The shadows of those enemies staggered, and suddenly they grew larger, as if they had reached their eyes, and suddenly they were far away, as if they had fled to the end of the night sky, the boundary between heaven and earth.

Their heads were twisted, their limbs twisted, and even the blades in their hands were twisted, glowing in the light of the fire.

Even the sound of the war drums became grotesque due to the dampness of the drum skin on a rainy day.

It's not like the battlefield, but like a long, long time ago, when mortals were still fighting with gods and demons, those heroes who rode bears and tigers, with feathers on their bodies, and brought rolling thunder in their actions, returned to this land.

Who the hell are they fighting against?

Thinking like this, the Jizhou army involuntarily retreated backwards.

But a few miles away was their camp, impregnable and heavily guarded.

There is a fence more than a foot high, and the wind cannot blow in; There are tents in patches, and the rain can't get in; There are also countless torches there, illuminating the heavens and the earth. Once there, they no longer have to be in such a dark and difficult situation, but can fight to the death with all their hearts.

This change in the Jizhou army was noticed by Huang Zhong, and was also noticed by his relatives.

"General, they're defeated!" They were so happy that they were about to cry, and they gathered around him and shouted loudly, "Shall we catch up?!" ”

Huang Zhong didn't look back.

But Zhang Xiu also quickly rushed up, roaring, shouting, raising the halberd in his hand, and when he was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue, Huang Zhong had to stop him.

"They are not defeated," Mr. Huang said, "and we can't chase them." ”

The Xiliang military general looked at him viciously, "They killed nearly half of my sons, why can't I kill them-"

"If you chase it any further, the rest of the sons will freeze to death." Huang Zhong said.

The crossbowmen on the other side couldn't see how many people they had killed when their bolts were fired;

Jingzhou soldiers couldn't see how many of their comrades were shot to death except for their own side;

They are all the same confused, the difference is that the Jizhou soldiers rely on well-trained to support the formation, and the Jingzhou soldiers rely on the generals to support their morale;

But if the pursuit continues, these soldiers who came from the south, who are not accustomed to this kind of weather, will fall one after another.

Their consciousness may be awake at first, but it will become more and more chaotic; Their limbs gradually became uncontrollable, until they finally collapsed completely to the ground, unable to move.

By daybreak, the officers would no longer be surrounded by soldiers who were fighting alongside them, only the wounded who were dying on the ground.

Although Huang Zhong didn't understand what "hypothermia" was, he was still keenly aware of this threat.

His soldiers began to stagger and their hands shaking as they held their weapons.

Their eyes still gleamed with the fire of battle—what a shame it was to be pursued and encircled by an enemy who was far outnumbered of them!

Even at this moment, they have done their best to repel the encirclement of the enemy army, and those Jizhou troops still come as they want to come, and withdraw as they want!

This humiliation drove them to constantly beg their commanders, "Let's chase it again!" One more chase! ”

"As long as we keep up with us, even if they enter the camp, they will leave many people outside! Fish for me! ”

"General! Don't the generals want to make a contribution! ”

Huang Zhong raised his head and looked at the sky.

The clouds still obscured the sky, and not a single ray of light came through from the east.

The light of the fire flickered and dimmed, shining on the faces of those men who were blue from the cold.

He wanted to tell himself for a moment, it was better to listen to them, and lead the troops to rush for a while, maybe the people of Jizhou were also the end of the crossbows, and if they rushed for a while, they would be scattered!

What is he afraid of! He is just a small general, three hundred stones, lost, not worth mentioning; If you win, you may really be able to write a stroke in the history books! He has passed the age of not being confused, he has never made any meritorious achievements, and after this battle, I am afraid it will be difficult to have such an opportunity - his life, his life! Wouldn't he want to give it a try?!

The temples were beating, and the heart in the chest was beating.

The voices were pushing him in a certain direction, and he himself was almost heading in that direction—the road that led to the court! Such a glorious place! From now on, his heirs, his people, can also erect a pillar in front of the door!

That's something that a person from a humble background like him can't even think of!

Huang Zhong was only silent for a moment on this rainy night, but it seemed as long as a lifetime had passed.

This general, who was not afraid of death during the war, suddenly had a cold shiver.

"Mingjin retreats." His voice was a little hoarse, but it was very clear, as if he was crying a little, and as if he had been relieved.

Just a few miles away, someone climbed the arrow tower.

The Jizhou army is calibrating heavy and expensive crossbow machines, preparing to meet the Jingzhou army that will be pursued, and end the war.

A light rider suddenly ran back.

"The other army has withdrawn!" He said loudly, "Captain Zhang asked the general to give instructions, do you want to make the iron cavalry fight?" ”

Gao Gan looked at Xun Chen, then turned his head to look at the light horseman, "Send a herald and tell him to return to the camp!" ”

"The road is slippery on a rainy night, and there is a lot of mud nearby," Xun Chen said, "Yuan Cai is right." ”

His voice was gentle, but it fell on Gao Gan's ears like a mockery.

"I'm not afraid." He pleaded dryly.

Xun Chen gently patted him on the shoulder.

The nephew, whom Yuan Shao relied on, looked down a little melancholy, and the torches of the two armies were intertwined at first, and gradually separated.

One came to him, one after another into the camp, and the other gradually disappeared at the end of the battlefield that was about to glow with a dark red sky.

"Who is the one who led the troops into the camp tonight?"

