Three Kingdoms

Not far to the south of Duyang is Bowangpo, and Bowangpo along the Guishui River to the south is Wancheng.

As for Wancheng, it is now regarded as the Huang family's territory.

Although the Huang family's control of the territory in Wancheng has not been officially recognized by the local government or the court, there is not much difference in the actual management of the Huang family. Wancheng has always been the purchasing place for Liu Biao and Cao Cao's important supplies, and has a lot of business, so it is quite well-informed about the information from the relevant departments.

Not long after Liu Biao made his decision, Huang Chengyan from Wancheng received the news.

Normally, Huang Chengyan still cares about the face of his in-laws. After all, he and Liu Biao are both married to women of the Cai family, so they are somewhat related. Therefore, generally speaking, Huang Chengyan does not object to Liu Biao's decisions in most cases. Yes, but this time is different.

His own daughter and son-in-law, whether they are close or far apart, are naturally more important than Liu Biao. Huang Chengyan is not so old that he is stupid and his elbows are outward, so when he heard Liu Biao's decision, he felt that Liu Biao seemed to be a little distracted...

Did Liu Biao not take any medicine recently, or did he take too much medicine?

However, directly asking Liu Biao to argue was basically ineffective. Huang Chengyan immediately found Pang Shanmin. After discussion, the two decided to send troops to Duyang first and take the people to Wancheng regardless of Liu Biao's shamelessness. Say it again.

As for Liu Biao's problem, we will talk about it later. After all, Liu Biao is not in good health now, and many things have variables. Although Liu Biao has repeatedly tried to cover it up, the problem is still a problem, and no matter how much he conceals it, it will not have much effect.

Now from Xiangyang to Yingchuan, the whole situation is very delicate.

Liu Biao and Cao Cao formed an alliance when they joined forces to fight Yuan Shu, and they have not said that they will dissolve the alliance until now. Therefore, in a sense, they are still allies. They have opened communication ports to each other, and the default separation area between Liu Biao and Cao Cao is, It's the Runan area.

Wenpin was in Xiangyang, and Gan Ning was in Duyang. They controlled the north and south directions of Wancheng one after another, and also built two lines of defense against Cao Cao. Liu Biao thought that this would be foolproof, but what was the actual situation? In fact, It was not as good as Liu Biao imagined.

The most important issue is the number of soldiers. Liu Biao used Wenpin or Gan Ning to check and balance with Cai Mao. Since it was a check and balance, it meant that Cai Mao's original weight was too great, so even if Wenpin and Gan Ning were the commanders of the army, , still cannot deduct the superior number of soldiers from Cai Mao. After all, it is impossible for Liu Biao to fall out with the Cai family, so it has continued like this.

The maximum number of civil servants is about 5,000. As an outsider, Gan Ning has only three or four thousand soldiers. If some auxiliary soldiers are deducted, the number of soldiers will be even less. This is also the number of soldiers from Duyang to the Huang family. When Duyang was approaching, he suddenly discovered an important reason.

The leader of the Huang family is naturally still the Huang family, and of course it cannot be Huang Chengyan. After all, Huang Chengyan is not young anymore, has old arms and legs, and has never practiced martial arts. Of course he is not suitable for the battlefield, so it is Huang Chengyan who comes. Loyal.

In the past two years, Huang Zhong has obviously been doing better than in history. Both in terms of financial pressure and living conditions, he is better. Therefore, although he is now in his early forties, he is still at his peak. When he led his men and horses to rush to Duyang City overnight, although his appearance was stained with a lot of dust, he didn't look tired.

Kaicheng! Let him go! Huang Zhong shouted in the city, Gan Ning Gan Xing Ba! Don’t make the mistake!

Gan Ning naturally had no time to come and answer. Huang Zhong also just made a gesture, glanced at the rising black smoke in the city, and ordered his soldiers to prepare to attack the city immediately.

Although the Jingzhou soldiers on top of Duyang City were a little panicked, most of them felt that Huang Zhong and others could not pose much of an immediate threat. After all, there were thick city gates across the city wall and moat, so they sent people to Notifying Gan Ning, he stepped up his efforts to intercept Zhu Ling.

Most of the archers in the city were mobilized to the east gate under Zhang Yun's order. Only a small number were left at the west gate, and they had to intercept Zhu Ling, so they couldn't attack Huang Zhong's men at all. How much threat it caused, Huang Zhong's men quickly nailed the materials they brought to one place, built two or three ladders, and laid them flat on the moat. Then several soldiers held shields and went to Duyang Xicheng. Touch the door...

If these Jingzhou soldiers are given another chance to choose, these Jingzhou soldiers will definitely focus all their attention on Huang Zhong and others. But unfortunately, these Jingzhou soldiers under Gan Ning are basically ignored by Zhu Ling. Lie and others attracted all the attention, and not many people paid attention to what Huang Zhong's men did.

