Before dawn, the Han army completely withdrew from Wancheng, but unlike Zhang Liao's prediction, the Han army did not withdraw to the east of Huashui, but retreated quickly to the southwest, preparing to join up with Pang De's army, and after crossing the Han River, retreated from Fangling County to Xiangyang.

The 500 large ships full of supplies were evacuated from Wancheng three hours ago, and sailed down the river from the river to Xiangyang in the Han River, and the 500 large ships stretched for dozens of miles, the momentum was spectacular, attracting people's attention, and naturally attracted the attention of thousands of Cao cavalry active in the south of Wancheng.

After the fierce battle with the Pang De army, although the Cao cavalry nearly 3,000 Han troops were wiped out, they also paid the price of more than 300 cavalry casualties, Cao Zhen did not catch up with the main force of the Pang De army, and then turned south and prepared to attack the 5,000 Han troops stationed in Shuyang County, but Xiang Chong, the main general of the Han army in Shuyang, expected the enemy to be the first, and retreated to Shuyang County first, so that the Cao cavalry pounced.

Xiang Pet is very good at defense, although the city of Shuyang is not big, but it is defended by Xiang Pet to the drip, Cao Zhen wanted to capture Shuyang County several times, all ended in failure, but Xiang Pet is also quite worried in his heart, there is no point in holding Shuyang, the key is to successfully evacuate Nanyang, return to Xiangyang, how to get rid of the pursuit of Cao's cavalry, is the top priority.

Xiang Pet walked quickly to the head of the city, looking at the Cao cavalry camp a few miles away, he had just received the news that the Cao cavalry was going to the north of the river, which made him very surprised, at this time, a tooth general persuaded: "General, since the Cao cavalry is heading north, can we take this opportunity to retreat to Xinye?" ”

Xiang Pet shook his head, "What if it's Cao Jun's trick to lure troops?" Wait and see, see what's going on? ”

At this moment, a cavalry galloped from the north, rushed to the city and shouted: "General, I have come to deliver a letter on the order of the Governor of Wendu!" ”

Xiang Pet probe looked, he knew this person, it was Wen Ping's personal soldier, so he immediately ordered: "Kaicheng let him in!" ”

The city gate slowly opened, and the messenger urged the horse to gallop into the city, and was soon led to the city by the soldier, and the messenger knelt down on one knee and presented a volume of letters, "Letter from the governor of Wendu, please take a look at it general." ”

Xiang Zhong opened the letter and read it for a while, only then did he understand what Cao Jun was going north for, he nodded, and immediately turned back and ordered: "Pass my order, the whole army assembles, and prepare to retreat!" ”

The sky is gradually bright, on the water, the fleet stretching for dozens of miles is speeding south, all the ships are two hundred stone flat-bottomed sand boats, which are the most common cargo transport ships on the water, the ships are loaded with ordnance and food, but the draft is not deep, obviously there is still a lot of leeway, each boat has a few soldiers escorting, they hide under the tarpaulin, holding crossbows, jǐng timidly watching the situation on the shore.

At this moment, there was a fierce sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and a long black line appeared in the distance, and then the overwhelming cavalry rushed towards the shore, and the boatmen who drove the boats suddenly became nervous, and they all pulled their boats towards the east bank, and drove close to the east bank.

The cavalry of the Cao army did not come close to the river, they had a painful lesson, a few months ago, Cao Chun died on the bank of the river, several cavalry stepped forward and shouted: "The ship will come to the shore immediately!" ”

No matter how the cavalry shouted, the fleet just ignored it, and suddenly, more than a dozen cold arrows came out of the boat, and a Cao soldier couldn't dodge, and was pierced through the chest by an arrow, screaming and falling off his horse, and the rest of the cavalry withdrew from the shore one after another.

Cao Zhen was furious, and the horse whip commanded: "Give me shè arrows!" ”

Suddenly there was a flurry of arrows on the shore, shè to the fleet, the boatmen raised their shields to meet each other, the hull was full of arrows for a moment, but the ship was still moving, there was no effect, Cao Zhen hated it, he was lightly armed south this time, did not carry the oil, otherwise a fire would burn all the ships.

At this moment, a patrol sentry rushed in the distance, hugged his fist to Cao Zhen and said: "General Qiyu, the Wenpin army has left Wancheng and evacuated to the southwest!" ”

Cao Zhen was stunned, he slapped his head suddenly, and then it suddenly dawned on him, it turned out that the five hundred ships were bait, luring his cavalry to the water, but the main force of the Han army withdrew from the west of Wancheng, and he asked urgently: "When will they evacuate?" ”

"Returning to the general, it seems to be the fifth watch."

Cao Zhenxin's mind changed sharply, the Han army had only retreated westward for more than an hour, and he had not gone far, and he had time to catch up, so he immediately shouted: "Follow me, go and chase Wenpin!" ”

More than 4,000 cavalrymen turned their horses' heads and followed Cao Zhen to the west, gradually moving away.

An hour later, the fleet arrived in Shuyang County, and the Xiang Pet troops who had been waiting here for a long time boarded the ship, and the fleet continued to sail south, heading towards Xiangyang

The cavalry led by Cao Zhen is a tiger and leopard cavalry from Youzhou, most of them are Wuhuan people, they have lived on horses since childhood, and their riding skills are extremely jīng Zhan, and after the systematic training of Cao Zhen's army, they have become a cavalry with extremely strong combat effectiveness, which is also one of the reasons why Cao Cāo can dominate the world, a cavalry of 5,000 people, enough to defeat tens of thousands of infantry.

