The Great Tent of Horse Leap.

Gao Shun, Fang Yue, Xu Huang, Gan Ning, and Ma Dai rushed in, lined up in front of Ma Yue, and said loudly with fists clenched: "See the lord." ”

Ma Yue said with his hand: "Excuse me." ”

"Thank you, Lord."

The generals thanked him and turned to join the ranks.

Ma Yue's gaze fell on Gao Shun's face and asked, "Yuanhe (Gao Shun's cousin), have the defenses of Hangu, Luoyang, Tiger Prison and Xingyang been properly arranged?" ”

These four checkpoints and cities are located in dangerous places, which are directly related to the safety of the Liangjun Grain Road, and those who stay behind must of course be cautious.

Gao Shun said: "Xingyang is guarded by the three generals Ma Xiu, the Tiger Prison Pass is guarded by Meng Da, Luoyang is guarded by Su Ze, and the Hangu Pass is guarded by Chen Hu. ”

"Hmm." Ma Yue nodded, "That's appropriate." ”

"Lord!" Ma Yue's voice fell, Li Su walked into the tent, waved at Ma Yue, and said loudly, "The news of Yecheng's annihilation has been returned, and the reason for the matter has been clarified. ”

Ma Yue said: "Speak." ”

Li Su said: "In the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao listened to slander, killed the military division Tian Feng, and forced Zhang He, Jiang Qi, and Han Meng, Zhang He led 50,000 old troops in Jizhou to defect, leading Cao's army to attack the Hebei camp, Yuan's army was defeated, and the 300,000 army collapsed overnight, and finally Yuan Shao only led hundreds of horsemen to flee back to Yecheng. ”

Jia Xu said: "Yuan Shao was defeated so completely? ”

Ma Yue said: "It's just a pity that Tian Feng, although he is full of wisdom pearls, he has not met the master." ”

Jia Xu's eyes turned to his heart, and he said to Ma Yue: "Lord, 50,000 of Cao Ying's 70,000 troops are Jizhou's surrender army, and this is an opportunity worth taking advantage of." ”

Ma Yue said: "Will the plan be released?" ”

Jia Xu said: "Cao Jun has a lot of soldiers, and the amount of grain and grass must be huge, and the small city of Xuchang is afraid that it will be difficult to last. ”

Ma Yue said: "Well, that makes sense. ”

Jia Xu said: "When the two armies meet, our army can storm the old department of Cao Ying at any cost, and the old department of Cao Ying will suffer heavy casualties, and the strength will be reduced to less than 10,000 people, and at this time, there are still nearly 50,000 people in Jizhou, so the main weak and the servant strong will not fall, and there will be a gap between the old department of the Cao army and the Jizhou army, and our army can win without a fight!" ”

Ma Yue said: "Good plan, just do it." ”

……

Xuchang, Xiangfu.

Cao Ying is convening Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, Jia Kui and other henchmen to discuss the matter.

Liu Ye said to Cao Ying worriedly: "Lord, I just got the news that the Jizhou army gathered to make trouble because of the lack of rations, General Cao Xiu led people to stop it, and several soldiers were injured. ”

Cao Ying said helplessly: "Lone also knows that this confrontation is not a way, but now that the Son of Heaven has been kidnapped by Guan Yu, Xuzhou and Huainan have an ambiguous attitude, and they are reluctant to escort the military rations to come, so what can I do?" ”

Jia Kui said: "Lord, why don't you give up Xudu and retreat to Xuzhou?" ”

Cao Ying was silent.

