In the middle of the night, from the countryside of the pavilion, more than a dozen fast horses galloped.

Although it was late and the road could not be seen clearly, half of the sky was dyed red by the wildfires in the distance, and it could be seen even from more than ten miles away.

Under the reflection of the moonlight and firelight, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun rushed over there at a gallop.

Halfway through, the sound of horses' hooves approached suddenly. Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were both from Youzhou, and they were too familiar with the sound of horses running, so they almost immediately reined in their horses and stopped to watch.

In the distance, I could already see a horse galloping forward, and there seemed to be pursuers in the rear, but even by the light of the fire, I couldn't see it very clearly.

In particular, Guan Yu likes to light candles at night to watch the Spring and Autumn Festival, and he is a little short-sighted, and can only vaguely see a blurred figure getting closer and closer.

"My lord, it seems to be the little gentleman."

Zhao Yun's eyesight was the best, and about half a mile away, he saw Shen Chen's figure on the horse by taking advantage of the light of the mountain fire in the distance.

At this moment, Shen Chen was constantly patting the buttocks of the war horse, for an eight-year-old child, it was an extremely difficult thing to ride a horse without stirrups to prevent himself from falling off the horse.

But there is also a certain psychological factor in this, in fact, as long as you overcome emotions such as fear and fear, and firmly fix yourself on the back of the horse, you can run on a horse.

I don't know if the video of elementary school students riding horses to school in later generations is a joke or a real thing, but they do ride horses and gallop, and they are little girls riding backwards.

Shen Chen was far from having the equestrian skills of others, but he was very clever enough to hold on to the saddle, clamp his legs tightly around the horse's belly, and use the metal buckle on the saddle as a support point, no matter how bumpy he was, he didn't fall down.

Although I felt that my brains were about to shake out, after the state came up, the more I rode more and more steadily, and with the advantage of being the first mover, I left Cao Ren's pursuers behind at first.

However, he never dared to urge the horses to gallop with all his might, and basically trotted all the way, far less fast than he had imagined.

When he ran out of the Zhangyang Ju and entered the territory of the Xuanting, the pursuers behind him had slowly chased over, he let go of five horses at that time, rode one himself, and there were eight left, and now they are all following behind him.

Seeing that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, and suddenly there was the sound of horses' hooves in front of him, but Shen Chen became more and more calm, raised his head and looked at it, he knew that it was impossible for Cao Jun to appear in the direction from Yan County.

Because Cao Cao was anxious to go back to Yanzhou to fight Lu Bu, he would never stay in Yanzhou County, which was undoubtedly the stupidest decision.

Therefore, it is very likely that someone from the direction of Yan County is Tao Qian's troops, and it is even very likely to be Liu Bei.

"Little Mister!"

Liu Bei's voice came from afar, and Shen Chen's hanging heart suddenly let go.

The two sides went in both directions, and soon converged.

However, in order to get rid of the pursuers, Shen Chen has been speeding up the war horse, and he is lying on the saddle, once he lets go to tighten the reins, he is likely to be thrown down by the horse, so he has not dared to stop the horse.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun found a clue after getting closer, a beautiful turning over and dismounting action, and then a sideways horse-mounting, while hugging Shen Chen, he quickly pulled the rope.

"Phew!"

Zhao Yun reined in the horse, and at the same time bent down and stretched out his hand, putting Shen Chen on the ground.

"Thank you!"

Shen Chen's face was covered with blood, and his eyes were full of calm.

But it was because it was so calm that anger brewed like before a storm.

The pursuers behind him had already come, and they heard the sound of horses galloping from this side in the distance, and also saw the torches on this side.

Cao Ren immediately ordered the soldiers to stop, because Shen Chen had let go of six horses before, and he had ridden another one himself, so there were only eight horses left.

There were a lot of enemies in the distance, and more than a dozen horses could be faintly seen by the light of the fire, and I didn't know if there were other people behind them.

At present, there is only one army left in Cao Ren's Cao army in Xuzhou, and Cao Cao, as a Yanzhou herd, does not have many war horses, and the other party's horse means that it must not be an ordinary villager, at least it is also Tao Qian's regular army.

Therefore, Cao Ren did not dare to continue the pursuit after seeing the cavalry that suddenly appeared, but shouted: "Go! ”

The eight knights turned their horses and left.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was about half a mile, that is, about more than 200 meters, the sky was too dark to see the specific situation, and they could only faintly see the figure flickering in the distance under the reflection of the mountain fire in the sun.

Seeing the other party leaving, Liu Bei hurriedly asked, "Mr. Xiao, I saw a fire in Zhangyangju, what happened?" ”

Shen Chen replied with a little frustration: "It was Cao Cao who sent people to attack our village, and all the people in the village were slaughtered, and I escaped alive. ”

There was a hint of sadness in his voice, but anyone could tell that there was a certain anger suppressed in the sadness.

"What?"

