In a small town more than 30 miles away, a young officer was walking back and forth, looking a little restless.

This person is Wu Sangui. Although he is just a garrison, as the vanguard general who suppressed the rebellion this time, and the general Zu Kuan is his uncle's family, he is quite free to move.

Three days ago, Zeng Hua was defeated in the attack on Le'an and was captured. Zu Kuan took them from Boxing and launched two strong attacks on Le'an. However, this time Le'an's White Lotus Sect bandits were extremely tenacious and had artillery help. Both of their strong attacks ended in failure.

In desperation, Zu Kuan had to retreat to Boxing and prepare for his troops, while Wu Sangui stayed in Xingguo Town between the two counties, responsible for monitoring the movements of Le'an's White Lotus Sect and at the same time clearing the White Lotus Sect bandits in the wild.

In the past two days, their actions have been very smooth. The White Lotus Sect sent to investigate the situation or other actions have basically been attacked by them. Now no one has come out in Le'an City.

He should have been happy, but today it became a little weird, because the scouts sent out had only returned to the three teams at the specified time, and the rest were gone, which was very abnormal.

He also found the scouts and asked about them. There were indeed some abnormalities. They had heard some sounds of muskets, but the distance was very far. They thought that other scouts attacked with three-eyed guns, so they didn't take it seriously. After all, the White Lotus Sect people met them in the wild and were grandsons.

At this time, a personal soldier came in to report, "General, the second batch of scouts have only returned four teams, and the remaining ten teams have not yet come back!"

"What? It's been half an hour before a team of people came back?"

"General, my subordinates also think this is OK. If it is just some unexpected situations, at most one or two teams of people have not come back. But now there is no news from the eleven teams at once, and it is very likely that they have encountered some major changes!"

"You mean, they are likely to be in danger?"

Wu Sangui has not yet truly grown up and has become the infamous traitor in the future. He is not sure about the current situation.

"General, this is how my subordinates guessed! But the specific situation is still unknown. We can wait a little longer. The third batch of scouts has set off for half an hour. They will report any news!"

"You said, could it be the bandits of the White Lotus Sect who lined up some elite cavalry?"

"Sir, there is no such possibility! Those thieves from the White Lotus Sect, which are just relying on the city walls and cannons, are useful. When we encounter them in the wild, we can only run away. We are not the cowards in the pass. Even if we are ambushed, we will only suffer some small losses at most!"

"I have to do this. If you have any news, come back and report it to me immediately!"

Wu Sangui could only wait helplessly. He was very depressed now. He had a smooth journey and was unstoppable. It was not uncommon to break two or even three cities in a day, but he hit a nail in Le'an and could not get two strong attacks.

I couldn't win two strong attacks, and now such a strange thing happened again. The cavalry of the White Lotus Sect also fought. At best, it was the level of an ordinary Ming army. If it weren't for the ambush of a large group of people, I wouldn't be able to do anything to them at all.

In the past two days, they have killed more than two hundred cavalrymen from the White Lotus Sect, making them afraid to leave the city, which makes him feel better. As a result, eleven scouts teams are missing, making him feel worse again.

He was a proud man, his uncle was the general of Guanning, and his father was the general of Qianshanhaiguan. He had made many military achievements at a young age. He was a little reluctant to fight on the battlefield and kill the enemy to make achievements.

Not long after, a leader ran in panic and reported, "General, we found three horses with blood on them. One of them is my nephew. I'm afraid that my nephew will have an accident!"

“Where did you find it?”

Wu Sangui asked hurriedly.

"General, it is located 12 or 3 miles northeast of this place. These three horses also seem to be frightened!"

"Okay, I understand, you go down first!"

At this time, Wu Sangui could no longer sit still. He knew that if he continued to wait, the scout would probably be wiped out bit by bit.

"Send the order, the entire army is ready to attack, leaving fifty people to defend, and the rest follow me!"

The order was quickly conveyed, and the temporary military camp became busy again. There were still a thousand people in the camp for the time being, all of whom were mobilized.

After half a stick of incense, nearly a thousand cavalrymen broke out from the camp one after another and rushed towards Le'an County.

