Cao Cao held the wine glass with his eyes flashing.

Cao Xiu knelt beside him and licked his lips quietly, feeling a little uneasy.

He had just returned from the foot of Bameng Mountain and reported the latest situation to Cao Cao. Pang Wu was very active and had organized the people who had arrived in the camp to start digging soil. The follow-up people arrived one after another. Although there was no ten thousand people mentioned by Pang Wu, there were always three or five thousand people.

The west side of Bameng Mountain is not spacious, with thousands of extra people, and it looks dense. The Wu army on Bameng Mountain should have seen it very clearly. But to his disappointment, the Wu army did not react at all, and there were no one who came out to interfere with the expulsion.

Cao Xiu didn't understand the intention of the Wu army, so he rushed back to report to Cao Cao. After hearing this, Cao Cao kept thinking, which made him very nervous, fearing that he would not do well enough and disappoint Cao Cao.

Cao Cao suddenly sighed and withdrew his gaze. "Wen Lie, we have met a very clever opponent."

Cao Xiu pondered and said, "Why is the king saying... Xu Huang?"

Cao Cao had a slight head. "Its speed is like the wind, its rush is like the forest, its rush is like fire, and its movement is like a mountain. Xu Gongming has deeply grasped the essence of military strategy. He dares to take important tasks, but who else can be the only one? Xu Gongming can be called a famous general. Sun Bofu appointed him as the governor of Xiangyang, which can be said to have won people. When it comes to knowing people's lives, there is no one in the world who is better than Sun Bofu, so how can Xu Zi General be defeated?"

Cao Xiu's eyes flashed slightly, and he wanted to speak but stopped.

"I met him outside Nanyang City back then. He said that I was ranked first on his opponent list." Cao Cao picked up the wine glass and drank it all. "I thought I understood at the time, but now I think about it, but I don't understand at all."

Cao Cao smiled and turned to look at Cao Xiu. "Wenlie, do you know why?"

Cao Xiu shook his head. He knew that Cao Cao had met Sun Ce in Nanyang, but he was not present. He had never heard Cao Cao mention it, so he naturally didn't know what Cao Cao wanted to say.

Cao Cao didn't expect Cao Xiu to understand, his eyes flashed, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "The reason why he has not been in person is because the time has not come and he is not sure of victory. Huang Zhong and Xu Huang entered Shu, seemingly coming in a fierce manner, but in fact they are Meng Lang. Even Sun Bofu has times when he is unhappy. After all, he still owes some ruthlessness, and his power is insufficient. The generals are arrogant because of favor, and their desire to compete for merit is growing."

Cao Xiu said: "What the king said is very true. This is the opportunity for our Shu Kingdom."

Cao Cao pondered for a long time. "It's an opportunity, but it's hard to say whether he can seize it. The gap in strength is too big. If he can't succeed in one blow, the next counterattack will definitely be amazing. Wen Lie, time is endless."

Cao Xiu frowned.

Cao Cao glanced at Cao Xiu and inexplicably remembered Xi Zhicai. When Xi Zhicai was alive, he had a low evaluation of Cao Xiu. Now it seems that Xi Zhicai has a vision. Although Cao Xiu was brave, his knowledge was not good, at least he could not compare with Cao Ren and Cao Chun.

Unfortunately, Cao Chun is dead.

"Wen Lie, what do you think Xu Huang is waiting for when he is still holding his troops?"

"When our army is ineffective in food and supplies, we are waiting for reinforcements."

"Although he occupied Bameng Mountain, our army had other roads to transport grain. If we were to say that there was no food, he would have no food first? Even if reinforcements came and crossed mountains and ridges, the consumption was very large, and it was not as convenient as our army."

Cao Xiu thought about it carefully and suddenly realized. "The king, the elite Wu army, is good at mountain combat. He used erosion to seize Fangling in Hanzhong. Shangyong is likely to use the same trick again now. Although their main force is trapped outside Gulongpo, he can send a small number of elite troops to penetrate into the hinterland of Dangqu, like Xu Huang, attacking the place where I must save it."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Besides Bameng Mountain, what other places do we have to save?"

Seeing Cao Cao taking the exam, Cao Xiu didn't dare to be careless. He thought about it carefully. According to Cao Cao's usual teachings, he suddenly understood Cao Cao's concerns, subconsciously straightened his body and changed his face.

"King, our food road..."

Cao Cao waved his hand. "If you can think of this, you can do it for the general. Wen Lie, you and Zidan each lead 500 guards to travel between Dangqu and Bameng Mountain to protect the baggage transportation team. However, don't be fond of fighting, don't chase into the mountains and forests, and ensure that the food and grass are not lost."

"Here!"

