Chapter 28 Chapter 5 Huanshui Retreats from the Enemy

Xiang Shaolong and Wu Zhuo's one hundred soldiers, armed with strong crossbows, lay down in a dense forest only a few hundred steps away from the camp, watching their chariots and horses leaving slowly in the dim sky. When the sky was bright, the team commanded by Cheng Xu had disappeared at the corner downstream. After another moment, the sound of hooves and people came from both sides of the bank at the same time. A team of nearly 400 horse thieves galloped out of a dense forest upstream, and a large group of sturdy thieves also poured out from the opposite bank. One of them was sitting on a horse with a thick gray beard, and he was the number one in Zhao's territory. The horse thief has a gray beard.

He was so angry that he raised his beard and stared, jumped like a thunder, and kept urging his men to move the raft crossing the river out of the hiding place so that they could chase the enemy. The sound of hoofbeats sounded, and the horse thieves on the bank here had already galloped along the river in a swarm. Another group of horse thieves began to cross the river. Xiang Shaolong took a peek at Wu Zhuo, seeing that he was still calm and calm in such a tense situation, he secretly praised him. More than 20 rafts, carrying horse supplies, crossed the river. After the gray-bearded men unloaded two batches of nearly 400 horses and food, they began to carry the horse thieves across the river.

Graybeard was also on one of the rafts. At this time, there were only fifty or sixty horse thieves left on the bank, all defenseless, busy driving the horses to the flat ground on the bank. Xiang Shaolong gave a signal, and more than a hundred people swished a round of crossbow bolts from the dense forest, shooting the opponents on their backs, causing more than half of the casualties. Huihu waited for his soul to be dissipated, and hurriedly shot an arrow to fight back.The small number of rebel soldiers on the shore shouted and fled in all directions. Xiang Shaolong and others had already moved behind the rocks on the bank, when the sound of the crossbow was heard, and the powerful arrows shot at the horse thief on the raft who had no cover.

The horse thieves were unavoidable, and they were shot with arrows one after another, blood staining the raft and the river red. Gray Hu hurriedly ordered to retreat to the other side. Everyone looked at him and fired arrows at the obvious target.Although the horse thieves held up their wooden shields, they still couldn't stop the powerful arrows from the hundred crossbows, and they fell down one by one. Seeing that the situation was not right, Huihu yelled wildly, turned over and jumped into the water, and hid under the raft. All the thieves followed suit and jumped into the water one after another.

There were nearly 200 horse thieves on the other side, but there was nothing they could do except jump and scream. The powerful arrow shot straight into the water, and the blood couldn't help gushing up from the water, and then the thief's corpse surfaced, the scene was extremely cruel. Either you die or I die, which has always been the iron law on the battlefield. The raft drifted downstream in disarray. Xiang Shaolong was concerned about the situation on Chengxu's side, so he gave an order, and Ming Jin withdrew his troops. He had no time to care about Huihu's life and death. He rode on the stolen horse, took away all the horses loaded with weapons and food, and galloped downstream go.

The battle on Chengxu's side also came to an end at this time. When they arrived at a place downstream where the situation was suitable, they formed a joint formation, and Zha Yuanyu led another 400 people to the dense forest on the flank of Fubu, waiting for the pursuers. Four hundred horse thieves came along the river, just turned the corner, and when they saw the Zhao soldiers waiting in formation, they were within the range of the ambush. Immediately people fell down. The rest couldn't retreat in time, and when they wanted to bypass the chariot formation from the flanks, they were shot at by Zha Yuanyu and the 400 Zhao soldiers who were in ambush, and they were defeated.

They retreated hastily, but happened to meet Xiang Shaolong's reinforcements, and they were caught off guard, and no more than fifty people could escape, all abandoning their horses and armor, and fled into the jungle by the shore. After a complete victory, the whole army cheered thunderously, and even the members of Ping Yuan's family shared the victorious atmosphere. During the battle, Xiang Shaolong only injured more than 40 people, but none of them were seriously injured. The results are impressive, which proves once again that Xiang Shaolong has excellent military mind and flexible and effective tactics.

