Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1221 Reinforcements
Cao Hong had been fighting for a whole day, but he failed to dodge the arrow. With a puff, the arrow pierced into his chest armor. Cao Hong's body staggered and he fell off his horse.

The one who shot the arrow was Huang Zhong who had rushed over. Seeing that Cao Hong was dressed like a general of Cao's army, he shot an arrow at random. Unexpectedly, he shot the opponent down directly. He was quite surprised, so he shook the reins and rode over to check.

However, at this time Cao Hong had already secretly taken out the longbow hanging on the saddle, straightened his body, sat up suddenly, drew the bow and shot at Huang Zhong's face.

Huang Zhong subconsciously pushed the longbow in his hand, but the arrow hit the bow arm exactly, breaking the bow in his hand into two pieces. He threw the broken bow down and was about to take out the spare bow, but Cao Ren naturally did not give him this opportunity. He immediately fired the arrow repeatedly and rushed over on his horse.

Huang Zhong dodged left and right. After Cao Hong had shot three arrows, he rushed to him and drew out his sword, slashing at Huang Zhong's waist. Cao Hong knew that he had consumed a lot of energy before, so he decided not to waste energy by shooting at Huang Zhong, but to fight him in close combat.

This move really worked. Huang Zhong had no choice but to draw his long sword and fight with Cao Hong. However, Cao Hong did not expect that Huang Zhong's martial arts were no less than his. The two sides fought for dozens of rounds, but there was no winner. Cao Hong drew his sword and shouted, "Who is coming? Tell me your name!"

Huang Zhong heard this and shouted, "I am General Huang Zhong, a general of the front army under the command of the King of Jin!"

When Cao Hong heard this, his eyes immediately turned red, "You are the one who killed Miaocai?"

Huang Zhong subconsciously said, "So what?"

Cao Hong gnashed his teeth and said, "Today I will avenge Miao Cai and cut off your head for sacrifice!"

Huang Zhong heard this, waved his sword, and laughed, "Then let the horses come over!"

The two men tumbled and fought again. Although Huang Zhong was old, his physical strength had not declined much. However, like Cao Hong, he had been running for several days. Neither of them was in his best condition, so neither of them could gain a decisive advantage. The fight lasted until dawn, and there was still no winner.

Cao Hong became more and more anxious. He couldn't break free of Huang Zhong's entanglement, which meant that his action was blocked. Although Li Dian and Zhang Xiu who arrived later could help, there were also pursuers from the Jin army!
Now the two sides are fighting each other to see which reinforcement will arrive first. Cao Ren knows that he only has one chance, that is, to kill Huang Zhong as quickly as possible within half an hour after Li Dian and Zhang Xiu arrive and break through the encirclement of the Jin army!

Huang Zhong saw that he could not defeat Cao Hong, so he had to patiently fight with Cao Hong. Since he had blocked Cao Hong, there was no reason for him to let him escape.

As time passed, Li Dian finally joined the battlefield with a loud roar and rushed towards Huang Zhong from behind.

Huang Zhong saw this from afar and knew something was wrong, so he slashed with his sword, forcing Cao Hong to retreat into his own formation. Cao Hong did not pursue him any further, and was ready to work together with Li Dian to break through the Jin army's formation. However, he did not expect that Huang Zhong went back and changed his horse and bow, and went back into the battle line, shooting continuously with the bow in his hand, forcing Cao Hong and Li Dian to stop charging.

Seeing that Huang Zhong's shooting was very accurate, the two men grabbed the shields of the guards beside them, used the shields to block their bodies, and surrounded Huang Zhong.

Huang Zhong rode his horse to keep his distance and shot arrows from a distance. Cao Hong and Li Dian became furious. They thought the opponent could shoot a few more arrows and they were afraid that he would not be able to lift his hands in a while!

They led their troops and charged forward on horseback, patiently approaching Huang Zhong. Just as they were about to surround Huang Zhong, a horn sounded in the distance. It turned out that Wen Pin had also arrived.

