Deputy Director Tao's task to Zhang Xiu was to follow the team that responded to Wei Yan, and by the way, beware of the Jingzhou soldiers behind the possible sneak attack on Wei Yan's team. In this regard, although Zhang Xiu, who was quite arrogant, was not very reluctant, he did not want to give Deputy Director Tao the impression of not obeying orders early, so he cautiously sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the movements in front of and on both sides of the road, so as not to have an accident and affect his future in the Xuzhou army.

Zhang Xiu's arrangement did not let the scouts work in vain, only twelve or three miles away from the exit on the south side of the narrow road, the scouts of Zhang Xiu's team found the Jingzhou army Chen Sheng team who copied the small road to cut off the official road, and then Zhang Xiu did not hesitate to lead the troops to fight in the past, and after a fierce battle of the brave who met on the narrow road, Zhang Xiu, who was known as the king of guns in the north, still defeated Chen Sheng's team and forced Chen Sheng to return to the road. Then the deputies Lei Xu and Hu Che'er both proposed to pursue, but Zhang Xiu was worried that the terrain was complicated and Chen Sheng was lured into the mountains to get lost, so he ordered the whole army to immediately retreat to the official road, and continued to take the official road to Bowang to meet Wei Yan's team.

After walking seven or eight miles to the south, Zhang Xiu gradually found that the situation was wrong, because it was only four or five miles away from the exit of the narrow road, since Zhang Xiu couldn't hear the slightest shouting and killing, in confusion, Zhang Xiu slapped his horse again and came to the Lei Xu army in the front team, and prayed to listen to the movement ahead, but still did not hear the shouting and killing drums that should be heard. Even more confused, Zhang Xiu could only ask the soldiers on the left and right: "You, have you ever heard the sound of shouting and killing in the south?" ”

"Nope." All the left and right soldiers shook their heads together, and Lei Xu, who led the front team, was also a little strange. Said: "Young General, the last general has already discovered that this is wrong, along the way, the last general has never heard the sound of fighting and war drums in front of him, if it wasn't for the last general walking this road a few days ago, the last general almost suspected that we were going the wrong way." ”

"Strange? It stands to reason that shouts of killing and war drums should have been heard a long time ago, right? What's wrong? Zhang Xiuhu analyzed suspiciously: "Could it be that Wei Yan's team has gone the wrong way?" Or is the battle over? ”

"It's definitely over." Lei Xu came to his senses and said, "We set off a moment later than Wei Hongmian, and just now we went to intercept and kill Chen Sheng." It was delayed for more than half an hour. There was a delay of almost an hour, an hour, which was enough for Huang Zu's old man to clean up Wei Hong's face. ”

Zhang Xiu thought about it carefully and found that it was also an hour, although it was not a long time. But it is not impossible to finish a battle of thousands of people. Zhang Xian, who was next to him, laughed gloatingly. said: "It's really wasteful." Anyway, there are 3,000 troops, but they lost in less than an hour, Danyang ruffian. Soldiers. A single soldier and a dragon, and a group of insects in the battle array, really deserves its reputation. ”

"That's not right." Zhang Xiu continued to be suspicious and said, "If Wei Hongyan had already lost, then we should have met his defeated army a long time ago?" It's unlikely that the whole army will be wiped out, and there will be no one left, right? ”

"Uncle, it's not impossible." Zhang Xian said: "When Wei Hongmian's team set off today, you also saw the situation, so dare to call the army?" It's hooking shoulders and backs and gambling while walking, the military flag actually dares to put it on the ground and drag it away, if it is changed in our team, the flag bearer has already fallen to the ground, Huang Zu is also the chief general of Jingzhou, clean up such a ruffian. Isn't the soldier still handy? ”

"The little major general has a point." Lei Xu nodded and agreed: "Although Huang Shot's gentleman is incompetent, Huang Zu's old thing still has some ability, Sun Jian, who is known as the Jiangdong Tiger, died in his hands, and the terrain in this area is very favorable to Huang Zu, just divide a few hundred elite soldiers to block Wei Hongmian's retreat, and it is not too difficult to completely annihilate Wei Hongmian's team." ”

