The wide wooden bridge across the turbulent river has been built for a long time, and many angular pivot knots have been missing beetles due to wind and rain for a long time. Hundreds of horses slowly passed over it, and there was a "creaking" sound between the wooden planks, as if it might collapse at any moment. Today's light rain, and the gloomy sky corresponds to the increasingly turbid river, standing on the bank of the "Xingshi King" Wang Guoning looked at the rushing water, did not speak, as soon as he raised his head to face the cavalry crossing the bridge from the opposite bank, he couldn't help frowning.

"I've seen two generals." Two men in armor with big shoulders and round waists walked in front of him, and Wang Guoning endured his unhappiness and bowed. These two men are the generals of Luo Rucai's side, the slightly taller on the left is Yang Jinshan, the general of the Cao Ying South Battalion, and the scarred face on the right is Wang Kehuai, the general of the Cao Ying North Battalion. Although they are not independent leaders, in terms of status in Cao Ying, Wang Guoning is far inferior to them.

"Is there a situation?" Yang Jinshan, who is known for fighting and not wanting to die, and is known as "Yang Fool", asked in a thick voice, "But I heard that the Zhao thief has recently touched the forest, maybe he will come out of the Lindu River from here, you have to be careful." ”

"The little one understands." Wang Guoning replied reluctantly, changed the topic, and asked, "I don't know why the two of you came?" "Except for Zhu Yangmin, the general of the middle battalion, who was stationed in the county seat to defend the five generals of the Cao Battalion, the other four generals were all in charge of Maozichong with Luo Rucai's nephew Wang Long, who was responsible for supervising the battle in the north. Since Yang Jinshan and Wang Kehuai appeared, it can be seen that Wang Lung has at least half of his troops here.

Yang Jinshan glanced at him, and said, "Wang Lingshao is afraid that you won't be able to stop the Zhao thief, so he sent me to help." ”

Wang Guoning arched his hand and said: "This section of the river is very urgent, if the Zhao thief crosses it forcibly, I have the advantage of guarding the river, and I will have a great chance of winning if I attack it halfway." ”

Yang Jinshan sneered: "Winning or losing is not up to you, Zhao Thief is fierce, if you really fight, you may not be able to stop it." ”

Wang Guoning was still unconvinced, and was about to raise his voice to argue, Wang Kehuai said: "The king is in charge of the plate, and the king leads the two of us to lead nearly a thousand horse troops, one is to help defend the river, and the other is to rush into horns with the cat, so the arrangement is beneficial to the overall situation." ”

Wang Guoning said: "It's a good fart, the Zhao thief really wants to cross the river, and with Lao Tzu and the follow-up reinforcements from the county town blocking it, he can't fly over half of it." To the north, there are still Wang brothers, Chang Guoan, and Liu Xiyao in the middle, and Maozi Chongshi is the most stable place. What are the things you two thieves are pretending to be 'assisting in the defense of the river' and 'the power of the horns', but in the end, you can't rest assured and bring soldiers to guard against Lao Tzu? Thinking like this, he was relieved, "Wang Lung wants to place his own people here, but it saves Lao Tzu the trouble and effort." To be the left-wing of this dog's day, I can't get a few credits, and I have to worry about the price all day long, and Lao Tzu has long been unhappy. Okay now, how to fight this battle, let him make trouble. So he turned his grievances to peace, and his expression suddenly became pleasant.

Wang Guoning's indifferent appearance gave Yang Jinshan a look in his eyes, and he looked for an opportunity to pull Wang Kehuai and said, "Do you say that the king's orders are reliable?" If Wang Guoning really has a ghost in his heart, why is he quiet? ”

Wang Kehuai glanced at him and said: "Wang Lingshao also got the news from the north, and whether it is true or not is still inconclusive, otherwise what trouble will we have?" He added, "The thief is coming, and it is better to take precautions than to be indifferent." ”

Yang Jinshan bowed his head and said: "The reason is this reason, but the cat is divided into half of the soldiers here, and it may be a little empty." ”

Wang Kehuai said with a smile: "The emperor is not in a hurry, the eunuch is in a hurry, and the king is not in a hurry, you are on fire." Not to mention whether the Zhao thief can avoid the Wang brothers, even if he does, there are Chang Guoan and Liu Xiyao between Mao Zichong and Zhao Thief. Chang Guoan has dug a trench for so long and built Fang Yuan like an iron bucket array, how can he say that he can pass in the past? "Besides, Guo Zhuang is not too far from Maozi Chong, if there is really a case, let's spread the horse's hooves to rescue, is it too late?" ”

When Yang Jinshan heard him say this, he changed his face and said yes

The light rain was crispy, and it was flying all over the sky.