Xun You shook his head and said: "This matter is not possible, the reason why the Xuzhou Shi clan surrendered to the lord is because the Son of Heaven is in Xudu, the righteousness is in the prime minister, today the son was robbed, it is still unknown who fell into whose hands, the lord raised the crowd to Xuzhou at this time, it is likely to be rejected by Chen Gui, Sun Qianzhi and others, when the time comes, there will be Xuzhou Jiancheng blocking the way, and then there will be Liangzhou Iron Cavalry pursuit, our army will be defeated!" ”

"Then retreat to Qingzhou." Liu Ye said, "Yuan Shao's new defeat, the Hebei army suffered heavy losses, Qingzhou must guard against emptiness, the lord is just good to take advantage of the false attack as the foundation, and then Xu Tu will plan later." ”

"Qingzhou?" Xun Yu said, "It's easy to get in, but it's hard to come out again." ”

"Now is not the time for the heroes to rise and the world to divide the world, the Han world has fallen into the hands of a few big warlords such as Ma Yue, Yuan Shao, Sun Jian, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, etc., if the lord retreats to Qingzhou, then the Central Plains will inevitably fall into the hands of Ma Yue, and the horse butcher will sit on the Guan, Liang, Hetao, Sili, and the Central Plains, how can the prime minister compete with it?"

Liu Ye said: "So you can only fight to the death with the Liang army!" ”

"Boom."

Cao Ying suddenly pulled out his sword and cut off the table, and shouted: "Determination has been made, when you fight to the death with the horse butcher, and if there is a resignation, you should be the same as this case!" ”

All were awe-inspiring.

Cheng Yu said: "Lord, if you fight, you must fight quickly, although people can solve temporary worries, but it is not a long-term solution!" ”

Cao Ying said: "When it is said in the morning, it will be a decisive battle between the army and the Liang army!" ”

Liu Ye said: "Lord, if the horse butcher avoids the war, what can he do?" ”

"No!" Cao Ying said categorically, "The Liang army needs to transport military rations from Guanzhong, and the distance is not less than thousands of miles, although our army's military rations are in short supply, the Liang army is not much better." Our army went out of the city for a decisive battle, and the horse butcher was afraid that he would not be able to ask for it! If it weren't for the situation, how could Lone give the horse butcher such an opportunity? If the army has sufficient rations, our army only needs deep ditches and high fortifications to repel the Liang army. ”

……

On the official road of Runan to Jiangxia, Guan Ping was ordered by Guan Yu to lead two hundred soldiers to escort the "Son of Heaven" and "Hundred Officials" to Jiangxia County with great fanfare, and when he was slowly walking, suddenly a fast horse galloped over, ran to Guan Ping, turned over and dismounted and knelt down in the dust, crying and crying: "Young General, woo woo woo ......"

Guan Ping saw it squarely, and when he saw that it was Hu Ban's younger brother Hu Qiang, he couldn't help but be surprised: "Hu Qiang, what's wrong?" ”

Hu Qiang howled and cried: "Young general, old general, he ...... He ......"

Guan Ping's heart jumped, and he said sharply: "Father, what's wrong with him?" ”

Hu Qiang said: "The old general, he ...... Killed by Ma Chao! ”

"Huh?"

Guan Ping only felt that his eyes were black when he heard this, and he almost fell down from the horseback, but fortunately, his own soldiers hurriedly stepped forward to support Guan Ping, and it took a long time for Guan Ping to come back to his senses, and he looked up to the sky and howled: "Father, father, where ...... it?"

"Boom~~"

"Guan Yu Pifu, leave off!"

When Guan Pingzheng was sad, the sound of hooves on the official road in the north was like thunder, and he turned his head in shock, only to see thousands of Xiliang iron horsemen like a stormy wave, swept in, and the first general brandished a heavy wolf's tooth hammer and roared to the sky, and the thunderous sound of horses' hooves could not suppress his loud voice.

This general is naturally Xu Chu, a fierce general in Liangzhou.

"Oh no, Xiliang Iron Cavalry is here."

"Oh my God, run!"

"I don't want to die here, brothers, run~~"

In addition to the more than 50 cavalry under Guan Ping, the rest of the two or three hundred people were all Cao Ying's old troops who surrendered, or the new Ding who was forcibly conscripted and enlisted on the way.

Seeing that he couldn't do anything, Guan Ping had to lead the long knife in his hand to the south and said sharply: "Go!" ”

Guan Ping gave an order, and led the only more than 50 cavalry soldiers to flee to Jiangxia in panic.

