The next time, it was just three o'clock in the morning.

On the west bank of Danshui, the horn sounded, a group of Liangzhou infantry began to surge out of the camp, entered the west bank of Danshui and began to line up, preparing to cross the river, at the same time as the infantry began to prepare to cross the river, a group of Liangzhou cavalry had already crossed the Danshui on horseback, and entered the north side of the Cao army to set up a foothold to cover the Liangzhou infantry crossing the river.

Danshui, is a tributary of the Hanshui tributary Xiangshui, sent to Fulao Mountain, no more than ten zhang wide, no more than seven feet deep, the riverbed is gentle, the pebbles at the bottom of the river are piled up, the infantry can cross on foot in the dry period, even in the wet period like now, the Liangzhou cavalry can easily wade.

The river is blowing, and the morning breeze is blowing.

Cao Ying's Yanzhou army had already stood in the morning dew with Chen Zhi and Chen Ying's Nanyang soldiers, except for the 2,000 men and horses who stayed in the camp, the rest of the troops had all lined up here.

In the main formation of the Chinese army, Cao Ying was wearing a big red robe, with a crown on his head and a sword around his waist, looking radiant.

The generals around Yu Ban, Zangba, Cao Ang, Cao Chun, Chen Dao, and Chen Ying were also in good spirits, and even Guo Jia and Xun You rarely changed into military uniforms and looked heroic.

"My lord." Guo Jia's slightly narrowed eyes suddenly opened, and he whispered to Cao Ying, "The Liangzhou cavalry monitoring our army on the north side of the east bank of Danshui will not exceed 3,000 cavalry at most, but the Liangzhou cavalry on this expedition has a total of 5,000 cavalry, which means that another 2,000 cavalry are missing, so you must be on guard." ”

Cao Ying's little eyes narrowed suddenly, and he asked coldly, "Feng Xiao thinks, where did the other two thousand Liangzhou cavalry go?" ”

Guo Jia pondered for a moment and replied in a low voice: "If it is Jia Poison Shi below, he will suggest that the horse butcher use these two thousand cavalry to attack the champion and the county, these two small cities are the support of our army when we withdraw our troops, once it is taken by the Liangzhou army, our army will have the worry of being cut off from retreat, and the news will inevitably shake the hearts of the army." ”

[The four small cities of Champion, Suixian, Anzhong, and Xingyang are like four strong villages distributed in a linear pattern between Wancheng and Cao's camp, in case Cao's army loses in the Battle of Danshui, they can follow this marching route and fight and retreat, and get timely rest and replenishment in the four small cities, so as to ensure that the officers and soldiers of the three armies have enough energy and fighting spirit to calmly withdraw to Wancheng.]

Even though the horse butcher had 5,000 cavalry under his command, he could not help the strong city walls.

In a sense, the fortress belt formed by these four small cities is the last escape route when Cao Ying's army is defeated, and it is the lifeline of Cao's army, and its important surname is self-evident. The reason why Cao Ying dared to lead the army out of Danshui and confront the army of Liangzhou across the river was that the existence of these four small cities was very important. ]

Cao Ying's small eyes swept away, and he said in a low voice: "If the horse butcher sends cavalry to attack the flank, he will inevitably have to advance lightly, so he can't carry the large equipment necessary for the attack, if there is no attack equipment, it is wishful thinking for the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry to win the championship and the four cities of Suixian." ”

Saying this, Cao Ying waved the horse whip in his hand viciously, and said in a deep voice: "It is no longer the period of the Eight Hundred Liukou, at that time, the imperial court did not know the power of the horse butcher, and repeatedly took advantage of it, and in the end, even the strong tiger prison was attacked by him!"

But now, the horse butcher's tricks are already well understood! Hmph, isn't it just a siege ladder and a trick pass, as long as there is enough fire oil, as long as the soldiers defending the city are vigilant enough, what tricks can the horse butcher play? Hmph, wouldn't the horse butcher really want to do the same trick again? ”

"The soldiers are treacherous, our army should still be careful." Guo Jia said, "The lord should still find a way to remind the guards of the four cities to strengthen their vigilance so as not to be taken advantage of by the enemy." ”

"Lord, the water level of Danshui is starting to drop, and the Liangzhou army is about to prepare to flow the river." Guo Jia's voice fell, and Xun Yu on the side suddenly shouted loudly, "The cunning horse butcher, in order to cross the river smoothly, he either forcibly changed the course of Danshui, or intercepted the flow upstream!" ”

"Huh?"

Cao Ying Huoran turned around, and sure enough, he saw that the water level of Danshui was slowly falling, and the pebbles on both sides of the riverbed had begun to be revealed.

The river splashed, the armor shone, and the two thousand hoplites rushed forward like a rolling iron stream.

