Dragon of the Three Kingdoms

After Zhang Hu's military order was issued, the [-] Jingzhou troops moved unexpectedly quickly, forming five army formations immediately. Li Yi was a little surprised by this efficiency, after all, these guys were so spiritless along the way Yeah, not like a soldier at all.

However, after thinking about it again, Li Yi understood that this group of people was afraid of death, so if they were asked to form an formation early, their safety would be guaranteed.

Next, the army formation composed of 3000 people began to advance slowly, beating gongs and drums along the way, the noise was so loud that it could be heard several miles away, if it wasn't for the night, just watching the bustle was almost like sending off relatives.

After walking for less than two miles, the scouts brought back a few people, all of whom had been identified as Jingzhou soldiers who followed Cai Mao out of the city.

Li Yi and Zhang Hu hurriedly called them over to inquire about the situation ahead, and then learned that Cai Mao was indeed trapped on that hill, and those who escaped were killed by Ji Ling's soldiers when they went up the hill. He had to flee to other places. Fortunately, Ji Ling's target was Cai Mao, so he didn't specifically chase them down.

And just now, Ji Ling's various troops were mobilized, and thousands of people gathered towards the bottom of the hill, as if they were going to launch a general attack, so they found a chance to escape across the front line.

Swinging back the soldiers, Zhang Hu said: "Although the hill is steep, Ji Ling really does not spare his life, so it is not easy to defend."

The worry on Zhang Hu's face was obvious. He was not afraid of Cai Mao's accident, but he was afraid that Cai Mao would be held accountable after the accident. A charge of unfavorable rescue was enough to bring him back to his original form.

Li Yi also frowned. Cai Mao was of great use in stabilizing Jingzhou, both for him and Liu Biao, so this person cannot die in a short time.

Zhang Hu felt uneasy, and said again: "How about I bring 2000 troops to support, and the prefect and General Xiao Wang lead the rest of the troops behind just in case?"

Li Yi thought for a while and asked, "General Zhang, how long will it take to march from here to the foot of the hill?"

Zhang Hu made some calculations and said, "Less than half an hour?"

Li Yi said again: "If you have 5000 soldiers and horses on the mountain, and [-] people are besieging below, can you hold it for half an hour with the help of the terrain?"

"Although there are heavy casualties, it can still be done, uh, what the prefect said"

Li Yi analyzed: "With the 2000 people who went out of the city to explore the road, Ji Ling already knew our plan. If we want to storm the mountain, we should have gathered our troops long ago. How could we wait until now to act?"

"So, maybe it's because the military division is holding on for a while and it's hard to break through, or maybe it's because Ji Ling wants to surround the points to fight for reinforcements. In short, there must be an ambush ahead of me. It's just that Ji Ling saw that we were marching slowly and there was no chance of ambush. You deliberately opened your mouth and asked people to come out to report the news, so as to trick us into speeding up the march and throwing ourselves into the trap."

"How could this be possible?"

Zhang Hu was suddenly a little scared. He felt that what Li Yi said made sense. If he really led troops forward rashly, it would be terrible.

"The eunuch is really clever!"

Zhang Hu sighed with emotion and asked, "Then what should I do now?"

Li Yi squinted his eyes, and said slowly: "Since Ji Ling wants to plot against us, the military division must be safe for the time being. You and I just line up and walk slowly. As long as we wait until dawn, we will win."

Zhang Hu was about to give the order immediately, but he didn't want Li Yi to call him back, only to see a wicked smile on Li Yi's face, and said: "Although walking slowly like this is safe, it may also make Ji Ling impatient. If there are other twists and turns, why don't you just give him some hope and let him spend more time, and it will be too late when he understands."

In a wasteland full of weeds in the north of the Jingzhou Army, a burly man with a dark complexion was staring at the south intently. This man was Ji Ling, Yuan Shu's number one general.

He was in charge of staying in Nanyang to "collect" food, grass and property. Although Ji Ling got a lot of benefits from it, he was in a very bad mood, because he was a straight general, and no amount of money was as important as the credit for fighting before the battle.

However, Yuan Shu told him to save Li Yi's face, and don't make it difficult for Li Yi to enter Nanyang. As for Jingzhou, as long as the Jingzhou army moves, he will be asked to withdraw.

Therefore, Ji Lingben thought that not only would there be no battle to fight this time, but he would even end up with the reputation of being "driven away" by the Jingzhou Army.

Unexpectedly, just when he was about to evacuate Nanyang, news came from the direction of Xinye.

Sun Ce defeated the Jingzhou army with fewer victories and more, and captured Zhang Yun alive!

In all fairness, Ji Ling admired Sun Ce very much, but Yuan Shu wanted to suppress Sun Ce, so Ji Ling had no choice but to do so.

Now that Sun Ce has made great contributions when the whole army has done nothing, this is not what Yuan Shu wants.

Therefore, Ji Ling rushed to Xinye overnight with the idea of ​​grabbing merit and looking for opportunities to expand his results. At the same time, he mobilized surrounding troops and waited for an opportunity to act.

