But instead of receiving sunshine, there were dense gray clouds.
It also covered the sky with gray, and also added a touch of depression to the world.
As expected, it will rain again in the next two days.
This is how it is at the turn of summer and autumn in Huainan. Heavy rains will pour every three to five days, and from time to time there will be a continuous drizzle for seven or eight days.
Xia Houhui, Huang Ji and Chen Ding, who had just bypassed the Jianghuai hilly area (Quanjiao District), were in a quite cheerful mood.
They stayed behind and were on guard out of caution.
The other cavalrymen had already entered the swamp (wetland) zone with prisoners and weapons.
The swamp area north of Hefei has always been a buffer area between Wei and Wu. If nothing unexpected happens, Wu will not go deep into this area even if they are pursued.
Because it was easily discovered by the Wei army's scouts, they were surrounded and killed by the cavalry.
In other words, they are getting further and further away from danger.
Therefore, the mood of the three people, who were riding slowly, improved, and in order to drive away their sleepiness, they began to have a short chat.
Huang Ji, the eldest, rambled on about the after-dinner life in the army, such as Man Chong's fondness for drinking, Wang Ling's strict discipline on his subordinates, and Wen Qin's frequent false claims of military exploits, which were dismissed and then vented on the soldiers, etc.
The meaning is also very obvious.
Through casual conversation, he told Xia Houhui the details of the Huainan Front, as a token of his gratitude to Xia Houhui for agreeing to his proposal.
As for Chen Ding, who is in his early twenties, he is a boring gourd.
Just occasionally nodding or saying "hmm" in agreement.
"General, after I return this time, I will ask to be transferred out of the scout camp and return to my hometown to work as a tour guide or something like that."
At the end of the narration, Huang Ji also let his face reflect, "I will be forty years old after this year, and I can't resist the day and night work of spying on military intelligence. Alas, I think back to the early years when I first entered the scout camp.
, I am not yet thirty years old, and the people who were originally scouts with me are no longer here."
A general will die in a hundred battles, and a strong man will not be able to return home in ten years.
Hearing this, Xia Houhui also said something in his heart.
In such troubled times, there are very few people like Huang Ji who can survive until he retires and returns to his hometown.
“So best.”
After sighing for a while, he asked with a smile, "By the way, where is your hometown? If I have something to do in the future, I will definitely ask you for a drink."
"Hahaha~ If the general passes by, he must come!"
Hearing this, Huang Ji also burst into laughter, pointing his finger to the north with a face full of joy, "My hometown was originally in Chengde County. However, it was later affected by the war and was moved to Dangtu County by the government.
Well, it’s hard to find people in that area, but after I retire, my eldest son will come to apply for military membership. Then the general can ask him. He has read books and can read, so he will definitely be able to do it."
Suddenly, an arrow pierced his throat, causing his words to stop abruptly.
When he fell off the horse, the smile on his face had not faded.
well.
Even though the dawn is approaching, we are still in darkness after all.
Not far away, Ding Feng, who was leading the way, drew out his arrow again, pulled back the bowstring and fired.
Behind him, more than a hundred cavalry troops stretched sparsely for several miles.
After staying up all night, he finally caught up.
However, due to the uneven supply of war horses, there were only about forty horsemen left who could follow him closely.
But it's enough.
From the traces along the way, he could accurately judge that the number of Wei cavalry must not exceed thirty, and he was absolutely confident that he would kill all the invading enemies!
"Whoosh!"
Ding Feng's arrow shot again, grazing the side of Xia Houhui who was already galloping forward.
The strong wind of arrows and the hordes of pursuers left him no time to feel sad about Huang Ji's death. He took out his bow and arrows to fight back, and shouted at Chen Ding who also wanted to fight back with a bow, "Quick! Go and inform me."
Those in front, Thief Wu, are pursuing many soldiers, let them kill all the prisoners! Throw away all the weapons! Prepare to fight! I will delay as much time as possible."
"only!"
Chen Ding shot an arrow randomly and responded by kicking the horse in the belly and rushing out, "General, be careful."
He did not claim that he was staying to delay and let Xia Houhui leave first.
Because he knew that he could not compare with Xia Houhui in terms of shooting skills or mounts. Blindly showing off his strength would only lead to disaster for everyone.
However, in the face of an approaching enemy with more than forty cavalry, could Xia Houhui be able to delay?
Xia Houhui thinks he can.
Because there is no choice.
If he fails to delay, all the cavalrymen ten miles ahead will die, and he will also face accusations such as "advancing in greed of merit and treating the lives of soldiers as nothing". Although he will not be punished and executed, he will be in the army in the future.
It is also difficult to achieve anything.
With this awareness, he slowed down his horse slightly and let the horse run diagonally in the direction of Xuzhou, hoping to divert the pursuers away through detours. He leaned his body on the horse's back as much as possible, turned sideways and pulled away.
Bowstring.
"Boom!"
The unique sound of a strong bow of more than one stone made the arrows shoot towards Ding Feng as fast as lightning.
It's a pity that the arrow shot in haste missed.
Moreover, Ding Feng was also a good archer and was very good at dodging arrows. How could he be easily hit by him?
When he saw the two cavalry in front of him fleeing separately, he sneered, ignored Xia Houhui, and continued to pursue Chen Ding with his troops.
His military experience is too rich.
