In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 17 Actively prepare for battle
Lin Rui spread the paper on a piece of cowhide, used a sharpened wooden stick to apply ink, and first drew a small circle in the center of the paper to represent their positions.

Then he looked at Hubbell and continued to ask: "How long does it take to go from here to Kashgar?"

"If you change horses, it will take almost a whole morning to run." Hubbell thought about it and replied.

Lin Rui made an estimate, then drew a circle again in the northeast direction of the central circle, and wrote in small characters Kashgar, one hundred miles, and one thousand mouths.

After he finished writing, he continued to ask questions, and soon the paper was filled with large and small circles, including lines representing rivers and triangles representing mountains.

However, when finally asked about the situation of the Chatu tribe, Habeier pursed her lips and stopped talking. No matter how Lin Rui threatened her, she refused to speak.

Lin Rui asked some other questions to trick her. After general questioning, he basically got a good grasp of the situation of the Chatu tribe, but Habeier didn't know it.

At this moment, Hubbell was curiously looking at the paper on the cowhide. The more she looked at it, the more frightened she became. She didn't expect that this Han man, who was not much older than her, just asked her briefly and drew such a comparison. Their tribe even produced a detailed map, which was even more wise than Abba's.

The Han people are indeed smart.

Then Lin Rui took Hutch over for interrogation. The knife was held on his neck, but Hutch simply said what he should say and what he shouldn't say, but didn't say a word.

But how could they understand Lin Rui's tactics? As they asked and answered, the information was leaked without even realizing it.

Seeing that the two men said that the situation was similar, Lin Rui did not embarrass them, and returned the weapons and horses to them, and said with a smile: "Brother Hutch, Miss Belle, I have offended you just now, I hope you can forgive me.

We are border troops who escaped from Datong. We came to the grassland for a temporary rest and will not stay here for a long time. We are willing to live in peace with your Chatu tribe and other Chahar tribes without invading each other.

Robbery of caravans is our Han people's own business and has nothing to do with the tribes in the grasslands. As for the Chak tribe, they tried to attack us last year but were beaten away by us. They should have moved elsewhere. "

"Then how many people are there in your tribe?" Hubbell asked.

"Not many. There are only more than 300 people. They are all brothers from the border army who escaped with me." Lin Rui said without blushing and breathlessly.

"Oh? What about them? There don't seem to be women in your Han army, right?" Habeier pointed at Sister Niu and the others.

"They did not escape with us, but we rescued them from the Chak tribe."

The Chak tribe divided into more than a dozen Han women last year. Habeier knew about it, but had no doubts about it. She asked some more questions, and Lin Rui answered them patiently. In the end, there was no problem, and the two of them said goodbye and left.

"Brother Lin, why did you let them go?"

Mrs. Niu said in confusion, and everyone else also looked at Lin Rui.

"The Khalkha tribe and the Chahar tribe are sworn enemies. Now the Kashgar tribe is about to attack us. If we kill the two of them again, not only the Chatu tribe will come to attack us immediately, but also the entire Chahar tribe in the future. If our tribes become enemies, then there will really be no place for us to stand."

Lin Rui explained slowly.

He knew that if he wanted to survive on this grassland, he couldn't offend the Khalkha tribe and the Chahar tribe at the same time. Killing them was not only meaningless, but would only cause trouble. How could he do such a stupid thing?

"But didn't we destroy the Chak tribe? Didn't we already enmity with the entire Chahar tribe?"

Sister-in-law Niu thought about it and said, in her opinion, no one is good as long as they are Tatars. If they catch each one, they will kill each one.

"It's different. If we don't admit it, even if we don't prove it, other tribes won't really come to fight us for a small Chak tribe. Of course, the premise is that we have to show our strength, otherwise no matter how careful we are, other tribes will The tribes will also take advantage of us, and the Kashgar tribe’s invasion this time is an opportunity to show their strength.”

Lin Rui waved his hand.

"But Brother Lin, there are only a dozen of us. Even if we include the prisoners, we are less than a hundred. How can we show our strength? Otherwise, we should run away!"

