Chapter 102 The moon is dark and the wind is high
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. The setting sun was as red as blood, struggling to stay set on the distant hills.

Looking down from a high place, the Mongols were pouring towards Yulin City like a tide. On the city wall, the Yulin defenders used muskets, bows and arrows, and rolling logs and thunder stones to kill and injure the Mongols.

Seeing the Mongolian herdsmen falling one after another, the princes of the Ikh Ju League were so anxious that their eyes turned red, but they did not dare to say anything. They could only look at the commander of the Plain White Banner in front of them.

The lieutenant commander of the Plain White Banner did not look at the battlefield, but stared into the distance in a daze. The sound of cannons and roars of killing seemed to be very far away from him.

The princes looked at each other. The Han people wanted their land, and the Jurchens wanted their lives. They were birds of a feather.

The artillery fire on the walls of Yulin gradually died down.

The artillery fire from the Jurchens on Yulin City gradually became less frequent.

Countless Mongols under the city wall swarmed towards the wall like ants, and countless muskets and feather arrows were shot towards the city!
Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the whole city of Yulin was shaken. The earth was shaking, and rocks and dust were flying.

The lieutenant commander of the Plain White Banner raised the telescope, the smoke and dust dispersed, a hole was blown open in the solid city wall, and the Plain White Banner soldiers who had been prepared swarmed in.

At this moment, countless thunder bombs with burning fuses fell from the sky and smashed into the densely packed group of Zhengbai Banner soldiers. These black balls rolled into the crowd, causing a loud bang, which caused the blood and flesh of the Zhengbai Banner soldiers to fly everywhere. Screams and wails resounded over the battlefield.

A Mongolian prince exclaimed: “Thunderbolt, it’s thunderbolt.”

Every loud bang caused a rain of blood among the crowd, and one loud bang after another caused huge losses to the armored soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner.

Soon after, a large number of young and strong men rushed to the broken part of the city wall, and rolling logs and thunder stones fell on the armored soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner like raindrops, and they were knocked to the ground one by one.

“Look!” Gushan Ezhen’s voice trembled.

Following Gushan Ezhen’s gaze, everyone looked at the gap through the telescope and their bodies were immediately shocked. Countless people rushed to the gap from the city, each carrying a bag of earth on their shoulders or backs, and quickly repaired the gap.

Some civilians were shot by the Jurchens’ bows and spears and rolled down the ruins.

More and more people rushed up, including many children, and the earth mounds quickly formed a wall on the ruins at the gap.

The people behind the wall began to throw stones at the soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner who were climbing up. From time to time, someone was hit and fell down, and screams were heard everywhere.

With a “humph”, the commander of the White Banner said: “Break the city!”

“Woo~~”

The low-pitched sound of ox horns spread throughout the battlefield, and roars of killing immediately rang out on the battlefield. Countless Jurchens and Mongols rushed towards the gap!
After all, that wall was not a real city wall, and it was soon breached by the Jurchens and Mongols. Some soldiers rushed up and fought with them, but soon fell down. Another group of soldiers rushed up and soon fell down as well.

“Rush in!” Gushan Ezhen shouted loudly.

A Mongolian was the first to rush into Yulin City, followed by more Jurchens and Mongolians. Shouts and sounds of fighting were heard behind the ruins, shaking the earth and sky!

The commander of the Zhengbai Banner put down the telescope and nodded with satisfaction.

Just then, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came over, and everyone looked over.

A Niulu Ezhen came over here with his horse whipped madly. He ran to the front of the commander of the Plain White Banner, pulled the reins, jumped off the horse, and knelt down in front of the commander of the Plain White Banner: “Report! We found traces of Han people near Yuxi, and they had a fierce battle with their scouts. The enemy has a large number of people. I suspect that there is a main force of Han troops behind the scouts!”

The main army of the Han people?
The leader of the White Banner raised his eyebrows. Did the second Han prince regret it? Or did he want to take advantage of the situation and launch a surprise attack?
Gushan Ezhen, who was standing nearby, said, “The sun has set. It will be difficult to capture Yulin in a short time.”

The commander of the White Banner understood what he meant, but he was unwilling to give up. He had finally managed to break into the city again, but he just gave up like that?!

