Morning exercises, mounted archery, horseback charges, monotonous repetition of the training content, every day for three months, and similar for four years. Stick to the boredom and depression, stick to the desire for exquisite riding skills and advanced martial arts in the bottom of your heart, don't let the loyalty to the empire and the glory of the samurai pass with time, the standard camp is a soldier, the rigorous training has achieved the killing skills, and the long-term perseverance has tempered the tenacious will to fight.

The coach said that it was to test the results of the training in actual combat, but the trainees thought that it was the harvest season, and they had worked hard with sweat for many years, and the battle was to get the due reward. There was no tension in the camp before the battle, the atmosphere was more relaxed than before, the students sorted out the bedding and military bags, and gradually gathered in groups of three or five, and the graceful posture of the girls was embellished, waiting for the assembly in the laughter, just like the hunting in the autumn as simple and casual.

"Sentry Chief, who are we waiting for?" Mei Ying stood out in the crowd like a flock, accompanied by a maroon horse, combing the horse's mane, while talking and laughing with several sentry commanders around her, her eyes peeked out of the camp from time to time, but a naughty female soldier suddenly smiled and whispered. "Takagaki. Mei Ying replied subconsciously, and someone whistled in the laughter, everyone had already seen that she belonged to Gao Yuan, and some people even looked at several whistle chiefs with playful eyes.

By the river, Gao Yuan had a sad face, the black horse swaggered his head and hooves, and another round of negotiations broke down. He begged for herbal juice from Mei Ying, and wanted to dye the white fur on the hooves of the dark cloud snow horse, but the black horse raised his hooves and kicked them, and it was useless to let him seduce and reason.

"Dark clouds and snow, your horse's hooves are too conspicuous, easy to attract the attention of archers, and then we will both become arrow targets, good looks are good, then you have to have a life to appreciate. Takagaki repeatedly persuaded him, but the dark horse dismissed it. "Okay, good, I'll be honest, the enemy doesn't matter, but we can't be too showy in the cavalry, she has made me almost a public enemy, this has to add you, how will I mix in the future." Seeing that the black horse was still unmoved, Gao Yuan threatened: "You said that you look so good, how can you be as stupid as her, I don't know how to provoke people's jealousy and suffer trouble! Even if you want to be in the limelight, then you have to wait for me to have the strength to protect it, or let people snatch it away." ”

"It's a mediocrity not to be envied!" Mei Ying came and happened to hear the exchange between people and horses, comparing me with horses, she couldn't help but be annoyed, turned her head and secretly rejoiced in her heart, it turned out that she was worried that she didn't have the strength to protect me, Miss Ben has been protecting you, so she couldn't help but interrupt.

"Coax the horses, hey, hey. Gao Yuan scratched his head and argued, I don't know how dark it gets, Mei Ying grabbed the potion angrily, turned out a few fruits from the military bag, held them in the jade palm and held them to the black horse, and smiled and deceived: "Dark clouds, eat fruits, there are benefits to cooperate, some people don't even understand this, and say that you are stupid, don't you know that he is a fool." The black horse lowered his head to eat, Gao Yuan was stunned and asked: "Lao Jiangtou said that it recognizes people and doesn't eat what is fed by raw people, how can it recognize you?" Mei Ying scolded secretly in her heart: "If you get the benefits, you are still good, I made a special trip to make a mount for Miss Ben, and let you use a few bottles of wine to cheat Lao Jiangtou, hmph, if it weren't for you, Lao Jiangtou would have been offended." But he replied: "Probably because the horse is more spiritual than the people, and thinks that I am a beautiful and gentle person, hmph, I don't take the opportunity to dye the horse's hooves." ”

The two worked together, one used fruit to deceive, the other pretended to comb and apply the medicinal juice, and it didn't take much effort to finish the work, Gao Yuan led the horse to the camp, and comforted the black horse as he walked: "Don't be angry, when I become stronger, I will wash off the potion and return your divine horse, by the way, you will call it the dark cloud, and I will talk about it later when I step on the snow." Mei Ying felt strange on the side: "Why do you explain it to Ma? Is there something in the words!" Takagaki Masasei replied: "Tricking it into dyeing is a means, it is definitely not my intention, it's just that the battlefield is full of crises, and there is no choice in order to survive, but I should say something, this is my promise." ”

Everything is in a word, each other's intentions understand each other, dispel the fog of barriers, and the previous too many restraints and restrictions disappear, and the two laugh all the way to the meeting point, attracting a lot of envy and hatred.

The horn of the assembly sounded, and Coach Qiu had already led the horse to appear in front of the team, and behind him was a guard officer who was also wearing a helmet and armor and holding a war horse.

"From this moment on, the actual combat assessment begins, and the five of them and I are not only your only guards, but also the examiners who evaluate the merits of the battle. ”

After Coach Qiu's brief introduction, a square-faced officer began to explain the battle objectives and the intelligence information he had, and the trainees stood on the left side of the horse's head with the reins and listened and digested.

