At the end of the day, Cai Mao's army made fire and made food. At three quarters after sunrise, the whole army got up and assembled. At the beginning of meal time, they lined up in camp. At three quarters before meal time, that is, at eight o'clock in the morning, they arrived outside Guan Yu's camp to provoke him.
In the dead of winter, the sky in the south is still gray and bright at eight o'clock in the morning, filled with white fog, and the north wind blows, making the fog gradually turn from thick to light.
When the continuous sound of horns filled the wilderness and the sound of drums shook the heaven and earth, near the forest about three miles away from Guan Yu Camp on the south bank of Lanxi River, dense crowds of people in Cai Mao Camp had already formed their formation and headed towards Guan Yu Camp.
Yesterday, Cai Mao camped by the forest. It was winter, the forest was withered, the vegetation was broken, and the world became yellow and brown. Except for the evergreen trees all year round, the woods were filled with dead leaves. It seemed like a good time to set a fire.
However, this place is not as good as Yiling. Yiling is just the bank of the Yangtze River, not the Yunmengze Lake. However, it is already very humid. Lu Xun ordered people to bring hay and barely lit a fire, but only Liu Bei's camp was burned.
This place is on the south shore of Dongting Lake, further south than Yiling. The humidity in the winter air is unimaginable. Unless you use incendiary bombs, it is really difficult to burn with ordinary flames.
Therefore, although Cai Mao committed a taboo in the north by camping by the forest in autumn and winter, it was not a mistake in the south. This was also true in the battle of Yiling. Lu Xun was not actually playing fire attack, but a heart-attack strategy.
It just took advantage of Liu Bei's eagerness to start a war.
"Report!"
Cai Mao stood on the temporary high platform, surrounded by his attendants to protect him, raised his own banner, and looked into the distance among thousands of troops.
At this moment, a messenger galloped over, knelt down in the audience and said: "Report, Taiwei, the troops sent by the Hussar General have arrived at Zikou this morning and are on their way to Yiyang."
"oh?"
Cai Mao was overjoyed: "We arrived just in time. Let them bring siege equipment in boats and sail around to the outside of the west city of Yiyang. When I destroy Guan Yu, I will destroy the city of Yiyang."
"only!"
Send an order and go back immediately to convey the order.
"Lieutenant, General Hussars' troops have arrived at just the right time. It seems that we can capture Yiyang and then follow the trend to destroy Linxiang."
Hu Zheng on the side laughed and said: "It is said that Liu Pan's soldiers, horses and family are all in Linxiang. Once Linxiang is defeated, Jingnan will be captured!"
"Um."
Cai Mao nodded and said: "Yes, now it depends on my general Xing Daorong."
He looked south.
Liu Cong had far more troops than Liu Qi.
Most of the 200,000 troops left by Liu Biao returned to Liu Cong.
Therefore, in terms of total military strength, Liu Cong and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were in charge of more than 100,000 troops, while Liu Qi, who was under the control of Huangzu Liu Pan, had more than 50,000 troops.
This time Cai Mao went south. In addition to the approximately 60,000 troops he controlled, he also asked Zhang Yun to lead 50,000 troops to Jingling County to contain the Jiangxia navy.
Once the Jiangxia navy dared to go south to aid Jingnan, Zhang Yun, who was located in Jingling and Yunshe areas, immediately went south along the Han River and occupied Jiangxia County.
Therefore, after fighting for so long, Cai Mao had already reached Yiyang, a short distance away from Linxiang County in Changsha County, but no Jiangxia navy came to help.
Moreover, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun also had a huge advantage in terms of total military strength.
Cai Mao's troops divided into multiple groups and surrounded Yiyang. In addition to Han Hu's entire army being wiped out, he still had 50,000 troops to deal with more than 16,000 Guan Yu and Huang Zhong's troops.
Although Yiyang had not been captured yet, he was afraid of Shen Chen's tricks, so he ordered Zhang Yun to send 10,000 reinforcements to ensure nothing went wrong.
