"My son is dead!" When he learned the news, Fan Ji's face turned blue, and he almost fell to the ground with his eyes rolled, and several retainers hurriedly surrounded him, pinching the people among the people, and touching the chest of the chest, so that he could calm his anger over.

"Is my son really dead?" After opening his eyes, the first thing Fan Jiji did was to grab the messenger from Chaoge and ask again hysterically.

"Only, the lord, the gentleman died in Muye, died at the hands of Zhao Wuxian." The messenger seemed to have traveled a long way, his voice muttered with exhaustion, and there were even dried blood stains on his broken armor.

The retainers and generals present quieted down one after another, listening to the messenger explain what had happened. In the spacious camp of the Fan army, only the charcoal in the copper furnace was crackling.

Since Zhao Wuxian's return to Jin in March, Fan has been preparing for war on horses, and when the news of Handanwu's death came out, Fan Jiji, who had expected it, ordered his retainers to recruit soldiers. The Handan clan lost the lawsuit and was considered to have rebelled against the Zhao clan, as an ally, the Fan clan naturally wanted to stand up for it, and the army that completed the levy issued weapons and armor in Chaoge, and they all went westward and stopped Zhao's 7,000 people by the Qinshui.

New hatred and old hatred, things have come to this point, both sides have killed blood, and they don't care about what is the first disaster or not, Fan and Bank of China, Handan have joined forces, and have a military advantage east of Taihang, as long as they can cut off the big river and defeat Zhao Ying first, they will be able to gain a comprehensive advantage, and have the opportunity to bring the Zhi clan over, and at the same time let Han and Wei dare not act rashly.

So the Fan clan has been waiting for the Zhongxing clan to come over and join the troops, but who expected that ten days have passed, but what they got is such bad news.

The messenger gave a brief account of the battle that had taken place in Makino, during which Fan Jiji did not say a word, and he sat behind his desk in a daze, his eyes motionless as he listened. I don't know if I have come out of the pain of losing my child.

"How is this possible?" Fan Ji's fat eldest brother Fan Wei groaned, "Since the death of the mourning son in Handan, it has only been more than a month, even if you send boats, light vehicles, and fast horses back to Lu to report the news as soon as possible, it is impossible for the Lu soldiers recruited from there to cross the big river!" Unless he can fly back to report the news. Or Zhao Bing can travel seventy or eighty miles a day. ”

"It doesn't matter what means Zhao Wuxian used to get the news of the Lu State to recruit troops in advance, or what methods he used to increase the speed of the march, what matters is that Eastern Zhao has crossed the river south of Chaoge and annihilated the army we sent to attack Jianjin, now, where are they......" Another retainer, Wang Sheng, who was recognized as the first adviser of the Fan family, stopped everyone's wild speculation. Now that he was able to stabilize his mind, he asked the key point.

The messenger said: "Zhao Wuxian is still staying in Muyi, with great fanfare, as if he has the intention of attacking Chaoge. ”

After hearing this, the pessimistic Fan Wei wailed again. "The Handan clan was annihilated, my nephew was unfortunately in distress, and Chaoge was attacked again...... It's a catastrophe! ”

A retainer interrupted his nonsense sneeringly: "Don't stop here...... The immediate priority is, what is the next step for Fan? ”

Fan Weidao: "What else? The Handan soldiers who went south were either killed, captured, or scattered. They have lost the strength to fight. And Zhao Wuxian is even more ready to march into Chaoge and cut off the connection between Zhongxingbo and us. The Zhao clan has the upper hand......"

He suddenly suggested: "For the sake of today's plan, maybe you can send someone to cross the Qinshui and go to ask for peace with Zhao Meng, anyway, this war, the Zhao family is just for Handan, their family affairs." Just let them figure it out on their own. ”

The retainers in the tent were speechless for a while, Fan Wei is the brother-in-law of the head of the family, but he is very weak and incompetent, and he has no knowledge, and now the enemy is present. It would be a great loss of morale to say such a thing.

"Ping, please?" At this moment, Fan Jijiao finally spoke, he slapped the case, drank the porcelain wine cup in front of him, and then threw the empty bottle in front of Fan Wei, falling into thousands of pieces at his feet, and the splattered fragments cut his fat face out of blood, so frightened that Fan Wei almost jumped.

