My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 74 There has never been a coward in the Su family

The spring rain is soft and slender, falling on the houses and flower beds softly and silently.

In the quiet courtyard of the Su Mansion, a quarrel suddenly erupted. The door of the study room opened with a creak, and a one-armed man strode out. Following closely behind him was Su Congfang, who shouted at him: "There are cavalry from the imperial court outside. what can you do?!"

"It's just because of the cavalry that food can't be transported out. What will the tens of thousands of people on Third Brother's side eat?"

Su Lie turned around and screamed at his father who was chasing him. He had always had a bad temper and could not change it even if his arm was broken. He pointed outside: "If tens of thousands of people are gone, Ding'an City will be gone too. The Su family is gone too, dad! How can you sit still!"

"Dad isn't afraid that you are in danger, so what's the use of going out?!"

The quarrel between the father and son attracted family members to come over. Xiao Wei pushed away the eldest daughter-in-law's support and looked at Su Lie between the father and son: "Go, mother supports you. The Su family is small, but they are not weak people in the city." , your eldest brother is not afraid of death, your younger brother is not afraid of death, and you are not afraid of death either. My three sons are all good. There are not many soldiers in the family, so you can take them away, but the two thousand soldiers guarding the city must not be moved!"

Su Congfang came over to speak anxiously, but his old wife turned her head and glared: "Whether it's life or death at home or outside the home, if Chen'er's army is without food for more than two days, who will fight with their lives? It's better to let Su Lie give it a try. !”

"Thank you, mother!"

"Brother Su, I'll go with you!" A young man named Su Ting among the relatives followed with several people.

Su Lie was very happy to have his mother's support. He nodded to Su Ting and others and said, "Follow me!" Without even looking at his wife Hua Hongzhen, who came, he went straight out of the backyard and called the steward of the house. After calling all the soldiers, we could barely make up 120 people.

Sun Shuwu, the prefect, heard about this and came to dissuade him. Seeing that he could not persuade Su Lie, he had to hand over the task of transporting grain to him and dispatched thirty police officers from the government office.

More than 30 large carts were filled with grain bags. Looking at the convoy slowly leaving the city gate, Su Lie understood that this was only enough to feed tens of thousands of people for two days, and they would have to come back to continue transportation.

There are no traces of people on the official roads and trails outside Ding'an City. Broken carriage shafts are placed on the roadside, and the burnt carriage frames leave a slight scorch smell. In the distance, there are stinking and bloated corpses of traders who were hanged. At the edge of the woods near the official road.

After a hundred thousand troops entered Yunqi's territory, five thousand cavalry rolled over. At that time, many caravans were handling goods and preparing to leave. They were driven away or killed one by one, and they robbed property, especially the caravans with large cars. , regardless of whether there is food in it, just kill people and set fire to it, and burn it all.

Under the threat of the blade, no one dared to take risks. The business travelers who used to come and go frequently basically stayed at the junction of Ding'an City, or diverted to other cities, and did not dare to come here again.

In just one or two days, there was a roar outside Ding'an City, and no one dared to walk outside.

Most of the people who can move are one or two figures on horseback. These are the scouts of the Yanshan Iron Cavalry. Their scope of activities ranges from Ji County, Qingshan and here. Once they find that a convoy appears on the road, they will convey the news to If the main force lying down is small, they will call other scouts and rush over to start the massacre.

That afternoon, in the drizzle, they saw a motorcade leaving the city and heading north. The motorcade was so huge that they didn't even know what was in it.

The convoy transporting grain went twenty miles north. Su Ting rode a crooked horse to the front of the convoy and brought bad news, "Brother Su, I saw a few scouts on horseback. They looked at the convoy and ran away for a while. Will you?" Will the Yanshan Cavalry come and kill them?"

"Boost."

Su Lie did not reply directly. If he did, the people in the convoy would probably have to run a lot, and the 120 soldiers should be able to stop them for a while. He held the reins and fell behind, letting Su Ting lead the convoy first, while he led the fuzhong. After the soldiers were cut off.

Sure enough, a cavalry of about 2000 people came galloping from several avenues to the east and stopped a few hundred feet away. The leading cavalry general glanced at Su Lie, raised his hand, and the cavalry moved. Hundreds of them were separated and rode across the wilderness toward the convoy transporting grain.

The rumble of horse hooves shook the field, and the slowly moving convoy suddenly panicked. The police officers escorting the vehicles did not dare to come into contact with such a formation, and many people turned around and ran away.

Su Ting shouted for them to come back with his sword, but no one stopped, even one of the head catchers ran away.

At the moment when the cavalry was approaching, there was a sudden sound of arrows shooting in the sky. The cavalry that was originally charging suddenly turned around and ran back to their own formation. Su Lie, who was standing behind the soldiers and preparing to fight, was stunned. Across the field of vision, the cavalry The leading general seemed to be listening to a scout, and then took the lead and ran northward.

Iron hoofs cracked the ground, and two thousand cavalry surged across the wilderness in a mighty manner, quickly disappearing into the dusk in the dust and smoke.

"Brother Su, what's going on?"

Su Ting rode up from the convoy in front. His face was covered with cold sweat. He was naturally scared when he faced the cavalry charge just now. Now that the cavalry has withdrawn, he is still trembling all over. "Why did these enemy cavalry suddenly run away?"

"Where can I find out."