"I inform you, Uncle Zi Lian, and let him prepare three months of military rations and transport them together." Cao Cao put the wine glass heavily on the table. "If we can't take Bameng Mountain within three months and cannot defeat Huang Zhong, we will not have a chance."

Dengjiatan.

The canal water turns a bend here, and a small river comes from the west and flows into the canal water.

Not far downstream is the famous Bawangzui. Under the cliff between the mountains on both sides, the canal water becomes narrower and there is a nearly reverse turn. The water flows fast, and passing boats will accidentally hit the cliff. For safety, ships coming from the Dangtu will rest in Dengjiatan first and accumulate enough physical strength.

At this moment, more than a dozen boats were tied to the shore. The boatmen on the boat got off the boat, sat leisurely on the river beach, ate something, drank two sips of turbid wine, and then explained a few words such as being careful of the flow of water. It didn't seem much different from usual.

Just three or five hundred steps behind them, a group of people were lying among the rocks, looking at the boatmen on the river beach while arguing quietly.

This is a joint team composed of Wu soldiers and Ba people soldiers. They crossed the mountains on the east side and dived to the sides of the canal water, and had been ambushing here for two days. Unlike previous expectations, the canal water was very deserted, and except for a few lonely boats, they did not have the grain transport fleet they expected.

This made them very anxious. Whether it was the soldiers of the Wu army or the Ba people, they did not carry much food, and they had to rely on spoils, especially food, to survive. If they had not gained anything, they would have to return empty-handed.

This fleet of only a dozen ships is the largest fleet they have encountered in the past two days, and it is also the only fleet. Whether to attack, the Wu army soldiers and the Ba people's soldiers had a disagreement.

The team leader called Lai Zhong, a clan of the Xinye clan. He graduated from the martial arts lecture hall last year and immediately joined the army and fought under Xu Huang. He made contributions in Hanzhong several times and was promoted to the town chief in less than a year. This time he led a hundred people to fight, and was in the head of the team.

Lai Zhong opposed the attack. He felt that the fleet was not normal and might be a trap. Judging from the walking posture of those boatmen, they were not ordinary boatmen, and they were probably pretended to be soldiers of Shu army. The river beach is not small, with an area of ​​nearly a thousand steps wide from east to west. If an accident occurs, it will be easy for the other party to cut off the retreat route and the entire army will be wiped out.

The Ba people's soldiers opposed this view. The leader Du Bai said that the Ba people are different from the Central Plains people. As long as they are men, they can practice martial arts, even boatmen are no exception. Because the nearby mountains are crisscrossed, there are often thieves, and sometimes these boatmen even rob each other themselves. You say they are soldiers, which is possible. It is not necessary to think too much about saying that they are Shu troops.

Let’s take a step back, what can we do if they are soldiers of the Shu army? They have at most twenty or thirty people, and we have 100 people, and we will definitely win a great victory. Even if we are worried about ambushing, we will withdraw quickly.

I came out for two days and had no gains at all. If I don’t seize such a good opportunity, I don’t know when I will wait for the next time.

Laihu was not willing to give up. He repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, accepted Du Bai's opinion, and only proposed to keep one hand just in case. He divided the 100 people into two teams, one team went down the ridge to hijack the ship, and the other team stayed on the ridge to prepare for the response.

Du Bai agreed, but strongly asked all the ten Banyan barbarian soldiers he led to participate in the battle.

Lai Hu understood Du Bai's little thoughts, just to give more trophys. He summoned several teams to arrange tasks. According to daily training, the four teams in the left, middle and right are divided into three groups, one team in the left and right, one team in the left and right are responsible for two wings, and one team in the middle is responsible for frontal assault. Du Baicolon's one team in the middle is also in the middle.

The remaining Wu Shi soldiers stayed in the mountains and occupied various commanding heights, providing alert and response.

After making arrangements, Laihu and Du Bai went down the hillside together, and with the protection of the earth slope, they went to the river beach.

The soldiers of Wu army were in line with consistent pace, with standard tactical movements, covering each other, moving forward in turn, silently. Du Bai followed behind, although he was a little dissatisfied, but he had nothing to say. He was not sure about fighting such an opponent.

In fact, before setting off, he fought with Laihu during the running-in training in the camp and did not take any advantage.

Lai Hu and others took a moment to touch the river beach, only a hundred steps away from the boatmen. The front was flat and there was no place to hide. Lai Hu ordered to stop moving forward, ordered his subordinates to adjust their physical strength, and wait until the two wings were encircled, and then attacked.

As soon as he finished speaking, Du Bai found that someone among the boatmen had stood up and there were signs of getting on board. He didn't have time to think too much, so he raised his knife and rushed out, running while running. When the boatmen heard this, they stood up and ran towards the boat. Du Bai's hair and feet ran wildly, and nine Banyan soldiers followed him, screaming, as if they were about to eat people.

