Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 584: Southern Barbarians and Northern Barbarians, Talking Differently

"Erjigen! Erjigen, are you still alive?" Mangku stared at the flare stuck in the ground, breathing heavily.

"Brother!" Erjigen gritted his teeth, enduring the pain, and answered as loudly as he could: "I'm not dead! Don't worry!"

"Don't pull out the arrow now! Don't pull it out! It's hard to stop the bleeding by yourself." Mangku shouted again: "Erjigen! Do you hear me?"

"I heard you." Erjigen replied, feeling pain all over his body. He held his left shoulder with his right hand, looked at the untouchable feather arrow with a wry smile, and murmured bitterly. "Even if I wanted to pull it out, I couldn't."

"Mangku, Mangku!" Sangguli shouted from behind Mangku, "What should we do next?"

"Don't fight back! If you hurt someone, it will be hard to explain! We can only find a way to negotiate with them." When Mangku replied, the female chieftain's "four in and two stay" notification and Uncle Thirteen's brief response also came from afar.

Mangku's heart tightened, and cold sweat covered his forehead. Although he didn't understand the other party's language, he subconsciously felt that this was definitely not a good thing.

"What were they shouting just now!" Mangku looked towards the place where the Han man named Yu was hiding.

The Han Chinese surnamed Yu stared blankly at the arrow lodged in Erjigen's body and the bloodstain on his back that was growing larger and larger. He was trembling all over, completely unaware that Mangku was speaking to him.

"Yu!" Mangku roared again.

The Han Chinese surnamed Yu then realized that Mangku was talking to him. "What did you say?"

"What were they shouting just now!" Mangku roared.

"I don't know, I don't understand at all!" The Han Chinese surnamed Yu was very scared. Although he had shaved his braid, he was still very worried that the government troops would mistake him for a Tartar and kill him.

"Damn it!" Sangguli sighed loudly, "We've really run into those damn southern barbarians! There's no way we can negotiate with them. Let's run away while they're still far away!"

"How are you going to escape?" Mangku was anxious and afraid. "There are at least seven or eight people on the opposite side. Three of them are targeting one of us. If we lean forward, we'll be a target! And Erjigen is still injured!"

"Then quickly take that side"

Tweet!
Before Sangguli could finish his words, a feathered arrow flew down to Mangku's feet. Then, a voice in an unintelligible southern dialect came over: "Raise your shields and advance in turns!"

"Oh no! They are starting to advance!" Mangku didn't understand the southern dialect, but he understood the meaning of the other party shooting flares at this time.

"Flag! Mangku! Hurry up and take out that damn flag of surrender!" Sangguli was so angry that he shouted at Mangku.

"Okay!" Mangku immediately reached for the flag pouch. However, due to his nervousness, he forgot to loosen the rope before reaching into his pocket, so he was unable to pull out the flag he had already touched. In a moment of desperation, Mangku simply made up his mind and used all his strength to rip the hemp rope that tied his clothes apart.

The hemp rope was so strong that it had turned his calloused hands purple, but Mangku felt no pain at all. His full attention was still on the gray-white linen cloth with the words "willing to surrender" written in human blood.

Although Mangku had prepared this bloody flag in order to show it to the Ming army in case of an unexpected encounter, he found himself sadly unable to unfold the flag safely.

"Mangku! What the hell are you doing!" Sangguli's urging voice came again, "The Ming army is almost in front of you!"

"What the hell are you urging me to do? I know!" Although Mangku was hiding behind the bunker and struggling with the flag, he didn't even need to listen to Sangguli's urging to know that the Ming army was getting closer.

In his rage, Mangku turned red from forehead to toe. "I got it!" As the saying goes, a brilliant idea comes to mind in a moment of desperation.

Mangku laid the wooden shield flat and pulled two feathered arrows from his quiver. He then snapped the arrows in half and used the arrowheads as spikes to pin the corners of the flag to the wooden shield. Mangku used too much force, and the burrs of the broken wood slanted through the calluses on his hands, piercing deep into the flesh, but he was completely unaware.

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Mangku squatted with his shield raised, hiding most of his body behind the nailed wooden shield.

"Hu!" Mangku let out a long breath, took a step to the left and left the big tree that sheltered his body.

Nail it! Nail it!
In a split second, two feathered arrows flew in from afar, piercing the wooden shield almost simultaneously. Mangku wasn't happy, his heartbeat accelerating. He feared the Ming soldiers on the other side would close in and fire their muskets. He knew the thin shield in his hand would be pierced by a musket within twenty steps, but at this point, he had no other options.

