The sky gradually darkened, and the forest between Shiling and Wuling was vast.
It is not just a flat forest, but also hills, creeks, rivers, slopes, and highlands. The terrain is extremely complex and it is difficult to find directions and roads without a guide.
After the Jiangdong navy pursued past Shiling and couldn't find the location of Shen Chen's army, they decided to get back on the ship again and continue their pursuit southward along the Shu River.
After about half an hour, probably at the beginning of the day, that is, around five o'clock in the afternoon, the two sides fought again.
There is a stream flowing out from Shushui here. Hundreds of Jiangdong naval forces rode scouts, airships and other small boats down the stream and went deep into the forest. They were shot to death by random arrows from the Jiangxia navy ambushing in the forest.
However, the small-scale battle also exposed the position of the large troops. Soon Lu Meng and Xu Sheng led the troops ashore again, and the two sides launched a desperate battle around the surrounding dense forests.
Both sides were actually very tired. Shen Chenjun had been walking for a whole day and had almost no rest. Lu Meng and Xu Shengjun rowed continuously for a day and night. Although they were working in shifts, most of the soldiers were still very tired.
Therefore, the two sides were now fighting a battle of willpower. In fact, many soldiers including Shen Chen's army were separated. Many people were exhausted while walking and wanted to rest for a while. When they turned back, the large army had disappeared.
"Kill!"
"Hurry up and shoot the arrow!"
"Come on, two teams, follow me over here."
Shen Chen occupied a small hill and fired arrows from a high position to fight back.
However, there are many trees around, and the bow and arrow are blocked by the trees and lose their effect, so they have to fight in close combat.
The two sides were in a state of fighting in the woods. In fact, except for the hundreds of people lost by Lu Meng and Xu Shengjun in Shiling and the creek just now, neither side lost a few people.
They had been shooting arrows or throwing stones at them, conducting long-range offensives. It was only then that they came face to face and collided with each other.
Shen Chen took out the ring-headed sword from his waist. In fact, there were only more than 400 people escorting Zhang Hong around him. Due to the vast forests, numerous mountains and hills, and unlike plain areas where troops could be arranged in formations, they could only be escorted by officers at all levels. Scattered guerrilla attacks.
After marching for a day, the soldiers were tired, thirsty and hungry. In fact, they had only walked more than ten miles from Shiling in the afternoon, but they had to keep climbing the mountain, which made them extremely tired and had to stop and rest.
The place where they rested was by the creek. They originally wanted to drink some water and eat some dry food, but just after they rested for a while, the Jiangdong navy came again, so they had to continue fighting.
At this moment, they were fighting and retreating. They were already less than ten miles away from Wuling. Even the scouts sent by Liu Qi saw them and kept blowing their horns.
"Reinforcements are coming."
Listening to the sound of the horn, the Jiangxia naval forces were excited and fought to the death.
Shen Chen's location was on a hill close to the stream, only about twenty meters away from the ground of the stream. More than twenty small boats rushed into the stream below the hill and launched an attack on the hill through the dense woods.
In addition to the small boats, more than 200 Jiangdong soldiers circled around intermittently. Around the road rushing up the hills, more than 400 Jingzhou soldiers and more than 700 enemies started a desperate struggle.
Hundreds of Jiangdong soldiers formed a square formation dozens of steps away under the hills, eagerly waiting for the opportunity to attack; more Jiangdong soldiers carried Huanshou knives and howled like wolves, walking along the road below. They swarmed up like ants.
The roars, echoes, weapons blocking, and pitiful howls and groans on the hilltop almost never stopped.
From late afternoon to nearly dark, the Jingzhou soldiers and the Yangzhou soldiers fought each other for a whole afternoon. The mountain road stretching for more than ten miles was littered with corpses. There was no end in sight to the brutal killings.
Clusters of arrows fell like rain, and the entrance below the hill was splashed with the blood of soldiers from both sides. In many places, the yellow-brown soil was completely soaked with blood, turning into a dark red. On the ground were cast iron helmets and flip-leather hats. Everywhere you looked, you could see bald and clustered arrows and broken weapons scattered all over the floor.
Shen Chen personally went into battle and killed several Jiangdong soldiers, but a steady stream of Jiangdong soldiers were still coming. Everyone knew that they had captured a part of the main force of the Jiangxia navy that had left, and they were strangulating and surrounding them on the battlefield. It is an eternal topic.
"Have you found Mr. Zigang?"
A mile away from this small hill, Lu Meng had just killed a Jiangxia naval force of more than 200 people. When he was giving orders to continue the pursuit south along the forest river, he suddenly heard someone coming to report.
The scout knelt down on one knee and replied: "Yes, Captain, we pursued eastward along this stream and found at least 500 Jiangxia naval troops resting on a small hill. There was also an old man in the team who was being held up on a shelf. Well, we suspected it was Mr. Zhang, so we came over immediately to report it."
