Sima Yi's Three Kingdoms Collection Collection

Chapter 120 Snatching Xiakou (8)
It turned out that at Changbanpo, Cao Chun captured a clerk in Liu Bei's shogunate. He leaked all the details of Liu Jun to Cao Cao in order to save his life.At present, there are only five or six thousand elite veterans left in Liu Bei, all of which are handed over to Zhang Fei to fight from the rear.

At this moment, Cao Cao's courage became stronger again, and he hurriedly gathered six or seven thousand tiger and leopard riders, turned his head, and rushed towards the Changban River again.

Cao Cao was even more pleasantly surprised when he saw that the wooden bridge on the river was demolished by Zhang Fei.If Zhang Fei hadn't demolished the bridge, he might still have the deceitfulness of ambushing soldiers and taking advantage of the gaps to attack; but now that Zhang Fei demolished the bridge, it would prove that he was actually cowardly, and he was only afraid of being chased by soldiers. So we had to go across the bridge.So, with a firm mind, he still led the main force of the army to chase eastward despite the dissuasion of the group of officials.

Climbing up and over the mountains until the early hours of the morning, Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry vanguard led by Xia Houyuan and Xiahou Shangtang's uncle and nephew followed the Jingzhou post road to a cypress forest with a radius of three or four miles.The terrain around this cypress forest is full of rugged and narrow rivers and streams, and some slightly flat places are scattered with rural paddy fields. The mud is deep enough to reach the knees of horses, which is extremely unfavorable for cavalry maneuvering.Looking around, there is only a post road with a width of more than three feet leading to the cypress forest - judging from the chaotic shoe prints on the road, Liu Jun obviously fled eastward from this cypress forest.

But what made Xia Houyuan and Xia Houshang hesitant was that puffs of thick black smoke were coming out of the cypress forest in front of them with the dawn wind, and the unpleasant smell of burnt air rushed towards their faces, covering the tiger and leopard riders. line of sight.It turned out that the cypress forest had been quietly lit by Liu Jun who was lurking inside.

"Uncle, thief Liu is setting fire and smoking in the cypress forest to block our way!" Xia Houshang turned his head to Xia Houyuan when he saw it.

"Playing with mystery!" Xia Houyuan curled up his lips and beard, snorted coldly, and as soon as he reined in the horse, he was about to kill him.

"Wait a minute, uncle!" Xia Houshang urged hastily, "Be careful there is an ambush in the forest!"

After hearing this, Xia Houyuan hesitated for a moment, frowned and said, "So what if they have soldiers? It's hard for us to see in the billowing smoke. Could it be that they can see us clearly through the smoke screen? Why? Uncle does not believe it! What if they are bluffing, so they cast doubt?

"Master Uncle, after all, Thief Liu is more familiar with the surrounding terrain than we are. We are in the light and they are in the dark. It is really necessary to guard against!" Xia Houshang is not a superficial person like Xia Houru, his heart is as clear as a mirror, Still admonishing Xia Houyuan bitterly.

"Then Shang'er, what do you think we should do?" Xia Houyuan was so anxious that he dragged his horse around in a circle, "I lost a great opportunity and delayed the pursuit of Liu thief. If the Prime Minister blames it, how can you and I bear it? "

Xia Houshang pondered for a while, and had no choice but to suggest: "Well, let's use the crossbow to shoot directly at the post road in the forest, and see how they react!"

Xia Houyuan nodded with a sullen face, raised his long lance with his right hand and raised it high.

A row of tiger and leopard cavalry archers behind him immediately stopped their horses and bowed their bows and raised their crossbows together, only to hear the sudden "swish, swish" sound, and a sharp arrow shot into the cypress forest like rain. .

In this way, they fired continuously for about two quarters of an hour, and there was still a dead silence in the cypress forest, like a giant frog that had swallowed thousands of crossbow bolts, squatting there sullenly, without any movement.

