The Xuzhou army was defeated and retreated again, this was the third time, this time it was the closest to success, but just when they were about to break through the army formation composed of thousands of foot soldiers of Gao Shun, Zhang Liao appeared at the right time with the cavalry that had just left the battlefield, and a rain of arrows and a charge crushed them.

Cao Bao saw that he was about to go out of the Xuzhou realm in the future, and saw the look on Guan Yu's face next to him implied mockery, his face was a little unbearable, and he couldn't help shouting: "Sons, Mi Zhu betrayed the lord and is fleeing to Jingzhou with his family's belongings, as long as he rushes over, whoever grabs the golden silk woman will be counted!" ”

Who doesn't know that the Mi family is the richest man in Xuzhou, and if he runs away with his family, the belongings he carries with him are definitely an unimaginable number. There must be a brave man under the heavy reward, Cao Bao's order, the soldiers of the Xuzhou Army were red-eyed, as if what was waiting for them in front of them was not a flash of arrows, knives and guns, but piles of gold, silver and jewelry, and beautiful women rushed up with strange screams. Although the arrows on the opposite side rained down, and the soldiers of the Xuzhou Army who launched the attack fell one after another, this time no one retreated, just stepped on the corpses of their comrades forward, forward, and forward.

Seeing that his soldiers were about to rush to the front of the Jingzhou army, Cao Bao was secretly proud in his heart, and felt that the earth trembled in a trance, and he couldn't help but feel excited, he couldn't imagine that tens of thousands of infantry rushing together could produce such an effect, and it was not inferior to the scene of thousands of horses galloping.

Cao Bao couldn't help but glance at Liu Bei and Guan Yu beside him, and was about to open his mouth to show off a few words, when he felt that the sky was dark, and when he looked up, he was surprised. I saw countless feathered arrows in the sky rushing towards me like flying locusts, and the Xuzhou soldiers in the charge fell like harvested crops in the blink of an eye.

Guan Yu shouted: "It's not good! The enemy's reinforcements are coming, big brother go quickly! ”

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Cao Bao had already turned his horse's head and retreated first, he saw it clearly, the two wings of the Jingzhou army on the opposite side did not know where countless cavalry appeared, a large area of black pressure, there were tens of thousands of people, and if he didn't escape, he would only die. Liu Bei secretly said "It's a pity", and also turned his horse back and left, Guan Yu carried a big knife to guard him tightly.

Liu Bei and others ran wildly all the way, escaped five or six miles, and from time to time there were terrible screams behind them, and in their panic, they heard a "whirring" wind sound in their ears, and a short gun flew past him, penetrating the back of a personal soldier in front of him, and nailed the personal soldier to the ground with his horse, which shows how powerful this shot is.

Seeing this, Guan Yu was even more careful, holding the big knife tightly and concentrating on vigilance, and suddenly shouted, the knife flashed, only to hear the sound of "dang", a short gun was knocked away by him, turned over in the air, and was stabbing on the butt of Cao Bao in front. The horse was in pain, and with a mournful cry, the man stood up and threw Cao Bao to the ground. Before Cao Bao could get up, the horse's hooves with the big mouth of the bowl fell and stepped on his lap. Cao Bao screamed "ah", fainted on the spot, and hurriedly rescued him left and right.

This short spear was thrown, if it weren't for Guan Yu's quick eyes and quick hands, he would have stabbed Liu Bei to the heart. Guan Yu was not furious, and when he turned his head to look, he saw that more than a dozen horsemen were hurrying over, but the one who rushed to the front was a childish young man, with three short guns on his back and an iron gun in his hand, his expression was very cold and resolute, and the two short guns just now were obviously thrown by him.

When the young man approached, he didn't speak, he stabbed at Guan Yu with a gun, he obviously saw the short gun he threw just now being knocked away by this red-faced man, knowing that this person was a strong opponent, this shot used enough strength, fast as lightning, and arrived in front of Guan Yu in an instant. When Guan Yu saw that the young man's outfit was just an ordinary soldier, where did he put him in his eyes, and when he raised the Qinglong Knife, he felt a strong force coming, and hurriedly put away his contempt, and with both arms, he opened the gun.

The two horses intersected, Guan Yu fought with the young man for three or five rounds, and seeing that his marksmanship was wonderful, there were no flaws, and he couldn't help but praise secretly, pressed his iron spear with a knife, and shouted in a deep voice: "And slow down!" Guan's subordinates don't kill unknown generals, who are you? ”

The young man said coldly: "Ma Chao, a pawn of the Sixth Legion of the Great Han, is also! ”

Guan Yu said with a smile: "It is said that Liu Xin is thirsty for talent, it turns out that it is all nonsense, like a little brother, but he is only a pawn, it's a pity, it's a pity!" ”

Ma Chao thought that he only talked about martial arts, not to mention being a captain, even if he was a general, it was more than enough, but Liu Xin only arranged for him to start as a pawn in the Sixth Army. Therefore, Guan Yu's words were talking about Ma Chao's sore spot, and he felt a little annoyed and angry, and shouted: "If you want to fight, what are you doing with so much nonsense!" ”

Guan Yu stopped Ma Chao just to buy time for Liu Bei to escape, he glanced at it from the corner of his eye, and saw that Liu Bei had gone far, he couldn't help laughing, and said: "My eldest brother is a member of the Han family, and he is a masterpiece in the world." Little brother, if one day you feel that you are not satisfied with Liu Xin, you can go to Xuzhou to find Guan, and my eldest brother will definitely treat you like a guest. Today, Shu Guan will no longer accompany him, so he will leave! ”

When he said this, he suddenly exerted force in his hand, and the Qinglong knife pulled up a piece of knife flower. Ma Chao was pondering the meaning of his words, and unconsciously his hand sank, and the iron spear danced rapidly, protecting his body, and when he looked again, Guan Yu had already withdrawn a few feet away. Ma Chao was about to catch up, but suddenly heard the hooves of the horses behind him, and one of them shouted: "Don't chase the poor guy!" ”

When Ma Chao looked back, it was Zhao Yun who arrived quickly, so he had to put on an iron gun, restrain the war horse, and return in a huff.