Lü Meng was overjoyed and said: "Okay, if we really save Duke Zigang, you will have done a great job. Send an order to the officers and men to follow me."
He raised his arms and shouted, and thousands of soldiers around him followed his footsteps and headed east.
At this time, in the hills over Shen Chen, the battle was intensifying. At the foot of the mountains, there were corpses of soldiers who died on both sides. Some of the corpses had severed limbs that could not be moved in time, so they were kicked around under people's feet - the battle was fought too hard. No one can spare the manpower to clean up the battlefield.
The Jiangdong soldiers below were charging upward like ants, with arrows constantly shooting down from the mountain. There were many shields, and their swords were as sharp as swords. The two sides were fighting fiercely.
Fortunately, Shen Chen did not send all his troops up. Instead, he personally led the team and organized fifty veterans into two reserve teams to take turns blocking the hole. Otherwise, this small hill would have been leveled by the enemy a long time ago.
The early autumn weather in mid-July has taken off the warm veil of summer and revealed its blazing face. Although it has been raining in the south recently, this kind of rain is like some kind of summer thunderstorm, not only it will not If it brings coolness to people, it will give people stuffy heat.
Suddenly, a series of urgent horns sounded in the distance. Following the sound of the horns, several groups of Jiangdong soldiers came slowly from the upper reaches of the stream.
As they approached the hills, these Jiangdong soldiers marched forward in three rows, their leather boots kicking up a long circle of dust, and the forest birds flying around them.
In addition, as the soldier stepped forward, he beat the sword in his hand rhythmically, making the leather shield protecting his chest rumble, which made him look quite majestic and formidable.
Shen Chen, who had just killed another enemy with one arrow, heard the sound. He stood on the hill and looked towards the stream. He saw thousands of Jiangdong soldiers approaching them more than 200 steps away. Like a torrent surging.
"General."
Zhang Nan next to him pointed to the flag over there with an ugly expression and said, "That's Lu Meng. This man is very brave in fighting. He once killed several generals of General Huang."
"oh?"
Shen Chen became interested and looked to the west.
I saw a burly man wearing armor standing at the front of the team.
Although the naval forces did not wear battle armor when fighting on the water, they would wear it on land. Many Jiangdong soldiers wore leather armor or small armor, but this man was the only one who wore large armor.
He seemed to be less than thirty years old. He was eight feet tall and had a strong build. He had a large sword on his waist and was walking forward slowly.
Soon the distance between the two sides was less than fifty steps, which was the effective killing range of bows and arrows. However, there were many trees on both sides of the stream. Although not as dense as the forest, they could still block the arrows. At the same time, the enemy had already set up their shields.
"Which of you is the commander-in-chief?"
The burly man came to the bottom of the hill and shouted to the top.
Shen Chen stepped on a big stone on the edge with one foot, put the other foot behind him, put his right hand on his outstretched right knee, looked down and said, "You are Lu Meng?"
"Exactly!"
Lu Meng raised his head and saw a young man about twenty years old. He thought about it and said, "Are you Shen Chen?"
"yes."
Shen Chen nodded.
Lu Meng grinned: "It seems that today's harvest is not small, catching you is a great achievement."
Shen Chen laughed: "Aren't you afraid that I will kill the old man?"
"Guild Zigang understands my painstaking efforts."
Lu Meng said without hesitation.
Shen Chen turned back to look at Zhang Hong and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, it seems that Sun Quan doesn't take you too seriously."
Zhang Hong's face changed slightly. Although he was being carried away, in order to prevent him from escaping, his feet were tied with ropes like shackles to prevent him from taking long steps to run away, so he could only lower his head sadly at this time.
"Shen Chen, please bring Zhang Gong out. If you are willing to surrender to me, Jiangdong, with your talents, Wuhou will definitely treat you well."
Lu Meng shouted again.
Shen Chen chuckled and said, "Do you think you can defeat me by surrounding me?"
"Isn't it?"
While Lu Meng was negotiating with Shen Chen, he gently waved his left hand backwards in a few gestures.
The soldiers at the rear understood this. The last row was hiding in the forest where Shen Chen could not see it. A large number of Jiangdong soldiers were beginning to move down the hill.
Shen Chen raised his head and looked at the forest not far away. The sound of whistles was continuous. In fact, not only the whistles, but also the gongs, drums and horns between the enemy and ourselves resounded throughout the forest, echoing everywhere.
But only the Jiangxia navy became more and more courageous as they fought.
Because they could all hear sounds coming from further away, and that sound only conveyed one message - reinforcements were coming.