It was still hot at the end of August, but today it was dark and the rain was exceptionally cool. The light wind and rain kept blowing, and Liu Xiyao, who was wandering in the mudflats of the Shahe River, couldn't help but sneeze and rubbed his nose in a muttering way. Looking not far away, the east side of the Shahe River is longitudinal and horizontal, and the ravines are mixed, all of which are the traces of the excavation of the vertical wall by the Ministry of National Security some time ago, and there are several board bridges across the muddy river surface to the east.

Liu Xiyao walked slowly, but the tide of thought in his mind fluctuated, and he stepped on the air under his feet, almost fell into the mud, and looked angrily, not thanks to the gap that had not yet been filled, and scolded angrily: "His grandmother's Chang Guoan!" ”

Liu Xiyao, who was uneasy, swallowed his spit and took the initiative to meet it, asking, "Zhao thief is here?" ”

The general wiped away the countless tiny droplets of water stained on his face, nodded violently, and said: "The palm plate is like a god, and the brother who is guarding in the west of the camp has received a message from the Changying camp that the Zhao thief has raided from the west and has broken through the northern fortifications!" ”

"Straw bales that don't look good!" Liu Xiyao scolded secretly, but after scolding, he couldn't help but be a little happy. Zhao Ying's attack on Fang Yuan out of the dense forest path is certainly surprising, but it is not a matter of time before he arrives early or late, and he is somewhat mentally prepared. However, it is really surprising that the fortifications that Chang Guoan had worked so hard to build for several days were so vulnerable. Since the wall and ditch are a tofu scum project, then there is no need to worry about Chang Guoan stealing the limelight. As long as Zhao Ying is successfully defeated this time, he can even suppress Chang Guoan in front of Luo Rucai.

"How many soldiers and horses does Zhao Thief have?" Liu Xiyao didn't stop on the ground, turned around and walked quickly in the direction of the camp, asking as he walked.

The general replied: "There are more than 1,000 people, and Chang Zhang's plate has shrunk his troops, and he is fighting with Zhao thieves." ”

"Very good." Liu Xiyao nodded secretly, and at the same time ordered, "Leave a hundred people to continue to garrison, and the rest will be rectified immediately and go to battle with me!" "Although Zhao Ying came in a hurry and fiercely, but Chang Guoan has 2,000 people under his hands after all, there is no problem in containing Zhao Ying in a short time.

The more Liu Xiyao thought about it, the more excited he became, and even the bleak posture of Zhao Dangshi being defeated and captured and kneeling at his feet came to mind. However, when he arrived outside the gate, he suddenly remembered something, beckoned to recall the general who was about to pass the military order, and ordered: "Arrange a few people, go to Shijia Xiaochong quickly, and ask the king to support him." Liu Xiyao felt that although the odds of winning were great, he had not yet reached the point where he was nine out of ten, just in case, he remembered Wang Guangen and other troops stationed a few miles to the north. Call them up, you can't take the credit for sticking to Fang Yuan, and you can add an insurance, why not?

The station of Chang and Liu Erying was not far away, and Liu Xiyao led more than 1,000 people to walk along the south side of the northern fortifications, and arrived at the east end of Chang Guoan's camp within three miles. Under the gray skylight, the banners were chaotic, the soldiers were fighting, and the shouts of killing filled the four fields, Liu Xiyao raised his eyes and looked around, the situation had completely evolved into a melee, he calculated the combat matters by himself, and on the avenue ahead, hundreds of soldiers and horses suddenly surged in.

"Wait!" The crossbowmen in front wanted to block it, but Liu Xiyao saw that the crooked flag among the hundreds of soldiers and horses seemed to be the banner of the Ministry of National Security, and started to stop it. As soon as the words fell, a general from the opposite side rode out and shouted loudly. Liu Xiyao stared at it carefully, and sure enough, it was Chang Guoan.

"How's the battle going?" The two approached, Liu Xiyao's face was full of arrogance, and he deliberately lengthened his voice.

Chang Guoan changed his-for-tat attitude in the past, and replied sneeringly: "Zhao thief was treacherous, and he kicked into the camp when my troops were changing guards, and my brother was caught off guard and fell behind for a while. He added, "Zhao thief's soldiers advanced eastward along the northern fortifications, menacing, hundreds of people in the front of our battalion arrived there to hold each other, and the brothers took the remaining hundreds of people to rest and prepare for battle. ”

Liu Xiyao laughed secretly and said: "Brother Chang, don't worry, with me, it will be difficult for Zhao thieves to run rampant!" But he never mentioned that Wang Guangen and other subordinates would also arrive.