"General, there were about ten enemy cavalrymen in front of him! The clothes were a little weird, not like those of the White Lotus Sect. The subordinates came back to report!"

After leaving the camp for about ten miles, an officer came back to report. When Wu Sangui saw that the team was in a strict manner.

He couldn't help but say angrily, "What are you doing? There are thirty people under your team, and you can't even deal with more than ten people? Are you still going to let this general destroy the enemy for you personally?"

Yan Shi was also a little ashamed and defended him, "General, my subordinates want to destroy them, but the group of cavalry was very clever. Seeing that we were many, I ran away directly! My subordinates led the people to chase them for two or three miles, but the distance grew bigger and bigger, so my subordinates gave up!"

"What, you group of trash can't even catch up with just a few enemy cavalry now? Did I not give you enough food, or are you all timid and afraid to chase after you?"

Wu Sangui immediately cursed, saying that this guy actually said that they couldn't catch up, which was really ridiculous.

Their Guanning Army was dominant with cavalry. Although they were not as good as the cavalry of the Tartars, no cavalry in the Ming army was stronger than them.

Not only did they have sufficient food and salary, but they also had such high-quality war horses, all of which were traded from Mongolia. They were more powerful than the war horses of the Ming Dynasty and were more suitable for combat.

As a result, he did not catch up with just a dozen thief cavalry. How could Wu Sangui bear this? He had to say it out, but he was the one who lost it.

Yan Shi also fell to his head in shame. It was impossible to say this. He was still puzzled. It was not that he didn't work hard and chased after him so hard, but he couldn't catch up. Who would he ask for to reason with this?

"I don't know why this happens, but they just run faster than us, so I have no choice!"

"I'll deal with you when this matter is over and I'll return to the team first!"

The stern team returned to the large army and continued to set out forward. The scout team around did not stop and kept searching for the enemy's traces.

When there were seven or eight miles away from Le'an County, more than ten cavalry suddenly appeared on the road ahead, one by one, and one by one, blocking the center of the official road, looking around, as if you were here to play, as if you had not seen the thousands of Wu Sangui's cavalry at all.

Just like this, it’s nothing. But the cavalry leader stepped forward a little and shouted at Wu Sangui and the others, "Listen, the people in front, I open this road, and I open this tree. If you want to pass by, leave your money to buy roads! Each person costs ten taels of silver tolls, otherwise you won’t think about going there!"

Seeing that Guan Ningjun was unmoved, he shouted, "Why, you are too poor and don't have that much money? That's fine, I see that you have many people, so I'll give you a 20% discount. Each person is just eight taels of silver, and you can get through it by paying the money!"

Although Wu Sangui was very angry, he still maintained his rationality. He knew that the enemy was deliberately angering him. If the entire army really pushed him, he would probably be the enemy's words.

The enemy had only a dozen people, and a small team of cavalry could deal with them. He ordered, "Shen Shi, go up and destroy them for me. If you don't do it, you won't have to come back!"

"I will receive the order!" Yan Shi replied helplessly.

Yan Shi had no choice but to take on this chore. He knew that this time it was probably the result of not being able to catch up again, so he probably was scolded again, but if he didn't go up now, Wu Sangui would probably chop him alive on the spot.

Wu Sangui also led his army to advance slowly. Now the enemy situation is unclear, so it is not advisable to act rashly, or move forward step by step, so as not to lose energy when encountering situations.

After a while, Yan Shi and his men disappeared from sight. At the same time, the sound of muskets fired in front of him.

As a general of the Guanning Army, Wu Sangui is quite familiar with firearms. The sound is obviously not a three-eyed gun, some of which are like bird guns, but it is more crisp and louder than bird guns, giving people the feeling that it is more powerful, and it is obviously not the ones who fired them.

The sound of the musket was very dense, but after only a while, there was no movement again.

Wu Sangui was also a little confused, but when he saw a soldier riding a horse and running back quickly, he looked anxious and horrified, as if he had encountered something terrifying.

When he arrived in front of Wu Sangui, he immediately dismounted and knelt down and said, "General, it's not good! Team Yan is beaten to death by the enemy!"

Wu Sangui was shocked and asked quickly, "What? He was beaten to death?"

