Early the next morning, west of Huaiyin City.

Zhao Yun, who had succeeded in the battle, put on his helmet and armor early in the morning, followed Tian Yu, and went out of the city with 5,000 soldiers to Xuyi Xiazhai to deter the enemy.

Liu Bei also got up early in the morning, personally went out of the city to see off Zhao Yun and the others, and did not forget to pull Zhao Yun to give a few separate instructions before leaving, expressing his trust, hinting to encourage Zhao Yun not to care about temporary gains and losses.

Zhao Yun's expression was not wavering, but he solemnly said that he would kill the thief, report to the country, and then turn the horse away. There are some things that are not suitable for the two of them to continue, so it is good to understand in their hearts.

It turned out that although Liu Bei attached great importance to Zhao Yun, it was not good to give Zhao Yun a high position suddenly, after all, he had been gone for three years, and this time he just came back, Liu Bei just gave him a position as a military commander first, not even a captain.

According to the market in the second year of Jian'an, or the unspoken rules, if you want to seal a military Sima or another department, all princes can directly make decisions on their own, and they don't even have to do the posture of "watch".

And if you want to be promoted to the rank of captain, or even school captain, then you have to make a gesture of being on the table in name, even if the court does not reply to the quasi-performance, but as long as you watch it, it will be meaningful.

Even if the status is as respectable as Yuan Shao, at this time, he still operates according to this process, and he has literati such as Chen Lin and others who specialize in writing watches and seals, and they usually do this work. Yuan Shao's troops are many generals, and he has to be sealed at two ends in three days, so Chen Lin has to write a table to Xu Du in three days, and he doesn't care if Xu can't go back.

Liu Bei didn't want the other old people who had been following him for the past three years to be cold this time, so he didn't make a big deal about it, so he first gave Zhao Yun a military horse, and then privately hinted that as long as he made meritorious contributions in this battle, he could immediately find an excuse to promote him to lieutenant.

After all, Zhao Yun came this time, and the situation was very different from that of Liu before the battle of Guandu in history. When Zhao Yun came back in history, Liu Bei had been reduced to a parasitic general, and most of the troops withered, and Zhao Yun led troops into the group, and he should be given as high as possible. Today's Liu Bei still has some family business foundations, and he has to take care of all aspects.

Of course, Zhao Yun had to say, "It doesn't matter if the official position matters, I'm not here for greed for wealth", and the two stopped the topic.

Fortunately, Tian Yu is also a military Sima for the time being, so he is at the same level as Zhao Yun, and this time he led the troops, just divided the five thousand people into two parts, Zhao Yun led a thousand cavalry first, and Tian Yu led four thousand foot soldiers to merge.

If Chen Lai is allowed to lead the troops, I am afraid that the situation will be more embarrassing, because Chen Zhi has followed Zhuge Jin several times before, and Liu Bei has already privately promoted him to the rank of captain, and Zhao Yun, who has just come back at this moment, is under Chen Zhi.

We must hurry up and make meritorious contributions and strive to catch up first!

……

After Zhao Yun and Tian Yu led their troops out of the city, they marched by land and water.

Zhao Yun's cavalry traveled by land, spreading search nets on both sides of the Huai River to spy on the enemy. Tian Yu escorted the baggage boat and went upriver along the Huai River.

In ancient times, the cost of transporting heavy grain and grass by water was much lower than that of land transportation, and boats must have been used wherever they could be used.

The two traveled dozens of miles, there was no enemy warning along the way, Yuan Shujun should not be ready to invade, Zhao Yun suggested that he should go first, go to Xuyi City a day in advance to set up a small village, and wait for Ritian Yu to arrive.

The whole journey from Huaiyin to Xuyi was only more than 130 miles, and they didn't have to stick to the city of Xuyi, so the infantry traveled 50 or 60 miles a day, and it was completed in two days. The cavalry could arrive in a day.

