Three Kingdoms

Cao Zhen is not a mediocre general. As a general who has successfully developed in the middle and late stages of the Cao family, his skills are naturally not weak. When he slashes with a knife, even if Liao Hua turns his head to avoid it, he feels a strong wind blowing across his neck. The wind pressure made my throat hurt!

Almost at the same time, Cao Zhen also moved one side of his body to pass Liao Hua's vertical chop as if the weight of a mountain was overwhelming him. Although Liao Hua changed slightly in the end, he still did not catch up with Cao Zhen. He only drew shining sparks on his arm armor, which did not leave any deep memory for Cao Zhen.

As soon as the two of them fought each other, they immediately knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, and they became even more cautious than before. After confronting each other for a few breaths, they both shouted loudly, stepped forward, and fought again!

The two sides met, Cao Zhen kicked his legs fiercely, accelerated again in an instant, stretched his arms, and actually used the sword like a short spear. The tip of the sword shook, and in the blink of an eye, several shadows were stabbed out, directly piercing Liao Hua's throat, throat and chest!

Most people use swords mainly for chopping, but Cao Zhen uses the skill of using a short spear with the sword, which can make full use of the length of the sword. On the other hand, he is also aware of Liao Hua's previous agility, considering that he only uses chopping. The cutting method is easy for Liao Hua to avoid.

Liao Hua did not expect the change in Cao Zhen's sword technique. He had no time to think about it at the scene, so he changed the slashing trajectory of the sword. Instead of intercepting the tip of Cao Zhen's sword, he slashed at Cao Zhen's outstretched arm!

No matter how the blade tip changes, the point of force is still on Cao Zhen's arm!

Cao Zhen stretched his right hand forward, the momentum of the sword was too old, and he had no time to make any changes. When he saw Liao Hua slashing with a powerful and heavy sword, he could only lift the shield in his left hand upwards, blocking Liao Hua's sword!

"clang! 』

The sword and shield collided with each other, causing sparks to fly all over the sky!

Liao Hua's force was strong, and Cao Zhen blocked in a hurry. Under the sudden impact, Cao Zhen couldn't hold back his strength, and couldn't help but stumble back. His heart jumped suddenly, and he screamed secretly!

Sure enough, as the fire flickered, I saw Liao Hua holding swords in both hands, already following him like a shadow, rushing towards Cao Zhen, and slashed down with the sword like lightning!

Cao Zhen, who had not yet fully adjusted his body shape, had no time to make any other evasive moves. He could only shout angrily, stand up the shield, try his best to hide his vitals behind the shield, and stick out the sword from the edge of the shield. , stabbing towards Liao Hua's waist like a poisonous snake!

Liao Hua didn't even look at the sword that Cao Zhen thrust at him, he just slashed it down with all his strength!

"clang! "Clang, clang..." Liao Hua was like a blacksmith swinging a hammer and hitting the red iron block, bursting out bursts of sparks on Cao Zhen's shield!

Shields generally have two handles. Pass your arm through one of them and hold the other with your palm to fix the shield to avoid flipping when blocking. However, the problem is that although this fixing method enhances the lateral stability , but in the longitudinal direction, it only relies on the rotation of the palm and wrist for adjustment and control. In comparison, it naturally does not have enough strength to support and withstand repeated chops. Therefore, when experienced sword and shield hands raise the shield, it is generally Adjust the angle of your arm according to the direction of the force coming from the opponent's chop.

But the problem is that Liao Hua's sword is like lightning, and he cuts several times in an instant. In addition, for the sake of safety, Cao Zhen covered all the vital parts, including his own face. Where can he see Liao Hua through the shield? The direction of the subsequent slashing force?

Of course, Liao Hua couldn't see the angle of Cao Zhen's arm behind the shield, but Liao Hua could judge the weak defense in that direction based on the strain on Cao Zhen's shield when the sword struck it!

After two or three strikes, Liao Hua found the right direction and struck twice more in succession, almost hitting the same position, and immediately knocked Cao Zhen's shield backwards!

Cao Zhen was so frightened that he could not continue to adjust his defense, let alone counterattack. He could only follow the force of Liao Hua's chop and roll around in embarrassment to escape from Liao Hua's attack range.

