In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 5: A small tribe attacked by wolves.

The next day, although the snow stopped, the withered yellow grassland was completely covered with snow. Looking around, the surroundings were completely white, which made people feel chilly from the bottom of their hearts.

The two of them were wearing fairly thick clothing, and they had fur blankets to protect them from the cold. They kept each other warm, so they didn't freeze at night.

After Lin Rui's repeated persuasion, Zhang Xiuying had no choice but to continue to accompany him on the road through the snow.

The two of them didn't find any food that day. After walking for more than ten miles, they were exhausted and had to stop.

It snowed again at night, and they were hungry and could no longer use hay to make a fire to keep warm. The two of them almost fell into despair, but they still persisted until dawn.

Seeing that Lin Rui still refused to give up, Zhang Xiuying didn't say much. If Lin Rui was leaving, she would accompany him.

"Sister Xiuying, look, there is smoke over there..."

This time the two of them braved the wind and snow. Zhang Xiuying only walked three or four miles before she fell in the snow. Just as Lin Rui was about to help her, he noticed a puff of green smoke rising from behind the gentle slope in the distance, and immediately shouted in surprise.

Zhang Xiuying looked over and found that there was indeed smoke, so she said weakly: "Brother Lin, there is no road ahead, please leave me alone."

"Sister Xiuying, hold on a little longer. If there is smoke, there must be someone there. We can survive." Lin Rui advised.

Zhang Xiuying shook her head, her attitude more determined than ever.

Even if there is someone, it will only be a Tatar. She would rather lie here and wait for death than be beaten to death and caught again.

As if he saw what she was thinking, Lin Rui did not persuade her, but took off the fur blanket and spread it on the ground, hugged her up, covered her with another one, and then headed towards the direction of the smoke.

"Brother Lin must live." Zhang Xiuying just shouted at Lin Rui's back.

Two hours later, Lin Rui finally reached the hillside with difficulty. Looking down, he saw dozens of tents of various sizes sitting in the middle of the two hills, with a one-meter-high snow wall on the outside.

There were many cattle, sheep and horses in several sheds on the side, and piles of haystacks were piled beside them. Several Tatars were busy working there, and they didn't know what they were doing.

This was obviously the residence of a small tribe.

After observing for a while, Lin Rui estimated that this tribe should have less than a hundred people. Even so, it was not something he could deal with.

After thinking about it, I decided to sneak over there at night. In the end, if it didn't work out, I had no choice but to risk contact.

Lin Rui lay in the snow, resisting the wind and snow, and waited until dark with difficulty, and then he couldn't wait to touch it. Who would have thought that before he got close to the snow wall, several dog barks could be heard, and he turned around and ran away in fright.

He climbed to the top of the slope in one breath before stopping, and collapsed on the ground in despair. There were dogs in this tribe, so it was impossible for him to sneak in and steal things.

Just when Lin Rui was waiting to be caught and planned to survive first, he found that the Tatars in the tribe did not chase him out at all. Instead, they held torches, lit fires everywhere, and shouted.

In a short time, piles of bonfires were lit in the tribe, and dogs barked one after another.

"Ouch..."

Just when Lin Rui was confused, a wolf howl came from the hill opposite, and then black figures appeared on the hill one after another, at least hundreds of them.

It turned out to be a wolf pack. Are the wolves going to attack this small tribe?Lin Rui was startled and secretly guessed.

But after waiting and waiting, no wolves were seen attacking, so Lin Rui somehow imitated the wolf howl.

"Ouch..."

This wolf howl really scared the Tatars in the tribe, but the wolves on the opposite mountain thought that their companions were coming again, and immediately launched an attack.

I saw black shadows rushing down the hillside quickly, then leaping up, climbing over the snow wall and jumping into the station. A man-wolf battle immediately began.

For a time, screams, wails and killing sounds came one after another, but Lin Rui on the hillside looked gloating, wishing that all these Tatars would be mauled to death by wolves.

This is a battle purely for survival. The scene is cruel and bloody, and there is almost no way out for both sides.

This wolf pack has been hungry for a long time and has been eyeing this small tribe for a long time. However, they have never dared to attack rashly. Lin Rui's wolf howl made the wolf king mistakenly think that his companions were coming, so he launched a decisive attack.

