Guo Ning slowly rode his horse along a slope slightly above the water.
The slope was obviously built artificially, but it has been abandoned for a long time.
Some areas are still wide and the horses can walk comfortably; some areas have collapsed on both sides, leaving the middle passage very narrow and obviously sloping. Even though Guo Ning has excellent riding skills, he has to be careful in riding his horse to avoid falling.
The tall war horse under the crotch sprained its hooves.
Since the former Song Dynasty, when rivers were dug to create edge ponds, Hebei, which was originally a whole, has been divided into two major regions by water swamps, the north and the south. The pond area between the two regions only has military functions, and many of them rely on shuize.
As the Great Jin took over the territory, the military fortresses and fortresses were all abandoned. As a result, this area inevitably declined and became gradually desolate.
To the south of the slope, there used to be paddy fields probably a few decades ago. But now there are chest-high weeds. When people and horses pass by, the swarms of gnats in the weeds are disturbed by the light of the fire and fly up in a buzzing manner.
You can't see clearly in the night, but you can feel their tiny bodies flying around and bumping into people's faces, and even hitting people's faces. Guo Ning's yellow gelding was annoyed by the gnats, snoring in annoyance and flicking its head and tail repeatedly.
Fortunately, the knights in front moved faster. Without waiting for Guo Ning to hurry up, the yellow gelding neighed twice and started to trot.
A few miles further on, the team descended from the slope and moved along a semi-dry stream.
This stream meanders and extends downstream to Anzhou. The section on the Xinqiaoying side is called Jige Spring. However, upstream here, several streams are connected to each other, and there are swamps and wastelands between them.
, no one named them.
The cavalry team kept walking along the stream, and sometimes they were blocked by the rugged terrain. They had to cross the stream and reach the opposite river beach before they could continue forward; sometimes they even had to dismount and walk through the mud ponds.
It was dark at night, and the road was full of potholes and mud, making it difficult to walk.
The soldiers were soaked to the skin and almost exhausted. Many of them were afraid of tiring their horses, so they forced themselves to dismount and lead the horses away one step at a time.
As a result, while walking, several people slipped and fell. They had to rely on their companions to help them up. Otherwise, they might suffocate in the mud.
Wherever they passed, there was no human habitation. Only occasionally they saw a few houses that had collapsed with only their foundations left, which told people that this place had been a fort and a military stronghold of such and such in the past.
At that time, this place was a stable place for soldiers and civilians to live, but the current situation changed and it was abandoned.
That's okay.
Perhaps this year, many wealthy places in Hebei and the Central Plains will be turned into ruins. Together with the hundreds of millions of soldiers and civilians on the land, they will all be turned into bones and buried under the flames of war. The situation will be worse than what is happening now.
Seeing it is a hundred times more desolate.
While they were marching, another rapid whistle sounded from behind the team, mixed with roars one after another.
At this moment, the team was passing through a depression. Thousands of people were stretched into a very long column, and the head and tail could not look at each other. If the Mongols suddenly came out, it would be terrible!
Many soldiers were immediately frightened.
Ni Yi stepped back a few steps and looked at Guo Ning.
Guo Ning said calmly: "Let's not stop and get to Ya'er Village ahead as soon as possible."
Having said this, he straightened up on his horse, looked around at the soldiers in front and behind, and raised his voice: "Go to Yaerzhai to rest for a night. Tomorrow we will find an opportunity to give the Mongols a hard blow!"
Everyone responded with a roar.
Guo Ning sat back on the saddle and said to Ni again: "With Li Erlang behind, it doesn't matter. He can withstand it!"
At this moment, Li Ting, who had gained Guo Ning's trust, was furiously unfurling his bow and arrow and shooting at the fast running hounds.
But the hound ran wildly in circles among the crowd, moving extremely quickly. It was difficult for the arrows to hit the target. The sharp arrows shuttled through the air, and the arrowheads fell into the soil and water one after another.
Li Ting's archery skills were average, but he fired his arrows very boldly, almost hitting the soldiers on the opposite side several times.
In order to avoid the arrow, the soldier subconsciously turned aside.
As a result, the hound, which had finally been surrounded, aimed at the gap that he had stepped aside and rushed over.
In the past two hours, the Mongolian pursuers at the back relied on the keen sense of smell of the two hounds to pursue Li Ting's troops. Li Ting tried several methods, but failed to get rid of them. Several encounters broke out.
When it comes to military strength, Li Ting is actually stronger.
But first of all, there are no troops deployed in the swamp, and every contact is a small-scale fierce battle between three, five, and a dozen people; secondly, the soldiers fought early in the morning and then traveled a long distance until now, and they are generally extremely tired. And the Mongols But he is naturally tenacious and endures hard work. Even if his eyes are blood red, he still screams and runs like a madman, like an evil ghost.
Therefore, after several fierce battles, Li Ting's troops suffered a big loss. If it were not for the fact that the Mongols had difficulty wielding their bows and shooting from long distances at night, the number of casualties would have increased.
Li Ting became ruthless and determined to get rid of the hounds first and then get rid of the enemy, so he set up multiple traps along the way to catch the animals.
