"Third general, something is wrong!"

Chen Zhi's voice fell, and another junior colonel fled in panic, and said in a trembling voice: "General he~~General he~~"

Chen Zhi suddenly chuckled in his heart when he heard this, grabbed the little colonel's chest one step forward, and shouted: "What's wrong with my eldest brother?" Say it! ”

The colonel said in a trembling voice: "General, he~~ He was killed!" ”

"What!?" Chen Zhi was taken aback and hissed, "Why is this happening?" What's going on here? ”

The colonel said: "The army entered fifty miles north of Xinye County, and Cao Ying secretly sent a messenger when he heard that the general wanted to vote for Liu Biao, and together with Changshi Jinshang, he launched a mutiny, and the general was killed miserably!" ”

"Cao Ying! Kim Sang! Chen Zhi gritted his teeth and said, "A certain and you will not be incompatible!" ”

"Someone!"

Chen Zhi threw the little colonel's chopping hand on the ground and shouted loudly.

In the sound of hurried footsteps, more than a dozen personal soldiers rushed in, stood under the hall and said loudly: "What do the three generals command?" ”

Chen Zhi's expression was hideous, his eyes were almost dripping with blood, and he cried word by word: "Gather the army and kill Xinye~~ to avenge the eldest brother!" ”

"Yes!"

More than a dozen personal soldiers responded to the promise and took the order.

The junior colonel who had entered the report at first quietly asked, "Third General, have you summoned General Ma Yue's envoy?" ”

"Nope!" Chen Zhi waved his hand irritated to the extreme, and said sharply, "First avenge the eldest brother!" ”

The junior colonel reminded: "Three generals, with only the two thousand Nanyang troops in the city, I am afraid that they are not the opponents of Jin Shang, the thief and Cao Ying, are you considering using the power of the Liang army to avenge the general?" ”

"There's no need for that." Chen Zhi said categorically, "The hatred of killing my brother is not shared, how can I use the hands of others?" ”

The little colonel stepped back and said no more.

Chen Zhi glanced at the junior colonel coldly and shouted, "You can also go down and prepare." ”

"Yes."

The little colonel waved his hand, turned around and retreated.

Outside the yamen of the mansion, Li Su was waiting anxiously, and when he saw the little colonel appear, he couldn't help but frown, and stepped forward and asked, "General Huo Jun, would you like to see General Chen Zhi?" ”

"Ugh." Huo Jun sighed, shook his head and said, "Mr. Li Su, the last general has said that his mouth is dry, and he has blown you to the sky, saying how you sincerely guarded outside the palace for a whole day and a night, but the three generals are like iron in their hearts, and they refuse to see each other, and that's it, now the three generals are in a hurry to kill Xinye to avenge the general, and they don't want to see each other." ”

"Huh?" Li Su lost his voice and said, "Revenge for the general?" Could it be that General Chen Ji ...... him?"

"That's right." Huo Jun said gloomily, "Jin Shang's dog thieves colluded with Cao Ying to launch a mutiny, and the general was not killed. ”

"Oops." Li Su struck the festival and said, "You have to send someone back to the lord as soon as possible!" ”

Huo Jun's face changed, and he said hurriedly: "Hey, Mr. Li Su, don't say that this news was told to you by so-and-so, otherwise the three generals will have to kill so-and-so alive." ”

Li Su arched his hand to Huo Jun and said loudly: "The situation is urgent, so I will leave here." ”

……

On the official road from the north of Wancheng County, Ma Yuezheng led more than 10,000 Xiliang troops to the north, and Ma Chao and Xu Chu, who were the left and right vanguards, had already led two thousand iron horsemen to set off first, calculating the time, it should have passed Xingyang at this moment, and it was only a few dozen miles away from Wancheng.

Along the way, there were constantly probes and horses, and the news of the Cao army and the Jingzhou army came like a stream.

Cao Ying really seized this fleeting opportunity to retreat in a big way, and at this moment it was already two hundred miles away, and even if the Liang army wanted to chase it, it was too late!

The performance of the Jingzhou army did not surprise Ma Yue and Jia Xu, hearing that the Nanyang mutiny, the Jingzhou forward, who had crossed Xinye and continued north, immediately retracted to Xinye, and began to repair the city wall fortifications of Xinye County, putting on a defensive posture, and the follow-up Jingzhou army also accelerated the pace of advance.

But at this time, Ma Yue's mind was not on Cao Jun and Jingzhou Jun.

"Sigh Rhythm ~~"

A terrible neighing sound suddenly sounded on the official road ahead, and then there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves like a storm, and Ma Yue and Jia Xu looked up in shock, only to see a fast horse galloping like a wind and clouds.

"Lord, Mr. Li Su is in a hurry from Wancheng!"

"Speak!"