Liu Bei was shocked: "How can Cao Cao be like this? As a Yanzhou pastor, a member of the imperial court, he actually sent people to attack the village in the dark? ”

Shen Chen solemnly arched his hand and said: "Please also ask Xuande Gong to save my parents, this kindness will always be remembered!" ”

Liu Bei said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, Mr. Xiao, since I am invited by Gong Tao to help Xuzhou, I will save the people of Xuzhou from fire and water, Yun Changyide, you go with me, Zilong will stay to protect Mr. Xiao." ”

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "I also want to go with Xuande Gong, Cao Jun has already burned my family's village gathering, and I can't feel at ease if I don't see my parents." ”

This request is actually a bit excessive, marching and fighting is not child's play, Shen Chen is still only an eight-year-old child, Zhao Yun has to fight the enemy while protecting him, and if he is not careful, he may be injured or even killed because he has to take care of Shen Chen.

But Shen Chen also had no choice, his parents didn't know whether they were alive or dead, and the situation in the village was not very optimistic.

What's more, if he goes, he can also serve as a guide and lead the way for Liu Bei and them.

Otherwise, Liu Bei will gather in Zhangyang at most, and the other villages in Huangmen Pavilion will gather if they don't know the road, and it is impossible to get by.

"Zilong!"

When Liu Bei heard Shen Chen's words, he didn't agree immediately, but looked at Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun smiled brightly and said, "Wrap it up on me." ”

"That's good."

Liu Bei nodded, looked at Shen Chen and said, "Little sir, Zilong will take care of you." ”

"Thank you, Uncle Zilong."

Shen Chen seriously surrendered his hand to Zhao Yun again, Zhao Yun is 27 years old this year, and it is not inappropriate to call him uncle.

At that moment, several people remounted their horses and galloped away in the direction of the pursuers.

After galloping for about four or five miles, the group finally came to Zhangyangju, and at this time, the fire was all over the sky, and the sky and the earth turned red.

The sky was filled with countless ashes, and everywhere were burned houses, ruined walls, and the fields were a wasteland.

Shen Chen's eyes were full of sadness looking at all this, this is the land where he was born and raised for eight years, if you abandon the memories brought by the crossing of the previous life, then this is the hometown of the great Han Shen Chen.

But now, the people of my hometown have turned into corpses, the grass and trees have turned to ashes, the houses and fields have been burned, and even the mulberry forest, which I used to visit as a child, has become a raging flame.

In addition to the smell of burning plants and trees, there seemed to be a faint smell of blood in the air, perhaps the bones of a clan uncle or relatives and friends, or the sorrow of hundreds of resentful spirits gathered in Jinyang.

Shen Chen suddenly fell to his knees softly at this moment, and he didn't cry when he learned that Cao Cao wanted to wash Xuzhou in blood; The people of the village did not believe him and did not cry; Even the severe pain in his back, which had been burned by the fire before, did not make him cry.

But now tears were falling down his cheeks like pearls, and he sat down on his knees, hiding his face and sobbing quietly.

What has passed here are his former relatives, friends, and ethnicity.

Before yesterday, they would greet him cordially when they saw him, some would call him uncle, some would call him Ah Chen, and some even joked that they would marry their daughter to him.

Uncle Seven's family raised some chickens, and he used to call him over every year when he killed chickens. The fifth uncle's family once fell to his death and a cow died, and the best beef was left to him. Uncle loves him the most, and when he learned that Shen Chen loved to read, the books in the clan's collection were sent to him one by one.

Right now.

All turned to ashes.

"Ugh."

Liu Bei sighed softly.

In such troubled times, such things, he has seen too much.

Guan Yu looked away, he couldn't bear to look at this sadness.

Zhao Yun gently stroked Shen Chen's back and said in a low voice, "Little gentleman......"

"I....... I'm fine. ”

Shen Chen wiped his tears and staggered up from the ground.

Although it was difficult, he finally stood up, his face was still sad, but there was more hatred in his eyes.

Liu Bei said coldly: "Little sir, Cao Jun will definitely not be able to run far, let's catch up and avenge you!" ”

"Wait!"

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "Xuande Gong is not in a hurry, please follow behind Cao Jun slowly, don't chase after him immediately." ”

Liu Bei asked, "Why?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Our clan is training village soldiers in the vicinity of Lanshanju, the movement here is very big, it is impossible not to notice it over there, it is inevitable that the whole team will come to check, and if you encounter Cao Jun halfway, you can block it, at this time, Xuande Gong will raid from behind again, and attack before and after, and Cao Jun will be defeated!" ”

The fire in the sky was stained red by the sun, and as long as a person in several villages northwest of Huangmen Pavilion saw the situation in the middle of the night, he would immediately beat gongs and drums to wake up all the villagers.

It's just the third watch in the middle of the night, and the villagers will definitely be very slow to organize temporarily, so they have already come to Zhangyangju directly like Liu Bei and them.

But now Cao Ren has just fled to the northwest, and if Liu Bei pursues them, more than a dozen of them will have to face a large number of Cao troops.

Shen Chen didn't know how many people the other party came, but there must be a lot of them, even if Liu Guan and Zhang Zhao could fight again, the other party was overwhelmed, and the sky was too dark, so it was not easy to perform in the dark night.

Therefore, for the sake of safety, it is safest to attack together with the township soldiers organized by Huangmenting. This can not only ensure the safety of Liu Bei and them, but also ensure that under the front and rear attacks, it is impossible for none of the Cao Jun who come to escape back.

This is an old opinion, and Liu Bei immediately nodded in agreement. Everyone turned over on their horses again, urging the horses to chase forward, and chased about four miles in the direction where Cao Jun came, and finally caught up with Cao Cao's soldiers who fled!