"Brother Meng, ever since my father and the Qi people jointly assassinated Le Qi in Yangjiban, and since the moment Zhao Wuxian drowned my eldest son in the big river, the chances of reconciliation between the Fan family and the Zhao family have been shattered. Now he killed my son again, and he wants me to make peace with the Zhao family? It's harder than using this broken lamp in the ground to hold wine! I and Zhao's father and son, don't share the sky! ”

Fan Ji's eyes were so red that they seemed to be bleeding, his two sons were killed at the hands of Zhao Wuxian, and the hatred between Fan and Zhao was already higher than Taihang and deeper than the East China Sea.

"Not bad." Seeing that Fan Wei shrank his head and didn't dare to mention the matter of peace again, Wang Sheng stood up and said: "This battle alone is not enough to determine the overall victory, in fact, it is a good thing that Zhao Wuxian stayed near Chaoge." ”

Everyone was puzzled: "A good thing? ”

"However, at this moment, the army of Zhongxingbo should have arrived, and the thousands of people of the Zhao family are probably no match for Dongyang's strong soldiers, not to mention the people in Chaoge City who are bent on revenge for the gentleman. The Fan family has been a monk for a hundred years, and it is finally time to come in handy, and Zhao Wuxian will definitely not be able to threaten Chaoge. I'm worried about something else than that......"

Fan Jishu pointed at him: "What's the matter, say it quickly." ”

Wang Sheng said worriedly: "What I'm worried about is that Zhao Wuxian's stay in Chaoge is fake, rushing westward, intending to attack our army with Zhao Ying on the other side of Qinshui, if so, ...... true."

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the tent!

……

"What's the noise?"

Wang Sheng is not only a strategist of the Fan family, but also a person who manages the camp, he led the order out of the tent, looking at the opposite bank, only to see the night falling, the water is flowing endlessly, the Zhao camp on the opposite bank is brightly lit, and there are many faint flags from the camp one after another. At the same time, there were even people with torches, pulling the long marching procession upstream, looking from Wang Sheng's position, like a flaming snake, with a scale of five or six thousand people.

"Not good!" Wang Sheng secretly said that it was not good, and the enemy army had planned this action for a long time.

He walked quickly to the river, observed the flow of the river, and felt that it was much smaller than in the afternoon, and then he picked up a few small stones and threw them into the water, which smashed into a small whirlpool on the surface of the water, and sank to the bottom of the river with a few bubbles.

Wang Sheng pinched his fingers and calculated, and said secretly: "The flow rate of this Qinshui is really much smaller...... His face gradually became solemn, for some reason, there is always an ominous premonition tonight.

Qinshui originates in the deep mountains of Taihang and flows southeast. It crosses the Taihang and flows through Nanyang, and finally joins the big river in the area of Huai County of the Han family, and the waterway is about 900 miles long. Wang Sheng is quite familiar with the geographical situation, and knows that this Qinshui is bent and looped, sandy and easy to silt, and its characteristics are between winter and spring. The depth is not full, and the rain falls in summer and autumn, which is often overflowing.

It is now the end of April, and the rain has not been for a while, and the water is not big or small, although it is not yet flooding, it is difficult for people to come over.

But now, due to unusual reasons, the flow of water has decreased dramatically. And on the other side, Zhao Bing had another posture of forcibly crossing......

"The Zhao clan must be congesting the waterway upstream, and plans to force the crossing, send people to go upstream along the river bank, and strengthen the bank defense in those places where it is easy to cross the river!" Fan Jishu also temporarily put aside the pain of losing his son and came out to check it out in person. The rest of the soldiers in the camp had been woken up one by one, and they gathered on the shore, vigilantly observing the movements of the enemy troops.

But Wang Sheng came over and said this and this in Fan Ji's ear.

Fan Ji looked suspicious: "Withdraw troops? You suggest I withdraw my troops? ”

Faced with the sovereign's incomprehension, Wang Sheng said: "Not bad. The water is wide, and the river is full of silt. It will take at least two hours for all the Zhao soldiers to cross the river, so it is better to take advantage of the fact that they have not yet entered the water and let the whole army evacuate quickly, and it will not take two hours to withdraw to Yongyi. ”

Fan Jishu was very dissatisfied: "Why is this? Aren't you, like my brother Meng, thinking of avoiding war? ”

"Not really. It was only the servant who asked the camp officer, and he said that the scouts sent to the east had not yet returned! The sovereign should understand what this means......"

