Chapter seven hundred and eighty first taste the taste of my knife
The night is like splashing ink.*Literary Museum*
In the city of Hebei, there was deathly silence.
Thirty thousand remaining Qin troops have gathered under the city gate, with the word "wandering" written on their faces.
In the palace, Cao Cao was fully armed, and Xu Chu, Liu Ye and other civil and military officials on his left and right were also wearing heavy armor, as if they were facing a powerful enemy.
In the main hall, the atmosphere was so heavy that it was suffocating.
Cao Cao sat there like a stone statue, holding the sword "Yitian" in his hand, his expression solemn and dignified.
The sound of heavy footsteps sounded, and Cao Cao raised his head slightly, only to see Xia Houyuan, wearing heavy armor, striding into the palace.
Cao Cao stood up immediately and walked down the steps.
"Your Majesty, the 10,000 soldiers and horses at the east gate have been assembled and ready for action." Xia Houyuan cupped his hands and said.
Cao Cao stepped forward, patted Xia Houyuan on the shoulder, and sighed: "Wonderful talent, it's really hard for you to put yourself in danger to attract enemies for me."
"Your Majesty is responsible for the country, and it is natural for me to die for Your Majesty." Xia Houyuan said generously.
"Don't talk about death!" Cao Cao shouted sharply, "I want you to escape intact after completing your mission."
Xia Houyuan's body was shaken, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will fight my way to Nan'an to meet Your Majesty."
Cao Cao nodded slightly and seemed satisfied.
At this time, Liu Ye stepped forward and whispered: "Your Majesty, the time has come, it's time to set off."
Cao Cao glanced at the dim moonlight outside, then said no more, took heavy steps, and led the civil and military personnel out of the palace.
Outside the palace gate, everyone went out to mount their horses, and Cao Cao glanced at Xia Houyuan.
"Your Majesty, take care, I'm leaving." Xia Houyuan bowed his hand to Cao Cao, reined in his horse, turned around, and rode away towards the east gate.
Cao Cao watched Xia Houyuan disappear into the night. He took a deep breath, turned in the opposite direction, and rode towards Ximen.
Xia Houyuan rode his horse to the east gate city, where more than 10,000 Qin troops had been lined up for a long time.
As soon as they saw Xia Houyuan's arrival, the hesitant Qin soldiers suddenly became nervous and had a vague premonition in their hearts.
Xia Houyuan looked around at all the soldiers and said loudly: "You have all received great kindness from Your Majesty. Today is the time for you to repay Your Majesty's kindness. I am a man who will follow my general and fight out of the city, killing the enemy without leaving a single piece of armor behind."
After the order was passed, the east gate of the city suddenly opened. The suspension bridge also creaked and slowly lowered.
Through the dark doorway, these Qin soldiers could vaguely see the flickering lights of the Chu army camp a few miles away.
Only then did they know that tonight they would use ten thousand people to attack the Chu army camp with countless soldiers and horses.
Every Qin soldier trembled on their backs, and a chilling chill rose from the soles of their feet and spread all over their bodies in the blink of an eye.
"Follow me and fight out of the city~~" Xia Houyuan shouted, galloping his horse and wielding his sword, and ran out of the city gate first.
The general had left the city, and the anxious Qin soldiers, despite their reluctance, had no choice but to follow Xia Houyuan out of the city under the supervision of the general.
Under the dark night, 10,000 Qin troops left the city and rushed toward the Chu army's camp that stretched for several miles.
At this moment, Yan Liang in the imperial tent was sipping wine and reading "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
The book in his hand is no longer the heavy bamboo slips of the past, but is written on newly made bamboo paper from the Great Chu Kingdom. This thin volume contains the most exquisite art of war in the world.
Since Yan Liang invented bamboo paper, with his strong support, official documents at all levels in Chu State have replaced the original silk books and bamboo slips with paper official documents. With this lightweight writing carrier, official documents at all levels in Chu State have
Work efficiency has been greatly improved.
With the vigorous promotion of the government, bamboo paper soon attracted the favor of civilians. The powerful and wealthy gentry in various states and counties also quickly fell in love with this convenient and cheap new paper, and one after another paid to buy it from the government.
Because the papermaking technology has always been in the hands of the imperial court, the papermaking mills in Chu were basically government-run. Naturally, bamboo paper, like salt and iron, had a government-run and official-sold monopoly.
The imperial court gained a considerable amount of income.
At this time, the book "Sun Tzu's Art of War" that Yan Liang saw was written and bound by his queen, Huang Yueying.
Looking at the meaningful and elegant handwriting on the book, Yan Liang seemed to see his wife's moving and familiar face, and a feeling of closeness arose spontaneously.
While looking at the book, Yan Liang's brows moved slightly, as if he noticed something.
When Yan Liang put down the military document, Zhou Cang had already stepped into the tent, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the Qin army attacked my camp at night."
The Qin army attacked the camp?
Yan Liang's expression changed, and a trace of surprise flashed across his sharp-edged face.
The camp had more than 100,000 powerful soldiers. Yan Liang was obviously not worried that the Qin army could break through the camp. He was surprised that at this time, Cao Cao still dared to use an egg against a stone, so that his pitifully few soldiers came to die on their own initiative.
"Let's take a look." Yan Liang stood up and strode out.
Yan Liang was sitting on a red rabbit horse, and under the protection of a group of Tiger Guards, he rushed to the camp gate in a short time.
In this city, the shouts of killing were already trembling along the lines of the camp gates. When the generals learned that the enemy was attacking the camp, they all led their troops and horses to rush to the defense.