Xiang Shaolong dispatched 20 people to send the captured more than 300 war horses back to Zhao country, as for the weapons, arrows and food, he kept them for his own use, and after bandaging the wounded soldiers, he continued to travel along the river. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ When the camp was closed at dusk, it was only two and a half days away from the river. First, due to the ups and downs of the road, and after the dramatic battle, people were tired and horses were exhausted. Everyone tried their best to buy time to rest. They had nothing to say all night, and continued the journey the next morning.

The scenery has changed again, the mountains are undulating and stretching, the vegetation is lush, the scenery is picturesque, the mountain streams, deep streams, waterfalls and flowing springs make people dizzy. Along the shore is a vast virgin forest, with huge spruces high above the clouds, and the thick ones can't be hugged by several people. The waves of Lin Tao were mixed with the sound of animals running and howling. Zhao Bing hunted some marmots and hares along the way, which was good for dinner. Sometimes when you climb to a high place and look far away, you can only see endless grasslands and vast forests in the distance.

Occasionally seeing cottages and farmland in the grass waves, to Xiang Shaolong, it is indeed a paradise everywhere, and he doesn't understand why people still want to fight for it, he can only blame the inherent greed of human beings. Although the scenery is beautiful, the journey is difficult. Not only do you have to rely on manpower to open the way, but in many cases you have to rely on tree trunks to pave the way to cross the stream. After walking less than ten miles all day, they finally camped on a hill. Although the people were tired, the morale of the soldiers was high, and they were willing to do anything for Xiang Shaolong.

