Jiang Qi accepted Simbi's suggestion.

Xin Bi was the best of the young scholars in Yingchuan, and their brothers were deeply trusted by Yuan Shao, and Xin Bi was now Yuan Tan's confidant, and Yuan Tan actually sent him with the intention of supervising the army. His opinion is equivalent to Yuan Tan's order, which must be obeyed.

What's more, there is such a great achievement as catching Sun Ce. He is a native of Runan, and he knows Yuan Shao's desire for Yuzhou, so he sent people to fight for Yuzhou with Sun Jian at the beginning, and now Sun Ce has the identity of Yuan Shu's successor, and he has long become a thorn in Yuan Shao's side. If he can defeat him, it will definitely be a great achievement, and Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan will be satisfied.

Although Jiang Qi was moved, he had not lost his mind. He knew that the Sun family's father and son were good at fighting, and Sun Ce was especially cunning, and he set a legendary record as soon as he debuted, and he was in the limelight. He ordered the captains of all departments to maintain their speed, not to attack lightly, and not to engage the battle easily after discovering Sun Ce, and to report to the Chinese army as soon as possible, and keep in touch with their companions on the left and right, so as not to be broken by Sun Ce.

Jiang Qi originally planned to pack up his baggage and leave, but was stopped by Xin Bi. What kind of baggage to pack up, the whole Yanzhou is under the rule of Yuan Tan, and you can eat wherever you go. You just have to chase it, no matter where you chase it, the Xiangting can supply the food of the army along the way. Throw your baggage here, just bring your weapons, and I will arrange for someone to clean up the tent and other things for you, and there will be no one missing.

Jiang Qi was overjoyed and ordered to throw away his baggage and set off immediately. The forwards Zhang Nan and Jiao touched one left and one right, going hand in hand.

Two hours later, Zhang Nan sent news that he had found Sun Ce's traces, and the scouts of the two sides had a small-scale contact, and it was estimated that they would not be too far apart. Immediately afterward, the same news came from Jiao Touch. After Xin Bi marked the location of the two on the map, he said to Jiang Qi that Sun Ce was more than ten miles ahead, and he walked so slowly, he should have divided his troops, one rushed to Xiao Huang, and he himself led one to break the rear to buy time for the capture of Xiao Huang. This is our best opportunity, rush forward immediately, entangle Sun Ce at all costs, use the tactics of a sea of people, and drown Sun Ce if he is drowned.

Jiang Qiyan obeyed the plan and ordered Zhang Nan and Jiao Touch to bite Sun Ce, and not let Sun Ce run away no matter what.

With an order, the 10,000-strong army began to advance at full speed, and smoke and dust billowed on the official road. The knights who delivered the news came one after another, sending the latest news to Jiang Qi and Xin Bi, and sending orders to each department.

——

Sun Ce raised his head and looked at the horizon in the distance, his eyes solemn.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, two low, thick clouds of smoke filled the horizon, signaling that a foot soldier was rapidly approaching. The knights who served as scouts galloped in, their horses almost flying into the air on all fours, and the air was filled with the tension of an impending battle.

Jiang Qi suddenly accelerated the speed of the march, and the smoke and dust stirred up by the opponent's march were faintly visible, and he didn't need to report to the scout, he also knew that the battle was imminent.

This was a little earlier than he expected, he originally thought that it would be late and Jiang Qi would give up the pursuit, so that he would have a night's buffer. Although Xiaohuang is only a county town and is not heavily guarded, it is a city after all. When the two armies are fighting, they can't welcome you with the city gate open, the battle is inevitable, King Chen and Guo Jun need at least two hours to attack the city, even if they plunder the farmers outside the city, it will take time to collect grain from house to house, no one will prepare the food, waiting for you to get it.

But Jiang Qi didn't give him this chance, regardless of the night, he risked chasing after him, the purpose was naturally not to give him a chance to breathe. At this moment, not only could he not retreat, but he also had to stop Jiang Qi's main force here as much as possible, and it would be even more unfavorable for him to fight under Xiaohuang City. Once reinforcements are discovered, Xiao Huangcheng's resistance will be even more stubborn.

