Chapter 1199 The Omnipresent Marshal

Qi Jiguang made a plan, and the troops began to work hard. The soldiers guarding the wall at the pass moved the city defense equipment to the top of the city wall, installed rolling stones and wooden beams, and made preparations for the battle.

The 20,000 soldiers who were sent out to fight, led by Hu Shouren and Qi Jimei, moved westward to Qingshan Pass, 30 miles away, and went out of the pass under the cover of night, lying in ambush along the Dongmengou to Nianziyu area.

By the time everything was ready, the Uriankhai tribe was only thirty miles away.

During this period, Qi Jiguang took off again, and this time he could see clearly without a telescope that the main force of the Mongols was heading towards Dongjiakou. In addition, he sent 2,000 troops to Xifengkou and 2,000 troops to Shijiayu, obviously hoping to make a feint attack so that the Ming troops in these two places would not dare to rashly reinforce Dongjiakou.

Dong Fox was as cunning as his name suggests. Unfortunately, the Ming army had hot air balloons and telescopes, so all his tricks were exposed.

Qi Jiguang did not think that fighting in this way was boring. He was willing to use any means as long as he could kill more enemies and sacrifice fewer soldiers.

"Inform Lao Hu and his men of the situation." After getting off the hot air balloon, Qi Jiguang instructed Feng Ziming, "Then take off every two hours to closely monitor the movements of the Tartars."

"Yes." Feng Ziming responded solemnly. Seeing Qi Jiguang's personal soldiers bringing horses, he hurriedly asked, "General, what about you?"

"Dongjiakou." Qi Jiguang said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid they can't withstand the pressure."

~~

Dong Huli naturally didn't know that his every move had been seen by Qi Jiguang.

After sending out two small troops for a feint attack, he led the large force to slowly approach Dongjiakou at his own pace.

Dong Huli knew that there must be spies from the Ming army spying in secret, but he didn't care. Because he had dealt with the Ming army for many years, he knew that with the conduct of the Ming border troops, if they didn't flee at the sight of the enemy, they would be heroes if they could defend themselves. And support each other? Don't dream.

Therefore, the two small troops he sent were not so much a feint as an excuse to give the Ming army an excuse to watch the enemy die without helping. In this way, they could feel at ease and prove that Dongjiakou had been breached, and later they would have a reason to explain why they did not send reinforcements.

It has been like this for many years, since before he was born, so in Dong Fox's view, this is natural.

"Brother, I heard that the general Qi Jiguang on the other side is very powerful." The speaker was his younger brother Chaktu, who was called "Long Tu" by the Han people. He was a brave and fearless barbarian. "I wonder if I can meet him this time."

"Han people love to brag, and you believe it." Dong Huli sneered and said, "Their so-called famous generals, one by one, boasted to the sky, but what was the result? None of them could fight."

As he said this, he pointed his whip at the long green border wall on the distant mountain ridge and said, "Is Qi Jiguang really as amazing as the legend says? He has been in Jizhou for three years, but he has only been busy repairing the border wall and has never been to a battle? I think it would be better if he changed his name to Qi Wugui!"

"Hahahaha!" The group of Mongols who were following them in front and behind laughed so hard that they fell down on horseback.

Dong Huli said contemptuously, but his eyes were serious. The wall on this side was too solid, and there were also those hollow enemy towers that looked like turtle shells. They had no way to deal with it and could only passively take the beating.

Last year, he, his brother, and his nephew divided their forces into three groups, but they all suffered heavy losses and returned empty-handed...

Thinking of the difficult year in the past, Dong Huli sighed deeply and saw the white steam. It's only August! The weather is getting colder and colder earlier. Is this going to make people live?

"This time, we must win, not lose!" Thinking of this, he suddenly shouted loudly, "I will personally lead the battle. Anyone who dares to retreat will be shot to death with arrows!"

"Oh!" All the leaders shouted loudly, appearing to be full of energy.

In addition to courage and determination, Dong Huli even spent several months preparing simple siege equipment such as ladders, wooden shields, battering rams, etc. They were dragged along by carriages, which was why they were slow.

It was not until dark that Dong Huli's troops arrived outside the Dongjiakou Fortress.

That night, they set up camp outside the fortress and put the cavalry on guard. The Mongolian tribes lived a nomadic life, so they were naturally very skilled in this.

At night, the Mongols lit bonfires, slaughtered cattle and sheep, ate and drank to their heart's content, and were so excited that they sang and danced, shouting and yelling.

In addition to boosting morale and giving his men enough strength to attack the city tomorrow, Dong Huli also did this deliberately for the Ming army in the fortress to see.

If the Ming army was timid, the ghosts howling and howling would scare them all night long, and they would not have the strength to hold their weapons the next day. If the Ming army was bold, they would be lured out to sneak into the camp. Chang Tu led 5,000 soldiers and horses and ambushed in the dark, waiting for the Ming army to arrive...

Unfortunately, the Ming army was as cowardly as ever, causing Chang Tu and his men to wait for a whole night in vain. However, attacking the city would not require so many people, so they could sleep during the day.

~~

At dawn, the fog dissipated and the sun slowly rose. The golden light shone between the bleak and desolate grassland and the mountains stretching for hundreds of miles, bringing a touch of warmth to the chilly northern morning.

