Regardless of whether they had weapons or received training, ten days later, Dongbohou Jiang Hengchu issued a combat order to the entire army. The entire army, numbering 500,000, will be distributed on the prairie to the east where they can gallop for seven or eight days with no end in sight. They will establish military defense bases and deploy nets over a large area to control the wandering Qiang cavalry. Riding tactics.
In this way, a large number of "soldiers" from the Shang Dynasty, holding sticks and stones in their hands and wearing all kinds of clothes, were distributed in a large fan shape on the prairie with a radius of hundreds of miles.
After crossing the border of the Shang Kingdom, less than fifty miles away, we entered the grassland where the Qiang people have been herding for generations. There is thick and tender grass everywhere here. The war horses of the army scream excitedly on this endless grassland. As long as they lower their heads, they can nibble on the delicious grass. As long as they spread their hooves, You can run as fast as you can.
Several winding rivers flow quietly through the green grassland, like transparent jade belts, adding a lively color to the entire prairie. Those Qiang nomadic tribes are chasing these water sources, making a living by grazing on the prairie for generations, living in the bitter cold land and living a life of looking at God's face.
Many soldiers have lived in the mountains all their lives. When they first entered the grassland, it was still a bit fresh and they looked around. But within two hours, they tasted the prairie's most rugged and primitive way of hospitality.
It was clear that it was cloudless just now, but suddenly a purple electric snake flashed in the sky, and the sky and the earth instantly turned pale.
Veterans who have lived on the prairie shouted at the top of their lungs: "It's going to rain. Everyone, find a place to take shelter immediately!"
The recruits raised their heads in confusion. In just a few breaths, thick dark clouds covered their heads. Before they had time to react, heavy rain poured down, mixed with soybean-sized hailstones. It shrank to less than ten steps. The soldiers were howling and screaming from being beaten by the hail. Some soldiers holding rough wooden shields in their hands held the wooden shields above their heads. Other soldiers carrying wooden shields followed the same example, and some soldiers got directly under the grain truck. . For a time, the entire team of ten thousand people was in chaos, and despite the roars and curses of the officers, this group of new recruits without any training refused to get out even if they found a place to avoid the hail.
This heavy rain came and went quickly. In less than half an hour, the dark clouds that were just overhead and making people breathless disappeared somewhere, and they carefully looked up at the sun, the master of the earth, which continued to radiate light and heat over the prairie.
On the prairie full of pools and mud pits, bursts of water vapor rise up. After being washed by the heavy rain, the sky and the earth look brighter. A seven-color rainbow hangs diagonally and upside down above the head, which is a unique artistic conception. embellishment. Throughout the prairie, the grass that has been baptized by the heavy rain looks green and lovely, with a few crystal water drops hanging on it. These water droplets slowly slipped from the sword-like blades of grass and fell into the puddles on the ground, followed by a small splash. After absorbing a lot of rainwater, the grass is like a freshly baked cake, soft and canopy. As soon as you step on it, a few blisters will happily pop up on the grassland ground, and then you will sink your foot for more than half a foot. If you don't struggle hard a few times, you can't even try to pull your foot out.
The supreme commander of this ten-thousand-person brigade that Ziye belongs to is a captain of ten thousand men named Huang Xiang. He is one of the few powerful leaders around Jiang Hengchu who is good at fighting.
Huang Xiang is forty years old this year. He has experienced twenty-three years of military career. The years have carved several traces of vicissitudes on his forehead, and also left the perseverance and wisdom of a soldier in his eyes. Huang Xiang is not very tall. He has been rolling around on the battlefield for a long time, sleeping in the open air and suffering from physical injuries, which has seriously affected his health. Anyone who sees him can't help but worry, fearing that his thin body will not be able to support the heavy bronze armor.
Huang Xiang looked at the land under his feet that was not conducive to walking, and then looked at the recruits Danzi who were too frightened and were soaked in the heavy rain. They were now shivering. He was silent for a while and ordered: "Find a suitable place to set up camp." , wait until the ground dries out tomorrow before marching."
As soon as this order was passed on, the entire military camp burst into cheers. No one wanted to march in an environment where a lot of physical energy was consumed every step of the way when the rations were seriously insufficient!
Huang Xiang pointed to a hillside and said, "We will camp there tonight!"
The captains around Huang Xiang nodded repeatedly, saying that camping on the hillside was indeed the best choice. The terrain there is high, and most of the rainwater pours into the originally dry river. The soil is not too soft, and with a little hay, the soldiers can still have a good sleep. The most important thing is that now that everyone has entered the territory of the Qiang people, they may face a surprise attack by the Qiang cavalry at any time at night. In such a situationA camp was set up on the slope. If the Qiang knights really launched an attack, I'm afraid their mounts would have lost their strength before they even fought against the Shang army, right?
