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Sha Shiguang's Tiger Tooth Village is located 20 miles west of Shunde City, at a mountain pass in Wohu Mountain.

Tiger Tooth Village originally had over 10,000 men and women, and more than 1,800 able-bodied soldiers. Last year, it received more than 10,000 refugees from Henan and incorporated more than 1,700 veterans selected by Yuan Shizhong. Now it has a small force with more than 35,000 men and more than 3,500 soldiers.

Shortly after the Jurchens breached the defenses, Sha Shiguang received a military order from Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, instructing him to immediately reorganize his troops, stockpile provisions, and await orders. However, he was forbidden from leading his troops into battle, and was only allowed to guard Huya Village and oversee the safety of the surrounding villages.

This time, Hu Zichen proposed to recruit some local young men and strong people to expand his army when he passed through Baoding and Zhengding prefectures. This was approved by the Earl of Yongning, which delayed the journey by nearly a month.

The capital region of the Ming Dynasty was the land of Yan and Zhao during the Warring States period. It has been known since ancient times for its fierce and valiant people, and there is a long tradition of martial arts among the people. That is why Hu Zichen thought of returning to Zhenbao to recruit soldiers.

On the other hand, it was also because he had followed the veteran general Hu Dawei to garrison Zhenbao, and he had some prestige in the area, and was relatively familiar with the local people.

When recruiting soldiers in Baoding Prefecture, the three Zhou brothers, who were stationed at Langwopo, 15 li west of Wanxian County, sent 500 new soldiers to Hu Zichen.

These 500 new recruits were different from those recruited from the common people by Hu Zichen. They had also undergone military training at Langwopo, but according to the regulations of the Earl of Yongning, "those who have been in the army for one year are all new recruits."

Originally, Hu Zichen only intended to replenish some food and supplies at Sha Shiguang's place before heading south to catch up with the Yongning Earl's army. However, he did not expect to hear the alarm that Xingtai was being besieged by the Jurchens in Xihuang Village.

Now that Hu Zichen knew about this matter, he naturally couldn't let it go unchecked.

Even though he knew that the Jurchens under Xingtai City numbered only five or six thousand, he did not rashly advance his troops. Instead, he immediately sent someone to contact Sha Shiguang of Huya Village to discuss a joint campaign against the Jurchens.

Sha Shiguang stayed in Wohu Mountain for more than three years, hoping to train an elite army to kill bandits and gain merit. However, after three years of training, the elite army had only killed some local bandits and thieves. He was already feeling restless.

However, due to the military orders of the Earl of Yongning, he was not allowed to go out to fight the Jurchens. But today the Jurchens had delivered themselves to his doorstep, and with General Hu Zichen in front of him, Sha Shiguang had no more reservations. He immediately expressed his willingness to follow Hu Zichen's orders to kill the Jurchens and save Xingtai.

Hu Zichen originally had more than 2,300 veteran soldiers, including more than 1,000 cavalry and about 500 infantry; in addition, there were 1,500 newly recruited soldiers. Fortunately, 500 of them had already undergone more than half a year of training at Langwopo and were barely capable of fighting. Although they could not be the main force for the charge and decisive battle, they could still play a supporting role.

Meanwhile, Sha Shiguang's Tiger Tooth Village also had about two thousand warriors. Although they had not experienced major battles, they had wiped out more than twenty bandit groups of all sizes within the territory of Shunde Prefecture, so they could be considered to have seen blood.

Furthermore, the two forces from Huya Village and Langwopo, while not as well-equipped as the main battalions of the Yongyi Army, were no weaker than the official troops under the command of other generals of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the Earl of Yongning gave away the best of the equipment he had captured from the front lines of the anti-bandit campaign in Henan, except for some that he used to do favors and some that he used to arm his own local armed forces. He gave the rest to Sha Shiguang and Zhou Heihu.

…………

Hu Zichen did not send his entire army forward. Instead, he used his 1,000 elite cavalry as the vanguard, forming a battle line and galloping towards Xingtai City to announce to the Jurchens that he had led reinforcements and deterred them from attacking the city rashly. At the same time, he sent 2,000 infantrymen led by Sha Shiguang as the second echelon, following behind the vanguard cavalry, to form a battle line and garrison in a deserted village four miles west of Xingtai City, serving as backup for the cavalry.

He himself led 500 infantrymen and 1,500 new recruits, advancing slowly at the rear, both to provide cover for the cavalry and Sha Shiguang ahead, and to mislead the Jurchens, showing that his army was steadily approaching.

Sure enough, when Tan Tai first heard the news that government troops were coming to his aid, a wicked smile appeared on his lips. He seemed to be envisioning a charge that would send the government troops fleeing in disarray and suffering a crushing defeat.

Tan Tai himself did not even show up. He simply sent one of his subordinates, a Jiala Zhangjing, with seven hundred Jiannu cavalry to attack the western city, while he himself stayed in the camp to continue organizing the attack on Xingtai.

In fact, this was already giving Hu Zichen a lot of face. Knowing that the attacking government cavalry numbered only a little over a thousand, he still sent out a full seven hundred Qing warriors, which shows that Tan Tai was not overconfident.

Najila Zhangjing led the enemy cavalry out of the camp, and from a distance they drew their bows and nocked arrows, intending to use their usual methods—first to disrupt the Ming army's cavalry formation with mounted archery, then to weave in and divide them, and finally, to chase them like rabbits.

Unexpectedly, the Ming army on the other side seemed to be prepared. They split into three cavalry formations a hundred paces away, with only about four hundred riders in the middle, still charging towards the enemy cavalry in a wedge formation.

On each flank, a cavalry formation of about three hundred men was set up. They kept their horses moving about a hundred paces away, neither charging at the enemy cavalry nor fleeing.

Seeing this, Jiala Zhangjing hesitated for a moment, but he quickly made his decision. He shouted loudly, ordering the enemy cavalry to abandon their attack on the Ming cavalry charging from the middle and instead turn to charge towards the three hundred cavalrymen heading north.

His decision was wise, because if he chose to confront the four hundred Ming cavalry charging at him head-on, the Ming cavalry flanking him would immediately surround him, forming a three-way pincer attack.

Therefore, this Jiala Zhangjing wisely chose the tactic of first defeating one flank before turning back to confront the Ming cavalry.

But things did not go as he expected. When the three hundred Ming cavalrymen in the north saw the enemy charging, they only fired a few arrows from a distance before turning their horses and fleeing. They had no intention of engaging the enemy cavalry in battle.

Seeing that he could not catch up with the Ming cavalry in the north, the Jiala Zhangjing could only turn back to prepare to attack the Ming cavalry in the middle. However, as they stopped pursuing, the Ming cavalry that had originally fled turned back again and spied on the Jurchen cavalry from afar.

This was repeated three times, with the same result each time, which made the Jiala Zhangjing so angry that he kept yelling and screaming.

Just as he was about to charge towards the four hundred Ming cavalry in the middle, he saw a cloud of dust rising in the distance, as if another large Ming army was approaching. He hesitated to launch an attack.

A moment later, as the smoke and dust cleared, the silhouette of a Ming army infantry formation gradually came into view.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a vast expanse of red banners, seemingly endless, with no end in sight, making it impossible to determine the exact number of Ming troops present. (End of Chapter)