The remnant sun is like blood.

There was a palm-sized stone on the mountain road, which was slightly undulating on the ground, and the sand and dust on the top of the stone were also trembling slightly, jumping off the surface of the stone, and then the tremor quickly became larger, and the slight sound of horses' hooves gradually turned into a rolling roar, and suddenly, a shadow flew over the stone!

This was followed by more shadows, speeding across the stones, as if obscuring the sky.

Suddenly, I don't know which war horse stepped on the stone with one foot, and stepped it deep into the ground, and the war horse also crooked a little, and then let out a neigh......

One, two, ten, hundred, a group, a nest, galloping horses like hornets pouring out of their nests, rushing out along the mountain road south of Qishan, the Qiang cavalry on horseback wearing leather robes, whistling, and heading south.

Thousands of foot soldiers have been put in a tight formation, one by one spears stood out like hedgehogs behind the baggage cart, the cold light shimmered in front, Xu Huang looked indifferently at the galloping Qiang cavalry, holding a battle axe in one hand and tearing off the mask in the other, standing under the battle flag, a muffled voice sounded behind the mask: "Mountain!" ”

"Drink! Big mountain! ”

The shield soldier shouted loudly, leaned his body against the baggage cart, and then pressed the shield diagonally above his head, and became one with the baggage cart. The pikeman stepped forward, slammed his spear firmly against the cart, and then kicked it at the end of the spear, sinking a section of the tail into the earth, and then lowered his body weight and shrank under the shield.

"Whoosh-"

A white tail arrow slashed across the sky and slanted into the ground.

Almost at the same time, the cavalry of the Qiang people had already crossed this arrow.

"Wind!"

"Shoot the arrows!"

Almost at the same time, both sides shouted, and the rain of arrows flew into the sky, and then staggered in the sky, just like rubbing shoulders with their first love in the surging crowd, only to look at each other, and then went their separate ways.

The rapid whistle sounded among the Qiang cavalry, and the horse team of hundreds made a sharp turn in the gallop, and the sound of horses' hooves splashed large chunks of dirt.

The arrows screamed and fell, squealing on the baggage cart and the shield, clanging like a hailstone, and a few unlucky guys seemed to have been injured by the arrows, but the overall formation was still intact.

On the Qiang side, although most of the arrows were avoided, there were also several Qiang cavalry who were shot at their horses or torsos, howling and falling off their horses, disappearing between the flying hooves.

Xu Huang pushed away the shield-raising guards in front of him, and watched as the Qiang cavalry crossed an arc in front of the formation and rushed to the flanks of the array.

"Lin!" Xu Huang drank again.

The spear moved slowly like a twig and a leaf. The pikemen who were far away from the direction of the Qiang cavalry pulled out the tail of the gun from the soil, and then followed the sword and shield men to the flank of the array, still on the baggage carts, forming a new protective formation, because the Qiang cavalry was galloping in the outer circle, so the movements of the sword and shield men and pikemen moving in the inner circle were not very urgent, and there was a special beauty of neat rhythm.

The baggage cart was like a circle of calyxes, while the shield-bearers and pikemen were like petals and cores, blooming in turn in the direction of the Qiang cavalry.

While galloping around Xu Huang's formation, the Qiang people bent their bows and arrows, shooting towards the array, one by one the arrows fell into the array like a rain of arrows, and even an arrow dangled in the sky towards Xu Huang.

"Humph!" Xu Huang swept the corner of his eye and slightly changed the tomahawk in one direction.

With a "bell", the arrow pierced the surface of the tomahawk, and it was reluctantly bounced to the ground.

Looking at the Qiang cavalry circling around the circle, Xu Huang suddenly shouted: "Gale! ”

With a thud, the shield-bearer lifted his shield to reveal the crossbowman behind it.

"Hum—"

With the hanging knife pulled, the crossbow roared out!

The Qiang people who were getting around were suddenly attacked by the crossbowmen in the array, although they were also somewhat mentally prepared, but the crossbow arrows were too fast, and some people still had no time to dodge, and were shot down and fell off their horses.

The whistle sounded again, and the Qiang cavalry, which had been hit, scattered with a clatter, and then withdrew some distance before regrouping and launching another assault.

After the two sides exchanged a wave of arrows again, the Qiang cavalry did not give Xu Huang's crossbowmen any chance to strike, so they circled around the formation and retreated.

The Qiang cavalry that remained at the back seemed to be staring at Xu Huang, as if they had crossed Xu Huang's forward position, looking farther in the direction, and after a long time, they slowly retreated.

"The whole team!" Xu Huang stared at the retreat of the Qiang cavalry, lifted his mask, and snorted at the retreating Qiang cavalry.