The mighty Qinghe River originates in the depths of the Mangcang forest, and flows into the sea from west to east along the long mountains, gathering countless mountain streams and Pingchuan rivers along the way, resulting in the impermanent rise and fall of the water, alluvial many swamps and grasslands, during which the grass and trees are overgrown with wild beasts, and the herbs and animal skins produced can bring amazing profits, and the expensive horses are the scarce military supplies. The empire was limited to the terrain and difficult to set up a city to defend, and wanted to get those precious materials, so it acquiesced to the nomads to collect medicine and hunt beasts in the meantime, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs purchased them at a fixed price. It was a good thing for both the government and the people, but unexpectedly, there were disputes over interests, and there were always people who were unwilling to risk death to get goods that could not be sold at a good price, so underground markets and special poaching and poaching gangs appeared one after another, and some people simply formed groups to engage in empty-handed trading. For many years, the swamps and grasses were mixed with people and bandits, and the imperial army was at a loss, so they sent a large army to clear it, and it was difficult to find the bandits who had already escaped into the deep mountains and dense forests before the large army could be encircled, and it was not very effective for small troops to go, and sometimes the bandits would gather to surround and kill.

"Telling the origin of the bandits is to let you lose your arrogance, if the grass beach bandits are calmed down, it will not be your turn to grab the credit. Qinghui has been founding the country for thousands of years, and has been suppressing bandits every year, but the bandits are still troubled, some people even say that the history of Caotan bandits is longer than the empire, and many bandits are hiding behind the rich families, and there is a lot of collusion with the local government and defenders, and their equipment and training are by no means worse than yours!"

The ease on the faces of the cadets gradually faded, the bandits that had been difficult to quell for thousands of years, the well-equipped and well-trained bandits, and the collusion between officials and bandits, these intelligence materials subverted the previous understanding. Gao Yuan was also a little apprehensive in his heart, a team of students with no actual combat experience, to exterminate the bandits who rolled in the knife bush all day, what chance of victory in the end, think about the scene when practicing killing in Happy Lake, and he was not optimistic about the prospect of fighting.

After the officer gave a sharp warning, he paused for a moment to observe the reaction of the cavalry team, and saw that the look of the student soldier was restrained with contempt, and became solemn and even fearful, and he felt a little disappointed in his heart.

"The bandits are ferocious and cunning, but the imperial army is even stronger, and they have never given up on clearing and suppressing, and countless elite warriors in the army are scattered on the grass beach, and the bloody battles with the bandits are happening all the time, which is the main reason why the bandits are rampant, they are the main force to suppress the bandits. You are not alone, you are surrounded by the mighty forces of the Empire. The standard camps of each province and the children's camps of each city have teams operating in the grass beach, and their task is the same as yours, which is to find the enemy, destroy the best, and if you can't kill it, you will secretly bite it, and provide clues to the bandits' nest for the army. ”

The pre-war mobilization of the square-faced officers undoubtedly achieved the expected results, which promptly dispelled the cavalry's feelings of underestimating the enemy and kept them from losing confidence in victory.

"You are the elite selected from the children's camp in Lingbo Mansion, and you have received the most complete military training, so we don't bother to compete with the teams of the cities! This time the target is a group of cavalry bandits who have been wandering in the black woods and grassy beaches for many years, there are about fifty people, and the leader of the bandits is called Heihar, the old opponent of the standard camp. Your seniors, six people have died under Heihar'er's knife, and one is missing. Our combat mission is to find the lair of the Black Har Gang, destroy it completely, and avenge the death of the students. ”

"Standard battalion students, unparalleled martial arts!" Anger ignited in his chest, and the cavalry shouted a battle cry from the bottom of his heart, and the war horse was infected, rubbing the rider's shoulder sideways, and the people and horses were boiling.

Coach Qiu and the other cavalry team stabilized their mood and took a few steps forward to make a final explanation: "Heihar grass beach is 700 miles away from the camp, in order not to let the enemy notice, we have made a detour and traveled thousands of miles, after leaving this grass beach, the team will march day and night. Along the way, there is no groom to take care of the horses, no cooks to cook, and no guards to protect them, so you have to do everything yourself. From now on, when you enter the combat state, you are no longer a soldier, but a soldier, the military order is like a mountain, the military law is ruthless, so you can do it yourself!"

"All - get on the horse and go!"

Coach Qiu gave an order, the cavalry team set off, the people in the camp looked at the distant soldiers, and blessed them in their hearts, the young eagles always have to spread their wings, and it is inevitable to experience wind and rain, the students do not know, this goes means farewell to the training camp, and also to say goodbye to the life of protection, and the battlefield will be the world of their lives from now on.

On the grassland, two officers galloped on horseback, acting as scouts for the cavalry team behind them, and the other three officers protected the flanks with one left and one right, and one hung behind the team not far away, only Coach Qiu followed closely behind the star sentry and commanded the whole team with the command flag without saying a word.

