The battle outside the eastern gate of Xiangyang City was still raging, but the Zhou soldiers on the battlefield did not seem to notice that the commander of their army, Xie An, had withdrawn from the battlefield at some point.

No, it should not be said that it was evacuated, but that he was chased and fled from the battlefield, and was chased by three or five thousand soldiers led by the general of the White Water Army, Zhen Lei.

Some people may wonder, obviously Xie An and Liu Qing also have about 5,000 soldiers and horses next to them, can they just do nothing and just run away?

In fact, it was really right, in the face of the thunder chasing after him and others, Xie An and Liu Qing didn't seem to have the intention of fighting at all, regardless of the fact that the battle was still going on, they actually fled to the forest in the northeast with their own people.

It is said that it is a forest, but in fact, it has already been cut down by Zhou Bing, after all, in order to establish a camp outside Xiangyang City a while ago, Zhou Bing cut down a large number of trees there, which directly caused the originally dense vegetation over there to become bare snow.

And because of this, seeing Xie An and Liu Qing fleeing in that direction, a general of the White Water Army who followed behind the thunder was surprised in his heart.

Is Zhou Bing stupid? Where to run? 丨

Shen Ping, the general of the White Water Army, compared with the position of the Zhou army, this person is probably at the level of 10,000 generals, just like Feng Xi of the Taiping Army, Su Xin, Li Jing, Qi Hao, and Liao Li in the Zhou army, although they are not generals who can take charge alone, but they are undeniably the backbone of the battlefield. In other words, Xiao will be first-class.

In all fairness, Shen Ping was somewhat concerned about Zhou Bing's unusual behavior.

Although he also knew that the reason why the Zhou soldiers fled backwards was nothing more than to fear the terrifying strength of their White Water Army's general Thunder, but as a general, Shen Ping had to consider it more or less. For example, this time the Zhou soldiers left without touching the main formation, whether this was a trick of Liu Qing, the military advisor of the Zhou army.

However, when he noticed the route of Zhou Bing's escape, his worries gradually dispelled.

As the saying goes, every time the forest does not enter, the poor do not chase, many of the defeats in history have suffered from lack of greed, the enemy's plan to lure the enemy by mistake, God knows if the enemy will ambush a bow and crossbow unit in the woods on both sides of the retreat road?

But like the current situation, Shen Ping was not worried, because most of the forest had been cut down by Zhou Bing himself, so that the field of vision could be guaranteed to be unobstructed. In the absence of cover, Shen Ping did not believe that Zhou Bing had left any ambush soldiers there in advance. Even if there is, he is not blind in the White Water Army, how can he not see it?

Therefore, Shen Ping didn't think about stopping the thunder of the general of their White Water Army. As Liu Qing expected, the White Water Army had great trust in Lei from top to bottom, and they felt that as long as there was a thunderstorm

There is no enemy that cannot be defeated.

As a result, the Zhou soldiers kept fleeing, and the Baishui army kept chasing for ten miles, and even the earth-shattering shouting and killing outside the east gate of Xiangyang City became ethereal because of the distance.

I don't know how long it took, but suddenly the thunder wrinkled slightly, and Le Ma stopped the movement of the war horse running under his crotch.

Seeing this, Shen Ping hurriedly raised his hand and shouted, "The whole army stops!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the three or five thousand White Water Army foot soldiers stopped one after another, looking at the formation that was not chaotic, it was not difficult to imagine that the White Water Army was indeed a well-trained elite division.

"Fog?" A trace of doubt flashed in the eyes of the thunder full of war, and he frowned at the forest that Zhou Bing had passed through, and the white mist filled the forest where only wooden stakes were left on the felled ground, which not only covered the figure of Zhou Bing in the distance, but also made the originally unobstructed vista become as ethereal as a deep mountain fairyland, making it difficult for people to see the distant scenery clearly.

At this time, a trace of white mist drifted into the thunderbolt's nasal cavity, making the thunderbolt frown instinctively.

It's not fog, it's ・・・・・・ smoke! -- White smoke from burning hay! 丨

Le Mar paused, and the thunder looked around, but there was nothing unusual around except for the white smoke getting denser and denser.

Liu Qing guessed well, in the case of the general, because of the relationship between the inner battle spirit, he could not be completely calm, so he temporarily lost the amazing intuition comparable to Liang Qiu Dance, but this did not mean that he was unwise and resourceful, he naturally knew that the smoke was not naturally generated, and it was obviously deliberately created by Zhou Bing for some purpose.

