"Quick, go and inform the Northern Advance Corps that the Turgish army has come towards our army's camp." The scouts under De Ying were originally just routinely moving more than a hundred miles northwest of the south bank of the Atami Sea, but they heard a knight dressed in the national costume of the Northwest galloping towards this side from a distance, and they seemed to recognize their desperate roar from a distance, and the sound was blown intermittently in the cold wind.

Three of the scouts immediately dispersed their guard after several glances at each other, and the other two scouts stepped forward to pick up the unknown individual.

"I'm the Shadow Guard, and this is the token." The unknown man galloped in front of the two of them, grabbed the reins and stopped, regardless of his breathlessness, he reached out and threw a token on his body to one of the scouts, and said: "You go quickly and inform the Northern Advance Corps to get ready, the Turks have set off towards the south bank of the Atami Sea, there are about 100,000 people, all of them are cavalry. ”

"Wait, how do you know we're soldiers?" The scout who took the token was a Uighur, and he couldn't read the vague seal characters on the token of the secret guard, so his vigilance was not dispelled, and he asked with a stiff Tang Yan with the musket in his hand.

"Nonsense, the official rifle in your hand is used by someone other than my Tiance Army? Forget it, if you don't understand, take me to the army camp quickly, and there will naturally be someone there who can distinguish my identity. The dark guard didn't expect to run into a stunned person, so he couldn't help but say angrily: "I finally caught the token and came out, and I met an illiterate person, it's really unlucky." ”

"That's fine, Lao Hu, the three of you will return to the barracks immediately with him, and the others will come forward with me." The Uighur scout was a little embarrassed to be said, and after thinking about it, he seemed to feel that the other party was reasonable, and the musket in his hand had not had time to be replaced in a hurry, but he did not expect to be recognized by the other party at a glance, and the scout really failed to get home. So he ordered three of them to start heading towards the rear with the guards and the tokens in their hands, while he himself continued to inquire with the rest of the men. Although he didn't know whether the news from the dark guard was true or not, as a scout to reconnoiter the military situation, he had to see it to be believed, so he didn't hesitate to go into the distance. The Dark Guard was taken back to the barracks with the remaining two.

This dark guard was naturally real, and the contact information with the Xuanying Guard's entourage was suddenly clear. He was a secret guard mixed in with the Turgish army, and when he saw the Turgish army coming towards the south bank of the Atami Sea, he vaguely guessed the inside story, and hurriedly escaped from the barracks before the situation was urgent and did not notify the higher authorities on the side of Shattered Leaf City. I have to say that the news of the secret guard was about two days earlier than Hammud's scout reconnaissance, which is equivalent to giving Hammud enough time to react. So Hammoud immediately informed Us'er after confirming the identity of the Dark Guard. Knowing the whereabouts of the Turgish in advance was very important for the great army to fight.

"General Ha, isn't it so that the Tuqi Shi people and us want to go together? Oh my God, if it weren't for the secret guards desperately sending the information over, we would still be calculated by these barbarians. Wu Si'er exclaimed with palpitations: "But General Ha, now that we know the whereabouts of the place, can we take advantage of the situation to sneak attack?" Can't you waste the message sent by the Secret Guard? ”

"Sneak attack?" Hammoud shook his head and said with a wry smile: "General Wu, look at the position of us and the other party, this generation is basically a grassland, otherwise it is a desert, as far as the eye can see, there is no way to hide people." Besides, both sides of the enemy and us are formed cavalry, and the army is sneak attacking? How to sneak attack? Is it difficult to give up the war horse and move forward on foot? If you are entangled by the other party, won't you let the sneak attack troops fall into it? Hammoud shook his head and objected to Us'er's proposal: "Our current tactics have been arranged very tightly, and this place is the main route for the Turgish people to go south, he can't go around it, the east is Atami, and the right is a desert steppe, and this desert is bigger and bigger the further west it goes, according to the map, I am afraid that it is only the size of thousands of miles, and it is useless for them to go around." And now that I know their whereabouts, I will definitely send a large number of spies to reconnoitre, so that they can only rush into our positions and ensure that they will be hit on the head and bleed. ”

"Okay, forget it, it's cheap, it's a pity that the intelligence sent by the Dark Guard brother." Us'er didn't have any opinion on Hammad's analysis, but the regretful look on the latter's face couldn't hide Hammoud's eyes, so he smiled: "But you don't have to regret it, it's still good to know two days earlier." We can count them. ”

"So you have an idea?" Us'er was pleasantly surprised, hugged Hammoud's shoulders and smiled.