A beauty loves a hero, and Mrs. Ya is even more obedient and flattering to him, allowing him to fully enjoy the tender taste of this beauty. Since Zhao Qian talked to him through the window that day, she deliberately avoided him. He had no choice but to acquiesce in the continuation of this situation, and did not take any means to break the deadlock. After the meal, Mrs. Ping Yuan sent someone over to invite him over to talk about something. Xiang Shaolong was also curious to know her current attitude, so he hurried to Mrs. Ping Yuan's private tent. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Ping Yuan in the tent appointed two generals behind him, who made him very disappointed, and his misbehavior disappeared without a trace. The relationship with Mrs. Pingyuan is an out-and-out battle between men and women, which endows him with a sense of crime and thus brings him more intense stimulation. And that man doesn't like novelty, let alone Xiang Shaolong, who is used to flirtatious fights. Mrs. Ping Yuan was sitting on the floor mat, and after calling him to sit down, she gave him a hard look before saying, "Let's have a good talk this time!" Naturally, Xiang Shaolong understood what she meant, and secretly hated it, but on the surface he had to respectfully say: "Ma'am, please order!" Mrs. Pingyuan gave him another look, with a seductive expression of hatred and love, but said coldly: "Now we are far away from the main road, where are we going?" Xiang Shaolong replied: "The road is difficult and dangerous, madam has worked hard, we have to reach the inner river first, and then go along the river to Daliang." Mrs. Pingyuan sighed suddenly, leaned over slightly, and said softly: "If you... I can send them away." Xiang Shaolong was overjoyed and quickly nodded in agreement. After Mrs. Ping Yuan waved away the two generals, she looked at him intently for a while, and seemed to feel something: "You are indeed a rare talent, now I guarantee that no one will dare to doubt that you once fended off the gray with fifty people. Hu's 800 horse thieves." Xiang Shaolong smiled and said, "Horse thieves are just a mob, and they won't win without martial arts." Mrs. Ping Yuan shook her head and said: "Some people are born generals, not only can make the soldiers put their lives to good use, but they can also win victories with surprise soldiers. You are such people." Xiang Shaolong didn't know what kind of mystery she was going to play, so he could only be praised modestly. Mrs. Pingyuan's pretty face suddenly turned red, she lowered her head and said, "Cross the inland river, walk southeast for twenty days, and you will reach Pushui, and then go down the southeast, and you will reach Fengqiu in ten days. The guard of the city, Guan Pu, is My people, then we will be out of danger." Xiang Shaolong said: "Of course I will act according to Madam's orders." Then he wondered: "Why does Madam's smooth face suddenly turn red?" Mrs. Ping Yuan even burned her jade cheeks, saying: "Have you reverted to your old ways? Get out, Mrs. Ben." Seeing her embarrassed, Xiang Shaolong was overjoyed, stood up with a smile on his face, and saluted, "I'm resigning from my humble job!" But his feet didn't move as if they had taken root. How could Madam Ping Yuan really want to drive him away, seeing that his footsteps showed no sign of moving, she said angrily and happily: "Why don't you leave?" Xiang Shaolong smiled maliciously and said, "Madam won't you give me a little reward for the humble job?" Mrs. Ping Yuan's mood was extremely contradictory. After glancing at him, she lowered her pretty face. Xiang Shaolong walked over, got behind her, knelt down, stretched his hands forward with a little force, and the noble lady leaned into his arms weakly, allowing him to enjoy her red lips again. This time Xiang Shaolong went one step further, kneading her breasts wantonly with both hands. Mrs. Ping Yuan's delicate body trembled violently, desperately clutching his pair of hands that committed all kinds of crimes, she gasped delicately, "Xiang Shaolong!" Xiang Shaolong understands that the most precious things are those that cannot be obtained.This kind of addiction to teasing her will make her hardest to harm herself after reaching Daliang.Putting his hands still, he kissed his fill, and then walked away, leaving the beautiful woman alone to endure that lonely night. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ For the next twenty days, they continued to travel southeast, crossed the Neihe River and the Xihe River, crossed Puyang, the great city of the Wei people, and went straight down the Pushui River from the official road south of Puyang. After this period of peace, their scouts found the shadow of the enemy's spies again, letting them know that the crisis reappeared. They have a lot of carriages and horses, and they have to repair the broken ones from time to time. They are slow like snails. There is no way to get rid of the enemy. The only thing they can do is pray that these unknown enemies will not be more powerful than Gray Beard, and they will be satisfied. At this time, the place was close to Daliang, and there were many defenses beside the official road. Within tens of miles, we could meet the Tusai barracks of the Wei people.Wei Bing