Unexpectedly, the two beasts were extremely smart and the trap was completely useless. They still followed him.
In the vast darkness of the night, both sides fought and walked, and it was difficult to determine the distance between each other. Sometimes, the two teams were intertwined in complex terrain. Once their whereabouts were discovered, their lives depended on the attack.
This time, Li Ting led some people to crawl in the sewage pond beside the road. With only their eyes exposed, they used reed pipes to breathe, waiting for the two hateful dogs to pass by, and then ambush the Mongolian pursuers behind them.
As a result, God knows how those two beasts’ noses could be so smart?
As soon as they got closer, the two dogs immediately started barking wildly. Fortunately, at this time, Li Ting's deputy, Shi Jiang, rode his horse to kill Hu Tai from the diagonal thrust, and he was killed in a group with the Mongolian Alkinchi in the rear.
Li Ting did not waste this opportunity.
If I can't ambush a person, why can't I ambush a dog?
He immediately jumped out to deal with the hounds.
It's a pity that more than ten people surrounded the two dogs, but it didn't go well. One dog was stunned on the spot, threw off its legs and ran away. Seeing that there was one dog left, it was about to escape again. In this dark night, once it was caught It ran out of the crowd, how could it be caught?
Li Ting was so furious that he rushed forward and grabbed the hound by its tail.
The hound barked wildly, opened its mouth, and bit Li Ting's throat. Li Ting covered himself with his arm, and the dog's teeth were embedded in Li Ting's cowhide armguard, making it impenetrable for a moment.
At that moment, a man and a dog were rolling all over the ground.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly. While the hound was biting the arm guard, he pulled out the knife with his other hand and slashed wildly. The companions around him also came to help.
In an instant, Li Ting stood up again with blood on his face.
He waved his sword and shouted sternly: "Hu Tai can't hold on for long, come with me to support him!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Mongolian pursuers arrived again.
Hu Tai, who was a little further away, really couldn't support it anymore.
There were only ten cavalrymen in total who followed him with his diagonal stabbing. As a result, they ran into the main force of the Mongolian Hundred Households. Both sides were outnumbered, and half of the ten cavalrymen were killed in an instant.
Hu Tai had a lot of experience in fighting. When he saw something was wrong, he turned his horse and left.
He was also a member of the Sanzhou Routine Army, and was surrounded by a number of close subordinates who had experienced life and death together. In order to protect him, several knights jumped off their horses and waved their spears to drive away the Mongolian knights who were rushing over.
Unexpectedly, a giant man with yellow beard and yellow hair in the Mongolian army had already dismounted, walked through the water and walked around behind the reeds, and rushed to Hu Tai's side in a few steps. This giant man was not wearing armor, and his rags were stained with blood.
, there are several gaps on the blade of the ring knife in his hand, it is Huga, the Shaojiezi from Beihai.
Hu Ga suddenly rushed to the side of Hu Tai's horse, stretched out his hand to grab the horse's mane, raised his long knife and slashed upward.
The horse was hurt by the drag, and suddenly jumped up in fright. Suddenly, the long knife slashed across Hu Tai's thigh. The sharp blade tore open the cowhide skirt, then penetrated deep into the flesh, passing from the thigh to the knee in one breath, and then
On the calf, a foot-long wound was cut, exposing the white bones.
Hu Tai was also stubborn, and he just grunted and kept urging the horse. The horse had just run a few steps, and suddenly he threw away the long curled knife, hugged Hu Tai around the waist, and slammed him off the horse.
Poor Hu Tai's right leg was still in the stirrup. At this time, he fell down on his back and landed on the back of his head. He fainted immediately. Then he was dragged by the horse and rushed toward the swamp and among the shrubs. The dense branches of the shrubs were unknown.
After growing for many years, it is as hard as stone. Even if a war horse steps in it, it has to be careful about the horse's legs being cut, let alone a person being dragged across it?
The sound of water was heard, and the smell of blood in the air suddenly became stronger.
At this time, several people who had protected Hu Tai were lying dead on the ground. Naminfu stepped on the pool of blood with a cold face, feeling no joy. This was because only one of his hounds was left, whimpering softly in front of him.
In this environment, missing a dog is like missing an eye or an ear! In times of emergency, it means missing a life!
Naminfu suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered with a sneer: "Keep moving forward! We keep a close eye on the enemy and can't let them out of sight... But don't fight anymore easily! Keep an eye on them, just keep an eye on them! Four
The prince’s subordinates will be able to catch up tomorrow!”
Li Ting had just forced back a group of Mongolian knights who were chasing him, and he took a breather three to four hundred steps away from Na Minfu.
The sky was as dark as ink, but no one dared to light torches for fear that the Mongols would find out. Li Ting could only be heard sneering repeatedly: "Damn, this post-office job is really hard to do... Hu Tai is finished! We took it.
Ten lives were exchanged for a Mongolian dog!"
He laughed twice and gritted his teeth again. The muscles on both sides of his cheeks burst out because of too much force: "However, since a dog has died, the Mongols no longer dare to approach at will... Let's seize the time and leave quickly.
