On March 16, the Son of Heaven in the northern suburbs to pay tribute to heaven and earth, personally led Luo Huai Wang Shi Chongren, Zuo Xiang Kong Province, the military department Shangshu Ding Dawei, the Beijing Sixteen Guards and other civil and military ministers to personally conquer the Northern Desert, the Beijing Prince Shi Chongwei supervised the country, Chu An Wang Shi Chongjie, the right minister Ma Suizhen led the officials Zuo Zheng, accompanied the escort of the Beijing Sixteen Guards and the prince led the government officers and soldiers 60,000, He Xigui got his wish, followed the East Palace Left Guard to lead Xue Minlin to go on the expedition together.

On March 17, the army returned to Zhenbei City, and handed over the resettlement and reward to Miao Tieshan and others, Wang Keming selected some carpenters, masons, lacquer craftsmen and others from the master craftsmen who built the palace, and listed a cross-courtyard on the left side of the marshal's mansion as a forbidden place, and developed a sand table with Jiang Anyi every day. On 20 March, the sand table was initially completed, and Wang Keming asked people to summarize the maps drawn by the reconnaissance cavalry and the Military Intelligence Department, and after repeated scrutiny, it took five days to finally make a sand table map of the northern desert land.

Valleys, ravines, rivers and lakes in full view, Wang Keming looked at the distribution of the Moren tribe, and sighed: "No wonder Emperor Qi Ming sighed, 'The sand table is there, the mountains and rivers are like in the eyes', if Ben Shuai got the sand table earlier, he would not have let more than 20,000 people from the Badai Department escape." Then he said excitedly: "It's not too late to make amends, now the Mobei grassland is in full view, and it is much more convenient to march and set up camp." ”

After seven or eight days of hard work, the sand table map was finally restored, Jiang Anyi looked at the miniature landscape in front of him, and the heroism of pointing out the country welled up in his chest, and said with a smile: "Jiang Mou finally lived up to the trust to build the sand table, and I hope that the handsome can use this sharp weapon to smash the desert royal court and raise the prestige of our country." ”

Wang Keming's eyes fell on the craftsman on the side, and said thoughtfully: "Back then, Emperor Qi Ming put the sand table in the cabinet, which was not enough. However, the sand table diagram is too important to be passed on to the people, especially for the enemy country to obtain, and these craftsmen must deal with it well. ”

Those craftsmen were frightened, and they knelt on the ground one after another, and the master surnamed Hu led by him lamented: "Grandpa Guo, the little ones will never dare to reveal the manufacturing method of the sand table, and they hope that Grandpa Guo will spare his life." ”

Wang Keming smiled: "Where do you want to go?" You have merit in making the sand table, and I will play tomorrow to ask for merit for you, but in order to ensure that the method of making the sand table is not leaked, the court will control you and you will not be able to move around at will. ”

The craftsmen put their minds at ease, and the craftsmen who built the imperial mausoleum in Dazheng also dealt with it in the same way, although it was a hundred times better to lose their freedom than to lose their lives.

On March 27, the royal drive to Linliang Mansion in Leizhou, Deng Haonan led the officials of the government to greet him, and Shi Fangzhen rested in Linliang Mansion for a day, and took the 150,000 recruits trained by the Anbei Protectorate out of Baisheng Pass, officially sounding the horn of the Northern Expedition.

…………

On the first day of the fourth month, the Moren Royal Court.

Flags fluttered, streamers flew, and tents of all sizes were gathered within a radius of two hundred miles, and countless tribes came to gather after receiving a conscription order from the king. The royal city, which had been freely accessible and in and out, became heavily guarded, and the golden wolf riders patrolled the gates of the city in bright armor, allowing only the leaders of the tribe and those with more than a thousand horsemen to enter.