"Maybe those ruffians. Maybe all the soldiers surrendered. Zhang Xian gloated again: "Danyang ruffian. Zibing is notoriously difficult to control, I heard that Cao Cao was pitted by these Danyang soldiers back then, and borrowed a thousand Danyang soldiers from Danyang Taishou Zhou Xin to go north to Ping Yellow Turban, and just after the Yangtze River Danyang soldiers mutinied, almost slaughtered Cao Cao. Cao Cao is like this, and it is more normal that the red-faced maniac named Wei Yan can't control the Danyang soldiers. ”

"Impossible, right?" Zhang Xiu was a little shaken, and said: "When Tao Ying gave the order yesterday, looking at the expression, Tao Ying seemed to be very confident in Danyang soldiers, and there were other Xuzhou generals, as if they were taken for granted, there was no surprised expression. ”

"That's all these Danyang ruffians. The son is dead and dead. Zhang Xian said with a smile: "When Wei Hongyan set off, the little nephew saw with his own eyes that there were quite a lot of Xuzhou soldiers spitting at Wei Hongyan's team, and some people wished them all annihilation, and the army that was hated by the friendly army to this point was really the first time for the little nephew to see it." ”

"Report ————!" While talking, the scouts who had gone to the front to reconnoiter the situation rushed back, and when they arrived in front of Zhang Xiu and the others, they panted and shouted loudly before they could get off their horses: "General, the battle situation ahead has been discovered, and General Wei Yan's team urgently needs reinforcements from our army...... ”

"He's surrounded by enemies?" Zhang Xiu was shocked, Lei Xu and Zhang Xian looked at each other with triumphant faces, very satisfied with their own materials.

"Surrounded by enemies?" The report scout shook his head for a while, and then quickly shook his head, and said: "No, no, General Wei's team urgently needs our army's assistance in attacking the enemy camp, he has defeated the enemy's main force, forcing the enemy army to flee back to the camp and defend the village, General Wei is currently storming the enemy camp, and urgently needs our army to assist!" ”

"What?!"

Zhang Xian and Lei Xu shouted in disbelief at the same time, Zhang Xiu's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Are you wrong?" Wei Hong's team of 3,000 actually defeated the enemy's main force, and attacked the enemy's camp with less and more? What are you kidding, there is such a ridiculous thing in this world? ”

"General, it's true." The scout replied excitedly: "If the villain hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that there was such a miraculous thing in this world, General Wei's 3,000 team actually killed the enemy all over the field, and the blood flowed like a river, the day before yesterday on the battlefield where we fought with the Jingzhou thief army, there were corpses of the Jingzhou thief army everywhere, and there were more enemy corpses on the side of the Jingzhou camp, if the general didn't believe it, he could go to the front immediately to see, it was not far away." ”

"Command the whole army, full speed ahead!" Zhang Xiu yelled. Then he said in his heart: "I have to go and see if there is such a ridiculous thing in this world." ”

Zhang Xian and Lei Xu didn't dare to gossip at this time, but immediately ordered the whole army to speed up, fortunately, it was not far from the narrow road here, and after running four or five miles, as soon as they walked out of the end of the narrow road, Zhang Xiu, who took the lead, was stunned to see that the open battlefield outside the exit of the narrow road was indeed a hellish scene, and the place to focus on. There are corpses of Jingzhou soldiers everywhere. The seriously wounded Jingzhou soldiers groaned weakly in the pile of corpses, and the blood flowed down the low places, accumulating into puddles of blood that did not reach the instep, and the broken guns and flags were broken all over the ground. The flesh and blood wreckage stretched southward. until it disappears at the end of view. This face. It's almost the same as the trail left by a group of tigers after they burst into the crowd.