"I'm here to deliver meat again, these guys, do this all the time, is it interesting?" Several front-line soldiers put away their knives and guns, and couldn't help but discuss, "Send a few at a time, a dozen, and don't really fight, just go around like this, what the hell do you want to do?" ”

"You melon baby, what is this called tiredness!" An older soldier said, "Don't look at how many you send at a time, if we were a little slack off that time and were rushed into the formation by those cavalrymen, we would have died at that time!" Gua baby, the skin is tighter, there is no harm in the end! ”

After all, the sword and shield men and pikemen still moved according to the order, restoring the original guarded array, and some soldiers in the central array also stepped forward, on the one hand, to replace those wounded soldiers, and on the other hand, to cooperate with the baggage carts to untie each other, search for the cavalry casualties of the Qiang people, and then facilitate the array to advance again.

Since Fei Qian's troops approached Qishan, they were almost constantly harassed by Han Sui's cavalry, which caused the army to advance very slowly, and in the end, it even had to use the method of forming a chariot formation and moving forward in turn to ensure that the army could move forward.

However, it just so happens that this area is surrounded by mountains on both sides of the east and west, and the area that can be deployed on the battlefield is not very large, so Fei Qian does not have to worry about Han Sui rushing out of the flank mountains, but this continuous cavalry harassment, sometimes even three or four times a day, although there is not much loss, but it is indeed a little depressing.

"Han Wenyue is starting to get anxious...... "Li Ru is riding on horseback, even if the weather is acceptable, he is still wrapped in a leather robe, as if he can't detect any heat at all, even his voice is a little cold, looking at Fei Qian and said slowly, "Presumably the general's Guanzhong reinforcements have arrived...... Seeing that he has been defeated again and again, even if Han Wenyue can endure it again, I am afraid that at this time, I will need to boost the morale of some soldiers......"

At this moment, Fei Qian was frowning and watching the smoke and dust in front of him dissipate, and said: "The cavalry is convenient to come and go, if I wait for the car formation to be strong, then I will leave as soon as I get it, if I can't deal with it, I will definitely take advantage of the weakness and kill our soldiers." It's really ......"

Fei Qian looked up at the sky, the remnant sun in the west was all over the sky, a blood red, suddenly his heart jumped, turned his head to look at Li Ru, and also found the answer in Li Ru's eyes, and couldn't help but immediately shouted in a deep voice: "Order the front army, camp on the spot!" ”

………………………………

On the banks of the West Han River, a gray fox poked its head out of the bushes in the moonlight.

This is an old fox, the color of the coat is no longer as smooth as when it was young, like dry grass, the big tail has not only lost its luster, but also looks very dirty, and in some places the dirt is even clumped.

The fox stood on the riverbank with his legs propped up, his slightly cloudy eyes observing the surroundings. It used to be its paradise. His favorite thing is to catch his prey with his wife, and when he has eaten his fill, he comes here to drink some water, and then burrows under the hollow of the tree on the shore, or lies on the trunk of the tree, squinting at the speckled rays of the sun and snoozing with his big tail......

Until the other day, when he saw that the birds in the woodland on the shore had flown away, and then the earth shook, and even the river was muddy and shook, and then many two-legged and four-legged fellows came, and there was noise and smoke everywhere. However, his wife happened to have injured his hind foot a few days ago, and he couldn't run fast, so in front of it, a two-legged guy was stuck to the ground with a long, thin branch.

It ran.

But it's back.

The smell of blood remaining on the ground was filled with an ominous smell.

The old fox lay down, his already cracked and dried nose moved a few times, and then slowly moved forward with the smell of blood.

And then I saw it......

I saw a familiar fox skin on the river beach under the moonlight.

and a bunch of two-legged guys who are lighting a bonfire on the river beach.

The old fox shrank his head, retreated into the shadows of the bushes, and lay on his stomach in a daze, staring at the riverside with his eyes fixed on the familiar color of his fur for a long time.

I don't know how long it took, but the old fox stood up, stood on the rock, stood up straight, and looked at the coat by the river......

An arrow pierced the old fox's body with a screech like a locust, and the corpse rolled down the rock, and then a voice was heard on the riverside: "Hey, young commander, there is really meat delivered to the door......

In order not to let Fei Qian and the others notice, Ma Chao led the team and walked around Fei Qian along the Western Han River. From Xiabi to Qishan, there are two roads, one is along the waterway of the Western Han River, and the other is the dry road of Jianwei.

The waterway is long, and there is a section of the road that needs to cross the river because of the mountains, so the army generally does not take this road, but mostly chooses the relatively open and easy dry road. Jianwei road on the east and west sides of the mountains, the middle terrain is gentle, the land is fertile, and the water flows from it, which is suitable for the march of the army, and Feiqian also chose this road to march.

