: Going north

The bitter north wind blew on the empty grassland, covered with snow, and even the snowflakes that were still falling in the air flew towards him. The heavy snow that had been falling for two days had gradually stopped at this time, but there was still no human figure on this lush grassland, and there was even no trace of an animal. This heavy snow has driven all the animals that may appear back to the nest, and the Mongolian herders nearby have avoided the wind and snow and went to a safer place.

At this moment, a cavalry team of more than a hundred people ran from the south. The sound of horse hooves stepping on the snow quickly broke the originally quiet snow grassland, making the scene of "birds flying across the mountains and extinct in thousands of paths" a little more angry. I saw that the more than a hundred cavalry were almost wearing the standard armor of the troops garrisoned in the Ming Dynasty, but the horses they were under were short and strong Mongolian horses, and the horses they were wearing were also very simple, which was very inconsistent with the weapons they were wearing and holding.

Among these more than a hundred people, the most noticeable one was a strong man like an iron tower. His figure looked very inconsistent with the horse under his crotch, and it seemed that he would crush the horse at any time. What was even more eye-catching was an axe that was about a meter long in his hand. Aside him was a thin young man who was interested in him. He was wearing a leather robe that was not suitable for him. Even so, there was still no blood on his face. The team of more than a hundred people was Tang Feng, and other remaining Ming troops who came out of the Jin army's siege and blockade.

This was the tenth day after they broke out of the ambush of the Jin army. Each of them had more or less wounds on their bodies, except for Tang Feng who was protected by them and Lu An, who was extremely skilled. Although they relied on the rapid offensive of the Tiger Cavalry that day to break through the Jin army, they encountered the siege of the Jin army who came from the north again. Fortunately, their strength was more than 100 people with a small target, and they avoided the other party's large-scale roundup several times, and then they jumped out of the Jin army's encirclement.

However, there were always several Jin troops behind them, and they could not get rid of them no matter what. This is because the Jin army was a soldier who grew up on horseback. They obviously had the advantage in the pursuit. In the previous few days, there had been heavy snow in various parts of Liaodong. Therefore, when more than 100 cavalry passed by, they left obvious traces, which made them even more unable to hide. In the previous five days, they kept fighting with the Jin army. Even if they temporarily got rid of the Jin army, they were soon found by them, and then they fought again. Seeing that the soldiers were exhausted and were about to accept their fate, heavy snow suddenly fell in the sky, which covered their traces, which allowed the more than 100 people to temporarily escape the siege of the Jin army.

In the previous battles, although these cavalry were all good at choosing one in a hundred, they could not defeat several times their enemies, so their casualties were quite serious. Even the Tiger Cavalry, who could be as long as the Jurchen Hai Dongqingyi, died in battle for more than 30 people. Now, except for the seventy members of the Tiger Cavalry, the people who followed Tang Feng were the most ordinary cavalry. Of course, they did not get nothing after several battles, at least they got the most needed supplements for horses and dry food.

When they came out of Ningyuan, they did not bring much dry food, and when they broke through the siege near Jinzhou, they had no edible dry food. Fortunately, they had killed the Jin cavalry along the way, so that they could rob a lot of dried meat and other food, which allowed them to support them until now without falling. At the same time, the war horses they had already been replaced by the Jin people's war horses, that is, the short-legged horses of Mongolian species, which created good conditions for them to continue to move north. You must know that the horse power will eventually end. If they rely solely on the previous horses, they would have been caught by the Jin army a few days ago, but after snatching these horses, they were able to continue moving forward. In this thick snow, short-legged war horses were more suitable than the long-legged war horses used by the Ming army, at least they were faster and safer when running.

Of course, this sudden heavy snow and snow not only helped Tang Feng and others cover up their movements and allowed them to escape the pursuit of the Jin army, but also added some disadvantages to them, that is, they can only identify a general direction now, but cannot judge where they are. However, looking at the surrounding terrain and the dry grass covered by the snow, they should have entered the depths of the grassland and even reached the hinterland of the Mongols. This is also impossible, because they don’t know whether there are Jin cavalry behind them who are still chasing them, and they can only keep coming north against the other’s ideas.