Although he scolded Yan Shi as a waste, the main reason was that he was in a bad mood. In addition, Yan Shi's performance this time was indeed unsatisfactory, and it was not that he was really incompetent.

Wu Sangui is still very familiar with this little officer who is a servant. Yan Shi has always been brave in combat, and is skilled in archery. His archery skills are superb. He has some white-armored soldiers in the Tartars, and they are all shots within thirty feet. At this time, he is actually killed by the enemy. How can he not be surprised?

"Go back to the general, the enemy's cavalry was very strange. They first opened the distance from us, and then stopped to form an array. They attacked us with muskets. We have never seen the muskets before. They could fire without ignition. They shot them around forty feet!

Our team was falling off the horse somehow, and the other two brothers also fell down. After the enemy fired, they didn't bother us at all. They ran away from a distance, so we could only stop! Come back to report this matter!"

After hearing this, Wu Sangui vaguely knew what was going on. These enemies were not from the White Lotus Sect, but were mostly from the Tiance Army.

Before setting off, he heard from his uncle Zu Dashou that the Tiance Army not only had many artillery artillery, but also had an extremely sharp musket, which was more than twice as far as the range of ordinary bird guns, and was extremely accurate, and usually used cavalry to harass him.

Originally, he didn't take it seriously, thinking that these were just the bragging of the troops that had suppressed the rebellion for the first time, and deliberately exaggerated the enemy's strength in order to save himself from his defeat.

It seems that this is true now. The Tiance Army's muskets are indeed sharp. Before they can get involved, three people were lost. It is estimated that the more than 60 scouts who disappeared before were also lost in the hands of the Tiance Army's cavalry.

If he didn't do anything, the cavalry under his command would probably be wiped out by the Tiance Army bit by bit.

Thinking of this, Wu Sangui looked gloomy and said, "Lead ahead!"

Soon the large army arrived at the place where Yan Shi was beaten to death. A few of the remaining twenty cavalrymen under Yan Shi were on guard, while the rest were surrounded by Yan Shi's corpses and whispering. It was not difficult to see their horror.

When he arrived next to the three corpses, Wu Sangui ordered coldly, "Take off their clothes and armor and test them for injuries!"

Soon, the three bodies were stripped clean. After drying the blood on their bodies, they could see that his wound was located at the upper left of his chest, which was a small hole, and the matter was still gushing with blood.

The other two were about the same, one on the head and the other on the abdomen, and the latter should have fallen off his horse and died.

But these three corpses have one characteristic, that is, not only the wounds in front but also behind them. In other words, the projectiles shot by the enemy not only leap thirty or forty feet to hit the three people, but also penetrated their armor and bodies and came out from behind.

It is conceivable how powerful this musket is.

"Tiance Army!"

Wu Sangui whispered.

There is no doubt that this is definitely done by the Tiance Army. Apart from their never heard of others having such sharp muskets, coupled with their weird costumes and powerful cavalry, only the Tiance Army can do this.

As soon as this said, many people exclaimed and then covered their mouths again.

They knew more about the Tiance Army than Wu Sangui, but they also knew that the main thing they were going to deal with this time was the Tiance Army. The White Lotus Sect was just an appetizer. They thought that the Tiance Army was not much better than these White Lotus Sects, but now this view has been dispelled.

They even developed a fear of the Tiance Army. Before they could get up, the enemy could kill them with muskets. How could they fight in the future?

At this time, the just disappeared Tiance cavalry appeared before them again, and more than twenty people came.

"Listen to the poor guy in front, don't think about this path if you don't give it money. You dare to chase me. Now the price has increased, 20 taels per person!"

Hearing this clamor, Wu Sangui was furious and could no longer remain calm. He shouted loudly, "All the army obeys the order, kill one thief, and reward fifty taels of silver! All of them are given to me!"

Immediately, nearly a thousand cavalry pressed over like wolves, and for the sake of money, they wanted to kill these enemy soldiers.

The cavalry of the Tiance Army also turned around and left without any entanglement with them. They fled to the northeast direction. The Guanning Army behind them was also chasing and rushing to the forefront, fearing that they would fall behind others and be taken by others to reward the silver.
Chapter completed!