A winding mountain road carries many transportation chokepoints in the county.
This is Baixing, one of the Eight Paths of Taihang.
Taihang Mountain, also known as Five Elements Mountain.
Its mountain range is located between Shanxi Province and the North China Plain, spanning four states. The mountain range starts from Yandu Xishan Mountain in the north and extends to Wangwu Mountain in the south.
In the third year of Chuping, Qingzhou's 300,000 Yellow Turbans and the Black Mountain bandits led by Zhang Yan wanted to join forces.
Compared with the former, although the total number of the latter is smaller, its actual combat power is greater.
The number of powerful infantry alone exceeds 10,000, and there are even thousands more elite cavalry.
It's just such a coincidence.
The two most powerful thieves at this time met the most famous pair of good friends in a different place at the same time.
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
The result was that the Yanzhou Mu defeated the Qingzhou bandits, and the Jizhou Mu swept the Black Mountain bandits.
Compared with the friendly forces who surrendered directly, Zhang Yan and his Black Mountain bandits were much better.
After all, they have been causing trouble since the time of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. Over the years, they have experienced numerous encirclements and suppressions by officers and soldiers.
Being able to survive to this day has its own merits and ways of survival.
Although it suffered a disastrous defeat, it did not completely collapse.
It's just a defeat, but it's not broken up.
Under the leadership of Zhang Yan, they were divided into numerous groups, relying on Zhongshan (Jizhou), Changshan (Jizhou), Zhaojun (Jizhou), Shangdang (Bingzhou), Hanoi, and various counties in the Taihang Mountains.
They constantly moved around and engaged in guerrilla warfare.
Yuan Shao's patience finally ran out, and he withdrew his troops before completing his full mission.
Among them, here in Baixing there is another group of people recuperating here.
After half a year, after constantly licking the wounds, I had just regained some strength, but unexpectedly, as soon as I came out of the mountain and wanted to plunder Hanoi, I encountered a head-on attack.
In desperation, they ran back to the mountain in despair.
However, the officers and soldiers pursued and fought fiercely, as if they were falling into poverty.
It was not until today, after entering the depths of the mountains, that this group of black bandits finally escaped temporarily.
When he found a secluded place to rest, he looked at his team, and leader Guo Daxian let out a long sigh.
He just roughly counted, and now there are only about two hundred people in the audience.
"The plagued one!"
Thinking of the loss of nearly all of the four thousand men and horses he had managed to save, Guo Daxian became angrier as he thought about it, and kept spitting out the fragrance.
"A dog got in!"
What he was unhappy about was not just this disastrous defeat.
But during the battle, he had already recognized the opponent's general, and he was an old acquaintance.
This can be said that the old hatred has not been eliminated, but a new hatred has been added.
At this time, other people on the field did not say anything in agreement, but only looked sideways and looked around from time to time.
"What are you looking at!"
Seeing the panic and uneasiness of his men, Guo Daxian became even more frustrated:
"Let's run deep here. Those officers and soldiers are all cavalry and we can't catch up."
"What's more, the mountain roads are rugged and complicated. If they dare to enter the mountains, they may not be able to tell the difference between east, west and north by now!"
"Look at your frightening behavior! It's so embarrassing!"
What he said made sense, and everyone finally felt relieved after looking at it for a while.
"Chief." A close confidant asked: "Where did this group of officers and soldiers come from? Do they look familiar?"
"Looking at those military uniforms, it seems..." Another subordinate also expressed his doubts: "They are the same officers and soldiers who fought with Zhang Shuai last year."
"Of course." Guo Daxian snorted coldly: "They are all Yuan Shao's subordinates."
"Yuan Shao?" The confidant who spoke first was stunned: "Isn't Hanoi a powerful force?"
"How do I know what's going on?" Guo Daxian glared at him: "Anyway, these officers and soldiers are Yuan Shao... No, they should be said to be that guy's subordinates."
""In the battle three days ago, there was a general I saw, who was that guy's deputy. I think... his name was Wenyuan?"
Hearing this, everyone panicked.
Yuan Shao is now in Jizhou, and his power is far beyond that of Zhang Yang. Last year, they had already suffered from each other, so they knew how powerful they were.
So they all started shouting.
"Is it Yuan Shao, the tortoise grandson, who wants to kill us all?"
"Chief, what should we do?"
"It's not safe enough here, let's continue walking inside?"
"Are you deaf?" Guo Daxian shouted, "I just said it."
"The terrain here is complicated. We have been here for so many years and we still get lost occasionally. They are new here and they still want to hunt us down?"
"If they dare to come in, the jackals, tigers and leopards will take care of these turtles and grandchildren for us!"
"What the leader said is true." Seeing the angry look on his face, his confidants quickly agreed:
"And that group of people may not be willing to go into the mountains. I know the virtues of this group of cavalry best. They are very delicate."
After hearing this, Guo Daxian's expression finally softened.
