Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 146 After the break, shoot Cai Yang
As night fell, the melodious sound of horns in the distance spread throughout the wilderness.

At the east gate of Ren Jun's camp, more than two thousand Shen Chen troops had to retreat and gather again, instead of continuing to attack Ren Jun's east gate.

This gave Ren Jun a little respite. His army was almost on the verge of collapse. 5000 people were killed and more than 1000 were injured, more than 1000 escaped and disappeared, and only 2000 people were left struggling.

The sky-high flames shot straight into the sky. The raging flames in the camp were originally lit by Shen Chen in order to quickly defeat Ren Jun, but now they have become a torch that illuminates his retreat path.

"go!"

Shen Chen gave the order to retreat and personally cut off the rear with Gan Ning.

The soldiers who still had strength carried the wounded soldiers on their backs, dragged their tired bodies and retreated slowly, and those who had no strength searched for the remains of Huangmenting soldiers and picked up the hang tags on their bodies.

This is the unique imprint of Huangmenting soldiers. The name and number are written on the back of each listing. If the dead body cannot be brought back, the card will replace the head.

Every soldier had already reached the limit of his physical strength, he was so tired that he was out of breath, and then hurriedly headed towards the west gate of the camp.

After all the soldiers left in a hurry, Shen Chen and Gan Ning led the [-] guards and left with the last crossbow.And Ren Jun in the distance was watching like this, the two sides were in the flames, looking at each other from a distance.

"General."

Ren Jun's left and right lieutenants also had their battle armor messy and bloody, and their hair was drenched in sweat. They walked over and said, "Why don't you take advantage of the situation and pursue?"

"Pursuit?"

Ren Jun looked at Shen Chenjun who was slowly retreating in the distance, his eyes flickered.

"No."

Xun Yu shook his head at the side: "Listen to the sound of the horn, Han Hao is still several miles away, but he is afraid that our situation is critical, so he made the noise to scare the enemy away. If we pursue now, our army will be defeated."

"That's true."

Ren Jun nodded. He knew that the soldiers under his command had reached their limit. He was afraid that if they pursued them, they would be easily repelled by the enemy.

Xun Yu said, "The general, please send someone to put out the fire."

"Extinguishing!"

Ren Jun immediately issued an order.

Xun Yu rode his horse forward slowly, Ren Jun followed behind him, and the group inspected the entire camp.

The remaining more than 2000 soldiers dispersed to put out the fire, and a hundred or so personal guards followed them until they reached the Ximen camp, where they could already see Shen Chenjun's torches being lit from a distance.

"Go and have a look."

Xun Yu and Ren Jun left the Ximen Camp and followed them all the way to the ditch.

They saw that Shen Chen's army had retreated to the other side of the ditch, and the soldiers meandered along the road, retreating in the direction of Yingyin, and at the end of the team, on the hillside commanded by Shen Chen in the evening, there was a man standing on horseback.

The two sides still looked at each other at a distance of about [-] meters across the ditch as before.In the light of the torch, Xun Yu could vaguely see Shen Chen's vague figure standing in the distance.

"General Shen!"

Xun Yu shouted loudly: "I admire the general, but I ask the general to put the family and the country first! Your Majesty has been in exile for many years, and finally settled down in Xudu. He can't bear to travel anymore."

Shen Chen shouted: "Xu is not the home of the great man, and Cao Cao is not your majesty's good minister. The rise and fall of the great man, he Cao Cao can not be the master. Back then in Han Wu there was Huo Huo cavalry who shocked the north of the Great Wall. Now I, Shen Chen, will help the Han Dynasty. , Give back the people of Limin a bright world! Lingjun, let’s leave it alone. I, Shen Chen, have in my heart the Son of Man and the people of the people. I have nothing to talk to you, a person who only cares about the family and doesn’t care about the life and death of the people.”

After finishing speaking, he turned his horse's head and walked away.

In the distance, Xun Yu's robe fluttered slightly in the wind, with a bitter smile on his face.

Ren Jun was puzzled and said: "Ling Jun, this person has a blood feud with Duke Cao that cannot be resolved, so why talk to him?"