Coincidentally, Sun Ce and Li Yi were injured and released Zhang Yun, and Ji Ling arrived on the back, so Sun Ce's previous achievements were wiped out by Ji Ling, and at the same time, he arranged Sun Ce to the rear in the name of recuperating.

As for Ji Ling himself, he judged that Jingzhou was likely to send troops to intercept and kill Sun Ce, so he set up a pocket formation, and the result did not disappoint him. Cai Mao, a big fish, came in that night.

It's just a fly in the ointment, Cai Mao's direct soldiers and horses are not weak, and Ji Ling's soldiers and horses have just rushed over, and their physical strength is too great, but Cai Mao fled to the mountain.

Ji Ling tentatively attacked the mountain twice, feeling that the loss was too great, and soon encountered a large-scale scout from the Jingzhou army, so he simply gave up the idea of ​​​​attacking the mountain and asked 500 people to guard the mountain. Anyway, Jingzhou on the mountain The army is already frightened, and they are not afraid of Cai Mao's breakout.

The rest of the soldiers and horses set up pocket formations again, ready to encircle and fight for reinforcements.

Everything was going well at first, but just when Ji Ling was gearing up to make another contribution, the Jingzhou army who came to help started to set up the formation before even seeing a ghost.

Ji Ling has fought for a long time, and he knew at a glance that the opponent was worried about an ambush ahead, but he had seen someone who was careful, but he had never seen someone so careful!

Ji Ling was very depressed, and together with the military adviser Han Yinyi, they set up a suspicious formation and let some Jingzhou troops go back. He didn't believe that the Jingzhou troops who came to help them could sit still after getting the news.

The result was very good. After a while, Ji Ling got a scout to report that a thousand-man vanguard from the Jingzhou army was coming towards him.

Ji Ling was overjoyed. Although 1000 people could not satisfy his appetite, it was not bad.

But what I didn't expect was that Ji Ling squatted in the grass and waited, but he couldn't see the shadow of the 1000 people until the scouts came to report again, saying that something went wrong with the 1000 people on the way, and they accidentally ignited the fire. They left a piece of barren grass, and then retreated in chaos.

Ji Ling was speechless, and secretly cursed that the Jingzhou army was really useless, so he had to continue to squat down. As for actively pursuing, he had never thought about it. After all, the opponent still had 2000 people in formation to follow behind.

After waiting for half an hour, Ji Ling got the news again that another 1000 Jingzhou troops were coming forward. Ji Ling hurriedly got the whole army ready. After preparing for a long time, the scouts told him that the thousand Jingzhou troops had left. There was a mutiny halfway, and then they withdrew again.

"Incompetent boy! This Jingzhou army is all trash!"

Ji Ling has been sleepless all day and night, already angry, and now he waited for two more time, he was very annoyed, and immediately began to curse.

Ji Ling was angry, and no one dared to persuade him, but Han Yin, the military adviser, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then slapped his thigh fiercely, and shouted: "General, we have been tricked!"

Chapter 173 Xianghou, Ji was wrong!

"Cheated?"

Ji Ling was able to command tens of thousands of soldiers, so he was naturally not stupid, so he immediately thought of something, widened his eyes and said, "You mean they are planning to slow down the troops?"

Han Yin smiled wryly and said: "It shouldn't be too bad. After all, even if the Jingzhou army is in trouble, it shouldn't be such a waste when marching. Alas, they have clearly calculated that the general must set up an ambush in front, and then they want to wait for time It's dawn!"

Ji Ling was displeased when the plot was seen through, and he snorted and asked, "Mr. Yi, do we continue to surround the spot for reinforcements now, or go back and concentrate our forces to take down Cai Mao?"

Han Yin smacked his lips, then looked up at the sky, and finally said in a low voice: "It's difficult to take down Cai Mao before dawn, and we have to guard against reinforcements. It's not easy if Jingzhou is on guard, but our army is strong. , if the general really wants to fight, he will definitely be able to win in the end, but the price is not small, and this is not the original intention of the lord."

Ji Lingdao: "Are you telling me to retreat?"

Han Yin nodded and said: "When the general defeated Cai Mao and defeated three thousand enemies, even Cai Mao himself is now unknown. This is already a great contribution. As long as the general has no faults in the future, the lord will be rewarded heavily when he arrives in Yangzhou." .”

Ji Ling knew that what Han Yin said was very reasonable, and agreed in his heart to withdraw the troops, but he still cursed a little unwillingly: "It's a shame that this support soldier is too cunning. If I knew this, I might as well attack up the mountain in one go, but A lot of time was wasted here!"

Han Yin rolled his eyes, and he wanted to build a good relationship with Ji Ling, so he asked, "Is the general unwilling?"

Ji Ling curled her lips, her attitude was obvious.

Han Yin smiled slightly and said: "According to what the captives said before, Wen Pin was sick and was no longer in Xinye. In addition to Zhang Yun and Cai Mao's losing streak, there are no generals available in Xinye City, but the reinforcements tonight are so cunning, so , if my expectation is not bad, the leader of the support troops is probably that Li Yi."