But for what purpose?

Is it just to get rid of the pursuers behind you? Or do you want to wait for an opportunity to ambush the pursuers behind you?

Because he temporarily lost his extraordinary intuition, for the first time, a difficult choice appeared in the heart of the thunder.

If it is the former, it means that this time it is a plan for the Zhou soldiers to divert the tiger from the mountain, the purpose is to divert his thunder from the main battlefield, so that the Zhou soldiers outside Xiangyang City can increase their chances of victory when fighting with the Baishui army; But if it's the latter......

Interesting...... Is the target for our generation? 丨

The tiger's eyes narrowed, and the thunder licked his lips, and the battle intent in his eyes was even stronger.

At the same time, in the thick smoke, Xie An and Liu Qing, who had already changed horses, were riding side by side.

During this period, Xie An turned his head to look behind him and said in a low voice, "Will you be in the middle of the plan, that thunder?" ”

"It should be・・・・・・" nodded, Liu Qing said in a low voice, "Zhen Lei is a martial artist, and he is a pure martial artist, it can be seen from the way he fights when he charges into battle, he is the kind of hero who knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefers to go to the tiger mountain, a fearless hero!" - As long as he realizes that the goal of our army is to snipe him, then he will cooperate with us and ・・・・・・."

"Cooperation?"

"Hmm! - He is so conceited that he will die without a place to bury! Glancing at Xie An, Liu Qing said in a rare cold tone. It is not difficult to guess from her tone of pointing at Sang and scolding Huai that the so-called conceited people in her mouth actually include Xie An's second wife, the eldest grandson Xiangyu.

And at this moment, there was a clanging sound in the smoke behind him.

"The thunderstorm is coming!" Squinting her eyes, Liu Qing said with a chuckle.

As she expected, the thunder at this moment, even if he doesn't have amazing intuition for the time being, he can guess Liu Qing's intentions this time, and he wants to target him, but his character as a martial artist is destined for him not to escape any challenges from others.

"It's just a miasma of fog, do you think you can scare me?!" Licking his lips, a pair of tiger eyes bloomed with amazing battle intent, and said in a deep voice, "Send the order down the whole army to move forward slowly, watch all directions, listen to all directions, and always be vigilant against the ambush of the Zhou soldiers!" ”

"Yes!" The morale-boosting whitewater soldiers shouted in unison.

In contrast, it was the general Shen Ping who looked a little uneasy and said in a low voice, "General General, do you really want to chase after you?" The last general thought that this smoke alone was enough to prove that Zhou Bing had been prepared! ―It's a trap! Zhou Bing must be trying to ambush the general here! ”

"Trap?" Array Lei laughed, and suddenly asked in a deep voice, "How many soldiers are there in Shen Ping?" ”

Seeing that the thunder suddenly asked about the mismatch, Shen Ping was stunned, and said truthfully, "According to the investigation, it should be about 110,000!" -- Among them, Li Cheng, the king of Anling, received 50,000 yuan, and Xie An left 60,000! ”

"So, how many Zhou soldiers are there outside the east city wall of Xiangyang?"

Shen Ping's face was even more puzzled, and he said hesitantly, "This time, he will go out of the nest, and 60,000 people will ......" Speaking of this, he seemed to suddenly understand what he breathed out, and said with admiration, "The last general is stupid and fortunate to be ordered by the general general!" ”

Hearing this, Thunder laughed loudly and said in a deep voice, "Not bad! - At this moment, Xie An and Liu Qing only have a few 5,000 troops around them, and our army strength is similar to his, so why be afraid? As he spoke, he looked up into the depths of the smoke, listened to the tinkling code, and grinned, "Hehe, such a big movement, I'm afraid that others don't know what's going on?" ―It is undeniable that Liu Qing does have the intention of sniping at our generation, but my generation wants to see how she designed it! ”

Feeling the domineering spirit of the thunder, Shen Ping was speechless in shock, and a heat surged involuntarily in his chest.

Yes, even if the Zhou soldiers have tricks, but their army is only 5,000 people, and our army strength is similar to his, why be afraid? What's more, our army also has the general general, a peerless general who is unparalleled in the world! 丨

Thinking of this, Shen Ping endured the excitement in his heart, waved his hand violently, and motioned for the Baishui soldiers under his command to slowly walk towards the thick smoke.