Xun Yu shook his head and said, "The general doesn't understand, this man is extraordinary. I also have old friends in Jingzhou, and I admire his words and deeds very much."

After all, he raised his head and looked at the sky. Summer and autumn are intercourse, the night is full of stars, and the bright light shines on the whole world.

"The unity of knowledge and action"

Xun Yu murmured to himself: "Is this saint-like mind really something a young man can achieve? In a few years, I might be able to produce another saint. Alas, if Mr. Cao hadn't Duke Cao of Tu Xuzhou is confused."

His eyes were full of sadness.

Most of the Yingchuan aristocratic families went to Jingzhou to seek refuge. For example, Xun You went to Jingzhou to avoid disaster in his early years, and Sima Hui also brought his clan southward.

Shen Chen's words, deeds and reputation in Jingzhou have spread to Xudu long ago. His deeds and many opinions expressed are very admirable.From the point of view of a literati, Xun Yu very much agrees with many of his views.

It's a pity. Duke Cao's massacre of Xuzhou was not only related to the massacre of Shen Chen's clan, but also because the crimes caused by this massacre had a huge conflict with the moral concepts explained by Shen Chen.

Under this ideological conflict, Shen Chen finally embarked on the road of resisting Cao, and firmly believed that Cao Gong was only using the emperor instead of helping the Han Dynasty.

So now, the two sides are already in a state of incompatibility.

Xun Yu came to the end.

I can only lament, Mr. Cao is confused.

If it weren't for the fact that Xuzhou was angry and laid down millions of corpses, how could he be in such a mess today?

Xun Yu looked at the distant sky.

There is one of the brightest stars in the south, exuding a dazzling light like the rising sun, seeming to shine on the whole man.

The night was darker.

After nearly half an hour, Han Hao came in a hurry.

He was indeed several miles away, and when he saw the fire in Ren Jun's barracks, he was afraid that Ren Jun would not be able to hold on, so he raised his voice and forced Shen Chen's army back.

With the addition of this fresh force, it took a lot of effort to extinguish the flames in the camp.

Han Hao learned that Shen Chen was also exhausted and wanted to ask for pursuit, but Xun Yu told him that it was too late to pursue now, and the enemy must return to Yingyin before them. They had no siege equipment and could not conquer the city, so they might as well let go. They leave.

After another hour or so, Cai Yang's soldiers arrived in a hurry.

Knowing that Shen Chen's army was at the end of its strength, Cai Yang immediately led his troops in pursuit.Ren Jun and Han Hao tried hard to persuade, but he didn't listen.

At that time Xun Yu had already returned to Xudu.

And Cai Yang was the successor after Man Chong's death. When he learned that Liu Bei and Shen Chen jointly attacked Runan, repelled Li Tong, and killed Man Chong, Cao Cao appointed him as the prefect of Runan.

Ren Jun is the general of Diannong Zhonglang, and his rank is more than two thousand stones, while Han Hao is the general of the guard army, who belongs to the rank of miscellaneous generals.

The status of both of them is lower than that of Cai Yang, so they can't order Cai Yang at all.

More importantly, Cao Cao ordered as early as the beginning of this year that if Shen Chen was captured alive or his head was captured, he would be rewarded with a hundred gold and named Liehou.

Now that Shen Chen retreated back to Yingyin, the soldiers also suffered heavy casualties and were exhausted. If such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was put in front of Cai Yang, if he didn't take the initiative to pursue it, wouldn't he be a fool?

So Cai Yang scolded Ren Jun and Han Hao for being idiots in his heart, while urging the soldiers to chase after Shen Chen.

At this moment, Shen Chen's army was slowly withdrawing towards the west.

Compared with the speed when they came, the speed of going back was much slower. The soldiers dragged their tired bodies and walked on the official road with difficulty.

Many manors along the way still treated them with seriousness. When they saw them go, they looked like remnants and defeated soldiers. Many farm households in the manor were much more courageous, and each of them stretched their necks to wait and see on the manor. , and some even threw stones at them.