had a strange attitude. After reading their documents, although they didn't stay in trouble, they refused to send escorts. When the official road was exhausted, they had to go east to Pushui. Three days later, I left the mountain road and arrived at the endless prairie on the west bank of Pushui. It took two more days to reach Pushui. The large group of people stopped at the edge of the grassland. Xiang Shaolong, Wu Zhuo, Cheng Xu, and Zha Yuanyu walked aside to discuss, and everyone looked solemn. Wu Zhuo said: "Now our actions and strength are well known by the enemy, but we don't know anything about the enemy who may come to attack. We are committing the taboo of a military strategist that the enemy is dark and we are clear." Cheng Xu interjected: "If the enemy wants to attack, it must be within these two days, because in this plain, the enemy will not miss such a good opportunity." The King of Wei sent his soldiers to attack as horse thieves, and we will surely be in trouble." After Xiang Shaolong frowned and thought hard for a while, he said: "Cheng Xu proposed this possibility, and it has a very good chance of becoming a reality. Since it is so, we can't just sit there and die." The three of them listened intently, to see what kind of life-saving trick this resourceful commander had. Xiang Shaolong said in a deep voice: "Let's simply find a dangerous highland with the back of the mountain facing the plain near here, build an earthen village and ditches, store game spring water, guard it for ten and a half months, and send Qingqiu to Fengqiu to ask for that place The guard Guan Pu sent troops to help, even if the king of Wei had some tricks in his heart, I can't do anything about it." After thinking hard, everyone felt that this was the best way out of nowhere. Right now, Xiang Shaolong went to Mrs. Pingyuan to discuss it, and after explaining the plan and the reason through the bamboo curtain, Mrs. Pingyuan said in a low voice: "You are much better at this than I am, so everything is up to you to decide." Xiang Shaolong had never heard her speak so softly and submissively to him, and he said in his heart, "Madam, do you want me to come and see you tonight?" Mrs. Ping Yuan sighed: "Can we talk about it when we get to Daliang? My child is already very dissatisfied because I have been alone with you several times, and now his body is gradually recovering. I don't want him to get angry with us." Xiang Shaolong remembered Mr. Shaoyuan, feeling uninterested, left her car and informed Mrs. Ya of the plan, and then she relayed it to Zhao Qian to know. After investigating for a long time, they finally found a highland facing the plain on the edge of the grassland and set up camp. The whole army immediately got busy, and at the same time sent twenty fast riders, with Mrs. Ping Yuan's autographed letter, to rush to Fengqiu in ten routes to ask for help. The project of setting up the camp this time is quite different from the previous ones, with trenches as the main defense. Along the edge of the highland, a mud ditch one foot deep and five feet wide was dug. The excavated soil was piled in front of the ditch, filled with stones, and turned into a low earth wall half a foot high. The hole is used for crossbow shooting, but it is also very strong.Then push the mule cart to the inner wall of the earth wall to strengthen the strength of the earth wall against the enemy's impact. Outside the low wall, there are sharpened bamboo sticks all over the slope, and horse pits are set up. In short, there are dangers everywhere to deal with the enemy's strong attack. The surrounding forests and long grass were all removed to prevent the enemy from having cover. The barracks follow the previous method and adopt the crescent moon style. The main camp is in the center, and the six armies are separated into two wings, forming a semicircle protruding forward.The distance between the camp and the low earth wall was more than three feet. Unless the earth wall was breached, the camp would be out of range of the enemy's arrows. After three days of busy work, they finally managed to build trenches outside, set up barriers inside, and set up bamboo sticks and pits outside the trenches to guard the scale with strong bows and crossbows. In order to prevent the enemy from attacking by fire, Xiang Shaolong dug a ditch to bring the water from the mountain spring behind him into the camp.It took five days for everything to be arranged. When Xiang Shaolong ordered his men to set up stones on the top of the slope that day, the spies reported that they found a group of horse thieves with a strength of nearly ten thousand coming from the plain. Suddenly, everyone knew that this must be an enemy who had been waiting for them in the grassland for a long time, and they finally couldn't help attacking them head-on. And it also proved that their guess was right. If these enemies say that no regular Wei soldiers have been mixed in, no one will believe it. Even though they knew this was the case, they still couldn't figure out why King Wei wanted to kill them all. The only explanation was that Lord Xinling was indeed threatening his throne, and he also wanted to use this to attack the relationship between Lord Xinling and the Zhao people.As for other reasons, it is