After hearing this, Lu Bu remained calm and remained motionless. Instead, he squinted his eyes and observed the knight named Gan Ning carefully.
This man was tall, and riding on a silver-white high-headed horse, he looked even taller than the other knights. Only Lu Bu was slightly better. Although this man was quite arrogant when he was shouting, if you carefully observe his posture and gestures, when he is holding the rein in one hand, the other hand holding the rein is unusually stable, so that the long rein full of bells does not make much sound. It is obviously Extremely alert.
When Gan Ning saw that Lu Bu and others were not moving, he couldn't help but laughed loudly and said: "I heard that all the warriors in the north are unparalleled in the world. Unexpectedly, I saw them today. They have such a name for nothing. I don't blame Lu Bu for being such a shameless rat." His minions." He smiled, revealing his extremely beautiful red phoenix eyes, which narrowed like a long knife, making Lu Bu feel like he had been "pricked" by him, and the knights behind Gan Ning also laughed.
When the knights on Lu Bu's side heard this, their faces immediately turned red. Even Lu Bu himself couldn't bear it and wanted to pick up the reins and go into battle. It was Hou Cheng who raised his hand to hold the general and said to him: "As a general, once someone recognizes his identity and the enemy attacks with all his strength, how can we fight this battle?" Hou Cheng added: "I fight for the general and I will kill him." This thief is back!"
After saying that, he raised his long spear high and shouted to Gan Ning opposite: "I am the captain of Niyang in Liangzhou, Houcheng of Loufan. The so-called humiliation of the ministers leads to death. Today, either I will behead you alive to wash away the humiliation, or I will die here to show my ambition!"
So he reined up his horse and rode out, but he had no intention of fighting with the horse. Instead, while looking at the Shu people in front of him, he picked up the horse's bow with his right hand and pulled out a heavy arrow from the bow bag with his right finger. With a deft movement of his fingers, the arrow tail was already on the bow string. When the horse ran steadily on the snow, he freed his left hand to hold the bow. Seeing the man on the opposite side coming on horseback, he hurriedly pressed the string with his right thumb, quickly drew the bow, pointed it at the enemy's horse's head, and was about to draw the bow.
At this moment, Hou Chengcheng felt a cold light suddenly shine in front of him, and a sharp arrow penetrated his mouth like a flying harrier. In an instant, severe pain spread to my brain, and I felt like the world was spinning. My eyes suddenly went dark, and I lost consciousness.
Seeing Hou Cheng die in battle, Liu Chao, who was closest to him, couldn't help being shocked and angry. When he saw Gan Ning stopped and turned his horse's head as if to retreat, he couldn't help but blood rushed to the top of his head, and he started to gallop his horse towards him.
Gan Ning never expected that there would be a chasing horse. As he was picking up his horse and walking slowly, Liu Chao's Jiuyuan horse quickly arrived at his side. When Liu Chao saw that Gan Ning did not turn around, he immediately stabbed him in the back.
Unexpectedly, Gan Ning seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He suddenly bent sideways, reached behind him with his right hand, and grabbed Liu Chao's spear pole. Gan Ning skillfully pulled the bridle with his left hand, and the horse immediately stopped. However, Liu Chao's horse was still moving forward and had already arrived on the right side of Gan Ning. The two horses were tied with only one horse's head apart. As the bell rang like rain, Liu Chao was shocked when he saw a gleaming sharp knife on Gan Ning's free left hand. He wanted to withdraw the changzhen, but found that Gan Ning's arms were extremely strong. In a panic, he dropped the stick and went to pull out the short knife at his waist.
At this time, the two horses were almost standing side by side, as if they were intimately entangled. Gan Ning's mighty and handsome face was so close before his eyes. In Liu Chao's eyes, it was like a life-threatening evil ghost from hell. It was too late to get rid of him.
