The snowflakes drifted into Hua Fan's collar, and the cold air made him can't help but shrink his neck, and looked up at the snowy sky, and finally slowed down the pace of the galloping horses under the seat.

The thick canopy of lead clouds makes it impossible for him to accurately judge the current time, but as a scout for spying and patrolling, he has his own means of estimating the time, judging from the hungry Cheng dù, it should be close to the time when the sun sinks, if he rushes back to Luoyang City from here, then he can have a steaming dinner to comfort this hungry stomach in less than two hours, today is the Winter Solstice Festival, and the food in the camp must be good.

Thinking of this, Hua Fan felt even hungrier. He is the old son of Wu Xing's tribe, although he is only twenty-seven or eighteen years old, his hair is already slightly bald, but fortunately, he always wears a scarf, which is enough to cover up this defect. He is short, with thin eyes and a round face, and he looks like a gentle and kind temperament, but he has always been one of the best in Wu Xing's troop in terms of hand-to-hand combat skills, and he is also known for his fierce accuracy and ruthlessness.

It was precisely because of this clever skill that he was arranged by Shen Jin as a scout, and this position required bold and careful talents with high martial arts, otherwise, Hua Fan thought that he should occupy a place among the five Duan Elders no matter what.

Although there were some complaints about this, Hua Fan still completed his task excellently, and had already found out that in this direction of Mengjindu, there were no troops from the Xianbei Yan State in a roundabout way, and there was no sign of troops from the Di people in Chang'an.

Hua Fan looked at the sparkling and even somewhat lifeless surface of the Yellow River, only this section of the waterway from the upstream to the Mengjin Ferry was not completely frozen by the ice, no matter how stupid the enemy was, he would not choose to attack here, or he should explain this to the head of the family after he returned, maybe after that, he would be transferred to the front line of the Tiger Prison Pass.

Before leaving, Hua Fan decided to stay for a while, he needed to use the river water to stimulate his slightly tired body, and then go back in one go. He dismounted by the river, bent down, and scooped up a handful of icy water and applied it to his face, while the gray horse flicked its tail behind him, apparently not interested in the ice water.

His face was wet for the most part, Hua Fan trembled, laughed, and seemed to be unsatisfied with another handful of ice water, this time he wiped it on his lips, he would not be stupid enough to use such ice water to quench his thirst, just to refresh himself.

He seemed to hear some strange sound, and when he looked around, he only saw the wind and snow, and the sky was getting darker and darker.

Visibility is running out, and you should be walking away before it's completely dark. Hua Fan stood up, and suddenly turned his ears sideways in confusion, as if he noticed something, and his body immediately fell down quickly, but his ears were close to the water.

"Bang...... Boom...... Bang ...... "This is a rhythmic muffled sound, it actually came from the bottom of the water, Hua Fan carefully identified, and found that the water surface was gently shaking because of this rhythm, and the snowflakes fell on the surface of the water, rippling a circle of irregular ripples, and quickly shaking and dissipating.

Hua Fan didn't know exactly what caused the undercurrent, and he didn't know if this kind of situation was common in such weather, and the children from the southern water towns were still unfamiliar with the Yellow River after all.

Just when Hua Fan was about to observe for a while, the gray horse behind him neighed uneasily, and a strange sound of water flowed from far and near, the speed was fast, and fiercely, a figure broke through the water, jumped high in the splashing water, as if it was thrown by the rushing chariot, drew a semicircular arc, and fell heavily on the snow on the shore.

Hua Fan almost immediately saw this figure, it was a burly and majestic man's body, and when he landed on the ground, he still maintained a half-squat posture with his legs bent, his arms propped up on his sides, and then stood up straight, turning his head in Hua Fan's direction.

The other party is still wearing armor, but it is not the armor system of the familiar Yan State or the Qin State, and it is completely different from the heavy armor of the Jin Kingdom, the metal armor leaves are woven into wicker, probably because the other party's limbs are too large, and the covering area of the shoulder armor and shin armor is also too small, Hua Fan is not sure, he only noticed the blood-red eyes of the other party from under the heavy and wide iron helmet.