The Fan army camped on the east bank of Qinshui to confront the Zhao clan, and the supplies were obtained from Yongyi in the north, while being careful every day. Not only is the camp densely covered with sharpened wooden fences. Scouts were sent to the north, west, and southeast to patrol twenty miles away, and report in a timely manner, whether there was a vigilance or not.

If you don't return, it's a sign that something is going on.

Wang Sheng explained: "Previously, I stayed in Qinshui to confront the Zhao clan in order to wait for the Zhongxing clan to converge, but now the situation has changed, Jianjin has not been captured, Zhao Wuxian has landed and headed north, and the rear of our army is no longer safe." In my opinion, it's better to avoid it for a while, the Fan family can't lose anymore, it's better to be cautious, it's better than being caught between the Zhao family and his son......"

Fan Ji's heart was full of hatred for his son's killing, and he couldn't make a choice for a while, and when he was thinking, the Fan camp close to the downstream suddenly made a golden drum! Fan and Wang raised their heads suddenly, and were immediately stunned by the scene in front of them.

……

Before, there were soldiers in the Zhao camp on the other bank to go upstream with torches, and the place near the downstream looked dark and silent, and the river in that area was relatively wide, more than 100 steps wide, and no one would force it to cross. Therefore, when the defense was arranged, no heavy troops were deployed. But now, from the swarthy water, there are hundreds of more figures, because the Zhao clan cut off the flow of water on it, the water surface can only pass their waists, and they can completely flow over, they are all short soldiers, naked and desperately moving towards this side.

A few people had already landed in the dark and killed the Fan soldiers on the shore, but fortunately they were spotted by the watchtower with good vision, and then the golden drum of warning was sounded, and at the same time, a rain of arrows shot the landers and forced them to retreat.

The people on the other side were no longer hidden, and for a time there was a loud sound of killing, and at the same time the sound of the water was rattling, and I don't know how many people had gone into the water in the darkness and were forcibly crossing the river.

Wang Sheng stomped his feet: "Not good! Fell for the Zhao family's trick! ”

"Zhao Meng's subordinates must have wise men, and they actually let people go upstream with torches to pretend to cross the river, but in fact, the main force has been waiting downstream with bated breath, and after we have mobilized our troops, we will suddenly lead the troops to force the crossing, we have been fooled!"

Things have developed to this point, Fan Jijiao also understood that he had been tricked, he was furious for a while, drew his sword and shouted angrily: "There are more of us in number, there is still a division of soldiers ready at any time behind the battalion, quickly go and transfer them over, we must drive Zhao soldiers down the river, and Hugh must let one person land!" ”

Now even if the Fan clan wants to withdraw, it is not easy to withdraw, Wang Sheng has no choice but to command everyone to defend, and even Fan Ji's personal guards also rushed downstream with shields and spears, and they lined up near the river to take precautions.

However, before the matter was over, at this moment, they suddenly heard a faint drum sound coming from the east, and the sound of shouting and killing came with the night wind.

Wang Sheng was frightened, he climbed the watchtower, turned his head to look east, and was stunned.

On the Hanoi Plain of the Black Hole Cave, the light is unobstructed, and I don't know when, there is an extra fire dragon on the field, they came from a distance, and the marching speed is very fast, judging by the speed of travel......

It must be a car ride!

By the time the torch-carrying cavalry swept past the Van camp and fired rockets onto the watchtower, their identities were confirmed.

In this world, there are dozens of princes and states, and hundreds of families of the princes, but only one has a formed cavalry unit under its command......

In the firelight, Zhao's scorching bird banner stood on a hill, Zhao Wuxian wore a fluttering red tasseled hood, wore a black copper skin armor, wore a crimson battle robe, and wore a black scabbard with a straight blade ring knife, riding a seven-foot-high, handsome and majestic horse, and a crossbow hanging from the saddle.

The young commander of the Zhao clan immediately slashed at the Fan clan's big tent a few miles away, and behind him, there was a raging sea of fire, continuous before and after, without a single interval.

It's the all-bearded and full-tailed Dongzhao army! The faces of the five thousand Song Lu disciples were covered with dust from the long journey, but they couldn't hide the flickering flames in their eyes!

(To be continued.) )