Xu Chu couldn't catch up, so he had to order the soldiers to rush into the "Son of Heaven" and "Hundred Officials" in the mountains, and when the soldiers rushed to him, they found that it was just a group of people pretending, and he was fooled at the moment, and lamented to Chen Zhi behind him: "Uncle Zhi, we were fooled, this is Guan Yu's trick, the real Son of Heaven and the hundred officials must have fled to Lujiang!" ”

Chen Zhi persuaded: "The general doesn't have to be discouraged, when our army chased Jiangxia, Cao Hong, Cao Zhen and the Cao army led by Yu Ban were pursuing towards the Lujiang River. ”

"Oh, is it too late?" Xu Chu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly turned his mount to the Liangzhou iron horse behind him and shouted, "Brothers, go to Lujiang and go!" ”

Xu Chu gave an order, and the three thousand iron horsemen swept away like a tide.

……

Runan.

At the foot of Dabie Mountain, a dangerous pass.

After three days of day and night over the mountains and mountains, Pan Zhang's 3,000 elite soldiers finally crossed the steep Dabie Mountains, and took a shortcut to grab the front of Ma Chao's 800 iron cavalry.

Because Ma Chao's 800 iron cavalry were all cavalry, they could not cross the mountains and mountains like the elite soldiers of Shanyue, but had to advance along the flat official road, and many times walked from one side of the mountain to the other side, and the straight-line distance was actually only a few miles, but the cavalry had to go around a big bend for dozens of miles.

Because of this, the marching speed of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry was far inferior to Pan Zhang's Shanyue elite soldiers.

Ma Chao led 800 iron cavalry to protect the Son of Heaven and 100 officials in the Dabie Mountains for three days, and before they got out of the mountains, they were blocked by Pan Zhang, and at this time, the two thousand light cavalry led by Tai Shici also chased up again, only half a day's journey away from the Liang army.

With the afterglow of Luoyue, Ma Chao and Fa Zheng climbed a cliff on the left side of the official road and condescendingly observed the Wu army village set up by Pan Zhang.

Fa Zheng put his hand on the awning and looked at it for a moment, and said: "From the banner, it looks like Wu Jun, not Cao Jun!" ”

Ma Chao said: "There are not many troops, at most three thousand!" ”

Fa Zhengdao: "The entire official road has been completely blocked, if our army wants to pass, there is only one way to attack, but the Wu army has set up three simple camps along the official road, fortified layer by layer, and resisted step by step, such an arrangement can greatly dampen the spirit of our army and increase the difficulty of our army to break through the enemy camp, which is simply invulnerable." ”

Ma Chao said: "It seems that the chief general of the Wu army is also a ruthless character, and it is difficult to deal with!" ”

Fa Zheng glanced back behind him, frowned and said: "Two thousand Wu army light cavalry is behind our army, it only takes half a day to catch up, when the time comes, our army has interception in front and pursuers in the rear, but it will be doomed!" ”

Ma Chao slapped his palm on the mountain rock beside him, and smashed a boulder the size of a grinding plate, and said hatefully: "It's a pity that this is not the Central Plains, nor is it Mobei, and our army's elite iron cavalry was blocked by only 3,000 Dongwu foot soldiers!" Hmph, if it were changed to open terrain, General Ben would be able to make these three thousand Wu pawns disappear without much effort. ”

Fa Zhengdao: "This is the restriction of the terrain on the troops!" There are many plains in the north, which is conducive to the galloping of war horses, so the cavalry is infinitely powerful, but the south is mostly mountains, and the power of the cavalry will be greatly reduced. ”

Ma Chao said: "I'm afraid it's not possible to fight hard, but I still have to find a way to get around." ”

Fa Zheng said: "The mountains here are steep, and the soldiers can naturally climb over them on foot, but the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials are weak, how can they do it?" Moreover, once the iron cavalry loses its war horse, if the Cao army and the Wu army hear the news after leaving the Dabie Mountain Range, how should they get rid of the pursuers? ”

Ma Chao said: "I don't know if filial piety is a good strategy? ”

