After two hours of rest, the guards in the city woke up one after another. Zhou Shixian summoned three taels of silver from the city, and the chef with the general armor was also the guaranteed one. Then he began to kill pigs and make rice. The soldiers and cavalry of each unit began to adjust their teams and check their equipment.

The entire army had nearly 2,000 soldiers and horses. Except for more than 200 left-behind soldiers, the rest were all assigned to different generals.

Of course, this is not a breakup and reorganization, but a total allocation based on "two teams and one team and twelve people".

Otherwise, this battle would not be fought. At this time, the Ming army had not completed standardized training. The formation of combat power required soldiers to work together through long-term training, and they could not break it into pieces.

The officers of each department clarified their respective combat tasks. After checking the equipment and filling their stomachs with the soldiers of each department, the time had already arrived at the third hour of Yin.

More than 30 whistle cavalry set out first, and they wanted to clear out the Shun Army's vacancies and cavalry on the night attack road for the army.

Most of these whistle riders are from Ye Busu, and they have strong combat power. Most of them will dismount on the way and walk quietly to the enemy who has already figured out their position.

At the end of March, a crescent moon hangs high in the northern night sky, and the thin moonlight makes the entire plain and wilderness dark.

On the flat and open North China Plain, there are at least a hundred soldiers, and at most three or five hundred soldiers, moving forward in the dark. Under the cover of the wind, if you don’t get close, you will almost never hear any sound.

It is naturally impossible to illuminate the ignition when walking at night. Not only can the torch be lit, but the spear tips, silver armor, and the new blade and axe that may reflect must be wrapped in cloth.

Most soldiers can only advance by night vision by those who can move forward with the faint starlight. The soldiers pull their belts together, while the cavalry pull the horsetails in front of them.

While Zhou Shixian was discussing the night attack plan with the generals, he had already asked Wu Xingye to send a sentry cavalry to find out the peripheral deployment and barracks of the Shun Army camp, as well as the road conditions fifteen miles in the middle.

The four camps of the Shun Army were all close together, only fifty steps apart. Three of them were in the east for soldiers to rest, and the other one was close to the canal, which was a place where war horses could drink water and rest and recover their physical strength.

As for the deployment of the Shun Army's camp, it can only be said to be extremely simple. Even the trenches outside the camp were not dug, and the surroundings were bare, making it even more impossible to resist horses and fences.

Gu Kecheng and Hao Yaoqi only sent more than a dozen secret whistles, and the same number of scouts were guarding the surroundings.

After all, when the Shun Army chased us, it was already dark and the surrounding areas were plains. Most of the villages were deserted for many years, so it was not suitable to be stationed.

Moreover, Gu Kecheng specially chose a flat land far away from the abandoned villages. In this way, there was no place to hide around, and there was no need to worry about being sneak attacked.

Of course, more importantly, facing a defeated army that fled to his death with his back to him, Gu Kecheng and Hao Yaoqi couldn't help but underestimate the enemy and relaxed, and did not feel that there was any problem with their deployment.

The country roads on the plains are not difficult to walk. Except for Xue Changfu, Sun Hu, Weng Dajie, and Kong Tao, the men of several people need to cross the river and take a detour, which is quite troublesome, the rest of the men only need not to alarm the enemy.

There are no big rivers that go east and west, no dense forests, or even hillsides, and there are some ponds, but they do not affect the marching. The only thing Zhou Shixian needs to consider is to ensure the quietness of the marching.

For this reason, "carrying a night walk" is necessary. Every soldier has received a piece of wood chip similar to chopsticks, and bit it in his mouth when marching to avoid making noises.

According to military rules, soldiers who make noises will be beheaded and displayed to the public no matter what the reason is.

But that's more: before the battle begins, the soldiers must keep the piece of wood by themselves and inspect it after the war. If any are lost, they will be dealt with by military law.

In fact, everyone's name should be engraved on the wood chips, so as not to steal others' impersonation after they are lost. However, in the current situation, Zhou Shixian could not have time to prepare, so he could only keep everything simple.

He followed the soldiers of Wuxingye's troops with a dozen personal guards. He soon started to lead the horse away after leaving the city. The horse's hooves were covered with cotton cloth, and there was almost no sound.

They headed northward, and the land under their feet was yellow due to continuous drought and war, and there was almost no trace of vitality. The people in the surrounding villages had long since been suffering from drought, taxes, wars and other natural disasters.

These fields have not been turned for a long time, so it is not difficult to walk, but they are definitely not as good as rural roads. Along the way, the team is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, and the crows in front are the main sounds.

This is the early warning method proposed by Zhang Hong and Wu Xingye, which uses the sound of birds and beasts to report military situations. Different sound numbers represent different enemy situations and instructions. This can ensure military communication while effectively avoiding the enemy's awareness.

The reason why it is sometimes fast and sometimes slow is because the Shun Army and the Rangers ahead. Zhou Shixian just saw two bodies of Shun Army secretly whistle on the roadside and died directly in a pit not deep. He seemed to have no reaction at all and was killed.

This was the time when the Shun Army was the most exhausted and relaxed. They did not expect that the Ming army in Dezhou City would dare to go out of the city to attack at night, and they did not expect that it would be this time.

