On the dilapidated city top of Chiyang City.
Li Jue was anxiously waiting for news from outside the city. Tonight was his last hope. If he didn't take action tonight, he would have no choice but to flee westward tomorrow.
From Haishi to now, he has been standing on the top of the city waiting for an hour and a half. The night is getting darker and darker, but no news has come yet.
Has he been given up?
Li Jue felt a desolate feeling of abandonment. The hot summer in July made him feel cold. At this moment, a sharp sound of whooshing through the air came.
This sharp sound breaking through the air reached Li Jue's ears, and he felt a wonderful feeling, as if he was hearing a beautiful singing voice.
The arrow hit the pillar of the gate with a "dong" sound. He hurriedly took off the secret message on the arrow and hurried towards the room.
When he opened the secret message, Li Jue smiled happily and relaxed completely.
After Zishi, he raised fire as a signal and attacked and killed Zhang Xiu.
Twelve short words made Li Jue feel the hope of survival; so he immediately summoned all his troops, got up in the middle of the night to make food, and waited all the time to rush out from the east city gate.
In a mountain col thirty miles away.
In order to ensure the success of the plan to assassinate Zhang Xiu, Cheng Yu followed the army regardless of his body and calmly waited for the time to come in the mountain col.
Zhang Heng was the main leader in this attack plan, and they were all auxiliaries.
Because Zhang Heng is closest to Zhang Xiu, he is the easiest person to assassinate Zhang Xiu. If outsiders want to assassinate Zhang Xiu, they must first break through the outer camp, which will arouse Zhang Xiu's vigilance.
Everyone is waiting for Zhang Heng's action.
Even at night, when he was hiding in the mountain col, he felt a stifling heat that made him unable to breathe. Liang Xing asked uncomfortably: "Master Cheng, why hasn't the time come yet? Can Zhang Heng do it?"
Cheng Yu said calmly: "General, calm down. General Zhang must be preparing."
At this moment, a flash of fire suddenly lit up in Zhang Xiu's military camp, followed by loud shouts from afar.
Liang Xing heard the voice as if he had received an amnesty: "Haha! General Zhang finally took action, otherwise I would have been suffocated to death."
When he said this, he immediately stood up and ran to the woods behind where the war horses were tied. The soldiers behind him got up and mounted their horses. Cheng Yu looked at the fire in front of him. His eyes were dim and the distance was too far, so he couldn't see or hear clearly, but he felt something was wrong in his heart.
Thirty people were left behind, which he asked Liang Xing to leave for him.
There are counselors like Jia Xu in Zhang Xiu's camp. If you want to fight against an old guy like Jia Wenhe, you can't do it without preparing a backup plan.
Seeing the flames rising into the sky, Liang Xing got on his horse excitedly, as if he saw the glory, wealth and high official salary right before his eyes. The closer he charged, the more excited he became. He clapped his horse and accelerated, hoping to kill Zhang Xiu as quickly as possible.
Just as Liang Xing was fantasizing, a loud command came from the darkness a hundred steps ahead: "Fire the arrow—!"
In an instant, the sound of bow strings vibrating sounded in unison.
Then countless sharp swords shot high into the sky, crossing a perfect parabola towards Liang Xing's men and horses.
Liang Xing's hot blood was instantly poured down by a basin of icy cold water. A numbing chill spread throughout his body. The horse's full momentum took him into a place covered by arrows.
After a crisp sound of "Puff! Puff!" pierced through the flesh, the entire charging forward was shot into a hedgehog by the dense rain of arrows without even letting out a scream.
The thick smell of blood dispersed.
When the cavalry behind saw the tragic scene in front, they were so frightened that they hurriedly reined in their horses and tried to escape. How could Wei Yan, who was already ready to attack, let them escape? He immediately led a battalion of three thousand Qinglong Cavalry to kill them from the flank.
Under Chiyang City.
Seeing the fire, Li Jue's face flushed with excitement. All his 13,000 cavalrymen were ready to go. Li Jue mounted his horse, raised his sword high and shouted: "Brothers! Success or failure depends on tonight. Kill Zhang Xiu and reward him." One hundred taels of gold! Fight out—!"
Then, the east city gate opened wide.
Li Jue took the lead and led all the cavalry out, heading towards Zhang Xiu's military camp. His goal was very clear, which was Zhang Xiu's Chinese army tent.
Looking from a distance, Zhang Xiu's Chinese army tent was filled with flames, shouts and chaos. This scene was exactly what Li Jue had expected. He thought that Zhang Heng had already killed Zhang Xiu, and he couldn't rush over. It's a finishing job.
After rushing into the camp at the lead, Li Jue was just about to rush to Zhang Xiu's Chinese army tent when he keenly discovered something was wrong: there were neither fighting corpses nor any blood stains on the ground. The chaotic shouts had stopped, and there were only crackling sounds. The sound of fire.
"I fell into a trap! Zhang Heng mistaken me!"
Li Jue immediately shouted: "The rear army must be changed to the front army, withdraw!"
"kill--!"
At this time, countless Zhang Xiu's troops poured out from all directions and charged towards Li Jue. Among them, Ji Ling and Gan Ning were the most prominent. The two of them rode horses and led thousands of people to kill towards Li Jue.
Seeing Gan Ning's ferocious expression, Li Jue's face changed in fright and he ran away desperately.
When he fled to Chiyang City, he found a fire on the city wall. On the city wall of the east city gate, Zhang Xiu stood in the firelight and looked at Li Jue below the city with a smile.
Li Jue pointed the tip of his knife at Zhang Xiu on the top of the city: "Shameless boy, do you dare to fight me?"
"You, a defeated general, dare to make such bold remarks. I advise you to run away quickly. General Gan is about to chase you." Zhang Xiu reminded with a smile.
Li Jue is so embarrassed.
But I really didn't dare to stay any longer and fled westward.
Behind him, Hu Che'er asked in confusion: "My lord, why not kill him directly to avoid future troubles."
Zhang Xiu smiled mysteriously: "Don't worry, he will die sooner or later. I can still use him if I keep him. You go down and help General Gan collect the surrendered soldiers."
"Here!" Hu Che'er staggered down to the city.
Zhang Xiu squinted his eyes and looked at the lights of fire and the galloping horses under the city. He didn't know how many brave warriors shed blood on the battlefield tonight.
…
In the mountain col.
When Cheng Yu keenly heard the sound of the bowstring, he anticipated that the plan would fail; without hesitation, he ordered the thirty people around him to mount their horses with him and head towards Xiliang.
Liang Xing and Zhang Heng were killed in the battle, and the fleeing Li Jue had lost the value of being used. Now the only ones who can resist Zhang Xiu are Ma Teng and Han Sui from Xiliang.
With Cao Cao's divine intention at hand, he was absolutely sure that Ma Teng and Han Sui would join forces to fight against Zhang Xiu.
It's late July now.
After he persuaded Ma Teng and Han Sui to send troops to Guanzhong, it would take at least one month. One month later, it would be the autumn harvest.
By then, Cao Cao would have enough food and grass to march troops from Hangu Pass and attack Zhang Xiu from both sides. By then, Zhang Xiu would definitely be defeated.
Xiliang's horse was on horseback. The bumpy back of the horse did not affect the expected plan in Cheng Yu's mind, and he headed towards Xiliang with squinted eyes.
In order to avoid Zhang Xiu's troops, he deliberately crossed the Wei River and went upstream from the south bank of the Wei River.
At this time, Wei Yan led his troops and rushed to Wugong City, hoping to find Cheng Yu.
But it's no longer possible.