Hua Fan's hand immediately pressed on the blade on his waist, but before he could make the next move, the water surface seemed to be boiled, and more figures shot out from under the water, and the water splashed into a silvery white curtain, and this Mengjin ferry was like a black hail cast of gold and iron.

There were more and more armor soldiers standing on the ground, arranged in a tight order, and they were almost a hundred people in a short period of time, and they didn't seem to care about Hua Fan's stunned gaze at all, but assembled in an orderly manner.

The enemy! It's the enemy coming! Hua Fan didn't understand how these enemies were wearing heavy armor and marching under the water, but it was obvious that they had swam across the Yellow River, where it had not yet frozen, and landed at the Mengjin Ferry.

Hua Fan's first reaction was to immediately get on his horse and gallop towards Luoyang City, telling the head of the family this important news, but he was not sure how far he could go, and the escape with his back was undoubtedly a good target for the other party.

The fastest to inform Luoyang City to get ready, Hua Fan resolutely raised the signal arrow, and on the side of the queue that was gathering in the dark, he slashed the machine.

"Whew!" the crimson arrow dragged its long tail through the air, and when it was close to its highest point, it exploded with firelight, as if it were setting off brilliant fireworks.

No matter how heavy the wind and snow were, the light that suddenly bloomed in this dark sky should be enough for the city defense post ten miles away to see, and in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Hua Fan took out a new signal arrow and sent it out again.

There were already hundreds of heavily armored warriors gathered on the snow, and the sparks in the air also illuminated their faces, Hua Fan only had time to look at it, but it was this hurried glance that seemed to make his blood congade in an instant, and a throbbing meaning from the bottom of his heart made his scalp tingle.

He saw the hideous, fanged faces under the helmet, faces that were by no means human......

They are...... Hua Fan found that the burly figure that appeared first was running towards him in a strange posture, using both hands and feet, as if it was the vertical pounce of a wild beast.

Hua Fan did not hesitate at all, took out the third arrow, and at the same time raised his left arm, and shot two sleeve crossbows at the galloping figure, he aimed at the other party's eyes, and he still remembered the method he learned how to deal with this kind of monster.

The other party just bowed his head slightly, and the sleeve crossbow hit the opponent's helmet, and when there were two sounds, the momentum of the person's rush did not change, and at the moment when Hua Fan's fingers were about to pick the motive, he had already reached Hua Fan's face, and locked Hua Fan's right wrist like a thick fluffy big hand iron tong

The gray horse behind him had already fled frantically in fear, but Hua Fan bravely resisted in fear, his left hand pulled out the short blade on his waist and stabbed at the throat of the other party.

A heart-rending pain brought his attack to an abrupt halt, and he saw his right arm, holding the arrow, broken off like a withered branch, and his left hand inexplicably detached from his own, and before the blood could gush out, he saw the other's bloody mouth with sharp fangs.

"I**X!" Hua Fan's foul mouth was also sharp, in the banter and scolding battle with the Xianbei army in the past, it was he who made up a despicable and obscene story that caused the Xianbei cavalry army to be furious, but this has also become the only weapon he can use to fight back now.

He didn't have time to see the other party's reaction to being scolded, because in an instant, his body was torn apart, and flesh and blood mixed with drifting snow spilled into the bloody mouth.

"Why don't you kill this man in the first place?" and let him send the news of our arrival?" rebuked a tall figure in the crowd in a majestic voice, the light of the second arrow just faded in the sky.

The burly and majestic heavily armored man threw down Hua Fan's corpse, wiped his mouth unsatisfied, he didn't give Hua Fan a chance to shoot the third arrow after all, and said with a smile: "I'm really sorry, Vice Admiral Jue Xiao." But how do I know that the first mortal I encounter when I get out of the water happens to be a scout?

※※※

The horn sounded for a long time, this is the effect of Hua Fan's release of the signal arrow before he died, countless torches were raised, and the city was reflected red, and the soldiers gathered with swords and guns, and their bows and crossbows were wound, with vigilance and nervousness in their expressions. Shen Jin stood at the head of the city, looking at the dark front like ink, but he could only see the shadow of the wind and snow, Cheng Yifan stood aside with a calm face, he could only listen silently, like an outsider.

