weaving

Chapter 1578 Zhou Yuji's Triple Shot
Everything happened too suddenly. Zhou Yuji appeared in the enemy camp as if he had fallen from the sky. His goal was very clear - the central camp area of ​​the enemy camp.

To catch a thief, first catch his king; to strike a snake, strike its vital spot!
Zhou Yuji aimed to maximize the element of surprise in a night raid on the enemy camp, capturing and killing the enemy leaders in one fell swoop, in order to completely crush the Jurchen army.

However, as his cavalry penetrated deeper into enemy territory, the resistance from the enemy became increasingly fierce, evolving from scattered soldiers to organized groups.

Fortunately, at this time there were only small teams of a dozen or several dozen people, and there were no large groups of Jurchen bandits exceeding a hundred people. Moreover, the Jurchen infantry were the main force, and Jurchen cavalry were rarely seen.

However, the Jurchen resistance was also very tenacious. Unlike the Ming army, which collapsed and lost the will to resist immediately when attacked at night, the Jurchens did not flee in all directions.

Although the Jurchens were caught off guard and unable to form a tight battle formation, their resistance was by no means weak. They gathered in twos and threes, and it was almost impossible to see them attacking alone. There were even fewer who tried to escape.

Just a hundred paces from the enemy commander's tent, two or three hundred enemy infantrymen suddenly appeared and blocked the way. More than a hundred of them blocked the road with shields, while another one or two hundred shot deadly arrows at them.

To be fair, the Jurchen archers were exceptionally skilled; almost every arrow they shot was both steady and accurate, and the angles were particularly tricky, always flying from unexpected angles.

What's even more infuriating is the Jurchens' cunning. Seeing that the cavalrymen were almost all armored, they actually shot vicious arrows at the warhorses, which were almost unprotected.

…………

Du Lei, whose real name was Dong E Du Lei, was a Gushan Ezhen of the Manchu Plain Red Banner.

He was the grandson of Nurhaci, the old slave of Jianzhou. His father was Dong'e Heheli, one of the five founding ministers of the Jianzhou Jurchens. His mother, Dongguo Gege, was the eldest daughter of the old slave.

Du Lei's wife was the third daughter of Prince Daishan of the Heshuoli clan of the Jiannu. It was because he married a princess that he became Daishan's son-in-law and was thus valued by Daishan, accumulating merits and being promoted to the position of Gushan Ezhen of the Plain Red Banner.

However, although Du Lei was appreciated and valued by Dai Shan, it was not entirely because of his status as Dai Shan's son-in-law. His military achievements were earned through fighting on the battlefield and fighting with real swords and spears.

He had just finished dressing and was standing in front of the command tent inspecting the assembled elite enemy troops. After a moment, he shouted loudly, "The Ming dogs have delivered themselves to our doorstep! Men, today we will make these ignorant Ming dogs know the might of the warriors of our Great Qing."

"Whoo!"

Du Lei didn't say much. He took the reins, mounted his horse, took out his usual tiger spear, raised it high in his hand, and shouted: "Mount up and kill the Ming dogs!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he slightly squeezed the horse's belly with his legs, and the warhorse reared up and galloped forward like the wind.

…………

The sky was already beginning to lighten, but the enemy camp was shrouded in black smoke, with burning tents everywhere and people killing each other in the flickering flames.

Zhou Yuji's six or seven hundred cavalrymen were blocked in front of the enemy commander's tent and could not advance even half a step, which made him very angry, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

Meanwhile, the east and north gates of the enemy camp had been breached by Zhou Yuji's cavalry, and a large contingent of Ming infantry poured into the enemy camp, including a thousand elite cavalrymen led by Xue Minzhong, the commander-in-chief of the Central Army, who also rushed in from the north gate.

Nearly 6,000 Ming infantry and cavalry participated in the night raid on the Jurchen camp, while the Jurchen camp contained over 10,000 Jurchens, resulting in a chaotic battle involving nearly 20,000 men. However, the Jurchen camp also contained tens of thousands of Shandong civilians captured by the Jurchens. Although their hands and feet were bound, they could not be left unattended. Therefore, 500 Jurchen soldiers and nearly 2,000 Jurchen bondservants remained to guard the captured civilians and did not all participate in the battle.

Even so, there were still five or six thousand Jurchen soldiers and three or four thousand bondservants, which shows that Zhou Yuji and Xue Minzhong were under considerable pressure.

Fortunately, the enemy camp covered a vast area, and the Tatar soldiers deployed to the west and south of the camp were still assembling and had not yet arrived to support the battlefield in the northeastern camp.

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Even during the battle, Zhou Yuji kept a close eye on the movements at the enemy camp's command tent. When he saw a troop of cavalry approaching from afar, he immediately shouted for his men to form ranks and prepare for battle.

He swung the long sword down, and although it was the dead of winter, the hilt remained firmly planted in the hard soil, while the tip of the sword continued to tremble.

He took his carved bow from the quiver, then drew out three sharp arrows. He put one in his mouth, tucked one between his fingers, and nocked the other on the bow, then suddenly pulled back the string...

With a "whoosh," the arrow left the bowstring and flew through the air, emitting a low "whooshing" sound.

Zhou Yuji's hands didn't stop moving. He then nocked a second arrow, drew the bow, and shot it. With another "whoosh," the arrow followed closely behind his companion's footsteps, flying towards the approaching Zheng Hongqi Gushan Ezhen Dulei.

No sooner said than done, Zhou Yuji curled his lip, the arrow he had been biting fell from his mouth, he casually caught the fletching, nocked it onto the bowstring, and the third arrow flew off, heading straight for Du Lei...

This set of movements was fluid and clean, executed flawlessly in one go, without the slightest hesitation or pause...

…………

Unfortunately, a Bayara personal guard rode out in front of Du Lei and blocked his path, brandishing his long tiger spear and easily deflecting the first arrow with a "crack".

This Ba Yala was indeed a seasoned veteran. After he deflected the first arrow with the tip of his spear, he didn't have time to withdraw his spear to block the second arrow, but this really didn't stump him.

He simply thrust his right hand forward, presenting the gun handle, and with a soft "snap," he easily deflected the second arrow shot by Zhou Yuji.

With a "plop," the warhorse beneath Bayara let out a mournful neigh and suddenly raised its two front hooves, nearly throwing the Bayara soldier off the horse.

It turned out that Zhou Yuji's first two arrows were aimed at Du Lei himself, while the third arrow was aimed at Du Lei's mount. Unexpectedly, this Bayala soldier rushed out and blocked Du Lei's horse.

The third arrow struck the chest of the horse beneath the Bayala soldier, penetrating nearly halfway into its path, demonstrating the immense power of Zhou Yuji's shot.

The warhorse, wounded by an arrow and in pain, charged forward recklessly. Even the skilled Jurchen Bayara soldiers could not stop it, and could only let it carry them as it ran wildly.

But the soldier's legs were tightly gripping the horse's belly, swaying back and forth with the horse's movements. At the same time, his eyes widened, and he let out a hysterical roar. He gripped his tiger-shaped spear with both hands and charged straight toward Zhou Yuji's location.