Hamudra walked out of the tent and looked at the wind and snow that had stopped, and said with a smile: "I think the wind and snow here should not fall again in the past two days, how about we organize a group of soldiers to play a bonfire contest or something to improve morale?" I've heard that you Shatuo people have done a good job of roasting whole sheep, and you're almost catching up with our Uighurs. ”

"What the hell are you trying to do? Bonfire contest? Still doing it during the day? Are you going to prepare for war? Us'er didn't react a little, but after muttering a sentence just now, he suddenly reacted, pointed at Hammoud, and said intermittently: "How did I find out that you are so treacherous?" Where did you come up with so many ghost ideas from a prairie person? No, next time I have to be careful if I can't be sold by you? Halfway through his words, he also smiled: "Haha, I feel that this time the Tuqi Shi people will not be worth your hard work if they are not all cheated by you." ”

"Forget it, you immediately mobilize two battalions of troops and let them follow Deying to quickly cover the trenches and the preset positions ahead, let's prepare for this bonfire competition. I'm going to send someone to take a look around, to see if a few of the surrounding tribes can sell us hundreds or thousands of sheep or something, and prepare more condiments, and I'll put the venue in front of me. Hammoud pointed to the front and deliberately reserved his position and smiled: "When the smell of meat wafts all over the four fields, I think I can't help but drool in this winter." ”

"Leave this matter to me, naturally you have to buy more sheep, and you will have to go far away to get enough sheep by going to a few more tribes, if you can buy some beef." Wu Si'er laughed, took over the errand with a big bag and said with a smile: "You were originally the commander of the Northern Advance Corps, and the whole army naturally obeys your orders, you can directly let Deying transfer the troops." ”

Immediately after Us'er set out with his own personal guards, Hammoud asked Deying to enter the trenches and positions with two battalions and camouflage them according to his orders, and the originally wide trenches were now covered with turf and gray curtains with the help of the logistics team, and they were sprinkled with snow, and nothing could be found from a distance. As for the preset position, because it was originally a battlefield, Deying didn't do anything, but began to set up countless barbecue stalls with great fanfare, and moved out the honeycomb coal carried by the army, and ordered the soldiers to start cutting down the trees and jungles by the lake nearby, and seriously began to prepare for the bonfire meeting.

However, the German and British sides were arranging a bonfire meeting, but Hammud's side summoned Ogyan and the remaining two generals of the Seventh Corps to start arranging nervously, and Hammoud directly commanded: "At present, our army has three relatively independent positions, of which the left front is the western position, which is prominent, far away from our main camp, if the Turgish find out that we are holding a bonfire meeting, then their attention will definitely not notice there, so I plan to let the two battalions of the Seventh Corps lurk there, Wait for the Turgish to attack the site of our assembly as soon as you attack the other side, buy time for the main force of our army to withdraw to the main position, and by the way disperse their offensive momentum. Hammoud pointed to the topographical map he had just drawn and said: "Because the artillery position is located inside the camp, as soon as your guns are fired, the artillery side will open fire with all their strength to attack the area from your front to the west of our preset position, on the one hand, to delay the advance of the Turks, and on the other hand, to provide you with artillery cover." ”

"And what about the main front? Deying is responsible for presiding over the bonfire meeting, which means that there are as many people as there are people in the main position who will participate in the bonfire meeting, right? Ogyan was a little worried: "How many people will be able to participate in the bonfire by then?" 30,000 people in the sky is terrible, why do they still need to withdraw from the preset position in front of them and return to the trenches, this time back and forth the scale of 30,000 people, I am afraid that once there is a mistake, we will be broken through by the other party to a center. ”

"Don't worry, the right flank position will also be arranged with 20,000 people at that time, and General Wu and I will control a battalion of reserves, and we can be put into the battlefield at any time to reinforce you." Hammoud answered Ogyan's question very clearly, so he said solemnly: "The premise of whether the frontal position can be stabilized is whether your two wings can defeat the first wave of attacks by the Turgish. Ogyan, you will be in charge of the right flank position at that time, Changhong, you will take the two battalions of the Seventh Corps headquarters to be in charge of the left flank, remember to cooperate well and restrain the soldiers. Don't be tempted by the fact that the Tuqi Shi people are not attracted by the roasted whole sheep, our own brothers can't help it first. Tell them that if they win the war, I will invite the whole army to eat roasted whole sheep and eat as much as they want. ”

Hamoud's words made everyone laugh, but they all nodded. It would have been nice to have a bonfire on this long journey, but it was clearly a trick to lure the enemy, so everyone understood what Hamoud's reminder meant.

