As night fell, the entire Xuanfu town was shrouded in darkness.

The Jiannu camp was set up in the east of Xuanfu Town. To prevent the Ming army from attacking at night, the Jiannu arranged 3,000 cavalrymen to guard the night and 3,000 men to sleep in armor. Once an emergency occurred, these people would rush out to fight as quickly as possible.

The front of the camp was filled with chevaux de frise, deer horns and various obstacles.

The 3,000 cavalrymen on guard were divided into 15 teams, with 200 men in each team. Led by Niulu Zhangjing (also known as Zuoling, hereinafter referred to as Zuoling), they patrolled back and forth near the camp.

When encountering the enemy, ring the gong to give warning.

It would be extremely difficult to launch a night attack.

As the moon hung high in the sky, the Eight Banners soldiers on guard became more alert.

Tulai and more than a hundred people hid behind a small mound. Except for a few people who were on guard around, the rest were lying on the grass behind the mound, half asleep.

Not long after, Oboi came over on horseback.

He dismounted and sat beside Tulai: "Tulai, let's switch. You guard the first half of the night, and I guard the second half. How do you think?"

(Tulai is Aobai's cousin. Logically, Aobai should call him Zhalheia (cousin in Manchu). In order not to waste words and affect the reading experience, he will be called by his first name from now on.)

Tulai chuckled and said, "Aobai, are you trying to steal the credit? We are all soldiers. If the Ming army came to attack at night, they would definitely come in the second half of the night. We will be safe in the first half of the night!"

Oboi said calmly, "Not necessarily! When Li Zicheng was besieging Beijing, he fell into the trap of the Ming army's night attack. Yan Yingyuan must have learned the essence of it."

"Oh?" Tulai didn't quite understand this and asked hurriedly, "Tell me about it."

Aobai pretended to be an old man and said in a teaching tone: "Li Zicheng was afraid of being attacked by the Ming army at night, so he arranged a large number of soldiers to guard the night."

"I never expected that the Ming army's target was not the main camp, but the soldiers on night watch."

"Moreover, the Ming army invented a large-sized firecracker called a hand grenade, which has considerable lethality. If things go wrong, the Ming army might launch a night attack in the first half of the night!"

Tulai frowned at first, then relaxed his brows: "The Ming army does not have many cavalry in Xuanfu Town, and even if they did, they would not send cavalry to attack at night. Our camp is ten miles away from the city, and there are cavalry patrolling outside all night. If the Ming army dares to come, they will never return!"

"So what you're saying is..."

"No change!" Tulai said firmly.

Aobai looked depressed. Just as he was about to mount his horse, he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves in the distance.

Aobai's expression changed and he looked in the direction where the sound of horse hooves came from.

Tulai's reaction was even greater. He stood up directly, took out his clairvoyance and looked into the distance.

In the moonlight in the distance, I saw two Eight Banners soldiers riding on horses galloping towards me.

Tulai and Aobai looked at each other, then jumped on their horses and rushed forward.

Soon, the two sides met.

The two cavalrymen sat on their horses and clasped their fists and saluted: "Report, the east gate of Xuanfu Town was opened from the inside by the Ming army. There are Ming troops gathering outside the city. Because they are too far away, we can't see them clearly even with a clairvoyance. We can only see the general outline."

"Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"

"No!" The scout said firmly, "The Ming army held torches when they left the city."

"Probe again and report back, be careful of ambushes by the Ming army." Tulai ordered.

“Yeah.”

After the two cavalrymen rode away, Tulai and Aobai looked at each other and began to discuss.

"The Ming army...how dare they? They actually launched a night attack outside the city in such a blatant manner!" Oboi looked incredulous.

Tulai’s head is also full of question marks.

During the three major expeditions of the Wanli Emperor, the Ming army was adept at field battles and also good at attacking and defending cities.

However, by the end of the Wanli reign, the Ming army's advantage in field battles gradually disappeared, especially after the Liaodong Iron Cavalry built by Li Chengliang was destroyed in the Korean battlefield, the Ming army's advantage in field battles disappeared.

The Eight Banners Army took their place and developed their field combat capabilities to a greater extent.

Not only were they good at surprise attacks, raids and night battles, but they were also equipped with firearms with the help of Ming court merchants.

The ability to tackle tough problems has reached its peak!

"Since they dare to send troops out of the city so blatantly, they must have made some preparations. Why don't we quickly inform the two princes and then discuss it? What do you think?" After all, Tu Lai was more experienced and did not dare to make decisions on his own.

Oboi nodded, then left dozens of cavalrymen to meet the scouts and rushed back to the camp with the others.

In the central army tent, Duoduo and Haoge were drinking.

There were more than a dozen scantily clad women singing and dancing in the tent, making it quite lively.

Duoduo, his face flushed, dragged a woman over and was about to take action when he was interrupted by Tulai and Aobai.

"The two princes, Tulai and Aobai are outside the tent asking for an audience."

Duoduo's face was full of anger. He hummed, let the dancer go, and sat up straight.

Hauge was drinking by himself, his face was red and his eyes were a little dull, it was obvious that he had drunk a little too much.

"Your Excellencies, according to scouts, the Ming army is gathering outside the East City Gate. There are both cavalry and infantry, but the number of soldiers is unknown."

Duoduo's first reaction was that he had heard it wrong.

He asked in surprise: "What?"

Tulai repeated it respectfully.

Duoduo sobered up immediately. He was about to order the tent to be opened but then he felt something was wrong.

Before obtaining specific intelligence, the generals' rest cannot be disturbed, otherwise it will affect tomorrow's siege.

"Wait for the news from the scouts!" After sobering up, Duoduo lost interest and drove all the dancers out of the tent.

After waiting for a while, the scout reported: "The Ming army has about 500 cavalry and 1,000 infantry out of the city. After leaving the city, they walked one mile east... and then..."

Looking at the hesitant scout, Duoduo slammed the table and said, "If you have anything to say, hurry up. I am impatient, don't you know?"

The scout swallowed his saliva, glanced at Tulai and Aobai secretly, and said helplessly: "After leaving the city for a mile, they...they returned to the city again."

"What?" Duoduo was so angry that he stood up.

He first looked at the scout angrily, and then set his eyes on Tulai and Aobai.

Considering that the other party was a key figure that Dorgon wanted to win over, Duoduo sat back and said calmly: "It's okay, keep watching the Ming army and don't fall into their trap."

"Everyone, please go back."

Tulai and Aobai bowed and left the tent.

The moment they left the central military tent, their faces instantly turned extremely ugly.

Especially Tulai, whose face turned the color of dead pig skin. "You and I are both veterans who lead troops. As the saying goes, all is fair in war. I didn't expect that you and I would lose face on our first night in Xuanfu Town."

Aobai nodded heavily: "Looking at the Ming court, only the Guanning Army can fight against the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty without losing the upper hand. The Ming army inside the pass is still so weak."

"If there is a next time, there is no need to report it. The two of us brothers will just charge forward and teach the Ming army a lesson!"