The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 586: Defending the City and Waiting for Help
——Wheesh!
The horses of Jia Huan and others were tied in a stable near the side of the city gate, which was where the defenders usually tied their horses. A sudden neighing of a horse attracted the attention of the Jurchen cavalry.

It has to be said that these Jurchen cavalry were extremely alert and moved very quickly. They pulled the reins on the spot, turned their horses' heads and ran towards the city gate.

"Kill!" Jia Huan shouted loudly, and Wu Sangui and others who were ambushing on the enemy platforms on both sides of the city gate immediately took action. Some shot arrows and some fired guns. Suddenly, arrows flew like locusts and the sound of gunfire sounded like popping beans. In an instant, seven or eight people were shot down.

The remaining twelve Jurchen cavalrymen were shocked and angry. They probably realized that Jia Huan and his men were not numerous. So they did not flee, but instead rode their horses to charge towards the top of the city wall, showing great bravery.

Tsk tsk, although these Jurchens are brave but not wise, their riding skills are really amazing. They can ride on the stairs as if they were walking on flat ground. If they met them on an open flat ground, Wu Sangui and his men would probably be no match for them.

"Die!" Wu Sangui pursed his lips, raised his hand and shot an arrow at the leading Jurchen cavalryman, thinking that he had secured victory.

However, this Jurchen cavalryman turned sideways and hung on the side of his mount's belly like a gecko, avoiding the fatal arrow. The next second, he had already drawn his bow and drawn his arrow. While turning over and sitting back on his horse, he shot an arrow straight at Wu Sangui's face. It was really fast and fierce.

Wu Sangui was shocked and squatted down in a hurry, but the hat on his head was shot off. He was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat.

Dong dong dong

The Jurchen cavalry leader rode his horse upwards and shot three arrows in succession. A musketeer from the Shenji Camp was loading ammunition when he was hit in the chest by an arrow. He screamed on the spot and fell from the enemy platform and died.

Seeing that the Jurchen cavalry leader was about to successfully charge onto the top of the city wall, he had already drawn his sword with a ferocious look on his face. A musketeer next to Wu Sangui pulled the trigger in time, bang...

The Jurchen cavalry leader could dodge the arrows but not the lead bullets. He fell off his horse and rolled down the stairs.

Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and shot arrows continuously, killing two people in succession. The remaining four Jurchen cavalrymen were finally scared, turned their horses around and fled, but were soon shot to death by arrows and guns.

At the moment when Jia Huan gave the order to attack, Xing Wei suddenly poked his head out from the battlement and shot an arrow, hitting the throat of a Jurchen cavalryman on the opposite side of the moat.

The only remaining Jurchen cavalryman was stunned for a moment, then he leaned over and lay on the horse's back, turned the horse's back and fled. Xing Wei shot two arrows, both of which missed. Just as the Jurchen cavalryman was about to escape, a spear shot from the top of the city wall and hit him right in the back.

--puff!

The spear was so powerful and heavy that it pierced through the body, killing both the Jurchen cavalryman and his horse. The horse rushed forward more than ten meters with the corpse before falling to the ground with a loud bang.

Xing Wei couldn't help but click his tongue, turned around and gave Tie Niu a thumbs up, saying: "Brother Tie Niu's strength is even more domineering than Brother Hu's."

Tie Niu smiled naively. Compared to his younger brother Tiehu, he was much more gentle and honest, but his physique and strength were even greater than Tiehu's.

"Oh, it hurts so much, brother, give me a quick death!"

Although this was an ambush and the results were perfect, Wu Sangui's eleven brothers still paid the price of one death and one injury. The injured brother was shot in the inner thigh and was in excruciating pain.

"Hold on, brother. I'll bandage you!" Wu Sangui tried to comfort the wounded soldier, but the soldier was probably shot in the artery on the inside of his thigh. Blood gushed out like a fountain and could not be stopped. After a while, his pupils dilated and he died.