Under the leadership of the veteran, a group of new recruits carried the thick wooden stakes used to set up the camp. Two soldiers held on to the wooden stakes. The tall and sturdy soldiers picked up the wooden hammers and shouted slogans and smashed them down. Sharpened wooden stakes were driven three feet into the soil and left five feet on the ground. Hundreds of these wooden stakes were inserted side by side and tied tightly with long ropes in the middle to form a fence that could resist the sudden collision of knights. .
¡°Coupled with some antlers with sharp spines and a few roughly dug ditches, the whole camp becomes somewhat interesting.
Some of the foremen had already begun to bury pots to make rice in the camp. They first started the fire with the dry firewood they brought with them. After the flames in the stove were big enough, they threw in a large amount of grass roots. The foremen were choked and coughed repeatedly. Wisps of thick smoke mixed with moist water vapor rolled up. As long as they burn like this for more than half an hour, the land near these stoves will be dried and warmed. Even if there are not enough tents, when the stoves are removed and the soldiers sleep in these positions, it will not be too cold.
In fact, most of the soldiers are huddled near these cooking stoves to keep warm. Even though it is September, they have not had enough to eat for eight or nine days in a row. They are all wet from the heavy rain. A gust of wind from the prairie blows over, and the surroundings You can hear the sound of teeth chattering. These soldiers have obviously hindered the work of the gangtou army, and from time to time, the gangtou army can be heard cursing.
After half an hour, the water in the huge tiled cauldron boiled, and the rice soup mixed with white flour and minced meat kept rolling in the tiled cauldron. The tempting aroma of food wafted in the air of the entire military camp. All the soldiers swallowed pitifully, and some of them dug up some grass roots from the ground and threw them into the stove, hoping that the gang leader would add a little more to their bowls when serving rice.
A group of soldiers ran back to the military camp. Each of them was holding a handful of wild vegetables that had just been washed in the river. Some of them were carrying prey such as hares. Under the command of the group leader, the soldiers threw away all the wild vegetables. Entering the tiled cauldron, the food in the tiled cauldron immediately seemed a bit more.
The gang leaders quickly peeled off the prey killed by the soldiers and chopped it with several knives. These pieces of meat, along with the bloody internal organs, were evenly distributed into each tiled tripod.
Everyone gathered in a circle, drinking noodle soup from the bowl at midnight, while using branches to draw a simple topographic map on the ground. Said: "From a strategic point of view, the location of our current camp seems to be impeccable. We can advance, attack, retreat or defend. If we encounter a sudden attack, even if most of us are surrounded by untrained recruits, under the leadership of veterans, we will be able to stand down from a high position." Standing still and waiting for reinforcements, the possibility of annihilating our army of 10,000 people before the reinforcements arrive is slim. But I don¡¯t know why, but I always have a strong enemy in my heart, who may launch a fatal blow to us at any time and completely destroy us. The terrible feeling of total annihilation.¡±
Yang Huai, Ye Yu, and Jiang Shang nodded together. They could read the dangerous atmosphere in each other's eyes.
Ye Yuchen paused for a while, then pointed to a small hill on the map that echoed the camp, and said: "We must take precautions. Boss Jiang and I will leave the camp tonight to station ourselves here. Once the troops encounter a sudden attack, we will Maybe we can also use Boss Jiang¡¯s magic to launch an absolutely unexpected counterattack against the enemy!¡±
Ziye nodded slowly and said to Evil: "Remember, when sleeping at night, you are not allowed to take off your armor, and your weapons must be placed where you can reach them. Also, even if you fall asleep, you must My ears, which are more sensitive than rabbits, stand straight up for me, and they will report to me as soon as they hear any disturbance!"
The night was already deep, and he was sleeping on the dry and hard ground baked by the stove at midnight, listening to the snores of other soldiers, but he couldn't fall asleep. Seeing Xiu'er sleeping in his arms with her head in his arms, with an expression of happiness and satisfaction, Midnight couldn't help but raise a gentle smile.
Evilai got up, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Brother Ziye, why did I hear the sound of running water?!"
Ziye gently rubbed Xilai's messy hair and said with a smile: "Because there is a river at the foot of the mountain. It just rained, so of course there is water flowing in that river!"
Evilai shook his head and said, "That's not right. The sound of water running I heard came from under the ground where we slept."
Midnight curiously put his ear to the ground and listened for a long time. Sure enough, he heard the sound of objects "sanding", but it did not sound like the sound of underground water flowing, but like the sound of the funnel turned upside down and the sand grains continued to flow. sound.
Ziye found an alms bowl, turned it upside down on the ground, and continued to listen carefully. When Ziye finally heard what was flowing underneath, he jumped up suddenly and roared:"I heard the ground beneath our slopes flowing, and the ground beneath our feet was flowing outward like water!!!"
The soldiers who were awakened by Midnight looked at Midnight as if they were idiots.
Ziye screamed: "The entire hillside has been emptied of water. We are standing on a huge hunting trap! Get up quickly! Yang Huai, Xiu'er, run!!!"