Soldiers come to the world

Cao Ren led [-] cavalry all the way to the north. The rain had stopped at this time, and the pale half-moon passed through the gaps in the clouds, covering the earth with a layer of dark gray luster. The official road was extremely muddy, but apart from the official road, the grassland The ground is covered with puddles several feet deep, making it impossible to march.

Cao Ren was panicked. He was very worried about Cao Hong and Li Dian. He didn't know how they would live or die.Especially Cao Hong, if something happened to him, how would he explain to the prime minister?

It was already five o'clock at this time, and the cavalry had rushed to Hekou Town, where there was a fork in the road, one road went to Xinye, and the other road went to Nanyang, but they were far away from Fancheng, Cao Jun's soldiers were relieved.

Le Jin, the vanguard general, slowed down his horse and waited for Cao Ren to come forward. Le Jin said in a low voice, "General, I was wondering if there would be an accident in Xinye? After all, there are only less than a thousand people. Since Liu Jing had prepared in advance, then Will he let Xin Ye go?"

Cao Ren frowned. He just wanted to leave Fancheng as quickly as possible. He hadn't thought about it that far. However, Le Jin's reminder did make him hesitate. There was a fork in the road ahead, and he had to make a decision.

"What do you think?" Cao Ren asked Le Jin.

Mao Jie was right behind Cao Ren, but Cao Ren didn't ask him, which made Mao Jie really ashamed. This time, he was cautious and prudent, and he was cheated. He also wanted to say something, but the shame in his heart made him hold back .

Le Jin thought for a while and said: "It's better to send a scout to Xinye. If Xinye is not lost, Li Neng can be ordered to give up Xinye and go to Wancheng. If Xinye is lost, there is no other way. What the subordinates mean is, don't Take care of Xinye, and retreat directly to Wancheng."

Although the plan was good, Cao Ren was still hesitant. He was worried about Cao Hong and Li Dian. If they escaped from the encirclement and fled to Xinye, but no one responded, and they were ambushed a second time, their lives might be lost.

While hesitating, there was a small commotion in front, "What happened?" Cao Ren shouted angrily.

A soldier came forward and reported, "General, Li Neng sent a messenger soldier, who lost too much blood and is about to die."

Cao Ren regained his energy and hurriedly urged his horse forward, only to see a soldier lying on the horse's back, covered in blood, with two arrows sticking out of his back, and fainted to death.

A soldier handed over a military talisman and a blood-stained letter, "I found this in his arms."

Cao Ren took it and looked at it. The military talisman was exactly the half-rooster military talisman he had given to Li Neng, and the letter was also written by Li Neng. Cao Ren opened the letter and read it close to the torch. It was Li Neng's distress letter. Cao Jun's deceitful city was seen through, and now the attack is urgent, so he begged Cao Ren to rescue quickly. "

At this time, the military doctor had already woken up the messenger, and he said in a low voice: "Xinye is short of troops, please rescue quickly, General!"

After finishing speaking, he passed out again, and Mao Jie beside him finally couldn't bear it and said: "General, if Jiangxia's army attacks Xinye as a trick to lure troops, but they set up an ambush there, our army will be in danger. The army of Fancheng has not yet appeared, and my subordinates are very worried."

Le Jin also persuaded: "General, it is not easy to train cavalry, and they are extremely precious. These three thousand cavalry are already half of the entire cavalry. If they are attacked and suffer heavy losses, they cannot be exchanged for a hundred Li Neng. Give up Xinye and return to Wancheng! Let Li Neng break through by himself."

Cao Ren was in a dilemma. As a general, Le Jin’s position was not wrong, but as a coach, he couldn’t do it. Cao Ren couldn’t give up any army unless he had to. Now that Li Neng had sent someone for help, he couldn’t be afraid of being ambushed. If he abandons his subordinates and does not save them, he will not be able to explain to the prime minister. "

Cao Ren finally sighed, "We can't leave Xinye behind!"

Le Jin was silent for a moment, clasped his fists and said: "In that case, my subordinates will lead the cavalry to rescue Xinye, and ask the general to bring the main force of the cavalry back to Wancheng."

Seeing his resolute attitude, Cao Ren felt apologetic when he thought of his heavy responsibility to him. He patted Le Jin on the shoulder and said, "Just do your best. I won't blame you. Take care of yourself."

Le Jin bit his lip tightly, turned his horse's head and waved to his tune, "Follow me!"

Five hundred cavalry followed Le Jin and galloped towards Xinye. Cao Ren watched his team go away and sighed softly, "I hope he is safe and sound."

Cao Ren cheered up, stabbed the horse with his boots, and urged the horse to run northward. Two thousand and five hundred cavalry rushed to Wancheng from Nanyang Avenue.

It is not far from Hekou Town to Xinye City, only [-] li. Although the official road is covered with mud and the road is difficult, Le Jin still arrived at Xinye City before dawn.

There were still five miles away from Xinye City, and the dark city walls of the county town could already be seen from a distance. The cavalry of Cao Jun stopped slowly, and Le Jin ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot, and ordered several spies to inquire about the news.

From the departure at noon last night, to the ambush at night, and after another night of fleeing, Cao Jun's cavalry was exhausted. Although the grass on both sides was very wet and there was water everywhere, the exhausted soldiers still lay down one after another.

Some people fell asleep as soon as they lay down, some people were eating dry food, and the horses were also grazing grass on the grassland and drinking water from the puddles.

After Le Jin ate something, he felt a little uneasy, so he jumped onto a big rock and looked around. This place happened to be a gentle depression, with low slopes on both sides, covered with dense forests, and the nearest forest was within reach of them. Seventy steps.