Squinted his eyes and looked at the vast white space in front of him, Tang Feng sighed in his heart. He really didn't expect that he would have such a miserable moment. Everyone could be said to be completely lost. Even if there was no threat from the Jin army behind him, it would not be easy for them to go back to Ningyuan. However, he was a little lucky. Fortunately, he did not stop breathing every day some time ago, which made his body much stronger than before. Otherwise, he might have been extremely moved due to the cold weather and constant running.

Just as Tang Feng was thinking about this, a gurgle suddenly came from behind him, but a cavalry fell off the horse. Everyone stopped the horse, and even a soldier close to him came forward to investigate his situation. He saw that this person had already lost too much blood and could not stand the bad weather. Several people had already died of being injured and could not receive treatment. There was still a hint of sadness in everyone's eyes. During this period of escape, everyone had established a friendship of life and death. Now, seeing a brother falling to the ground and dying, everyone was very sad.

Because they were afraid that others would lose their strength and fall down, Tang Feng ordered everyone to get off the horse and rest, take out the dried meat snatched from the Jin army's corpse and chew it. Everyone chewed the dried meat jerky, grabbed the snow and swallowed it. Everyone had no smile on their faces because they didn't know how long they could last. After eating their own dry food, someone slaughtered the war horse that fell down with the soldiers. They needed more food to support it. Even the horse with deep affection for the cavalry now had to kill it and eat its meat.

"We don't have much food left now. In this case, we have to go deep into the grassland and find some small tribes to get some food to get through it." After taking a deep breath of cold air, Tang Feng said to a soldier from the Tiger Cavalry beside him. Of course, what he said was not to ask people for it, but to rob. Since the Mongols were able to rob the Han people when they were powerful, they can naturally rob their food to make themselves live.

The captain of the Tiger Cavalry named Song Xi nodded and said, "My lord is right. Now, in order to protect himself, we must continue to go north, because only in this way can we completely get rid of the Jiannu who was chasing us. With the food around us now, it is difficult to turn back. Even if there is no encirclement of Jin soldiers on the road, it is impossible. But..." He hesitated and said, "Have you ever thought that the Mongols on this grassland have no place to live, and it is difficult for us to find their gathering place. Along the way, we have never seen traces of Mongols. It seems that this heavy snow has forced them to move to other places."

"Now we don't care about so much. Unless we dare to look back and rob Jiannu, there is only one way to starve to death. Maybe God will favor us and let us find a small tribe before the food is exhausted." Tang Feng said.

All the soldiers agreed with Tang Feng's intention. In order to survive, they had to do everything possible to find the Mongolian tribes that they had moved to, and snatch cattle, sheep, and horses from their hands to make themselves survive. After using the meal, Tang Feng said uneasy again: "I don't know how Zhen Ziming and Wang Kai are doing? I hope that their auspicious people will have their own celestial phenomena and can lead the army back from the encirclement of Jiannu."

"Don't worry, sir, although Jiannu fought fiercely, our Ming soldiers were not so easy to deal with. When we broke out of the siege, we attracted a lot of Jiannu to chase him. Perhaps we could share some obstacles for them." Lu An comforted him. As he spoke, everyone turned over again and continued to head north.

After traveling north for half a day, when it was about to get dark, a tiger cavalry soldier suddenly turned around and ran over and said excitedly: "Sir, I saw a river in front of me. It seems that we are likely to find some small Mongolian tribes in a short time."

When everyone heard this, they were excited. They knew that even the migration of Mongolian herders without a fixed place had certain rules. For example, the residence they chose was mostly along the river, so that the livestock and herders could find the water source. Now that there is a river here, as long as you go upstream or downstream to search, you will have a great opportunity to find the gathering place for the Mongolians.

Tang Feng also had a rare smile on his face and said, "Then let's go up the river as soon as possible. Maybe we can have a good sleep in the yurt tonight!"
Chapter completed!