Xiao Tianjian led Luo Li's two battalions back to Lushi County the day after Cao Wenyao retreated, and before he returned, Liu Bao had already led his headquarters to rush to the official road crossing one step in advance, and after breaking through a defensive line of the official army, he entered the earthen fort.

The reason why Liu Bao's rescue was belated, in fact, was not that he didn't want to reinforce Liu Yaoben earlier, but when he learned the news, he immediately dispatched some of his subordinates to reinforce Liu Yaoben, but because they encountered a sentry on the road to block the official army, they first repelled the small force of the official army, and then were delayed for half a day, and then encountered heavy rain, the road was washed away by floods, and the road had to be discarded on the road and made a detour in the mountains, so that it took a full day or two to arrive at the official road crossing.

Fortunately, he led his troops to arrive in time, otherwise Liu Yaoben might have been wiped out in the Guandaokou Soldier Fort with the battalion under his command, although he came some time late, but in the end Liu Bao still saved Liu Yaoben.

Although Cao Wenyao was full of unwillingness, he also knew that this battle could no longer be fought, in the past few days, including the loss of the night of the attack on the camp, his soldiers and horses lost more than 2,000 people here at the official road crossing, and the loss exceeded two or three percent of all his men.

But he also knew that after these few days of fierce fighting, the two officers and soldiers under his command had been shocked by the fighting spirit of the Xingtian Army, he didn't expect that just such a partial division of the Xingtian Army would have such a strong combat effectiveness, and at the same time have such a tenacious will to fight, in the face of so many of their officers and soldiers attacking, fighting to the death, all the officers and soldiers have been frightened by the terrible combat effectiveness of the Xingtian Army, and now that the reinforcements of the thief army have arrived, has he been able to stop the reinforcements from entering the earthen fort, if he forces his subordinates to continue to attack, I don't want the officers and soldiers under his command to make a mutiny for him on the spot.

Therefore, no matter how reluctant he was, he had to order a retreat, and early the next morning when Liu Bao led his troops to Guandaokou, he led the army to retreat to Hangu Pass, where they set off, to temporarily rest and replenish.

The danger of the Lu clan was thus lifted, but after this battle, for Liu Yaoben's teaching battalion, it can also be said to be a heavy loss, under the attack of the superior artillery fire of the officers and soldiers, they paid nearly half of the casualties, including nearly 2,000 troops including two companies of recruits, and when Liu Bao arrived, only half of them were left and there were still some shortcomings, more than 500 people were killed, and more than 700 people were lightly and seriously injured. If it weren't for the fact that every company was equipped with medical guards, the number of fallen soldiers would have been much higher, and even so, nearly 100 of them would have died, and more than 100 of them would have been left disabled, and they would have withdrawn from the battle sequence of the Heavenly Army and returned to the local area.

And this battle taught a battalion of young officers since Liu Yaoben suffered more serious losses, Liu Yaoben was seriously injured, his deputy Jiang Erdan was killed, only five of the dozen main and deputy company commanders survived, and the officers below the team were even more casualties reduced by seventy, the reason why the casualties of officers will be so large is precisely because the Xingtian Army has always required officers to be at the forefront, so often the officers are in the front, and it is impossible to have small casualties! If you want to teach a battalion to restore its combat effectiveness in a short time, it will be necessary to carry out another large-scale replenishment.

After Liu Yaoben led his troops to the official road crossing, even if he fainted, he launched a high fever that night, and was sent by Liu Bao to Lushi County for treatment overnight, and found the best Lang Zhong in Lushi County for treatment, and finally saved his life, but he was still in a high fever coma, and he suffered a total of seven battle wounds, the most serious being the gunshot wound in his right chest and the arrow wound that penetrated his waist, because of the rain and repeated cracking, the wound was inflamed, even if it was to save his life, It is unlikely that it will be restored in a short period of time.

When Xiao Tianjian returned to Lu's school, Liu Yaoben had not yet woken up, and Xiao Tianjian first visited all the soldiers of the first battalion of teaching stationed at Guandaokou, and then rushed to Lushi County to visit Liu Yaoben.