I hope that my head is still worth some money, and Jiang Qi will use the main force to surround me, instead of chasing after King Chen. King Chen didn't have enough crossbow arrows, and the three thousand strong crossbowmen couldn't play much of a role, and if there was a battle, he could only rely on the three thousand foot soldiers of the personal guard battalion led by Guo Jun. If Jiang Qi sent the same force to chase, it would be difficult for Guo Jun to conquer Xiao Huang in time while repelling the pursuers. If you can't conquer Xiao Huang, you will face the danger of running out of food.

This is the inevitable risk of the raid, and it is not an accident, the unexpected is just that the risk is greater than he expected.

Sun Ce looked at the soldiers around him, four hundred guards and righteous servants, one thousand guards battalion foot soldiers, one hundred white soldiers, nearly a thousand guards battalion, one hundred strong crossbowmen, plus two hundred prisoners led by Liu Bei, a total of less than three thousand, this is all his strength now, he has to face twice or even three thousand opponents. There should be no problem getting out, but in the end, no one knows how many people will be left in the end.

The worst thing is that Jiang Qi is not the only opponent he needs to worry about, and Yuan Tan is likely to be on his way here. After the hard battle, whether there is physical strength to face Yuan Tan is really a question mark.

Sun Ce shook his head, leaving all his worries behind. Regardless of whether Yuan Tan will come or not, the most important thing at present is to repel Jiang Qi, and then be qualified to consider how to face Yuan Tan.

"Qin Mu, Elfang, you go to the hillside behind to set up a formation, pay attention to concealment. Without my orders, no matter what the situation, you are not allowed to attack. Violators, behead! ”

"Whoa!" Qin Mu and Elfang gave up their orders, turned their horses' heads, and galloped away. The guards followed them up the dirt slope and hid in a small forest. The sun was about to set, and as soon as it was dark, it would be difficult to distinguish between people and trees a hundred paces away, and unless Jiang Qi sent someone to reconnoiter closely, it would be difficult to find them.

Sun Ce set up his battle flag in the middle of the dirt slope, ordered people to cut down a few dead trees, and lit a bonfire to highlight his position. Dian Wei and Xu Chu led 400 righteous guards to the side, Chen Zhi led 100 Bai Yu soldiers to line up on the side of the formation, and 1,000 foot soldiers of the guard battalion stood up at the foot of the hill in a unit. One song protruded, and the other four songs spread out on both wings, protecting the Chinese army like wings. A hundred crossbowmen are hidden in the formations on either side, providing long-range support to the front foot soldiers. The song led by Liu Bei was in the second column, ready to take over the first song at any time.

The formation was properly arranged, and Sun Ce called Liu Bei and Zhang Fei over.

"How's the injury, can you hold on?"

Liu Bei gritted his teeth and arched his hand: "Thank you for the general's concern, it's much better, it should be fine." ”

Zhang Fei said angrily: "Don't hold on, just like you, where can you still fight with people." You watch the battle by General Sun's side, and I'll fight. He said to Sun Ce again: "So the general can always trust me, right?" ”

Sun Ce smiled. "Zhang Yide, face is earned by himself, not by others. What have you done, don't you know yourself, do you have to tell me 1510? He glanced at Liu Bei, Liu Bei's face was red, his head was lowered, and he didn't say a word. Zhang Fei was also embarrassed, stiffened his face, and forced his composure. Sun Ce then said: "I'm giving you a chance to prove yourself now, you must not let it go again." ”

Zhang Fei was depressed in his heart, arched his hand, turned around and left. Liu Bei stood aside, like a mud puppet. Sun Ce asked someone to take a Hu bed and hand it to Liu Bei.

"Sit down, let's talk before Jiang Qi arrives."

Liu Bei bowed in thanks, untied the long knife at his waist and rested it at his feet, and sat cautiously on the Hu bed, holding his knees with both hands, like a primary school student.

In the distance, a little firelight flashed, and then a little more, and then a little bit, gradually converging into a long dragon and winding its way.