It is precisely for this reason that Cao Cāo will never allow people with foreign surnames to be in charge of the cavalry, and the four cavalry commanders, Cao Chun, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu are all Cao Cāo's brothers and nephews, and their strong strength and special preferential treatment make this cavalry extremely proud, and they not only despise the southern soldiers of the Han army, but also look down on their own Cao army infantry.

Cheng Yu also knew their strength, and specially sent this cavalry to fight the outpost, and they did not live up to Cheng Yu's expectations, successfully intercepted the merger of the Han army, and annihilated the three thousand Han troops who blocked them, the existence of this cavalry made the Han army extremely passive, and even the evacuation of Nanyang County became a big problem,

The cavalry of the Cao army galloped all the way to the west, stretching for several miles, and the yellow dust was rolling on the official road, and the sound was terrifying, so frightened that the pedestrians on the road ran lifeless to the wheat fields on both sides, and if they were a little slower, they would be killed by random arrows.

"Speed up!"

Cao Zhen kept turning his head and shouting, he took the lead, and galloped with a long lance in his hand, Cao Zhen knew in his heart that the Han army's retreat was not fast, far from being comparable to the cavalry, and they could catch up with the enemy at noon.

The terrain of Nanyang County is high in the west and low in the east, the plains in the east, the hilly areas in the west, and the Funiu Mountains in the west.

Cao Zhen reined in his horse, pointed at a young man in the field with a horsewhip, and ordered him to the left and right: "Arrest him!" ”

Several cavalrymen galloped away, and the young man turned around and fled, but he couldn't outrun the cavalry's horses, and was caught up and captured in an instant.

Several cavalrymen rushed to Cao Zhen with the young man, "General, catch it." ”

Cao Zhen glanced at the young man and asked, "Child, let me ask you, before us, was there an army to pass?" ”

The boy was so frightened that he couldn't speak, and the cavalry scout knocked the boy, "Say it!" ”

The young man trembled and said, "Not long ago, an army just passed and walked in a hurry, and they were all running. ”

Cao Zhen was overjoyed, this must be the main force of Wenpin, and he shouted: "Speed up and catch up with the enemy!" ”

The cavalry picked up speed again, galloping westward, and the cavalry gradually approached a hill, the forest on the hill was dense, about ten miles long, close to the official road, at this time thousands of crossbows in the woods had been aimed at the Cao cavalry rushing to the front.

When he learned that the Wenpin army was also retreating westward, he immediately led the army to rush to prepare to ambush the pursuing cavalry, at this time Pound's eyes erupted with anger, he thought of the three thousand subordinates who were slaughtered by the cavalry, and the pain filled his heart with hatred.

"General, the enemy army has passed a thousand!"

Pound nodded and gave the order, "Shè hit!" ”

The sound of bangzi suddenly sounded, and the arrows in the woods were suddenly chaotic, dense like a storm shè to the Cao army cavalry, the Cao army was chasing in a hurry, no vigilance, the running cavalry was shè, screaming and turning over and falling off the horse, the back war horse could not dodge, and was also tripped and rolled over, the Cao army suffered heavy casualties in an instant, and the official road was in chaos, followed by the second round of crossbow arrows and rushed to the wheat field, many cavalry turned around and ran to the wheat field, but the wheat field was also covered with thistles, and the war horse ran out a few steps, and was pierced through the horse's hooves by a long needle, He fell to the ground with a long and miserable hiss.

Cao Zhen was at the front of the team, he had already run past the ambush, he suddenly heard a scream behind him, he was shocked, and hurriedly reined in the war horse, and asked urgently: "What happened behind?" ”

"General, there is an ambush on the mountain, and the brothers have been ambushed and have suffered heavy casualties!"

Cao Zhen was taken aback, and before he could react, the drums around him were loud, and the eight thousand soldiers led by Wen Ping came out of the woods on the side of the mountain, and Wen Ping shouted, "The enemy will take his life!" ”

Cao Zhen recognized Wen Ping, he didn't say a word, rode his horse and stabbed it, Wen Ping waved his knife to meet each other, the two fought fiercely in one place, at this time, Wen Ping's army surrounded more than 1,000 cavalry, stabbed with spears in the near distance, and used arrows in the distance, and there were constantly cavalry screaming and falling off their horses, which was not suitable for cavalry to fight, so that the cavalry was extremely passive.

Cao Zhen and Wen Ping fought fiercely for more than ten rounds, Cao Zhen saw that the situation was extremely bad, he had no intention of fighting, stabbed a lance, blocked Wen Ping's big knife, turned the horse and ran forward, the cavalry saw the main general fleeing, and also rushed forward, the Han soldiers could not stop the cavalry from breaking through, and were killed to open a bloody road, watching hundreds of cavalry escape from the encirclement.

Wen Ping snorted fiercely in hatred, and turned around and ordered: "Array!" The cavalry was not allowed to break through again. ”

Eight thousand infantry quickly lined up on both sides of the official road, thousands of crossbow arrows aimed at the Cao cavalry who were about to rush over, and the arrows rained down, while the rest of the soldiers lined up in a spear formation to intercept the cavalry's onslaught.

This battle was based on an ambush first, intercepted in the rear, and fought a beautiful turnaround battle, with more than 1,000 of the 4,500 Jīng sharp cavalry killed and wounded, and less than 3,000 of them successfully broke through and ran north in panic.

At this time, Zhang Liao's army had occupied Wancheng and was marching into the city, while Wen Pingjun and Pang Dejun did not continue to counterattack, after the two armies converged, they crossed the Han River to the south and returned to Xiangyang from Fangling County, so far, Nanyang County was recaptured by the Cao army, and the main force of the Han army retreated to the Xiangyang line.

．．．．．．．．．