On the grassland under the sunset, a winding river passes through the green grass, the clear river water reflects the sky with the white clouds of Phnom Penh, with the river flowing quietly, a group of wild horses stand by the river and drink water, the long ponytail gently shakes, slapping the flies on the body, from time to time a few comfortable noses, looks very leisurely.

The tranquil picture in front of you is very common in the grassland, and if you add a few herdsmen returning from grazing, then the whole picture will become more harmonious. But alas, this calm picture was soon broken by the sound of hurried horses' hooves, and the first to reach this river was a group of cavalry in fine leather armor, these cavalry were well-equipped and unified, and at a glance it was clear that it was not the steppe cavalry, but the cavalry of the Ming Dynasty.

When the cavalry reached the river, they immediately patrolled the river for several miles, and as a result, the horses and other animals that were drinking water by the river were frightened and galloped away. After the inspection, the cavalry sent people in the direction they came, and after a short time, they saw a black line appear in the meadows in the south, and then a large army appeared on the meadows.

Zhengde rode on a horse, looking at the mighty army around him, his heart was full of pride, during this time, he personally commanded the army of 70,000 people into the grassland, although he encountered some small groups of Duoyan cavalry on the way, but he just harassed them and ran, he did not dare to face the enemy head-on, and according to the news from the scouts in front, now Duoyanwei has no sign of retreating north, which shows that Huadang may not intend to give up Daning, then it means that the other party is likely to start a big battle with them, This determines the ownership of the land beneath your feet.

Thinking that a big battle was coming, Zhengde couldn't help but feel a burst of excitement, he felt that he was born to be a military general who belonged to the battlefield. In the last big battle with the little Tatar prince, he took a lot of luck, but after that big battle, he has found his own shortcomings, and his mentality has changed a lot. This also made him work hard to learn how to be a general, this march was a practical test for him, and so far, the whole army under his command, no mistakes have occurred, and now Zhengde can proudly declare. He is no longer the emperor who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun, but a barely qualified general.

Just when Zhengde was thinking about his thoughts, suddenly a horse from the front army galloped over, and it was not until Zhengde stopped Ma Yu to report: "General Qiyu, we have already explored the radius of ten miles, and we have not found any enemy situation. In addition, there is a small river a few miles ahead, which can be used as a garrison for the army! ”

"Very good, you guys have worked hard, go down and rest!" Zhengde commanded in a deep voice, and the probe horse hugged his fist at Zhengde on the horse, turned the horse's head and returned to the team, and then Zhengde opened his mouth again and ordered. "Pass the order, the whole army will camp at the river ahead, but here is only three or four days away from Daning, and it can be said that it is close to the core of Duoyanwei, so the whole army is on alert tonight to prevent the enemy from sneaking attack!"

"Yes!" The herald agreed, and immediately conveyed Zhengde's order, and when the army arrived at the river in front, the Ming army immediately began to camp on a high ground about a mile away from the river, according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. The camp of the large army must not be located next to the river, mainly to prevent the enemy from attacking with water. In the same way, the army can't set the camp in a dense forest, otherwise it will be easy for the enemy to set fire to the camp, which Liu Bei committed in the first place. As a result, the company camp was burned by the Wu army for 700 miles, which can be said to be a complete defeat.

The border army is the most elite army of the Ming Dynasty, coupled with the fact that there are sufficient military salaries and weapons and equipment in recent years, as well as the successive replenishment of military cadets, which makes the border army of the Ming Dynasty have unparalleled discipline and consciousness, so when the order to camp in Zhengde is issued, he doesn't have to worry about it at all, all the troops in the army know what they want to do, so after a while, a simple but well-defended camp appeared on the grassland, and there are also special gang leaders who draw water from the river for cooking, After the camp was set up, the smell of food immediately wafted in each camp, and it was estimated that it would not be long before the whole army could start eating.

After watching the camp set up, Zhengde did not return to his tent to rest, but rode a horse to inspect the various camps, which has almost become his habit, on the one hand, he wants to see with his own eyes whether the camp is built strongly, whether the soldiers who defend are dutiful, and whether the weaknesses of the military camp are exposed? On the other hand, when the soldiers saw His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty appear beside them, they would always feel a hundred times more energetic, and their morale would naturally rise.

After Zhengde inspected the entire camp, it was completely dark at this time, but the soldiers in the barracks did not immediately go back to the camp to sleep, but lit a fire in a team, and the generals led their soldiers around the fire or chatted or sang, and even by the light of the fire, the literate commanders begged the literate commanders to help them write letters, which would be sent back to Daming along with the loot they had captured, which was also the only way for the soldiers to contact their families.