The confidant suggested with a flattering smile:
"But we have rested for a while, and the brothers have regained their strength. Look, leader..."
Pointing to the sky: "It's getting late, why not find a place to spend the night."
"It's really not suitable to spend the night in the wild here." Guo Daxian nodded in agreement, with a self-confident smile on his rough face.
This kid can still talk.
In fact, he didn't want to stay here any longer.
It’s really not deep enough into the mountain.
But when his subordinates said that, he didn't want to show his timidity, but he couldn't set off immediately.
Now that someone has given me the steps, I naturally have to follow the good deeds.
After thinking for a moment, Guo Daxian said: "I remember that we recruited a group of bandits last year. Their village was not demolished at that time. It seems that it is not far away."
"Just go and stay there for a few days!"
.....
The mountain road is rugged and steep, full of smooth rocks and covered with moss.
Even this group of Black Mountain thieves who know the way and are used to it must pay special attention when walking.
After walking for a while, the terrain began to soften, and at this time the group of people happened to walk into a dense forest.
After such a long time, there was still no sign of the pursuers. Everyone was in a good mood and their pace became brisk.
Guo Daxian was completely relieved, walked slowly and leisurely, and even started to hum an unknown rural tune.
"Chief, you just said that the leader of this group of officers and soldiers seems to be recognized by his name?" Upon seeing this, the confidant took the initiative to raise a topic:
"Who is it?"
"Who..." When Guo Daxian heard this, he stared deeply ahead and his voice became fierce: "Speaking of which, if this guy hadn't intervened, how could Yuan Shao alone have defeated our Black Mountain Army!"
"But when you encounter this guy, it is natural to lose. It's not because our Montenegrin army can't fight."
After talking for a long time, why did you end up subsidizing your own family?
He secretly complained in his heart, but the confidant's face was still full of smiles, and he nodded in agreement.
As if remembering some tragic scenes, Guo Daxian suddenly showed deep fear on his face:
"This guy really deserves his reputation."
"In the first battle with our army that day, he personally stepped forward to break into the formation, followed by hundreds of cavalry, and he was truly invincible!"
"Our army of three thousand elite cavalry... was defeated directly!"
"Flying General, hey, he is indeed the best in the world!"
Even though he was extremely resentful of this person in his heart, Guo Daxian truly admired him from the bottom of his heart when he talked about his bravery.
Another long sigh, with a bit of joy:
"After fighting in the past few days, it seems that I have only seen this guy's subordinates, but not him. This is a blessing among misfortunes."
"Otherwise..." He shook his head repeatedly, but he didn't want to continue talking.
"Flying General?" When the confidant finally heard the answer, he looked shocked:
"Chief, you said that the troops fighting us today are the flying general's subordinates?"
"Is this the flying general?"
"Of course it's him!" Guo Daxian was angry and even more disdainful: "But although this man is brave, he cannot be called a hero. His morals are despicable and he calls a thief his father."
"In the final analysis, no matter how powerful you are, you are just a family with three surnames..."
At this moment, a loud neighing sound came from due west, cutting off his words.
This is...
Are there horses?
The Black Mountain thieves immediately stopped when they heard the sound, and all said in shock:
"Why are there horses neighing deep in this mountain range?"
Guo Daxian was also inexplicably surprised.
He had just repeated to his subordinates several times that the pursuers were all cavalry and could not enter the mountains, but at this time he was brutally slapped in the face.
The first thing that emerged in my heart was not shame and anger, but an inexplicable...
disturbed.
He gathered enough energy and shouted loudly: "Who is it?"
There was silence in the forest, no sound responded.
This actually reminded these bandits.
Almost at the same time, everyone reacted.
How could it be so quiet in the dense forest?
How come there isn't even a chirping of insects or birds?
Guo Daxian's heart skipped a beat.
It was as if I felt an inexplicable danger slowly approaching.
"Is it a wild horse in the mountains?" He thought: "Don't panic, I just heard one sound."
"Even if there are pursuers, there are only a few people at most. Just kill them to vent your anger!"
He looked around at the men around him and signaled them to come forward to explore the way, but he saw that everyone was pretending to be deaf and dumb and motionless.
"You, you, you, you guys!" Guo Daxian could only shout angrily and pointed directly at a few people:
"Go in the direction of the sound and see what's going on. If there's anything wrong, come back and report it to me immediately."
The few subordinates had no choice but to pick up their weapons and tiptoe forward while sighing at their misfortune.
Guo Daxian and others stopped and watched the figures of this group of people gradually go away until they disappeared.
Shortly after.
Suddenly there were a few faint sounds of wind.
It seemed like something was rushing through the air, making a whirring sound.
Immediately, several screams suddenly sounded, extremely sad.
The next moment, the dense forest fell into silence again, like a stagnant water.
Mud, what's going on?
Guo Daxian couldn't help but wipe his forehead.
Why is it so wet?
He opened his eyes and took a closer look.
The entire palm of my hand was soaked with cold sweat.