Liao Hua slashed continuously, consuming a lot of energy. He panted sharply and did not continue to pursue Cao Zhen. He turned around and looked at the guard behind him. After seeing that he had loaded the crossbow arrow, he unceremoniously fired again. It refers to Cao Zhen...

Guard Liao Hua said nothing, took a step forward, raised his hand and shot!

"grass! 』

At this moment, Cao Zhen was really out of his mind! In the desire to survive, Cao Zhen didn't even have time to stand up. He just jumped to one side with all his strength on the ground like a wild dog!

The crossbow arrow was powerful, and it was at such a close distance. Even if Cao Zhen avoided the vital part, he could not avoid other parts. Between the lightning and flint, blood bloomed like an epiphyllum in the night, and was struck by the crossbow. Cao Zhen, who was hit by the arrow, flew backwards on the ground!

These changes were so fast that the soldiers around him didn't even react. When they saw Cao Zhen being wounded and defeated, they all stood there blankly at first, then suddenly woke up and swarmed forward!

Liao Hua's men were fighting for Cao Zhen's head, while Cao Zhen's guards were blocking him while rushing to save Cao Zhen, pushing Liao Hua into the back row...

Amidst the chaos of light and shadow, Liao Hua seemed to see Cao Zhen being lifted or supported through the gap between the figures, as if he had been shot in the leg. He could only curl up one foot and jump with the other, staggering away. He couldn't help but clicked his tongue, but he had no need or desire to continue the pursuit, because compared to taking the general's head, the most important thing was to complete the established strategic goal!

Liao Hua roared and reentered the battle line. Without Cao Zhen to lead the defense, and the original leader of the south camp was incompetent, it collapsed like snow melting, and the entire camp fell into a huge in the chaos!

In the Hanshui North Camp, although Xu Yu was brave, he was not a fool. He knew that it was impossible to attack Cao Jun's camp with nearly a thousand cavalry. The reason why he made an attacking posture was to force Xiahou Dun not to concentrate on it. They were going to deal with Liao Hua in the South Camp and create more attack windows for Liao Hua. They were not really going to attack Cao Jun's camp.

Therefore, although Xu Yu came with great momentum, when he saw Cao's army forming formation outside the camp like muddy water flowing out, he immediately ordered a retreat.

"Woo..."

At the sound of the horn, the cavalry, as if they were about to confront Cao Jun, immediately started to turn around, then threw the torches on the ground in front, covering each other and exiting the range of the firelight. They came as suddenly as they retreated equally suddenly, no By the time Cao Jun reacted, they had disappeared into the darkness.

It was the first moment of Yin hour, the darkest time before dawn. Those Cao Jun soldiers who were dazzled by the fire in the camp could not see clearly where the hussars without torches were. They could only hear the sound of horse hooves. No one was seen.

Cao Ren sent a group of Cao Jun's infantry to test the pursuit, but they were quickly shot back by a burst of arrows. The hussars have always been versatile, and the attack power of temporary archers is not much less than that of infantry archers.

The difficult problem was placed in front of Xiahou Dun Cao Ren. Should he withdraw his troops and return to the camp? It was safe and sound, but there was still about an hour before the destiny, and there was no guarantee that the opponent would come again. Should he send troops or not? What's more, Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren's original plan was to attack Fancheng. Although the southern camp is currently in chaos, Fancheng in front of them is obviously more attractive, and it is impossible to give up completely.

So under Cao Ren's order, Cao Jun began to advance forward with torches, and Cao Xiu also led his cavalry out of the infantry line, preparing to cooperate with Cao Jun's infantry and swallow up these cavalrymen in Fancheng in one fell swoop!

Cao Xiu led the cavalry toward Fan City from behind the infantry array. His main task was not to directly engage the opponent's cavalry, but to intercept them and then attack the gate of Fan City at the critical moment!