"It's the Mengjin ferry, two signals, sent very urgently, there must be a military situation, and the villain immediately blew the horn. "The person in charge of the horn is a middle-aged man who looks quite elegant, and he is even more nondescript in the uniform of a Jin military soldier.

"Visible sentry horse scouts returning?"

The middle-aged man shook his head.

"The Mengjin ferry is only more than ten miles here, according to the time calculation, if it is a fast horse galloping all the way, it is time to come here. Since they didn't appear, most of them had already died, and they had to use the signal arrow as a warning. Fan Mi reminded on the side, and added in a low voice, "Today's person in charge of the West Road sentinel is the Hua Fan brothers......

Shen Jin nodded expressionlessly, but Fan Mi noticed that his hand was clenched into a fist.

"If it's an army, how long will it take to get here?" Shen Jin asked.

"If they set out from the Mengjin ferry, there would be no houses and buildings on this road, it is said that it is a smooth road, but in such snowy weather, if it is an infantry of less than 3,000 men, it may take another hour to arrive, between 3,000 and 10,000, it may take more than half an hour, and I do not think that the army that suddenly appeared in that direction today will be more than 3,000 men, otherwise we would have found their movement a few days ago, and it is unlikely that it is cavalry, such a wind and snow, but it will increase the burden and not be conducive to the siege。 ”

"Very good, whether it is the Donghu Yan army or the people of the Qin State who come, it can basically be determined that it is no more than three thousand foot soldiers, but if this is the case, what role can this raiding army play?" Shen Jin frowned.

Fan Mi could only sigh: "Maybe they think that a sudden sneak attack will catch us off guard, maybe they think that our garrison forces are concentrated in the east, but they didn't expect that we still maintain daily scout patrols in this direction......"

"But now we can only see them if they are within the distance of the place where they shoot under the city. "Visibility was so poor that even if so many torches were raised, they only illuminated a hundred paces below the city, and the rest of the city was wrapped in deep darkness.

"Rest assured, every moment we will fire arrows in front of us, and that is the way to go, and if the enemy approaches, we will not be able to detect it. Fan Mi said, raising his hand to sign.

An arrow fired from a crossbow swished, bursting out of fire far ahead, illuminating the darkness, which was the same type of arrow as the warning arrow, but with a longer range, and was mostly used for long-range lighting in night battles.

At least now it's normal to look at the past, Shen Jin still feels uneasy, this undoubtedly reminds the other party, exposing his every move here, but at the moment, this kind of light is needed to calm the hearts of those recruits a little, so he didn't say anything.

The smell of the chowder was still on the city walls, and it seemed that the sentry sergeant here was also dining when the alarm was raised, and it was still the time of the Winter Solstice Festival, which unfortunately seemed to be spent in the shadow of swords.

There was nothing unusual about the arrows sent out in the first moment, but when the arrows in the second moment crossed the night sky, Shen Jin blinked vigorously, and he always felt as if something was wriggling in the wilderness.

"Put it again! aim there!" Shen Jin ordered loudly, and at the same time pulled out the huge iron sword behind him, this action made the soldiers at the head of the city invariably move forward towards the battlements, and the blades in their hands were also tightened.

The sound of the arrows was still silent, and the fluffy fire had only just flashed, and in the light and shadow, they saw that it was a dense array of heavily armored troops wriggling and moving, and the reflection of the helmets was mixed with the snow, and then, the number of helmets seemed to suddenly decrease, replaced by a hazy black smoke, mixed with the wind and rain.

"Release the arrow!" Shen Jin was full of excitement, and with a wave of the giant sword in his hand, a dense rain of arrows immediately appeared at the head of the city, and it swished towards the city along the cold wind.

Strangely, the figure in the black wind was able to pass through the gap of the rain of arrows, go up, and land at the head of the city like lightning in the eyes of the soldiers.

The soldier's screams suddenly became loud, and his body seemed to suddenly crack from it, and the first moment it was still in a posture of bending the bow and arrows, and the next moment it was all a corpse separated from flesh and bones. The undead soldiers let out a terrifying shout and retreated uncontrollably, until this time, one by one, the iron-clad and hideous-faced monsters stood at the head of the city.

The burly and majestic man with a wide mouth and fangs shouted in an impassioned and high-pitched voice: "Fly Mountain Heavenly Army, attack Luoyang!"