In this way, the entire situation in Jingnan became a weak point for Cai Mao to detour to Liu Pan's army. If he used more troops to defeat fewer troops in Yiyang, his chances of winning were still very high.
At this time, in addition to the more than 20,000 troops in the headquarters, there are nearly 10,000 people in the rear camp. Han Xi, Sun Yi, and Zhou Bo are in Nan'an, Hongkou, and can come to support them at any time. Now that Zhang Yun's reinforcements have arrived, naturally he can sit back and relax.
"Dong dong dong dong!"
The sound of war drums in the early morning shook the surrounding areas, and the long and continuous sound of the horn seemed to disperse the morning fog.
Xing Daorong came to the outside of the camp from his horse and shouted: "Where are the men of Guan Yu?"
The camp gate opened wide, and Guan Yu galloped out.
The two men were facing each other in front of the two armies just like yesterday. At this moment, the north wind was blowing, making the cloaks of the two men rustle.
Cai Mao and Hu Zheng looked at the rear and saw that Guan Yu had indeed come out, so they laughed. Hu Zheng said: "Guan Yu is really proud and arrogant. He provoked him with words and left the camp to die. We have General Xing here, so we must let him have his life."
There is no return.”
Cai Mao also laughed: "There are rumors in the north that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were defeated by ten thousand people, and they once took the rank of general among ten thousand armies. Now I have Xing Daorong. Forgive Guan Yu, but this battle will be lost in Yiyang."
The two of them laughed and thought that Guan Yu was really provoked and left the camp alone. However, they did not know that although Guan Yu was arrogant, he was never an arrogant and reckless man.
At this moment, when he came outside the camp, he had other plans. He saw him facing Xing Daorong's provocation and said loudly: "Guan is here."
"Guan Yu is a common man!"
Xing Daorong thought that he had figured out Guan Yu's reality yesterday, but that was the case, so he immediately shouted: "It was getting late yesterday, so it was inconvenient to fight for a long time. Today I will fight you for 300 rounds, and I will definitely kill you under the horse!"
I saw in Cai Mao's formation, the horns were blaring, the drums were vibrating, and the soldiers were shouting to cheer for Xing Daorong.
Seeing this, Xing Daorong was so proud that he rushed over with his horse and ax dancing: "Guan Yu is dead."
"snort!"
Guan Yu snorted coldly and reined in the red rabbit.
Then he saw Chitu jump up, draw a gorgeous arc in the air, and actually jump two feet away, avoiding Xing Daorong's charge.
Before the battle started, Xing Daorong reined up his horse and galloped towards him again, slashing with his big axe, but Guan Yu easily neutralized him.
The two were soon locked in a stalemate with swords and axes, clashing with each other, and fought several times.
After Xing Daorong went back yesterday, he learned the hard way and thought that it would definitely not be possible to compete physically with Guan Yu.
His big ax is bulky and consumes a lot of physical strength, so he will suffer losses in a protracted battle.
So he decided to play to his strengths—strength.
I saw Xing Daorong strike down with his axe, and after being blocked by Guan Yuge, he did not withdraw his axe and make a second move, but continued to press down.
His strength was actually quite strong, his whole face turned red, he held the ax handle with both hands, gritted his teeth, and tried to use all his strength to push Guan Yu off his horse.
However, Guan Yu raised his hands high, and the Qinglong Saber did not move at all. Xing Daorong's hands started to feel sore after fighting hard, but he had no choice but to defeat Guan Yu.
Seeing this, Xing Daorong thought it was because Guan Yu was relying on the strength of the horse, so he withdrew his ax and instead of cutting vertically, he chose to chop horizontally, aiming for Guan Yu's waist.
How could Guan Yu not know what he was thinking, but exerting strength is the most time-consuming, and sometimes a round can last for a quarter of an hour, so it is often the first choice to delay time.
