Haven't you said it all, Zhang Xi has a deep understanding of the principle of "shooting people first and horses first, and capturing thieves and king first". So Zhang Xi aimed at Cao Zhen's war horse to shoot, is there any problem?!

Although when he was in Wuzhangyuan, Zhang Xi was reprimanded by Zhang Fei for doing this, and was tactfully criticized by Zhuge Liang, thinking that he was not a martial artist. But that time, Guo Huai and Zhang Xi made an appointment to decide the outcome of the bet, not a life-and-death battle.

Zhuge Liang also once replied to Guo Huai, saying that if it was a real battlefield fight, Guo Huai would have died a long time ago. Obviously, between Zhang Xi and Cao Zhen now, there is a real life and death fight.

In that case, what's wrong with shooting a horse?!

This is not the time to pay attention to martial arts, this is a matter of life and death, Zhang Xi did not hesitate to detain the machine expansion of Zhuge Lian's crossbow after Cao Zhen entered the range of his crossbow, and shot at Cao Zhen's war horse.

In less than a breath, ten crossbow arrows were fired one after another. Although there were indeed problems with the shooting accuracy, most of them were accurate to Cao Zhen's war horse.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with Cao Zhen's response.

After Cao Zhen realized that Zhang Xi wanted to shoot his war horse with crossbow arrows, he didn't have time to consider whether this was in line with the embodiment of martial virtue, and in today's life and death situation, Cao Zhen had no leisure to think about this issue.

Cao Zhen only knew that if his horse was sniped and he was thrown to the ground, then he might also face the danger of being surrounded and killed by enemy infantry.

Therefore, Cao Zhen almost subconsciously tightened the reins, trying to dodge the crossbow arrows shot by Zhang Xi by suddenly slowing down.

Generally speaking, this practice is extremely effective on the battlefield, after all, although the shooting accuracy of crossbow arrows is higher than that of bows and arrows, it is also necessary to calculate the amount of advance, once the war horse suddenly slows down, the advance amount is wrong, and the crossbow arrow is likely to shoot empty.

And once Zhang Xi's crossbow arrow was shot empty, there was no chance to reload at all, and Cao Zhen was absolutely sure that he would kill Zhang Xi in front of him during this time and kill this bastard with his own hands.

But. Cao Zhen only took into account the firing speed of ordinary crossbow arrows, and never thought that the Zhuge repeater in Zhang Xi's hand could actually shoot continuously.

Cao Zhen did dodge Zhang Xi's first arrow by slowing down his war horse, but then, when Cao Zhen tried to rush towards Zhang Xi at a faster speed again, he was shocked to find that Zhang Xi shot the second, third, and fourth arrows.

At this time, Cao Zhen couldn't hide at all, the war horse was injured one after another in less than a breath, and after a wail, he fell directly to the ground, and Cao Zhen was thrown to the ground by the war horse because of this.

Fortunately, Cao Zhen was born as a military general, although he was thrown to the ground, but because of the slowing effect of the previous war horse and his own excellent physical fitness, he was not thrown to the ground, but rolled and unloaded the force, and at the same time avoided the damage of the last two crossbow arrows shot by Zhang Xi.

At this time, Cao Zhen was indeed a little shocked, but fortunately, except for the hard injuries that came out, Cao Zhen did not suffer any substantial injuries.

When he looked up, Cao Zhen found that he was still about twenty steps away from Zhang Xi, and the escort cavalry who rushed over with him were slowing down, as if they were concerned about their own safety.

Now Cao Zhen is really anxious about Lao Tzu's safety, what is there to see, now the enemy commander is twenty steps away, you bastards will slaughter people first, and then care about Lao Tzu.

But in the same way, Cao Zhen actually knew that the most important task of his escort cavalry was to protect his own safety, whether Zhang Xi died or not was not important in their eyes, and his own life and death came first.

Therefore, Cao Zhen immediately got up and shouted, "Kill this fang quickly"

On the battlefield, the situation is changing rapidly, Cao Zhen didn't want to talk nonsense, and directly ordered his escort cavalry to kill Zhang Xi, but before he finished speaking, Cao Zhen saw that Zhang Xi took out a bow and crossbow that was exactly the same as just now.

And this time, it was no longer aimed at the horses, but directly aimed at Cao Zhen. Another ten-shot shot.

Cao Zhen is worthy of being Cao Zhen, more than 30 years of diligent martial arts, coupled with the battlefield sense of smell cultivated in the army for more than 20 years, at this moment, he saved his life.

Without waiting for Zhang Xi to deduct the machine and launch the repeater, Cao Zhen had already begun to squat and roll, dodging the crossbow arrows that might be shot.

But the problem is that ten consecutive shots, Zhang Xi's speed of archery is definitely much faster than Cao Zhen's dodge.

After ten consecutive shots, although Cao Zhen relied on his sense of smell on the battlefield to roll and dodge in advance and avoid most of the arrows, he was still hit by an arrow in the shoulder, thigh, waist and abdomen after all.

Cao Zhen was lucky, although he was hit by an arrow, it was not in the critical part, and the injury was not too serious, but the arrow in the thigh and waist and abdomen also temporarily deprived Cao Zhen of his athletic ability, so that Cao Zhen could only kneel on the ground.

Such a sudden change caused Cao Zhen's escort cavalry to not dare to compete with Zhang Xi at all.

What if this thing has a strange repeater?!

Yes, the escort cavalry can indeed kill Zhang Xi, but the question is, before that, what if the commander of his escort was also shot by Zhang Xi?!

For the escort cavalry, there is no so-called credit for killing Zhang Xi at all, but if the commander of his own family unfortunately dies in battle, then these escort cavalry will go back, and it will be a dead end.

