Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 398: Burning the Heavy Armored Soldiers, Confident Shi Xie

At the exit of the canyon, Gu Rubing, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan lined up in a row. Behind them were nearly a thousand cavalrymen, all of whom were experts in riding and shooting selected from the Onion Cavalry. There were also a dozen roaming crossbow captains and hundreds of scouts nearby, all of whom had rushed over.

Gu Rubing knew clearly in his heart that even if he did not go to fight with Shi Xie, he could not let Shi Xie go to Jingzhou with all his troops and the poison that came from nowhere. Otherwise, the battle situation they had worked so hard to build would collapse inch by inch. By then, Jingzhou would be destroyed. Even if he could return to Qingzhou, Gu Rubing would be even more restricted in defending the people of each city against Shi Xie. Therefore, the best choice was not to engage in a head-on confrontation, but also not to give Shi Xie a chance to go elsewhere for support.

"My lord, the roving crossbow captains from Jiaozhou, southern Yizhou, southern Jingzhou, and southern Yangzhou are on their way here. There are about thirty of them in total."

As the chief commander of the roving crossbow captains, Taishi Ci had already called on the nearby roving crossbow captains. Now their team was organized into one roving crossbow captain with ten scouts. For large cities and military towns, multiple roving crossbow captains were sent to monitor them, and for small counties or unimportant places, only one was sent to monitor them.

This is why Gu Rubing could easily grasp the movements of all the princes. These roving crossbow captains, whose combat power was comparable to that of second-rate generals, brought a ten-man elite team and had artifacts like the Zhuge Crossbow. It was very easy for them to infiltrate and survive in a place.

In addition, another important intelligence department was the fine salt shops opened in various places in the Thirteen States. This was the work of Zhuge Liang. Through the fine salt shops, he slowly infiltrated various places. Within a few months, he already had his own spies everywhere.

"Okay, our goal is to hold Shi Xie back and never let those who can cast the poison enter the Central Plains."

Gu Rubing said in a deep voice.

"We have a miracle doctor by our side, so they can get timely treatment. Without the help of a miracle doctor, they will surely die if they are poisoned. Therefore, we must keep Shi Xie in Jiaozhou at all costs and not let him take a single step forward!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"My lord, the front line is dangerous. You should stay in the rear with the main force."

Zhao Yun was a little worried. After all, they didn't know all of the other party's methods. If Gu Rubing followed them rashly and something unexpected happened, it would be too late to regret.

"It's okay. I'm with the soldiers."

Gu Rubing knew very well that these soldiers were afraid when facing unknown means. His presence could greatly reduce their fear and boost their morale.

"Be careful, nothing will happen. Besides, isn't there a miracle doctor here?"

Although he said so, Gu Rubing was still a little nervous. After all, he had lived three lives as a human being, and this was the first time he had faced such a thing. In addition, he had always heard various legends about poison, which made him a little unsure. In the end, the reason why he stayed on the battlefield was because of Hua Tuo. He had absolute confidence in Hua Tuo, and because he absolutely could not let Shi Xie break through their defense line.

"Don't worry, my lord. If anyone has to die, I will be the first to die."

Wei Yan was carrying the Zhuge Crossbow with a carefree smile on his face. Just now, he and Huang Zhong had learned how to use the Zhuge Crossbow under the guidance of Taishi Ci. Both of them were shocked by its practicality and power. Wei Yan was more shocked by the improvement of his archery skills with the Zhuge Crossbow. Originally, his archery skills were average, but after using the Zhuge Crossbow, he almost became a divine crossbowman who could shoot whatever he pointed.

Huang Zhong was even more shocked by the power of Zhuge Crossbow, its continuous firing function, and the improvement in changing crossbows. At the same time, Huang Zhong became more and more curious about the Prime Minister Zhuge mentioned by Gu Rubing, and wanted to meet him urgently. He wanted to know what kind of god could make such a wonderful thing.

After they had been chatting and laughing for half an hour, three riders came galloping quickly from the exit of the canyon. They were the scouts they had sent to spy on Shi Xie's movements.

"Report! My Lord!"

The scout jumped off his galloping horse, trotted to Gu Rubing, and knelt on one knee.

"My lord, the heavily armored soldiers under Shi Xie are now only two miles away from the exit. It is estimated that they will reach the exit in two quarters of an hour."

"Anything else found?"

Gu Rubing couldn't help but tighten his grip on the reins; it finally came.

