In the early morning of August Yiwei, the Shu army and the Han army officially started a tug-of-war. Although Liu Fan had already made up his mind to fight for the pontoon bridge, Liu Fan did not intend to start the battle from here, but tried to draw the attention of the Han army from other fronts.
It was a provocation at first. While the weather was still unclear, the Shu army entered the north bank of the Qingyi River in two large ships. Before the anchors could be fixed, the gangway was precariously slanted on the beach, and the heavily armed Shu army officers were crowded like a wave. The torrent flew down, and even worse, ropes were hung directly from the deck and lowered into the shallow water. Within a short time, more than 4,000 Shu soldiers had settled on the river bank, and under the leadership of Zhang Ren, they launched an attack on the Han army camp. .
Although sentries had been set up in the Han army's camp, it was the first time to fight the enemy in such a situation, and everyone was inexperienced. When the Han army reacted, the Shu army had already pulled out the outermost antlers, and when they organized a formation to launch a counterattack against the Shu army, the Shu army had no intention of entangled and turned back to the tidal flats.
The Han soldiers prepared to pursue them, but when they were about to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Shu people, arrows suddenly shot out from the ships like locusts. The Han soldiers were suppressed for a time and could not lift their heads. The Shu soldiers took advantage of the situation and charged at the Han soldiers with their knives. Caused some damage. Then, without waiting for follow-up support from the Han army, the Shu people climbed back onto the building boat and left safely.
This attack was quite effective and boosted the morale of the already depressed Shu people. However, two days later, the Shu army repeated its old tactics and tried to harass the Han camp with buildings and ships again. However, when they entered the Qingyi River again, the Han army had already set up a stone cart beside the beach. The Shu people were just about to get off the boat, and the Han army fired stones at the same time.
Nearly a hundred flying rocks flew through the air, causing an unimaginable sound of breaking through the air, followed by a series of loud bangs. Some stones crashed into the hull, causing horrifying cracks and holes in the sides of the Shu army ship. Some stones fell into the crowd, and flesh and blood splashed around like mud. No one survived. .
Zhang Ren tried to command his soldiers to rush forward and destroy the group of stone-producing chariots, but he ran into the Han army who was waiting in front of the chariot formation. The two sides fought head-on, but the Shu people were still at a disadvantage. They waited for the stone-producing chariots to fight for the second and third rounds. After the flying stones, the Shu army lost all fighting spirit. Even the huge building ship was somewhat unable to support it due to the damage to the side. Some flying stones even penetrated the lower plate of a building ship, and the river water The water poured inwardly, causing the ship to turn right.
Zhang Ren had no choice but to order the leak to be plugged and the forwards to withdraw. However, it is easy to advance but difficult to retreat. When the Han army saw the Shu army retreating, they immediately sent out cavalry to pursue them and captured many straggler Shu prisoners outside the arrow range of the building ships. The Shu people did not dare to get off the boat to rescue them, so they could only reluctantly turn the bow of the boat and return to the Shu camp. The Han army was able to regain a foothold by the river.
After several more attempts, the Shu army still could not gain much advantage, so Liu Fan changed his strategy and ordered Gan Ning and others to form a provocation in front of the Han army camp. He especially said to Gan Ning: "When we faced the Liang people, Xing Ba you and Lu Bu were on the wrong horse, and you wounded him once, and then you became famous in the northern region. Today Chen Chong comes again with Liang people, don't you want to be famous all over the world again?"
Gan Ning dressed in brocade clothes and silver bells, as he had dressed in the seventh year of Yanxing, and led about ten horses to the Han army camp. Many people in the Xifu Army participated in the Battle of Luogu. They recognized his identity as soon as they met, and they all commented: "Isn't that the Jinfan thief who bravely championed the three armies back then? When he went back and forth to kill Lanmei, there was no one left. Who shall we send to fight the enemy of Hehe?"
The message was quickly reported to Chen Chong. When Chen Chong heard that it was Gan Ning's challenge, he felt a little enlightened for a moment. He thought that Xu Huang came to rescue the siege back then, but now that Xu Huang has passed away, who should he send to stop it? After a while, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, and then called Ma Chao: "There is a fighting general among the Shu people who came to our army to call for battle. Originally, you were already the commander of an army, so you should have found someone else, but this person is indeed I have some endurance, and I am afraid that no one else can beat me except you. Are you willing to give me a fight?"
Hearing this, Ma Chao was greatly impressed, and smiled and replied: "Since it is the Prime Minister's order, how dare Ma Chao refuse?" After that, he put on the Mingguang armor painted silver and put on a special iron-faced robe in front of everyone. Under the figure, a three-foot-long red tassel hangs down from the top of the head. Under the warm autumn sunshine, it can be said to be dazzling and heroic. Then he put two long swords on his waist and carried a long sword. He slightly bowed his hand to Chen Chong, immediately turned over and mounted his maroon horse, and headed out of the camp.
[In view of the general environment,
Ma Chao has been famous for his bravery in Longshang since he was fifteen years old, and to this day, he is already recognized as the number one warrior in Xifu. Now when the Han army saw Ma Chao wearing armor and riding out of the camp, they cheered and thundered. A cloud of birds suddenly rose above the deep forest in the valley, and the leaves of the Mid-Autumn Festival also swayed and rustled down. The Shu people outside the camp also His expression changed, and he knew that the person who came to challenge must be a very important figure in the Han army.
After riding his horse and standing on the grass in front of the camp, Ma Chao looked at Gan Ning's attire while leaning on his long robe. He couldn't help but laugh and said: "They say that the land in Sichuan is rich and rich, and there are so many rich families. Why do you dress like a child? Don't you know Mu Hou?" And the word crown?" After saying that, the servants behind him also started laughing.
