Late Tang

(Thanks to the genius あ pervert for his support!)

At noon, the capital team had already crossed the glacier, and the horses stepped across the river covered with thick ice, and the roar of flying thunder cannons could be heard in the distance on the east bank of the river.In the distance is a large city, Ningjiang City.On the towering stone city walls, the flags of the Khitan people are flying.The sun shone directly on the snow, reflecting a blinding white.The owner of the chamber sent out messengers and ordered their battalion to go directly around the city and to the back of the city.

This cavalry team consisted of [-] new cavalry recruits from various tribes, leaving a small group of people to take care of the horses and supplies, while the rest of the cavalry rode their horses and galloped away on the frozen and hard snow.

Lieutenant Xu Jian led them to run for about twenty miles, then stopped to check the map.The cavalry got off their horses and gathered together in small groups to smoke. The Qibo wanted to go to the side to take a shit, but the captain gave him a look, "Damn, don't go far, just do it here!"

The young camp owner Xu Jian also lit a cigarette, but what he smoked was not the shredded tobacco of ordinary soldiers, and he did not use a pipe. What he smoked was rolling cigarettes. There were twenty cigarettes in a shiny silver cigarette case.Several sharp-eyed cavalrymen also saw that there were two iron cans in the leather satchel in Dutou, which contained cigarettes, a can of one hundred sticks.Xu Jian lit a cigarette, wiped the binoculars he took out of the leather case for a long time, then lifted them up and looked at them.

What appeared in the binoculars was a small village, about five miles away from them. Near the village, there was a flat land washed by a small river. trees.Xu Jian watched with binoculars for a long time, searching the lifeless village road with his eyes, but there was not even a single person.It was empty and lifeless, like a cemetery.There is only a world of ice and snow, covered in silver makeup, and extraordinarily enchanting.

"This should be the village that the higher-ups asked us to occupy." Xu Jian asked, looking at the small village.

An agent from the Military Intelligence Department of the military department stood silently behind him on a horse, and said with a blank face, "This is indeed here."

"Then let's occupy it!" Xu Jian put away the binoculars, with a little hesitation in his expression.

"Will there be any barbarians in ambush there? This village doesn't look small, and it doesn't look deserted, especially the forest next to the village, which is a good ambush site." The battalion staff raised concerns. "Perhaps we should send two teams of cavalry to reconnaissance first, to check the village and trees, just in case."

"Well, be careful when sailing for thousands of years. It's not wrong to be cautious. Let's send a few cavalry to investigate." Xu Jian remonstrated.

Na Qibo received an order from the capital, Chen Ling, to take his team to scout the village.

The three of them came out according to the order, and the three horses walked side by side, walking into the empty village full of tension.Walk through every window, behind every door, where you might be shot in the back.

They broke into the village like wild wolves in winter, which is how winter wolves sneak into the village in the middle of the night.But the street was empty, and the silence was frightening. Suddenly, from the window of a very grand house, the sound of a chime bell was heard. Seeing that Rove, who was walking side by side, trembled all over, he raised his lance in panic.

All the people in the village have fled. It can be seen that although this is a village in the Bohai Sea, it has been occupied by the tribal army a few years ago. It was in a hurry, as can be seen from the chiming clock that didn't come and was taken away, it was not a cheap thing.Even now, the chiming bell has become more common, but it is still equivalent to the price of a first-class war horse. If it is here outside the customs, it can at least double the price, and it can be sold for the price of five war horses.How could ordinary Bohai villagers afford such a luxury.

All the people in the village fled. Obviously, they withdrew into the city on the bank of the river. As for the original Bohai villagers, they may have become slaves of the coalition forces long ago.

They scouted the village carefully and confirmed that it was indeed empty.Rove and Huoer finally relaxed at this time, and became happy again. They began to search for the spoils, those things that were too late to take away.Silver plates, golden tent hooks, etc., all small and easy to carry, they put them into their saddle bags, and the abandoned tree didn't stop them, which was considered a bonus for taking the risk to investigate.He also found a few small and valuable items himself.In the meantime, Rove wanted to take the clock away, but was finally stopped by that Qibo.If you bring such a big clock, you will definitely be scolded when you go back, and you will still have to hand it in when the time comes, so it is better not to take it.Anyway, when the troops come over, they have to clean them up again. Those are regarded as trophies, and some of them will be converted into rewards for them in the end.

After leaving the village, they went to the woods next to the village.I walked all the way to the hill behind the forest, but I didn't see half of the ambush soldiers.But standing on the hill, you can see the city on the bank of the river, with high walls and a square shape. Even the streets and alleys inside are also square, with brick, wood and stone houses lined up in rows. warehouse etc.

"Look, they're there!" Hall yelled, pointing his finger down the hill.

The Qibo looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a group of black spots running away in the white snow field to the east of them.From here, those people looked extremely small, like a group of ants. The rider was galloping, with the sledge dragged behind the horse. He squinted his eyes and used his palm to catch the sunlight on his eyes, and he could already see clearly. , Those are some coalition forces, but they are not soldiers, more like slaves and family members.