Tian Yu listened to Zhao Yun's suggestion, and couldn't help but worry: "How can you set up camp if your cavalry goes first without baggage?" Not even a tent. What's more, the lord just asked us to feint and contain the enemy, so why hurry? ”

Zhao Yun: "There is a little axe and saw shovel in the army, and you can cut wood for fences and dig soil ramming piles. Now that it's the height of summer in June, why not sleep out at night? The cavalry is easy to advance and retreat, and if the enemy dares to go out of the city and attack the camp, I can still retreat with my whole body. ”

Tian Yu was still not at ease, thinking that Zhao Yun did not understand the spirit of Liu Bei's instructions, so he hurriedly said to him:

"Zilong, at the banquet yesterday, did you hear clearly the 'once war with Yuan Shu' countermeasures designed by Mr. Zhuge for the lord? Mr. Zhuge originally expected that Yuan Shu would be the emperor, and once he became the emperor and needed a new victory to establish his authority, he would most likely pick the lord.

It's just that the other enemies around Yuan Shu seem to be stronger than the lord on the surface, and Yuan Shu is good at bullying the soft and afraid of the hard - and yesterday's report has verified Mr.'s speculation, which shows that Mr. has no last resort, and most of his subsequent deductions will also come true.

Therefore, our purpose this time is not to completely attack Yuan Shu, or even make Yuan Shu angry, but to win only a small victory, and at the same time not to let Yuan Shu be too embarrassed, so that Yuan Shu knows that our army cannot be bullied, so as to guide him to become an enemy of Cao Cao.

Our army is on the Huai River, just resisting Yuan Shu and not letting him destroy Guangling, which is enough. The real record should be the road in Lujiang County. Lujiang Liu Xun will definitely march along the Yangtze River, and Yuan Shu has always thought that the Zhuge family will not be an enemy of him, and Liu Xun will not be wary of encountering a naval army on the Yangtze River.

Once Liu Xun is hurt in the south, we only need to let Ji Ling realize that the friendly army is gone, he has become a lone army, and then he will naturally retreat - this situation is exactly the same as last year, last year we also annihilated Liu Xun and forced Ji Ling to retreat, instead of fighting to the death with Ji Ling's main force.

Moreover, most of Yuan Shu's two Huai armies were northerners, and they were only good at land warfare and not water warfare. Once the Lujiang army, the only one in Yuan Shu's army that was good at water warfare, was severely damaged, it would be difficult to attack Guangling with only two Huai armies. After all, Guangling has a vertical and horizontal water network and needs the assistance of the navy.

When the time comes, our army will abolish Yuan Shu's water combat power, and Yuan Shu's land combat power will be left alone, forcing Yuan Shu to have no other choice but to fight with Cao Cao - attacking Cao Cao is completely unnecessary. ”

Of course, it is impossible to completely speculate on Tian Yu's IQ, so he just paraphrased it, adding a little bit of his second understanding.

Zhao Yun actually understood this truth yesterday, but the situation he knew was not comprehensive after all, so he always felt that it could be optimized. At this moment, in the face of Tian Yu's dissuasion, he couldn't help but remind:

"Since what Mr. Zhuge said, how could I not obey it. It's just that after our army has established authority over Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu will obediently turn his head and join Cao Cao, but I still can't believe it - Cao Cao is much stronger than our army on the surface, Yuan Shu can't even take our army, does he still have the courage to take Cao Cao? ”

Tian Yu heard that Zhao Yun was worried about this, so he immediately smiled relaxedly, and hurriedly said that Zilong had just come back, and he didn't know what the lord was going to do:

"Zilong doesn't know, the lord and Mr. He have this certainty, and the key lies in Chen Yuanlong, who was lurking in Lu Bu yesterday. When Chen Yuanlong had previously persuaded Lü Bu to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, he only targeted Cao Cao, not the lord.

In this way, when Yuan Shu found that he couldn't take down our army on his own, he would naturally change his ways. Because if you fight to the death with our army, you can only do it alone, and if you fight Cao Cao, it will be possible to join forces with Lu Bu. This layer of stakes is enough to reverse Yuan Shu's attitude. ”

When Zhao Yun first came, he really didn't know the true strength of Chen Deng's layout, and he couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this: "Chen Yuanlong is so capable?" Even if Lu Bu secretly had an alliance with Yuan Shu last year, it would be impossible to continue to implement it this year, right? Yuan Shu has already become the emperor and has become a thief, will Lu Bu still collude with him? ”

Tian Yu: "Then it depends on Chen Yuanlong's ability, maybe Lu Bu will be the enemy of Cao Cao alone, and each will fight his own." ”

Only then did Zhao Yun completely dispel his doubts, saying that he would not mess around, and that this battle would definitely leave a step for Yuan Shujun, so as not to beat Yuan Shu to the point of annoyance and anger.