Gan Ning was the most arrogant in his life. Hearing Ma Chao's ridicule, his face turned red immediately. The knights around him couldn't bear it any longer. They stepped on the pedals and raised their reins to fight, but Gan Ning gently raised his hand. Stop them from taking action. He waved the long spear full of bells in a circle, and Ma Chao saw silver light flashing and bells tinkling in the air. Then Gan Ning pointed at Ma Chao with the tip of the spear and said, "Blind man, I will cut your scalp today. Be the foothold of Naigong!"
Having said that, he whipped his horse angrily and galloped towards Ma Chao. In the blink of an eye, he flew within the range of the arrow. Then he quickly picked up the horse bow with his left hand, and naturally pulled out an armor-piercing arrow with his right finger. It was completely visible to ordinary people. At an unknown speed, he put the arrow tail on the bowstring. Just as his mount was running wildly, he had already pulled the bow open, and the arrow instantly shot out.
The movement of firing the arrow was so smooth that the usual sound of vibrating strings could not be heard in the air. Ma Chao saw a cold light shining in front of his eyes. He knew he had encountered a powerful enemy, but he did not panic. In this life-threatening moment, he quickly moved his head in the direction of the arrow, and the onlookers couldn't help but scream in surprise. When they looked back, the soldiers discovered that Ma Chao had held the missing arrow horizontally with his teeth! It's incredible. If Gan Ning's archery skills have been perfected, then Ma Chao's technique of catching the arrows is so miraculous that even Gan Ning, the archer, was stunned for a moment.
At this moment, Ma Chao spit out the arrow shaft on the ground, then rubbed his cheeks, as if it was nothing more than a trivial matter on the battlefield, then waved his whip casually, and headed towards Gan Ning's place. The two officially fought. Ma Chao came first and stabbed Gan Ning's neck from the side with his stick. Gan Ning raised his head, then used the stick to push away the tip of Ma Chao's stick and slashed him with the stick. A semicircle, using the force to hit Ma Chao's waist. Ma Chao turned slightly to dodge Gan Ning's swipe, and then the two quickly separated.
All this happened within a short period of time when two horses crossed each other, but the two men had already fought back and forth for two rounds. From the perspective of the soldiers watching from a distance on both sides, they could not see clearly what the two men were doing, and could only hear the sound of the pole. The sound of constant crashing. Seeing that the two horses were not far away, they turned their horses to charge back again. As they got closer, they urged their horses to move forward more and more, as if they wanted to use the momentum of the horses to pierce their opponents to the ground. At the moment when the two horses were about to collide, , everyone's hearts were in their throats, but this time there was silence, and the two of them moved their horses away from each other with great tacit understanding.
On the green grass, after running for more than 20 steps, a red horse slowly turned its head and stood still, while the other horse did not stop, turned its head and rushed towards the opponent again. . Halfway through the journey, the horse that had been standing suddenly jumped up, and the horse's hoof kicked forward violently, hitting the neck of Gan Ning's horse.
Everyone present only heard a very clear kacha sound, and they knew that Gan Ning's white horse's neck bone had been broken when he sat down. Sure enough, just as Ma Chao regained his composure, the white horse struggled to run a few more steps carrying Gan Ning, but soon fell to the ground, wailing softly and waiting for death to come. Gan Ning had to dismount, draw his sword, and face Ma Chao on foot.
Seeing that the general's challenge was unfavorable, the watching servants quickly tried to come forward to save him. Someone drew a heavy arrow in the distance and aimed at Ma Chao to shoot first. Unexpectedly, Ma Chao had noticed it and fell behind the opponent when he raised his bow. , unexpectedly fired the arrow before the man, and the arrow penetrated the man's mouth like a flying kite, nailing the opponent to the ground in an instant.
Under such circumstances, there was still a horseman charging towards Ma Chao with a knife. He rode his horse in an arc to behind Ma Chao, intending to stab Ma Chao's junior. Unexpectedly, Ma Chao seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and suddenly thrust his left hand behind him, just in time. He grabbed the visitor's spear. Shu Qi suddenly felt that the pole seemed to be clamped by iron pincers and could not move at all. In a panic, he dropped the pole and pulled out the short knife from his waist, but it was too late.
Bystanders saw that the two horses were standing side by side, but Ma Chao dropped the pole, grabbed the hand of the Shu man holding the sword, and dragged him to the ground like a chicken. Then he decisively drew out his sword and dropped it casually. In the blink of an eye, Killing this man by piercing his chest, and looking at his expression, it is as simple as killing a chicken and rabbit.
But the Shu man's death still saved Gan Ning. Just when Ma Chao was killing people, the Shu man's horse ran towards Gan Ning. Gan Ning was able to mount his horse and sit up again to face Ma Chao. Gan Ning had no intention of fighting Ma Chao again. There was not much difference in martial arts between the two. However, as far as equestrian skills were concerned, Ma Chao, who had been riding horses since childhood and had been riding in Longyou for twenty years, was far better than those who had been sailing boats and using water all year round. Gan Ning was famous as a bandit in Shu. Therefore, he looked at Ma Chao for a while, said "good" twice first, and then said, "see you on the battlefield tomorrow", then turned around and left in a hurry.
After Ma Chao won this victory, he leisurely rode his horse to return to Chen Chong. The Han soldiers on the side saw that he was covered in silver under the sun. After the bloody battle, he was not stained by any blood. He looked like a god. They couldn't help but admire him greatly and cheered. It boils and is called "Jin Ma Chao".