Gou Wa said guiltily, and everyone else nodded frequently.

"The Nakash tribe is said to be a tribe of a thousand people. If we can gather [-] real warriors, it will be incredible. If we don't get the news, we will definitely be defeated. But now we have preparation time, and the earth wall is almost completed. You may not be afraid of them.”

"Brother Lin, just tell me what to do. We'll all listen to you anyway." Sister Niu naturally fully supported her man. "We'll talk about it when we go back first. We need to think about this matter carefully. After all, if one of us fails, we will lose all our possessions."

Lin Rui waved his hand and led everyone back to the camp.

Back at the camp, except for the four people who were left to guard the prisoners, Lin Rui called the rest to discuss matters. Even the twenty prisoners who had just joined were present.

When everyone heard that the Fan family had invited Tatars to fight them, their faces changed drastically. The first thing they thought of was to run away. It was obvious that they were still a little afraid of the Tatars in their hearts.

And the twenty prisoners who had just joined were even more ashen-faced.

Because they knew that Manager Liu must have invited the Tatars to rescue the Third Young Master.

But the Third Young Master had already been beaten to a pulp by them. If the Tatars came and these horse bandits didn't stop them, not only would they be destroyed, but their family would probably suffer as well.

"You definitely can't run, let alone run away. See for yourselves, except for the mountains in the northwest, there are large and small Tatar tribes in other directions. With so many of us, it is almost impossible to escape quietly. In the Central Plains, it is feasible to escape to the northwest, but I estimate that over the mountains is Mobei, which is desolate and further away from the Central Plains. Moreover, there are Tatars in Mobei, and they are all large tribes with tens of thousands of people. It will be more difficult to survive..."

Lin Rui pointed to the map he drew and explained to them.

He estimated that their location should be Tongliao and Chifeng in the previous life, not far from the Great Wall.

"Brother Lin, even if only 300 Tatars come, it will be difficult for us to stop them, right?"

Gou Wa said guiltily, and everyone else also looked at Lin Rui.

"Actually, the Tatars are not as ferocious as everyone thinks. They are also human beings and are afraid of death. They were just invited by the Fan family this time. They have no deep grudges with us. As long as everyone works together and dares to fight, , coupled with the earth wall, it may not prevent them from retreating. What I am worried about now is those horses."

After Lin Rui finished speaking, a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

The carriages and tents can be dismantled and moved inside the wall, but the horses and mules cannot be packed in anyway.

When it was first built, they only planned to house two hundred of their own horses, but now there were thousands more.

"Why don't we just drive those horses into the mountains? There is a small valley over there. The grass in it should be enough for the horses to eat for a few days." Mrs. Niu thought for a while.

"we can only do this."

In the end, Lin Rui decided to let Xiaocui take Zhang Xiuying and drive their horses to hide in a valley forty miles away.

Compared to cattle and sheep, horses are much easier to herd.

As long as you ride a horse king, the other horses will follow obediently and fast, and the horse king has long been tamed by them.

"Xiaocui, I must take good care of you, Sister Xiuying, you know? If the Tatars find the valley to steal horses, you don't care, just hide, and don't come back unless I send someone to pick you up, remember?"

"Well, remember Brother Lin, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of Sister Xiuying. Brother Lin and Sister Niu, you should also take care of yourself."

Xiaocui nodded, worried that Lin Rui and the others wouldn't be able to hold on.

Not to mention Zhang Xiuying on the side, looking at Lin Rui with tears in her eyes, but she didn't know what to say.

"Sister Xiuying, don't worry. The Tatars are indeed powerful in cavalry warfare, but they are not good at attacking cities. We will definitely defend them."

Lin Rui hugged her and comforted her, then asked them to start cleaning up, and he also took the others to get ready.

The first step was to finish the last section of the earth wall overnight. Fortunately, it was only about ten meters long. Then he also wanted to disguise the dug trench, dismantle some carriages, make some wooden thorns, and insert them into the trench.

(End of this chapter)