Zhou Shixian was tightly guarded in the middle of the army. Although he couldn't see clearly the situation ahead and the road under his feet was always the same, he estimated that he had already walked halfway through his mind.

Soon, Wu Xingye's troops arrived at about five miles away from Shunjun Camp, where more than 200 soldiers and horses stopped.

"Stay on time and do not make any sound." As soon as the team stopped, an officer came over and ordered.

Zhou Shixian looked up at the moon in the sky again, and couldn't help feeling a little nervous. He planned to launch an attack half an hour before dawn, and I wonder if he could catch up.

After a while, another officer came to issue a "letter" to the soldiers. Wu Xingye also came to Zhou Shixian together, bowed his hands and bowed, and then whispered:

"The prince consort, it will be dangerous to move forward and may be discovered by the Shun Army at any time. The road-exploring whistle cavalry in front just now encountered a tough problem. The three whistle cavalry were killed and injured, and they were almost exposed."

"Where did the sentry whistle driver touch?" Zhou Shixian heard this, but his face remained calm and asked in a low voice.

"I touched the three miles of the Shun Army camp, but the Shun Army deployed not many secret sentries, and they were basically solved, but moving forward, it would be easy to alarm the main force of the Shun Army." Wu Xingye said again.

"Wuli...Sanli..." Zhou Shixian muttered, looked up at the position of the moon again, then turned his head to look at Wu Xingye and asked:

"It's dawn in more than an hour. Where can we launch an attack recently?"

Seeing this, Wu Xingye also understood Zhou Shixian's determination, but after hesitating for a while, he couldn't help but persuade him again: "The Prince Consort..."

However, before he could say his words, Zhou Shixian interrupted directly: "At this time, don't talk nonsense. You can't decide where this prince consort is. If there is such an outrageous situation, military law will be dealt with."

"Yes." Seeing that Zhou Shixian's attitude was so firm, Wu Xingye did not dare to persuade him again.

"Where can you go recently? Xue Changfu and the others bypassed the canal and dived from the north. Can they get a mile?" Zhou Shixian continued to ask.

"This depends on the alert status of the Shun Army. However, from the south, there are only four secret whistles and three rangers. Shun thieves should not be too cautious in the west and north. There is no problem to touch within one or two miles, but it is impossible to get closer."

After hearing this, Zhou Shixian nodded: "Okay, you can command the rest yourself and don't ask me. My son-in-law came to the army tonight, and his only function was to erect the dragon flag and sway the flag and shout for my soldiers."

After hearing this, Wu Xingye immediately saluted Zhou Shixian, his eyes showing the perseverance he had never had in his army for more than ten years.

In this world, there is no saying that "weak defeat the strong with weak" and Zhou Shixian never thought of defeating the strong with weak. What he wanted was to achieve local advantages through night attacks and then achieve global advantages.

No matter what era it is, morale and morale are crucial to an army.

As the commander of the first army, Zhou Shixian personally came to the battlefield to supervise the battle. For a weak army, the morale blessing it can bring is undoubtedly huge, which will make the Ming army's local advantages greater.

A moment later, Wu Xingye took out a piece of "carrying" and handed it to Zhou Shixian. After Zhou Shixian took it, he immediately put it in his mouth.

Soon, an officer came over and ordered: "All ranks are all set, set off immediately, and the speakers are killed immediately."

The team continued to move forward, and Zhou Shixian also saw the killed whistle driver on the road, and there was a slight smell of blood in the air.

The army was still walking and stopping on the plains, and its figures were covered by darkness. There were sparse shrubs growing on the fields, and all kinds of insects were ringing. Some animals suddenly rushed out.

.

Xue Laoer, Zhang Hong, Sun Hu, Weng Dajie and Kong Tao had already separated seven miles north, and there were still a hundred cavalry under Xue Laoer's command to go around the east.

At this time, it was already a moment of Mao, and the originally pitch black surroundings had become a little clear, but it was only a little bit. On the plain, as long as the distance was a little far, it was still pitch black.

However, at this time, less than an hour before the sun rose, the sky changed extremely quickly, and even after taking a nap, it might be dawn.

The two hundred cavalry under Xue Laoer's command had already sneaked to a place more than 500 steps away from the west camp of the Shun Army. They hid behind a not-so-luxury bush and could launch an attack at any time.

Zhang Hong's spearmen were sitting on the ground to rest, or unbuttoned the cotton cloth wrapped around their weapons, checked their equipment, or picked up the coconut scoop and were drinking water. The cries of insects and the sound of wind well covered the sound of the vibrating and friction of the armor leaves on their bodies.

The soldiers had already taken down all the ties from their mouths, but no one dared to speak in the whole process at such a close distance. A soldier who had just twisted his feet and accidentally made a sound because he stepped on the air, had already been cut off by Zhang Hong on the road.

Zhang Hong looked at the rows of soldiers sitting on the ground behind him, then looked at the cavalry who were ready in front of him and kept turning over horses, and said to himself: "Damn it, it's finally started!"

Before the Shun Army could not notice it, the Ming army with more than 500 people, as well as the Ming army with more than 1,300 people in the south, north, and east, all had already launched combat formations.
Chapter completed!