Otherwise, some people fight 300 rounds and finish it in an hour or two, while some people fight 300 rounds and fight all day and night. This is the reason.
Therefore, since Xing Daorong chose to fight with Guan Yu, it was natural that Guan Yu's wish was fulfilled, so he followed the trend and raised the Qinglong knife in his hand, easily blocking Xing Daorong's axe.
I felt a powerful force coming towards me. Xing Daorong did have some strength, but compared with Guan Yu, he was still far behind. He could kill ordinary soldiers or chop melons and vegetables, but when he met the Martial Saint, he would definitely
Don't mention it.
The two fought again and were in a stalemate for a while. After only four or five rounds, Xing Daorong's strength was exhausted. He was so tired that he was out of breath and sweating like rain. Guan Yu was afraid of exposing his flaws and kept breathing rapidly, pretending to be very good.
Tired look.
Soon the two horses began to spin back and forth, fighting each other like a two-man spinner. The fight lasted for about ten rounds, but it lasted longer than the more than twenty rounds yesterday because the two horses were competing for strength.
"This Guan Yu is indeed powerful. Although General Xing is the bravest of the three armies, he fought back and forth with Guan Yu and still failed to kill him. It seems that he is in vain. General Xing is going to be in a tough battle."
Hu Zheng took the lead and watched. The two men in the formation kept slashing and fighting, and the fight was fierce and fierce. To an outsider looking at the excitement, they would think that the two men were fighting in a dark and dark manner, which was quite spectacular.
"Why do I feel that General Xing seems to be at a disadvantage?"
Cai Mao was far away and his eyesight was not good. He squinted his eyes and watched. Although the fight there was quite vigorous, he just felt that Xing Daorong always suffered a bit.
Hu Zheng also noticed it and said: "It seems so. Every time General Xing fights with Guan Yu, he will be beaten back by Guan Yu."
"Feel."
Cai Du also said: "It seems that General Xing's horses are difficult to drive. After all, General Xing is tall and cannot be carried by ordinary horses. The name of Guan Yu's horse is Red Rabbit. It was Lu Bu's mount at that time and was the best in the world.
It's a famous horse, General Xing suffers from the horse."
While a few people were talking, there was another round of fighting going back and forth.
Hearing a "hush" sound, the war horse under Xing Daorong's crotch neighed and was suddenly crushed to the ground.
Xing Daorong himself also fell down, and the Green Dragon Sword followed him like a shadow, reaching the top of his head.
Compared with the red rabbit, his war horse is like the difference between a husky and a lion.
Red Rabbit is a sweaty horse. Guan Yu is more than two meters tall and weighs more than 200 kilograms, so he can easily carry it on his back.
Xing Daorong is also a little over 180 meters tall and weighs close to 200 pounds, but his horse is an ordinary war horse and cannot carry out such a fierce battle.
The main reason is that both sides have been working hard.
In the Han Dynasty, there were no bilateral stirrups. If there was an immediate duel of strength, generals would often have to rely on their legs to tightly clamp the horse's belly to gain strength.
Xing Daorong was able to fight Zhang Fei for more than ten rounds. At least he had a second-rate level of martial arts. He had some basic skills. Although his waist and legs were extremely sore, he could barely hold on.
But the horse was struggling very hard, so in such a high-intensity fight, the horse couldn't hold on, and accidentally, the horse stumbled and fell to the ground.
"ah!"
Xing Daorong was beaten to pieces and felt like his internal organs were about to be shaken out.
Fortunately, the horse had rough skin and thick flesh, and the war horse was about 1.2 meters tall at the time, so the place where it fell was not high, so it was only shaken and no major injuries were suffered.
When he came to his senses in disgrace, he turned over with difficulty, raised his head and saw the Qinglong Saber. He was immediately frightened out of his wits, thinking that Guan Yu was going to take the opportunity to kill him, so he fought with his two limbs, and instinctively wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy.
Unexpectedly, Guan Yu said: "You are quite capable, but the horse under your crotch is very thin. I, Guan, never take advantage of others' danger. I went back to change the horse and rested before coming back."