Several of Huang Zhong's men barely received any attacks. They held their shields and half bent over. They climbed unsteadily but not slowly across the horizontal ladder, and then slipped under the west city gate along the base of the city wall.

After a moment, several of Huang Zhong's men ran out of the West City Gate with a roar, as if their buttocks were on fire, and then ran to both sides along the base of the wall...

When the Jingzhou soldiers on the city gate tower saw such a situation, they were also a little stunned. What's going on? Before this thought lingered in my mind for a long time, I heard a loud explosion, and the entire Duyangxi City Gate seemed to jump up on the spot! The pillars of the city gate tower seemed to be creaking and shaking, and dust and tiles were falling down amidst the loud noise! The choking smoke rises along the city gate!

Huang Zhong stared at the west city gate with thick smoke rising, and frowned slightly.

Although the momentum is huge, the effect is relatively average. The city gate was not torn apart in the explosion, and most of it was still intact. However, a half-person-high hole was opened at the explosion point below...

The gunpowder formula of Fei Qian was also developed in Huang Yueying's private workshop, and Huang Chengyan naturally had it here, but the same ratio obviously did not achieve as strong an effect as described in the letter.

Although the city gate was not exploded at once, the sudden loud noise and strong fireworks made the Jingzhou soldiers defending at the west city gate so frightened that they almost lost control of their bowels. Especially the Jingzhou soldiers near the city gate cave were plunged into a huge trap. Amidst the panic and disorder, many people either froze on the spot stupidly, or left the formation without thinking and just ran away to avoid...

Human beings have some innate fear of unknown things, and the relatively small space of the city gate will undoubtedly amplify the impact of sound and fire!

Unlike the Jingzhou soldiers who were almost frightened to the point of peeing, whether it was Zhang Lie, Zhu Ling, or the cavalrymen and horses under them, they all had an indescribable sense of familiarity with such a loud noise. After hearing such a huge noise , just stunned for a few seconds, and then burst into even louder cheers, and the whole momentum went straight up two or three steps in vain!

The general is here!

The hussars are coming!

Many soldiers under Zhang Lie and Zhu Ling couldn't help cheering, and charged forward regardless of the situation. However, the Jingzhou soldiers who were originally blocked at the west city gate lost their formation and fighting spirit. Almost in the blink of an eye, they were like Xia The ice and snow under the scorching sun quickly collapsed and melted, and was immediately broken through!

Although the city gate bolt has been twisted and deformed, it can still be pulled open!

Zhu Ling, who rushed to the city gate, also led others to destroy the mechanical links of the suspension bridge. The suspension bridge was quickly smashed down and fell on the city moat, making a huge creaking sound!

Everyone cheered, and like a tiger that had escaped from trouble, they quickly walked along the west city gate, which was still filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke, and rushed straight to the outside of Duyang City!

With the help of his guards, Zhang Lie wrapped up his wounds and fought back.

But Gan Ning still stubbornly refused to give up easily, chasing Zhang Lie life and death, just like Party B who couldn't get the money, refusing to let Zhang Lie go no matter what.

Zhu Ling, who had already rushed out of the city first, saw that it was not the real hussar general who came to help, but he knew that it was Huang's men and horses, and he felt a little more at ease. After all, they were the lord's relatives, so they could be regarded as letting go of half of them. Heart.

But when he turned around and looked through the open city gate, Zhu Ling saw that Zhang Lie was still tightly entangled by Gan Ning and could not escape. His face changed and he was about to lead his people back to rescue Zhang Lie, but he was stopped by someone on the side. Huang Zhong held on.

Stop for a moment and let someone come...

Huang Zhong took the arrow and opened the bow steadily.

Huang Zhong used an infantry bow, which was relatively long and thicker than ordinary bows. Zhu Ling stood aside and seemed to be able to hear the squeaking sound of the bowstring when the bow was fired.

Gan Xingba!

Huang Zhong exhaled and shouted loudly the moment the arrow left the string!

All I saw was that the bowstring suddenly bounced back to its original position and trembled, and the long arrow on the bowstring seemed to have suddenly disappeared. When I turned around to follow the trace of the long arrow in the air, I felt like I couldn't follow it no matter what I looked at. Feeling good!

Gan Ning was a little angry. After all, the pass he was stationed in was penetrated from the front and back. Although there was a reason for it, it was hard to say, so he thought about leaving Zhang Lie in front of him. At least it was an explanation. As a result, When he was clinging to Zhang Lie, he suddenly felt a chill all over his body, as if he was being stared at by a wild beast. He suddenly became excited, and then heard someone calling his name vaguely. When he raised his head suddenly, he saw something. The starburst was like a shooting star from the sky hitting me sideways!

Almost subconsciously, Gan Ning blocked the broad and thick blade of the sword in front of him!

clang!