But to the surprise of Thunder and Shen Ping, there were no Zhou soldiers jumping out to ambush them along the way, as if Xie An's five thousand people had already fled.

How so? ――Could it be that Liu Qing is really just a plan to divert the tiger from the mountain? 丨

Frowning, Thunder was vaguely disappointed, after all, he had great expectations for whether Liu Qing had the guts to snipe him, and now that he was like this, he was inevitably a little unswerving in his heart

Suddenly, a soldier screamed, attracting the attention of Thunder and Shen Ping.

"What's the exclamation?" Thunder asked in a deep voice.

Not long after, a herald hurriedly came, clasped his fists and said, "Returning to the commander, there has been no accident, but a famous soldier found that our army had arrived in a forest at some point, and he exclaimed because of surprise!" ”

"In the woods?" Thunder was stunned, and subconsciously looked around, only then did he realize that because of the thick white smoke, his white water army did not realize that he had already left the forest that had been cut down, and he didn't know when he came to the depths of the forest that was still dense.

"Report!" With a quick shout, a soldier hurriedly ran from a distance, clasped his fists and said, "Dashuai, I'll find something later, and ask Dashuai to come over and take a look・・・・・・"

Thunder frowned, and followed the soldier to his destination, only to find that there was a lot of hay spread on the snow, most of which had burned to the ground and only grass ashes, but still kept emitting some choking white smoke.

"I see, is this where these white smoke come from in front of my generation?" Thunder nodded as if he had suddenly realized.

On the side, Shen Ping, the general of the White Water Army, instinctively felt uneasy, and said hesitantly, "General General, since the Zhou soldiers are not fighting with our army, why don't you go back and return the same way ・・・・・・."

Hearing this, Thunder frowned, in fact, he also knew what Shen Ping was thinking about.

You must know, putting aside his thunder, the White Water Army and the Zhou soldiers really can't say who wins and who loses, not to mention that in the final analysis, the White Water Army, which has only been built for three years, is not as well-established as the Jizhou Army and the Great Liang Army. Look at the Zhou soldiers, Fei Guo, Ma Dan, Tang Hao, Zhang Dong, Liang Cheng, Wang Huai, Cheng Yang, and the general Qi Zhi and a large number of good generals who are enough to take charge of the battle, and on the side of the White Water Army, only Chen Zhao, Huang Shou, Fu Ao The three army commanders and the remaining one or two can compete.

Therefore, without him in the presence of Array Thunder, the White Water Army really could not talk about winning the Zhou Army, which was also the reason why Array Lei suspected Liu Qingxing's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain.

It's just that the depressed mood in the heart of the thunder is getting worse and worse, and the lack of venting of the full battle spirit makes him look like an enraged beast at this moment, even if it is Shen Ping of the White Water Army, he will inevitably be frightened and uneasy in his heart.

"Let's go back the way you came!" Holding back the battle spirit, Thunder glanced disappointedly at the depths of the smoke.

"Huh・・・・・・" Shen Ping secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but when he turned around, he was dumbfounded, because the surroundings were already shrouded in billowing smoke, and he could still see the direction when he came.

At this, Thunder also frowned.

It's not like you're trapped, but it's not fun to hit the wrong direction.

And at this moment, there seemed to be a faint breeze blowing in the distance, caressing the face of Shen Ping, the general of the White Water Army.

"God help me!" Shen Ping's heart was overjoyed, and the fools knew that the cold winter north wind was flourishing, relying on this breeze, they could naturally return the same way and return to the Xiangyang battlefield to support.

Compared with Shen Ping, the thunder was stunned.

－？ Today...... Isn't it windless? 丨

Looking up at the clear sky, Thunder stared intently at the clouds in the sky, but strangely, the clouds in the sky showed little sign of moving.

Thunder never imagined that on the west side of the forest, about four or five miles away from them, there were more than 20 windmill-like equipment, and hundreds of Zhou soldiers were working together to turn the wheels of the chassis, causing those windmills to rotate slowly, creating a gentle breeze.

Yes, the thunderstorm's doubts are accurate, there is no wind at all today, and the wind that Shen Ping, the general of the White Water Army, felt is not a natural north wind at all, but an artificially generated wind created by Zhou Bing with the help of the windmill made by Xie An with the help of the drawings drawn by Xie An.

