Chapter 334: Execution by Shooting

"Enemy attack!"

Huo Jun, who was always wearing armor, jumped up from the bed and rushed out of the tent without waiting for his personal soldiers to report.

After running to a high place in the camp and taking a look, Huo Jun immediately ordered:

"Drop the camp, retreat to Xiegu, and guard Xieyu Pass!"

Wei Yan, who was a beat slower, turned back immediately after hearing the words, and shouted Huo Jun's orders loudly.

The correspondence between Wuzhangyuan Camp and Hanzhong has never been interrupted. There are letters from Fa Zheng almost every day, and Pang Tong's handwritten letters every few days.

Fa Zheng and Pang Tong had judged the possibility that Cao's army would attack in large numbers in advance.

Pang Tong had only one suggestion for this: retreat!

Wuzhangyuan is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but that is when the difference in military strength is not too big.

Relying on the tactics of attacking the enemy and then rescuing them, and attacking them halfway across the river, the Wuzhangyuan camp can be said to be as stable as a rock.

But if the army pressed forward in large numbers, it would be different. The Cao army only needed to cut off the connection between Baoxiadao and Wuzhangyuan Camp, and then the army would besiege it.

Now is the dry season, and it is easiest to take action.

Pang Tong himself estimated that there were at least 30,000 Cao troops in Guanzhong, and there were 4,000 cavalry, which was several times the strength of the thousands of troops in Wuzhangyuan.

With a plan in place, Huo Jun made this judgment without hesitation, and Wei Yan conveyed this order without hesitation.

So when the Cao army arrived at Wugongshui, they saw the Han soldiers retreating slowly to Xieyu Pass in formation, and the Wuzhangyuan camp with several flames rising.

"Really... decisive."

In the Cao army, Du Xi, who led the front army, looked disappointed.

Liu Bei's troops acted quite erratically. Last year, relying on the fact that the Cao army was short of food and grass and could not move out in full force, they repeatedly harassed and annoyed them.

Therefore, many people speculated that the leader Wei Yan should be a arrogant and conceited person.

As a result, now that they can come out in full force, they actually escaped so decisively? They even burned down the military camp that had been built for several months, without any regrets.

"General." The captain next to him reminded:

"Since they have retreated, our army should force a crossing of the Wugong River and chase them from behind to disrupt their formation."

"Otherwise, if they are allowed to guard the entrance of the valley, it will be quite troublesome."

Du Xi looked at him with appreciation and said:

"De Rong could obviously live in Chang'an as Jingzhao Yin, but he insisted on taking the position of captain to follow the army to attack. His heart is commendable."

"This suggestion is also reasonable and well-founded."

"Well... then pass on our military order, cross the river to pursue, seize the entrance of the valley and chase the bandit army!"

Zhang Ji was speechless for a moment, and felt that this Du Changshi was really not suitable for leading the army. Just give the order, why is he talking so long at such a critical moment?

He immediately pulled the reins, intending to cross the river and pursue together, and shouted at the same time:

"The general has ordered, pursue!"

But Du Xi suddenly remembered the letter he had received before, and hurriedly explained loudly:

"If Derong defeats the enemy army, he should leave one or two alive, and ask whether the son of Sima in Hedong has fallen into the hands of the enemy!"

Zhang Ji was too lazy to look back, just waved his hand to show that he knew, and then hurried to the river to command the soldiers to cross the river.

Du Xi took a few guards to find a high place, watching the Cao army pouring like mercury. Although the martial arts water slowed down the pace, it could not completely stop it.

Prime Minister Cao's Han army soon met Liu Bei's enemy army.

In this chilly late winter morning, the sound of weapons intersecting was not very noticeable, but the screams at the moment of death were particularly eye-catching.

This scream reminded Du Xi of the people who died tragically when he resisted Liu Biao's army in Xi'e County.

Now, Xi'e County is occupied by bandits, and it is said that Guan Yu beheaded the prime minister's brother Cao Zilian during the Jingxiang War.

Before the New Year, the prime minister sent people to negotiate with Guan Yu, hoping to return Cao Zilian's body.

Guan Yu replied that Cao Zilian was beheaded by him personally, and it might be unlucky to open the grave again, so please send a son or nephew to handle the matter.

The matter was eventually left unresolved, and now Du Xi understands that the prime minister wants to fight back in person.

This year's war will start in Guanzhong first.

But... Du Xi is really not optimistic.

