Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 1357 Withering

Normally speaking, when the two sides are at war, the Chinese army's battle formation is always the focus, and it is also a weakness. In countless battles, once the enemy's formation is broken through by the opponent, it means the defeat of a battle, whether it is How much force and how many soldiers are on the two wings, all end in the same way.

  There are too many such examples in history, whether it is in China or abroad, such as the battle between the barrels, the Japanese devils even praised it for thousands of years, but did Zhang Liao say anything?

Especially in the era of the recruitment system, soldiers are actually fighting more for the commander. When a commander is defeated, there is no reason to fight. It seems that the human brain has been damaged. Strong limbs don't help in general either.

  When Ma Chao opened a huge gap in the line of Ji County soldiers, and was about to kill Jiang Jiong, Ma Chao felt that victory was at hand.

As long as you take Jiang Jiong's head, the city gate tower will definitely fall into your own hands, and once you break through the city gate tower, it also means that you can open the city gate of Ji County, and the Qiang people outside the city will be like It's like a tide, pouring into Ji County!

Jiang Xiong's soldiers in the battle formation, after a fierce fight just now, inevitably appeared a little weak. These soldiers in Ji County are not brave and good at fighting. Under the attack, they were able to gather around Jiang Jiong, persisted for such a long time, and faced the current cruel situation where both sides exchange lives for lives. If Jiang Jiong's actions hadn't boosted morale just now, I'm afraid it would have been a long time ago. Can't hold on anymore.

However, in the face of Ma Chao's fierce pounce, Jiang Jiong's army is also crumbling. Although there are still people who continue to resist with all their strength, it is difficult to form an effective front to stop the attack of the Qiang people. Everyone can only frantically wave their weapons in their hands. It was just to save one's own life in the brutal fight, and the collapse of the array was just a matter of time.

If it was the Flying Bear Army in Fei Qian’s army, General Zhengxi’s army, he might be able to fight Ma Chao with less against more, but after all, Jiang Jiong’s soldiers, although they have been trained with Jiang Jiong for some time Compared with gathering hungry militia soldiers, or being powerful and brave, they are naturally much stronger, but after all, they have not yet entered the ranks of sweat beads. Facing the crazy Qiang soldiers, they have been able to persist until now. It all depends on the prestige and kindness that Jiang Jiong has accumulated in his daily life!

Ma Chao yelled wildly, holding a long spear in both hands, and pierced a **** in front of him viciously through the chest. He rushed over, but was knocked aside by Ma Chao with his dead body, and fell to the ground because of his unsteady standing!

  Ma Chao only has Jiang Jiong in his eyes, and now it seems that the only thing standing between him and Jiang Jiong is the thin array of pawns in front of him. Ma Chao shook off the blood stained on the spear, pointed at Jiang Jiong obliquely, and shouted again suddenly: "Zhuzi! Grandpa Ma is here! How dare you fight a certain one!"

  Jiang Jiong, of course, heard Ma Chao's loud shouts, and saw the infantry formation collapse in front of his eyes, but his reaction was just a faint smile, raised his spear, waved his hand, and shouted loudly: "Shoot the arrow!"

Ma Chao's expression changed immediately, and he subconsciously shrank his body, only to realize that there were no arrows coming at all, and there was only a row of swords and shields in front of Jiang Jiong. There were no archers, and the archers just retreated. Recovery, it is impossible to recover so quickly!

   "Fire the arrow!" Jiang Jiong shouted again in a deep voice.

"Haha..." Ma Chao was about to laugh at Jiang Jiong's poor donkey skills, but he never thought that in front of Jiang Jiong, a row of swordsmen turned the shields, revealing two rows of crossbowmen, sharp crossbow arrows shining in the firelight With the piercing cold light, the laughter suddenly turned into a gasp, and without saying a word, he immediately turned around and turned to the place where there were many people!

   "Boom!" When the hanging knife was pulled down, the sound of the crossbow arm rebounding was like the roar of death in hell! At such a distance, even an ordinary infantry shield can hardly withstand the shooting of a strong crossbow!

  The elite soldiers of the Qiang people who rushed over were fighting vigorously. Unexpectedly, when such a row of crossbow arrows came, they immediately opened a hole like a punctured cowhide water bag, and blood gushed out!

Seeing that the situation was not going well, Ma Chao threw himself sideways and smashed on the corpses of the soldiers on both sides. What's the other situation, snorted...

   "Where is it! Shoot him to death!" Jiang Jiong pointed to where Ma Chao was, and immediately the crossbowmen in the second row turned around and aimed at Ma Chao's figure. If it is a bow and arrow, you can use the corpse to cover your body, but in front of the strong crossbow, and at such a short distance, it is a joke to use the old trick!