Tian Yu saw that the other party had a sense of proportion, and he no longer blocked it, and let Zhao Yun go first.

……

Zhao Yun rode first, and rushed to the village more than 20 miles east of Xuyi City in one day.

Without carrying a tent, he simply cut down bamboo and wood to enclose a fence, and dug a little soil to bury the pile foundation of the fence, which was almost as simple as a fence for grazing sheep. After doing all this, the soldiers were allowed to eat dry food, find firewood and grass to boil water to drink, and have a good night's rest.

His whereabouts were also quickly discovered by the scouts of the Xuyi defenders.

Ji Ling himself has not yet come to the front with the main force, because he is an important general, and on the first day of the first month of June, he also attended His Majesty's founding ceremony in Shouchun, the rear.

The straight-line distance from Shouchun to Xuyi is 400 miles, and the waterway of the Huai River winds and turns, so it is at least more than 500 miles.

This day is the fifth day of the sixth month, and Ji Ling set off on the third day of the new year, so it will take about five days to rush to the front line.

At present, there are only two deputy generals of Ji Ling, namely Xuyi guard general Le Zuo, and Huailing guard general Liang Gang - these two are also old acquaintances, they followed Ji Ling to fight Huaiyin last year, and then retreated, but they both escaped with their lives.

Le heard that Liu Beijun was coming to attack in the east of the city, so he immediately took precautions and reported to the Xiapi Taishou Huiqu in the city.

Xuyi County originally belonged to Xuzhou, a county of Xiapi County, and the previous Yuan Shu invasion still occupied two counties of Xiapi County along the Huai River. Therefore, Yuan Shu hurriedly set up the post of Xiapi Taishou, and let his subordinate officials, Langya people Huiqu, serve as Taishou.

In fact, the other counties of Xiapi County are in the hands of Lu Bu, and Yuan Shu's Xiapi Taishou only has two counties.

Hui Qu was a civil official, and he was often chased back and forth when he lost battles, so he was not very warlike, and he was a little worried after hearing about the enemy:

"Captain Ledu, I wonder how many people there are in the enemy army? Do you want to hold the city and wait for the arrival of the main forces of General Ji and General Li? ”

The General Li he mentioned in his mouth was Li Feng, a general under Yuan Shu. Last year, only Ji Ling's men and horses besieged the Huai River, but it didn't work, and this year Yuan Shu also added weight, transferring Li Feng's troops to strengthen Ji Ling, and working together to try to break through.

The same situation also happened in Lujiang County, and Yuan Shu also knew that Liu Xun, who was hit hard last year, was estimated to be unable to attack all the way along the Yangtze River to Guangling, so he transferred the general Qiao Rui to Liu Xun and strengthened Liu Xun's troops.

This year, Yuan Shujun's offensive against Liu Bei has been strengthened to as many as 70,000 people, doubling from last year.

Jiling and Li Feng on the North Road, with a total strength of 40,000, plus the thousands of garrisons on the Huailing and Xuyi fronts, the total number is more than 45,000.

Liu Xun's headquarters on the South Road regrouped 15,000 people, and the bridge department reinforced more than 10,000 people and went down the Yangtze River.

In the end, after Yuan Shu became the emperor, he also sent a messenger for the first time and sent a new "reward" to Lu Bu, sealing Lu Bu as "Xuzhou Mu" and "Hussar General", which was worthless in disguise anyway, and gave a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, so that Lu Bu could attack Huaiyin from Xiapi.

If Lu Buzhen sent troops, then the whole would add up to nearly 100,000 troops besieging Liu Bei! Is there an immortal principle?

As for the gentleman's agreement that Lu Bu reached with him last year that "only for Cao Cao and not for Liu Bei", Yuan Shu didn't take it seriously at all.

