After Zhuge Liang taught Tao Shang, Zhao Yun and a group of captains of the Jinling White Horse Army the secret code, Tao Shang immediately began to prepare for the war.
He first asked most of the soldiers to accompany Zhuge Liang and others to set up formations deep in the forest. Although the forest was beside the official road, the road had deep winding paths and was extremely large. There seemed to be a mountain range and tree-lined roads connected to the rear.
It is lush and opaque. Even if Zhuge Liang goes in to set up the formation, he still needs a certain amount of time to carefully inspect a certain area. Time is probably very tight.
But even if time was tight, there was nothing he could do. The potter could only find other ways to buy time for him.
He asked another small part of the white horse army to tie the reins of the war horses around the trees at the edge of the woods, and experimented with letting them walk and gallop around the trees, splashing bursts of sand. In this way, in the distance,
It looks like there are many ambushes hidden there, which can put pressure on the opponent.
As for the surroundings of the pontoon bridge, the pottery merchant did not arrange too many people and horses. Instead, he only asked Zhao Yun to lead more than 20 cavalrymen to station beside the bridge. The 20 cavalrymen were only stationed beside each other. As for the top of the bridge, there were only
Zhao Yun was left alone to hold the water and break the bridge.
Although he didn't know if this method would work, the potter decided to give it a try. At least at the critical moment, he had to treat a dead horse as a living horse.
Just when the sky started to dim, a burst of sand and dust began to rise in the distance, and the heavy sound of horse hoofs accompanied by the morning wind also reached the ears of the pottery merchant, Zhao Yun and other people.
With these sounds, the number of people on the other side is probably quite large.
The pottery merchant who was hiding by the dense forest suddenly felt nervous.
To be honest, he was also vague about his method and didn't know whether it would work or not.
But now it's up to people to make plans and to make things happen.
Unknowingly, Tao Shang's heart began to beat rapidly, like a small collision. Some of him knew it was Yuan Jun, but some of him didn't know that it was his old friend.
After a while, a large number of cavalry were seen rushing towards the direction of the pottery merchant and others.
On the large banner in the middle of the procession, there is a large word "Han" embroidered in gold characters.
Tao Shang mentally sorted out Yuan Shao's powerful generals one by one, and finally calculated that the person who came here should be Yuan Shao's general Han Meng.
Han Meng's abilities were as high as those of Hebei's famous generals, such as Gao Lan and Zhang He. It is said that Han Meng was not one to give in to too much.
After a while, I saw a vigorous Hebei cavalry team arriving in front of the pontoon bridge. The sergeants stood still and looked at the other side of the bridge in confusion.
When Han Meng saw someone on the bridge, he stretched out his hand to clear it up and signaled the cavalry behind him to get into a formation to meet the enemy.
Under Han Meng's gesture, the enemy's cavalry at the front began to move quickly, acting as if they were on the verge of battle.
Han Meng looked intently at the banner behind Zhao Yun, and then looked at Zhao Yun who was alone with not many soldiers behind him. He narrowed his eyes and began to beat a drum in his heart.
If so many people come here, they are either seeking death, stupid, or have a conspiracy.
Li Shan, the captain under Han Meng, said to Han Meng: "General, could this person be Zhao Yun?"
Han Meng nodded and said, "It should be him."
When he finished speaking, he heard Zhao Yun on the bridge say loudly: "I am Zhao Zilong from Changshan! Who dares to fight to the death with someone?"
Zhao Yun's voice did not shake the eardrums, but it was extremely clear and reached the ears of everyone present. Although it was peaceful, it had an aura of calmness and authority that made people feel heart-stopping.
Han Meng had some doubts in his heart. Looking at Zhao Yun's appearance, he didn't show any signs of panic. Listening to his voice, there was nothing unusual either. This was definitely not something he could pretend to be.
If it were an ordinary person with only such a small number of people, it would be absolutely impossible to remain so calm. It would be pretty good if he didn't pee his pants.
Han Meng knew that Cao Cao and Tao Shang were both scheming people, so he could not fight on his own for the time being. After all, a sneak attack was inherently dangerous, and if Cao Cao was on the road before Xuchang
Heavy troops were deployed, and Zhao Yun was the bait. If he was not careful, he could be counterattacked and killed.
In particular, Zhao Yun's current performance is so confident and confident that only those who are relaxed and happy can't do it! Isn't this making trouble? I'm really being bullied because I can't understand!
Unless this person is full of courage and has no fear.
At this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly shouted again: "I am Changshan Zhao Zilong, who dares to fight to the death with me?"
This time the shouting seemed to be more intimidating than before.
Li Shan said to Han Meng: "General, this Zhao Yun is standing alone on the pontoon bridge, and he is still calm and panic-stricken. There must be a scam! General, look at the forest behind him, I have been observing him for a long time.
, there is faint flying dust everywhere, it seems that there are elite soldiers buried there, maybe Tao Shang and Cao Cao have already set up an ambush here, just waiting for Zhao Yun to lure us over..."
Han Meng nodded heavily and said hesitantly: "This is the same general's view. If this is the case, then we might as well retreat for now, lest we fail to defeat Xuchang. If we turn around, we will be blamed by the general, which is not worth the loss."
After Han Meng and Li Shan made their plans, they immediately ordered their troops to guard against Zhao Yun's group while retreating slowly and cautiously.