Fa Zheng's eyes rolled, and he said in a deep voice: "Let's give him a golden cicada shell!" ”

Ma Chao said: "How to get rid of the golden cicada?" ”

Fa Zheng stretched out his hand and pointed to the vast Dabie Mountain Range behind him, and said in a deep voice: "Young General, look, this Dabie Mountain is surrounded by mountains and mountains, clouds and mist, if it weren't for the fact that it is winter, the pursuers can escape the footprints left in the snow to pursue, even if it is hidden 100,000 troops, it may be difficult to detect, let alone 800 iron horses?" ”

Ma Chao nodded, and said with regret: "Yes, it's a pity that it's the middle of winter, and the heavy snow covers the mountains, so it's difficult to hide the tracks, otherwise the eight hundred iron horsemen only need to hide in the mountains and mountains, how can Wu Jun find it?" ”

"Major General don't worry." Fa Zheng said, "If you look at the sky at night, it is likely that there will be heavy snow tonight. ”

Ma Chao said: "Oh, it will snow heavily tonight?" ”

Fa Zheng said: "Young General, you can find a hidden valley in advance, hide the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials, and then select nine hundred good horses to stay, let Han De lead more than 100 elite soldiers to take care of them, and then order the soldiers to wipe out the footprints left by the people and animals in the valley, and when the snow falls from the sky to the next dawn, the traces are gone, and it will be difficult for the Wu army to find the Son of Heaven, the hundred officials and the hidden horses." ”

Ma Chao said: "In this case, why don't the whole army hide in the valley and make it difficult for the Wu army to find a trace?" ”

"Major General, and no." Fa Zheng hurriedly shook his hand and said, "If the whole army hides in the valley, and the Wu army sees that our army suddenly disappears, it will definitely send scout rangers to carefully search every valley nearby, so that no matter how hidden our army is, even if all the traces are covered by heavy snow, I am afraid it will be difficult to escape the search of the Wu army." ”

Ma Chao nodded and said: "What Xiaozhi said is extremely true, General Ben almost made a mistake. ”

Fa Zhengdao: "You can order the soldiers to stab to death the captured war horses of Guan Yu's army and the surplus war horses of our army, and abandon them on the official road, and then lead the soldiers to abandon their horses and walk, climb the dangerous peak along the steep slope on the right side of the official road, and turn around the camp set up by the Wu army in front, so that the Wu army must think that our army has all abandoned their horses and walked." ”

[There were 2,000 war horses when the 800 iron cavalry went out, and hundreds of war horses were consumed in the battle around Mangdang Mountain, and there were still more than 1,500 horses when they arrived at Gepo, plus the captured war horses of the Guan Yu army, which was worth 2,000, and the Wu army did not know that the Liang army was a horse and a number of horses, so it was easy to miscalculate. ]

"Understood." Ma Chao said, "In this way, the attention of the Wu army's pursuers will inevitably be focused on the elite soldiers led by General Ben, and General Ben can just take them around the mountains. After the Wu army in the pass in front of them was withdrawn, General Ben led his troops back the same way, and joined forces with Han De to protect the Son of Heaven and hundreds of officials out of the valley and march north! ”

Fa Zheng said: "Not far from the valley is the Runan Plain, and the eight hundred iron cavalry are no longer afraid of any pursuers!" ”

"Wonderful! That's a great plan! Ma Chao said, "But only leaving Han De to protect the Son of Heaven General Ben is really not at ease, and leaving only a hundred elite soldiers is too thin, it is better to be like this, let Xiaozhi you lead three hundred elite soldiers to stay together to preside over the overall situation, and only need General Ben and five hundred elite soldiers to lead away the chasing soldiers!" ”

Fa Zheng hugged his fists and said: "Obey the order." ”

Ma Chao said in a deep voice: "Without further ado, how about you and I act separately?" ”

Fa Zheng hugged his fists and said, "Major General take care." ”

Ma Chao also said: "Filial piety is precious. ”

At that moment, the two of them found their way down the mountain and went their separate ways.

……

Xuchang.