The life and death of Zhang Xi and Cao Zhen, in the eyes of the escort cavalry, is not a choice question at all. Seeing that his own commander was injured and fell to the ground, all the eighteen escort cavalry gave up the attack on Zhang Xi, quickly gathered around Cao Zhen, and surrounded Cao Zhen.

And Zhang Xi. At this time, Zhang Xi was secretly relieved.

Yes, Zhang Xi is also gambling, betting that Cao's life is really more important than his own life in the eyes of the guard cavalry.

There's no way, Zhang Xi doesn't bet this time, it is estimated that just now, the head has already landed.

There are eight people counting the flag bearers, and they are all infantry, how to fight against eighteen cavalry. The eight pawns at hand can't protect themselves.

Therefore, Zhang Xi can only aim at Cao Zhen, in fact, the purpose is to tell Cao Zhen - your escort cavalry may be able to kill me, but before that, I am sure to put you to death.

At the same time, Zhang Xi is also gambling, betting that Cao Zhen will not dare to exchange one with his own risky limit.

Now it seems that Zhang Xi has succeeded in his bet.

Under the protection of eight infantry regiments, Zhang Xi rode on a war horse, his face expressionless, and his eyes looked at Cao Zhen twenty paces away. But in fact, Zhang Xi's hands were busy loading the two Zhuge repeaters that had been shot empty.

If Cao Zhen finds out that he has actually shot all the repeaters, then the consequences are well, hurry up and reload.

Although it is said that the loading of the hand-held version of Zhuge Repeater is quite convenient and fast, Zhang Xi did not dare to move too much, allowing Cao Zhen to see through the reality. Therefore, sitting on the horse, Zhang Xi didn't dare to say a word.

And Cao Zhen. At this time, Cao Zhen was already supported by the guards, stood up again, and looked at Zhang Xi who was twenty steps away with a resentful expression.

Twenty steps, just twenty steps away, you can succeed in one battle, and you will be ashamed before the snow!!

But nowadays. After all, it fell short.

Cao Zhen couldn't judge, and he didn't dare to bet, whether Zhang Xi still had the kind of continuous shooting machine crossbow twenty paces away, with that kind of continuous shooting machine crossbow's rate of fire, even with the protection of the escort cavalry, Cao Zhen could not completely guarantee that Zhang Xi would not shoot himself.

Cao Zhen didn't come to find Zhang Xi to die together, which didn't do any good to the Wei army.

Zhang Xi died in battle, which would cause confusion in the command of the Shu thieves, but there is still a Zhao Yun here, maybe it will still have a lot of impact on the morale of the army, but with Zhao Yun's prestige to gather the troops and appease the army, the Shu thieves will at least not completely collapse.

But if Cao Zhen dies in battle with Zhang Xi, then the remaining Wei soldiers, whether they are Dai Ling or Wang Chang, will not have enough prestige and ability to appease the army, and I am afraid that the Wei army will collapse before the Shu army at that time.

Therefore, playing with Zhang Xi is not Cao Zhen's first choice. Besides, even if Cao Zhen ordered his own escort cavalry to besiege and kill Zhang Xi now, these people probably wouldn't obey the order.

The first duty of the cavalry guards was always to protect Cao Zhen, not to go into battle to kill the enemy.

It is impossible to take the initiative to attack, so all that remains is to leave this place of right and wrong quickly before Zhao Yun breaks through the infantry left by him, or before Zhang Xi's rearguard returns to defense.

Otherwise, you may want to go, but you may not be able to go.

There is not much time left for Cao Zhen to make a judgment, and it is impossible for Cao Zhen to continue to stay where he is. That is, in the time of two or three breaths, Cao Zhen slowly retreated under the protection of his own guards, and after retreating for a distance, Cao Zhen turned over and retreated to the east side of the battlefield under the cover of the escort cavalry.

Zhang Xi did not chase. What are you chasing, you're all bluffing, if you chase something, who will be responsible?!

This time, he was able to pick up a life under Cao Zhen's sudden formation, which was extremely lucky, Zhang Xi was still worried about whether Cao Zhen would see through his bluff and kill a horse pistol during the period before Zhao Yun came to help.

And as Zhao Yun broke through the interception of the Wei army and ran to join Zhang Xi, Zhang Xi's first suggestion was to gather his soldiers and withdraw his troops back to the camp.

It's not because Cao Zhen is afraid of the sudden formation this time, but there is no need to fight anymore.

The 10,000 foot soldiers led by Zhang Xi were successfully cut off by the Cao army and became the front and rear divisions.

The rear army can be retracted and returned, but the front part needs Zhao Yun to take the cavalry to pick it up, and if it continues to fight, the front will suffer heavy losses.

As for the cavalry, because Zhao Yun chose to break through Cao Zhen's Chinese army, it is now also in a state of disarray, and if it continues to fight, it will be difficult to fight if there is no formed cavalry to respond.

It is better to take advantage of the fact that Cao Zhen has not completely returned to the camp at this time, re-command, quickly gather his troops, and prepare to withdraw to the camp.

As for Cao Zhen's side, if you really want to talk about losses, the Wei army is much bigger than his own, and Cao Zhen himself is injured, so it's hard to say whether the Wei army will continue to fight next.

And things were similar to what Zhang Xi expected.

After Cao Zhen withdrew to his army under the protection of the cavalry, the first thing he did was to order Wang Chang to gather the soldiers on the battlefield and prepare to return to the camp.

The best decisive fighter has been wasted by Cao Zhen, and continuing to fight is just a cross-melee.

Cao Zhen still doesn't feel that he has reached the point where he can only make a last stand, and it is not too late to fight again in the future.

In this way, under the tacit understanding of the two sides, this battle in Tongguan was temporarily over after lasting about two hours.

(End of chapter)