Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1395 Reinforcements
At this time of year, it was the rainy season in the Funiu Mountains. There was a drizzle and the mountain path was muddy. The front-row soldiers of both sides put their heels against the sides of the feet of the soldiers behind them to stabilize their bodies and compete in strength. The two sides were in a stalemate for a while.

Wei Yan could not wait any longer. He put his long sword on his shoulder and strode towards the Wei army formation. He walked very fast and arrived at the front row of shield soldiers in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the soldiers on both sides who were still crowded together, he frowned, leaned sideways to squeeze through between two shield soldiers, and then inserted the ring-handled sword into the gap between the opposite shields.

The tip of the knife obviously pierced the opponent's armor. The Wei soldier on the opposite side noticed it, so he freed his hand and used the handle of the knife to hit the back of Wei Yan's knife, causing it to slide down. Wei Yan took advantage of the momentum and slashed downwards. The tip of the knife drew a spark on the armor, making a harsh sound, and then suddenly it was empty.

Wei Yan exerted force with both hands and thrust downwards with great force. Then with a "swish", the tip of the knife pierced into a soldier's instep. The soldier on the opposite side screamed and fell backwards, instantly leaving a gap in the shield. The soldiers behind Wei Yan had already rushed up and stabbed the Wei soldiers' instep with their knives. The Wei army's formation began to become chaotic.

In this era, soldiers had no protection on their feet. Previously, both sides had thought of using spears to stab each other's ankles, but the large shield stuck on the ground blocked it tightly, and using a knife was too dangerous, so a stalemate was formed.

But the Wei army never thought that Wei Yan would dare to engage in close combat at this time, and a hole was immediately torn open. As the soldiers behind the Wei army rushed up and chopped their feet, the shield formation in front of the Wei army finally began to collapse, revealing the spearmen in the rear.

The Jin army's shield soldiers took the opportunity to push their large shields forward, forcing the Wei army's spear soldiers to stagger back. When Guo Huai saw this, he gave a loud order to the reserve shield soldiers to fill in and re-establish the defense line.

However, the Jin army no longer gave them this opportunity. The archers in the rear had calculated the distance and shot arrows continuously at the Jin army's reinforcements. Guo Huai became ruthless and ordered a counterattack. For a while, arrows rained down on the narrow mountain road. The two sides could not distinguish between friend and foe, and people were constantly shot by their own side.

Seeing his own shield soldiers desperately trying to protect themselves with their shields, Wei Yan raised his knife with a gloomy face. The Wei army's reaction was too tough!
He said without hesitation: "The front row should keep their shields in place, and the back row should throw out all the grenades."

The soldier next to him heard this and said, "General, it's raining. I'm afraid many of the grenades and fire signals will be extinguished by the rain."

Wei Yan snorted coldly: "If it keeps raining, then we don't need it?"

"Don't worry about it, just use your body to block it, and wait until the fire signal is almost burned out before throwing it!"

"Someone in the front row is injured, so the back row is holding up his shield!"

As the loud booms continued, the Wei army screamed one after another. The blasts of gunpowder and steel nails and pillars flew everywhere, knocking them to the ground.

The situation on the Jin army side was not much better. The explosion range was too close, and even with their shields they could not provide complete protection. People were constantly injured by the explosion, and then the people behind them took over the wounded's shields.

Guo Huai saw the situation was critical, so he took the shield and retreated, shouting, "Throw back whatever is thrown at you from the other side, and stay close to them. The closer you are, the safer you are!"

"Don't panic, as long as we can hold on, we can go home. We must not retreat!"

After hearing this, the Wei soldiers gritted their teeth and held on. They grabbed the Jin army's grenades and threw them back. Although many of them exploded in their hands, many of them were thrown back into the Jin army without proper timing, causing many casualties to the Jin army.

Seeing this, Wei Yan spat fiercely on the ground and shouted, "You guys are thinking well. The two passes behind us have been occupied by the Hannan army. You still want to go back? Dream on!"

"If you don't surrender now, you will all die in this Funiushan Mountain!"

This statement caused quite a stir among the Wei army. Guo Huai shouted repeatedly, "Don't believe them. The general will be here at any time!"

Wei Yan shouted, "Go away your mother, and wait for death!"

"Throw all the grenades!"

Explosions rang out one after another, and the narrow mountain path was piled with corpses. Blood gathered into streams and stuck to the soldiers' feet, making it difficult for them to move. Soldiers from both sides kept falling down, but now they were all blood-thirsty, and everyone was hacking forward frantically.

Wei Yan saw that all the grenades he brought had been thrown away and the soldiers on both sides were engaged in a fierce battle, so he raised his sword and shouted, "Follow me!"

He led his personal soldiers to slash and hack at the enemy with their swords. The Wei army could not resist at all and had to retreat to both sides. Guo Huai saw this and drew his long sword, shouting, "Fight them. As long as we rush through, we can go home!"

After hearing this, the Wei army rushed forward with red eyes. The two sides engaged in a melee, chopping down with weapons desperately, but were blocked by the other side. Both sides were unable to use their weapons, so they simply fought each other, rolling on the mountain road mixed with blood and mud, and the ground was littered with corpses and wounded soldiers.

Wei Yan had already approached Guo Huai with his guards. He did not answer, but chopped down Guo Huai on the head with his long sword. Guo Huai quickly raised his sword to block it. There was a loud bang, and both sides staggered backward.