After Hamoud sent a few people away, he immediately asked the people of the Xuanying Guard to find a way to inform the guard battalion, informing them that the Turgish had gone south with their entire army, and asking them to set off at full speed to rush to Broken Leaf City and destroy the old nest of the Turgish people in Broken Leaf City.

The news sent by the dark guard of Xuanyingwei in advance made Hammoud decisively change the deployment, this bonfire meeting ordinary soldiers, that is, the 30,000 horses led by Deying, did not know the specific situation, so they were all excited to rush back to the front, a large number of cattle and sheep bought back by Us'er were slaughtered by the shore of Lake Atami, and the frozen lake was also violently smashed open by the soldiers, and the lake water began to clean the beef and mutton and then began to make a fire and start a barbecue, countless fires began to be ignited, and the previously cut trees and honeycomb coal were piled together and ignited, Under the blazing fire, the whole sheep and the whole cow were set up, and the aroma of the meat began to gradually emanate. Many Uighur soldiers found all sorts of strange condiments out of nowhere, and the aroma grew stronger, and quickly drifted into the distance with the wind blowing from the lake. This is a pain for the warriors lurking on both flanks. In particular, the two battalions of the Seventh Corps in the left flank position kept having soldiers swallowing saliva while asking about the fragrance, but because of the previous instructions and orders of the previous superiors, they held the guns in their hands and hid in the trenches regardless of the frozen and stiff bodies, and only a few observation posts poked their heads out of the camouflage and began to observe whether there was movement in the distance from time to time.

At this time, Hammoud and Us'er were waiting in the camp, and from time to time Us'er also checked the pocket watches he had distributed, which made Hammoud a little envious, such a small thing could accurately calculate time. However, because the annual output of pocket watches is limited, there are too many things that need to be transported on the side of the Western Expeditionary Army, so far, only a few senior generals of the corps who have been directly transferred from the Central Plains have been distributed, and none of the other troops have been allocated.

However, because he wanted to confuse his opponent, Deying even sent someone to directly transfer back the scouts who had set out to reconnoiter on their own, so at this time, Hammud was basically guessing the whereabouts of the Turgish. However, Hammud firmly believes that the Turgish people will not let go of such an opportunity, because the whereabouts of his side have almost intentionally relaxed the restrictions, and the traces of the army must be clear to the other party along the way from Andijan to this more than a thousand miles. Moreover, coupled with the fact that Us'er had bought cattle and sheep from the surrounding tribes with great fanfare before, the Tiance army held a bonfire meeting again, and even the people from the surrounding tribes knew that according to this point in time, the Turgish people should have received the news, and their marching speed has also reached the vicinity.

"Get the artillery units ready, it's noon, and if the Turgish don't come again, they won't have time to attack today." There is a lot of daylight time in the northwest in winter, and even if the terrain is generally higher than in the east, there is not much time to fight when the night time is delayed. The battle of nearly 200,000 troops on both sides does not have enough time, but I am afraid that it will be a tiger and a snake, and neither side will be satisfied with this outcome. That's why Hammoud prepared the artillery units and waited for the Turgish to appear.

However, at this time, Deying in front of him seemed to be in a hurry, more than 30,000 of them, but even their weapons were placed in the trenches, and they were the ones who were unarmed. And after countless cattle and sheep were roasted, the smell of meat felt at close range almost made him unable to hold back. The army basically eats canned food or prepared dry food for long marches, so how can you enjoy this delicious roasted whole sheep?

"No, what's going on?" Hammud and Us'er, who were far away in the camp, suddenly squatted down at the same time, put their ears on the ground, and their faces were overjoyed at the same moment. The familiar vibration made the two people who were familiar with the grassland look at each other, and then they couldn't wait to stand up and look into the distance.