It was obviously just an arrow, but the sound it made when it hit Gan Ning's sword was almost the same as the sound of an ordinary sword or gun hitting it! The powerful impact even caused the blade to swing backwards and almost hit Gan Ning's nose!

Before the sound of the first arrow dissipated, the second arrow shot through the air again!

Gan Ning didn't have time to check whether his sword had been damaged again in such a collision. He saw that the second arrow flashed past like a meteor in such a short period of time, seemingly in chaos and disorder. Among the crowd, an absolutely still straight line was drawn!

Gan Ning glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that the gap on the left seemed to be relatively loose. Without thinking too much, he rolled over in an attempt to avoid this straight line shining with cold light. However, after making the evasive movement, he suddenly realized that this arrow was actually It is a prediction of one's own avoidance behavior! It was as if he took the initiative to greet him!

Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action.

Gan Ning was also a good archer, but when faced with Huang Zhong's archery skills, he still had to submit.

It is not too difficult to hit a fixed target. Even ordinary soldiers can basically hit the target after three to five months of training. However, it is not that easy to hit a moving target or even predict it in advance. .

In fact, Huang Zhong's archery skills benefited from his son's illness.

At that time, Huang Zhong's son was weak and coughed a lot. If he couldn't keep up with his nutrition, he would probably go to hell immediately! As a last resort, Huang Zhong had to go hunting in the mountains every three days. For prey with higher alertness, it was a basic requirement to kill them with one hit through the lush branches and shrubs. Otherwise, he would not be able to provide his son with sufficient nutrition...

It can be said that Huang Zhong's archery skills were forced to prolong his son's life. Naturally, he was sharper than ordinary people.

The color drained from Gan Ning's face!

It was too late to dodge again, or he was blocked by the sword. At the critical moment, Gan Ning could only follow the momentum of the side attack and violently pulled an unlucky guy who happened to be near the arrow's path...

The unlucky guy was pulled by Gan Ning and his body tilted.

Phew!

It was like a skin bag filled with blood that had been punctured and burst open!

The blood-stained arrow shaft was like a trapped ferocious beast. After it penetrated the body and tore out a large amount of flesh and blood, You was unwilling to break free. The next moment, most of it was saved. Fortunately, the unlucky ghost was pulled by Gan Ning, lost his center of gravity, and was hit by Huang Zhong's heavy arrow. The whole person fell down, and the arrow also deviated from the original direction, otherwise the arrow would have penetrated the body. , maybe it will get stuck on Gan Ning.

The third arrow!

It roared in with the breath of death, as if it could freeze all human blood!

Not to mention that the sword has fallen aside, even if it is in the hand, it may not be possible to accurately find the direction of the arrow and block it in such a tilted posture!

Gan Ning howled for a while and picked up a slightly incomplete shield that someone dropped on the ground. He didn't care that the shield blocked his head and face but couldn't cover his butt. In any case, it was better than picking up Huang directly with his body. Zhong’s heavy arrow is better!

clang!

The next second, Huang Zhong's arrow arrived!

However, this arrow did not hit Gan Ning's body. Instead, it hit Gan Ning's side of the fallen Huanshou knife. The sharp arrow pierced through it as easily as if it had pierced paper. The copper bell on the blade nailed it to the ground!

Gan Ning slowly moved his shield away, and through the city gate hole, he saw Huang Zhong on the back of the moat horse, with an uncertain face.

Zhang Lie had already taken advantage of this gap to rush across the suspension bridge with the last group of troops...

Huang Zhong nodded slightly towards Gan Ning, then put away his long bow, suppressed the rear formation, and slowly retreated. After all, Huang Zhong only came to save people and did not want to start a war with Jingzhou Liu Biao immediately.

On the blood-stained street, Zhang Yun and his soldiers ran over panting. When he saw this, he couldn't help shouting: No! Chase! Catch up! We can't let them escape!

Gan Ning looked at the ground blankly. At this time, Gan Ning realized that Huang Zhong should have held back. The bell nailed to the ground on the sword seems to indicate that if Huang Zhong really wanted to shoot Gan Ning, then Gan Ning might be nailed to the ground like this bell...

Zhang Yun was still making noises.

Gan Ning stretched out his leg and raised his sword from the ground. He looked at the bronze bell that had been shot down, then looked at the damage and gaps on the sword, and then glanced at Zhang Yun: I have not received the military order from the envoy. Can't leave without permission! If General Zhang wants to pursue him, he can do whatever he wants!

Zhang Yun was furious and was about to explode, but saw that Gan Ning had already turned around and walked away with a sullen face. He was so choked up that he immediately jumped to his feet and cursed after a while. Although he didn't say anything, he made up his mind. I must explain my idea to Gan Ning properly in front of my uncle!

Anyway, this time, I had no fault at all, everything was done by Gan Ning!