The soldiers of the Shu army who were watching the formation from a distance saw the two horses standing side by side without moving. Ganing grabbed Liu Chao and cut off his head in an instant. Gan Ning reinserted the sharp knife into the scabbard, and handed the still bleeding head to the attendant. The attendant gouged out Liu Chao's eyes, inserted them into a long stick, and then raised them above his head, like a terrifying wolf-headed weapon. flag. The Shu army immediately roared with cheers, and the Liang army in the distance could not help but eclipse.
Lü Bu was originally persuaded by Hou Cheng, but he remembered the scene where he was seriously injured by a cold arrow under Chang'an City, so he did not want to go into battle alone. But now he saw that his two beloved generals were killed by this man, and he felt very angry. He seemed to be talking to himself, and then raised his voice and said: "If I don't kill this thief, where will my face be? Where will the court's face be?!" Then he made up his mind and said to his followers: "Don't persuade me! This man is majestic. If it’s immortal, there’s no need to fight this battle!”
After saying that, he put on the masked iron stomach, lightly clamped the red rabbit horse's belly with his legs, and slowly walked out from the crowd. When the Shu army saw that he stood like an iron tower, far more majestic than the two men who had just been beheaded, the cheers slowly died down. Only Gan Ning slowly looked at him and asked: "Who are you? Tell me your name."
Lu Bu didn't answer. He held a long sword in his hand. He didn't wait for the bow, sword or other sundries. He rode lightly on his horse and headed straight for Gan Ning like the wind. Gan Ning was startled when he saw Lu Bu coming towards him, and immediately stood up straight and moved forward to meet him.
Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Shu and Liang armies stood silently in the snow, watching the fight between Lu Bu and Gan Ning. Seeing two horses approaching on the flying snow, suddenly the sound of poles hitting each other was heard. I couldn't help but feel shocked, thinking that the winner had been decided. But after the two horses crossed each other, they were still sitting upright, looking extremely serious. Only the bell on Gan Ning's body was still ringing in the wind.
The two men raced not far away, then turned their horses to charge back again. As they got closer, the two men urged their horses to advance faster, as if they wanted to use the momentum of the horses to pierce their opponents to the ground. The two horses crossed each other so fast that for a moment people's hearts were in their throats. However, this time there was silence, and the two horses quickly separated again.
One horse ran for more than ten steps and stood still, while the other horse turned its head and charged towards the opponent again. Halfway through the journey, the horse that was standing suddenly jumped and ran in the direction of the opponent. After the two horses approached, they spun in circles. It was obvious that the two people were fighting together.
Suddenly there was a snapping sound of the pole breaking, and then the big red red rabbit horse carried Lu Bu and ran towards the Liang army formation. The silver-white horse also paced slowly, returning to the Shu army's formation. The knights rushed forward and found that the leader Gan Ning's hands were empty. Only the scabbard of the short sword at his waist was left, but there were spots of blood on his uniform.
The officers and soldiers of the Liang Army were all watching the battle, but they could not see who was winning and who was losing. They stared wide-eyed at the red rabbit horse and Lu Bu returning on the horse. In one hand, he was holding the halberd he was going into battle, and in the other hand he was holding a broken pole with a bell hung on the half-bolt. Every few steps he took, the copper bell on it would make a sound like an oriole's cry.
When Lu Bu stabbed the broken stick into the snow hard, everyone said that Lu Bu had won and cheered in unison. While Lu Bu smiled, he secretly tore a piece of linen cloth and stuffed it between his waist and abdomen. It turned out that just when he was snatching the sword, Gan Ning took advantage of the opportunity and pulled out a short knife and stabbed Lu Bu. The wound was bleeding, but fortunately it was not serious. deep.
Gao Shun saw that Lu Bu's expression was wrong, so he turned slightly to cover him, and asked, "How is the enemy general?"
Lu Bu said in a low voice: "It's indeed good. His martial prowess is comparable to that of Wen Yuan. Unfortunately, I am still better."
However, the victory or defeat of the entire army does not depend on these two challenges. The Shu army is so well prepared that victory may still depend on a head-on confrontation.