He saw through Xia Houhui's delaying intention at a glance, and he was very sure that as long as he continued to pursue in the direction of Shouchun, Xia Houhui would take the initiative to turn back even if he left the battlefield. Moreover, after seeing Xia Houhui's mount in
After galloping around like a very good horse, he also concluded in his mind that Xia Houhui's status was not low.
So he waved back.
Let one of the troops speed up and come up side by side. After giving some instructions, he drew his bow again and shot towards Chen Ding.
His prediction was correct.
When Xia Houhui rode his horse sideways for a short distance, but found that he had not attracted his pursuers, he actually turned his horse around and came back.
However, Ding Feng also made a mistake.
He didn't know that Xiahou Hui was born with ape arms and was especially good at shooting!
When Xia Houhui turned his horse and came back in a roundabout way, he did not run alongside Chen Ding to resist the arrows and let him get out of the battle as soon as possible. Instead, he approached the Wu formation diagonally within a hundred steps, drew his bowstring and sniped with all his heart.
Moreover, he had no intention of shooting Ding Feng, but instead aimed at those tribes' war horses.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by the sound of bowstrings, a war horse in the Wu cavalry formation was half-engulfed by an arrow. In pain, it lost its pace and stumbled.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
One arrow after another, with almost no missed shots.
However, in a moment, Xia Houhui's quiver was empty, and the number of troops that could keep up with Ding Feng was reduced to seven or eight.
Among them, two or three Wu riders were tripped by Paoze's horses.
Most of the episodes in Fallen Horses did not die.
But most of them suffered fractures or fainted. Not only did they lose their combat effectiveness, but Wu Qi, who followed, had to rein in his horse and come down to rescue them.
Ding Feng couldn't bear it anymore.
The two sides were chasing each other, and due to the continuous forward speed and wind inertia, the chasing side suffered from a disadvantage in terms of range.
Several of the arrows he shot in succession hit Chen Ding and his horse, but because their strength was offset a lot, they did not kill Chen Ding or cause the horse to stumble.
on the contrary.
Spurred by this minor injury, the war horse ran even faster.
Can't wait any longer.
Seeing his troops falling off their horses one after another, he could no longer hold back. He waved his hand and sent four or five horses to chase Chen Ding, while he led the others to chase after Xiahou Hui.
Then he inserted the bow body into the bow bag under the saddle with his backhand, took something handed to him from the side, and held his hands in front of his chest.
And other parts also follow the same pattern.
Xia Houhui had no idea about this.
When he saw that he had lured the pursuers over as he wished, he was not afraid at all, but instead grinned.
In the chase, Wusun Liangju's superb horse gave him an advantage.
Moreover, the two sides were still within a hundred paces, which gave him enough confidence to shoot six or seven of his pursuers to death, and also bought enough time for the cavalry in front to prepare for the battle.
It's too late to say it, but it's soon.
Lying on the horse, he turned around and handed the bow to his right hand. Just when he was about to take out arrows from another quiver to kill the pursuers, he suddenly became alert and reflexively used the round shield tied to his arm to protect his head.
forward.
"Duh!"
With some thin sawdust flying, his forearm first felt a sting, and then he felt the leather arm guard was very wet.
When he looked closely, he discovered that the sharp arrowhead had actually penetrated the wooden buckler, protruding more than half an inch. It also penetrated the leather arm guard and stabbed his forearm.
He also lost all intention of continuing to snipe his pursuers, and he kicked the horse's belly hard and ran for his life at full speed.
Because this arrowhead is easy to identify, it is a powerful crossbow arrow!
The main long-range strikes in the army are bows and crossbows.
Scouts usually use mounted bows.
Because the bow fires quickly, but the crossbow is too slow to string, especially on a bumpy horseback.
But the advantage of crossbows is their long range and strong penetrating power; ordinary crossbows have a range of a hundred steps, and powerful crossbows can kill enemies at a distance of 140 steps.
Now that Jiangdong's pursuers had been equipped with powerful crossbows, he did not dare to push them any further no matter what.
lucky!
What a fluke!
He was a little frightened, and when he ran for his life in a hurry, he was very puzzled: Why are Jiangdong's cavalry scouts equipped with powerful crossbows?!
Well, so far, he thought he was encountering a group of "ordinary" Jiangdong scouts.
Ding Feng, who had just fired the powerful crossbow bolt, hammered his thigh hard.
He was very angry.
When chasing him, he had already identified through Wu Sun Liangju that Xia Houhui must be the chief officer of Wei Cavalry. In line with the idea of "capture the thief first, capture the king", he deliberately left Xia Houhui alone so that he could relax his guard and be captured by himself.
One hit kill!
As a result, everything went as he wished. Seeing that the crossbow arrow was about to pierce the opponent's head, the opponent suddenly felt blessed and raised his small buckler to block it, causing him to miss the mark!
Really hateful!
"Keep chasing!"
When he was loading the second crossbow bolt and stringing it up, he also loudly ordered, "Be sure to shoot that thief general to death today!"
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Amidst his roar, several more crossbow bolts were fired at Xia Houhui.
Moreover, the advantage in numbers was used to make up for the time difference in the slow cocking of the powerful crossbow, forming a continuous suppressive force supported by several weapons. It also left Xia Houhui without the ability to counterattack, and he was as embarrassed as a lost dog when he fled for his life.