With the desolate sound of trumpets, the Mongols, who had eaten and rested for a night, carried ladders, huge shields, and battering rams, and marched out of the camp in a mighty force, heading towards the Dongjiakou Fortress, which was more than two meters high and lay across the mountain pass in front of them.

Dong Huli erected a large flag on a hillside a mile away and sat under the flag, gazing at the Dongjiakou Fortress.

There were hundreds of small passes like this on the Jizhen defense line. Before he made a decision, the Ming army had no idea where they would attack, so it was impossible to deploy heavy troops one by one. It was also impossible to build strong cities and thick walls like Xifengkou, so Dong Huli was still confident that he could break the city within two or three days.

The Ming army on the fortress looked nervously at the approaching Mongols. Everyone could see that the enemy was risking their lives this time. Most of them had never participated in a real war, and they were so nervous that their mouths were dry and they felt like their hearts were about to jump out.

At this moment, the sound of rumbling war drums suddenly sounded behind them.

Amid the sound of drums, a large royal blue flag with the words "Relative of the General of Jizhen" slowly rose up, and their general, Qi Jiguang, appeared majestically on the top of the city wall.

Seeing the invincible general in person, the soldiers' morale was immediately boosted, and they shouted in unison: "Defeat the enemy! Defeat the enemy! Defeat the enemy!"

Cowardice disappeared in the shouting, and was replaced by unprecedented courage!

Qi Jiguang has never lost a battle until now. His appearance here itself represents victory!

On the hillside outside the Great Wall, Dong Huli finally saw the words on the flag clearly. He couldn't help but feel his heart suddenly shrink and cursed his bad luck... How could he be so unlucky to run into Qi Jiguang?

This will greatly increase the difficulty of attacking the city...

He said he was not afraid of Qi Jiguang, but he was actually very scared. This had nothing to do with bravery, but because his purpose was very clear, he came to rob. Of course he wanted to pick on the weak.

But once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back, so we have no choice but to go ahead with it today.

~~

The result was not surprising. After a day of attack, the Tatars failed to reach the top of the city wall even once, and could not break down the side wall with a battering ram. Instead, they were shot in the head with bows and arrows, muskets, rolling stones and logs from the city walls.

Dong Huli finally waited until the sun was setting and called back his troops early. The Tartars left behind hundreds of corpses and returned empty-handed.

"Brother, why did you call back your troops so early?" The tu who was leading the front came back to him with an unwilling look on his face and asked bluntly, "Why don't our troops go out to fight? What's the point of relying on the useless people of the Wuqiye tribe?!"

"Quiet down..." Dong Huli looked helplessly at this stupid guy. Couldn't he see that something was wrong? So he told Chang Tu that Qi Jiguang was in Dongjiakou.

He thought about it for a long time and finally concluded that he was just unlucky and happened to meet Qi Jiguang.

"Ah, that's great! I've long wanted to compete with the Ming Dynasty's number one general!" Chang Tu was overjoyed.

"Bullshit!" Dong Huli spat in frustration. "We are here to rob, not to bite the bullet! Isn't it easy to meet Qi Jiguang? Tomorrow you can go to the city alone to challenge him!"

"That's a solution..." The bald man was actually tempted.

Dong Huli almost fainted. He thought, we were born from the same mother, how come there is such a big difference between him and her?

"Shut up!" His face darkened. He didn't want to argue with the idiot. He ordered the leaders in a deep voice, "There's no need for us to fight head-on here. I've decided to leave some troops here to make a feint attack. The rest of you will move with me overnight and attack Shijiayu instead!"

As he said this, he couldn't help but smile smugly and said, "No matter how smart Qi Jiguang is, he would never have thought that our attack on Dongjiakou was just a feint, and our real target is actually Shijiayu!"

"Taiji is really great!" The leaders praised him. But they couldn't help cursing in their hearts, saying he was so shameless...

So Dong Huli only left 4,000 soldiers under his command to make a feint attack. He led the main force to move overnight. After a day of forced march, they appeared in Shijiayu that night.

More than 30,000 Tartar soldiers were exhausted and had no time to set up camp or light a fire. They quickly ate their dry food and fell asleep beside their horses...

At dawn the next day, the desolate horn sounded again. The Tatar soldiers, who had never rested, were driven by their leader to get up, carrying ladders and holding large shields, and attacked the top of Shijiayu City.

Dong Huli stood on the hillside with all his might, looking at the Shijiayu Fortress which was less than two meters high, and he was in a good mood.

"What a bullshit Qi Jiguang, a famous general. But he was fooled by me, Dong the fox!" He couldn't help but smile proudly to his left and right: "If he can still appear in Shijiayu, I will consider him capable!"

Before he finished speaking, the familiar sound of war drums was heard from the top of the city wall, and then a large blue flag with a banner was slowly raised, with six big characters "Relative of the General of Jizhen" inscribed on it.

The majestic Marshal Qi appeared again.

At the Shijiayu Fortress, thunderous cheers broke out again. The defending soldiers were also given courage...

"What the hell is this?!" Dong Huli's eyes almost popped out. "Could it be that Qi Jiguang can clone himself?!"

ps. I’m done for tonight, see you tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)