"Dee-woo! Dee-woo!"
"Stop! All of you, stop!"
The shrill horn call rang out, and the two hundred and forty elite border troops swiftly obeyed the order, drawing in their battle wedge and shifting into a defensive circle. Meanwhile, seven or eight messengers galloped their horses as they waved command flags, shouting in Jurchen with Liaodong accents at the conscripted tribesmen from the various tribes.
"Fools! Close ranks and fall back! No charging!"
The five hundred cavalrymen from the five Jianzhou tribes had all been shouting and clamoring, ready to rush up "Hetu Ala" and plunge into slaughter. But now, after the Ming cavalry scouts scolded them back, each tribe was like a pack of restless hunting dogs on the verge of the chase, only to be barked to a halt by the hunter in command; they could only bare their teeth and retreat unwillingly. As for the two Ming officers who had conscripted these "tribal levies," they had long since had no attention to spare for the "hunting dogs'" reactions. The two men galloped forward together, each bringing a dozen or so armored elite riders with spears, surrounding Ali, the Regional Military Commissioner of the Harman Guard, in the middle.
"You barbarian, you truly are reckless beyond measure! Do you know what kind of grave crime it is, one that implicates your whole clan, to dare impersonate a kinsman of the Liaodong Garrison's defending grand eunuch?!"
Li Wenbin, Assistant Regional Military Commissioner of Tieling Guard, narrowed his eyes like a wolf and stared closely at Ali's expression, opening with a shouted interrogation. But beside him, Wang Dashun, the battalion commander of Fushun Pass, had no such depth of calculation and asked urgently, "Did you truly acknowledge Grand Eunuch Ren as your godfather? What proof do you have?!"
"..."
Facing the