beyond their knowledge.However, King Wei Anli is a famously stupid monarch, no one would be surprised even if he did something absurd. That night passed safely, and on the next day, Xiang Shaolong ordered everyone except the soldiers on duty to rest, so as to recharge their batteries and deal with the enemy's attack. Fortunately, they captured a large amount of weapons, food and arrows from Huibeard, and they did not run out of arrows and food after ten and a half months. Another advantage is that the enemy didn't expect them to build a city, so they should have brought no tools against such defenses, making it much easier for them to deal with it. At dusk, horse thieves appeared in great numbers on the plain and set up camps, as if the two armies were confronting each other. Xiang Shaolong observed the enemy carefully, and lost his voice, "Look! Isn't that gray beard?" The others exhausted their eyesight, only to see a group of bandit soldiers galloping close, head towards them, the leader is Gray Beard. Cheng Xu said angrily: "From this point of view, Gray Beard belongs to King Wei, and those horse thieves were also disguised as Wei soldiers, who are responsible for disrupting the economy and public order of other countries. Wei people are really vicious!" Zha Yuanyu shook his head and sighed: "I really don't understand why the king wants to marry our most beautiful princess to the Wei people." Cheng Xu said in amazement: "Be careful what you say, if it gets into the king's ears, disaster will happen to you and your clan." Zha Yuanyu smiled wryly and said, "Let's talk about it tonight after living through it!" Xiang Shaolong knew that he saw that the bandits were huge, their troops were ten times stronger than his own, and he felt cowardly.Inferred from this, other people will also have this kind of mentality, which will have an impact on morale, frowned, thinking about it, and said to Cheng Xu: "Prepare a batch of rockets for me, maybe I can use them tonight. " After saying that, he ignored their puzzled eyes, went back to the handsome camp, got all the tools, and walked to the back of the camp. Between the camp and the cliff at the back of the mountain, the mules and horses were separated in two large wooden fences, freely drinking the clear water introduced by the mountain spring, and eating the green grass on the top of the mountain. Fortunately, it was only early winter, otherwise the mules and horses would be in trouble if there was a heavy snowfall. He raised his head and carefully studied the situation of the cliff and the nearby mountains. With the help of the hook, he easily climbed up, and used a hammer to insert the climbing circle specially made by Guo Zong for him at an appropriate place, and extended it to the next stone mountain. Putting on a thick rope, he climbed back to the camp. As long as he climbed over the adjacent mountain, he could easily descend from this "secret path" to the tens of feet of plain below, and carry out any secret operations. When he returned to the handsome tent, Cheng Xu came to him in a panic and said, "Come and see!" When he went to the front line again, he saw all the bandits below were mobilized, cutting down trees, sharpening one end, each about a foot long, and laying them on the ground in a row. Wu Zhuo frowned and said, "What do they want to do?" Xiang Shaolong also murmured in his heart, and suddenly said: "It is a tool for attacking our earthen city, as long as these tree trunks are lined up on the slope, they will not be afraid of our arrows and stones." Zha Yuanyu said in amazement: "This trick is indeed very useful. As long as the three rows are crowded together, you don't even have to be afraid of rolling stones. It can also block our sight and prevent us from seeing their situation clearly." Wu Zhuo sneered and said: "If they want to insert this thing, they will have to pay a terrible price first." Then he sighed: "It would be good if they come with half the number of people." The implication is that even though they will sacrifice a lot of people, the remaining army power is still enough to break through the Tucheng. Xiang Shaolong smiled and said: "Don't worry! The enemy has made one of the biggest mistakes, which is to underestimate the enemy. Look at their barracks, there is no defense at all, and the food and horses are just left behind. If we can give them a fire, Their faces are so pretty!" Wu Zhuo and the other three frowned, looking at the thieves who surrounded the hill airtightly, they thought to themselves that the other party did not underestimate the enemy, but that even a mouse would not be able to sneak out and set fire to the camp. Xiang Shaolong smiled slightly, said nothing, and returned to the camp to rest. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ After falling asleep for two hours, it was already dusk when he woke up, and Mrs. Ya was quietly waiting for him to eat together. Xiang Shaolong sat up full of energy, and ate three bowls of rice after washing up. Mrs. Ya looked at him strangely and said: "It seems that you are confident again, otherwise why would you be so excited and calm? But I really can't figure out why you are still sure to defeat the enemy this time." Xiang Shaolong hugged her into his arms and said with a smile, "Is Ya'er scared?" Mrs. Ya happily kissed her and said with a smile: "I was a little scared when I didn't see you, but after seeing you, I was not afraid of anything. That's right! You can go to Zhao Qian to see her! She said she has something to ask you." Xiang Shaolong thought that Zhao Qian caused him more headaches than the horse thief. After the beautiful third princess waved away the maid, she came to him and said shyly, "Xiang Shaolong, can Zhao Qian borrow something from you?" Xiang Shaolong wondered, "What do you want to borrow?" Zhao Qian shyly spread her white and smooth little hands, and said softly, "I want the dagger you carry close to your body." Xiang Shaolong trembled in his heart and said, "Are you so unconfident in me? I will definitely be able to send you to Daliang." Zhao Qianxiu's eyes turned red, she glared at him resentfully and said, "Zhao Qian doesn't want you to take her to Daliang, she can go anywhere, just don't go to Daliang." No words could express her affection for Xiang Shaolong more clearly than these words. Hearing Xiang Shaolong's blood rushed, he blurted out: "Okay! I promise you, even if I take you to Daliang, I have a way to bring you back to Zhao State intact." Zhao Qian said in shock: "Really!" Xiang Shaolong felt her pretty face light up, full of vitality, he gritted his teeth and said, "This is a promise!" After saying this, the whole person relaxed. In fact, ever since he knew the complicated situation of the royal family of Wei, and knew that King Zhao was going to steal the "Secret Records of Lu Gong", he felt that he could not be an accomplice who sacrificed Zhao Qian's life-long happiness.Once I express my heart now, I don't know how happy it feels. Zhao Qian said happily: "Shaolong! Qian'er is really grateful to you!" Seeing that she had more confidence in him than he had in himself, Xiang Shaolong was delighted, took out the dagger and stuffed it into her small hand, took the opportunity to hold her and judo: "Until the last moment, you must not use this dagger to kill yourself." Zhao Qianxia burnt her jade cheeks, put the token of love into her bosom with great care, bowed her head and said affectionately: "Qian'er will obey Shaolong's orders." Xiang Shaolong's soul was sold out, and he was about to seize the opportunity to kiss Fangze, when the sound of war drums came from the foot of the mountain. Seeing the situation at the bottom of the mountain, Cheng Xu and the others looked ashen, only Wu Zhuo still had that indifferent expression. The thieves successfully surrounded all the escape routes down the mountain with rows of wooden rows about two feet wide. There is only one foot of space between the wooden rafts, and only one person can pass through. If you are riding a horse, you will not be able to pass.A state of catching a fish in an urn. A wind lamp was hung on the top of the wooden raft, illuminating the lower part of the slope brightly. At this time, nearly 2,000 horse thieves gathered outside the wooden row. The first 200 people held a huge wooden shield as high as a person's body. The other 200 or more people were holding tools such as hoes and shovels, and it seemed that they wanted to break through the obstacles of the slope first and fill in the pits with spikes.Then lined up were 500 long-range attackers holding crossbows and strong bows, and then bandits carrying long weapons such as hooks, spears, and halberds. Greybeard and several leaders who looked like leaders sat on the horses, pointing and pointing at them, apparently discussing attack strategies. Wu Zhuo pointed to the big man with a wolf face beside the gray beard and said: "That man is called 'Werewolf' Li Ao, he is a famous horse thief in the border areas of Chang Kou and South Korea, he is as famous as Gray Hu, unexpectedly he is also the king of Wei .” Xiang Shaolong said: "From this point of view, this army of ten thousand people should belong to different horse bandits, but they are all sent by the king of Wei. Hmph! I understand a little bit, the king of Wei is definitely going to attack Lord Xinling when he deals with us. , also contains personal grievances, because I have killed a large number of Huihu people." Then it suddenly dawned on me, no wonder Dou Liang would secretly inform Huihu that day, teaching Huihu to rob horses and women, because they are all sent by the king of Wei A spy who went to Zhao to stir up trouble. Cheng Xu said: "It seems that they will attack us day and night in batches and fight a long war of attrition." Zha Yuanyu let out a sigh of relief and said, "Even if the rescuers arrive as soon as they receive the news, it will take at least fifteen days. We may not be able to last for three days. Who would have imagined that they are so powerful?" The drums sounded. Shieldmen came out of the gaps between the wooden fences in a file, and the formation was neatly lined up in front, followed by engineers and archers. Seeing that it was already dark, Xiang Shaolong asked Cheng Xu for the rocket wrapped in tarpaulin, and ordered: "You are in charge of the defense here. I will burn their food and grass and drive away their horses when I go behind the enemy lines. What else can be done?" Everyone looked at him in astonishment, not understanding how he got to the enemy camp.