Cao Jun's cavalry held torches, and the sound of horse hooves was like drums and thunder, rolling past the ears of Cao Jun's infantry in front, which also attracted many envious eyes. In the previous battle between Cao Jun and Jiangdong, Cao Xiu's cavalry really attracted a lot of attention. In addition, the rewards after victory were generous, which naturally attracted the envy of Cao Jun's infantry. And these glances made Cao's cavalry feel somewhat complacent. They controlled their horses and galloped all the way. They quickly passed the infantry that kept pressing forward, and then saw the hussars in the shadows in front of them.

"over there! ” Cao Jun’s cavalry shouted, while guiding the following Cao Jun’s infantry, they followed these hussars. After the Jiangdong Battle, the morale of Cao's cavalry was obviously much better than before.

"Don't let the thieves escape!" 』

"Chase, catch up!" 』

At the beginning, Cao Cao's cavalry was somewhat cautious, but when they found that the hussars seemed to have no intention of fighting and only wanted to retreat to Fancheng without even shooting bows and arrows, Cao Cao's cavalry couldn't help but start kicking The belly of the war horse sped up. Seeing that the pursuit was getting closer and closer, it seemed that even the breathing of the hussars and horses in front could be heard!

"kill! Go ahead and kill him! ” Cao Jun’s cavalry couldn’t help but raise the sword in their hands, leveled their spears, and rushed forward at a faster speed.

At this moment, a Cao Jun war horse charging at the front suddenly let out a mournful cry. The horse stumbled and fell to the ground. The knight on the horse was caught off guard, flew out in the clouds and mist, and fell to the ground with a plop.

Before anyone else could react, two more horses fell down, followed by three more.

"Be careful, there's an ambush!" ! 』

The knights of Cao's army tightened their reins and shouted loudly to remind their companions behind to be careful. But they were too eager before. How could they hold back while running so fast? So even though they shouted continuously, someone was still hit. Amidst the loud noises one after another, more than a dozen war horses fell down, making the originally smooth team suddenly become messy.

"alert--! 』

Cao Xiu, who was in the team, tried his best to control the horse and roared loudly. But before his roar could reach the ears of every Cao Jun cavalry, waves of sharp howls came from the darkness, approaching quickly.

"Whoosh, whoosh!" Whoosh whoosh! 』

A sharp arrow flew from the darkness, hitting the body, armor, and horse of Cao Jun's knights. Some arrows were deflected by the armor, but some arrows bloomed with blood! Suddenly, the screams of Cao's cavalry and the mournful sounds of the horses were mixed together. The struggling horses and knights looked very miserable under the light of sporadic torches.

"It's caltrops!" 』

"The whole army stops!" Raise your shield! 』

Cao Xiu shouted, not daring to move forward any further. After all, in low light conditions, leading the cavalry on this kind of "landmine"-like iron caltrops ground would undoubtedly cause great losses to the horses...

After all, the war horse is just a circle of horseshoes, and there is still flesh and blood in the middle of the horse's shoe. A piece of caltrop was inserted into it. Even if there are no other injuries, it will take some time to heal. And in the darkness in the distance, I don’t know how many caltrops are waiting!

Cao Ren arrived with his infantry, and after holding up torches and letting the infantry move forward with spears and other weapons to clear a path, Xu Yu had already led his people into Fancheng easily, and then banged the gate. After passing the pass, there was only a lingering sound left, as if they were laughing at Cao Ren and Cao Xiu.

In Fancheng, Xu Yu jumped off his horse and laughed loudly: "Enjoyable!" It’s so enjoyable! ” There was excitement in his voice. This time, he finally convinced Zhuge Liang. He used the only three thousand men and horses in Fancheng to play with more than ten thousand Cao Jun in the palm of his hand, and all of Cao Jun’s troops. The reaction was basically planned, as if Cao Jun was acting in conjunction with Zhuge Liang!

Fancheng was full of jubilation, but Zhuge Liang stood at the top of the city, with the night wind ruffling the corners of his clothes. He just smiled slightly and still looked into the distance.

After all his plans to attack Fancheng soldiers and horses and then take advantage of the chaos to attack Fancheng failed, Xiahou Dun suddenly discovered that the changes in Nanying were also beyond his expectations!

After defeating Cao Zhen, Liao Hua did not pursue and fight Cao Zhen and others. He just made a show and turned towards the water gate where Cao's army parked their ships.