Yan Liang stood on his horse and looked from afar, but saw countless Qin troops in the night, rushing towards the camp one after another.
It was difficult to distinguish the true enemy from the false one at night, so the generals did not attack easily, but fired randomly with strong bows and crossbows.
Tens of thousands of crossbowmen fired at them, and screams could be heard outside the camp. Thousands of Qin soldiers fell into a pool of blood.
Faced with such heavy losses, the Qin army outside the camp continued to attack like crazy.
Not long after, Fazheng and Xu Shu also arrived. The two counselors looked at the Qin army going crazy and looked surprised.
"What do you think of Cao Cao being so desperate?" Yan Liang asked, raising his whip.
Fazheng watched the enemy for a long time, his expression suddenly changed, he cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I think this is Cao Cao's trick of attacking in the east and attacking in the west."
"By claiming to be attacking from the east and attacking from the west, are you saying that Cao Cao's attack on our east camp was a lie, but his purpose was to seize the opportunity to capture other camps?" Yan Liang asked.
"Of course not." Fazheng shook his head, "What I mean is that Cao Cao used this army to attack my camp just to make us mistakenly think that he wanted to attack the camp, and Cao Cao himself would lead other remnants of the army and take the opportunity to attack our camp.
Breakout west."
Yan Liang's expression changed slightly after he was reminded.
Xu Shu also suddenly understood and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, what Xiaozhi said is absolutely true. Cao Cao is at the end of his rope and there is no way to break the siege. He must be taking the opportunity to break through and escape westward."
"That's it." Yan Liang nodded, but there was no trace of worry in his brows.
Although there was no encirclement camp to the west of Jicheng, Yan Liang deployed Wen Chou, an ambush force of about 40,000 people, on the outskirts, just to prevent Cao Cao from breaking through to the west.
Now it seems that Wen Chou's troops have finally come in handy.
At this time, Fazheng said again: "Although there is General Hussar to the west of Jicheng, Cao Cao is struggling to the death. He will try his best to break out of the encirclement. I am only afraid of General Hussar's 40,000 troops.
It’s not enough to withstand Cao Cao’s desperate charge.”
Fa Zheng's words reminded Yan Liang that the fighting power of a dying man is not comparable to that of an ordinary army.
Thinking of this, Yan Liang shouted: "Come here, send an order to Lu Lingqi immediately, ordering her to immediately lead five thousand light cavalry to the aid of the hussar general. No matter how high the cost, Cao Cao must be intercepted by me.
The decree was quickly passed down. When Lu Lingqi heard that Cao Cao was going to escape, she didn't need to do any encouragement at all. With the fire of revenge, she led 5,000 light cavalry to the west of Jicheng.
"Your Majesty, how should we deal with the Cao army in front of us?" Fazheng asked.
"Do you even need to ask?" Yan Liang sneered and raised his whip: "Come out with all the troops and let me kill them to your heart's content until no one is left alive!"
The order to kill was issued, the sound of war drums soared into the sky, and the sound of horns pierced the darkness of the night.
Huang Zhong, Zhang Ren, Yan Yan, Zhu Huan, Jiang Qin, and other generals led their troops and horses, rushed out of the camp, and surrounded the Qin army from all directions.
At this moment, Xia Houyuan outside the camp was still urging his soldiers to continuously attack the Chu camp.
Xia Houyuan stood in the darkness with his horse drawn and his sword drawn. In front of him were two thousand Qin army sword and axe-hands.
Arrows rained down in front of the formation, and many Qin troops who had lost their fighting spirit were defeated from the Chu camp and retreated towards the formation.
However, Xia Houyuan gave the order cold-bloodedly, and his sword and ax hands killed the retreating soldiers without mercy.
It was under Xia Houyuan's iron-blooded persecution that the frightened Qin soldiers could only attack the Chu camp like crazy.
"If you charge forward like this, the Yan thief's attention will be attracted, and Your Majesty will be able to successfully break out."
Xia Houyuan thought to himself, and continued to force his soldiers mercilessly, marching forward one after another to die.
However, in the next moment, the Chu army that had been holding on suddenly rushed out. Countless Chu army infantry and cavalry were attacking him from all directions.
The rolling tide of troops killed the Qin army in front of the formation with almost no effort.
The panic-stricken soldiers of the Qin army did not care about the intimidation of their own swordsmen and axe-hands. They abandoned their helmets and armor and were defeated regardless of the situation.
In the mighty tide of troops, a group of soldiers and horses were like sharp arrows, tearing the Qin army in half.
At the front, the old general with white beard and hair, his sword dancing like the wind, cutting the heads of Qin soldiers like vegetables and melons, smashed through the rebel army, and came straight towards Xiahou Yuan.
Xia Houyuan's expression was shocked, and his eyes almost burst out.
He will never forget who almost killed him in the battle of Dingjun Mountain.
That unstoppable enemy general was Xia Houyuan's mortal enemy, Huang Zhong, the Tiger of Changsha.
"You immortal thing, even if I, Xia Houyuan, die in battle today, I will cut off your head. Come and accept your fate!"
Xia Houyuan, who had a desire for revenge, shouted loudly, raised his horse and wielded his sword, and rushed towards Huang Zhong.
In the rebellious army, Huang Zhong also found Xia Houyuan, and he couldn't help but sneer at the corner of his mouth.
"In the battle at Dingjun Mountain, you were lucky enough to escape death. I didn't expect you to seek your own death today. Let me give you a taste of my Huang Zhong blade again!"
Huang Zhong let out a low whistle, proudly and fearlessly, held out his long knife, and charged forward.