Ma Chao's guards yelled and rushed forward, trying to cover Ma Chao's figure with flesh and blood, only to hear the sound of hanging knives being pulled down and crossbow arrows roaring, and these loyal guards were like punctured balloons, Decayed and then fell on his back.

  Jiang Jiong frowned and searched for Ma Chao in the dark shadows. This cunning boy, if he is not killed, he will be a disaster after all!

  Suddenly, a figure leaped high from the pile of corpses. Jiang Jiong pointed and shouted, "Shoot the arrow!"

The last row of crossbow bolts was shot out, and the extremely powerful crossbow bolts not only pierced that figure riddled with holes, but also took that figure to fly back in the air for a while, and smashed heavily on the city wall superior!

   "Hoo..."

   Before Jiang Jiong could heave a sigh of relief, another black shadow appeared in the darkness!

   "Damn it!"

   This is the real Ma Chao!

   But Ma Chao was obviously injured, and he no longer had the arrogance before. He dragged the spear backwards with one hand, and he didn't know where to cover it with the other hand. He ran back with his back bent!

   "Kill it! Kill it!" Jiang Jiong shouted loudly, beckoning the soldiers to fight forward. The powerful crossbow is extremely powerful, but it has a huge disadvantage. The attack frequency is too low. After three rows of crossbows are fired, Ma Chao will not know where he will go if he has to wait for the bowstring to be re-strung.

The group of armored elite Qiang people who rushed to the city wall almost died under the strong crossbow just now, and the momentum of the whole charge was also interrupted. More and more soldiers gathered and joined the battle. Groups of soldiers rushed over from Jiang Jiong's side shouting and shouting. A dozen long spears were pushed straight out, and the three drums And the declining Qiang people kept driving back.

Jiang Jiong shouted loudly, holding the long spear in both hands, and quickly knocked left and right, blocking two or three swords from the Qiang people, and made a loud slap sound. The Qiang people who opened the empty door were not killed by Jiang In Zhazhong, he was slashed by the sword and shield beside Jiang Jiong, blood was splashed everywhere, and he fell down screaming.

Jiang Jiong and Ma Chao's fighting modes are completely different. Every time they advance and retreat, they are all within the defense range of their own guards. They never take one more step or one less. No one can stop Jiang Jiong's pace.

  As Jiang Jiong led the soldiers forward step by step, the area of ​​the city controlled by the Qiang people became smaller and smaller...

  ………………

Pang De was organizing the manpower below the city wall. Seeing the sudden turn of the battle above the city wall, he was jumping and furious. When he was about to go into battle himself, he heard someone calling in a low voice in the darkness, and subconsciously took two steps forward. After that, I suddenly saw Ma Chao hunched over, half kneeling and half squatting among the vegetation beside him.

   "Major General!" Pound turned pale with shock.

Ma Chao looked extremely distressed, covered in blood, a crossbow arrow pierced his chest and abdomen at some point, pierced in from the front, and a sharp arrow was exposed behind, and the blood kept gurgling outward springs.

   "Major General! You are injured! Come..." Pang De checked Ma Chao's injury, his heart sank.

   "Don't call!" Pound hurriedly prepared to greet the guards on the side, but was stopped by Ma Chao. "I can hold on for a while...I'll go find quinoa later...you take our people...immediately...back to Jincheng immediately, and then...then move to the Western Regions to find...the Lushui Tribe..."

   "Major General..." Pang De covered Ma Chao's wound with his hands, but it didn't work, and the viscous blood continued to flow out.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Ma Chao pulled Pound, stood up with strength, leaned close to Pound's ear, and whispered, "After I die... quinoa will definitely annex us... I can delay Time...but you must hurry...otherwise...brother Hugh is imprisoned by me...go find him, just say..."

Due to excessive blood loss, Ma Chao had already seen large chunks of mist in his vision, and his figure was like a double shadow, shaking violently. Fascinated, he stretched out his hand and pointed at his long spear, "Take... for Brother Xiu... go... go!"

In fact, Ma Chao was shot in the stomach, penetrating the injury, and because he was still exercising violently after being shot by the crossbow arrow, which caused tearing and bleeding near the wound. If it was placed in later generations, after surgical suture and anti-inflammatory antibiotics, he might still be alive and well. Human beings are no different. However, in the Han Dynasty, because the wounds inside the body could not be stitched, there was still a chance to recover if the limbs were hands and feet, but the wounds that penetrated the chest and abdomen were basically fatal. Therefore, soldiers were not afraid of knives and guns, but extremely afraid of bows and arrows, that is, This reason.