Seeing this situation, Xia Houyuan no longer hesitated, and ordered loudly: "Masters! Go straight in and capture Liu Bei alive!"

Before Xia Houshang had time to say more, the cavalrymen of the Cao army echoed in unison, following Xia Houyuan's leaping horse and raising their whips, plunged headlong into the thick smoke of the cypress forest.

The choking smoke made Xia Houyuan cough heavily, but in order to catch up with Liu Jun, he ignored these things and galloped forward with a whip.Before he ran a few feet deep into the post road in the cypress forest, an inexplicable warning premonition suddenly rose in his heart.

He hastily and subconsciously leaned back on the horseback, a gust of wind blew across his face, and the sharp blade almost brushed away against his skin.

Before he recovered, he suddenly felt the body of the mount under his knees lighten suddenly, as if floating, and then suddenly jumped forward again.Following a series of extremely painful neighing sounds from the war horse, he was thrown off the saddle and flew into the air, falling heavily to the ground.

A dazzling light flashed in front of his eyes, which was actually a long-handled sickle, which slashed obliquely from a height of about two feet from the road, and cut off his own body with astonishing speed and unusual sharpness. horse legs.

Oops!Sure enough, he was sniped by Thief Liu—and, who would have expected that their sniper weapons would be so secretive and difficult to guard against.

Xia Houyuan was so annoyed that he hit the ground hard with his fist.At the same time, amidst the black smoke billowing all around, the panicked wailing of Cao Jun's horses and the mournful howling of soldiers came one after another...

It turned out that Zhuge Liang ordered Zhao Yun to set up the smoke screen in the cypress forest.After Zhao Yun caught up with Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, he was ordered to lead [-] black-shirted soldiers to ambush in this cypress forest to meet Zhang Fei's large group of troops and snipe Cao's pursuers.

These eight hundred soldiers in black shirts were all carefully selected, and each of them was unusually sturdy and stocky, as strong as a bear; the weapon they used was a long-handled scythe with a sharp blade and a height of about two feet.After they ignited cow dung, branches, dead leaves and other flammable and smoky things in the forest, they all covered their mouths and noses with wet cloth towels to prevent themselves from being choked by the thick smoke that filled the forest.This is the biggest advantage they have in lurking in the middle of the bushes to snipe Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry.

In strict accordance with the formation method taught by Zhuge Liang, the soldiers in black shirts leaned against the trees along both sides of the post road in the forest—two people in each group, one half-squatting and the other standing upright.As long as they heard the sound of horseshoes coming from the post road in front of them, this group of powerful soldiers would attack at the same time.The upright ones used the long-handled sickle to hook the cavalry on the back of Cao Jun's war horse, while the half-squatting ones were responsible for using the long-handled sickle to cut the horse's legs from below.

Once their all-round cross interception method of up, down, left, and right is deployed, how can the troops of Cao Jun's Tiger and Leopard Battalion stand it?Immediately, a crowd of people turned upside down on the post road in the forest, the sounds of puffing, puffing, puffing and hissing were intertwined.Cao Jun's Cavalry Vanguard Brigade, which has lost sight of things and disrupted order, is falling into a nightmare of secret attacks...

Relying on his high martial arts skills, Xia Houyuan put his mind to the ground, and shouted at the top of his voice, "Dismount the whole army! Dance with spears and move forward!" While dancing the spears in front of and behind him like a millstone, he rushed forward wildly, ping-pong Swinging away a lot of long-handled scythes that were stabbing at him-he only had one thought at the moment: to lead everyone to break out of this smoke area at one go, and then fight after stabilizing the ground.

I don't know how long I rushed forward, and I don't know how many places I was scratched by Liu Jun's long-handled sickle. Finally, my eyes gradually brightened, and bursts of fresh air came oncoming. Xia Houyuan took the lead and rushed out. This smoky cypress forest.In ecstasy, he stared at an increasingly clear figure in front of him, and couldn't help but sweep away viciously and angrily.