It was several crossbow arrows that returned the color.

shhhhhh!
Nailed to the wall of the manor, the tail feathers made a buzzing sound.

If he didn't take the initiative to attack them, Shen Chen could still think that the other party was a citizen who just wanted to defend himself, but once he took the initiative to attack them, he would be the enemy.

The farm households inside the wall suddenly shrank their necks. It wasn't until this time that they realized that even though Shen Chen's army was unfavorable in attacking and did not kill outside the city of Xudu, they were still the most elite regular army!

On the way back, Shen Chen gave up his horse to a seriously injured soldier, and he followed on foot at the end of the team.Around him were three hundred soldiers, the new force from Yingyin.

When he was in Yingyin before, Shen Chen ordered some soldiers suffering from foot problems to return to Yingyang to rest, and then left [-] soldiers in Yingyin to guard the city as a way to retreat.

When the battle was unfavorable, Shen Chen had a premonition that the situation might be bad, so he ordered the scout cavalry to return to Yingyin and bring 300 people to help them.At that time, because the horses could not cross the ditch, the scouts did not participate in the battle, so they went back smoothly and brought reinforcements over.

At this moment, [-] fresh troops followed at the back of the team, protecting the former army from retreating.

After a while, Gan Ning suddenly came back on foot, he didn't ride a horse, Shen Chen asked in surprise, "Uncle Xingba, what's wrong?"

"It's okay, let's go for a walk together."

Gan Ning took off all the armor on his body, exposing his gnarled arms, and there was a six-centimeter wound on the inside of his left arm, which was temporarily wrapped up with cloth, and the jute cloth strips were soaked in blood.

On the wide post road, everyone walked forward silently like a group of defeated soldiers. Shen Chen and Gan Ning didn't say anything more after this sentence.

After walking about two miles in silence, Gan Ning suddenly said, "Ah Chen, we have failed."

"Yes."

Shen Chen sighed, "But this is not the end, it's just the beginning."

"what's your plan?"

Gan Ning asked.

Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "Return to Nanyang and connect with Zhang Xiu. Now Cao Cao has reached the most dangerous time. He and Yuan Shao are only in the confrontation stage, so they can barely send some reinforcements to rescue Xu Du. Once a decisive battle starts, it will be us. The last chance!"

This is also the question Shen Chen has been thinking about.

When I went to Xudu for the first time, it was in April and May. At that time, the wheat was harvested. Ren Jun, as the general of Diannong, immediately went north to transport grain after harvesting the wheat field. As a result, there were only Xiahouyuan and Li Dian in Xudu. Thousands of people are stationed.

In addition, Li Tong and Man Chong need to guard against Jiangdong's troops, so it is impossible to return to defend Yingchuan.So after he defeated Cao Hong and captured Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang, he could go straight to Linying and kill Xudu City.

But the oppression Cao Cao felt was not so strong at that time. Yuan Shao had just crossed the river not long ago, and was rushing from Baima to Yangwu, and the two sides did not confront each other at the front line of Guandu.

Therefore, the first time to go to Xu is doomed to fail, and Cao Cao can return to help when he has time.

At that time, Shen Chen never thought that he would be able to take down Xu Du in one go, so he didn't feel regretful. After An Ran withdrew his troops, he just waited for the opportunity.

And the second time I went to Xudu, I joined forces with Liu Bei to attack together, and also trapped Xia Houyuan and Li Dian's main force in Luiqiang, which was a very good opportunity.It's a pity that Ren Jun's Diannong army became a wall, which made this attack fail.

But Shen Chen knew that he still had a third chance!
That is when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao officially launched a decisive battle. When the new millet is harvested in September, Ren Jun will inevitably go north to send food and grass. Xia Houyuan and Li Dian's troops are not many. horse.

At this time, Liu Bei still had a lot of soldiers and horses. As long as Shen Chen could return to Kunyang and let the soldiers rest for two months, and at the same time go to Rangcheng in person and contact Zhang Xiu to send troops together, then things would turn around.

"Report!"