He felt that a person like Lu Bu who was oblivious to profit and righteousness would definitely change his mind when he saw the official position he promised and those gold, silver and jewelry.

He has been proclaimed emperor, since Lu Bu respects him, how can he not follow the "holy decree"?

……

Xiapi Taishou Huiqu on the front line knew about these situations, so in the face of Liu Beijun's sudden initiative to enter the country and take attack as defense, he tended to be cautious and serious, unwilling to fight now, and just wanted to wait for Ji Ling and Li Feng to be in place.

However, Le's mentality is far more rampant than Taishou, and he rarely takes the initiative to ask for battle: "Fujun, don't miss the opportunity!" According to the scout's report, there are only 1,000 enemy vanguards, less than 30% of our Xuyi defenders! And there is no heavy camp, just hastily cutting trees for camping.

The banner of its leading troops only saw a Zhao word, not even a title, it can be seen that it is just a nameless general, I am willing to lead the elite soldiers out of the city to fight, while the enemy's main force has not arrived, the first to defeat its front! When the army behind the enemy arrives, it's not too late to cage the city to defend it! If you don't fight, stick to it from the beginning, I'm afraid it will damage your morale! ”

Happy's words are also in line with common sense. In the Han Dynasty system, the commander and captain above led the troops, not only to write a surname on the flag, but also to write the military number.

For example, Liu Bei personally marched, and the banner he played should be "General Liu of Zhengnan", and it would be too bad to just write a "Liu". Guan Yu should write "Fold Chong Captain Guan".

This time, the enemy only has one "Zhao" character, and there is no military number, so his highest official position is a military Sima, not even a captain.

Considering that the enemy only has a thousand men, and it is indeed the size of the army at the level of the military commander, it is not surprising that Le is so contemptuous.

He's happy to be a lieutenant! General Ji was a Zhonglang general a long time ago, and after His Majesty became emperor, General Ji was promoted to the high position of a former general and soared to the sky. Le estimated that when General Ji came in a few days, he would definitely bring him and Liang Gang a new reward.

Your Majesty has been proclaimed emperor, and all of them must be able to get at least a miscellaneous general!

Hui Qu felt that Le couldn't find fault with what he said, so he had to be approved, but he still instructed two sentences: "General Le must be careful, don't fall in love with war." If the main enemy arrives, retreat immediately, and only kill its vanguard. ”

Le agreed, so he ordered half of the soldiers and horses in the city and took the initiative to attack.

……

Zhao Yun rested in the camp for the night, and the next day at dawn, let the soldiers drink some cold water that had been boiled last night, and continue to eat some dry food.

He didn't carry a baggage, so he couldn't cook, just eat food. The pot for boiling water is not enough, it has to be boiled all the time, and after boiling a pot, the soldiers have to line up to fetch water and pour it into the bamboo tube they bring, and the living conditions are still quite difficult.

However, this kind of day is only one day, and tonight Tian Yu's main infantry will arrive with a baggage boat, and then you will be able to eat hot food.

As soon as he came out of the camp to patrol the sentry, he saw that there was a big dust on the west side, and Zhao Yun took a look and confirmed that it was actually the defenders in Xuyi City who took the initiative to attack, which made him very excited.

"Originally, I thought that I could only search and kill a few teams of enemy scouts outside the city, and the siege war was useless, but I didn't expect to dare to go out of the city to fight? Can't ask for it! led a small number of elite soldiers to show weakness first, and it was really right! ”

Zhao Yun secretly rejoiced, and immediately asked the patrol team to follow him.

One of his subordinates, the Marquis of Qu Jun, also advised him: "Sima Zhao, it is better to go back to the camp, bring the remaining two Qu men and horses first, and then engage the enemy." ”

But Zhao Yun didn't care at all: "It's okay, let's fight first." If you really can't fight, then fight and retreat to the camp, and let the other two songs respond. ”

After a while, Le Zhibu and Zhao Yun met head-on, and the two sides slowed down and lined up three hundred paces away. Le bullied Zhao Yun with few soldiers, clamoring and shouting:

"Who is coming! Dare to give Liu Bei's life and violate my Dazhong boundary! The general's joy is here! I don't kill the nameless under the gun! ”

While shouting and scolding, Le suddenly lost his voice, only his cavalry was still insulting. Le squinted his eyes and stared at Zhao Yun's horse closely.