When he walked into Liu Yaoben's ward, he smelled a strong smell of medicine, Liu Yaoben lay quietly on the couch, his cheeks were sunken, even his eyes were sunken, the whole person lost a lot of weight, and his face was even more pale and scary, originally he was just eighteen years old, if he was placed in the next generation, I am afraid that he would still be living by his parents' side to open his mouth and stretch his hands, but now he is already full of vicissitudes of life, and his beard has grown, and he has become a fierce general under Xiao Tianjian.

Xiao Tianjian waved his hand to let the medical soldiers who took care of Liu Yaoben retreat, slowly sat on the edge of Liu Yaoben's bed, reached out and touched Liu Yaoben's forehead, and felt that it was still a little hot. Resist me! Kill! ......The two fists were also clenched tightly, and the body was also tense, as if they were still immersed in the fierce battlefield.

Xiao Tianjian gently patted Liu Yaoben's hand in distress, and whispered: "Boy! The battle is over! You've won! Relax! It's me late! I've made you suffer! ”

It's strange to say, Liu Yaoben, who has been in a coma for three consecutive days, actually woke up leisurely after Xiao Tianjian finished speaking, opened his eyes, looked at the things around him in a daze, and finally locked the focus of his gaze on Xiao Tianjian's face, when he recognized Xiao Tianjian, Liu Yaoben actually opened his mouth full of white teeth, showed a smile to Xiao Tianjian, and then whispered: "Handsome!" I didn't lose the official crossing! My teaching camp didn't disgrace you! ”

Xiao Tianjian felt that his nose was sour, and he almost shed tears, so he quickly nodded and said, "I know, I know everything!" You've done a great job! Your brethren are all good! ”

Liu Yaoben smiled weakly and asked Xiao Tianjian, "What about Cao Wenyao?" Did the officers and troops withdraw? ”

Xiao Tianjian also held back his tears, sniffled, and said to him with a smile: "Cao Wenyao is not a stupid person, as soon as Liu Bao arrived at him, he led his troops and withdrew to Hangu Pass, I didn't catch up with this guy!" ”

Liu Yaoben suddenly remembered that these days, the little brothers who died in front of him one by one, their expressions suddenly dimmed, and said to Xiao Tianjian: "Those brothers are all good, there are not a few pustules, many of them have fallen forward, I can't stand them!" ”

Xiao Tianjian nodded and said, "I know, they are all good, and almost none of the people who come out of the youth camp are of bad seeds!" I know this, don't think about it, the key for you now is to heal your injuries quickly, I'm still waiting for you to rebuild the teaching camp for me from scratch! By the way, I forgot to tell you, now your battalion is no longer called the first teaching battalion, and today when I was at the official road entrance, I have already changed the title of your teaching battalion! Now your battalion is called the Iron Bone Battalion! Well, are you happy with the title? ”

When Liu Yaoben heard this, he immediately bared his teeth and laughed again, lying on the bed and laughing: "Thank you, Dashuai!" Good! Iron Bone Battalion, haha! Iron Bone Battalion! Now Uncle Luo and Uncle Liu, they won't laugh at us, the guys who came out of the youth camp! ”

Xiao Tianjian got up and said, "Okay! It's best for you to wake up, hurry up and heal your injuries and return to the team, the whole Iron Bone Battalion is waiting for you! Eat more good things, you lost a lot of blood this time, and there will be more battles in the future, with your iron bone battalion! This is the order, did you hear that? ”

Liu Yaoben struggled for a while and wanted to lie down and salute Xiao Tianjian, but he touched the wound and immediately grinned and screamed, where is there still a little bit of iron-clad appearance when he was at the official road crossing! Liu Yao was so painful that his nose and tears flowed, and he cried out with a sad face: "Got it! It hurts! ”

Xiao Tianjian immediately laughed, reached out and rubbed his head, got up and left his hospital room.