Therefore, although fighting was going on everywhere in the forest at this time, and the Jiangdong Army had a huge advantage in strength, the Jiangxia navy did not collapse. Instead, the remaining two thousand people were still fighting fiercely with the enemy in the forest.
At this moment, as the whistle got closer and closer, Shen Chen said softly: "Since you want to die, then come!"
"kill!"
Lü Meng issued the order to attack without hesitation.
"call out!"
There seemed to be the sound of beating leaves through the forest.
A sharp arrow penetrated countless dense forest leaves, like a meteor streaking across the sky, causing the passing branches and leaves to flutter gently.
In the blink of an eye, it silently shot into the back of the head of a Jiangdong soldier who was besieging the hill.
"Reinforcements have arrived, follow me and kill!"
Shen Chen raised the Huanshou Sword in his hand and gave the order for a general attack.
"kill!"
Zhang Nan perked up.
Many of the Jiangxia naval forces who retreated to the hills also raised their weapons and began to charge down the hill.
At this moment, countless arrows rained from the forest, killing the Jiangdong soldiers who were besieging the hills from behind.
By the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, there were almost no Jiangdong soldiers attacking them.
At the same time, thousands of Jingzhou soldiers emerged from the forest and rushed towards Lu Meng in a mighty manner.
Seeing this situation, Lu Meng also knew that something was wrong and quickly ordered: "Evacuate!"
"withdraw!"
The command belonging to the Jiangdong navy suddenly sounded.
This is a completely different sound from Jiangxia Navy.
In fact, the passwords of the two naval forces are different, and they often change at all times to prevent the other party from cracking them.
Although I don't know what order the other party gave me at the moment, I can tell with my toes that it means retreat.
So Shen Chen immediately said to Zhang Nan: "Order a general attack."
"Order a general attack."
Zhang Nan turned around and shouted to the soldiers blowing the horns.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
The melodious sound of horns resounded across the sky.
The entire Jiangxia navy in the forest knew that reinforcements had arrived, their morale skyrocketed, and they began to counterattack.
There seemed to be countless figures in the jungle, and arrows swept through Lu Meng's army like rain.
In just a few moments, hundreds of them were shot and killed, and they had no choice but to flee back to the stream, hide in boats, and begin to retreat toward Shushui.
The soldiers chased and fled one after another. After Shen Chen killed several Jiangdong soldiers, he watched helplessly as they rowed away in the direction of Shushui, and quickly continued the pursuit along the stream.
The forest was a mess, with soldiers coming and going everywhere. Within a kilometer or two around, tens of thousands of enemy and friendly warriors were entangled.
After running for about ten minutes, Shen Chen finally arrived at the river. He and Zhang Nan led more than 300 people to intercept more than 800 people on the other side. The two sides fought fiercely. After a while, arrows rained down, and the entangled Their Jiangdong soldiers were killed and dispersed.
By this time, Shen Chen's army actually didn't have many arrows, and those who could shoot arrows must be reinforcements.
Shen Chen quickly looked in the direction of the reinforcements.
I saw thousands of archers springing up from the woods like mushrooms after a rain, climbing to the hills on the shore of Shushui, and shooting wildly in the direction of the ship.
The leader is an old man in his sixties. He is wearing black armor and has a sword hanging from his waist. His body is extremely strong. He stands on the top of the mountain, condescending, bending his bow and arrow, and aims. in a certain direction.
Huang Zhong?
This thought suddenly flashed through Shen Chen's mind.
Then he turned his head and looked in the direction where Huang Zhong was aiming. On the boat, a young general wearing armor was constantly shouting for the soldiers to get on the boat.
Lu Meng!
Shen Chen recognized it was Lu Meng who was showing off his power just now.
The next second, the old man on the hillside let go of the bow string in his hand, and the arrow seemed to pierce the void. In an instant, it was like lightning and shot towards Lu Meng's chest.
"ah!"
Only a scream was heard, and Lu Meng, who was directing the retreat, was hit by an arrow and fell to the other side of the ship, falling into the water.
It's just that he was blocked by the sudden ship, so he didn't know the situation.
"Captain, Commander, Commander!"
The soldiers on Lu Meng's ship were shocked and jumped into the water to fish it out. After a while, a large number of wooden planks rose from the ship, blocking their view. It was not known whether they could fish it out.
At this time, Jiangdong's army was in chaos. Xu Sheng took over the command and ordered the soldiers on the ship to raise their shields and planks for defense, and to assist the soldiers on the shore to retreat.
Countless Jiangxia naval forces emerged from the jungle and attacked the enemies on the ship. Seeing that the enemy's troops were getting larger and larger, Xu Sheng did not care about anything else. After picking up most of the soldiers, he gave the order.
Amidst countless tinkling shots, hundreds of small and medium-sized ships of the Jiangdong Navy sailed downstream in embarrassment, escaping from Wuling!