Ambush? No, it's incoming military merit!

"Grandfather, isn't this asking a bit too much?"

Zhu Zhanjun said with a grimace, trying to bargain with Zhu Di.

"Three thousand men to fight fifty thousand, and we have to take their stronghold? This... this is unrealistic."

"How is it unrealistic?"

Zhu Di's eyes widened, and he resumed his irrefutable imperial demeanor. "Don't your three thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders fight like ten thousand?"

"Now you're being asked to fight fifty thousand, and your troop numbers are even halved. What more are you unhappy about?"

"Besides, don't you want people? The Oirat royal court has tens of thousands of men, women, and children combined."

"This is all white, glistening labor."

Zhu Di coaxed him, painting a huge picture.

Zhu Zhanjun looked at his grandfather's "it's all for your own good" expression and cursed the old fox a thousand times in his heart.

He knew he had been completely tricked.

The old man saw that he was too idle and was afraid he would cause trouble back in the Capital City, so he simply gave him the most difficult job and sent him far away.

"Alright, I'll go."

Zhu Zhanjun gritted his teeth and accepted the mission.

He had no choice but to go.

If he didn't go, he would have to stay and face his two covetous uncles and the messy affairs in the imperial court.

Compared to that, going to the grasslands to kill and set fires seemed simpler and more direct.

"However, I have one condition."

Zhu Zhanjun said.

"Speak."

"I need absolute autonomy."

"From now on, all actions of my Great Snow Dragon Riders will not be restrained by anyone, and I will not need to report to anyone."

"Wherever I fight, that's where it ends."

"Whatever I capture, it's all mine."

"Granted!"

Zhu Di agreed with unusual alacrity. "I will give you an imperial decree to act as you see fit! All troops and supplies in the entire northern border town are yours to command!"

"Good, it's a deal!"

The next morning, before dawn.

Three thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders quietly left the Ming army camp, like a black whirlwind, disappearing into the vast snowfield.

They did not take the official road but chose a more remote and difficult mountain path.

A captain beside him asked in confusion, "Your Highness, why are we taking a detour?"

"Isn't the official road faster?"

"Fast?"

Zhu Zhanjun sneered, "Fast to go to our deaths?"

He opened the System map and saw that on the official road they had originally planned to take, in a narrow valley, it was densely packed with red dots representing the enemy.

And in the center of the red dots, a particularly conspicuous red dot representing a general was marked with two words.

--Yesen.

"My two good uncles are really willing to spend money."

A cold killing intent flashed in Zhu Zhanjun's eyes.

He didn't need to think to know that his whereabouts had been leaked by Prince Han and Prince Zhao.

They were determined to use the Oirats as a knife to kill him.

"Your Highness, what do we do now? Should we retreat and report to the Emperor?"

The captain's face also became solemn.

"Retreat? Why retreat?"

A cruel arc curved on Zhu Zhanjun's lips. "They prepared such a big 'gift' for us. Wouldn't it be disrespectful if we didn't accept it?"

"Pass my order! The whole army speeds up! Go around to their backs!"

"Don't they like ambushes? Today, I will teach them what... a counter-encirclement is!"

Meanwhile, in that narrow valley.

Yesen was pacing back and forth anxiously.

Beside him, less than fifty thousand defeated soldiers remained, their morale low, like birds startled by a bow.

A Commander of Ten Thousand said with deep worry, "Grand Tutor, are we really going to ambush that Ming army here?"

"That army... is too strange."

"We... we are no match for them."

"What are you afraid of!"

Yesen forced himself to remain calm, cheering himself and his subordinates on, "We underestimated them last time! It was on the plains, where they could utilize the advantage of those strange crossbows!"

"This time is different!"

He pointed to the towering mountain walls on both sides, his eyes flashing with a mad glint. "The terrain here is narrow, their cavalry won't be able to charge at all!"

"Once they enter, we'll use giant rocks and rolling logs to block their path! Then, the archers on the mountains will fire volleys!"

"Aren't they impervious to blades and spears? I don't believe they can block falling rocks from the sky!"

"They only have three thousand men! We have fifty thousand! The advantage is ours!"

Yesen's plan sounded flawless.

Utilizing the terrain to his advantage and overwhelming a smaller force with numbers was indeed the proper way of warfare.

However, he had calculated everything except for the fact that his opponent was a player who had cheated.

He also hadn't accounted for the fact that the prey he had been patiently waiting for had already quietly crept up behind him.

The snow began to fall harder.

The wind grew colder.

Yesen wrapped his fur robe tighter, glanced at the sky, and a confident, sinister grin spread across his face.

"Judging by the time, they should be here soon."

"Pass my order! Everyone stay alert! Once that Ming army enters the valley, beat them to death!"

"Today, this Grand Tutor will ensure they never return!"

In the valley, the Great Snow Dragon Riders were moving faster and faster.