At this time, a strong northwest wind blew, and the flags of the Liang army roared. The snow on the ground was also picked up by the wind and drifted in the direction of the Shu army's formation. The cold wind blows on people's bodies, like a sickle cutting through dry and cracked skin, causing severe pain. The Xiliang knight put his fur hat tightly around his neck and lay on his horse's neck to avoid the wind and keep warm.
Lu Bu felt a little happy when he saw the wind blowing towards the Shu army, and made up his mind to attack. He said to Gao Shun: "The way to advance an army is to be surprised. The people of Shu have formed a tight formation, so we have to fight together. We have few enemies and the enemy is numerous. The way to fight together is to be strong and tight, so as not to be divided and surrounded by the enemy. Then seize the opportunity, Cut into the gaps in the enemy's formation and strike hard at their sides. Even if there are many enemies, they can still be defeated!"
Without waiting for Gao Shun's answer, he ordered to summon the generals to his formation. The soldiers and horses formed a circle, and all the troops were in the circle listening to Lu Bu's explanation of the attack strategy. Lu Bu picked up a branch, drew a military arrangement on the snow, and arranged the military figures.
Lu Bu's battle plan is: First, the Shu army's formation is long, and our own army's formation is short. Our current semicircular formation is a defensive and self-protective formation. If you want to take the initiative to attack the Shu army, you cannot form a circular formation in the center. Lu Bu ordered his troops to take advantage of the wind and snow blowing towards the Shu army and slowly move diagonally to the right front, gradually shifting the center of gravity of the army to the left wing of the Shu army. The right wing of the Liang army is close to the Shu army and is easy to attack, while the left wing of the Liang army is far away from the Shu army and is easy to defend. This kind of arrangement is based on the fact that the Shu army is mostly infantry, and the change of formation is absolutely slower than that of the Liang army.
After moving the formation, in order to prevent the Shu army from outflanking their left side, the Liang army's left wing formed an inward arc. Gao Shun is in the front and Cao Xing is in the back, forming a long inward-curved left wing to screen the knights' horse and baggage.
The right wing of the Liang army directly faced the end of the left wing of the Shu army. Lu Bu ordered Zhang Liao to lead the Fuping army in the front, forming the most powerful assault force and overwhelming the Shu army directly under the Duanliu Plain. Receiving support from the rear is a cavalry formation composed of knights from the trapped camp and Lu Bu's own camp. They will serve as the last reserve of the army and enter the battlefield according to changes in the situation.
Lu Bu planned to divide the battle into two situations. The first scenario is to attack with 50,000 people from Lu Bu's direct troops, striving to directly break through the left wing of the Shu army, and personally lead the knights through the gap where the Shu army collapsed, and then attack them severely after leaving the Shu army's formation. If this can be achieved, victory will be achieved, and Han Sui and others who are watching the battle will definitely lead their troops to join the battle and annihilate the Shu army here in one fell swoop.
However, if the battle is unfavorable and the Shu army's left wing is strong, the Liang people cannot tear open the gap and use cavalry to penetrate the back. At this time, the Liang army could only rely on Duanliuyuan, shrink the whole body back into a circular formation, and fight while retreating. After drawing the Shu army out, there was a melee and stalemate situation. This is the second situation. At this time, the three towns must not be able to count on it. They can only ask Jia Xu to attack from the north to relieve themselves. When the Shu army panics, they can then retreat for more than ten miles and wait to fight again.
At this moment, the wind and snow continued unabated, and Liang Ren's military formation began to gradually move to the right. Lu Bu sat on the horse, and two men led the horse from Qi Taxue to lead the way. Surrounded by a cloud of knights, they walked slowly and soon arrived at the battlefield. Looking past the formation of knights in front, he could look at the heavily fortified left wing of the Shu people from a distance.
When Lu Bu saw this, he felt a little regretful, but more importantly, he was nervous. He thought: "Half of my life in martial arts has been won in dangerous places. I have killed many people for this reason, but today's big gamble is the first time in my life. God." Bless me and wish me to win this battle!”
It was going to happen, Lu Bu no longer hesitated, waved his hand and ordered his men to blow horns and beat drums, and the heavy armored knights on Liang Ren's right wing began to attack on the snow.