Wu Sangui silently closed the soldier's eyes. There was silence all around. Although he wiped out all the enemies in this battle, two of them were still killed by the enemy despite having the advantage of time and place. He couldn't imagine what the consequences would be if he encountered such a Jurchen cavalry in an open area in the wild!

Sun Chengzong stroked his beard and sighed, but Jia Huan was used to such bloody scenes of killing, and his mind had long been as hard as a rock. He calmly ordered to check whether there were any survivors.

Soon, Wu Sangui brought two of his brothers and carried a Jurchen cavalryman to Jia Huan and Sun Chengzong, and said murderously: "Master Sun, Master Jia, this bastard is still alive."

This Jurchen cavalryman was the leader. He was shot in the cheek, half of his face was smashed, revealing his bloody white tooth sockets. His legs were strangely twisted, probably broken, but this guy was still conscious and his eyes were vicious.

Sun Chengzong frowned and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Where is the main force of Nurhaci's army?"

"Pah!" The Jurchen cavalry spat out a mouthful of blood to express their disdain, as if they could understand Chinese.

"Fuck you, you're looking for death!" Wu Sangui drew his sword and pressed it against the man's chest. However, the Jurchen cavalryman was not afraid at all and even sneered contemptuously.

"Kill him, don't waste time!" Jia Huan said decisively. You can tell from the look of this kind of man that he is not afraid of death, so you are destined to not be able to get anything out of him.

Wu Sangui swung his sword, a cold light flashed, and the head of the Jurchen cavalry leader rolled off. All the brothers showed satisfaction, because it was this guy who shot and killed a brother just now, and now it can be regarded as revenge.

Wu Sangui sheathed his sword and said in a deep voice, "Fortunately, no one escaped. If one of them escaped and reported back, we would be in danger. My two imperial envoys, you can't go to Jinzhou anymore. The Jurchens' large army must be nearby. We must withdraw without delay, otherwise it will be too late."

Sun Chengzong pondered for a moment, as if he was making a difficult decision. Finally, for the sake of safety, he nodded and said, "Forget it, let's go back to Shanhaiguan first." So everyone evacuated Ningyuan City with the bodies of the two sacrificed brothers, intending to return to the temporary camp last night to reunite with the main force. However, just after they ran a few miles, they encountered a group of people head-on, and both sides were shocked.

When everyone looked carefully, they found that although the opposing team was in rags and had discarded their weapons and armor, they could still be recognized as the Jin army's attire. Could they be the defeated soldiers?

"The imperial envoy of the Great Jin Dynasty is here. Whose army do you belong to?" Wu Sangui asked sternly, with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

As soon as he finished speaking, an officer walked out from the opposing team and clasped his fists, saying, "I am Zu Tianshou, a lieutenant general under the command of Lord Wang, the Liaodong governor. I wonder who the lord opposite you is. Since you are an imperial envoy, what is your proof?"

It turned out that this team was indeed the defeated soldiers from the Jinzhou front line. They were originally under the command of Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong. The general was called Zu Tianshou. After Jinzhou City was broken, he led a group of defeated soldiers to flee to Ningyuan. At this time, Xiong Tingbai had already abandoned the city and retreated to Shanhaiguan.

Zu Tianshou led the defeated troops to retreat to Ningyuan City, but found it deserted. He was worried that the Jin soldiers would come after them, so he fled to the nearby Juehua Island and hid there for a few days. When he found that the Jin soldiers did not come after them, he planned to leave Juehua Island and flee back to Shanhaiguan, where he happened to meet Jia Huan and others.

Jia Huan and Sun Chengzong immediately revealed their identities and showed the imperial edict and the Shangfang sword. Zu Tianshou bowed and saluted: "I am here to see the two imperial envoys."

Sun Chengzong said in a deep voice: "Since Commander Zu retreated from Jinzhou, he should be very familiar with the situation at the front, right?"

Zu Tianshou nodded with a dejected look on his face and said, "Jinzhou City has been breached, and the 72 forts including Dalinghe Fort, Youtunwei, Songshan, and Daxing have all been taken by the Jiannu. Fortunately, the Jiannu seem to have no intention of continuing westward and have not pursued us."