Behind the hoplites were rows of pikemen, their spears towering like a dense forest, and the cold glow on the tips of the spears almost reflected the early morning sky.

In order to prevent the Cao army from launching a strong attack from the front, five thousand longbowmen have unloaded the longbow on their backs and lost it in their hands, and the sharp wolf's teeth and arrows have also been on the string.

In addition, there are two light infantry phalanxes guarding the left and right flanks of the Liangzhou military array, just like two palanquins, carrying the large sedan chair composed of hoplites, pikemen, and longbowmen in the middle to slowly advance forward, and the light infantry of the two phalanxes are on full alert, ready to meet the surprise attack of the Cao army from both wings.

The entire Liangzhou army is like a machine, advancing in an orderly manner.

"Invulnerable!" Guo Jia praised from the bottom of his heart, "Although it is an enemy, I can't help but admit that the Liangzhou Army is indeed well-trained, and the idea of attacking halfway can be put to rest." ”

"Not necessarily!"

Guo Jia's voice fell, and Cao Ying suddenly turned out of Nanyang Xiao General Chen Dao behind him, rode his horse to the front of the battle, raised his gun into the air and shouted: "Nanyang County's sons, fearless warriors, raise the swords and spears in your hands, and use your martial arts to tell the group of Liangzhou native dogs on the opposite side what is really well-trained!" What is a real elite soldier! ”

"Roar~"

"Roar~"

"Roar~"

The three thousand Nanyang soldiers frantically slapped their shields with the weapons in their hands, or beat their chests with their fists, roaring in response, and the huge sound was stirring and rolling between the heavens and the earth, and it lasted for a long time, accompanied by a wave of roars, the morale of the three thousand Nanyang troops rose to the peak.

Chen Zhi pushed the spear in his hand forward fiercely, and roared sharply: "Kill~~"

"Kill, kill, kill~~"

The three thousand Nanyang soldiers responded frantically, following Chen Zhi behind him and swept away towards the Liangzhou soldiers who were slowly crossing the river in front.

Since the decisive battle with the Liangzhou Army is unavoidable, it is also a good choice for the Nanyang Army to test the reality of the Liangzhou Army! Anyway, Cao Ying didn't expect these three thousand Nanyang troops to come in handy, and it didn't matter the overall situation if they ran out.

……

On the other side of Danshui, the Liangzhou army was in the rear.

"Half-crossed?" Ma Yue sneered, "It seems that Cao Ying is still lucky!" ”

"It's the Nanyang Army!" Jia Xu pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice, "It should be testing the reality of our army." ”

"Well, send a flag to Xu Chu's cavalry not to act rashly, and continue to maintain pressure on Cao Jun, as for these three thousand Nanyang miscellaneous soldiers~~" Ma Yue said this, turned his head to Gao Shun beside him, "General Gao Shun, let this group of thieves who don't know the height of the sky and the thickness of the earth taste the harm of the Liangzhou infantry!" ”

"Yes!"

Gao Shun's right fist hit his chest (the helplessness of the one-armed general, there was no way to hold his fist, the horse butcher had to invent a separate military salute for Gao Shun to hit the chest with his right fist), and immediately stepped forward, the only remaining right hand was raised above the top, and the herald behind Gao Shun quickly raised the black pennant in his hand.

"Woo~~Woo~~Woo~~~"

The trumpeters of the Chinese army's main formation quickly changed the rhythm of the horn sound.

The three Liangzhou colonels marching at the front of the hoplite phalanx quickly paused, drew their swords and raised them high above the top in their hands, and at the same time raised their heads to the sky and shouted: "Wow~~ Ha!" ”

"Click!"

"Click!"

"Click!"

The three rows of hoplites, who had not yet completely crossed the Danshui, quickly stopped their advance, crouched on the spot, and then slammed the shield on their shoulders on the cobblestone riverbed, and suddenly made three huge sounds, shattering the silent sky, and in an instant, the three impregnable shield walls had been formed!

The pikemen who followed closely behind the hoplites quickly crouched down, and at the same time pressed down the spears in their hands, giving up room for the captain's archers to release their arrows.

The rear of the Liangzhou army.

Gao Shun's outstretched right hand clenched into a fist.

The flag changed again, the rhythm of the horn followed the change in response, and in an instant, the crunch of the bowstring crumbled endlessly, and the archers of the Liang Governor who were waiting for the battle quickly pulled their bows and arrows, and the sharp wolf's tooth arrows were ready to be fired, and the cold arrow clusters were like hideous fangs, flickering with the cold flame of death.

"Kill~"

"Kill~"

"Kill~"

Three thousand Nanyang soldiers howled and rushed forward, the sky curtain of death was weaving densely above their heads, Nanyang Xiao took the lead with Chen Zhi, the galloping horse's hooves had already stepped on the shallow river beach, and more than a dozen steps forward, the iron spear in Chen Zhi's hand could pierce the infantry colonel standing in front of the Liangzhou formation with a shot!

