Huaili City, which is thirty miles away from the place where Han Sui and Ma Teng fought, is also brightly lit at this time.

Not long ago, Guo Yan met with an envoy sent by Dong Huang, and the envoy brought Li Ru's letter.

The letter stated that Han Sui had agreed to surrender and hoped that General Guo Yan would help Han Sui and Dong Huang deal with Ma Teng together, which was a letter written by Li Ru before he went to Maoling.

It's a pity that he expected the beginning, but he didn't expect his end.

This is also something that Li Ru and Guo Yan agreed on in advance, since Han Sui has agreed to surrender, it is his own person, and it is only natural to help them deal with Ma Teng.

Therefore, Guo Yan immediately gathered the whole army, leaving his henchmen and 2,000 men to defend the city.

He led all the remaining troops to quickly dispatch and went straight to Han Sui's camp.

Because Han Sui's camp is thirty miles west of Huaili City, the Xiliang army is all cavalry, and they can arrive in an hour by galloping on horseback.

Therefore, when the army marched, it did not send any scouts, and it was this act of underestimating the enemy that brought them a catastrophe.

In the middle of the thirty-mile journey, it is necessary to pass through a small valley, out of the small valley, and then turn a corner, which is the direction of Han Sui's camp.

The valley is very small, the distance is not long, and you can see the other end from one end at a glance, so Guo Yan didn't care about bringing the army through it.

However, the front army had just rushed out of the valley in front of them, and before they could turn that corner, they stagnated.

Guo Yan was in a hurry, scolded angrily, and came to the front.

In the darkness of the night, I was all lit by torches, but I saw that there were many shadows on the road ahead, as if something was blocking the way.

The dozen or so cavalrymen who had stumbled over something, were either dead or wounded, and were loudly warning them not to advance, but to stop.

Guo Yan ordered people to come forward with torches, but in the middle of the road, I don't know who put a lot of big trees that had been cut down, and blocked the entire road.

Although the valley is out of the valley, there are still low slopes on both sides, and the slopes are densely covered with small trees, and it is impossible to go around.

Guo Yan didn't think deeply, he just urged the soldiers behind him to hurry up and move all the trees to the side of the road, the rear team had just entered the valley, and they couldn't be blocked here.

Suddenly, there was a commotion from the rear team, and soon, a small colonel ran over, "General, we may have been ambushed, and someone pushed down the big trees and boulders from the cliff to block the valley mouth behind." ”

Guo Yan was anxious when he heard this, "Whose ambush is this?" Ma Teng was surrounded by Han Sui, Han Sui and Dong Huang couldn't lie to me, then there was only the Bingzhou Army, but didn't the battle report that arrived yesterday say that the North and South Merge States Army were still in Zheng County and Lantian? When did you run to the west of Chang'an? ”

Guo Yan didn't care about wondering how the state army came, "Prepare for war, prepare for war, the front army will quickly clear the barricades, and the others be on guard!" ”

At the same time as he shouted "prepare for battle", he only heard the sound of the bowstring in all directions, and there was no light, only the sound of swishing, and then countless arrows were shot from all directions.

The Bingzhou army did not shoot torches, but stayed in the dark, but the Xiliang army was everyone with torches, and it was the best target in this dark night.

The ambush for them was a unit with the best average score in the tactical assessment and archery subjects in the state army, even if there were many marksmen in the reconnaissance regiment, but the guard regiment and the special service regiment also had their own marksmen.

Their crossbows were almost evenly equipped, and their personnel were not shielded soldiers, but cavalry.

Wave after wave of arrow rain ruthlessly and efficiently harvested the lives of the Xiliang army.

When the first wave of arrows came, Guo Yan wittily rolled off his horse and became a live target on the horse.

"Tree shields, hurry up, put up all the shields." Guo Yan shouted.

Since listening to Fan Chou's introduction to the Bingzhou army, Li Ru suggested that the Xiliang army add many shields, the infantry had large shields, and the cavalry was also equipped with a lot of small round shields in order to deal with the crossbows of the Bingzhou army.

Guo Yan's army was basically cavalry, so it was not equipped with hoplites, nor was it equipped with large shields, but it was equipped with many small round shields.

The soldiers of the Xiliang Army studied their explanations one after another, jumped off their horses, and used round shields to protect their heads and chests and other vital parts.

The rear team that was still in the valley was driven out little by little by the arrows and stones that fell from overhead.

Nearly 30,000 people gathered in the area from the valley mouth to the bend, and the density of people and horses was too great.

At this time, someone finally reacted and threw away the torch in his hand from a distance, and everyone else reacted as if they had just woken up from a dream and extinguished the torch in their hand one after another.

At last all the light was gone, and there was no more sound of the terrible bowstring rattling except for the groans of men and horses, and the cries of pain.

Just when everyone in the Xiliang Army was rejoicing in this short period of calm, on the cliffs in all directions, the trees suddenly lit up with dots of light, like stars in the night sky, which was very beautiful.

Guo Yan is worthy of being a battle-hardened veteran, and he was the first to react, "Rocket, be careful of the rocket!" ”

Guo Yan's shout seemed to be an order, and a brilliant meteor shower seemed to fall in the darkness, and countless meteors crossed the night sky, scrambling to fall into the formation of the Xiliang army.

Rockets, really rockets, some hit people, some hit horses, and more often they shot in open spaces.

Some of the rockets fired on the ground actually lit up a large cluster of sparks, just like the kind of fireworks used for reporting, which were very bright and dazzling, and some war horses were shocked.

The rocket that fell on the ground quickly ignited the grass and trees on the ground, and it burst into flames.

At this time, Guo Yan found that the ground under his feet seemed to have been sprinkled with some flammable hay and some black powder, with a faint smell of sulfur.

The fireball that was like fireworks just now happened after the rocket fell on the black powder, and after the hay was ignited, it would burn quickly, and the entire Liangzhou army was already as bright as day.

This was followed by the hateful sound of the bowstring, but this time the bowstring was mixed with some heavy wind.

When the heavy wind came into close contact with the physical body of the Liangzhou army, Guo Yan was desperate to find that it was a throwing spear, and the throwing gun could easily penetrate the small round shields of the cavalry.

After the popularization of crossbows in the state army, both infantry and cavalry also appropriately retained throwing guns, especially cavalry, which were carried by horses, and each person kept two throwing guns.

Guo Yan realized that if this continued, 30,000 people would all die here, although the Xiliang Army also had a lot of strong bows and crossbows, but the opposite side was dark, where to aim?

So far, I can only break through, and I can break through at any cost.

Guo Yan issued an order to break through, and it was impossible for the Liangzhou army to retreat to the valley, so they could only move forward with all their might, withstanding the rain of arrows and stepping on the fire, and struggling to move away from the big trees that were blocking in front.

There were some ditches and pitfalls behind the trees, but not much, because the time was too short to dig more and deeper.

The Liangzhou army desperately pushed the dead or wounded horses into the trenches and pits, and soon filled in the way out.

(End of chapter)