Just as Su Lie finished speaking, several fast horses came running in front of the convoy. The knights above saw the convoy parked here and quickly approached. They stepped forward to ask who Su Lie was. Someone dismounted and raised their hands. Lie whispered about the war ahead.

Su Ting didn't hear what he heard very clearly. He only heard some words such as "It turned into a rebel army..." "Many people's lives and deaths are unknown..." "12 troops mixed with ours, running all over the mountains and plains..." His mind was buzzing with confusion, and then he saw Su Lie's expression changing constantly.

"Brother Su..." he called.Su Lie took a deep breath and suddenly laughed, "My third brother can fight like this with 12 soldiers and horses. If he doesn't survive, no matter how incompetent my second brother is, I still have to pick up his bones!"

The people running around did not run too far. After hearing his words, they came back one by one and continued to escort the convoy in silence.

On the way to the north, soldiers fleeing south can be seen everywhere, in groups or alone. But those who can escape to the south are mostly Ding'an troops. Occasionally they meet each other and ask: "Brothers?" Under a general?"

"I am a disciple of the great virtuous master."

"Come on, come with us, gather 20 more people, and I'll kill them back! I don't have any solid food with me, so I'll take half a piece first..."

Further north, such scenes became more frequent. Groups of cavalry roared into the forest, and then fierce fighting broke out in the forest. There were scattered troops from both sides everywhere, and the commanding cavalry with horns did not dare to blow indiscriminately. The rallying horn will not only attract your own troops, but also nearby enemies.

Most of them will attract each other's comrades, go south together, or find out the location of the main force and go to join them.

At this time, Su Chen's team has reached more than 7000 soldiers, and they are still coming, ranging from a few dozen to dozens to hundreds.

After arriving at Yunqi County, he also saw Wu Huizhi and Tang Huaiyuan on the city tower. At this moment, they did not dare to treat Su Chen as the third son of the Hou family in the past. They immediately had the city gate opened and came out to meet Su Chen. Meet.

Time was running out, and Su Chen knew that He Jinchen had led a group of remnant soldiers to the north, so he did not continue to chat, and immediately invited Marquis Yunqi to bring the soldiers and horses in the palace to chase them together.

In the gray spring rain, after Su Chen entrusted the wounded soldiers in the team to Tang Huaiyuan, he joined forces with Marquis Yunqi. There were tens of thousands of soldiers, and they quickly walked along the muddy road to the north and searched forward.

Passing through the wilderness behind Changchuan County, there are rugged mountain roads next, and there are rolling hills in the distance. In the midst of this water vapor, the sound of the collision of horse hooves and weapons can be heard from the bottom of the hillside. Two groups of soldiers and horses are fighting in front of the hillside. The number of people The smaller side is composed of hundreds of cavalry and more than 100 infantry. The other side is obviously Yan State soldiers and horses, with a total of 3000 people. The armor and weapons on both sides are mostly different. They should be from other military formations, and there is no effective formation. Fighting in formation.

Su Chen rushed forward, looking at the hillside below, and soon found Zhang Liao among hundreds of cavalry. His horses were scarred and exhausted, and he led the cavalry to help more than 100 infantry avoid being surrounded by the opponent.

"Dian Wei!" Su Chen turned around and shouted.

In the crowd, a burly man squeezed through the people in front and stood suddenly next to Wu Huizhi. He looked ferocious and smelled of blood, especially when there was a human head hanging around his waist. This scene almost frightened him to death. horse.

Su Chen pointed downward: "Take people down and kill them."

"Come a few people!"

Dian Wei just shouted like this, pulled out his two halberds and jumped down the hillside. The crowd behind him was roaring. There were only a few people. There were 800 people who immediately rushed over and jumped down the hillside, all of whom had been through the previous melee. Soldiers who survive are basically considered elite soldiers.

Marquis Yun Qi watched the giant man named Dian Wei descending the hillside before he came back to his senses and hurriedly rode to Su Chen's side, "Is this one of your subordinates too?"

Seeing Su Chen nod, he remembered Dong Zhuo who was next to him when they met last year.

"My dear nephew...why don't you give me one?"

As they were talking, the fighting at the foot of the hillside ended before it even started. The leader of the three thousand soldiers and horses was Li Gan, the leader of the Huben Army. When he saw the giant man leading his troops to jump off the slope, he issued an order for his soldiers and horses to withdraw.

So when Dian Wei rushed down, he only had time to cut down the two of them, but the other party and his men had already escaped more than ten feet.

"Wenyuan, can we fight again?" Dian Wei put away his halberds, walked towards Zhang Liao over there, and took out the medicine and handed it to him.

Su Chen urged his horse down the hillside and raised his hands towards Zhang Liao. The latter returned the salute on horseback and pointed to the direction in which Li Gan escaped, "I pursued He Jinchen to this point and met him here. As expected, I met him here." Oops, this person should be leading troops to join the opponent!"

"While he's not yet firmly on his feet, why not rush in and kill him?" Dian Wei knocked his halberds until sparks appeared.

"What are you waiting for?!"

"go!"

The soldiers and horses gathered together again. Zhang Liao led the cavalry and rushed forward. Su Chen and Wu Huizhi followed closely with their infantry. In such a high-intensity battle, Su Chen had not eaten for several hours. As the commander-in-chief of an army, , he tried his best to show his strong side, which was what Cao Cao taught him.

At this moment, the outcome is already balanced, all he needs to do is take a few more steps than the opponent!
(End of this chapter)