"Behind the 20,000 vanguard heavy armored soldiers, there are about a few hundred men in black surrounded by cavalry. I suspect they are the ones who released the poison."

"Very good, withdraw all the brothers along the way, and remember not to be noticed by the other side."

"promise!"

The roaming crossbow captain turned around and left, rushing into the canyon again. At this moment, there were still a dozen scouts on horseback in the canyon, continuing to patrol the canyon and observing every move of Shi Xie's army.

Gu Rubing turned around and nodded to Taishi Ci beside him. Taishi Ci immediately understood and led dozens of people, carrying barrels of tung oil and rushing towards the exit of the canyon. Then, at the exit, he poured dozens of barrels of tung oil evenly all over the exit without any omissions. After doing these things, Taishi Ci led the soldiers back to the queue.

Gu Rubing rode his horse forward, turned around and faced all the soldiers.

"Soldiers, the enemy is ahead. They are leading a group of people who can poison us and are heading towards our territory. They want to invade our territory. Do you agree?"

"No!"

More than a thousand soldiers shouted together, their eyes full of determination, staring straight ahead, holding the Zhuge Crossbow tightly in their hands.

"Behind us is Jingzhou. They want to destroy Jingzhou first and then attack the north. Behind us are our two people, our brothers and sisters, and our hometown. What should we do?"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Kill them all!"

Gu Rubing paced back and forth in front of the battle formation, drew out the male and female double-edged swords from his waist, raised them high, and pointed them toward the sky. "Kill!"

Shi Xie, who was in the canyon, vaguely heard the roar and looked up at the end of the road, but he could not see clearly. He could only see a dark figure at the end of the canyon, blocking some of the light, making the canyon, which already had no light, even darker.

When the heavy armored soldiers were only a few hundred meters away from the exit of the canyon, they launched a charge towards the more than a thousand cavalrymen at the door. The soldiers under Gu Rubing's command all clenched the Zhuge Crossbows in their hands and stared at the charging heavy armored soldiers. Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan were at the front of the team, ready for battle.

Zhao Yun stood guard beside Gu Rubing at the front of the team to protect Gu Rubing's safety. The rest of the cavalrymen turned their horses north and then south, with the Zhuge Crossbows in their hands strung up, ready to fight at any time.

When the heavy armored soldiers were less than a hundred meters away from the cavalry and they could clearly see the armor on those heavy armored soldiers, Huang Zhong took off the Eight Treasures Kirin Bow on his back, took out an arrow loaded with gunpowder, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot out an arrow like a meteor.

The fast-flying arrow had already reached the heavy-armored camp almost the moment Huang Zhong let go, blowing away all the heavily-armored soldiers in the path of the arrow. The gunpowder had exploded, and the sparks produced fell to the ground and ignited the tung oil. A single spark can start a prairie fire.

The ignited tung oil burned all the way, igniting all the tung oil. A huge wall of fire formed at the exit of the canyon, forming a natural line of defense between the heavy armored soldiers and them. The wall of fire would not disappear until the tung oil was burned out. The blazing flames instantly burned the armor worn by the heavy armored soldiers red.

They were wearing heavy armor and would not be ignited by the flames, but the extremely high temperature made the soldiers in the heavy armor feel like they were in a steamer. The scorching heat burned the armor of the heavy armored soldiers like a red-hot iron. The soldiers inside were no different from being subjected to the torture of burning people with fire. The extremely hot temperature made these soldiers unable to hold on any longer and they fell to the ground one after another. After falling to the ground, their skin came into contact with the red-burned armor and they struggled to take off the armor.

But the armor is not so easy to take off, especially the armor that has been burned like this. If you touch the inside of the armor with a mobile phone, you will immediately get several big blisters. The soldiers are also human beings, how can they withstand such high temperatures? Within nearly ten breaths, most of the heavily armored soldiers in the flames had fallen to the ground.

The heavily armored soldiers who had not yet entered the muskets were all looking at the scene in front of them with horror. They were all glad that they did not walk too fast and did not become part of the sea of ​​fire. They were even more glad that they were wearing armor and the wall of fire could not spread.

"emission!"

Following Taishi Ci's order, many soldiers began to attack with bows and arrows, and Zhuge Crossbow was hung on their waists. For heavy armored soldiers with full defense, the advantage of Zhuge Crossbow was gone. Even if it could fire continuously, ten shots would not be able to break the opponent's defense. As long as it could not break the defense, it was useless.