Laihu was so angry that he wanted to curse people, but he had no choice but to order his subordinates to rush out together.

Du Bai and others rushed for more than a hundred steps, and were about to catch up with the boatmen. Suddenly, a sharp roar sounded in the air, and more than ten crossbow arrows shot out from the boat and rushed straight to Du Bai and others. Hearing the sound of the wind, Du Bai and others were shocked and subconsciously raised the flap in their hands.

"Tu tu tu!" A series of muffled sounds, there were a few more arrows on the ban lantern. Two lantern barbarian soldiers reacted a little later, and were shot by crossbow arrows and fell to the ground.

"Kill!" Du Bai's eyes were even red when he heard his companion's screams, and he ran forward with his shield.

The ship workers had already escaped to the side of the ship, but suddenly turned around and took the swords and shields thrown by their companions on the ship, and lined up side by side, facing Du Bai who was rushing towards him. Du Bai jumped up and slammed with his shield. He shouted at his three ship workers, and at the same time took a step back and bowed to greet him.

"Bao!" With a loud bang, Du Bai was knocked away and fell to the ground with his back, even the slab in his hand flew away.

Three boatmen rushed over and surrounded Du Bai on three sides. Du Bai had no time to get up and rolled around on the ground. He barely avoided the deadly place, but was still cut twice and blood flowed. His subordinates wanted to come and save him, but were stopped by other boatmen and could not get close to him.

When the Huhu saw that the situation was not good, he accelerated his pace.

A row of crossbowmen stood up on more than a dozen boats and began to shoot volleys. The closest few Banhuan soldiers soon caught an arrow and fell to the ground to wail. Lai Hu and others were shot so hard that they could not raise their heads, so they could only raise their shields, cover each other and rush forward, and at the same time they used crossbows to fight back.

Both sides ejaculated, and they were injured.

Lai Hu rushed to Du Bai first and fought with the two shipmen with a knife. The two shipmen were not weak in martial arts, but they had no armor on their bodies. They were a little afraid of Lai Hu's fierce chopping and slaughtering, and Lai Hu seized the opportunity to break into the siege.

"Get up!" Laihu protected Du Bai and kicked him with his feet. "Retreat!"

Du Bai stood up in a dizzy state, his face covered in blood. When he saw several companions being caught in arrows and sank to the ground, two of them motionless, and seemed to be dead. He was furious and roared, waving his sword and fighting with the shipmen surrounding him again.

At this time, the sound of alarm horn sounded behind, and an enemy was approaching.

Lai Hu shouted angrily, slashed a boatman hard, and chopped him to the ground. He slashed his hand again, forcing another boatman to retreat, and took a look around. He saw several riders running towards the northeast, and suddenly became anxious.

"If there are cavalry, retreat quickly!"

When Du Bai heard of a cavalry, he was also startled. When he raised his head, his defense showed a flaw. He was shot in the thigh by an arrow, which made him scream and almost fell to the ground. Laihu's eyes were quick-eyed and his hands were quick, and he reached out to catch him, raising his shield to protect the two of them.

"Rhombus array, retreat!"

"Hey." Twenty Wu soldiers responded loudly, forming a diamond formation, and in the future, Hu and Du Bai were in the middle and retreated to the mountains.

The crossbowmen on the ship shot continuously and were blocked by the Wu army's shield formation behind the palace. Although the arrows made the shield sound, they could not hurt people. The surviving ship workers wanted to catch up, but were cut down by two by Wu army. The remaining people did not dare to chase after them anymore and could only follow them from a distance.

However, the situation for Lai Hu and others was still very serious. The cavalry rushed over, and the knights on the horse were clearly armored and holding spears. They were not only the Shu army, but also the elite of the Shu army. It was likely that they were the guards of Cao Cao, the king of Shu.

When Du Bai saw these cavalrymen, he regretted it so much that his intestines were blue. Laihu was right, this was a trap.

"Brother, I'm sorry for you."

"What?" Laihu said loudly without hearing it clearly. Although the pursuers behind were far away, the cavalry were getting closer and closer, and the sound of horse hooves became louder and louder, as if they were knocking on everyone's heart.

"I said, I was wrong, I have implicated you." Du Bai also raised his throat and said loudly.

Laihu looked back at Du Bai and grinned. "You can toast me two more cups later and I'll treat you to horse meat."

Du Bai forced a smile. Eat horse meat? It's almost the same to be eaten by people. More than 20 people were assaulted by the same number of cavalry. Even if the Wu army soldiers are good at fighting, this time it will be a disaster.

The cavalry approached, and the cavalry on the horses leveled the spear.

"Squat down!" Lai Hu stretched out his hand and pressed it on Du Bai's neck, and shouted loudly: "Tortoise shell formation!"
Chapter completed!