The trusted cavalry led by Cao Cao was caught in the middle of the melee. There were entangled riders everywhere. The dust was overwhelming, and the surrounding fireworks were burning. The strong smell made people choke.
Cao Cao called out the names of Dian Wei and Xu Zhu, but the charge just now dispersed them. He looked around, and there were only two people around him: Cao Ren, the clan brother, and Xia Houlan, the school captain.
Cao Cao was eager to rush out from the middle. He grabbed the bridle of the horse closest to him. This person was Cao Ren. He told Cao Ren: "Let's move in one direction. When we encounter the enemy, we shout: 'We are General Yuan Shang.' I'm here to get rid of the thief today!' That's all."
Cao Cao nodded in agreement, and a horse came up behind him. A closer look revealed that it was his eldest son Cao Ang, followed by his subordinate Zao Ci. Cao Cao was overjoyed when he saw this and said to Cao Ang: "With Zixiu here, I have nothing to fear." After saying this, he shook the reins and started to ride his horse to break out of the encirclement.
Unexpectedly, a row of random arrows flew over from the side, and one arrow shot into the right flank of Cao Cao's mount. The shaft of the arrow was completely gone, leaving only the feather end dyed red by the horse's blood. His horse lurched sideways to the left, throwing him off.
At the same time, another arrow shot horizontally into the chainmail of Zao Ci's right neck, parallel to the direction of the shoulder, and then it was able to penetrate the left side of the neck. If the arrow had been higher, it would have been blocked by Douchi, but if it had been lower, it would have hit the armor on the shoulder. However, it hit the weakest part of the neck, and he immediately fell off his horse.
When the Western knights next to him saw an Easterner falling off his horse, they rushed to rush up with their horses. Suddenly, more than ten horses were crowded together head to head. The man in front jumped off his horse and rushed to cut off his head. Unfortunately, Zao Ci was still alive, so he was picked up by his pocket and inserted into his neck with a short knife to cut back and forth. When the bones were difficult to cut, the person holding him used a knife instead. The knife chopped horizontally, and blood spattered everywhere for a moment. The scene was very horrifying.
When the others saw that they had not grabbed the head, they turned their heads and focused their attention on Cao Cao. After all, he was short and seemed to be injured, so it should not be difficult to behead him, so they turned to him again. Cao Cao was so distraught that he squatted on the ground, waving the Yitian Sword with his hand, and turned around and shouted: "Zi Xiao! Zi Xiao!"
Cao Ren heard Cao Cao calling his name and quickly came to rescue him with his sword. But he was alone, and the Westerners around him were swarming like wolves and tigers. He couldn't squeeze through at all. He could only shout for the guards to save him while fighting his way in.
At this extremely critical moment, Cao Ang jumped off the horse next to him, spat, and shouted to the Westerners: "I am the eldest son of General Cao Cao of Jianwu, the great Han Yanzhou shepherd, and the rebellious general Cao Ang! You and other rats can't do it!" Do you dare to come and fight to the death!"
The leading Westerner was overjoyed when he heard this: "Cao Ang is the most noble among thieves, we must not let him go!"
So he ran towards Cao Ang instead. Another person doubted: "For no reason, why did Cao Ang call me a formation?" But after hesitating, fearing that he would miss the opportunity, he also rushed towards Cao Ang.
Taking this opportunity, Cao Ren rushed to Cao Cao's side. Cao Ang's mount also ran over on its own and licked Cao Cao's palm. Cao Cao knew that this was an extremely critical moment and could not hesitate. He immediately stood up on his eldest son's mount, whipped a few times, and the horse rushed forward. Cao Ren waved his sword to drive away the Westerners, and followed closely behind with his horses.
Some Westerners said: "The sergeant who fell from his horse just now ran away on a green horse!" But because Cao Cao's clothes were not gorgeous and he was wearing a bag, no one could recognize his appearance, so the others only focused on besieging Cao Ang. There's no time to look back. The tips of the branches gathered in random thorns, and the branches collided with each other, making a loud noise. The scene was like countless vultures swooping on a dead corpse. In order to fight for the head, they almost dismembered Cao Ang's body.
Cao Cao and Cao Ren galloped eastwards, and finally managed to bypass the entangled cavalry of the eastern and western armies. At this time, Cao Cao saw Dian Wei and Xu Zhu. They were rushing to the forefront with their bodyguards. They were surrounded by dozens of Western knights, but no one could stop them. Cao Cao had some cavalry gathered around him, and he was heartbroken. He thought: "If we want to break through, how can we do without these iron tigers?" So he clapped his horse forward and took the initiative to join them.
Xu Zhu and Dian Wei had lost contact with their coach and were worried and uneasy. When they saw that Cao Cao was still alive, they immediately cheered up and fought over from the crowd. When Cao Cao and his men approached, he saw that they were covered in blood and their faces were red. He couldn't help but patted his shoulders and asked, "We have been fighting for a long time, can you still fight?"
The two men replied in unison: "I will fight to the death for the marshal, and I will never stop working!"
Cao Cao suddenly felt relieved, and then thought of his eldest son whose life or death was uncertain. The emotion in his heart was difficult to express for a while, and he could only say "good" again and again. After they gathered, they did not break out immediately, but wandered around the battlefield to rescue the besieged rangers. By fighting back and forth like this, they gathered about 200 more remnants, and also rescued Cao Zhen, Cao Anmin and other tribesmen.