The Tusi soldiers didn't carry muskets. This wasn't because they didn't know how to use them, but because it was difficult to obtain a stable source of fire. For this elite squad, skilled in shooting and ready to launch surprise attacks at any moment, drawing the bow and releasing the arrow was much faster than loading the gunpowder and lighting the rope.

The Tusi soldiers were extremely cautious. The moment Mangku left the shelter, they followed their experience and hid behind the nearest cover. The female Tusi official and Heiyaer, who had previously shot arrows, also hid behind a large tree before pulling a new feathered arrow from their quiver and nocking it on the bowstring.

After confirming that it was safe, the Tusi soldiers who were preparing to engage the Tartars in close combat resumed their advance. The female Tusi officer and Hei Ya'er also followed the shield soldiers forward. It was still a one-block, one-move maneuver.

After the wooden shield was struck by several more arrows, a young chieftain's shield soldier on the front lines noticed something unusual about it. This young chieftain soldier had been educated and knew some Chinese characters, including the characters "願" (wish) and "降" (surrender). However, he couldn't immediately identify the words on the bloody flag. He didn't even think they were Chinese characters, but simply thought they were strange totems painted on his shield by a female Tartar.

The reason the young Tusi soldier failed to recognize the words "願降" (willing to surrender) was simple: the Han Chinese man surnamed Yu could write, but he had never practiced calligraphy, so his handwriting was ugly. Furthermore, Mangku had held his shield upside down. "願降" (willing to surrender) became "降願" (willing to surrender), and it was backwards.

The Tusi soldiers continued to advance until they were within ten steps of the Mangku. Ten steps was the distance for close combat, and charging from this distance meant the enemy could only fire a single, poorly aimed arrow. If the enemy chose to shoot, the remaining friendly troops, unseen, could rush to his side and deliver a vicious blow before he could switch to melee weapons.

"Stop!" The fourth grandmother who was commanding the advance called on the chieftain soldiers who were his children and grandchildren to stop.

She checked the positions of the soldiers and determined that they had formed a semi-encirclement of the enemy. The enemy would either be killed in close combat with four equally strong shield soldiers, or turn and flee and be shot from behind by arrows.

However, she didn't drop her guard and order a charge. Instead, she waited for Uncle Thirteen, Third Brother Yang, and the other five to approach. She didn't know why the enemy in front of her waited until they were close before hiding behind their shield like a turtle, but she was well aware that there were two other Tartars nearby. One of them had been hit by an arrow, but was clearly not dead.

Hiding behind a flowering red pine tree, Si Po stared at the shield with one eye. At first, she too thought it was a blood-red totem representing a strange faith, but after staring at it for a while, she suddenly realized it looked like Chinese characters. Si Po was not only literate but also able to read. Over thirty years ago, she had even read the Jingchang edition of "Nu Jian," compiled and distributed throughout the country by Empress Dowager Cisheng.

Just as Sipo was straining her brains to discern the two abstract Chinese characters, Mangku's voice rang out from behind the shield: "Surrender, I surrender! Surrender, I surrender!"

"Don't kill if you drop your weapons!" Fourth Granny shouted.

Mangku obviously didn't understand. After being startled by the unfamiliar barbarian language and pausing for a moment, he continued in a tone so poor that it was hard to tell it was Chinese with a northern accent: "Surrender! I am willing to surrender!" The southern barbarians and the northern barbarians were talking at cross purposes, and it was impossible for Sipo to understand what Mangku said.

Soon, Uncle Thirteen, Brother Yang San, and five others also joined them. The two groups gathered together, forming a pincer attack on Mangku and the Erjigen brothers. Only Sangguli, who was closer to the riverbank, remained in a relatively safe position.

"Uncle Thirteen, do you want to shoot? I can shoot the Tartar's calf." Brother Yang San said to Uncle Thirteen while looking at Mangku.

Within forty steps, Brother Yang never missed his target, and he could hit whatever he pointed at, not to mention that the distance between him and Mangku was less than twenty steps.

His passive attitude of not fighting back had largely won Uncle Thirteen's favor. He made a gesture of temporary restraint and loudly asked Fourth Aunt, "Fourth Aunt, what do you say?"

"Don't panic. I think there's the word 'surrender' written on that shield." Si Po struggled to recognize the word "surrender" which was ranked first because it was hanging upside down.