While the two were talking, more than a dozen scouts galloped from behind.

Yingyin was only about ten kilometers away from Xudu, so Shen Chen set up two scouts every three miles, and asked the scouts to wait in place to observe whether there were soldiers behind.

At this moment, they had been walking for more than three hours from Ren Jun's camp. Usually, they should have arrived at Yingyin City, but because the soldiers were exhausted, they were moving slowly, at a speed of two to three kilometers per hour. three-thirds of the way.

Now that the scouts came back, something happened naturally, Shen Chen immediately said, "What's the matter?"

"The enemy pursuers are coming."

The scout replied, "It's just twelve miles behind."

"Twelve miles?"

Shen Chen frowned and said, "Their pursuit speed is very fast."

Gan Ning waved his hand and said, "Yingyin is not far ahead, let's go back as soon as possible, they won't catch up with us."

Cai Yang arrived an hour and a half later than Han Hao, and there was a time difference of more than three hours between the two sides. Even if Shen Chen was driving slowly at two to three kilometers per hour, they would return to Yingyin in another hour.

And even if Cai Yang's traveling speed was twice that of Shen Chen's, it would take at least three hours to catch up with them.But by that time, Shen Chenjun had already returned to the city.

However, Shen Chen thought about it: "Our army is still in the hinterland of Cao Cao. Most of the soldiers are injured. They need to go back to Kunyang immediately to rest and recuperate. They cannot stay in Yingyin for a long time. If the chasing troops delay the time, it will be bad for our army, so we must defeat them." them."

"How many people have they come?"

Gan Ning asked.

The scout replied: "Looking at the torches, there are about two or three thousand people."

Shen Chen looked around and said: "I have three hundred soldiers, that's enough. Uncle Xingba, you and Colonel Shen retreated to Yingyin. I will lead 300 men to intercept them."

Gan Ning lazily said: "How can I be missing after the end, let Shen Mi and Deng Zhao go, let's uncle and nephew come, if something happens to you here, I can't explain it to You Shuo when I go back."

Deng Hong is good-looking, has many friends in Jingzhou, and has a very good relationship with Gan Ning.

To a certain extent, Gan Ning was able to listen to orders. In addition to Shen Chen's bet with him back then, which allowed Gan Ning to see that Shen Chen is an outstanding visionary, there was also the deep friendship between him and Deng Hong as a bridge. .

People are like that.

Sometimes you know someone, if he dislikes you in some way, no matter how good that person is, you will not look down on him.

If he is pleasing to your eyes and there is no major problem with his character, the relationship will definitely not be that bad.

Deng Hong and his wife would make him very comfortable dealing with Gan Ning. They gave each other gifts on various holidays every year, and often invited him to go on outings.

So in comparison, Gan Ning cared more about Deng Hong's attitude.

After all, Deng Hong asked Gan Ning to take care of Shen Chen when he was going on the expedition, how could he let his friend's grandson really have an accident on the battlefield?

Hearing Gan Ning's words, Shen Chen was very moved, and said, "Thank you Uncle Xingba, then let's give the chasing soldiers a head-on blow!"

As soon as he said that, he immediately began to arrange an ambush.

After the order was issued, all the bows and crossbows of the whole army were gathered in the hands of the three hundred new troops, and the last arrows were left behind.

Taking advantage of the darkness, they put out the torches and found a woods beside the road.

As soon as they entered, there were black magpies flying inside, and a large number of birds soared into the sky, startling the birds' feathers into flocks.

But everyone doesn't care.

Because the enemy was still far away from them, the birds had already calmed down by the time the enemy arrived.

The movement caused by 300 people will not be too big, and everyone is lurking on the side of the road, hidden in the forest, silently waiting for the pursuers to arrive.

After a while, the birds circled in the air for a while, and seeing that there was no movement in the forest, they returned to their nests to continue resting.

The wilderness around seemed to have calmed down. Apart from the occasional howling of wolves and the singing of dying cicadas in summer and autumn, there were not even a few calls of frogs in the field in the wilderness ahead.