Going south is Hanzhong, and you can only take the Baoxia Road and Chencang Road. If you force Liu Bei, he can just burn the plank road.

Going west is Yongliang, and Ma Chao and Han Sui's troops are almost all Han cavalry and Qiang cavalry, coming and going like the wind.

At this time... Du Xi made a decision and shouted:

"Lu Zhao and Zhu Ling, you two lead a group of troops, go south to find a gap to cross the river, and attack the rear of the bandit army!"

Last year, Lu Zhao and Zhu Ling led the army to attack Yongliang, but were defeated by Ma Chao. Now is the time to redeem themselves.

The two former surrendered generals bowed and accepted the order, shouted to mobilize the troops and headed south.

After the two groups were divided into two groups, Du Xi had no troops to mobilize temporarily, so he could only ride on a high place and watch the battle situation quietly.

"The leader of this bandit army is a talented general."

Seeing that Zhang Ji's pursuit did not achieve any results, and the bandit army's retreat formation was not chaotic and the speed was not slow, Du Xi praised sincerely.

What made Du Xi's eyes light up was the tactics of this bandit army.

Even when retreating, it was not the traditional square formation and slow retreat, but two groups of troops were separated to cover the rear, fighting and retreating.

The two troops seemed to have a unique rhythm of switching attacks and cross-covering each other. Du Xi watched for a while but could not see any gains from Zhang Ji.

We can only hope for Zhu Ling... Turning to look in another direction, Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao also reached the southern end of Wugong River and began to cross the river.

Huo Jun naturally saw the second route of Cao's army trying to cross the river behind the right side of the army formation, and also made an immediate judgment:

"Wen Chang leads the army to retreat, and the formation should not be disrupted!"

Wei Yan nodded. The Wuzhangyuan Camp had always been supervised by two people in a complementary state, so the messenger was very natural about this change and immediately began to loudly convey Wei Yan's orders.

Then Huo Jun shouted again:

"Zhijiang men, go out and follow me to repel the enemy!"

So Huo Jun's 700 troops rushed out from the rear of the army and followed Huo Jun into Xieyu Pass.

Zhu Ling didn't know what happened, but thought it was an internal conflict among the bandits. He was overjoyed and immediately urged his men to cross the river quickly.

Although it was the dry season, the Wugong River here had just flowed out of the Qinling Mountains, and it was in a hurry, which was more difficult to cross than the north, so Zhu Ling became more anxious.

But soon, Zhu Ling saw that the more than a thousand people who had escaped from the formation ran out from the valley again, and the direction was facing him.

Are they trying to stop us from crossing the river?

Zhu Ling frowned: Everyone knows the principle of attacking halfway across the river, but you don't even look at how few people you have and dare to attack halfway across the river!

Lu Zhao, who was standing by, had a better look and exclaimed:

"Brother, everyone has a crossbow!"

Both of them were surrendered generals, so they were close to each other on Prime Minister Cao's side and usually called each other brothers.

"Why are you panicking!" Zhu Ling scolded:

"More than a thousand crossbows can only shoot three or four rounds, what are you afraid of!"

Hebei also has crossbows, Zhu Ling is not unfamiliar with this, and he made a calm judgment.

Lu Zhao's face was a little bitter. Everyone knows the weaknesses of the crossbow, but in return it has a powerful power.

Even if it is an elite division, it is inevitable that there will be casualties when defeating the crossbowmen. He, Lu Zhao, does not want to become a dead soul under the crossbow arrows.

Zhu Ling watched coldly, watching the crossbowmen run wildly to the shore, and then raised his hands, and the crossbow arrows splashed at them.

This is also one of the differences between crossbowmen and archers. It is difficult for archers to shoot arrows after running wildly like this, because the breath is unstable and the accuracy will be greatly reduced.

But these are irrelevant! Zhu Ling calculated the time silently in his heart, and did not even look at the soldiers who were pierced by crossbow arrows and fell down the river without life.

The second round... the third round... Seeing the enemy soldiers raise their hands again, Zhu Ling felt that he had grasped the opportunity to win.

Another round of crossbow arrows splashed over, and Zhu Ling shouted:

"The enemy has no crossbows, attack!"

Lu Zhao was overjoyed, and immediately stepped onto the simple floating bridge to launch a charge.

The fifth round of shooting responded to Zhu Ling's order, and then the sixth and seventh rounds continued without stopping...

Lu Zhao looked up and fell into the cold river, and a crossbow arrow pierced his neck.