Due to the snow wall blocking the way, the wolves could not climb over with the corpses and sheep in their mouths. In addition, they were hungry and saw blood, so they had no choice but to fight to the end.

The Tatars could not just watch the wolves eat the sheep, so they were equally fearless and tried their best to kill the wolves.

This battle only lasted for more than half an hour and ended. All hundreds of wolves were killed, and not one of them escaped.

Listening to the sorrowful cries of the Tatars below, Lin Rui knew that the Tatars must have suffered heavy losses in the battle just now.

The Tatar camp was noisy and quiet until late at night. Lin Rui hesitated for a moment and touched it again.The Tatars suffered heavy losses. After all, he was a strong laborer. Even if he was caught, he would probably not kill him.

This time, Lin Rui climbed over the snow wall easily and got in. It was obvious that the dogs had died in the battle. This was definitely the greatest good news.

At this moment, there were bloodstains everywhere in the tribe, and only two Tatars sat around a fire to keep vigil.

After some calculations, Lin Rui planned to steal a dead sheep and some hay to fill his stomach first.

So they surrounded it from the outside to the stable where hay was piled, because wolf carcasses and dead sheep that had been bitten to death were piled here.

Lin Rui quietly came to the haystack and was about to pull out a bundle, but the next moment he broke into a cold sweat.

The haystack was actually full of people, and there were quite a few of them, at least a dozen. If you looked closely, they were all women with their hands and feet tied up.

"Don't be afraid. I'm a Han. Were you also captured by the Tatars?"

After seeing clearly that all these women were Han, Lin Rui quietly woke one of them up, covered her mouth, and whispered in her ear.

"Well, who are you? Were you also captured by the Tatars?"

Sure enough, after the woman saw Lin Rui clearly, she calmed down and whispered.

"I escaped half a month ago. How many of you are there?" Lin Rui asked.

"There are 16 of us in total. Except for three men, the rest are all women. One of our sisters froze to death the day before yesterday."

The woman looked around and was a little disappointed when she saw that Lin Rui was the only one.

"This tribe only has such a small number of people, how come the Houjin Tatars gave them so many people?" Lin Rui said a little strangely.

"I don't know about this, little brother, what are you doing here?" The woman shook her head, still looking at him expectantly.

"First tell me how many Tatars there are in this tribe..."

Lin Rui planned to find out the situation of this tribe first.

As the two talked, the people next to them were also woken up. Fortunately, Lin Rui woke everyone up.

"Are you Brother Lin?" One of the women looked at Lin Rui in surprise as soon as she was woken up.

"You, are you Mrs. Niu?" Lin Rui was also overjoyed. He didn't expect to meet an acquaintance from the same village here.

"Yes, yes, you are really Brother Lin. That's great. By the way, Brother Lin, you were arrested together with your brother Daniu. Did your brother Daniu escape with you?"

Mrs. Niu said excitedly, and then she couldn't wait to ask her man.

"Brother Niu left not long after he left the Great Wall..."

Lin Rui thought that Daniel had gone to Liaodong, and the two of them might never meet again in this life, so he could only sigh helplessly.

Mrs. Niu's eyes suddenly turned red and she began to sob softly. Upon seeing this, the other women also began to sob.

"Don't cry, be careful to lure the Tatars over."

Only then did everyone stop sobbing. Mrs. Niu wiped her face and looked at Lin Rui and said, "Brother Lin, can you escape with everyone?"

"Hey, it's such an icy and snowy place. Even if I take you to escape, I'm afraid you will freeze to death on the road in the end."

Lin Rui looked at their expectant eyes and sighed.

Everyone was right when they thought about it. The hope they had just ignited was extinguished in an instant, and they all bowed their heads and fell silent for a moment.

Lin Rui was also relatively speechless. Although there were less than a hundred Tatars in this tribe, in the battle with the wolves just now, half of the strong men and women were killed, and the rest were all injured.

But it was still not something he could deal with. Even with the addition of the twelve robbed women and the three men, there was almost no chance of winning.

If everyone had knives in their hands, they could still put up a fight and carry out a sneak attack, but except for the dagger in his hand, everyone else was unarmed, not to mention it was unrealistic for these women to carry out a sneak attack and kill people.

Just when Lin Rui was about to comfort them and leave, his eyes suddenly lit up when he looked at the haystack beside him.

"Yes, we can attack with fire, maybe we can really take care of all these Tatars."

(End of this chapter)