After finally coming back to his senses, he looked back at the stammering soldiers of the self-army, and Zhang Xiu pursed his lips. Only then did he shout: "Go ahead and help General Wei Yan attack the enemy camp!" ”

Following the road paved with flesh and blood, walking all the way south for three or four miles, Zhang Xiu and others finally saw Wei Yan's team and the Jingzhou camp, and at this moment Wei Yan's team had finished attacking the enemy camp, leading the team to retreat half a mile away to rest and the whole team, the Jingzhou army closed the camp and defended it, and did not dare to send a soldier to fight with the Wei Yan team that had shown fatigue, and near the camp gate of the Jingzhou camp, there were more corpses, but these corpses were almost all Jingzhou soldiers in green military uniforms, and there were few corpses of Xuzhou soldiers in apricot yellow military uniforms.

Dismounted a hundred steps away from Wei Yan's general flag, first drank and ordered the army to assemble in formation, Zhang Xiu led Lei Xu and Zhang Xian to walk to the Wei Zi banner, and when he arrived at the scene, he saw Wei Yan, who was covered with blood, sitting on a big stone, playing with a golden helmet in his hand, and kneeling in front of him a Jingzhou prisoner with a big tie, and then Zhang Xiu and others, who had been in Jingzhou for several years, also recognized at a glance that this captive was Huang Zu's only son, Huang Jie, whose head and face were full of blood, and he didn't know how he was injured.

Seeing Zhang Xiu and the others coming, Wei Yan, who had always been arrogant, didn't get up, but just greeted casually: "Here, find a place to sit, it's earlier than I estimated, it's not bad." ”

Zhang Xiu didn't sit down, nor did he care about Wei Yan's arrogance and anger, but just looked up and observed the Danyang soldiers behind Wei Yan, and found that although these Danyang hooligan soldiers who were sitting or standing were still the same as before, there was no one standing or sitting on the elephant, and the banner was crooked and unstructured, but almost every Danyang hooligan soldier was the same as Wei Yan, his face was covered with blood, and the knives, axes, guns and spears in his hands were all bloody, and many knives and axes were also cut and slashed.

There are also some Danyang hooligan soldiers who are shaking dice, but they are no longer gambling money, but betting on enemy soldiers who can exchange money and food for war exploits. Zhang Xian, who had seen the Xuzhou soldiers cursing the Danyang soldiers for the annihilation of the entire army, and saw with his own eyes that several Danyang hooligans who were searching the pockets of the prisoners fought in the captive crowd for a money bag, but the grassroots generals not only ignored it, but also had a smile on their blood-splashed faces, saying that it was best to kill them, and if they died, the money would be mine, and the Jingzhou prisoners who could have taken this opportunity to flee for their lives or even resist were all kneeling on the ground with their heads in their hands and trembling, saying that they did not dare to have the idea of resisting and escaping.

"General Boluan, General Boluan." General Huang Jie also found out about Zhang Xiu's arrival, and hurriedly begged with a crying voice: "General Boluan, I'm Huang Shot, we drank together in Jingzhou, do you remember?" Please say a favor to General Wei for me, let me go back, as long as you let me go back, you can do whatever you want. ”

Zhang Xiu smiled, laughing happily and shockedly, and arched his hand to Wei Yan and said: "Brother Wen Changxian, I am convinced, the three thousand army can actually overthrow the main force of Huang Zu's old horseman, and can also kill so many enemies, amazing!" Terrific! ”

"What is this?" Wei Yan, who likes to listen to flattery, finally showed a smile, picked up the golden helmet in his hand and said with a smile: "If I have a little luck, I will take off the head of Huang Zu's old horseman, but unfortunately I have a little back, the first knife was dodged by Huang Lao'er, only his golden helmet was cut off, and the second knife was ......." ”

Speaking of this, Wei Yan kicked Huang Jie in front of him, and said angrily: "It's this kid who is greedy for life and afraid of death, who rushed up to save Huang Zu Lao'er after taking the wrong medicine at that time, but I smashed him off the horse with a knife, but Huang Zu Lao'er took the opportunity to run away!" Little Wang Eight Lambs, I have done a great job! ”

Huang Jie was kicked and screamed, but he didn't dare to resist, just cried and begged: "General Wei, General Wei, General Wei spare your life, no matter what." We used to be on the same team, and if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be where you are today. ”

