Wei Yan gave another order, leaving 5,000 men to guard Xicheng, and he himself took 5,000 men and horses to the Meridian Valley early the next morning.

Xiahou Yuan was panting at this time, this is not as good as the Central Plains, there is a flat river everywhere, you can ride a horse and gallop around, here are mountains everywhere, there are barren grasses and trees everywhere, the terrain is undulating, not to mention horseback riding, there is not even a normal road in many places, and you have to beware of wild beasts that haunt from time to time, so even if you are the commander of the first army, he still has to walk and march on his own two legs.

However, he was very happy in his heart: "Presumably Wei Yan should be very busy at the moment, but I don't know if the fire in Xicheng has risen." ”

His younger brother Xiahoudun went directly to the Meridian Valley according to his order, occupied the mouth of the valley, and sent back the news that it was less than a hundred miles away from the Meridian Valley, and he could reach it in one day, so even though it was hard, his heart was still full of joy!

The difference between the two armies was hundreds of miles, and he believed that as long as the second brother occupied the valley mouth, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if Wei Yan found out his whereabouts and led the army to kill, even if Liu Yong came in person, what could he do, as long as he entered the Meridian Valley Mountain Road, he would soon be able to return to the Central Plains where he could gallop freely!

Xiahou Yuan was happily thinking about beautiful things in his heart, and he couldn't help but smile on his face.

A day later, at the mouth of the Meridian Valley, a large group of men and horses arrived not far away, under the banner of Cao Jun, it was Xiahoudun's 5,000 men and horses who set off one step earlier.

The scouts sent to investigate reported that no anomalies were found, and although a team of scouts sent out had not yet returned, Xiahoudun did not want to wait any longer.

It's normal for scouts to come back late or even not at all when they encounter an unexpected situation.

In the army, if you want to talk about the type of army with the highest mortality rate, it must be the scout. Scouts are all for the army to explore the way, the first time to arrive at a place, to always concentrate, pay attention to all kinds of situations and terrain, encounter enemy troops, beasts, poisonous insects, and even traps, special terrain such as hidden pits, cliffs, hidden beasts, etc., can be killed at any time, every time you go out, no one knows if you can come back, even if the whole team is wiped out is a normal thing.

Xiahoudun knew that their brothers' whereabouts couldn't be hidden for long, especially Zhang He, who must have already guessed their intentions, and was afraid that they were chasing after them all the way. He must take the mouth of the Meridian Valley before Zhang He, block the enemy soldiers and horses, and wait for his brother to arrive.

"Shoot the arrows!"

Just five miles ahead, about to see the mouth of the valley, suddenly shouted, in this deserted land, almost scared Xiahoudun's heart out of the way.

Immediately after that, there was a rain of arrows on all sides, and five thousand men and horses were defenseless, and in an instant, a large number of people fell, not to mention six or seven hundred.

"Withdraw! Evacuate! There are ambushes! Xiahou Yuan immediately shouted a loud order.

However, the terrain here is not open, and there is a mountain road in the middle between the two mountain ranges, which can only be accompanied by four or five people in parallel, so it is not easy to retreat.

Hearing the order, Cao Jun swarmed out of the valley like a prisoner who had been amnesty, and because he was anxious to flee for his life, he rushed back, and in the chaos, the road was completely blocked, while the men and horses behind did not get the order, and still rushed to the valley with the hope of life, completely blocking the retreat.

Crowding and stampeding on each other, some people even stabbed their weapons directly into their partners' chests in order to fight for their way, and then they were pierced by others......

As time goes by, there are more and more people who are hit by arrows, and the corpses at the mouth of the valley are piled up like a mountain, and the blood flows into a river, like a hell on earth.

Xiahoudun was hit by two arrows in his body, but fortunately he reacted quickly and avoided the vital point, otherwise where would he still be alive.

After more than 2,000 casualties, the rest of the people finally withdrew from the valley, and Xiahoudun also escaped under the desperate escort of his soldiers.

Although people die every time they fight, these battle-hardened veterans are obviously very experienced, every time there are dead and wounded, there are only a few people, but I didn't expect that this time they were almost all wiped out, so that Xiahoudun received a heavy blow.

At this moment, Xiahoudun suddenly remembered that the team of scouts who did not come back was the same team that probed the situation in the valley......

Since the Meridian Valley was already occupied by the defenders, and he was worried about being attacked by the enemy again, Xiahoudun had no choice but to retreat with the remnants of the army to camp thirty miles away again, waiting for Xiahouyuan's brigade to arrive.

Xiahou Yuan's 35,000 men and horses were too many, plus more than 1,000 taels of grain, grass, weapons and articles carried out from the city, the whole team stretched for several miles, and the movement was really slow, and it was a mountain road, and it only traveled 50 miles in one day.

He had the intention of abandoning the grain transportation team composed of procrastinating auxiliaries and people, but he was worried that once such an important place in the Meridian Valley was occupied by the Jingzhou army, he could only attack it. When the time comes, there will be no supply of food and grass, and the morale of the army will inevitably be shaken, and without the enemy's attack, it will have to collapse in internal strife. In desperation, despite the slow speed, Xiahou Yuan still led the entire team to march slowly, which was also the reason why he ordered Xiahou Yuan to take the first step forward to occupy the mouth of the Meridian Valley.

By the time Xiahou Yuan arrived, it was already dusk three days later, and the red sunset tried its best to dye everything blood-colored with the last ray, shivering in the cold wind.

When the brothers met, Xiahou Yuan learned that the mouth of the Meridian Valley had been occupied by the Jingzhou army, and he also ambushed his 5,000 men and horses, killing nearly half of the dead and wounded, and his brows immediately furrowed.

Although his plan is good, the enemy naturally knows the importance of this place, and it is not surprising that he has sent troops here to garrison it early, but Xiahou Yuan was ambushed and suffered heavy casualties, which is a bit special, which is enough to show that the Jingzhou army has long known that they are coming here, and the time is very accurate, and they set up ambushes here in advance to wait for their arrival.

Leaked messages?

Xiahou Yuan immediately shook his head and denied this possibility, only the two brothers knew about it, and it was impossible for any of them to do such a thing.

The second and final possibility means that the enemy has long expected them to come, and it is these days, this ......

"Shhh......h

If this is the case, it means that the enemy has already seen through their strategy, and his self-righteous and seamless strategy is completely child's play in the eyes of others, and what Wei Yan and Zhang He are doing is actually playing games with themselves, in that case......

Xiahou Yuan had a deep sense of frustration, indescribable, but it was cold to the bone marrow, but he couldn't afford to resist at all.

Cold! It's cold!

Xiahou Yuan wrapped his cloak tighter, but the coldness in his heart did not weaken in the slightest, but seemed to be a little better.

"It's good to get through the night!" Xiahou Yuan looked at the huge valley in the distance and muttered to himself.