"Wancheng guard Chen Zhi heard that Chen Ji was killed, so he used the two thousand Nanyang troops in the city to kill Xinye to avenge Chen Ji, and now Wancheng has become an empty city!"

"It's broken!" The voice of the messenger fell, and Jia Xu struck the knot, "I didn't expect Chen Zhi to be so affectionate and righteous, just a few days after he turned against his brother, he heard that his brother was killed, so he did everything to raise troops to avenge him, alas, the bad thing is that the Nanyang army led by Jin Shang and Liu Ye has been rerouted to the east, Ben Yingchuan went, Chen is only afraid that he will have to fight with the Jingzhou army when he goes south!" ”

"It's good to value love and righteousness! This is a gentleman, a good man! Ma Yue said coldly, "Just do it with the Jingzhou army, and the Jingzhou army is not a tiger that can't be provoked!" ”

Jia Xu said: "But after all, the Jingzhou army is outnumbered, my lord, should you send troops to respond?" ”

"It's certain to send troops to respond!" Ma Yue pondered for a moment and said categorically, "Come on, take the fast horse and order Ma Chao's department to immediately change the route of the march and advance eastward quickly, no matter what, we must intercept Jin Shang and Liu Ye on the front line of Duyang, Wuyang, and Biyang, and we must not let them escape Zhongyang Mountain!" ”

"Then order Xu Chu to continue to go north and take advantage of the situation to occupy Wancheng!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The two heralds responded and galloped away.

Ma Yue Huoran turned his head, his eyes fell on the one-armed general Gao Shun, and said in a deep voice: "General Gao Shun." ”

Gao Shun stepped forward, hit his chest with one hand and said loudly: "The end will be." ”

Ma Yue said: "Lead 8,000 elite soldiers to Xinye immediately south, and be responsible for receiving Chen's Nanyang army!" It is best to rush to Xinye before the Nanyang army, remember not to start a battle with the Jingzhou army, you can inform Chen of the news that Jin Shang and Liu Ye have fled eastward, and the general has ordered light cavalry to intercept the news. ”

"The last general commands."

Gao Shun agreed and took the order.

……

Mobei steppe.

The chariots and horses roared, and the three hundred iron horsemen escorted the three carriages and slowly drove towards the left Wanhu, and the desert in October was already icy and snowy, and the endless wasteland was still white and snowy, and it was dizzy! If an inexperienced southerner appears on this snowfield for the first time, he is likely to go blind because of his novelty and curiosity!

The window of a simple carriage in the middle suddenly opened a corner, revealing a slightly thin little face, only a pair of black eyes on the face looked full of aura, and the round black eyes looked around, but at a glance, in addition to the miserable white snow, it was still miserable white snow.

At that moment, a bright wrist reached over and gently closed the curtain of the carriage.

A pleasant voice sounded in the carriage at the same time: "Zheng'er, don't look at this snowfield for too long, otherwise you will get snow blindness." ”

The carriage was filled with Liu Yan and Ma Zheng's mother and son, but they didn't know why they had to run to the Mobei Prairie in the cold winter to suffer this living crime? Isn't it good to stay in the old camp in the Hetao?

"Mother, what is snow blindness?"

A slightly immature voice asked.

"Snow blindness is the fact that if you look at the white of the snow field for a long time, your eyes will be blind."

"After looking at the white of the snowfield for a long time, why do people's eyes go blind?"

"Because the human eye can't stand it."

"Why can't human eyes stand it?"

"Zheng'er, you're asking too much."

"Mother, can we not go to Uncle Zhou Cang's left Wanhu?"

"This is your father's decision, and my mother can't change it."

"Mother, does the father not like the child, so he wants to send the child away? Is this out of sight and out of mind? ”

"You kid, how can you think like that? You forgot that your father was hit by several arrows last time to save you, and if it weren't for the golden silk clothes woven by your aunt, your father would have been seriously injured. Don't look at your father's usual coldness and don't smile harshly, but he loves you the most in his heart. ”

"But my father always scolds the child, and I don't see my father a few times a year, and I have to be beaten when I do."

"Well, who made you the firstborn, you will inherit your father's inheritance when you grow up, and your father will of course be stricter with you than with your younger siblings. Zheng'er, when you grow up in the future, you will understand your father's hard work, he is all for your good, if you have no ability, no prestige, how can you shock your father's old troops who have made outstanding achievements? ”

"Oh."

In the carriage, Ma Zheng sighed softly and then fell silent.

At this time, there was a sudden undulating hilly hill on the endless snowfield in front of him, and a horse thief appeared on the top of the mountain like a lone wolf, flashed and disappeared without a trace, and the convoy continued to move forward for less than ten miles, and hundreds of Mobei horse thieves suddenly appeared on the hills on both sides.

