weaving

"Fire! Give the order to fire! Scatter the incoming refugees and prevent them from breaching our lines!" Hu Zichen put down his binoculars and gave the order in a deep voice.

At this moment, he also felt a sense of tension. If he followed the original plan, he would shout to the fleeing refugees, hoping that they would run to both sides and give up the battlefield in the middle for him to kill the Tartars.

Given the current situation, the Tartar soldiers mixed in with the refugees will certainly not let them run to the sides. And the situation is ever-changing. If these refugees are allowed to get close to their own army formation, the consequences will be unimaginable!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

The deafening roar of cannons filled the air, and Hu Zichen hurriedly raised his binoculars again to observe the changes on the battlefield.

The refugees' column paused, seemingly stunned, perhaps because they hadn't expected the Ming soldiers to actually fire on them.

But this pause was only temporary. In the blink of an eye, the entire refugee column was thrown into chaos. They scattered and fled. Some were forced by the Tartars mixed in with them to continue running forward, while most fled to the open spaces on the left and right.

Some people were stunned by the bombardment and actually turned around and ran back—without exception, they were all shot dead on the spot by the Jurchens!

"Order the musketeers to prepare, fire from fifty paces."

…………

Sha Shiguang had just learned from the messenger that "there were Tartars mixed in with the refugees" and had not yet made any reaction when he heard the booming sound of cannons coming from Hu Zichen's position not far away.

Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately ordered, "Fire! Fire!"
But they were still a step too slow. It was that tiny difference of a second that almost allowed the Tartar soldiers mixed in with the refugees to break through their defensive lines.

It turned out that his side had as many as two thousand soldiers, compared to Hu Zichen's five or six hundred men, his side had four times as many. This difference was obvious at a glance.

Therefore, the Tartars placed more than two-thirds of the refugees in front of their army—with more refugees, there were naturally more Tartar soldiers mixed in.

Sha Shiguang's side only began firing at the refugee group after hearing the cannon fire from the other side, naturally falling far behind.

Although most of the more than two thousand refugees ran to both sides, several hundred refugees rushed straight towards the defensive line. Although there were arrows and muskets to block them, in the hasty battle, some always managed to slip through the net.

About two hundred refugees finally rushed into the defensive line. In his eagerness, Sha Shiguang personally led his guards to rush forward, originally intending to gather the refugees together to identify whether there were any Tartars mixed in.

Before he could even utter a word, the Tartar soldiers launched their attack!
Although Sha Shiguang has been on the battlefield less in recent years, he is, after all, a true soldier and a participant in the Battle of Julu. He still possesses the ability to fight to the death and his reactions are quite swift.

He caught only a glimpse of a cold light, and immediately leaped up, kicking the guard in front of him away to save his life.

Before he could draw his steel sword from his waist, Sha Shiguang pulled a short dagger from his calf and used it to deflect the short sword that the Tartar soldier was wielding.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he immediately ducked and hid, then sprang up with all his might, using his head as a blade to smash straight into the Tatar soldier's stomach. With a muffled thud, the Tatar soldier collapsed to the ground, motionless.

However, Sha Shiguang was also disoriented by the collision and his reaction was slightly slow, so much so that he did not have time to dodge when another Tartar soldier thrust a dagger at him.

At the critical moment, Lu Qianwen, a personal guard, rushed out and blocked the short dagger that was thrust at him with his steel sword. He then swung his sword back, but the Tartar soldier dodged it.

Sha Shiguang finally saw the Tartar soldier clearly. He drew his steel sword from his waist and charged forward with a roar, slashing fiercely. The Tartar soldier dodged all three of his attacks. However, the Tartar soldier was powerless to retaliate due to the fierce and relentless offensive, and could only focus on avoiding Sha Shiguang's sword strikes.

Seeing that this was not a solution, the Tartar soldiers happened to see a refugee appear in front of them. They quickly grabbed the refugee and shoved him towards Sha Shiguang.

Sha Shiguang, who was in the midst of a fierce battle, never expected the Tartar soldiers to pull such a move. He managed to stop his steel sword from striking, thus saving the refugee's life.

But the Tartar soldier took advantage of the moment and darted to the side, stabbing repeatedly with his dagger. Two soldiers fell to the ground, rolling and struggling, screaming in agony.

"You damned Tartar, I'll fight you to the death!" Lu Qianwen roared as he charged towards the Tartar soldier.

Suddenly, another Tartar soldier dressed as a refugee sprang into action. He first elbowed Lu Qianwen, knocking him to the ground, then snatched the steel knife from Lu Qianwen's hand and slashed fiercely at Sha Shiguang.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Sha Shiguang blocked all three consecutive blows, but the Tartar soldiers were incredibly strong, and the blows made Sha Shiguang's arms go numb, and his steel sword almost flew out of his hand.

Just as he was about to lose control of the Tartar soldier, two shield bearers and a spearman rushed over and immediately suppressed the Tartar soldier. Using their numerical advantage, they forced the Tartar soldier to give up and temporarily lose the ability to fight back.

"Quickly, form ranks! Form ranks and slaughter all the Tartars!"

Sha Shiguang knew that the Tartar soldiers were fierce and good at fighting, and that he was no match for them with his personal bravery. He hurriedly ordered his soldiers to form a battle formation and use the battle formation to kill all the Tartars who rushed up among the refugees.

…………

There were more than thirty Tartar soldiers who rushed up from among the refugees.

Fortunately, Hu Zichen sent someone to warn them in time, and the deep hatred that Sha Shiguang's soldiers had for the Tartars sustained them as they fought bravely and refused to retreat. This allowed them to kill all the Tartar soldiers disguised as refugees before the Tartar cavalry could charge up.

Of course, another major factor was that, in order to disguise themselves as refugees, the Tartars did not wear armor, but instead went around naked, wearing only a tattered outer garment or jacket.

Even the fiercest and most daring Tatar soldiers, once deprived of their armor, would be no match for the armored Tiger Tooth Village warriors, let alone when they were fighting the Tiger Tooth Village warriors in formation as scattered soldiers.

Watching the Jurchen cavalry sweep past from both flanks, Sha Shiguang thought to himself, "That was close!"
…………

Just as they scattered the fleeing refugees who were charging into battle, a dark mass of armored Tartar soldiers appeared in the distant wilderness...

"The Tartars are about to charge, so everyone better be alert."

Hu Zichen shouted angrily, "Artillerymen, load the gunpowder and fire! Gunners, listen up, do not fire until the Tartars are at least fifty paces away!"

"Order the shield bearers: when the Tartars advance twenty paces, the entire army will attack and kill them."

Commands rang out continuously, conveying Hu Zichen's military orders to every soldier's ears... (End of Chapter)