But as a result, most of the Westerners noticed that there was still a remnant army in the Eastern formation, and they continued to surround them. Seeing that the situation was not good, Cao Cao immediately gave up and continued to gather the remaining troops, preparing to break out of the encirclement to the east and flee. But at this time, looking around, far and near, the Westerners were surrounded by no less than ten layers of cavalry.
At the front was General Xu Huang. He did not attack from the front. Instead, he staggered the front and galloped towards the flank. When the people in the east relaxed their vigilance, he suddenly turned his horse's head and jumped from the crowd. Zhong cut in, and the Dong people were caught off guard, and he was inserted within a few steps of Cao Cao in an instant.
Dongren was horrified when he saw this. Xia Houlan, who was standing next to him, saw Xu Huang and his men rushing towards him. He instinctively waved his knife and tried to stop him, but his force was far inferior to Xu Huang's. In addition, he had been fighting for a long time, and his knife had already been curled up. The blade collided with Xu Huang's tip at this time. He didn't even hear the crisp sound, but felt the weight in his hand suddenly lightened. Looking carefully, he realized that his right hand had been chopped off along with the blade. The knight behind Xu Huang took advantage of the situation and shot an arrow at him. At such a close distance, Xiahou Lan was pierced through the throat with an arrow and fell straight off the horse.
At this moment, Cao Cao was only a few feet away from Xu Huang. The Westerner on his side was too close to him, so he couldn't use the long silk in his hand, so he hit Cao Cao's pocket twice with the sword. The first time he hit Douchun crookedly, causing Cao Cao to feel dizzy. When the man reached out for the third time, Dian Wei, who was beside Cao Cao, saw the opening and stabbed his ribs with a long sword, then pierced his chest.
Taking this opportunity, another rider, Xia Houen, jumped off his horse and struck Cao Cao's mount on the buttocks with all his strength, causing him to rush forward, trying to break out of the melee. Dian Wei was in front, Xu Zhu was on the left, and Cao Ren was on the right. They all ran forward with Cao Cao's mount, trying to avoid direct combat between Cao Cao and the Westerners from all directions.
Xu Zhu and a Westerner were walking almost side by side. Xu Zhu held the spear pole that the Westerner thrust at him tightly with his hand and ran for about ten steps. The Westerner was suddenly hit in the back of the neck by a flying arrow and fell to the ground. On horseback. Xu Zhu breathed a sigh of relief and was about to throw away the pole and chase Cao Cao and his party. But suddenly he felt his neck tighten, and immediately his body was pulled back. Unable to control his legs, he kicked out and fell off the horse on its back. It turned out that Xu Huang rode up from behind, stretched out his bowstring and caught Xu Zhu's neck, pulling him off the horse.
Xu Zhu struggled hard to get the bow string out of shape. Unfortunately, Xu Huang's bow string was made of beef tendon. Even though it was severely deformed, there was no sign of being broken. Xu Huang knew that this man was one of the few warriors among the Easterners, so he did not intend to stop at all. Instead, he turned the horse's head slightly, dragged the bow string with his hand, dragged Xu Zhu backwards from the horse, and picked up all the yellow dust and flew away. Poor Xu Zhu claimed to have amazing strength, but he couldn't use it at this time. After breathing hard for a moment, he stopped breathing in a hazy state.
On the other side, although Dian Wei lost one long spear, he still had several on his back. While riding his horse with his right hand, he waved his left hand violently back and forth, driving back all the enemies around him as if sweeping away dust. Cao Cao and him He sent his companions to go together, passing through many Westerners against the current like a fish leaping through a dragon's gate. The Westerners slashed their swords in chaos, and Dian Wei was also covered in wounds, but he still sat upright on his horse as if he had no consciousness. In this way, he stumbled over with Cao Cao.
When Cao Cao saw that Dian Wei was covered in blood and even his coat was missing, but when his hair was disheveled, he became as mad as a ferocious tiger. He raised his voice and shouted to the sky: "Huang Tian is above! Huang Tian is above!" He galloped all the way, avoiding all the people he encountered on the road, whether they were Easterners or Westerners. Seeing this situation, Cao Cao couldn't help but think: "Does he really have Huang Tian's protection? Otherwise, how could he lead me out of dozens of sieges!"
He thought again: "If I can get away, I will be generous to him in the future! As long as I don't die, I will keep him rich and honorable for a day; if I die, I will lead him to open the way for me. Heaven and earth learn from each other!" He also yelled and ran all the way towards the black curtain in the east at the end of the yellow dust.
In the midst of such heartless fighting and running, gradually, the roars of war horses and hunting dogs gradually faded away, and the steep and uneven rocks quietly disappeared, replaced by the vast expanse of wilderness and the oncoming bloodless smell. The gentle breeze and the bright moonlight in the sky became particularly clear after losing the light of the fire.
When they arrived at a stream, Cao Cao stopped and said to Dian Wei: "Wait here, there should be some people behind you." After that, the two drank greedily by the stream, and then took out some water. Dry food to chew. Sure enough, after a while, more than forty knights escaped one after another and gathered around Cao Cao.
However, after that, no new people were seen again.
In addition, Cao Cao also asked everyone who escaped: "Have you seen Zixiu?" But no one answered. When Cao Zhen was the last one to arrive and told him that he had seen Cao Ang's head, Cao Cao was silent. He stared at the waves by the stream for a long time before crying: "It's all my fault!"
In the battle of Xiangxian County, Cao Cao lost over 10,000 people and was captured thousands, but most of the Qingqi still escaped back to Wuyuan. However, the losses to the Eastern Army in this battle were immeasurable. Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang was killed in the battle, and the elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were almost wiped out. This made the battle situation between the Eastern and Western armies seem to be brought back to balance again.