Cao Ying took the initiative to write a battle letter to Ma Yue, and Ma Yue was in the middle of it, and immediately replied to Cao Ying, agreeing to a decisive battle.

The next time.

The trumpets sounded in unison, and the two armies formed a circle.

Ma Yue rode out of battle under the escort of Dian Wei, Gan Ning, Xu Huang, Fang Yue and hundreds of iron horsemen, and Cao Ying also shot his horse under the support of Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu and hundreds of tigers and leopards. Ma Yue was wearing gold armor and a golden helmet on his head, looking radiant and magnificent, on the other hand, Cao Ying, due to the difficult situation and the hard work of the night, looked thin and weak, and his complexion was gloomy.

"Prime Minister." Ma Yue clasped his hands into fists and smiled, "Is it okay to come again?" ”

"The blessing of the Liang Hou." Cao Ying also cupped his fists and saluted back, "The lonely body is very good. ”

Ma Yue looked at Cao Ying for a moment, and said, "Prime Minister, your complexion doesn't look very good?" Is it too much to work on state affairs? If the prime minister feels powerless, Lone is very willing to do it for him, but I don't know if the prime minister has the grace to make the virtuous? Ho ho ho ......"

Cao Xiu behind Cao Ying was young and vigorous after all, and when he heard this, he was immediately furious, and he slapped his horse and danced his knife out of the battle and shouted: "Horse butcher, traitor, Cao Xiu of Qianjun is here, come and die!" ”

"Cao Xiu's little Hugh is going to be rampant!" Fang Yue slapped his horse out of the battle, raised his gun and shouted, "A certain Fang Yue is also coming!" ”

"Look for death!"

Cao Xiu snorted, changed his gun to his bow, and instigated two arrows to shoot at Fang Yue.

Fang Yue pulled out the gun, the two horses intersected, and a shot stabbed Cao Xiu's throat, Cao Xiu hurriedly resisted with an iron tire bow, only to hear a snap The iron tire bow in his hand had already been broken into two, Cao Xiu's wrist was also injured, and blood suddenly dripped down. Fang Yue pulled out his horse and chased back, leading his gun and shouting: "Cao Xiu'er, next year's day is your taboo!" ”

Cao Xiu fled from the desert, Fang Yue's horse was fast, and he was about to catch up, suddenly there was a terrible sound of breaking the air, and a cold killing machine hit like lightning, Fang Yue hurriedly returned to the gun to block, only to hear the sound of Zheng, a thumb-thick wolf tooth arrow had been blocked off the horse, and when he looked up again, Zhang He could pull the bow, and there was a buzzing sound.

Fang Yue instinctively ducked, but no arrow hit.

With this kung fu, Cao Xiu had already flown back to his own formation, and it was too late for Fang Yue to catch up.

Zhang Liao had a gun in his hand, patted his horse and slowly came out of the battle, and said to Fang Yue: "Fang Yue, do you still know Zhang Liao of Yanmen?" ”

"Zhang Liao?" Fang Yue said coldly, "You actually surrendered to Cao Ying?" ”

Zhang Liao said: "The so-called good birds choose trees to perch, good ministers choose the lord and do things, the prime minister is eloquent and loyal to Han Xian, he is the master, the general has peerless martial arts and is very good at commanding the army, he is the general of the world, why not abandon the secret and work with Zhang Liao, so the world is very fortunate." ”

"Nonsense!" Fang Yue shouted, "Cao Ying's name is Han Xiang, he is really a thief, he treats the Son of Heaven and hundreds of officials, and intends to usurp the Han Dynasty to stand on his own, but he is actually a thief who is rebellious, this general thinks that you are a rare general, if you are willing to abandon the secret and surrender to the Ming and return to the command of Lianghou, you are willing to make a guarantee for you in front of Lianghou." ”

"Hahaha." Zhang Liao looked up to the sky and said with a long smile, "Since this is the case, then there is nothing to say between you and me, let's share life and death on the battlefield today." ”

Fang Yue said: "That's exactly what I mean. ”

"Take it."