The vast plain could vaguely see the phantom of the distant hills. After waiting for nearly an hour, at the end of the road, countless dots of fire suddenly appeared.

"Hurry up!"

Cai Yang was riding on horseback. He had a thick back and a long knife in his hand, urging the soldiers forward.

In fact, the soldiers were also very tired. After all, they had traveled more than 30 kilometers to Xudu. They had never rested from the afternoon until it was dark, and their feet were so sore.

Although Xia Houyuan and Sima Yi marched faster than them, and Shen Chen's army also traveled about [-] kilometers to attack Xudu in two days, which was only a little behind Xia Houyuan and Sima Yi, but they marched in one day, while Cai Yang marched in a hurry.

That is to say, within half a day, the journey that others walk in a day can be completed, so Cai Yang's army will be even more tired.Even if they were elite soldiers brought over from the front line of Cao Jundu, their combat effectiveness was still reduced a lot.

of course.

Even so, they were not like Shen Chen, who fought from Yingyang to Yingyin for more than 20 kilometers, and then from Yingyin to Bali Bridge, walked another ten kilometers, and fought for three hours to get tired .

So if the two sides confronted each other head-on, since Shen Chen's army had bottomed out their bows and crossbows, and their physical strength was exhausted, Cai Yang's [-] elite Cao army might really annihilate Shen Chen.

It's just that Cai Yang never expected that Shen Chen would have the courage to ambush him when he was close to the end of the road.

now.

In the dense forest, Shen Chen and Gan Ning gripped the bows in their hands almost at the same time, and aimed the arrow at Cai Yang.

Not only the two of them, three hundred soldiers also silently raised their crossbows.

Cai Yang is really too conspicuous.

He was wearing armor and swaggeringly at the front of the team.

There were still people holding a flag high behind them, and under the reflection of the long line of torches behind, the big "Cai" flag was clearly visible.

Due to lack of physical strength, Cao Jun's soldiers were a little out of touch, and the formation of the team was not very neat.

Cai Yang reined in the horse, turned around and shouted, "Hurry up, everyone."

The following words are not finished yet.

"Buzz!"

He heard the sound like a swarm of bees vibrating their wings, and three hundred bows and crossbows fired at him like shooting stars in the dark night.

"Ding ding dong, poof!"

The first to fall was Cai Yang's war horse, which was shot into a hedgehog.

Then the armor and helmet on Cai Yang's body helped him block most of the arrows, but at least ten arrows still shot at his unprotected feet and calves.

There are several types of armor in the Han Dynasty. Some have high collars like the Xuantie armor that can protect the neck, and some have a skirt-like thigh under the armor that can protect the knees, but almost all armors can’t protect the neck. calves and feet.

Some of the arrows even hit Cai Yang's face.

At that moment, only screams could be heard, because not only Cai Yang was severely injured, but the guards around him were also covered by the rain of arrows, and fell down in an instant.

"Kill!"

Countless bows and crossbows were fired in the dense forest, and Shen Chen's army had more than 1000 arrows left, all of which were used up.

After the arrows were used up, the soldiers threw the bows and crossbows in their hands to the ground, drew out the knives around their waists, or picked up halberds, spears, and sword shields, and killed Cao Jun like ferocious wolves.

But Cao's army was already in a mess, panicking back and forth, the soldiers were defeated and fled back one after another, without the will to fight at all.

Shen Chen and Gan Ning charged with 300 men, and Cao Jun completely collapsed and fled.

Only less than 10 minutes later, Cao Jun soldiers were running around everywhere in the wilderness. Shen Chen and Gan Ning did not continue to pursue them. They turned around and cleaned the battlefield, picked up some weapons and equipment, and went to see Cai Yang's body .

He saw that his left foot was full of arrows, and the ones that were really fatal were the ones that were shot in front of him, directly piercing Cai Yang's cheek and eyes, and one of them had the word "morning" engraved on it!

Shen Chen's archery skills in the past few years have not been practiced in vain!
　Don't worry, everyone, isn't this the second attack on Xudu?Megatron Huaxia will be attacked three times soon, so what's the hurry?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)