The royal city was swept clean, and a high platform was built in the open space in front of the king's tent, and in the middle of the high platform was placed a large bronze tripod half a zhang high, and the tripod was filled with butter. The Dharma King will worship the heavens here, divinate the good fortune and evil, and pray for the blessings of the soldiers who go to war. The sky gradually darkened, and the empty field around the high platform was already full of people, and the crowd was talking softly, Zheng Jun million

The army is pressing, and life and death are at stake for the desert people, and the expressions on everyone's faces are not easy.

When night fell, the bronze tripod on the high platform lit up with a raging fire, and a group of psychics in colorful costumes and masks danced and beat bells and drums, and surrounded the Dharma King, the Holy Maiden, and the Guru to the high platform, and everyone put their palms together and looked at the group of dancers with awe. The dancers sang and danced around the high platform, the copper bells in their hands emitted a pleasant "bell" sound, and the "dong dong" drums that sounded from time to time echoed in the sky above the royal court, and the chanting sound of chanting seemed to be chanting with inexplicable magic lingering in the hearts of everyone, making people feel ethereal and relaxed.

Accompanied by the Holy Maiden Tizhu and the four lamas, Padorje slowly ascended to the high platform, where Tizhu and the others stepped aside, and His Holiness stood beside him, the flames dancing behind him, reflecting the red robe on his body as if it were glowing.

"Sons of the Immortal Heaven, the gods bless you." Badorje spoke calmly, his voice condensed in the air, ringing clearly in everyone's ears.

The cheers of "Dharma King, Dharma King" continued to sound, and those psychic people became more and more crazy, and the flames in the bronze tripod were torn by the wind. After letting the cheers drift for a while, Badorje raised his hands and pressed down, and immediately fell silent.

Cang Jin's voice sounded again above the altar: "Since ancient times, the grassland has been a place of singing, dancing and grazing given to us by Changshengtian, and the Zheng people are like vicious wolves who come to the grassland to hunt cattle and sheep and invade our homes, let us pray to Changshengtian and ask Changshengtian to give guidance." ”

Ba Dorje turned and knelt down towards the fire ding, Tizhu and the four masters on the platform bowed backwards to him, and the leaders and generals of the tribes below the high platform bowed down one after another, and the psychics around the high platform began to beat in circles, chanting ancient divine words with the voice of the king.

“…… Immortal Heaven guides the warriors to fight in all directions, driving away the rampant evil wolves, and the warriors with scimitars and sharp arrows are blessed by the Immortal Heaven, please Immortal Heaven guide us in the direction of our progress, and ask the God of War to lead us to defeat the jackal ...... of Zheng Guo", the chant heard a warrior leading a deep black and shiny ox, and Guru Leha stood up and took the scimitar handed by the attendant.

The scimitar flashed in the firelight, Leha took a deep breath, the muscles of his upper body rose up, the knife fell like a match, the bull's head fell with the knife, and the blood gushed out, falling on the high platform, in the fire. The voices of the crowd's prayers grew louder and louder, and the dances of the psychics became more and more frenzied, and the strings of bells and drums rang out in unison.

Padorje opened his hands to heaven and prayed aloud: "Eternal life, bless your people, bless the whole steppe bathed in your light." ”

After cutting off the head of the bull, Leha did not put down the knife, but quickly peeled off the cowhide, took out the shoulder blades of the black ox, and scraped the shoulder blades like a fan in the water, revealing the white bones, and Leha came to the king with both hands. Badorje stood up, picked up the shoulder blade of the ox, and the prayer gradually stopped, and everyone turned their eyes to His Holiness, and the time had come for the bones to be auspicious.

Padorje held his shoulder blade in his hand, his face was wide downward, and his mouth was close to the upper end of his bone, and he whispered: "Immortal Heaven, this battle is auspicious or evil, please make it clear to Immortal Heaven." ”

After praying, Padorje put the flat surface of the shoulder blade in a blazing fire, which scorched the bones, and Padorje's right hand was also roasted in the fire, and the fire blackened the shoulder blades, but His Holiness did not

Without any damage.

