The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 103: Bones by the Wuding River 1
It was night, and it was almost the hour of Hai.

One by one, horses galloped past in the night, but their hooves made no sound. Looking closely, each hoof was covered with thick hay.

The commander of the Plain White Banner had a sullen face and held a pair of chopsticks horizontally in his mouth.

The other soldiers of the Plain White Banner also held a chopstick in their mouths.

This is what is referred to in the art of war as "men holding their tongues in their mouths and horses wrapping their hooves".

As the folk saying goes, you should not have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others.

As a person from later generations, Li Hu knew too well the emperor's fickleness, so he brought the second prince with him.

A wisp of tea smoke floats in the air.

A low table was placed in the middle of the big tent, with two chairs next to the table. Li Hu and the second prince were sitting there, taking the teacups handed to them by Wang Daniu.

Li Hu took a deep breath and said with a smile: "Although I don't know much about tea, I know it's not ordinary tea just by smelling it."

The second prince did not say a word. He picked up the teacup and put it to his mouth to sip. After taking a few sips, he put the teacup down, leaned back and closed his eyes.

Li Hu smiled, what a stingy person, he just made him sit on the toilet for half an hour. He picked up the teacup and drank it slowly. It smelled good, worthy of being a tribute to the royal family.

A gust of wind blew, and a corner of the tent curtain was lifted. All the soldiers were dressed in armor and lined up outside the tent waiting for orders.

"Will the Tartars come?" the second prince suddenly asked.

Li Hu smiled and said, "Soon."

The second prince still didn't open his eyes, but blurted out two words: "Arrogant!"

Li Hu smiled and didn't get angry with the child.

There was silence again.

After a while, the second prince couldn't help it anymore, he opened his eyes and looked at Li Hu: "Why?"

Li Hu looked at him with a smile and replied, "If we capture you, not only Yulin Town, but the entire northern Shaanxi will be in the hands of the Tartars."

The second prince was startled and asked, "Why don't they go around Yulin?"

Li Hu interrupted him directly: "The general of Yulin is not the Second Prince. As long as the Yulin Guards are not completely defeated, they will definitely attack from behind. The combat power of the Yulin Guards is not weaker than that of the Eight Banners Armored Soldiers."

The second prince was startled again, then blushed.

Suddenly, Li Hu sat up straight, as if listening attentively.

Gradually, the sound of hurried horse hooves was heard in the distance.

The second prince became nervous.

The sound of horse hooves was approaching.

Li Hu winked at Wang Daniu.

Wang Daniu understood and hurried out.

The sound of horse hooves gradually got louder and louder, then suddenly stopped.

After a while, the sound of horse hooves began again, gradually fading into the distance.

Wang Daniu walked in with a calm expression. Without saying a word, he gave Li Hu a knowing look.

Li Hu nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to the second prince: "They are coming, go to welcome them." After saying that, he stood up and walked out.

Wang Daniu followed him out.

The second prince hesitated for a moment, but still chased after him.

The cavalry was still galloping forward. A huge military camp was visible in the distance ahead.

The front camp was abnormally quiet. It was dark and empty, and seemed even more mysterious against the backdrop of a few stars.

Apparently it was something they had discussed beforehand, as the cavalry stopped one after another.

From a distance, there was no one inside or outside the camp.

The lieutenant commander of the Plain White Banner took the telescope handed to him by Gushan Ezhen and quickly scanned the area. Soon, he saw faint lights coming from the central army camp and swaying figures.

Gushan Ezhen put down his clairvoyance and said softly, "It should be a trap set by the Han people."

The commander of the White Banner said: "I would drink it even if it was poison."

Gushan Ezhen was silent. They were now in a difficult situation. They had annihilated more than 20,000 elite infantrymen in the Beijing Camp. Including the wounded, they had only lost more than 4,000 people. But in order to capture Yulin City, they had already lost more than 3,000 people, not counting the Mongols.

With such a huge loss, if they fail to capture Yulin and cut off the Han people’s Great Wall defense line, they can only atone for their sins with death.

Therefore, reinforcements must not be allowed to reach Yulin.

In order to completely annihilate the Han reinforcements and capture the second Han prince alive, excluding the wounded and those who stayed behind in the camp, all the armored soldiers of the Plain White Banner who could come came, totaling more than 10,000 cavalry.

The front camp was obviously a trap set by the Han people, but what the commander of the Plain White Banner said was right, they had to drink it even if it was poison.

As long as the second Han prince is captured alive, not only can he make up for his mistake, but he will also have the opportunity to take over the entire northern Shaanxi and even the Guanzhong region.

Give it a try, there is at least a 70% chance of winning! The White Banner Commander spoke: "You lead five Niulu to attack along the river."

Gushan Ezhen: “Huh!” He spurred his horse and galloped back.

The commander of the White Banner said to Jiala Ezhen behind him: "You lead your troops to attack from the front and directly break into the Han camp."

Jiala Ezhen: “Hey!” He spurred his horse and galloped eastward.

Looking at the empty front camp, the White Banner Commander's eyes lit up, thinking: What kind of trap can a playboy set? As long as a path is found, the cavalry can break through the Han camp in a short time!
The Zhengbai Banner cavalry suddenly launched an attack and charged out like lightning!