"Woo~~"

In the desolate horn, the horse thieves began to slowly approach the convoy.

The leading captain of the three hundred iron cavalry is surnamed Xu Mingshao, who is the brother of the tiger idiot Xu Chu, and is one of the three hundred volunteers who originally followed Xu Chu to join the horse butcher.

Xu Shao raised his saber and shouted: "Leave two hundred horsemen to form a circle, protect the son and his wife in the array, kill the enemy with bows and arrows, and the remaining one hundred brothers will come with a certain one to defeat the thieves in front first, these thieves who don't have long eyes dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head, it's just tired!" ”

In just a moment, more than 300 horse thieves had gathered in front of Xu Shao, and they were brandishing the scimitar in their hands and rushing towards the convoy.

The two armies advanced against each other, and in less than a moment they had already rushed to the range of the cavalry bow, and after a rain of arrows, each side fell more than a dozen horsemen, and this battle was evenly divided! This gang of horse thieves is very good at horseback, but Xu Shao's three hundred iron horsemen are also a hundred battle elite horses, and their riding skills and archery skills are not inferior to the nation on horseback.

The range of the cavalry bow was originally short (because it was a direct shot), coupled with the cavalry hedge, after shooting two arrows, the two armies had almost collided together, and once they entered the close-quarters flesh game, the difference in strength between the two armies was revealed.

Although Xu Shao's 100 iron cavalry is at a disadvantage in numbers, it can be well-equipped and well-trained, and the three-person group is combined into a sharp arrow assault array, covering each other, cooperating tacitly, and every ten small formations form a large assault array, and the three large sharp arrow formations are like three sharp boning knives that pierce into the horse thief team, and the horse thief team that is unorganized and swarming into the horse thief team is suddenly overturned on their backs and in chaos.

The more than 300 horse thieves in front of them were quickly smashed by Xu Shao's 100 iron horses.

The other four or five hundred horse thieves who swarmed from the other three directions were also met by the other two hundred iron horsemen, and both charges ended in failure, but dozens of corpses were left on the periphery of the convoy, and more than a dozen horse thieves were lying on their backs on the snow struggling and wailing, but the horse thieves in the distance did not dare to come to the rescue.

The horse thief who failed in the raid soon changed his tactics, no longer attacking but retreating to the distance like a wolf dotted with the convoy, Xu Shao was worried about the safety of Liu Yan and Gongzi Zheng, and did not dare to attack rashly, so he had to escort the convoy to the north, fortunately, this is already the hinterland of the desert, and it is only more than two hundred miles away from the old camp of ten thousand households on the left of Zhoucang.

A cavalryman approached Xu Shao and said in a low voice: "General, this group of horse thieves doesn't seem to be ordinary horse thieves." ”

"Oh?" Xu Shao's heart sank and asked, "Tell me your opinion." ”

The cavalryman said: "A few years ago, when the money village was not opened, the merchants of Guanzhong went to Mobei to buy leather goods and livestock, and they often hired troops to protect the convoy for safety. ”

"Because the target of the horse thieves is too big, it is easy to attract the cavalry team of the left, center, and right ten thousand households to chase and suppress! Therefore, the number of horse thieves in the Mobei area generally does not exceed three hundred, but this group of horse thieves has seven or eight hundred people, the scale is very large, it stands to reason that such a brigade of horse thieves should have been exterminated by the cavalry of three ten thousand households. ”

"Hmm." Xu Shao nodded, and said in a deep voice, "To let you say this, General Ben has also found some flaws, this group of horse thieves seems to have been trained, but the training is very rough, and even the charging formation is not well maintained!" But that's enough to prove that they're not ordinary horse thieves, and judging by the current situation, they should be waiting for reinforcements! ”

The cavalryman exclaimed, "So there is a large group of horse thieves coming this way?" ”

"That's how it should be!" Xu Shao said in a deep voice, "The safety of the eldest lady and the princess is very important, and there must be no room for mistakes!" Now you immediately lead thirty brothers to break away from the brigade and rush to the old camp of ten thousand households on the left to report the news, asking General Zhou Cang to quickly send the army to rescue, remember, 100,000 is urgent! ”

"Yes!"

The cavalry clenched his fists loudly, and picked up the thirty cavalry to break away from the brigade and quickly disappeared into the snowfield, almost at the same time that the thirty iron cavalry had just left the brigade, the horse thieves team far behind the convoy also divided into more than 100 miles, and chased after them, Xu Shao became more and more sure that this group of horse thieves had a great background.

……

Ji fell down the mountain, the left part of the old camp of 10,000 households.

The big tent of the Chinese army was crowded, and Zhou Cangzheng convened more than 30 departments and thousands of households under his command to discuss the meeting.