Now both sides no longer had the intention to fight in a one-on-one duel, and they all drove their soldiers forward to start fighting. Tens of thousands of people were fighting in a melee, and soldiers' blood was splattered on the battlefield every moment.

Cao Hong was extremely distressed, as the central army had been his main force for many years and every member of them was an experienced veteran who would appear when Cao's army needed to overcome difficulties and make the final decision. But now these people were killed in battle at an extremely fast speed!

It was difficult to replenish such a seed army. Cao Hong knew that if he continued like this, he would be left with no one to fight. He turned around and shouted to Li Dian, "Where is Zhang Xiu?"

Li Dian said in a hoarse voice: "He wants to cover the rear, so let me rush over first, but there are too many generals in the Jin army, he may be surrounded and it will be difficult for him to escape unscathed!"

After hearing this, Cao Hong hesitated for only a moment before shouting decisively: "There is no other way. We can't wait for him. We must break through with all our strength!"

Li Dian also knew that there was no other way out, so he and Cao Hong both rushed out and led their soldiers to charge towards Huang Zhong and Wen Pin. The Jin army on the other side also risked their lives to block the Wei army from breaking through. In just half an hour, nearly half of the soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded.

Seeing the corpses everywhere on the ground, Cao Hong became blood-thirsty. He led his troops to charge fiercely and finally broke through Huang Zhong and Wen Pin's defense line, but many Wei soldiers were already surrounded inside.

At this time, Cao Hong had no time to care about anything else and had to flee hastily towards Dongwuyang with the remaining troops and Li Dian. Huang Zhong and Wen Pin immediately followed them, and the two fought for most of the day, one chasing and the other fleeing.

Cao Hong calculated that Dongwuyang was still more than 30 miles away. He was just celebrating his escape when he heard trumpets from all directions. It turned out that the Jin army led by Lu Xun had arrived in advance and ambushed Cao Hong, cutting off his retreat. Seeing the flags of the Jin army soldiers coming from all directions, Cao Hong could not help but sigh to the sky and said to Li Dian, "Are we going to die here today?"

Li Dian gripped his spear tightly and shouted, "I will lead the way for the general and open up a way for him to survive!"

Before Cao Hong could reply, another incident occurred. Shouts of killing were heard from the west, and the rear of the Jin army suddenly became chaotic. Cao Hong and Li Dian saw this and knew that they had not to miss the opportunity, so they immediately attacked westward with all their might. The rear of the Jin army that was blocking the way was ambushed and had to make way to form a battle array, allowing Cao Hong and Li Dian to rush through.

The Jin army was led by Lu Xun. He calculated the direction of Cao's escape, but did not expect that troops would be sent from Dongwuyang. He secretly sighed that he had failed and had to shrink his defense.

Cao Hong met the reinforcements and found that the other party was Le Jin. He was surprised and said, "Why is Wen Qian here?" Le Jin said, "I didn't stop the surprise attack of Xionghu from the north. He used a long snake formation. I attacked several times but failed. Seeing that I couldn't catch up with him, someone suggested that we go to Dongwuyang and then rush east to meet the general. As expected, he arrived in time!"

This idea was proposed by Li Yan. After analyzing the Jin army's tactics, he believed that the other side had anticipated the enemy's moves and that they could not respond passively. To seize the initiative, they had to find another way. Now he has succeeded and rescued Cao Ren and Li Dian.

Cao Ren was overjoyed and said, "With Zi Lian's help, the pursuit behind us is nothing to worry about!"

"Come back with me to support Zhang Xiu and defeat the Jin army!"

The three of them immediately turned back and caught Huang Zhong and Wen Pin, who were in pursuit, off guard. Seeing this, Lu Xun hurried to help. When Cao Ren saw this, he became anxious, wondering why Zhang Xiu hadn't come yet. If he appeared behind the Jin army at this time, he would be able to turn a great defeat into a great victory!