"Brother Liu came at the right time." Chang Guoan was obviously frightened, the rain flowed wantonly from the cracks in his helmet on his face, and the wet hair and beard were crossed, matching his slightly trembling lips and teeth and empty eyes, and he was depressed.

Chang Guoan's eager gaze made Liu Xiyao very angry, but at the moment of the great enemy, he had no time to continue to laugh at Chang Guoan's incompetence, so he said: "Brother Chang don't rest, I'll go first." ”

"Brother Liu just goes forward, and there are brothers guarding behind, so it's foolproof!" Chang Guoan smiled a little flatteringly.

"The villain who sees the wind and rudder, where is the previous majesty?" Liu Xiyao thought disdainfully, and perfunctorily hugged his fist at Chang Guoan and raised his hand. Seeing this, the heralds on the left and right waved their flags, and the soldiers who were on standby on the spot moved again. Chang Guoan also returned to the horse queue, and his hundreds of soldiers immediately separated a road left and right, allowing Liu Xiyao to lead the troops through.

The terrain is low and flat, the rain is still wet, and the wind has changed a lot. There are two walls on the north side of the fortification, and at certain distances there are a number of gun holes of different sizes for birds to shoot, which can be called dense in general. The wind blew through these mouths, emitting a terrible and gentle scream, like the howl of a lonely ghost in the wilderness, which made people shudder.

"Don't do a good thing, pretend to help in the end!" Liu Xiyao was originally unpleasant to the fortifications built by Chang Guoan, but at this time, he listened to the endless sound of the wind and felt furious in his heart, and remembered the embarrassment of almost planting his head on the bank of the Shahe River not long ago, and was full of displeasure, "When the Zhao thief is retreated, he needs to use this useless fortification to squeeze the surname Chang." ”

The farther west, the more clear the sound of fighting mixed with the wind, two big flags fluttering in the grass not far away, one said "Xu", one said "Han", among the two flags, a long pole several feet high stood upright, the hanging big silk was sassy in the wind, and the word "Zhao" in black on a white background was particularly eye-catching.

"Did the thief arrive in person?" When Liu Xiyao thought of this, he was half nervous and half excited. Thinking of the promise made by Luo Rucai in front of his head, "Whoever wins Zhao as the head of the world, I will form a brotherhood with him", the fighting spirit suddenly rose to the extreme.

"Boom-"

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning split the dim sky, and rolling thunder exploded, and the raindrops grew heavier, as if a precursor to an approaching storm. As soon as Liu Xiyao moved his gaze to the sky, there was another "bang" sound in his ears.

"It's ...... Thunder? Liu Xiyao was stunned, and immediately reacted to the difference between the two, and the sound behind him should be undoubtedly fired by the cannonball. At the same time, in front of his array, there were waves.

"Zhao thief is here!"

The exclamation spread sharply, instantly spreading throughout Liu Xiyao's array. Liu Xiyao reined in his horse and crossed his sword, summoned several henchmen and generals, and said: "Act according to the plan, let the person surnamed Chang be in front, and let's divide the troops to copy in left and right!" ”

After finishing speaking, a general in front of the command rushed to the front and said, "Hold the plate, something is wrong!" His face turned blue as he spoke, "Our army has just made contact with the front camp, and instead of advancing and retreating, they are rushing to kill the front of our army!" ”

Liu Xiyao's head was cloudy, and he said, "Have you ever shown the banner of our army?" ”

The general said: "The banners and slogans have been transmitted, and they have not hesitated to turn against each other!" ”

"What?"

Liu Xiyao couldn't help but be stunned, and before he could come back to his senses, another general in the rear quickly reported and said: "The regular battalion soldiers resting in the rear suddenly attacked our army, and the rear of our army is in chaos!" ”

The stubble is not finished, and the left and right sides are also transformed into elbows and armpits, and each has a report-

"The Zhao thief horse army broke through from the left flank and cut off our army!"

"The right flank of our army was attacked by Zhao thieves and heavy armor warriors, and they couldn't support it!"

Liu Xiyao heard these words in his ears one by one, and they were like the wind in his ears. Until a voice woke him up completely.

"Whoever captures the traitor Liu Xiyao alive will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and promoted to the first level!"

It was none other than Chang Guoan, a comrade who was supposed to fight side by side with him.