Looking back at the city, there was no panic in that city, only the snow-covered Haogou that had been dug early near the city, and many defenders gathered on the city wall.

"They withdrew all those old and weak soldiers and auxiliary soldiers!" Hall said in surprise.

They went back outside the village and reported what they saw to the capital and the camp owner.

The camp owner took a pencil and wrote something down in his notebook, then greeted him with his hand.

"That Qibo!"

"Have!"

The abandoned tree stepped forward on two legs and stood at attention.

Xu Jian handed him a piece of paper folded into a square, "Your horse is faster than others, you should go to the owner of the carriage right away, and use the fastest speed."

Na Qibo hid the paper in his breast pocket, walked up to the horse, and got on the horse.

When he delivered the report, Xiangbu had already crossed the river and arrived ten miles below Ningjiang City. After reading the report, the owner in his 30s gave an order to a staff officer to follow Na Qibo back to the camp and deliver the order.

After receiving the order from the Xiangzhu, the whole battalion immediately spread out outside the village like many previous exercises.

The whole battalion lined up, and the sound of horses' hoofs pounding the snow roared through the silence of the afternoon as they made their way through the village.

The commander of the battalion, Lieutenant Xu Jian, rode the well-proportioned, even fat white horse, and ran to the front of the team.He held the reins tightly, and in one hand was wrapped the fiery red tassel tied to the horse's handle.

That Qibo waited for the order with bated breath, Bingdu had already silently spread out his formation on the right wing, ready to fight.

Xu Jian pulled out the command saber awarded to Lu Shi when he graduated from the scabbard, and the blade gleamed faintly.

"The whole battalion!" He pointed to the left, right, and front with his command knife, stopped above the raised ears of the big white horse, and shouted loudly: "Form skirmishers, advance!""

"Pick up the lance, put away the saber, and charge!" The battalion flag-handler with the warrant officer's epaulets roared, and took the lead, holding the battalion flag and galloping away.

Under the trampling of countless horseshoes, the snow made a dull moan.

As soon as Qi Bo leveled his lance, his horse was swept by the torrent of horses and was also swept in, galloping at full speed.The figure of the battalion captain in front was gradually becoming unclear, but the flag in the hands of the warrant officer was still flying high, leading them forward all the time.

The white snow was galloping backwards under their feet, and the knights of Bingdu uttered earth-shattering shouts, which also infected the nearby Yidu.

The war horse is galloping, and one leap can go a long way.Amidst the ear-splitting screams, Qibo heard the sound of bows and arrows piercing the air, which was still far away.

As it got closer, the first feathered arrow flew over the head with a loud sound, piercing the clear sky with a long sound.

That Qibo clamped the cold lance tightly under his armpit, the clamped arm hurt, his palm was sweating, and it was slippery as if coated with snot.

Feathered arrows flew over his head, and he put his head on the sweaty horse's neck as much as possible, and the pungent stench of horse sweat went straight into his nose.He saw through the mane that the fleeing tribesmen and the weak were getting closer and closer. They began to push the carriages and sledges onto the road together, forming a car formation and hiding behind, trying to resist.Regardless of whether they are young or old, they all stretched their bows and kept shooting arrows at the approaching Qin army's horsemen.

The blood in Qi Bo's chest was boiling hot, the blood seemed to have rushed to the top of his head, and now his eyes were fixed on those people in front of him, nothing else.In his eyes, although those people were old and weak, women and children, since they took up arms and refused to surrender, they were enemies.Although the Qin army has many strict military regulations, such as not to abuse prisoners, not to kill prisoners without authorization, etc.But one thing is very clear, anyone who refuses to lay down his arms is still an enemy, no matter young or old, man or woman.

Even if it is just a group of women, children, old and weak, since they are fighting with weapons, they are enemies.

The first person he saw falling off his horse was actually their capital lieutenant, Chen Ling.He was shot by a tribal crossbow arrow, and the three-foot-long crossbow arrow shot directly at Chen Ling's shoulder. With great force, he was shot directly off his horse. His war horse fell from Chen Ling who was lying on the snow. After jumping over, he was hit by an arrow in the neck, and with a neighing sound, his neck bent and fell down.That Chong Bo was also thrown off the saddle and flew to the ground.

His bay red horse bared two rows of teeth, exposing its pink gums, like the tip of a knife cutting through glass, sharply and deeply engraved in his memory.

People continued to fall, and several cavalry fell down together with their horses and men.Qibo secretly rejoiced that it was winter and there was thick snow on the ground. Although he fell off his horse, luckily he was neither injured nor trampled by the horses behind.This is thanks to the fact that they are the skirmish line of the platoon, and charging in the snow, the speed of the horses is not fast.

It was the first time for the Japanese cavalry to actually fight. When they came out of the village, they were in a neat formation, but now they are a little messy.But on the whole, they still maintained that momentum. Without a neat formation, those horsemen began to use their natural riding skills, and they rushed even more like a fish in water.

At this time, Qi Bo also jumped on a war horse that had just lost its owner, and continued to rush forward with the team.In the blink of an eye, they had already rushed to the front of the hastily opened car formation.