"If you want to surrender, drop your weapons, raise your hands, and come out from behind your shield!" Si Po shouted again. But it was obviously in vain.

Suddenly, Sipo thought of the Han Chinese being escorted by three Tartars. "Are there any captured Han Chinese? Come out and talk."

“.” The Han people with the surname Yu also couldn’t understand this Tujia dialect from Chongqing Prefecture, Sichuan.

As the atmosphere became awkward, a young Tusi soldier beside Sipo couldn't help but mutter to his companion, "What the hell is that son of a bitch saying?"

"You got it by asking for it. I don't understand." Another chieftain soldier shook his head.

"You two, go and take away his shield," Si Po ordered the two Tusi soldiers who were gossiping. "If they resist, just kill them!"

"Yes." Si Po had a high prestige, and the two chieftain soldiers immediately agreed.

The two chieftains raised their shields and swords and rushed forward, and the archers behind them also drew their bows and took aim.

"Surrender, I'm willing to surrender! Surrender, I'm willing to surrender! Surrender, I'm willing..." A chieftain soldier went around to the side of Mangku and kicked him hard, knocking him over with his shield.

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The southern barbarians and northern barbarians, the former not harboring the intention of annihilating all enemies, and the latter wanting to surrender. After some twists and turns, this brief encounter finally ended peacefully.

Shortly after Mangku was kicked down, Sangguli, the Han man surnamed Yu and Erjigen with an extremely ugly face also walked out of the bunker.

"Third brother. Your shooting is not accurate. You only hit the back of this turtle." A young chieftain soldier stretched lazily.

"It's about a hundred steps away, come and shoot me one," Yang Sange rolled his eyes at him. "You idiot."

"Shut up and come help me." Si Po walked past the two people and came to Erjigen's side. "I'll pull out the arrow for you. Don't move."

"Huh?" Erkegen shrank back with a confused look on his face.

The fourth wife pointed at the arrow stuck in his back and made a pulling gesture. "Pull out the arrow."

Erjigen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized that this woman, who looked to be in her fifties, seemed to be trying to pull out his arrow. Erjigen subconsciously glanced at his brother, only to see Mangku and Sangguli being pinned to the ground by several short, strong men.

"I have no hostility! Don't tie me up!" Mangku didn't struggle desperately but shouted: "I am here to surrender, I have..."

"What the hell, just behave yourself!" Uncle Thirteen slapped Mangku Banguan hard on the head.

Mangku didn't understand what was said. He just paused for a moment and then continued to shout: "I have a letter written by Wuergudai Beile to Gao Bangzuo!" This protest was meaningless. The chieftain's soldiers couldn't even recognize the three words "Gao Bangzuo", let alone the Jurchen language that sounded like a bird's cry.

"Yu! Tell them quickly!" Mangku shouted at the Han Chinese named Yu who was not restricted in his movements.

"Find something to stuff his mouth with. He's so annoying with all the noise!" The young female chieftain was trying to communicate with a Han Chinese surnamed Yu. The Han Chinese surnamed Yu was also trying hard to say something, but unfortunately, although both sides could communicate in writing, they spoke very different dialects thousands of miles apart and could not understand each other at all.

"How about cutting off his tongue?" A chieftain soldier who was even older than Uncle Thirteen laughed.

The female chieftain glared at him. "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Shut him up!"

"Okay." The chieftain soldier was just joking. After being bored, he took out a piece of cloth from the bag he carried with him, which was used to bandage the wound, and stuffed it into Mangku's mouth.

"Wuwuwuwu!" Mangku's face flushed red, and his sobs seemed to be filled with despair. He began to struggle violently, not even bothering to look at Erjigen.

Erjigen turned around and was surprised to find that the old woman had walked up to him with a knife in her hand.

"What are you doing!" Erqiben took a few steps back involuntarily.

"Hold him down." Si Po had given up communicating with the little Tartar and gave orders directly to Yang San Ge and another chieftain soldier.

Two men stepped over and roughly held Erjigen down.

"Ah!" Erjigen screamed in pain. But Yang Sange and the other two did not relax their grip.

"Yang Sanwazi, what kind of arrow did you use?" Si Po took a small knife, first cut the hemp rope that tied the clothes, and then cut open the blood-stained clothes near the wound layer by layer.

"Of course it's a barbed swallowtail arrow," said Yang Sange, "and this little bastard isn't wearing any armor."

"Then you will suffer." The fourth grandmother knew that Erjigen could not understand, but she still muttered it.

(End of this chapter)