Due to the horse butcher's unsparing support for the three ten thousand households in Mobei, as well as the benefits brought by the trade between Mobei and Guanzhong, the power of the Han people in Mobei is expanding rapidly, and there are constantly meritorious veterans sent from Guanzhong and Liangzhou to Mobei, and the power of the three ten thousand households under the rule of Zhou Cang, Guan Qi and Pei Yuanshao is expanding at an astonishing speed.

By the end of the eighth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (195), the left 10,000 households under the command of Zhou Cang alone already had 36 thousand households, more than 500 hundred households, and nearly 30,000 cavalry, of which the Han cavalry accounted for seventy percent, and most of the rest were the Qiang, Yueshi and Wuhuan people who migrated from Hetao and Liangzhou.

Zhou Cang Huo Ran raised his right hand, and the noisy discussion in the tent suddenly stopped.

Zhou Cang glanced around at the thousands of households, and said in a deep voice: "Now it is almost certain that this gang of horse thieves came from Youzhou, and this must have been instructed by Yuan Shao's husband to do it!" Seventeen caravans have been sacked, thirty-eight tribes have been harassed, and our troops have lost more than 10,000 livestock and more than 1,000 people, and this blood debt must be recovered. ”

"Report~~" Zhou Cang's voice fell, and suddenly a junior colonel hurried into the big tent and said quickly, "The eldest lady and the son were attacked by horse thieves two hundred miles south of the old camp, and the situation is critical, please send the army to help!" ”

"Huh!?" Zhou Cang gasped and shouted, "The left and right guards listen to orders!" ”

"The last general!"

In the sound of the promise, the two big men took a step forward and stood proudly in front of Zhou Cang.

Zhou Cang waved his hand and shouted: "Speed three thousand guards to help!" ”

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The left and right iron guards clasped their fists and led the order.

……

Two hundred miles south of the old camp of ten thousand households on the left, Xu Shao's three hundred iron cavalry has been completely surrounded!

When the convoy passed through a dirt mountain, a large group of horse thieves suddenly appeared on the vast snowfield, Xu Shaoda took a brief look and suddenly gasped, this group of horse thieves had at least more than 2,000 horses! Obviously, this group of horse thieves had discovered that there must be important people in the carriage guarded by Xu Shao's three hundred iron cavalry, so they summoned their companions and surrounded and annihilated them at all costs.

After all, Xu Shao has experienced a hundred battles, and immediately took the convoy to the dirt mountain, the soil mountain is steep on three sides, only the north side is gentle and conducive to the cavalry assault, Xu Shao put the remaining nearly 300 cavalry all in front, divided into three formations before and after, this is an offensive and defensive array, although the troops are at an absolute disadvantage, but Xu Shao does not intend to blindly defend.

This guy is a veteran of the Eight Hundred Rogue, and the horse butcher's offensive style has long been integrated into his blood with the immortal iron-blooded military soul.

Xu Shao straddled his horse and raised his sword, standing proudly at the front of the first team, the wind blew the scarf behind Xu Shao's head, and the hunting sound was like the mane behind the lion's head, fluttering with the wind and waves.

……

When Liu Yan and Ma Zheng's mother and son were in distress on the desert, the Liang army was advancing all the way in Nanyang!

Ma Chao's 2,000 cavalry caught up in time and intercepted the 3,000 Nanyang soldiers led by Jin Shang and Liu Ye, and half a day later, the Nanyang Army and Liang Army led by Chen Zhi and Gao Shun also arrived successively, and surrounded Jin Shang's 3,000 Shouchun old troops.

Cao Ying's adviser Liu Ye escaped halfway and didn't know where to go.

At the end of the eighth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (195), after nearly half a year of campaigning, the horse butcher finally repelled the Cao army, successfully occupied Wancheng, and regained the strategic advantage of the Cao Ying group.

The only thing that makes the horse butcher feel unhappy is that the entire Nanyang County has been divided into two, and the Xinye counties in the south have been occupied by the Jingzhou army.

……

In the first month of the ninth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (196), Ma Yue took Chen Zhi as the Taishou of Nanyang, led two thousand old departments of Nanyang and three thousand old departments of Shouchun who surrendered, a total of 5,000 troops to guard Wancheng!

Although this move was opposed by some of the old departments of the Liang Army, the horse butcher chose to trust Chen Dao unconditionally! The purpose of employing people of horse butcher has always been to believe in one, do not use people who are suspicious, and do not doubt people! The horse butcher thinks that Chen Zhi is a person who values love and righteousness, and since such a person has made a decision, he will not easily change his course.

In the same month, Ma Yue, with his younger brother Ma Chao as the vanguard, forcibly marched north through the area of Luoyang and Gyeonggi controlled by Cao's army, and the Ganning Navy took over the Yellow River to the north and entered Hedong County, officially intervening in the battle of Bingzhou.

(To be continued)