Although there were no traces of troops passing by on the official road, Le Jin was still very worried that the enemy army would outflank the road. He knew very well in his heart that there was great danger hidden in the tranquility here.

Le Jin became anxious, and turned his head to look in the direction of Xinye City. He only hoped that a few spies would come back quickly. If they were really attacking the city, he could only provide assistance depending on the situation. He must ensure the safety of all the cavalry. If the county has fallen, He will immediately retreat south.

At this moment, frightened birds flew into the woods on the left. Le Jin turned his head and stared at the woods. His spies reported that there were no ambushes or people in the woods. How could the old birds fly away?

The sky was not yet completely bright, and the woods were shrouded in a gray mist. Le Jin seemed to see a figure flickering in the woods. He was frightened and shouted anxiously: "Get up, get out of here!"

Cao Jun's soldiers jumped up in fright. At this moment, there was a sound of clappers from the woods on both sides, and dense arrows shot over the sky. , Cao Jun's cavalry was in chaos.

Le Jin was lucky enough to escape the first round of arrow rain. He flew onto his horse, not caring about waiting for other soldiers, and shouted, "Follow me!"

He whipped his war horse and fled southwards. More than a hundred soldiers followed him. At this moment, thousands of ambush soldiers appeared in the woods. The cavalry, waving their spears, were full of murderous aura, cutting off Cao Jun's way of fleeing south.

Le Jin was so startled that he reined in his horse, and turned around and fled northward. At this time, a burly general of the Jiangxia army had rushed out of the woods. This general was wearing a silver helmet and iron armor, and he was carrying a pair of halberds. It was Gan Ning. With a bow and arrow in hand, he found the leading enemy general.

Gan Ning drew an arrow from behind his shoulder, set the bow and set the arrow, stared at Le Jin who was running away, and pulled the bow suddenly. The bow was like a full moon, and when the string was loosened, a mace arrow shot towards Le Jin like lightning. , Le Jin had just run twenty steps, the arrow hit in an instant, and the arrow was extremely powerful.

At this time, Le Jin suddenly heard the wind behind him, he dodged quickly, but it was too late, 'Pfft! An arrow pierced the back of his neck, and the tip of the arrow protruded from his throat. Le Jin let out a muffled cry, stretched out his hand to cover his throat, his eyes went dark, and he turned over and fell off the horse.

.........

A few days after Liu Biao died of illness, a war of sneak attack and anti-sneak attack broke out north of the Hanshui River. Cao Jun's [-] troops attacked Dunsai Fort, and finally fell into the trap of Jiangxia Army and Wenpin Army. fiasco.

In this battle, not only more than [-] people were captured, Xinye City fell, but more importantly, two heavyweight generals Cao Hong and Li Dian were captured, and Cao Cao's confidant Le Jin also died under Gan Ning's arrow.

For Cao Jun, this was an extremely heavy blow, and for Jiang Xia's army and even the entire Jingzhou, it was an exciting victory.

At dawn, several messenger cavalry rushed into Xiangyang City, shouting all the way: "Great victory in Jiangbei, Cao's army was defeated, Mr. Jing captured Cao Hong and Li Dian alive!"

The news of the great victory in Fancheng seemed to have wings, and it spread throughout Xiangyang City within half an hour, and Xiangyang City was boiling.

Although it was still the period of mourning for the death of the state shepherd, people couldn't bear the ecstasy in their hearts. They took to the streets to beat gongs and drums, and burned firecrackers to celebrate the victory. They also cheered, hugged each other tightly, and wept with joy.

In the prefectural office, more than a dozen senior officials, including Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, Deng Yi, Pang Ji, Li Gui, and Han Song, who had just taken over the post of Bie Jia, were urgently discussing countermeasures.

Although Liu Cong is the successor of the state shepherd, he did not attend this gathering of senior officials, and no one wanted him to appear. Naturally, Cai Mao and others regarded him as a puppet. Even Deng Yi, Pang Ji and other non-Cai Mao factions hated this useless The eunuchs are pure out of sight.

"Everyone tell me what to do!"

Cai Mao asked listlessly. He had just received a document sent by Liu Jing and Wenpin, requesting to pay homage to the coffin of the state shepherd. According to the Han system, the emperor died on the seventh day, and the princes died on the fifth day. Today is the fourth day , the other party asked for worship tomorrow.

Cai Mao was considering whether to allow them to enter the city. Liu Jing's prestige had been greatly improved this time with the great victory in Fancheng, so Cai Mao did not dare to take the opportunity to harm him. He only thought about how to refuse Liu Jing to enter the city.

At this time, Kuai Yue said: "Young Master Jing is the nephew of Xianzhou Mu after all. Forbidding him to pay homage to the coffin will be harmful to human relations and will cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang. It is better to let them worship the coffin. If the military commander is not at ease, he can be restricted. army entered the city."

Kuai Yue's proposal was unanimously approved by everyone. In fact, Cai Mao convened this discussion. He also knew that it would be difficult to refuse Liu Jing's worship of Liu Biao's coffin under the current circumstances. And pay homage to the new Jingzhou Shepherd.

Thinking of this, Cai Mao slowly said: "Since everyone agrees that he pays homage to the coffin of Xianzhou Mu, I can only agree, but as a minister of Jingzhou, I think he should also pay homage to Xinzhou Mu to fulfill his responsibilities. I hope everyone can support my proposal.”

Cai Mao glanced at Deng Yi again, and asked coldly, "What does Deng Zhizhong think?"