The soldiers who came with Ma Chao were already exhausted, except for the soldiers on duty, the rest of the people were either leaning behind the rocks, or huddled around the bonfire, snoring and snoring.

The road between the Western Han River and Jianwei is blocked by mountains, unless the general of Zhengxi, Fei Qian, also sends people to take this difficult waterway, he will not see the movement here at all.

Ma Chao sat by the bonfire and saw the guards on duty shoot a fox, and he didn't care too much, so he asked the soldiers to go to the river to peel and wash them, and roast them on the fire by the way.

The moon had already risen, and Qinghui was shining from the sky, shining on Ma Chao's face and the scar on his arm. This is the wound left on the bank of the Qingni River before, although it has now scabbed, it still seems to remain in Ma Chao's heart forever, still bleeding and painful.

"Young Commander!"

There was a whispered shouting on the riverside.

Ma Chao got up and walked over and said, "What's the matter?" ”

"It seems that the river has changed......

The water of the Western Han Dynasty, because of the previous earthquake, not only was the river diverted, but the water flow was also reduced a lot, and there would even be some inexplicable fluctuations in the water level.

The water of the Western Han Dynasty has become wider in this area, the river is nearly 30 zhang wide, the water is deep and rapid, and the crossable river is extremely narrow, only two miles wide, and the rest of the section, the river water is close to the cliff flowing. And when Ma Chao came to the river, he saw that the water level of the river suddenly dropped greatly, and they walked into the river to measure the water level, which was less than three feet deep, and they could almost cross the Western Han River on horseback, and it turned out that at least the water depth was at least one zhang!

"Quick!" Ma Chao immediately shouted, "Wake everyone up, cross the river immediately, you must cross the river within a stick of incense!" ”

After crossing the river, you can go directly to the back of the Zhengxi General Fei Qian, and at this moment, the attention of the Zhengxi General Fei Qian must be all in the direction of Qishan, as long as the signal is issued, and then Han Sui is flanked back and forth, it is very likely that the Zhengxi General Fei Qian will be defeated in the south of Qishan!

Then, with the aftermath of victory, gather the Xiliang tribes, and then defeat the reinforcements in Guanzhong, you can go straight to Guanzhong and achieve a great cause.

Of course, this great cause is still Han Sui's great cause.

Ma Chao could still fight before, but now, he has no good way to do it, so he can only cling to Han Sui's place and defeat the general Fei Qian of Zhengxi first.

"Quick! Fast! Move fast! ”

With Ma Chao's order, the soldiers who were originally lying in their clothes got up one after another, kicked down and extinguished the bonfire, and quickly sorted out their bags, and in the splashing water, accompanied by the sound of the water, Ma Chao's soldiers lined up to go into the water and began to cross the river.

The river continued to fall, and in a moment it was down from the horse's belly to the horse's leg joints.

Ma Chao had already crossed the riverbank, and was standing nervously on the riverbank nervously watching the flowing West Han water.

"Quick! Speed up! The river is starting to rise! Ma Chao suddenly shouted in a deep voice, "Those who go ashore get out of the way!" Don't block the road! Quick, move faster! ”

The water of the Western Han Dynasty fell quickly, and the speed of rise was not slow, almost visible to the naked eye, from the horse's leg all the way up, it seemed that it was under the horse's belly in a blink of an eye.

The cavalry who were still in the river also jumped into the water at this time, lightening the burden of the war horses, and swimming towards the opposite bank with the horses.

The sound of the water became louder and louder, and suddenly a wave surged and hit the body of the war horse, pushing the war horse several steps downstream......

"Hurry!" There was no need for Ma Chao to urge again, and the soldiers who went ashore were also urging the dozen or so backward cavalrymen who were still swimming in the river in unison, "Hurry up!" Go harder, faster! ”

A war horse that was almost on the shore apparently stepped on the river bank, took two steps up, and when all four hooves were on the ground, the war horse habitually stopped, and then shook its neck and began to shake the water......

"Boom la la ......"

Another wave of river water poured in, and the horses, which had just stood firm, were lifted away by the river, and were immediately pushed away from the place, and also hit the soldiers on their sides, and floated downstream with them.

Ma Chao saw that the last few cavalrymen didn't have time to land at all, and they were dragged downstream by the Western Han River, and then quickly lost their traces, and couldn't help but stand silent for a while, then turned around, waved his hand, and said, "The whole army...... Launched...... Let's go ......."

The water of the Western Han Dynasty rushed, and pulled out two blood-stained fox skins stuck in the stone cracks on the shore.

The two torn skins chased each other, rising and falling, and disappeared into the sky......