On the second day of the Lunar New Year, spring returned early this year, and although the weather was still very cold, it was much better than in previous years.

Last year, it snowed heavily in Nanyang, but this year it was a warm spring, and the warm sun was falling, and the field was full of greenery, and in addition to the already green wheat, even the new weeds that would not grow until the end of January have stubbornly drilled out of the ground.

The Qinling Mountains in the west rise high, and it seems to reach into the sky in the distance. In the howling southeast wind, on the wilderness outside the city of Thorn Sun, the forest swayed gently, the weeds swayed with the wind, and groups of figures floated.

Liu Bei was riding on a horse, he was wearing a thicker winter coat inside, and a soft armor on the outside, that is, fish scale armor, without a helmet, which looked quite bloated.

But compared to Zhang Fei next to him, it is not bloated. Zhang Fei himself is extremely strong, he has to wear thick clothes when it is cold, and he also wears a plate armor and a helmet, the whole person is like a fat man, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and his body is two circles bigger than Liu Bei.

Zhang Fei looked at the north from afar, and the army slowly arrived at about ten miles west of Nanjuju, which was probably located in the area of Huangtaigang Town, Nanyang City, in the later generations, and on the vast horizon, countless black shadows could already be seen.

"Cao Jun is here."

The surrounding soldiers exclaimed.

Zhang Fei said: "Big brother, let me take the lead first!" ”

"Not busy!"

Liu Bei waved his hand, turned his head to look at Zhuge Liang on the side, and said, "Military Division." ”

Zhuge Liang's mount at this time was not a four-wheeled vehicle, but a BMW with slender hair and pure white color, named White Rabbit, which is rumored to be the descendant of Qin Shi Huang's White Rabbit BMW, which was obtained by Liu Bei when he attacked Jingling.

This horse comes from Guanzhong, Zhang Xiu got it and dedicated it to Liu Biao, during the battle of Jingling, Zhang Fei and Huang Zu who led 20,000 people defeated Zhang Yun outside the city, forcing Zhang Yun to flee in a panic, and Liu Biao gave him this white rabbit BMW due to the soil and water unsuitable, at that time he rested in the stable in the backyard of Jingling County.

In the midst of the chaos, Zhang Yun didn't have time to go back to the mansion to get the horse, so that after abandoning the city and escaping, the horse was obtained by Zhang Fei. But because Zhang Fei had dark clouds and snow, he handed it over to Liu Bei, and was given to Zhuge Liang by Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang was wearing a white robe, with a white horse, and he was handsome, like a fairy in the dust, heroic and cool, at this moment when he heard Liu Bei's words, he said with a smile: "Yide is eager to fight, and the lord can let him take the lead, and I will command the Chinese army at that time." ”

"Okay."

Liu Bei said to Zhang Fei: "Third brother, you can lead the forward first, but you must not be reckless, if Cao Cao raises a large army to besiege him, he must come back immediately." ”

"Don't worry."

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "I'm just going to see Cao Jun's movements first." ”

Whistle when you say that.

More than a thousand cavalry suddenly appeared behind him, heading towards the north.

Yes.

Liu Bei had cavalry.

But there were pitifully few, only about 1,500 people.

At present, they are all led by Zhang Fei, and they are usually used as scouts.

In today's war, it is natural to detect the situation first.

Zhang Fei led the cavalry to roar out at once, all the way to the north.

In his rear were tens of thousands of troops.

Wen Ping led his team of 20,000 people, located in the southeast of Liu Bei's main force, about a mile away from Liu Bei's army.

The Gan Ning Army and the Huangmenting Army were to the west and northwest of Liu Bei's army, respectively, and the Huangmenting soldiers were led by Shen Chen's uncle Deng Zhao and his father Shen Zhen.

The Nanyang Plain is like an endless prairie, but in this vast grassland, there are countless jungles growing.

Lush forests, hills, and beyond, fields, and villages, nearly 100,000 horses gathered in the early morning on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and the earth trembled with their neat steps.

Zhang Fei rode to a small hill about four or five zhang high and looked into the distance, at the end of the ground line, Cao's army was getting closer and closer, a large number of cavalry scouts were scattered, the two sides had already seen each other, and there were more than a thousand cavalry killing this side.

"Let's go!"

Zhang Fei roared, and the cavalry behind him immediately followed him and rushed over like a torrent.

Neither side chose to shoot arrows on the spot, because of the relationship between mounted archery, the bow used by the cavalry was actually a soft bow, and without the blessing of stirrups, it could not shoot while running. Even the range of the arrows from the stake is not as good as the infantry's hard bow, and by the time they open their bows, the enemy has been killed, so it is better to charge against the cavalry.

There were about the same number of them, and at this moment all of them were slapping the horses' buttocks wantonly, increasing their speed to the extreme, and more than 10,000 horses' hooves beat the ground, rolling up the dust, and making a sound like muffled thunder.

A moment later, the two sides collided like a flood, and the two black currents intertwined and shuttled with each other, and roared like rushing waves.