Hiding in the dense forest, Tao Shang breathed a long sigh of relief as he watched Yuan Shaojun's disappearing figure.
When he was young, he walked out of the dense forest, came to Zhao Yun, patted his horse's head, and said: "Second brother worked really hard today. Today I was able to scare off Yuan Jun and preserve the foundation of the rear. Second brother should be credited with the first contribution."
Also, thanks to you not panicking in the face of battle, giving Han Meng the wrong impression."
Zhao Yun couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard the words: "What the third brother said, I didn't have any first merit, it was just good luck. If it were normal, and they really came to kill me, I'm afraid I would have to run for my life.
I don’t have the time to take any credit here or put on a show.”
The potter shook his head gently and said with a smile: "What are you talking about, second brother? Luck is also a kind of strength..."
While the two were talking, a cavalryman from the Jinling White Horse Army came up on horseback and said to Tao Shang: "Master, behind our official road is Cao Jun from Xuchang rushing in our direction?"
"Cao Jun?" Tao Shang was confused when he heard this: "Whose soldiers and horses are they?"
The cavalryman shook his head and said: "I don't know, I just saw the word 'Cao' written on the big banner."
"Cao?" Tao Shang said to himself in confusion: "Cao Ren, Cao Chun, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu... are all wrong. Are these people in the front line?"
While he was talking, he saw a burst of dust flying, and the Cao army that the scout said came to the pottery at a very fast speed.
The leader is impressively Cao Ang.
Although Cao Ang was in Xuchang, he also knew that his side was currently uniting with Tao Shang. It was impossible for Cao Cao not to tell him such a big strategic policy.
But Cao Ang didn't have a good impression of the pottery merchants. Although he had never met the pottery merchants, he had seen Zhao Yun's banner beforehand and knew that these people were his allies.
Seeing the pottery merchant on the official road, Cao Ang frowned: "I am Cao Ang, the eldest son of Cao Sikong. Who are you? Why are you here?"
The potter suddenly realized.
It turns out that the boy in front of me is the eldest son of Cao Cao who originally wrote Xiao Chun Wen for him to revise.
Although they have never seen each other before, Tao Shang and Cao Ang fought a fierce battle, and the final result was that Cao Ang was provoked.
"I am a pottery merchant. I am deploying troops and horses here to prevent Yuan Jun from attacking Xuchang. Mr. Cao, we have not seen each other for a long time."
Upon hearing the pottery merchant's name, Cao Ang was immediately surprised: "Are you the pottery merchant?"
The pottery merchant nodded and said: "On normal days, you could call me pottery merchant, but now I am your ally and have a close relationship with your father. My dear nephew, you should call me Taifu or uncle."
"
Cao Ang sniffed, feeling depressed.
He wanted to scold the potter, but he was his ally after all, and he could not make any mistakes without his father's permission. He just snorted and then called his soldiers to follow him across the bridge.
However, the potter stopped him and said, "Master Cao, why are you running out with your troops when you are not sitting in the rear for your father in Xuchang City?"
Cao Ang didn't stop his horse at all. Hearing this, he just shouted: "This is my family matter. I won't bother to take care of it, so I'll take my leave!"
After that, without waiting for the potter to continue speaking, he led the troops and rushed across the pontoon. The soldiers behind him also filed past under the surprised and confused eyes of Zhao Yun and others.
Tao Shang looked at Cao Ang's troops and horses passing by, and said doubtfully: "I heard from Cao Cao that his eldest son should be guarding Xuchang with Man Chong at the moment. How could he suddenly run out with his troops? Could it be?
Cao Cao sent someone to ask for reinforcements earlier? But the reinforcements should not be sent to the legitimate sons, right?"
Zhao Yun was not as complicated as the potter thought. He was just considering an extremely serious issue.
"Looking at the direction of Cao's troops, they seem to be heading towards Guandu Dazhai. If they catch up with Yuan's troops who were scared away by us...what will happen?"
These words struck the vital point of the theme, and directly made the hairs on the pottery man's body stand on end, making him shudder.
Zhao Yun touched on the key point.
Tao Shang waved his hand and said: "Oh no, I just saw this little kid, and I was so confused... Second brother, send someone to chase him quickly, and tell Cao Ang not to provoke the soldiers of Yuan's army who have retreated, so as not to
Just bring them back again."
Zhao Yun glanced at the pottery merchant leisurely and said, "It's okay to send someone there, but from his attitude, it seems that he may not listen to you."
…
At this time, Han Meng escaped from the pontoon where Tao Shang's army and horses were ambushed, and was heading back bit by bit. He thought that this trip was a safe one for him.
But Xuchang was not captured, so what should we do next? Should we wait or retreat directly?
Maybe I should stay and see. After all, I was too careful just now and retreated a little too hastily.
But just when Han Meng was hesitating about his next move, a scout came to report that a large number of Cao soldiers were chasing him from the rear and were moving rapidly towards his position.
Han Meng was stunned at first when he heard it, and then suddenly he was overjoyed!
"These soldiers and horses must be the ambushes in the forest behind Zhao Yun just now. Seeing that I couldn't go in, I couldn't help myself and chased them out! This is very good. I will fight with them to see how many there are.
If it doesn't work, it won't be too late to return to attack Xuchang! Send an order to the three armies to form formations to meet the enemy!"