The shoulder blades of the cow made a "sizzling" sound in the fire, and when he heard the slight cracking sound, Badorje shrank his hand and spat out of his mouth. When the hot bone body met the saliva, it immediately cracked into fine lines, and Ba Dorje skillfully injected true qi into the shoulder blades, controlling the direction of the fine lines cracking.

The bone is to identify the good and bad through the crack of the shoulder blade, the horizontal crack is the evil, the vertical crack is the good luck, and if there is a loophole, it is the big evil. The inaudible sound of explosion sounded densely, and under the manipulation of Ba Duojie, all the longitudinal cracks were complete.

Padorje placed the shoulder blade in his hand in the tray of Guru Benhu, who walked down the platform with the tray in his hand, showing the heralds of immortality to the people of the steppe. The cheers came one after another, and the square in front of the royal court became a sea of joy, and everyone knelt down and stretched out their hands to the sky, and then kissed the earth, thanking the immortal heaven for his blessings.

"The people of the Immortal Heaven, the Immortal Heaven guides the warriors to step on the war horses, pick up the sword and arrow, drive the evil wolf out of the grassland, don't care about the cattle and sheep, the land of the Zheng people has countless treasures, those are the rewards given by the Immortal Heaven, with the blessing of the Immortal Heaven, let the land of the Zheng people become our grassland, and let the glory of the Immortal Heaven shine more widely!"

The cheers gradually turned into a uniform "roar, roar, roar", and the sound was short and powerful, resounding through the sky. 800,000 desert cavalry faced the oppression of Zheng Jun and let out the strongest roar.

…………

The marshal convened the generals above the fourth grade to discuss the matter, but the flag chief Wang Bingyou led everyone to a side courtyard behind the marshal's mansion. Miao Tieshan knew that Wang Yongyou was demoted to the rank of captain of Zhiguo, and joked with a smile: "From ancient times to the present, the flag of the seven products is unique, Brother Wang, I don't know if those sour talents who write books in the future will remember you, and you can be regarded as being able to leave a name in history." Hahaha. ”

Everyone laughed, and Zhu Jinfeng asked, "Brother Wang, why didn't the handsome man ascend to the throne, what are we doing here across the courtyard?" ”

Wang Yongyou is the chief of the flag, Wang Keming's henchman in his heart, he doesn't look at the face of the monk and looks at the face of the Buddha, of course everyone will not treat Wang Yongyou as an ordinary person. This time, Wang Yongyou was blamed for the theft of the token, and the official was demoted to eight levels, but Shen Guogong's trust in him has not changed, and he still makes him the flag captain, and he will naturally find an opportunity to reinstate him in the future.

However, Wang Yongyou was considered to have suffered an unjustified disaster, not to mention that he was beaten forty military sticks, and he was demoted to an official, so he was always uncomfortable in his heart, and said with a straight face and a businesslike appearance: "Generals, if you are too much to blame me for leaking military information, won't my old king be punished with forty military sticks again." ”

Qi Xinwen scolded with a smile: "Lao Wang, isn't it that the marshal beat you with a military stick that day, we didn't intercede, as for putting on this stinky face, you got the crime of killing your head, the marshal beat you forty sticks and didn't know how to favor you, replaced me Lao Qi, I want to blow your head twice in a row." ”

Everyone talked and laughed and came to the side courtyard, and the gate of the side courtyard was heavily guarded, and Zhao Wei personally guarded the door. Everyone's faces tightened, it seems that there is really some great confidential matter, otherwise how could Zhao Wei be allowed to guard the door.

Zhao Wei hugged his fists and said, "Big brother is waiting for the generals inside, please." After everyone entered the house, Zhao Wei guarded outside like a door god, and the two hundred guards stood with a knife at a distance of half a zhang, surrounded the side courtyard, and the secret discussion of the Shuai Mansion began.