When there was a loud noise, the man picked up the long spear in his hand and lightly blocked it—when the two guns intersected, sparks flew, and Xia Houyuan's arms were numb from the shock, and he couldn't help but "cracked" and fell away. How far to go.

But seeing the heroic Zhao Yun standing astride his horse, holding a long spear, standing awe-inspiring.

After Xia Houyuan stood firmly on his stick, he raised his eyes and looked intently.A mile ahead is the wharf at Hanjinkou.In the open area between Hanjinkou and the woods, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei and other powerful generals of Liu Jun led densely packed soldiers and were waiting neatly in formation.

Seeing this situation, his pupils couldn't help shrinking for a while.The vanguard brigade led by him lived up to the great trust of the Prime Minister, and finally caught up with Liu Bei and the others.

Go straight to Xiakou City!
On the embankment of Hanjinkou Wharf, Liu Bei hugged the only son Liu Chan who was rescued by Zhao Yun desperately. Liu Chan was lying in the swaddle and sleeping soundly with his eyes closed, as if he ignored all the disturbances and noises from the outside world. Unbelievably leisurely and comfortable.

"Liang congratulates the lord, A Dou came back safe and sound among the tigers and wolves, it can be called 'auspicious people have their own appearance'!" Zhuge Liang arched his hands, his face full of joy.

"Where is the Zhuge military master?" Liu Bei hugged Liu Chan tightly, tears in his eyes, and looked at the very eye-catching white figure in the front array, and murmured, "For this idiot, A Dou, I almost fell for it." Zilong's life, Bei Bei is really terrified..."

Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly, looked at Zhao Yun's figure from a distance, and said leisurely: "My lord, you don't have to worry about this matter so much. If it wasn't for your lord's generosity and benevolence, how could you get Zilong and others to sacrifice their lives for righteousness? My lord, just continue Forge ahead, accumulate virtue and benevolence, such great national warriors as Zilong will come from all directions like fireflies chasing torches."

"Thank you, Zhuge Junshi, for your advice." Liu Bei nodded deeply, and looked up, only to see Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry swarming from the west, like heavy dark clouds sweeping over, crowding out the troops he had set up on the flat ground under the embankment. Gradually flinched under the pressure, and couldn't help sighing, "Cao Mengde's iron cavalry is really fierce, so don't take it lightly——If Yun Chang and Qi'er's boat soldiers don't arrive, we will be in danger!"

Zhuge Liang slowly shook the goose feather fan in his hand, with a peaceful expression on his face: "My lord, don't worry, as long as Liang is still alive, I will never let the Cao thief hurt a single hair of your hair."

Liu Bei glanced sideways at Zhuge Liang's calm, calm and peaceful style, and couldn't help but feel moved secretly. He looked up to the sky and laughed: "Being lucky to be able to laugh and talk with Mr. Wolong before the [-] soldiers are staring at you is also a great joy in your life! What joy! What joy is this!"

When he was laughing, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others had already led thousands of elite soldiers on the flat ground in front of the embankment to fight the Cao Jun tiger and leopard cavalry who were rushing towards them.This vicious fight was really shocking and weeping ghosts and gods.Liu Jun's soldiers were knocked down in pieces by Cao Jun's tiger and leopard riders like straws; Cao Jun's tiger and leopard riders were also divided and slaughtered by Liu Jun's soldiers like struggling calves.However, no matter how bravely and tenaciously Liu Jun resisted, Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry still came forward one foot at a time relying on the sharpness of their horses.

Although Liu Bei's face was still as solid as a stone and motionless, there were beads of sweat on his temples, and his hand that was holding the rein of the horse tightly almost broke the rein...

Zhuge Liang raised his eyes and looked at the direction of the upper reaches of the Han River, as if he was always so unhurried and said: "Hey, the navy reinforcements of Yun Chang and Mr. Liu Qi should have arrived..."

He was talking to himself when Liu Nuo looked at the river and blurted out, "Boat! Boat!"

(End of this chapter)