Zhang Fei rushed to the front, assassinated a cavalry general with a spear in the head, and then rushed into the enemy formation, killing like a tiger entering a flock, and the eight-point steel spear in his hand was wielded vigorously, but in a moment, at least five people had died in his hands.

And three seconds after he rushed into the enemy's formation, the two large forces finally collided, and in an instant the people turned on their backs, and the cavalry in the front row seemed to hit each other behind the steel plate, and one by one the horses fell, neighing incessantly.

Immediately after that, the back row stepped on the corpses of the front row and confronted the enemy head-on, and then all kinds of blade exchanges, horse neighing, crashing sounds, screams, shouts, and wails spread throughout the battlefield.

The two sides were entangled together, rolling up dust, a large number of war horses collided, and both sides lost their mobility and charging power, and at this time only the most primitive fight remained.

The weather in the early morning of January was still relatively cold, but the cavalry on the battlefield, whether it was the blood sprinkled on their bodies, or the high concentration and tension in the life-and-death struggle, all dispelled the cold, burning their lives like the sun.

At this time, a series of hurried horns suddenly sounded in the distance, and with the sound of the horns, several groups of Cao cavalry wearing brown leather armor split out of the large phalanx, and swirled and lined up in three rows to advance.

Although Cao Cao's main cavalry force was in Jizhou in the north, he also brought about 2,000 cavalry to the south this time, plus the cavalry left in the south, there was still no problem in getting together 5,000 cavalry, and he had an absolute advantage in numbers.

"Knock knock!"

At this moment, the western land seemed to be shaking, and dozens of black shadows suddenly appeared on the vast plain.

The shadows rushed to a nearby hillside and watched from a high vantage point.

Cao Cao in the north had also ordered the army to stop at this time, and he led Xu Chu and other guards to also find a small hill to overlook the south and west.

He saw that about four miles away, Liu Bei's army in the south was overwhelming and slowly coming towards the north, and farther to the west, under the reflection of the morning sun, countless black shadows appeared behind the black shadows, all riding horses.

"Report!"

The scout came back and said, "Zhang Xiu led thousands of cavalry from the west. ”

"Sure enough, it's Zhang Xiu."

Cao Cao turned his head and said to Xun You, Dong Zhao and the others beside him: "It seems that Zhang Xiu has taken refuge in Liu Bei, presumably this is Liu Bei's confidence to be able to fight to the death with Lone." ”

Xun You said bitterly: "Duke Ming, now that Liu Bei's strength has increased greatly, with nearly 60,000 soldiers and horses, I'm afraid it will be difficult to win." ”

"But if we win, not to mention Nanyang, we will have a chance to get even the entire Jingzhou."

Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "This is an opportunity, no matter what, we have to give it a try, haven't we already thought about it?" Pass my orders, Mingjin. ”

Soon the sound of tinkling gold sounded.

The cavalry of the Cao army, who was still fighting on the front line, roared, turned their horses and began to flee, leaving hundreds of corpses behind them, and the cavalry who had originally come to support also stopped and retreated to the rear.

Cao Cao only had a total of 5,000 cavalry, and there was no problem in crushing Liu Bei's more than 1,000 cavalry. But if Zhang Xiu took advantage of his cavalry to launch a surprise attack from the flank while attacking Liu Bei, then it would definitely be bad news for Cao Cao, so letting the cavalry withdraw at this time was the best choice.

Zhang Fei didn't chase after the enemy when he saw him fleeing, so he couldn't really let him take this more than 1,000 cavalry to chase the enemy to his own position. Before he got close at that time, it was estimated that he would have to be shot into a sieve by Cao Jun's thousands of bows and crossbows, so he simply stopped where he was, waiting for Liu Bei's army to arrive in the rear.

After another quarter of an hour, Liu Bei's main force finally approached the battlefield, and the two sides were about two miles apart, that is, a distance of almost 800 meters.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Beijun's camp and smiled.

Xun You, Dong Zhao, Mao Jue, Hua Xin and other strategists also laughed when they saw it, because Liu Bei's current situation was almost exactly the same as they speculated.

I saw that Liu Beijun was facing Cao Jun head-on with his 20,000 main forces, and Wen Pingjun was located to the east of him, as if he was not subordinate to Liu Beijun at all, and was actually about two miles away from him. Except for the Ganning Army, which was slightly closer, even the Yellow Gate soldiers were extremely far away from the battlefield.

You must know that although the more people in ancient wars, the better, but all kinds of military formations and arrays are exquisite, the front army, the middle army, the rear army, as well as the left and right wings, often have formations, and the distance is generally regulated.

Although it is necessary to be flexible in battle, if the distance is too far, the orders given by the main general may not be received from the first perspective, thus delaying the fleeting fighter.

Therefore, seeing the formation of Liu Bei, Wen Ping, Gan Ning, and Huangmen Bing, it is natural to see that there is a certain problem with the tripartite unity.

"Let's go, go and meet Liu Bei."

Cao Cao turned the horse's head, and his horse was also a white horse, only the hair on the four hooves under his feet was golden, so the horse's name was Yellow Claw.