Zhang Liao shouted and urged the horse to gallop forward, Fang Yue was not afraid to meet the horse, in the sonorous sound of gold and iron, in the blink of an eye, the two generals had fought more than 30 times, it was a matter of victory or defeat, Zhang Liao rose up with all his strength to force Fang Yue back, and then slowly raised the spear and pointed at Fang Yue, and said solemnly: "Fang Yue, see life and death within the three!" ”

Fang Yue took a long breath, tried his best to calm the churning breath in his chest, and said in a deep voice: "Just let the horse come!" ”

In the Liang army array, Ma Yue turned his head and glanced at Ju Tu, who knew that the horse was hidden behind the door flag.

In the Cao army formation opposite, Zhang He also quietly hid behind the big banner, holding his bow and arrows, and pointing to the sky.

"Drive!"

Zhang Liao's eyes showed a hideous look, and the horse raised a spear to take Fang Yue, Fang Yue's eyes flashed a trace of fierceness, and he also urged the horse to meet him, and in an instant, the two horses were already walking side by side, Zhang Liao shouted and stabbed with a spear, Fang Yue raised his gun to resist, but he didn't want Zhang Liao's spear to retract strangely.

Zhang Liao's stab turned out to be a false move, and Fang Yue's full strength suddenly failed!

A shot missed, Fang Yue knew that something was wrong, and when he hurriedly dodged sideways, it was too late, Zhang Liao's iron spear was like a poisonous snake out of the hole, and stabbed again, only to hear a poof, Fang Yue's right rib had been pierced by Zhang Liao's iron spear, and the tide-like cold attacked, Fang Yue's left half of his body was suddenly numb, and he was no longer conscious.

Zhang Liao raised his head to the sky and let out a long roar, raising his gun and sweeping.

Fang Yue was seriously injured and had no strength to parry, and was suddenly swept off the horse, and fell into a lot of meat, Zhang Liao rode back, and was about to make up for a shot to pierce Fang Yue's throat, when the cold killing machine suddenly attacked from behind, and he turned his head in shock, only to see four cold stars sweeping like meteors catching the moon, one shot at the mount, one shot at Zhang Liao's throat, and the other two points directly took Zhang Liao's chest and abdomen.

"Good archery!"

Zhang Liao shouted, hurriedly urged the horse to avoid the side, and at the same time quickly shook the spear in his hand, and picked off the four feather arrows one by one, just this kung fu, the two fast horses have already flown out of the Liang army formation, but it is Xu Huang and Gan Ning, Xu Huangfei also seems to rescue Fang Yue, but Gan Ning is dancing knife and directly taking Zhang Liao.

"Linjiang Ganning is here, can Zhang Liao'er dare to take a knife?"

Zhang Liao reined in his horse and said, "What if I take you ten knives?" ”

The two horses intersected, Gan Ning shouted a knife and slashed down viciously according to Zhang Liao's head, Zhang Liao raised his gun to block it calmly, and when he turned back, Gan Ning's horse was about to kill again, and it was another knife slash, and Zhang Liao picked it up again. The horse's hooves were churning, the snow was splashing, and in a blink of an eye, the two horses had gone back and forth, and Zhang Liao also calmly took Gan Ning's ten knives.

"Whew!" Gan Ning stopped at Lema, gasped twice, and said awe-inspiringly, "It's not bad, it's a little interesting." ”

The corners of Zhang Liao's mouth slowly bloomed with a trace of cold murderous intent, raised his gun and pointed at Gan Ning, and shouted: "Ten swords have passed, and the martial arts under your feet are nothing more than that!" ”

"Huh?" Gan Ning said angrily, "It's so arrogant, you dare to despise Lao Tzu like this!?" ”

Zhang Liao slowly pressed down the iron gun in his hand, and the thick killing intent ignited from his eyes like a raging fire, and he shouted coldly: "Now it's the turn of a certain gun, get ready to take it!" ”

"Whew!"

Gan Ning viciously waved the ghost-headed machete in his hand twice, and shouted: "Even if you let the horse come, Lao Tzu is still afraid that you won't succeed?" ”

(To be continued)