"Okay, okay."
Xing Daorong nodded hurriedly, and after regaining his breath, he picked up his big axe, ignored the war horse, and crawled back.
In the distance, Cai Maojun had been shouting and beating drums to cheer for Xing Daorong, but now he fell off his horse, and everyone gradually became quiet for a while. Although Xing Daorong fell off his horse, it was not a crime of fighting, but he still fell off his horse.
In addition, Guan Yu did not take advantage of the enemy's danger, but asked him to change his horse and fight again, which is also admirable.
Soldiers all admire the strong, so when they saw Guan Yu in the distance calmly waiting for Xing Daorong to fight again, and when they thought of Cai Mao arranging archers to ambush him, they felt ashamed.
"Lieutenant!"
Xing Daorong was helped to the foot of the high platform of Cai Mao's army, and he limped and said: "The general has disappointed everyone's expectations. I hope that the Taiwei will be punished!"
"Eh."
Cai Mao raised his hands and said, "This is not your fault, it's just that the horses are unbearable. What does it have to do with General Xing? I wonder if the general is fine and can he still fight against the enemy?"
"Thank you very much, Lieutenant, for your concern. Although I fell off my horse, I only have a slight pain in my feet, and nothing else is serious."
Xing Daorong said hurriedly: "It's just that I wanted to fight Guan Yu for three hundred rounds, but Guan Yu's horse is the world-famous red rabbit horse, but my horse can't fight for a long time. I'm afraid I won't be able to fight against him."
This is to avoid this errand.
In fact, Xing Daorong is not stupid, but very witty. He also discovered some problems while doing it.
He and Guan Yu fought fiercely for strength. After more than ten rounds, he was panting from exhaustion and sweating like rain. Although Guan Yu seemed very tired, there was no trace of sweat on his face.
And no matter how I attack, others can block it every time, which means I feel quite confident.
This made Xing Daorong realize something was wrong.
Although I don’t really want to admit it.
But he always had a feeling.
That means they don't seem to be trying their best at all.
It seems like he is playing a trick on himself.
So instinctively, he felt that he could not continue, so he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to shirk responsibility.
"Since you are fine, that's good."
However, Cai Mao asked: "But the general said yesterday that he would be able to kill Guan Yu. Why did he say today that he could not fight against him?"
"Forehead"
Xing Daorong was stunned for a moment and said hurriedly: "Lieutenant, I don't want to fight, but if you ride an ordinary war horse, how can you fight Guan Yu?"
Cai Mao smiled and said: "If the general has a good horse, can he kill Guan Yu?"
"It's natural."
Xing Daorong boasted to Haikou and said: "The general relied on the big ax in his hand to suppress Guan Yu. However, the horse was weak and could not use his strength, so he was unable to defeat him. If he had a good horse, he would surely kill Guan Yu."
He originally thought that since there were no good horses in the southern army, Cai Mao would definitely not be able to meet his demands, so he could just go with the flow and not go to war.
Unexpectedly, Cai Hao laughed and said, "Come here, bring me the jade treasure!"
"ah?"
Xing Daorong was dumbfounded.
Then I saw someone bringing a war horse closer.
The war horse was tall and slender, and its body was as black as ink. Only the mane on the back of its head was pure white.
"The Book of Songs·Lu Song" says: "The black body and the white hyena are called Luoma."
This horse is Luo Ma.
Cai Mao introduced: "This is the BMW that Zhang Xiu gave to the late emperor. The late emperor gave it to me. I will give it to the general. I wish the general can kill Guan Yu!"
"Thank you, Lieutenant, for the horse."
Xing Daorong had no choice but to thank him and said, "Please allow me to rest for a while before going to fight Guan Yu."
"Well, let's take a rest. General, please kill Guan Yu as soon as possible."
Cai Mao cast an ardent look, which made Xing Daorong feel extremely stressed and his back felt cold.