"The soldiers said that it was Huang Zhong, the lieutenant general of Changsha County."

A disdainful sneer erupted from Gao Gan's nose.

"Liu Biao has this person, but he can't use it, no wonder he wants to give up Jing Xiang to Liu Bei!"

After he sneered, he seemed to remember something, and fell silent again.

…… His uncle is indeed forgiving and benevolent, but even if such a person is in Hebei, can he be reused?

No matter how cruel the night is, the sun always rises mercilessly, it does not stop, and it does not gently hide the bloody and embarrassing faces of either side.

The soldiers were slowly walking back, and some were walking and walking, and all at once they were planted in the muddy water.

- You should quickly change into dry clothes and wrap them in a quilt!

- They should be given some hot soup! Let them warm up!

The medic yelled like this, but it didn't work, they didn't have that many quilts, they didn't have that much hot soup.

They must take advantage of the opportunity for the Jizhou army to return to the camp for repair, and quickly withdraw to Xucheng.

The corpses all over the ground, the wounded who were not dead all over the ground, were mixed with the cold mud.

When Cai Mao came over, Huang Zhong was also covered in mud, rummaging through his soldiers one by one, and found that someone was not dead, but just fainted, so he ordered others to put him on the cart, push him away, and wrap it in a dry tarpaulin.

Some of them still didn't survive, the doctor said, and the rain of the night, combined with a night of desperate fighting, had drained many of their vitality.

Huang Zhong didn't say a word, he didn't give up, and continued to roll over one by one, stumbling and falling a few times in the middle, so his head was covered with mud and blood, and Cai Mao almost didn't recognize him.

But Huang Zhong recognized the superior and staggered over and saluted.

"Failed to destroy the thief army, destroyed the city, and was ashamed of the envoy."

Cai Mao looked at him in a daze with dark red mud all over his body, and then looked at this same dark red battlefield, and only spoke after a while:

"The art of Ji Ting Hou is unparalleled in the world."

Even Cai Mao, who was not commanding at the front line, was tired from freezing that night, and when he withdrew his troops in the morning, he also sneezed. But Liu Xun is different, in the whole war, except for the embarrassment when he escaped from Zhang Xiujun, he can be called a person who has not suffered at all.

The army retreated, and he could have chosen a warm cart to sit in, but Huang Zhong was very stubborn and thought that the cart should be given to the wounded. Originally, this noble envoy could refute him with righteousness, and even Cai Mao and Zhang Xiu were ready to persuade each other, but Liu Xun didn't say anything in the end, so he endured it.

He was still sitting in the tattered car, wrapped in fur, with his eyes half-closed in a drowsy state.

The line is very long, with the Xiliang soldiers in front, the Lujiang soldiers in the middle, and the Jingzhou soldiers behind.

The dirt road is muddy, and the cart will get stuck in the mud from time to time, and it needs to be pushed and pulled, but the army will not stop for this, but has a special personal entourage to take care of it.

Since the position of the chariot was back and forth, Liu Xun naturally listened to the voices of the Xiliang soldiers and the Jingzhou soldiers.

They all retreated, they all returned in vain, and the morale of the Jingzhou army was still very high.

They took a lot of loot, and judged the quality of those booty, the armor of the Jizhou people is so new, and the blades are so sharp, far better than them! There are also those little things on the people of Jizhou, those silver coins, and their carriages and horses! They left behind a lot of wagons when they retreated! Ahhh When you return to your hometown, you can buy a few acres of land with this trophy!

The morale of the Xiliang army was much worse than theirs, mainly because almost half of the troops were lost in this battle, and although they also took a lot of loot, those lost comrades could never come back - they were all fellow villagers who came all the way from Xiliang!

The morale of the Lujiang soldiers was the worst, they had no merit, no booty, no way to bring back the bones of their fellow villagers, their brothers, their neighbors, were rashly thrown in front of the unknown camp.

Their bones just rotted in the mud!

They walked on the road, their red and swollen eyes were constantly watering tears in the cold wind.

- Why don't we have a commander like General Huang?

They muttered this.

- If General Huang, or General Xiao Lu, led the troops, so many brothers, so many brothers would not have to die!

Their whimpering was left in the wind.

Liu Xun in the car didn't say a word, just listened quietly.

After listening for I don't know how long, he suddenly cried out in shame.

Chapter 497

Before the sky was fully bright, a husband walked by knocking on the Jiao bucket.

The hour has come, and the gates may be opened.

Some people carried their burdens to the gate of the city and set up small stalls.

The three friendly armies have already set off from the village and headed for the front line, but the prices in Xucheng have not fully recovered.

Merchants are a little greedy, and when business is good, when the price of raw materials rises, they will quietly raise the price a little, or cut corners for the goods. They also have good reasons, they can't be busy, or their business is not good - they also have wives and children to support, so everyone has to take care of them!

When those southern soldiers were in Xucheng, they ate a lot more, and a meatloaf full of stuffing could be sold for fifty yuan! But now that they were gone, no one would buy the meatloaf for fifty dollars, so the deserted vendor could only set up his stall, stand in the cold wind with his head shrunk, and keep looking out of the city.

The outside of the city was covered with frost, and at a glance, it seemed as if spring had arrived, and there were catkins covering the road, as if you could sneeze when you stepped on it.

The meatloaf vendor craned his neck and looked around, not knowing what he was looking at.