At this moment, Gao Shun's clenched right fist swung forward fiercely.

"Boom!"

The sound of the trumpets abruptly stopped, replaced by a suffocating drum. **The drummer on the upper body puffed up the knotted muscles on his shoulders and slammed the arm-thick drumstick on the marching drum more than one person high, and a thunderous bang suddenly sounded under the sky.

"Xiuxiu~~"

The aftermath of the drums was still stirring in the heavens and the earth, and the three thousand Liangzhou Governor archers had already loosened the bowstrings in their hands, and the sharp arrows swept into the air in an instant, intertwined into a black rain of arrows in the sky, quickly flew above the heads of the Nanyang army, and then fell viciously with the scream of death.

"Poof!"

A Nanyang soldier who was running hard was shot through the throat by a wolf tooth arrow that fell in the air, and he fell down without even snorting.

"Erhu!"

Another slightly older Nanyang soldier hurriedly squatted down and stretched out his hand to pull up the Nanyang soldier who was hit by the arrow, however, his hands had just stretched out, and two sharp wolf tooth arrows fell in the air, one shot through his eye hole, and the arrow cluster went straight through the back of his neck, and the other went straight from the top of his head, taking his life in an instant.

"Ah~my legs~~"

A young Nanyang recruit was struggling painfully with his right leg holding the arrow, and not far from the recruit, a Nanyang veteran was shrunk and hiding under the corpse of his companion who had been killed by the arrow, grinning at the recruit: "Boy, your luck is not bad, this arrow did not go through your throat." ”

"Uh~"

Nanyang veteran's voice fell, and another sharp arrow shot through the throat of Nanyang recruit, Nanyang recruit's throat sounded a low roar from the depths of his throat, and then fell to the ground, staring straight at the Nanyang veteran not far in front of him with wide eyes, and his dilated pupils were full of love for the world.

Chen Zhihuoran, who was galloping forward, looked back, and what caught his eye was an extremely tragic scene!

The Nanyang soldiers who were bravely moving forward were like cut wheat, falling down one by one, and the originally neat and majestic military formation became sparse and messy in an instant, just two rounds of arrow rain baptism, and there were only less than half of the Nanyang soldiers left behind Chen Zhi.

"Ah~~"

Chen Zhi's eyes were torn, and his horse jumped high, and the heavy iron spear in his hand had already smashed down with the powerful surname Taishan.

"Puffy!"

After a loud explosion like a thunderous explosion, the Liangzhou hoplites who were blocking Chen Zhi's horse were all smashed and shrunk into the riverbed, their shields shattered, their skulls shattered, and the red blood instantly turned red on the water.

"Quack Quack~~"

The dozen or so longbowmen in the front row instantly lowered the longbow in their hands and aimed at Chen Dao, who looked like a mad tiger, in a flat shooting attitude, and suddenly, more than a dozen sharp wolf's tooth arrows had firmly locked Chen Zhi. Although there was still a distance of dozens of steps between him and the archers, Chen Zhi was clearly salted by the cold killing intent.

"Humph!"

Chen Zhi snorted coldly, and his pupils contracted instantly.

"Xiuxiu~~"

In the terrible sound of breaking the air, more than a dozen wolf tooth arrows shot towards Chen Zhi almost in a straight line, Chen Zhi shouted loudly and swept the big iron gun in his hand in all directions, where the gun shadow flashed, the arrows that shot in front of him were blocked one after another, and Chen Zhi was unscathed! There were even two Liangzhou infantrymen who were cut through their chests by Chen Zhi's spear edge, and their stomachs were cracked and their internal organs flowed sideways and they died!

"Quack Quack~~"

The piercing sound of the bowstring crumbling sounded again, this time, the arrows of dozens of longbowmen had been aimed at Chen Dao, and the Liangzhou Formation in the distance, Ju Tu also slowly raised the iron tire bow in his hand, and the thumb-thick wolf's tooth arrow was already on the string, and in the piercing crunch, the bowstring with five stone pulling force had already collapsed~~ "Go to death!" ”

Chen Zhi shouted and swept with a gun, and the two Liangzhou hoplites bore the brunt of the blow, being swept into the body and flying in the air, just dozens of wolf tooth arrows shot fiercely, shooting at the heavy armor of the hoplites everywhere, and then bounced away, Chen Zhi was about to urge the horse to rush forward, a violent cold hit like a tide!

"Third brother, be careful!"

With a loud roar from his side, Chen Zhi turned his head in shock, only to see Chen Ying riding a horse, and he was able to stand in front of Chen Zhi.

"Poof!"

