underestimated the killing speed of the Ming general.

In just ten or so breaths, all the flag soldiers in Yabulan's group had been broken apart.

From then on, the battle entered the second stage, which was also the style of play that Li Hao was most familiar with.

Look for where the Tartars are most densely gathered and go there.

The only pity in this process was the warhorse under his crotch.

That was what Li Hao had snatched from Bayala of the Bordered Yellow Banner with great difficulty.

It can't be called robbery, because things belonging to dead people are not considered robbery. Instead, they are things that General Li shared from heaven and earth.

"Hit those who are close to you with your swords, shoot those who are a little further away with your bows, and those who hold torches, step forward a little to illuminate the enemy!"

In the darkness of night, the flagmen could not see the command flags clearly, so Tulai could only shout orders with a few guards.

The night battle helped this group of flag soldiers a lot, because many of them could only see the shadows and could not directly feel how fierce and bloodthirsty the Ming generals fighting against them were. They still thought that they had the upper hand, so they spared no effort to carry out their master's orders.

This also helped Li Hao, because if the Tartars didn't run around, he could chop them down much faster.

Tulai, who had been paying attention to the center of the battlefield, did not feel relaxed at all. He noticed the reduction in the number of flag soldiers. In just a short while, at least forty flag soldiers were chopped into two by the Ming general who kept changing horses.

"Report~"

A team of scouts suddenly rushed from the rear, found their master Tulai, and reported back the military situation: "Master Aobai is half a mile away and will be there in a moment. He asked the master to rest assured that none of these Ming soldiers will escape."

Although it seemed that the situation was still under their control, Tulai felt that there was something wrong with the words of the messenger.

He had a vague feeling that the ones who couldn't escape were not the Ming soldiers.

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(End of this chapter)