Most of the days of rapid marching ran over a hundred miles, without a moment to rest, many of the cadets let the saddle of the inner thighs of the saddle wear out, the buttocks were about to make the war horses bump and fall apart, everyone finally tasted the taste of battle is far more difficult than training. Gao Yuan's situation is much better than others, the dark clouds and snow are really like black clouds drifting from the grassland, the amplitude of the bumps is much smaller than that of other war horses, there is almost no need for reins to pull all the way, spontaneously following behind the excellent war horses, always maintaining a constant distance, occasionally there is a deviation, Gao Yuan Fang uses his legs to clamp the horse, and the dark clouds and snow are immediately corrected.

Turning his head to look at the uncomfortable appearance of the other trainees, Gao Yuan was still a little strange, wasn't it so uncomfortable to march a hundred miles on horseback? Mei Ying's female sentry was the rear guard of the cavalry, and she found him with a look of incomprehension and hatred, and if it weren't for the military discipline, she really wanted to rush forward and whip a few horsewhips. Dark clouds and snow, that is a famous horse, a war horse trained since childhood, of course, more suitable for long journeys, know how to master the rhythm to protect the rider, even the saddle is also special, it looks exactly the same as the standard camp distribution, the materials and workmanship used are made by famous craftsmen.

"Even if it's a pig, you can't feel tired when riding on the dark clouds!" Mei Ying's legs were a little numb, she raised her horsewhip hatefully, and waved it a few times at Gao Yuan, taking advantage of Coach Qiu's order to change the front and rear formations, and scolded softly when the horse passed by Gao Yuan's side, leaving his back to him to think about the reason for the scolding.

The sun was about to disappear from the grass in the distance, the color of the sunset became dim, and when dusk approached the grassland, Coach Qiu raised the flag and waved it, giving the order to dismount and rest.

"Hey the horses, march overnight an hour later, and camp at the Black River Beach, sixty miles away, before dawn. ”

Mei Ying struggled to climb off the horse, the breeches tore open the adherent wound, the pain was hot, the damn old Jiangtou, only then did she curse in her heart, and saw Gao Yuan walking over with the dark clouds and snow, her face full of concern.

"Why don't we change horses?" Gao Yuan said and handed the reins of the horse, but the dark clouds and snow shook his head to break free, and ran to the river to drink water with his head raised and hissed, Mei Ying was envious and annoyed, and laughed and scolded in a low voice: "Pretend to be kind, I don't know that the famous horse recognizes the master, you tamed it, how can you let others ride, change horses, you can say it." Gao Yuan remembered that the old horse head had said this, so he had to retreat to the second: "Then you hurry up and rest, and I will help you feed the horse." Mei Ying was no longer polite this time, threw the reins of the horse to him, and moved her legs to go to no one with the sister of the female whistle to treat her injuries and change clothes.

The dark cloud stinks and has a good temper, and before Mei Ying's war horse gets close to the horse material bag, he barks and kicks, Gao Yuan has no choice but to come again, and when the two war horses are settled, the other students lie on the ground early, everyone is really tired enough to choke on this way, and they have to march overnight, and they all take the opportunity to recover their strength.

Gao Yuan sat down and rested for a while, and Coach Qiu gave the order to set off, and the cavalry began to march at night by the dim starlight.

The team was lined up in two columns, and the students on the horse could barely see the dark shadows of their teammates in front of them, and everyone was more nervous than during the day, and everyone was afraid of accidentally losing the team, and one by one they carefully shook the reins of the horses, and listened to the sound of the horses' hooves and hurried away. After a long time, some people deviated from the direction of the march, and when they found that the horses had left the ranks, the officers who were parading on the flanks in a panic rode their horses, remembered their names, and drove them back.

Coach Qiu's words when he gathered were not lies, from the moment he lined up to accept the task, the actual combat assessment had begun. The victory or defeat of the battle is the result of the collision of swords, but before the sword is unsheathed, this result is often predestined, training, intelligence, strategy, food, grass, medical ...... There are so many factors that can affect success or failure. It is the duty of the officer to coordinate these factors and turn them into victory and glory or defeat and disgrace when they are facing each other.

There are a few people in the team who are special, and they have never deviated from the direction led by Coach Qiu, and they are all those who practice boxing and archery at night, and the long-term training makes them far more adaptable to the dark environment than other companions, and Gao Yuan is especially prominent, sometimes observing the surrounding conditions during the march, and the three sentinels can always hear timely calls when someone leaves the team, so he understands that he can see in the dark, no wonder he has to follow the last of this post before leaving.

Coach Qiu and the officers behind the palace nodded secretly, the ability to see in the dark is very good, but what is more valuable is that they can take care of their brothers, not care too much about the assessment like others, and do everything possible to widen the gap with their companions, and the only people in the entire cavalry team who can take care of their teammates are Gao Yuan and Mei Ying.

The march at night was no better than the day, but at last the crescent moon was hung on the sky dome in the middle of the night, and the speed of the procession was increased, and by the time the tent was set up on the river beach by the moonlight, the darkness before dawn had quietly submerged everything, and the only snoring on the river beach was to accompany the officers who acted as sentinels to swim around the camp.