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, shaking the earth, and thick smoke billowed in Yulin City, covering the sky and the sun. The White Banner Lieutenant’s heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling. He raised his clairvoyance and looked at the gap in the city wall. Soon, he saw a group of bloody-faced, dishevelled, and ragged White Banner soldiers running out of the gap!
He immediately said to the two Bayalas beside him: “Go and see what happened!”

“Hoo!” The two Bayalas jumped on their horses and galloped towards the fleeing soldiers.

At this time, a Jiala Ezhen came riding in front of the commander of the Zhengbai Banner, dismounted, and knelt before him: “Report! We have spotted the Han army, with a large force, probably 30,000 to 40,000 men, less than 40 miles away from here!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a Bayala came running back and reported loudly: “The Han people buried gunpowder in the houses on both sides of the street. Most of the people who rushed in escaped. It is estimated that the loss is over a thousand people.”

With a “bang”, the commander of the Zhengbai Banner threw the telescope to the ground.

The eyes of several Mongolian princes turned red again, as almost all the casualties were their people.

Gushan Ezhen hesitated for a moment and advised: “Let’s withdraw our troops and return to the camp to rest for the time being.”

The commander of the White Banner closed his eyes, swallowed the breath with saliva, and said (in Manchu): “Retreat!”

“Dang! Dang! Dang!”

As the gongs and drums signaling the withdrawal sounded, the Jurchens and Mongols retreated like a tide, leaving behind a trail of corpses.

“The Tartars have retreated.”

Deputy General Yulin looked at the slowly retreating crowd and roared loudly.

The surviving defenders on the city wall cheered loudly, celebrating the retreat of the Tatars and the defense of their homes, and also celebrating their own survival.

The lieutenant commander of the Plain White Banner clenched his fingers and said to Gushan Ezhen (in Manchu): “Investigate the movements of the Han army and capture the second Han prince alive tonight.” After that, he squeezed his legs together and rode his horse towards the camp.

It was getting dark, and torches were lit up on the winding city walls. The general of Yulin put down his telescope, and a wave of excitement surged on his face. The Tartars would not retreat because of this loss. The only possibility was that the imperial court’s reinforcements had arrived! Yulin was saved!!!

At the same time, worry arose in his heart. The fact that the Tartars were forced to retreat at this time meant that the reinforcements would be no more than sixty miles away from here. It was getting dark now, and the army would definitely camp near the Wuding River or the Yuxi River. That open river was a famous ancient battlefield. The saying “The bones beside the Wuding River are pitiful, they are still the man in the spring girl’s dream” referred to that place.

Thinking of this, the general of Yulin sighed. The Yulin Guards suffered heavy losses in this battle and were no longer able to send a detachment out of the city to fight. He could only hope that the imperial court’s reinforcements would be more cautious.

The general of Yulin guessed correctly, the army camped in the lower reaches of the Yuxi River.

There was no other way. The road was difficult to travel on, and with a group of young and strong men and many large vehicles, it was a miracle that we could arrive before dark.

Accompanied by a group of generals, Li Hu looked around and directed the soldiers to set up the camp.

Today, Li Hu can be considered to have a strong army, with more than 40,000 men under his command, but only a small half of them are yamen runners and young and strong men. The ones who can really fight are the soldiers in the patrol camp, and the strongest ones are the soldiers from Guanzhong.

Li Hu was also forced into a helpless situation. Given Yulin’s geographical location, he did not have elite troops like the Yulin Guards under his command. He could only rely on numbers of people. If people were numbered, even if they had no combat power, they could still scare the enemy.

The art of war says “put yourself in a desperate situation and then you will survive.” The patrol battalion in northern Shaanxi had only fought against disaster victims, and those yamen runners and young and strong men had not received any training. Li Hu could only camp with his back to the river. If the Tartars attacked at night, there would be no way to retreat. Those who had not been baptized by real war would fight to the death for their lives.

After walking around the camp, Li Hu nodded with satisfaction. He had put a lot of effort into this camp. He built three layers of deep defense with the central army camp as the center, namely the front position, the main position, and the core position. Among them, hundreds of carts were deployed by Li Hu in the main position, forming a circular position to block the cavalry’s charge and maneuver and protect the musketeers.

He also set up many traps on the front line. As long as the Tatar cavalry dared to launch a night attack, they would at least break a few of his teeth.

A gust of wind blew, and Li Hu looked up at the sky. The moon was covered by clouds, with only some twinkling stars. He shook his head and said, “It’s really a dark and windy night for murder!” He turned and walked towards the central military tent.

(End of this chapter)