The night was dark, the temperature was getting lower and lower, and the cold wind blowing from the north was gusting for a while, and many Ming soldiers began to shiver with their arms in their arms.

After all, it's a camping in the wilderness, and you can't light a campfire, for fear of exposing the target. Even dinner was a meal that was frozen and hard to eat. So few people like to fight in winter, because your enemies are not only armed with swords, guns, bows and arrows, but also in harsh weather.

Fortunately, it was early winter, and if it was the middle of winter, the soldiers would not even be able to hold their weapons, let alone fight. I'm afraid I've already frozen to death and suffered a lot of frostbite before the fight started.

Yuan Chonghuan chose to attack the Jiang family army at this time, considering that the Qing army would not come to harass and cause chaos at this time, and he had no worries. Second, he firmly believed that his elite Ming army would surpass an army of horse thieves in terms of discipline and tenacity.

If the severe cold weather is a severe test for the Ming army, then it will be a disaster for the thief army.

Hong Chengchou is the chief general of the first army, wearing a thick cloak, the armor has a cotton lining inside, and there are ear guards made of bear hair outside, and there are two charcoal stoves lit in the big tent, which are as warm as spring, making his delicate skin faintly sweaty.

He sat behind the handsome desk, his sword in front of him, his eyes closed, not knowing whether he was listening to the sound of the cold wind howling outside or contemplating.

Until now, the enemy has not moved, and he has not found any signs of the enemy, which makes him, who has always been calm, a little anxious.

In the past, when facing those cunning rogues, he was always confident, and he could guess their movements with confidence. But this time, in the face of this mysterious and strange opponent, he had no confidence at all.

The uneasiness in his heart grew stronger and stronger as the night deepened, and it made him feel irritated and angry, so that his whole mind was thrown into confusion.

He tried to keep himself calm, to analyze the enemy's possible attack method and time, but he still couldn't erase the uneasy feeling in his heart.

Time passed little by little, and when the time had passed, everything was still calm outside. In addition to the sound of the wind whistling by, there was the sound of patrolling soldiers interrogating each other's passwords and their rustling footsteps.

This calmness made Hong Chengchou even more irritable, and the calmer he was, the more likely it was to contain disaster and danger. Rather than this anxious waiting, he was more willing to put his carriage and horses in a show and fight with the enemy for a while.

More and more, he felt that he had become the prey, and that the enemy had become the hunter who hid in the darkness and waited for the right moment to strike a fatal blow upon himself.

Where the hell are you? When will it appear? He pondered the question.

Human emotions and nerves are like springs, and it is impossible to remain in the same state for a long time. At first, when they heard that the enemy might launch a night attack, the Ming soldiers all tensed their nerves, stared at the dark night with wide eyes, and were ready to meet the enemy who might suddenly come out.

But with the passage of time, the soldiers' vigilance is gradually relaxed, although they still hold spears and broadswords in their hands, but their eyes are no longer vigilant, their expressions are no longer nervous, and the fatigue brought by the day's march is constantly invading their spirits, making the soldiers' eyelids slowly droop and close, and some of them have even begun to snort slightly.

At first, the officers and generals used whips to wake up the sleeping soldiers from time to time, but as time went on, these officers and generals also yawned and were sleepy, so they let it go.

At this moment, more and more people began to think that there would be no enemy to steal the camp in such a cold night, and the deep sleepiness quickly paralyzed the vigilance of the Ming soldiers.

However, the soldiers of the Ming army still did not wait for the order of the main general to rest, so they had to continue to fight with their weapons and heavy sleepiness.

Finally, when it was time to change shifts, the veterans on duty in the first half of the night were replaced by the other half of their comrades who had already slept for a while, and they fell asleep as if they had been amnesty.

These Ming soldiers who changed shifts didn't sleep enough, and they were still sleepy one by one. The initial bit of vigilance slowly faded over time.

For the whole night, not a single enemy appeared. And in the distance, a little light has begun to slowly emerge from behind the mountain.

Hong Chengchou worked all night in the big tent, and he didn't sleep all night, because of excessive anxiety and lack of sleep, both eyes were bloodshot, and his originally handsome face looked a lot haggard.

The commander of the guards walked in from outside and said, "My lord, the day is about to dawn, and it seems that the enemy will not come." You have a sleepless night, so you might as well take a break. ”

Hong Chengchou rubbed his eyes and tried to stand up, but because he didn't move all night, his blood vessels were compressed, and his brain was deprived of oxygen, so that his legs were weak, his eyes were dark, and he almost fell to the ground.

After a while, Hong Chengchou finally relented, waved his hand and said, "Get some water, the official needs to wash." ”

The commander of the pro-soldiers gave him a worried look and went out to fetch water.

After washing his face with cold water, Hong Chengchou felt refreshed and cleared up a lot, and ordered all battalions to start eating breakfast, and began to pull out the camp at three o'clock.

Hong Chengchou's order was a notice to the exhausted Ming soldiers to lift the alarm, and they all sat down on the ground one by one, grumbling and began to nibble on cold and hard dry food for breakfast.

If this is an elite army of a hundred battles, it is impossible to become so lax and tired because of a night of vigilance, but half of Hong Chengchou's 10,000-strong rear army are recruits, and they have only been trained for less than two months.

It may not be accurate to call them recruits, but it should be said that it is more accurate for ordinary people who have received a little basic training.

Many people threw their weapons aside while eating, completely without the slightest vigilance they should have when they were on the battlefield.

After the whole army had finished breakfast, they began to pull out the camp. Tents were put away, and the stakes used to camp were pulled out and loaded onto carts. The deer and horse at the gate of the camp also began to be recycled.

The entire Ming army camp was a busy and chaotic scene, and only 5,000 veterans maintained a certain vigilance under Hong Chengchou's orders, and many of them were still yawning.

At this moment, the sky is in half-light and half-darkness, and the outline of things in the near distance can still be seen, and the things in the distance are still pitch black.

At this time, in the wasteland ten miles away from the Ming army's camp, a huge cavalry group was quietly approaching them. These cavalrymen were all dressed in black and black armor from men to horses, and the faces of the knights on the horses were covered by cold triangular armor, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.

The war horses under the crotch of the cavalry were all with cage mouths, and the four hooves of the horses were wrapped in linen, stepping on the ground lightly and silently, carrying eight thousand black-armored knights like eight thousand ghosts silently approaching the Ming army camp.