But Wei Yan only took two steps back, then rushed forward again, swinging his sword at Guo Huai who was still retreating. Guo Huai waved his numb arms and barely raised his sword to block, and then with a clang, a clear crack appeared on his sword. Looking at the opponent's shining sword, Guo Huai cursed in his heart, how could the difference be so big when they were both made of 100-forged steel?
However, he did not know that the sword used by Wei Yan was forged by repeatedly punching and forging a huge iron stake weighing thousands of pounds driven by a hydraulic capstan. Naturally, it was much stronger than one hammered by human power. The gap in weapons on both sides had caused the Wei army's disadvantage to reach an irreparable point.

Wei Yan swung his sword repeatedly, forcing Guo Huai to retreat continuously. Seeing the opponent coming at him, Guo Huai rolled on the ground in embarrassment, picked up a long sword from the ground, and rushed forward again. He knew in his heart that if he didn't kill the opponent's general, all his people would be buried here today!

At the same time, fifty miles behind the battlefield between the two sides, Huang Zhong was walking in the mud with a frown on his face. He had been chasing for two days and had sent spies forward and backward, but no news had been sent back from either side so far.

It was normal that the spies sent forward did not come back. After all, they were chasing the fleeing Guo Huai's army. If the enemy marched day and night, the spies might not be able to keep up with the enemy.

However, the spies sent to the rear did not send back any news, which was a bit strange, because no matter whether it was Sima Yi or Zhuge Liang in the rear, they were all heading towards them. How could they not meet if they were heading towards each other?
Even if the two sides fight, the spy should be back in two days, right?
Huang Zhong thought hard, what went wrong?
As he was thinking about this, a soldier came over and said that a spy from the front had returned, but was seriously injured.

Huang Zhong hurried over to check and found that the spy was dying, so he immediately said, "What happened? Didn't I tell you, the spy, not to show up?"

The spy struggled and said, "There was an ambush ahead... We were caught off guard and almost all of us died in the battle."

"I don't know who is leading the other side, but it is definitely the Wei army."

The spy died after he finished speaking. Huang Zhong stood up and began to think, are there Wei troops ahead?

Was this an ambush set up in advance by the escaping Guo Huai? Instead of fighting with Wei Yan, he came to attack himself?
Huang Zhong immediately shook his head. It was impossible. If the enemy had such determination, why did they flee to Funiu Mountain?
It shouldn’t be Guo Huai!

His body suddenly shook, and he grabbed the local soldier who was leading the way. Is this the only road in Funiushan Mountain?
The soldier said honestly: "This is the fastest and best way."

"There are one or two other steep and difficult routes. We locals are not willing to take them, and they are not as fast as this route."

Huang Zhong was shocked. He had been marching for two days, but if the Wei army continued to march day and night...

Thinking of this, he stood up and gave orders, sending out spies forward one after another, and at the same time ordered all the people to set out and rush to the front at full speed.

He had already guessed that since he had not encountered the Wei army behind him, he was afraid that they were taking another path. Although it was difficult to travel, as long as they traveled quickly day and night, they might be able to catch up with him!
Huang Zhong's guess was correct. Twenty or thirty miles in front of him, Sima Yi was leaning on a crutch, struggling on the muddy path, one step deep and one step shallow. The soldiers beside him were also following him crookedly and weakly.

Before Sima Yi sent out his troops, he had already sent people to figure out all the mountain paths in Funiu Mountain. So after he entered, he did not take the seemingly only main road, but took an extremely difficult path.

After nightfall these days, Sima Yi asked the soldiers to walk for three more hours, so that the soldiers only slept for two or three hours a day. Relying on the six hours saved in two days, he successfully bypassed Huang Zhong's ambush and got to a position close to the battlefield of Wei Yan and Guo Huai.

A spy reported that there were signs of fighting 20 to 30 miles ahead of him. Sima Yi was overjoyed when he heard this. All the hard work was worth it. Guo Huai was his most valued future deputy. As long as he could join forces with him, they could break through the Funiu Mountain Road and retreat safely to Chang'an!
He stood up and shouted, "March at full speed. If you can return to Chang'an safely, you will be promoted one level and rewarded 100 gold coins!"

When the soldiers heard this, they all shouted in unison, and they struggled through the mud, running forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Wei Yan and Guo Huai had been fighting for a long time, and many soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded, but the Wei army still did not collapse because Guo Huai was still commanding the troops. Although Wei Yan was a martial arts master, his strength was limited after all. Guo Huai also realized that he could not fight head-on, so he just circled around his own soldiers and Wei Yan. The two sides had fought several times, and their bodies were covered in mud and blood, but there was still no winner.

Wei Yan changed his knife again, weighed it, and was about to go up again, but a spy came to report urgently that traces of Wei army were found about ten miles behind the hillside, and they were probably coming from another path!

Guo Huai heard the same news and shouted, "Reinforcements are coming!"

When the Wei army heard this, they cheered and their morale boosted.

The guards around Wei Yan said, "General, the Wei army is coming to help. Let's retreat for now!"

Wei Yan stared at the opposite side, and the next moment he roared: "Don't retreat!"

"Everyone follow me, let's fight them to the death!"

(End of this chapter)