"That's just as well." Wei Yan said with a smile: "If it weren't for you back then, I, who only led five dissatisfied formations, would have the opportunity to command thousands of troops and horses like now?" Don't worry, I won't kill you, I will only bring you back and sacrifice you to the lord, please dispose of it. ”

"General Xie Wei, General Xie Wei." Huang Shot kowtowed like pounding garlic, and begged tremblingly: "General Wei." General Bo Luan. If Taiwei Tao wants to push me out of the gate and behead me to show the public, please look at the past feelings, and you must plead for me. Oh yes. Please remember to remind Captain Tao. My cousin is still in Jingzhou. He can trade me for my cousin. ”

Everyone present knew the past of Wei Yan and Huang Jie, and knew that Wei Yan was exchanged by Deputy Director Tao for the captured Huang Shot from the Jingzhou Army, and they would hear Huang Jie's words again. Of course, they all laughed, and there were many Danyang hooligans who whistled and said some obscene words. A Danyang soldier standing behind Wei Yan laughed the loudest, and laughed blood from his mouth while laughing, and then laughed and fell to the ground, when the companion next to him came up to help, the Danyang soldier who had several broken ribs pushed away his companion, struggling to insist on standing up by himself, while scolding: "Get out, Lao Tzu is not dead, don't think that if you hold Lao Tzu, you can pay the debt of one hundred and fifty yuan to Lao Tzu." ”

"Holy shit, kindness is not rewarded." The companion scolded back, "Lao Tzu cut off five heads today, and I will return you when I go back for one hundred and fifty yuan to receive the reward." Lao Tzu hugged you, because I heard that you have a sister, and she will be fifteen soon, so brother-in-law, you must hold on, at least when you marry my sister, I will never stop you from ...... if you die again. ”

Naturally, there was another burst of laughter and scolding, and the beater fell to the ground again because of his injuries, and was carried down by his future brother-in-law and another companion to be rescued, but the laughter and angry scolding still echoed in the field. Hearing this obscene and obscene laughter and scolding, General Huang Jie, who was born in a famous family, did not dare to show the slightest disgust, and the newly surrendered generals such as Zhang Xiu and Lei Xu did not dare to show the slightest contempt and disdain, but suddenly realized in their hearts, "No wonder the main guild spoils this team so much." ”

After being shocked and admired, Zhang Xiu took the initiative to say to Wei Yan: "General Wenchang, your team is a little tired, please sweep the formation, I will attack the camp for you, and see if I can take advantage of the opportunity that the enemy has been killed by you, and take the camp of Huang Zu's old horseman in one go." ”

"Okay." Wei Yan nodded, and said casually: "Be careful, there are a lot of bows and arrows, Jingzhou soldiers are good at water warfare and often use bows and arrows, and they have some skills in bows and arrows." ”

"I didn't expect General Wen Chang to care about others." Zhang Xiu, who had a very bad initial impression of Wei Yan, smiled, and then went down to organize a team to storm Huang Zu's camp, and secretly ordered his cronies and descendants, asking them to fight bravely and not be underestimated by the Danyang soldiers.

In the next battle of attacking the enemy camp, the Danyang soldiers were shocked to the point that Zhang Xiu's team did play a twelve-point spirit, desperately attacked the Huangzu camp, and rushed to the fence of the Huangzu camp twice, but as Wei Yan said, the bows and arrows in the Jingzhou camp were indeed fierce, and the Jingzhou army, which had no way to retreat, desperately defended the camp, Zhang Xiu's team was finally forced to give up the useless forcible attack on the camp, and withdrew to the Xuzhou camp with Wei Yan's team at ten o'clock in the afternoon.

Although they failed to take advantage of the situation in the end, after this battle, Wei Yan's team still made Huang Zu and Kuai Yue and others understand one thing, that is, the reason why the Xuzhou army was able to annex the land of Wuzhou in just a few years was definitely not completely dependent on intrigue and mutual weakening of Yuan Cao's two armies. So after Wei Yan and Zhang Xiu retreated, the frightened Huang Zu and Kuai Yue just hurriedly discussed, and immediately decided to abandon Bowang Town, retreat across the water overnight and return to Wancheng, and go to the Wancheng defense line with many rivers and developed shipping to resist the southward movement of the Xuzhou army.