But Cao Hong did not realize at this time that he had taken the initiative to give up Zhang Xiu before, but now he was counting on Zhang Xiu to change the situation of the war, which was really wishful thinking.

Now Zhang Xiu had no chance of changing the situation on the battlefield and creating a miracle, because no matter how powerful he was, he could not defeat the siege of Chunyu Qiong's five generals.

Zhang Xiu had been hit by more than a dozen arrows and his horse had been shot dead long ago. He sat on the ground with his back against the dead horse, holding an iron spear, pointing the spear at the surrounding Jin army.

But Zhang Xiu knew that he was already at the end of his strength. Any random soldier could kill him. Most of the Xiliang soldiers who had followed him for many years had already died in the battle. Only a dozen of them were still by his side, and all of them were injured.

In the distance, Yan Rou said to Xian Yu Fu beside him: "The Northern Spear King is really amazing. Facing so many of us, he can still hold on until now."

Xian Yu Fu said: "The Liangzhou general's martial arts are indeed extraordinary. If he hadn't been covering the retreat for Cao's army, he might have been able to escape."

Yan Rou sneered and said, "It's a pity that Cao Jun treated him as a discarded pawn and didn't even think of supporting him."

He rode his horse towards Chunyu Qiong in front of him and asked, "How should we deal with him? Should we just shoot him to death?"

Chunyu Qiong thought for a moment and said, "Catch him first and leave it to the king to deal with."

He gave an order, and the Jin army soldiers listened and surrounded Zhang Xiu. Some soldiers around Zhang Xiu wanted to resist, but they were shot to death by arrows.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Xiu sighed, threw away the spear in his hand, and ordered his men to surrender.

Chunyu Qiong ordered his men to tie up Zhang Xiu and said to Yan Rou and Xianyu Fu, "Wei's vanguard has run far away. You two are light cavalry. Go and support them immediately. I will follow you."

After hearing this, Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu immediately led their troops to gallop away. They had also been fighting for several days and were now trying their best to muster up their spirits. But the same was true for Cao's army. In this crucial final battle, whoever could hold on longer would achieve greater results!

Dozens of miles ahead of them, Cao Hong, Le Jin and others counterattacked and almost broke up Lu Xun's army. Lu Xun did not dare to be careless and issued orders to Huang Zhong and Wen Pin to pull the enemy's wings. The two sides fought until dark.

When Lu Xun received the news, he hurriedly walked seven or eight miles south, but met Yuan Xi who came. Lu Xun saw that Yuan Xi did not bring many soldiers with him. After asking, he learned that Yuan Xi personally led the troops and traveled lightly, and the baggage and equipment of the central army were still behind.

Lu Xun told about Le Jin's disruption and said with embarrassment, "I miscalculated this time."

"Cao's army is now backed by Dongwuyang, so it is difficult to destroy them."

Yuan Xi thought for a moment and said, "This matter is not Bo Yan's fault. Le Jin is indeed difficult to deal with."

"Even if the soldiers I bring join the battlefield now, they won't be able to achieve a decisive victory, but it is possible to make them suffer a great loss."

He discussed with Lu Xun for a few words, and Lu Xun hurried to the front with the baggage on dozens of horses brought by Yuan Xi.

It was getting dark over there. Cao Hong saw this and called back Le Jin, who was in the front army, and said, "There are too many variables in the battle after dark. We have already beaten the enemy so hard that they dare not pursue us. It is better to return to Dongwuyang to rest first."

Le Jin had almost broken Wen Pin's army before, and although he was somewhat unwilling to accept this, he said, "If we retreat now, the enemy will surely pursue us."

"General, why don't you leave first and let me charge again to scare the enemy so that we can retreat safely!"

After hearing this, Cao Hong nodded and said, "Okay, Wen Qian, be careful!"

(End of this chapter)