Yuan Shu sat on the horse's back and looked around. He sent the scouts far away, and everyone held a torch in their hands. Once there was a situation, they immediately sent a signal with the torch. Two thousand soldiers surrounded him, each of them walking forward, with swords and shields in his hands, bows and arrows on his waist, with a nervous expression, maintaining a formation that could be fought at any time, as if the enemy was coming.

But they walked for two hours. It was not that Yuan Shu didn't want to walk fast, he was anxious and wanted to have both his ribs and fly to the He family manor in one breath. However, the last time Xinye attack left a heavy psychological shadow on him, and he didn't want to be attacked by Cao Cao at night again.

He concluded that Cao Cao would be like a wolf in the shadow at this moment, waiting for him to take the bait. He even felt that Cao Cao attacked Sun Ce with a fake move, and seducing him to take the bait was the real purpose. For this reason, he did not dare to be careless at all. He would rather walk slowly than give Cao Cao a chance to attack.

These two thousand soldiers were his troops. They were the ones who persisted until the end in Xinye, and they were the ones who returned the fastest after being defeated. Sun Jian brought some weapons from Xiangyang, and Yuan Shu gave priority to equip these loyal subordinates. Now he had to rush to save Sun Ce overnight. Yuan Shu dared to take out the camp without worrying about the collapse of the battle.

Since the east was clear, a red cloud appeared in the sky, the earth gradually revealed its true face, and the road under his feet became more and more visible. Yuan Shu wiped his sweat, and the tight string finally relaxed a little, but his heart became heavier. It has been midnight since he received the news that Cao Cao left the city, and he has not seen Cao Cao's shadow along the way. Although he was relieved for his safety, he had to sweat a coldly for Sun Ce.

Perhaps Cao Cao's goal is Sun Ce.

"General, general." A fast horse rushed over. The knight on the horse's back tied his mount, turned his head, and advanced with Yuan Shu. "There are five miles ahead of Hejia Manor. You can hear the sound of war drums, and the two sides are still fighting fiercely."

"Still fighting fiercely?" Yuan Shu was overjoyed and slapped his forehead hard. "I'm relieved." He asked again: "How many people are there in Cao Cao?"

The Knight shook his head. "I don't know."

"Don't know?" Yuan Shu was furious and swung the whip and whipped it. "Sir, you are all blind. You can guess the number of people even if you look at the torch."

The knight did not dare to dodge or protect him. He was whipped by Yuan Shu, and then said: "General, several of us who came to the front to find out the news did not come back. He was probably ambushed by the other party. General, Captain Lei asked me to remind the general that although the sky was bright, he could not relax. The enemy might take advantage of this time..."

The knight said halfway, Yuan Shu raised his hand and interrupted him. He cursed, pulled out the long sword around his waist, and let out a long roar.

"Enemy attack-prepare for battle-"

The soldiers who had just breathed a sigh of relief immediately took action, and the sword and shield hands lined up to both sides. The spearmen squatted behind them, holding the spears tightly with their hands. The crossbowmen stood in three rows, placing their bows and arrows. Yuan Shu tied his mounts, and his personal guards stepped forward to protect Yuan Shu. The sound of war drums suddenly exploded, breaking the tranquility of the morning.

As soon as the formation was completed, the cavalry appeared on the hills on both sides and began to accelerate along the hillside. Dozens of cavalry rushed in the front, sprinting while marching, and a whistling whistling shot at Yuan Shu. The sharp roar pierced the sound of Yuan Shu's war drums. The knights behind them pulled their bows and shot dozens of arrows at the soldiers who were lined up. Two spears had arrows in their hands, but they did not move, but just stepped on the spear under their feet, freed up one hand to break the arrow shaft, and threw it aside.

"One hundred and fifty steps, shoot!" The powerful crossbow captain shouted loudly.

Ten powerful crossbowmen raised their three-stone crossbows in their hands and pulled the crossbow machine. Ten crossbow arrows roared away. The knights laughed loudly when they saw the crossbow arrows coming, but did not dare to be negligent. They raised their shields and shrank their bodies. The crossbow arrows fell into the galloping horses and shot a war horse, but failed to cause fatal damage. However, seeing that the other party reacted quickly, the knights did not dare to rush forward again, turned their horse's heads, shot a rain of arrows, and whistled past.

Cao Cao looked at Yuan Shu, who was under his command in the distance, looked at the Yuan army soldiers who were quickly arraying, and smiled bitterly: "No wonder he has just arrived now, so he is careful enough."

Cao Anmin was eager to try. "Uncle, what should I do? Do you want to rush forward?"

Cao Cao turned to Cao Ang. "Zi Xiu, what do you think?"

Cao Ang shook his head. "My father said that if you want to defeat the strong with the weak, you must be prepared for attacks without preparation. Yuan Gaolu reacted so quickly, so he was naturally prepared for it. We cannot attack sneakily, so we can only attack strongly. The loss of a strong attack is too great, and the outcome is unpredictable, and there is no need to do it at all."

"But we have more than 700 cavalry, and the Yuan Highway has only two thousand people at most, and the formation is so long. If we make a big spurt, we will have a chance to attack Yuan Highway's central army and kill Yuan Highway."

Cao Ang secretly glanced at Cao Cao, and saw that Cao Cao's face was calm and had no intention of explaining. He knew that he was right, but he could not tell Cao Anmin the biggest secret in his father in public, so he had to smile shyly. Cao Anmin thought he was right, so he came to Cao Cao and smiled, "Uncle, do you say I was right, or Zixiu was right?"

Cao Cao pointed to the battlefield east with a horse whip. "It's clear that Lou Zibo's reality and reality can no longer be hidden. If he continues to attack, we will help him block Yuan's road. If he wants to retreat, we will cover him. Anmin and Zi Xiu, be careful of the overall situation for the generals, and not be petty about temporary gains and losses, and do not take risks."

Cao Anmin nodded embarrassedly and retreated. Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and faced the storm of Chaoyang. "Lou Zibo's 10,000 people attacked Sun Bofu and 4,000 people. Even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't be defeated, right?"

Cao Anmin said sourly: "If he has two and a half times the advantage of military strength, if he is defeated, the face of the powerful Nanyang will be thrown away by him."

Cao Cao picked up the corner of his mouth, his eyes flashed slightly.

——

"It's really not Cao Cao." Sun Ce stood up from behind the cart and looked at the battle flag embroidered with the word "Lou" in the distance. What's going on? If it were Cao Cao, I would have tolerated it. You, an inexplicable slag, brought ten thousand slaves, and the soldiers of Nanyang County who were like Zhuang Ding blocked me and fought for the middle of the night?

Sun Ce tightened the knife in his hand, looked at the fire phoenix flying high on the scabbard, a trace of evil spirit flashed in his eyes, and he stepped out of the car formation.

"Bo Fu, don't be reckless." With a sudden shout, Zhou Yu rushed over from behind and grabbed Sun Ce. "The enemy is numerous and we are few. We can win the battle by defending the formation, but the pursuit is invincible. Although the enemy generals are unknown, they have both offensive and defensive formations and are not ordinary people."

Sun Ce knew that Zhou Yu was right. Judging from the battle in the middle of the night, the Nanyang County soldiers had average combat effectiveness, but the command ability of the opponent's general was not bad, and they had good rules for offense and defense. If the Nanyang County soldiers were stronger, they might be able to break through his formation. It was actually not wise to chase him out at this time, and it was somewhat reckless.

But now he wanted to rush out and kill for a while, and let out the anger in his chest.

At this moment, a scout rushed away. "The two generals, the latter generals were trapped by Cao Cao, just five miles away."

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Chapter completed!