Naturally, Cao's troops were stationed at Shuimen, but these Cao's troops didn't even have a serious command. They were only led by a team leader. When they saw Liao Hua and others coming to kill them, they were in a hurry and couldn't even give the complete order. come out. And Liao Hua's men, who were rushing towards them, were like a huge wave sweeping over them, swarming towards the soldiers of Shuimen Cao's army who had no time to even set up their formations.

"kill! 』

Liao Hua jumped up, knocked away a spear with his sword, and then killed his opponent with a single strike of his sword. He immediately ran into the enemy army, raised his sword and dropped it, killing three people in a row in the blink of an eye. The soldiers of Cao's army suddenly screamed in fright, and the array became more and more chaotic. Liao Hua immediately seized this opportunity and rushed in with his guards, quickly widening the gap.

Without a general in charge, Minato had almost no ability to resist. In the blink of an eye, he was completely killed by Liao Hua and others, and the ships that were supposed to be protected were completely exposed to Liao Hua and others.

"Burn the boat!" Hew the ship! Be quick! ” Liao Hua raised his sword, looked around and ordered.

This time, the most important thing about the division of labor and cooperation was not how many Cao soldiers were killed, nor how much baggage was destroyed. The purpose was very clear, which was to burn the ships. Burning these remaining ships in Jingzhou made Cao's army lose the convenience of transportation.

Cao Jun also had some soldiers on duty in the ships, but the number was not very large. Most of these Jingzhou soldiers were originally used as sailors, otherwise they would not stay on the ships to sleep. Seeing the fierce-looking Liao Hua and others rushing towards them, They howled and fled in all directions. These soldiers on duty were generally soldiers from Jingzhou. When they saw the serious Cao army, they were all killed and stripped of their armor, leaving them with no ability to resist. These Jingzhou soldiers had no desire to resist.

It is precisely because of this that when Liao Hua and others poured kerosene and burned the ship, they were not greatly hindered. The soldiers followed Liao Hua's order or rushed into the cabin and chopped it open with tomahawks mercilessly. Pour kerosene on the bottom of the ship, or directly into the ship, and then throw the torch...

Before the second wave of reinforcements sent by Xiahou Dun arrived, Liao Hua had burned and destroyed Cao Jun's ships at Shuimen, and then calmly evacuated.

After all, the raft floating down from the upstream has no way of destroying the pontoon bridge accurately like a controlled ship. It only serves to contain and delay it. Although the burning of a pier bracket made the pontoon bridge shaky, after emergency reinforcement, It can still be used to some extent. It's just that the speed of passing cannot be increased.

"General, general!" 』

Cao Ren hurriedly hurried slowly, but still took one step ahead. After he led his people to the south bank, Liao Hua had already entered the forest. The guards on the side couldn't help but feel a little nervous when they saw that Cao Ren's face was sallow and he was sweating. Cao Ren was originally injured. Although it was not a fatal injury, it could not be said that he would return to normal in a short time. Seeing that the current situation was so embarrassing, if one more person fell, it would really be a heavy blow to the overall morale! If that happens, let alone attacking Fancheng, whether we can defend Xiangyang is a question!

Cao Renqiang smiled and said, "It's okay!" Go, give the order, quickly extinguish the remaining fire and salvage the boat..." When Cao Ren said this, he felt a burst of heartache. He gritted his teeth and endured it, and then continued, "In addition... rectify the queue, count the losses, and send out patrols. Maintain order……"

Orders were issued one after another, and calm gradually returned to the south camp.

As the commander-in-chief, Xiahou Dun lived in the central army and could not act rashly. Naturally, Cao Ren came to see the scene in the south camp. After all the arrangements were made, Cao Ren almost couldn't hold on anymore. If he hadn't been worried about losing morale in his army, he would have sat down on the ground.

How could it become such a situation?

If you think about it carefully, whether it is Xiahou Dun or Cao Ren himself, every step of the response is either carefully thought out or based on experience. No matter which one it is, even if I think about it now, I still feel that there is nothing wrong. The correct way to respond, but why do these correct measures not have the correct result?