Moreover, this artificially generated wind blew from the west side of the forest to the east side of the forest, in other words, what the White Water Army thought was south was actually east. Misled by the direction of the wind, the White Waters who had wanted to return from the southern route were actually heading east, the deepest part of the forest・・・・・・

The white smoke was getting thicker and thicker, almost to the point where it was difficult to see the scenery a few feet away, and the thunder was really a little puzzled.

Because inferred from the concentration of white smoke, there are definitely Zhou soldiers lurking nearby, increasing the burning hay that makes white smoke from time to time, but why did Zhou Bing spend so much effort to make white smoke?

Just as he pondered this question, suddenly an exclamation came from the White Water sergeant behind him.

With a look in his eyes, Burst of Thunder asked in a deep voice, "What happened?!" ――Could it be that Zhou soldiers are coming? ”

"Uh・・・・・・ back to the general general, a famous soldier slipped and fell... ・・・”

“… Thunder opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything after all, but it was obvious that his face was not very good-looking.

But somehow, since the first soldier slipped and fell, there have been soldiers slipping and falling one after another.

Thunder glanced at the soldiers in frustration.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Thunder frowned, as he felt that the war horse under his crotch seemed to slip as well.

What's going on? His own war horse is a good horse... ・・・丨

Subconsciously glanced at the ground, and the face of the thunder changed greatly, and he shouted, "Stop the whole army!" ”

There was a slight commotion in the White Water Army, and the soldiers looked at the thunder in the distance one by one, but saw a complicated look on the thunder's face.

丨No ・・・・・・ snow, no snow on the ground! When I first entered the forest, there was snow on the ground, but now there is less and less of it, and the road is getting muddy...... 丨

"That's not right! - We're not heading south! A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice.

"How could it be ・・・・・・" Shen Ping's face was a little stunned, and said strangely, "The cold wind and the north wind prevail, and now the wind is behind us, our army is indeed ・・・・・・ to the south" Saying this, he was suddenly stunned, raised his right hand to feel the wind, and muttered, "Strange, this wind ...... Why is it a little warm? ”

"Warm?" Thunder's eyes lit up.

Just kidding, how can a cold winter wind make people feel warm?

"Crackling ......"

An extremely subtle sound came from a distance and reached the ears of the thunder.

It's ・・・・・・丨

After listening attentively, a burst of anger appeared in the eyes of the thunderbolt, and he whispered, "Damn! ―Zhou Jun is setting fire to the forest! ”

"Set ・・・・・・ fire?" Shen Ping, the general of the White Water Army, changed his complexion greatly, and said urgently, "Big, handsome, how should this be?" ”

After glancing around, seeing that there were few trees around, Thunder said, "Don't panic, there are no trees burning near where we are, so let the whole army stay where they are, don't make a noise!" - Be vigilant against Zhou soldiers' attacks! ”

As soon as the words fell, a panicked shout was heard in the distance.

Didn't you tell you to shut up and stop making noise?! ―Speaking out in such a dark and bright situation as the enemy right now, is it possible to be a live target for Zhou Jun?! 丨

Secretly cursing in his heart, the thunder swept towards the place where the voice came from very unpleasantly, but after just a glance, he was stunned, because he saw that the bodies of more than ten soldiers under his command were gradually swallowed by the ground......

Oops, here's ...... 丨

Suddenly looking down at the four hooves of his war horse, Thunder was shocked to see that the four hooves of his war horse under his crotch were gradually sinking into the mud on the ground......

Inside is...... Swamplands! 丨

How so? In such a cold winter, even the swamp should be frozen・・・・・・ etc! ―I see, Zhou Bing set smoke before, and then set fire, thawing the originally frozen swamp again・・・・・・? 丨

Just when the thunder was secretly shocked, the five thousand white water troops under his command were in chaos, more and more soldiers were trapped in the swamp, and the soldiers next to him wanted to save them, but instead of being rescued, they were dragged into it one by one.

The three or five thousand white water troops were swallowed up by the power of nature in an instant, and it seemed that they were in danger of being wiped out.

Even the thunderstorm was difficult to get out, and after the war horse under his crotch was swallowed by the ground, his feet were also deep in the mud.

"Damn! Damn it! Damn it! ”

Thunder slammed into the quagmire that trapped him with his fierce fist, but this seemed to speed up his sinking......

At this time, a shout of killing sounded around the forest.

"Kill!!"

The smoke gradually dissipated, and the Zhou soldiers finally arrived, and for the thousands of white water troops who were stuck in the quagmire and could not get out, a burst of powerful crossbows was fired・・・・・・