The thumb-thick wolf tooth arrow flashed and viciously nailed into Chen Ying's breastplate, the sharp arrow cluster tore through the solid iron armor in an instant, and the bone arrow shaft made a terrible and terrifying sound when it rubbed against the iron armor, Chen Ying's strong body slammed and slowly fell backwards.

Chen Zhi hurriedly stepped forward and hugged Chen Ying into his arms.

"Second brother!"

"Three~~ brother." Chen Ying's eyes had become extremely gloomy, and he looked at Chen Zhi and said with difficulty, "Liang~Liangzhou Bingtai~~ is too powerful, the third brother quickly take the brothers~~ withdraw~~"

In the distance, in the Liangzhou main formation, Jutu once again raised the iron tire bow in his hand.

Chen Zhi seemed to be aware, Huo Ran looked back, glared at him viciously, raised the iron spear and pulled back, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, withdraw~~"

"Instigation~"

Another thumb-thick wolf tooth arrow shot at a rapid pace, Chen Zhi dodged and dodged but still didn't dodge, he was shot through the shoulder blade by this arrow, and he howled in pain when he looked up to the sky, and Chen Zhi hurriedly fled with his horse in the wilderness. Behind Chen Zhi, the surviving more than 1,000 Nanyang soldiers were defeated like a mountain, and they fled with Chen Zhi.

However, Chen made a mistake in his busy schedule and made a fatal mistake!

The direction of defeat and escape of more than 1,000 Nanyang rout troops was not facing the Cao army's main formation, and Chen Zhi's original intention was not to disrupt the Cao army's formation, and planned to bypass the front of the Cao army, retreat to the rear of the Cao army, and then pack up the remnants and re-form the formation! Unfortunately, Chen made a mistake in his busy schedule and went straight to the right flank of Cao Jun.

The right flank of Cao's army is also the upper reaches of Danshui, and Xu Chu's three thousand Xiliang iron cavalry have been there for a long time!

……

The Liangzhou army is in the main formation.

Jia Xu is worthy of being a poisoner, with incomparably keen insight, he instantly captured the fleeting fighter, and hurriedly turned his head to the horse and said: "Lord, good opportunity!" ”

"Huh?"

Ma Yue's face changed, as if he had an understanding.

Jia Xu hurriedly said: "You can urgently order General Xu Chu to lead the cavalry to cover from the right flank of the Cao army, and force more than 1,000 Nanyang rout troops to the front of the Cao army!" ”

Ma Yue's face changed, and he suddenly understood Jia Xu's intentions, and shouted urgently: "Where is the herald!" ”

……

Cao Jun's main formation.

The ghost genius Guo Fengxiao also realized the potential crisis at the first time, and hurriedly said to Cao Ying: "The lord is not good, and the disaster is serious!" ”

"Huh?"

Cao Ying's expression changed when he heard this, and his slightly narrowed eyes widened.

At this moment, the sound of rolling horses' hooves gradually rose from the north, Cao Ying looked back in shock, and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, which had been eyeing the upper reaches of Danshui, finally began to move, cutting towards the front of Cao Jun at an oblique angle, and the terrible thoughts swept through Cao Ying's mind in an instant, according to the sprint speed of the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry, it was just right to rush to the front of the Cao Army before the Nanyang rout.

Driven away by this group of tiger and wolf horses, the Nanyang rout, who had become frightened birds, changed the direction of escape and ran straight towards the Cao army!

"My lord, the Liangzhou infantry has started crossing the river again!" A layer of fine beads of sweat had already appeared on Guo Jia's forehead, and he hissed, "The pikemen of the Liangzhou Chinese Army have already crossed the hoplites and are speeding up their sprint, and it seems that they are going to take advantage of the chaos of our army's position to break through in the middle!" ”

"The Liangzhou light infantry on the left and right flanks are also spreading to both sides, ready to outflank our army!"

"My lord, the Nanyang rout is about to retreat to the front of our army, if you don't make a decision, you will have to rest!"

……

Wancheng, too shou mansion.

Nanyang Taishou Chen Ji stood gloomily in the flickering candle flames, the dim firelight dragged his shadow on the floor for a long time, and the air in the study was like the sky with dark clouds over Wancheng, which was suffocating! Chen Ji's mood was also extremely depressed, not only worried about the survival of Nanyang County, but also worried about his own future.

Chen Ji is Nanyang Taishou, and his value lies in Nanyang!

For this point, Chen Ji knows better than anyone that once Nanyang County is lost, Chen Ji's existence will no longer have any value for Cao Jun, and at that time, Chen Ji believes that Cao Ji will ruthlessly abandon himself, after all, Chen Ji is not from Cao Ying's old department, and he is far from establishing trust between Cao Ying!

Now, the question in front of Chen Ji is, will Cao Jun be able to hold Nanyang? If Cao Jun can't hold Nanyang, where should he go?

(To be continued)