   Ma Chao pushed Pound away, then staggered towards the direction of quinoa...

  Pang De chased after two steps, but seeing Ma Chao's eyes that were about to spew fire, he gritted his teeth, stopped in his tracks, stomped his feet angrily, turned his head and walked in another direction.

  ………………

  Hearing the noise above the city gradually subsided, Quinoa Xiangli's complexion became more and more like the bottom of a pot, almost dripping water.

   "Damn it..." Quinoa Xiangli shouted in a deep voice, "Where's that kid from the Ma family? Tell him to come see me quickly!"

   "No need!" Ma Chao staggered over from the side, sat down on the ground with a puff, and smiled with bared teeth, "I'm here..."

   Quinoa's sharp gaze fell on the crossbow bolt on Ma Chao's body, and the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily, "Commander Ma, you are..."

  Ma Chao pointed to the wound on his body, feeling very dizzy, and was too lazy to tell quinoa to Li, and said directly: "I tried my best...there is a strong crossbow hidden in the city..."

"What?!" Quinoa Xiangli couldn't help but cast his eyes on the dark city wall of Ji County, and took a breath, as if he saw a fierce beast squatting on the ground, "Strong crossbow? This is still hidden until today?!" After the siege for the past few days, only bows and arrows were seen, but no crossbows were seen by the defenders. This seems to show that even now, there are still rear guards in Ji County. Hand, what a terrible thing this is. At this moment when quinoa is benefiting, some thoughts of regret even arise in my heart.

   Quinoa's gaze shifted slowly from the city of Ji County back to Ma Chao, and after a moment of silence, he said softly, "Commander Ma, do you have anything else to say?"

Ma Chao shook his body twice, tried his best to hold on, then stared at the quinoa and said: "...I can't attack Ji County...I'm not willing to die...I...have another plan...I would like to offer it to you, but You have to... make sure you don't touch...my people..."

   Quinoa muttered to Li, neither nodding nor shaking his head, but said: "What is the strategy? Tell me first and listen."

   "We pretended to withdraw our troops!" Ma Chao said almost word by word, "We have been besieged for so long... the city is also in trouble... Once we withdraw our troops, we will either chase... or open the city... At that time..."

   Quinoa Xiangli pinched the beard on his chin, frowned, and after thinking about it for a while, finally nodded and said, "You can give it a try..."

  Ma Chao couldn't hold it any longer, and fell to one side on the ground, facing the sky, and murmured: "You promised... don't touch my people..."

   Quinoa Xiangli still frowned, looked at Ma Chao, and said, "What did you promise? Oh... Seeing that you have tried your best, if this strategy works, I will not move your people..."

  Ma Chao let out a "ha" and didn't continue to argue about anything, maybe he didn't have the strength to argue. Not knowing whether it was because the blood had choked into the trachea or what, Ma Chao coughed a few times and spewed out some coagulated blood clots, large and small.

   "Back down, ready to withdraw..." Quinoa looked at Ma Chao indifferently, then turned and left.

  The Qiang people wandered around in the dark one by one, like ghosts without a home.

  The night is about to pass, and there is a faint line of gray and white in the sky. The morning wind blows quietly across the field, like a girl's delicate hands gently rubbing her face.

Ma Chao couldn't feel the pain at all at this time, but his eyes were dark, his whole body was weak, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The remaining blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth and nasal cavity, he gasped for a few times, and moved his lips: "Father... Father..."

   As the morning sun gradually rose, Ma Chao seemed to see his father Ma Teng riding a horse in the sky, looking at him quietly.

  Ma Chao struggled to reach out, but could only move his fingers slightly.

   Ma Teng laughed, laughed, and picked up two little boys, one big and one small, from the ground, and put them on the horse. Both children laughed crisply, and the laughter spread far away on the prairie along with the sound of horseshoes...

  However, the two children in Ma Teng's arms, one big and one small, are not Ma Chao. Ma Chao could only see the black shadow under his feet getting bigger and bigger, and then overwhelming, swallowing him completely, leaving only a faint sigh, "Alas... Father..."

   When the sun fell completely, Ma Chao lay motionless under the city. Several Qiang people who were left behind and were about to leave found Ma Chao, came up to test it out, then looked at each other, and started to fight without hesitation, stripping off Ma Chao's armor and robes, and Just put it on yourself, like a hyena fighting for a carrion in the wilderness...

  (end of this chapter)