In the battle of Wancheng that year, Cao Cao lost his shadow, but he had many horses, so he came with a new horse.

Claw Huang Feidian jumped two feet away, went down the hill in a few jumps, and walked towards the center of the formation with brisk steps, only following Xu Chu by his side.

Seeing this situation in the distance, Liu Bei knew that Cao Cao was going to talk to him, so he summoned Zhang Fei and said to him: "Third brother, go, our two brothers will meet Cao Cao together!" ”

After saying that, Zhang Fei responded and followed him.

Soon the two sides approached.

There are only two people on both sides, Cao Cao with Xu Chu, Liu Bei with Zhang Fei, everyone is an old friend, they have known each other for a long time, and naturally there is not so much hypocrisy.

When Cao Cao saw him coming, he said, "Xuande, I haven't seen you for a long time, and I miss it very much." ”

Liu Bei said with a smile: "Brother Lao Mengde's concept, it is good to prepare for daily life." ”

Brother Mengde?

Cao Cao was displeased.

When I was in Xudu, you kept calling me Cao Gong.

Do you think you're high now?

He said lightly: "I heard that you are doing well in the south? With Liu Biao's funding, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses now? ”

Liu Bei smiled and said: "I can't compare to Brother Meng De, who is in the north and has millions of people. ”

"Hahahaha."

Cao Cao laughed and stroked his beard and said: "Xuande, Lone said at the beginning, the heroes of the world, only the king and the ear, today I will hunt in Jingzhou, and I should sit and watch the success or failure!" ”

Liu Bei said with a smile: "Although Brother Meng De has the tendency to swallow the world now, but now the Yuan family is still hovering in the land of Youyan, and even the north has not yet calmed down, why does Brother Meng De have to come to the south?" Isn't this a sacrifice of the basics? ”

Cao Cao shook his head and said, "The son of Yuan Benchu, like a guinea dog, is not to be feared. Only Xuande is you, who makes me tremble. If you are allowed to go to Jingzhou, it is difficult to sleep and eat alone, how can you not go south to drink horses? ”

At this time, the two still maintained basic etiquette, although they spoke to Mai Mang, they were slow and reasonable, and Cao Cao did not break the defense to the point of directly scolding Liu Bei.

At their level, scolding each other is a pure loss.

Unless it was the battle of Hanzhong in his later years, Cao Cao was no longer able to stop Liu Bei's three-legged momentum, and he was so angry that he scolded Liu Bei when he met Liu Bei for the last time before the battle, otherwise he naturally had his bearing.

Therefore, Cao Cao came to see Liu Bei today, in addition to catching up with his old friends, to show his respect for Liu Bei.

Yes.

Cao Cao respected Liu Bei enough.

If he didn't respect Liu Bei, he wouldn't slow down the pace of unifying the north and run to Nanyang.

In fact, occupying Nanyang is secondary, and it is most important not to let Liu Bei get Jingzhou.

Even if Liu Bei can be killed and this hidden danger can be removed, let alone Nanyang, even if the entire Jingzhou is temporarily ceded to Sun Quan?

Because in Cao Cao's heart, Liu Bei's threat level is ten, hundred, and ten thousand times higher than Sun Quan!

The heroes of the world are only the kings and Cao'er.

Cao Cao has always valued Liu Bei very much, not because of his personal ability, but because of his prestige and personal charm.

He believed that if he didn't get rid of Liu Bei, Liu Bei would become his confidant one day sooner or later.

Therefore, he gave up attacking Youzhou and Bingzhou, and personally led the army to Nanyang.

As for Sun Zhongmou?

At best, he is worthy of being his son.

It can't be compared with himself and Liu Bei at all.

Therefore, Cao Cao must solve Liu Bei, even if it is to let Sun Quan get Jingzhou.

"It seems that I made Brother Meng De's life difficult."

Hearing this, Liu Bei laughed out loud and said, "It's a great honor to make Brother Meng De so worried. However, Meng De is a thief, imprisoning the Son of Heaven, killing the queen and the prince's ministers, preparing for the clan, and begging for thieves, so he can only let Brother Meng De suffer. ”

After saying that, Le Ma turned his head and left a sentence: "Brother Mengde, do it yourself!" ”

"Huh?"

Xu Chu, who was beside Cao Cao, heard Liu Bei say that Cao Cao was a thief, and he was furious, touched the knife on his waist, and prepared to raid Liu Bei.

Over there, Zhang Fei's eyes widened angrily and glared at him, his eyes full of murderous energy.

Xu Chu Yiran was not afraid and was about to fight.

Cao Cao gently patted Xu Chu's shoulder and said, "Zhongkang, go back." Zhang Fei is also an enemy of ten thousand people, in front of him, you can't take down Liu Bei. ”

After that, he also turned his head.

Cao and Liu parted ways and left with their backs to each other.

This farewell.

It is life and death.

The friendship that Cao Cao admired Liu Bei in Xudu has since disappeared.

(End of chapter)