Sun Chengzong and Jia Huan looked at each other, and the latter asked, "Are you sure the Jiannu didn't chase us?"

Zu Tianshou shook his head and said, "I have been on Juehua Island for many days and have sent out many spies to gather information. We have indeed not found any Jiannu troops, otherwise we would not dare to leave the island easily today."

Wu Sangui sneered and said, "Aren't the twenty cavalrymen we just killed Jiannu?" Then he raised the head hanging behind the horse's buttocks.

The Jin army rewarded merit based on the number of heads they took, so beheading twenty people was a great achievement, so they cut off the heads and took them away.

The Jurchens had a very special hairstyle, shaving off the front half and combing the back into a long whip, which made them very easy to identify. So Zu Tianshou recognized it as a Jurchen head at a glance, and was surprised and impressed. After all, he had fought with the Jurchens before and knew how powerful the Jurchen cavalry was. Jia Huan and his group of only a dozen people actually killed twenty Jiannu cavalrymen. It was really amazing! !
"Wu Yuji is so brave, I admire him!" Zu Tianshou clasped his fists and said, "These Jiannu should be scouts, but I can be sure that the main force of Nurhaci's army did not move westward and is still in the Jinzhou area."

Sun Chengzong's eyes flashed, and he asked hurriedly, "How many troops are left under General Zu's command?"

Zu Tianshou stammered, "Less than two thousand."

Sun Chengzong's eyes lit up and he said, "Okay, I order you to lead your troops to Ningyuan City immediately, without any mistakes."

Zu Tianshou's face changed and he said in a lost voice: "Ningyuan City is already an empty city. All the people have evacuated. There is no need to defend it, and it is definitely impossible to defend it!"

Sun Chengzong's face darkened and he said, "The drawbridge gates of Ningyuan City are intact, how can we not defend it? Moreover, didn't you just say that the main force of Nurhaci's army did not move westward? Why are you panicking?"

Zu Tianshou could not help but secretly complain, and argued: "But without food and supplies, how can we defend it?"

Sun Chengzong said coldly: "Don't worry about this. I will immediately fly to Shanhaiguan and ask Xiong Tingbai to come out to help. The reinforcements will arrive within five days!"

"But……"

Zu Tianshou wanted to refuse, but Sun Chengzong shouted, "Zu Tianshou, the imperial sword is here, do you want to disobey my order?" After saying this, he pressed the hilt of the sword with murderous intent.

Wu Sangui and his men immediately put their hands on the hilts of their swords and surrounded Zu Tianshou. The latter's face changed, and finally he had to clasp his fists and said, "I obey your command!"

At that moment, everyone returned to Ningyuan City, pulled up the drawbridge, and closed the four cities for defense.

Sun Chengzong called Jia Huan aside and solemnly warned him, "Ziming, Xiong Tingbai's abandonment of Ningyuan City was a huge strategic mistake. Fortunately, we discovered it early and it can be remedied.

You will supervise Xiong Tianshou here. If he dares to escape, he will be killed immediately. All consequences will be borne by the master. The master will immediately go to the pass to urge Xiong Tingbai to send troops for support. The reinforcements will arrive within five days, so no matter what happens, you must hold on for five days. "

Jia Huan nodded solemnly: "Teacher, rest assured, I will definitely fulfill your mission!"

Next, Sun Chengzong left fifty cavalrymen to Jia Huan for self-defense, and he took Wu Sangui and the remaining dozens of cavalrymen guards to leave Ningyuan City and head towards Shanhaiguan at lightning speed.

It's not that Sun Chengzong intended to leave Jia Huan in this dangerous situation, but he didn't trust Zu Tianshou and had to keep Jia Huan here to supervise. Xiong Tingbai had a hot temper and might not admit his mistakes, so Sun Chengzong had to personally take the imperial sword to subdue him, forcing Xiong Tingbai to send troops to rescue Ningyuan.

(End of this chapter)