Although the bow and arrow are a single weapon and have a slow attack speed, they have high defensive power. Even when facing heavily armored soldiers, with the double bow and arrow attack power of Taishi Ci and Huang Zhong, one or two arrows can still break through the defense of a heavily armored soldier.

More than a thousand men were drawing their bows at the same time, and each of them was an expert at drawing a bow of a hundred stones. Although it was a little difficult to deal with the heavily armored soldiers, they were not helpless.

The tung oil was spread too thinly, and they didn't have much in stock, so the wall of fire only burned for about a quarter of an hour before it went out. Although the flames were extinguished, the red-hot armor on the ground was not just for decoration, but became a natural barrier to block the cavalry.

Shi Xie walked out slowly from behind the heavy armored soldiers. Two deputy generals of the heavy armored soldiers, both holding huge shields, stood in front of Shi Xie, blocking hidden arrows for Shi Xie at the critical moment.

"Uncle Liu, long time no see. Where are you? Could it be..."

Shi Xie sat high on his horse and greeted Gu Rubing across the barrier made of red-hot iron armor. Gu Rubing was naturally not afraid of him and drove his horse to the front of the formation.

"Wei Yan, why are you doing this? For Cao Cao and Sun Jian, you have spent all your savings. Is it worth it?"

Gu Rubing smiled brightly and asked Shi Xie, but Shi Xie just shrugged helplessly.

"I have no choice, Uncle Liu. You forced me to do this. You didn't give me a way out. You first destroyed Kong Rong, Lu Bu, and Yuan Shao, and then took Liu Biao's Jingzhou and Ma Teng's Liangzhou. You also made Sun Jian's Yangzhou recover for several months, and then you had a big fight with Cao Cao in Xudu. You want to unify the world. If I don't take action, do you have to wait until Cao Cao and Sun Jian are dealt with before you deal with me?"

"What is Liu Biao's Jingzhou? What is Ma Teng's Liangzhou? What is Sun Jian's Yangzhou? Aren't these all Han's? When did they become theirs? They are just people appointed by Your Majesty to govern and control on Your Majesty's behalf, but now they want to rebel against their master. Shouldn't they be destroyed?"

Gu Rubing would not let Shi Xie get carried away with just a few words, and he immediately retorted.

"Brother Wei Yan, do you also think that Jiaozhou is your Jiaozhou?!"

The harsh questioning did not cause any fluctuation in Shi Xie, instead he sneered.

"Why, is Uncle Liu condemning me now? Before Uncle Liu unified the nine states, weren't you also a vassal who ruled one side? It's just that you have a larger territory, more people, and stronger power now, so His Majesty has given you the title of the so-called Lie King. Your territory is only the land of Qingzhou, so why don't you return the other eight states to His Majesty?"

"How can you say that you want to unify the nine states? My territory is only the Qingzhou state. Where did the other states come from? How have they ever been my territory? It's just that your majesty trusts me and lets my subordinates govern it on your behalf. How have I ever interfered in the internal affairs of a state?"

Gu Rubing asked back with a smile, his tone was neither hot nor cold, but mellow and pleasant to the ear. Shi Xie still sneered at Gu Rubing's words, and was unwilling to continue this topic with Gu Rubing. After all, no matter what, the other party had obtained the consent of the current emperor, and was also a relative of the Han Dynasty. If he continued to talk about this issue, he was destined to gain no advantage.

"It's meaningless for us to argue here. History will only remember the victors. History is written by the victors. Instead of arguing here, it's better to fight directly."

Shi Xie is now extremely confident because of the four hundred poison girls behind him.

"Do you have the guts to fight me? If you don't have the guts, retreat quickly. Before my cavalry rushes over, retreat quickly. Don't keep making noise here. Otherwise, when my cavalry rushes over, you won't have a chance to escape."

"Hahahaha, Wei Yan, ah Wei Yan, should I say that you are too confident? Or that you are too conceited?"

When Shi Xie heard this, his face changed. His intuition told him that something was wrong, but Gu Rubing's next words interrupted his thoughts.

"Or maybe it was the poison from those black-robed witches behind you that made you think you could defeat me?"

Gu Rubing's voice had become cold and murderous intent was pouring out. The strong murderous intent made Shi Xie tremble all over, and he couldn't help but feel a little panicked. How could Liu Bei know the origins of these people behind him, and how did he know that they were poisoned? While Shi Xie was still thinking, he suddenly heard a horse whistle from the opposite side. He looked up and his pupils suddenly dilated.

(End of this chapter)