A tall old Khitan man with white eyebrows and beard, with a fur hat on his head, frowning, knelt in the snow, holding a horn bow in his hand, almost facing him With an arrow, the whistling arrow brushed past his cheek, taking away a trace of his flesh and leaving a bloody groove.Na Qibo felt the thrilling feeling of death passing by, he was angry, he was frightened, he straightened his lance, tightened the rein with all his strength, and slammed down on the old man.

He didn't use a bow, nor did he use a thunderbolt.In their recruit battalion, each person had just been given two Thunderbolts before the battle, but it was of no use to him.The higher-ups did not order them to use such tactics. What they were facing was just a group of old and weak, so there was no need to waste precious Zhentian Lei.Even bows and arrows don't need to be wasted, it's enough to rush up and break through their crude car formation in one fell swoop.

His lance was so fast and fierce that the old man had no way to dodge it. After the prismatic spear tip pierced the jumping Khitan old man, the barrel of the spear also pierced halfway.After the abandoned bob fell down, before he had time to pull out the lance, he had to let go of the gun under the weight of the fallen body.

When he jumped over, he saw the old man grabbing the barrel of the gun with his crooked fingers, as if he wanted to pull him out.That Qibo had already grasped the handle of the saber and pulled out the sharp saber.

A Shiwei man even threw away his spear, grabbed his wolf fur hat, turned back and fled in horror.

That Qibo stalked his horse and caught up with him, leaping over the space left by the dead white-bearded Khitan old man, jumped over the horizontal carriage, jumped into the formation of vehicles, and caught up with the fleeing man. The Shiwei man raised his saber high and slashed down fiercely.

This knife was swung round and chopped down, and it split the skull of that Shiwei boy in half in one fell swoop.

Shiwei boy struggled and fell to the ground as if he slipped and fell.The half of the skull fell on the snow with a crisp sound, sprinkled with a layer of crimson and pale.

The war horse neighed, jumped up, and carried the abandoned tree to the middle of the chariot formation.

The sound of bows and arrows piercing through the air kept ringing in the snow, and more often it was the sound of cavalry spears piercing the opponent's leather armor and leather robes into the flesh of the Qin army's cavalry.

A sweating horse ran past him, dragging the corpse of a bald party cavalryman with one foot still hanging in the stirrup. The horse dragged the bloody corpse in the snow. roll.

That Qibo's head was a little groggy, as heavy as if it had been filled with lead.

The battle is almost over, and those people have been defeated by one of their charges.

He got off the horse, shook his head, feeling heavy in his heart.

Then a group of horsemen came and galloped past him, and someone made a simple stretcher out of windshields and lances to carry the wounded soldiers.There was also a group of Khitan and Shiwei prisoners of war who were driven to the snow field beside them.They huddled together, their weapons had already been discarded, and they huddled together like frightened sheep.

He saw that their faces were full of fear, like pale snow.He threw the reins and jumped off the war horse that did not belong to him. He didn't know why, and finally turned to the Shiwei boy who was hacked to death by him.The Shiwei boy was lying next to the blood-stained sledge, with a black palm open, as if he was begging for something.

Na Qibo looked at his face, it was a face full of fear before death, under the rough skin, it was the face of a boy who had just started to grow a beard.The few beards that have just sprouted show that this is just a child who is just in his teens.

"Hey, what's the matter with you? Are you injured? Do you want to call a military doctor?" A young Han officer whom he didn't know drove past him and called him, with a second lieutenant's epaulette hanging on his shoulder.

Na Qibo looked up at the officer's golden epaulets, and then at the young face with the mask lifted under the helmet.This is also a young man, although he wears the epaulettes of a second lieutenant, but he is only in his twenties, maybe he is not yet 20 years old, but it is possible that he is about the same age as himself.

With a long sigh, he turned his head and walked towards the horse that had partnered with him just now.His footsteps were rough and heavy, as if there was a mountain on his shoulders.Fear, lingering in my heart.He held the stirrup in his hand, but he couldn't lift his heavy foot for a long time.

Seeing that he didn't answer, the second lieutenant reined in his horse, looked him over carefully, and said to himself: "It seems that he may have broken his head during the battle. A natural knight, but now he has stepped on his stirrups." It seems that the injury is not serious." After speaking, he raised his head and shouted at a soldier carrying a red cross box in the distance: "Medical soldier, here, there is a wounded person here, maybe His head was smashed, quickly lift him away!"

The middle-aged military doctor who was carrying a box with the Red Cross logo on his back and a Red Cross armband on his arm trotted over. He grabbed the discarded bo, rolled his eyelids, took off his helmet, and took off his cotton wool. Putting on the hood, he touched his head carefully, and finally said: "There is a lump on his head. It seems that it may be a concussion caused by falling off the horse. He needs to be observed and treated immediately. Someone, take him away and send him to the medical tent immediately!" "

The abandoned bo let them examine him absent-mindedly, and then he was carried onto a simple stretcher, lying on the stretcher, he silently thought, wishing that he had really just smashed his head, not anything else. (To be continued.)