He is also a little knowledgeable, and when he first saw Zhao Yun's horses, they were actually white and pink, and he couldn't help but want to laugh a little: a big man can't pick out a good horse, and he can ride a pink horse!

But soon he noticed that the pink color was only particularly noticeable in the shoulder socket and chest of the war horse, and the lower part of the body became lighter, and the back half of the horse's body was pure silvery-white. It can be seen that this slight pink color is secreted by the war horse when it is hot.

"Could it be a bloody horse? An unknown general is worthy of such a good horse, and today he really earned it, just to kill and win the horse! ”

Le didn't plan to take the lead, let alone fight, but just wanted to make a spear move after talking, and let his subordinates rush up to cover up.

Now that he coveted this horse, he had the idea of taking the lead, lest the other party die at the hands of the miscellaneous soldiers, and the good horse would also be injured by mistake or robbed by the miscellaneous soldiers.

On the other side, Zhao Yun restrained the horse and replied coldly: "I am Changshan Zhao Zilong!" Where is Ji Ling! I don't kill the nobody! ”

It's a pity that he hasn't established a reputation yet, so Le was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Hahaha, Zhao Zilong? Haven't heard of it! Are you also worthy of fighting General Ji? Kill me! ”

After saying that the spear moved, Le relied on the strength of the crowd and rushed to kill first.

Zhao Yun was provoked by the other party, and he was also furious in his heart, and he planned to stab Le to death with one shot. But when the two horses were about to intersect, Zhao Yun suddenly had a thought in his heart:

"This thief despises me, and it doesn't hurt to be stabbed to death. But the thief general still doesn't know my martial arts, if I kill this nameless man Liwei, in case Ji Ling is so vigilant that he doesn't dare to fight me again, wouldn't it be because of a small loss?

It's just that such a thief is not worthy of me to show my true strength, and to win a trick and be lucky. ”

After saving this thought, Zhao Yun slowed down slightly when he met the spear of the stab, thinking about how to act more realistically.

Le did not doubt him, when the two guns intersected, Zhao Yun's spear was really weak and weak, and Le became more and more rampant: "Quickly abandon the horse and leave you with all the corpses!" ”

Zhao Yun parried two shots very cooperatively, turned his horse and left, and let the other patrol cavalry under his command flee first, and he broke off on his own.

Le defeated Zhao Yun and pursued all the way, wanting to win the horse more and more.

Who knew that he chased out less than two miles, and seeing that he was close to Zhao Yun's camp, Le also chased Zhao Yun only twenty steps behind.

Zhao Yun put the spear on the saddle sheath, drew the carved bow from the sheath, and turned over and shot an arrow on his back very smoothly. In just twenty steps, there was no way to avoid it, and he was shot directly in the shoulder, and under the severe injury and pain, he couldn't help but abandon the gun and wanted to turn his horse and retreat.

Zhao Yun shouted loudly and signaled all the cavalry in the camp to rush with him. He himself took the lead in turning the horse's head, sweating and bloody, and in a moment he caught up with Le Yu and stabbed him to death with a single shot.

Le was already injured and abandoned his blade, of course he couldn't parry, and he didn't expect Zhao Yun's horse to suddenly accelerate so fast after exploding.

"Despicable coward! Hidden arrows hurt people! Le was pierced by the spear, and before he was angry, he couldn't help but scold angrily, he didn't expect that he would die so unjustly.

"So despicable! What a job! The cavalry troops around Le Wei were also indignant, and they were very angry at the enemy general who was inferior in martial arts and relied on hidden arrows to hurt people.

Zhao Yun sneered, his subordinates didn't stop, killing several horses in a row, while shouting: "I'm not a fighter!" Who said that you can't release arrows, if you don't accept it, you can let Ji Ling fight! ”

Zhao Yun's cavalry covered up and killed, and soon defeated the Le Qianbu who had lost their main general, killing and wounding hundreds, capturing more than 200 people, scattering and fleeing countless, and capturing more than 100 horses.