"Order the three armies, hurry up and clean up the battlefield, and no one should be missed!" Zhao Yun commanded, beat the horse and came to Ma Chao's side, and praised, "What a Ma Chao, no wonder the lord said that your martial arts are not under Zhao, and when you see it today, it really deserves its reputation!" ”

Ma Chao said in surprise: "General Zhao, are you saying that the lord knows my martial arts?" How is this possible? He only made me a pawn. ”

Zhao Yun said with a smile: "Our lord's actions are often unexpected, and it is not for us to be subordinates who can guess clearly." For your affairs, the lord has specially explained that he wants you to start from a pawn step by step, and set a big tool in the future. Do you know that even Sun Ce, the son-in-law of the lord, started as a recruit. ”

Ma Chao was suddenly ashamed, and arched his hand and said: "If it weren't for the general to wake up, Ma Chao would have almost gone astray." ”

Zhao Yun's eyesight is excellent, and he saw Guan Yu and Ma Chao muttering something there from a distance, he knew that Ma Chao was unwilling to be only a pawn, I was afraid that he was bewitched by Guan Yu, so he told him the truth. Seeing that Ma Chao had understood, Zhao Yun said with a smile: "Okay, don't think about it too much, hurry up and help clean up the battlefield." Remember, all dead and badly wounded horses have their hooves cut off! ”

At this time, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun had already rushed over, and said together: "Thanks to the general's timely rescue, otherwise today's matter would be really difficult." ”

In the past, the commander of the Fourth Army was Zhao Yun, although he was also the commander of the army, Zhao Yun's status in the army was obviously higher than that of Zhang Liao. Seeing Zhang Liao coming, Zhao Yun suddenly sank his face and said, "General Zhang, why did you let those 10,000 foot soldiers not use it, so that the cavalry suffered such huge losses?" How do you explain to your lord? ”

Although this battle was won, and it was a big victory, but thanks to Zhao Yun's timely arrival, otherwise it would be difficult to say how much the five thousand cavalry of the Fourth Army could save, and in this way, more than half of them had already been lost. And these cavalry were all brought out by Zhao Yun himself back then, and his feelings for these cavalry were naturally different.

Zhang Liao was born in the state army and has always been proud of his riding and archery skills, but just now after watching Zhao Yun's process of commanding the cavalry, it was like flowing water, and he knew what it was that there was a sky outside the sky, and there were people outside the people. Moreover, the reason why the cavalry of the Fourth Army suffered such a big loss this time was that in addition to Guan Yu's courage and invincibility, he did not give full play to the mobility of the cavalry and the cavalry shooting method, which was also an important reason.

Thinking of this, Zhang Liao jumped off the horse, abandoned the big knife, fell to the ground, and said loudly: "Zhang Mou knows that he is wrong, please Zhao Yun tie Zhang Mou, escort him back to Xiangyang, and hand it over to the lord to send him down!" ”

Gao Shun hurriedly said, "General Zhao, it's not all General Zhang's fault. The 10,000 foot soldiers were all newly recruited recruits, and General Zhang was worried that they would not know how to fight, so he put them in charge of guarding Mr. Mi's convoy instead of throwing them into battle......"

Zhao Yun waved his hand and said coldly, "What about the recruits?" If you don't really go through the baptism of the battlefield, you will never be able to become an elite soldier! General Zhang is still invited to get on the horse, how to send it, Zhao does not have this power, so let's wait until I see the lord. ”

At this time, Ma Chao rode over and said: "General Qiyu, the battlefield has been cleaned, and the remains of all the fallen soldiers have been collected. ”

Although this battle almost annihilated the 5,000 men and horses brought by Liu Bei from Xiaopei and the 30,000 Xuzhou troops temporarily handed over to him by Tao Qian under his command, the losses of the Fourth Army were also very heavy, and more than half of the cavalry alone was lost. And those foot soldiers were stationed in Xuzhou with Zhang Liao for more than two years, and they had already seen the hope of returning home, but after this battle, many people could no longer see the sun in Jingzhou. Fortunately, Liu Xin's rule that whenever possible, the bodies of the fallen soldiers must be transported back and buried ceremoniously, which can be regarded as a small comfort for these soldiers who miss their hometown.

Zhao Yun watched these vivid beings turn into cold corpses in the blink of an eye, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh, and asked with a solemn face, "What happened to the war horse?" ”

Ma Chao pointed behind him and said, "According to the general's orders, all the casualties have cut off their hooves and unsaddled their horses. Just ......"

Zhao Yun's face sank, and he asked, "Just what?" ”

Ma Chao frowned and said, "It's just that after counting, there are still four ownerless military horses that don't know their whereabouts, may I ask the general, do you want to send someone to search around?" ”