Relying on the blessing of the water, the retreat of the Jingzhou army was very rapid, it took only one night to retreat through the water, and also transferred most of the grain and grass, Deputy Director Tao got the news and urgently sent Xu Chu to lead the army to chase and kill, the Jingzhou army has basically retreated, and also destroyed the bridge and transferred the ferry, so that Xu Chu's team can only look at the river and sigh. When Deputy Director Tao heard the report, he also admired Huang Zu and Kuai Yue's quick decision, and then did not order Xu Chu to immediately cross the river to pursue, but just let Xu Chu take over the city of Bowang, build a bridge to cross the river, and mobilize a large number of auxiliary troops to expand and speed up the narrow mountain road in the northeast of Bowang, so that the army could pass south.

For Deputy Director Tao's steady strategy of step-by-step, there are also some people in the Xuzhou army who are puzzled, at least Wei Yan, who is quite assertive and eager to show his face in front of his hometown, seized the opportunity to ask Deputy Director Tao: "Lord, Yan has been with you for six or seven years, in the impression of the last general, when you attack the city and plunder the land, you have always liked to use soldiers and soldiers, and the troops are very decisive, but this time the lord conquered Jingzhou in the south, why is it abnormal, the daily march is less than forty miles, and there is leisure to repair and widen the road?" ”

"The road was widened to facilitate the transportation of grain and grass in the future, and also to benefit the people in the vicinity." Deputy Director Tao didn't hide it from Wei Yan, explaining: "As for the slow pace of the army, it's because I want to leave time for those princes who participated in the alliance to react, so that they can confirm that I personally conquered Jingzhou, strengthen their determination to do it, and give us an opportunity." ”

"Decide what they want to do? Give us a chance? Wei Yan pondered for a moment, suddenly understood, and hurriedly said: "Lord, could it be that our focus is still on the northern front, and the southern line is just a bluff, luring Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang brothers to take the opportunity to kill each other, and when they are both defeated, we can immediately return to the northern line and take advantage of the chaos?" ”

Seeing that Deputy Director Tao smiled and nodded, and praised himself as the most strategically brainy general among the military generals in Xuzhou, Wei Yan was secretly proud, but inevitably a little disappointed, and said with a wry smile: "In this way, the last general will accompany the lord to the south this time, and it is difficult to even have the opportunity to return to the scenery of Yiyang's hometown." ”

"Wen Chang worked so hard this time, it turned out that he wanted to go back to his hometown as soon as possible." Deputy Director Tao laughed, and then said: "But don't be discouraged, not to mention that you will definitely have the opportunity to return to your hometown in the future, even this time it may not be nothing." The strategic focus of our army is on the northern front, but if Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang can calm down, or really work together to defend the three states, then our army's southern expedition this time can also turn fiction into reality at any time, directly enter Xiangyang and capture Jingzhou, and then map the northern front. ”

"Really?" Wei Yan became excited again, and said busily: "Lord, since this is the case, the lord can lead the main force to move slowly, and the last general will dare to ask the order to be the vanguard, lead an army to attack Wancheng first, and eliminate Liu Biao's main force on the northern front as soon as possible, so that our army can turn the virtual into a real attack on Jingzhou at any time and grasp the initiative in the war on the southern front." ”

"Want to be a pioneer? Of course. Deputy Director Tao nodded with a smile, and said: "But there is no need to be in a hurry to be too light on the enemy, no matter what, Huang Zu still has thirty or forty thousand troops in the Wancheng area, and it is difficult to take it by relying on your partial division alone, or wait for us to dredge the road, and go south together to take Wancheng, and then I will let you be the vanguard, if Huang Zu still has the courage to fight with you in the field, you will have the opportunity to show your face again." (To be continued......)