Zhengde's favorite is the barracks at this time, whenever he finishes his inspection, Gu Dayong has already asked people to prepare a few clean fat sheep, and then put them on the fire for barbecue, as long as the officers in the barracks are not on duty, they will come to accompany Zhengde to eat meat and chat, and when they rise, they will sing and dance at the same time, and sometimes they will hold wrestling matches, and the warriors who can win can get a sheep's reward, although such a prize is not rich, but it is rewarded by Zhengde himself, so everyone in the barracks is proud of getting the reward of mutton.

Originally, according to the previous marching method, the army was not allowed to have such fun after dinner, and when the hour came, all the soldiers had to enter the tent to rest, and there could not be any noise, the whole barracks was solemn, everyone was immersed in the tension before the war, but it was also in this situation that it was easy to have a camp roar, when everyone was like a beast, frantically slashing everyone around them, this kind of tragedy was not uncommon in the barracks, sometimes even a camp roar, will make the entire army lose two or three percent of its strength, which shows the terrible howling of the battalion.

Zhou Chong from later generations just happened to know the reason for the formation of the camp roar, to put it bluntly, the military law in the barracks was harsh, especially before the war, everyone was worried about the fate of tomorrow, and even could not guarantee whether they could survive tomorrow, so in this extremely tense atmosphere, everyone was on the verge of psychological collapse, plus the night was in the dark, people's hearts were more fragile, as long as one person lost his mind and went crazy, then this hysterical madness would spread throughout the barracks, and those who were not sober would cut it when they saw people, And sober people, in order to protect themselves, some people even take advantage of this to take revenge, so there is a cruel scuffle.

Knowing the reason for the camp roar, then it is much simpler to solve this problem, such as the current Ming army, after the tense march every day, everyone eats around the fire, and then holds some entertainment activities such as singing after eating, plus Zhengde, the emperor of the Ninth Five-Year Emperor, personally patrols the camp, which allows the soldiers to relax their nervous nerves, and naturally the so-called camp roar will not happen again.

However, entertainment is entertainment, Zhengde has not relaxed the vigilance around the barracks, especially now that they are not far from Daning, Huadang's Duoyanwei cavalry has not shown up, so Zhengde estimates that the other party is likely to suddenly appear in the next few days, and the number of Duoyanwei's army is far less than his own army, so if the other party wants to win, he can only use the method of sneak attack.

Tonight, Zhengde's interest was very high, and he reported that the whole battalion would hold a wrestling competition again, as long as it was a wrestling master in the battalion, he could participate, but although Zhengde's army had 70,000 people, only more than 20 people really signed up for the competition, this is not that the soldiers were not active, but after the first few wrestling competitions, the wrestling masters in the entire barracks have been revealed, and most of the remaining people are self-aware, knowing that they are also being thrown by others, so they will not be embarrassed.

These more than 20 people are the top wrestling masters in the army, and they are not much different from each other, but they are affected by the daytime march, some people's physical strength is better, and some people are worse, these not only depend on personal physical fitness, but also depend on luck and troops, such as cavalry and infantry compared to cavalry, cavalry must be able to retain more physical strength, if it is the same cavalry, some cavalry do not have to run too far today, while some scouts have to run back and forth, naturally consume a lot.

It is precisely because of this that it is not only necessary to win the wrestling match depends on the technique and physical fitness, but also depends on one's luck, but it is also the uncertainty of this result that makes the wrestling match more attractive, and there are tens of thousands of people around at once, which is still because some soldiers have to be on duty, and some soldiers have to prepare to prevent others from sneaking attacks, so they can't come to watch, otherwise there will be more people.

In the end, the wrestling match was won by a cavalry soldier from Ningxia, this person is named Qiao Er, although he is not tall, but he is extremely strong, he knows that he is a warrior at a glance, for such a person, Zhengde likes it the most, so he not only personally gave him a roast sheep, but also promoted it to his own personal guard, which is equivalent to a step to the sky, after all, the emperor's own treatment can be several times stronger than that of the border army, and as a result, this Qiao Er happily closed his mouth, and only remembered to give Zhengde a salute and thank you under the reminder of others, Then he held the roast sheep and tore it, and the whole sheep was almost swallowed by him alone, and won the applause of Zhengde again.

However, just when Zhengde was having fun with the army in the barracks, in a mountain depression more than ten miles away from their barracks, there was a Mongolian cavalry quietly waiting for an opportunity.