Here, Li Hu stood on a cart, holding a monocular telescope and looking towards the front camp, paying attention to the movements there.

Wang Daniu: “Here I come.”

The second prince, who was hiding under the carriage, asked anxiously, "How many people are here?"

Wang Daniu said unhappily: "It's crowded with people."

The second prince exclaimed: "So many people!"

The generals all laughed silently.

Suddenly, from the front camp came the wailing and howling of war horses and the screams of the Tartars.

As we got closer, with the help of the starlight, we could vaguely see some war horses suddenly collapse forward, the Tartars were thrown off their horses, and then were trampled into meat paste by the galloping horses.

Li Hu smiled. He was sure of winning this battle. This battle would make him famous and would also be a classic battle between infantry and cavalry.

Li Hu ordered his men to dig horse traps and set tripwires in the front camp in advance.

In field battles, the reason why infantry could not defeat cavalry was not only because they could not withstand the impact of cavalry. Before the appearance of muskets, infantry could basically not reach the cavalry and could only passively take the beating.

Li Hu not only surrounded the carts in a circular formation, but also had a large number of bird guns and dozens of submachine guns. As a person from the later generations, he was naturally afraid of insufficient firepower, so he also ordered people to make a batch of simple small catapults to throw thunder bombs and gunpowder bags with gravel added.

The range of the bird gun is limited, and the enemy must be within one hundred and fifty steps before it can be fired.

As the Tatar cavalry passed two hundred steps, the officers began to order the musketeers to light the matches, and then the first row of musketeers opened fire at the same time!
The sound of dense musketry rang out, and the Tartars on the opposite side let out a series of screams. Dozens of people fell off their horses and lay on the ground struggling in pain.

"Team Two"

"Team three, get ready!"

“Aim and shoot!”

Flames spurted out from the muzzles of the guns, and then the Tartars who rushed over fell down under the flames!

Li Hu saw clearly that these Tatars were here to explore the way, so he did not let the gunners fire, but allowed the other side to rush forward.

More and more Tatars rushed up, and when they were a hundred steps away, they suddenly discovered those carts, which were just some simple wooden carts. The Tatars did not take them seriously and continued to gallop forward on their horses, trying to use the impact force of their horses to break open these carts, or just jump over them directly.

Li Hu had already gotten off the cart. All this was within his expectations. He saw despair on the faces of the Tartars who rushed over, and many of them closed their eyes in despair.

The tips of the long spears inserted upside down on the carriages formed a sharp line of defense, all pointing at the Tartar cavalry charging over.

First there was the dense sound of gun barrels breaking, and then with a loud "boom" many Tatar cavalrymen fell down with their horses, and screams spread throughout the entire defense line in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, artillery fire sounded from the other side of the river. Li Hu frowned. Could it be that Xie Jing's side was the main attacker?
Just as he was thinking about it, the five-piece cannon fired even more fiercely, and then there was the sound of gunpowder bags exploding, followed by a blazing flame!
"The main force of the Tartars is over there!" The second prince's voice trembled.

The generals also started talking at the same time.

"Shut up!" Li Hu yelled.

There was the sound of horse hooves, and a captain came galloping over. He rushed to Li Hu, pulled the reins, jumped off the horse, and reported loudly: "General, General Xie said that the Tartar commander is testing the defense situation in all directions."

Li Hu understood that Xie Jing wanted to use fierce artillery bombardment to make the Tatars mistakenly believe that the river was a key defense area and lure them here.

His idea is good, but he is afraid it may backfire!

Li Hu thought for a moment, and then ordered a guerrilla general, "You lead your troops to support Xie Jing immediately, and bring two submachine guns with you."

The guerrilla general responded loudly, "Yes."

There were still Tatar cavalry rushing towards the front camp, and the muskets behind the carts fired.

The Tartar cavalry that was rushing up were getting closer and closer. The bird guns began to be loaded with shotgun shells. When it was fired from the muzzle, it was still a ball, but when it hit the war horses, it was already a piece. Some of the war horses were hit and had honeycomb-like holes all over them. Suddenly, screams were heard everywhere, and war horses kept falling down, throwing the Tartar cavalry out. The strong force directly threw the cavalry far away, and they died on the spot.

"Marshal!" With an urgent roar, Li Hu was blocked behind Wang Daniu, and then a group of personal soldiers rushed over from both sides and blocked countless shields in front of them, followed by the sound of feather arrows hitting the shields.

Then, dense sounds of musketry rang out, and the screams of the Tartars were heard from outside the shields.

"Get out of the way!" Li Hu shouted to the personal soldiers in front of him, and saw some Tartar corpses lying in a mess on the cart on the left.

Li Hu was slightly stunned. In order to ensure that these carts could withstand the impact of cavalry and that the war horses could not jump into the defense circle, he had people fill the two carts that were placed side by side with silt, and filled a carriage outside with spears.

I was only thinking about protecting myself from horses and forgot that people could climb up. But it's not a big problem. The submachine guns, thunder bombs and gunpowder bags should be able to stop most people.

Suddenly, a "wooo" horn sounded in the night ahead.

Li Hu was delighted and said, it’s done.

(End of this chapter)