Chapter 1261: Seizing the Gate

Without delay, Lan Yu left 500 men to guard the Qianhu Suo to cut off traffic and prevent anyone from passing by and finding the Qianhu Suo empty.

He led a large army, led by Lai Tu, and rushed to Qingzhou overnight in the snow.

With the cooperation of Lai Tu, the army easily took out two outposts along the way and arrived near Qingzhou City at four o'clock the next day.

The wind in this area was indeed much smaller, only the snow fell silently. Under the guidance of the faint lights on the top of the city, nearly 20,000 troops quietly sneaked into an abandoned military camp outside Qingzhou City.

Xu Yelu introduced this place before. This was the garrison of the Wuwei Army that guarded the emperor of the Jin Dynasty. It was abandoned in the Yuan Dynasty, leaving only a piece of ruins, but it was completely fine to hide their tracks.

Lan Yu ordered the army to take a rest in the abandoned military camp, and both people and horses ate some food to recuperate and prepare for the battle after dawn.

He personally led 500 selected soldiers, wearing white cloaks, wearing snow palms made of hardwood frames and raw leather straps, and quietly lurked under the South City Gate two miles away.

When they got closer, they could see that the Qingzhou city wall built during the heyday of the Jin Dynasty was indeed tall. In addition, due to the continuous heavy snow, a thick layer of ice formed on the city wall. It was a pipe dream to climb up with ropes, so they could only honestly carry out the original plan.

Lan Yu and the soldiers quietly dug a snow pit, hid themselves in it, and then covered themselves with white cloaks, so that they could keep out the cold and hide themselves.

During this time, the soldiers patrolling the city went back and forth several times, but did not find any unusual movements under the city. This was normal, because they did not even look outside the city. They were frozen like quails, shrinking their necks, and just wanted to go back to the house to warm themselves by the fire after finishing their work.

Unaware that the Ming army had already ambushed below...

After everything was ready, the five hundred selected soldiers, together with Lan Yu, quietly lay in the snow pit and waited for dawn.

~~

The soldiers didn't know how long they had waited, and they felt that their bodies were about to freeze, and the snow on their cloaks was getting thicker and thicker. Worried that if they moved too much, the snow on the cloaks would collapse and alarm the defenders on the top of the city, they stayed still and gritted their teeth to hold on.

Finally, the city wall in front of them became clearer and clearer, gradually revealing its true appearance... Outside the khaki bricks, there was a thick layer of ice shell. That was the result of snow melting into water on sunny days and water freezing into ice at night, which accumulated over time.

At this time, a burst of dense horse hoof sounds came from behind, and the soldiers resisted the urge to look back. When the dozens of riders arrived in front of the city gate, they saw that the brothers who were responsible for earning the city gate were coming.

They wore leather coats and hats stripped from the Mongols, cotton Mongolian robes, and came to the city with Lai Rabbit.

The defenders on the city finally heard the noise and asked loudly in Mongolian: "What are you doing?"

"Answer in Chinese." Ma Cheng, Lan Yu's adopted son, whispered behind Lai Tu.

"I am Lai Tu!" Lai Tu shouted in Chinese: "Who is on duty?"

The defenders really understood and changed to Chinese: "It's Lao Lai, I'm on duty."

"Aruba, open the city gate quickly." Lai Tu pretended to be anxious and said: "I have something urgent to go into the city."

"What's the matter? Why are you knocking on the door so early?" Aruba asked.

"Our Qianhu ate uncooked meat last night. Not long after, he screamed that his stomach hurt. He rolled on the ground in pain. We had to take him to the city to find a doctor overnight!" Lai Tu pointed to a horse next to him and said: "Help him quickly, he fainted on the way!"

Aruba looked closely and saw that Azhitu had his head drooped and his eyes were closed. He could only ride on the horse with the help of another person behind him.

"Oh, so sick?" Aruba was surprised, "Why does he look like a dead person?"

"So you should open the door quickly!" Lai Tu said loudly, "If you delay any longer, there will be no hope!"

"But..." Aruba said with embarrassment, "The captain said that the king is not here, so we can't open the city gate casually."

"I understand what your captain means," Lai Tu waved his hand and said, "Tell him to help us, and we will give him ten jars of mare's milk wine as a favor from our Chaganmulun captain!"

"Wait a minute." Aruba went down to the top of the city wall, and after a long while, he ran back and said, "Our captain said that we are all family members, so there is no need to drink. But we like your white iron-hoofed horse very much."

"..." Lai Tu's face suddenly sank. On the grassland, a mount is a person's life. Moreover, the hooves of his white iron-hoofed horse are hard and not easy to crack. No matter what road he walks on, he does not need to nail horseshoes. He can walk on the rugged mountain road covered with rocks as if on flat ground. It was the special horse of Genghis Khan's Qiexue Army.

Nowadays, not only the Mongolians have degenerated, but also the Mongolian horses have degenerated. Purebred iron-hoofed horses like his own are already very rare. The other party actually wants his horse to open the door. It's really taking advantage of the fire and bullying too much!

"Promise him." Ma Cheng whispered behind him: "Anyway, it's not really given to him."

"That's right, why didn't I think of it." Lai Tu suddenly realized and whispered to himself: "It's all because there is no iron pot and I can only eat half-cooked meat."

In fact, it's not true. He is suffering from slow brain reaction caused by severe vitamin deficiency, which has little to do with eating half-cooked meat...

Then he said to the city in a bad mood: "Okay, I will give this horse to you, Qianhu, and open the city gate quickly."

"Open the door, open the door." Aruba then gave a loud order.

So, ten Mongolian soldiers worked together to push the horizontal bar on the capstan. With the creaking sound of the capstan turning, the heavy gate began to rise slowly.

It took almost as long as a cup of tea to raise the city gate. Then the soldiers at the city gate put two thick logs into the grooves on both sides of the Qianjin Gate to hold it up to prevent the Qianjin Gate from suddenly falling.

This was almost another cup of tea, and the twenty or so soldiers were as tired as dogs. No wonder the defenders were unwilling to open the city gate. It’s really not easy to drive once.

"Come in quickly." Aruba personally came to the city gate to greet Lai Tu and his party. In fact, he mainly welcomed his white-chased iron-hoofed horse.

Laitu and others gathered around the lifelike rabbit and rode forward. At this time, everyone's hearts were in their throats, fearing that the clues would be seen and all their previous efforts would be wasted.

Fortunately, all of Aruba's attention was focused on the white-chased iron-hoofed horse, whose hooves were small and upright, thick and round, and colored like black jade. The ears are pointed and the neck is curved, the belly is slanted, and the hind legs are extremely long. It is really a good stallion that is only one in a thousand.

Aruba was drooling. When he got closer, he couldn't wait to pull the reins of Lai Tu's horse and said, "Come on, little baby."

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a cold light flashed, and a Mongolian soldier next to Lai Tu actually drew his sword and slashed at him. Aruba's attention was all on the horse, and he was caught off guard and was beheaded!