However, the boatman was shot dead by a stray arrow, and the boat Cao Cao was riding lost control and floated eastward.
The situation was extremely critical. Xu Chu used his left hand to hold up the saddle as a shield to block Cao Cao's arrows, and with his right hand he rowed desperately to control.
Ma Chao's Xiliang army refused to give up and continued to chase and shoot arrows along the river. Xu Chu's strong body was hit by several arrows, but fortunately his skin was rough and his flesh was thick, but the arrows did not hit his vitals.
The boat was washed away four or five miles by the water of the Yellow River, and Cao Cao's forced crossing turned into a lonely boat from a distance.
At the critical moment, Captain Ding Fei came from the east to respond. He asked the army to release a large number of cattle and horses as bait to lure the Xiliang army to give up the pursuit.
The value of cattle, horses, and farmers in battle is very high, and the Guanzhong Allied Forces are in short supply of food and grass.
At this time, Ding Fei, the captain of the transportation brigade, was feeding. Neither Ma Chao nor Pang De could restrain his men. The Xiliang army frantically pursued the fleeing cattle and horses.
Without the harassment of cavalry bows and arrows, Xu Chu endured the pain of arrows and rowed desperately to the north bank, and finally successfully broke through and crossed the river.
The generals on the north bank were filled with joy and sorrow when they saw that Cao Cao was safe and sound. Cao Cao laughed regardless of his embarrassed appearance: "If it weren't for Ding Fei's cleverness today, I would have been trapped in the river by Ma Chao's son..."
Everyone nodded and praised Ding Fei, and saw Xu Chu pulling out the arrow from his arm. Cao Cao saw this and hurriedly comforted him: "Zhong Kang worked hard to block the arrow for Gu, and the doctor who followed him healed his arrow wound..."
"I don't feel any pain. This is what a general should do." Xu Chu replied with his fists clasped.
Although Cao Cao was moved when he heard this, almost no one offered Xu Chu the icing on the cake.
The reason why he and Ding Fei were treated differently was that in addition to Xu Chu's low emotional intelligence and his tendency to offend others, Ding Fei's background was also much better than his.
Ding Fei and Cao Cao share the same county and were born in the Ding family in Qiao County. The three sons of the Ding family have been married to the Cao family for many generations.
Cao Cao's first wife was from the Ding family. Ding Fei was deeply trusted by Cao Cao and was also a great minister of Cao Wei. This kind of relationship was unmatched by Xu Chu.
Ma Chao returned to Tongguan to see Han Sui and said worriedly: "Cao's bandit army has all crossed the Yellow River. If they want to attack Guanzhong, they must go through Pubanjin. I don't know if Liang Xing's five thousand troops can stop him..."
Han Sui stroked his beard and smiled and said: "The current in this section of the Yellow River is very fast. When my nephew went to pursue him, I sent Zhang Heng and Cheng Yi with an army of 10,000 to meet him. Unless Cao Cao had wings, he would not have been able to successfully cross the river. "
Ma Chao sighed, "It's a pity that the pursuit just now only annihilated two to three thousand people..."
"Hahaha, Cao Cao's soldiers are all elite, and my nephew can annihilate three thousand people, which is a great victory. We should hold a banquet to celebrate Meng Qi's victory.
I saw your troops driving back a lot of cattle and horses at the pass just now. Why don't we kill some so that our Xiliang coalition forces can eat them? "Han Sui suggested with a smile.
After hearing this, Ma Chao immediately frowned, shook his head and said: "How can I take away the spoils that the soldiers have captured voluntarily? Killing the soldiers' cattle and horses by force is equivalent to taking wealth. My uncle is still appropriating some meat and food from your army."
Han Sui's face gradually stiffened, "After years of fighting in the Guanzhong area, much of the land has been laid waste. This time we raised troops to drive away Zhong Yao, and tens of thousands of people fled from Ziwu Valley into Hanzhong.
It is now a problem for the coalition forces to collect food on the spot. Where can they distribute meat to the soldiers? It’s good to have a full meal for a while..."
"Is it so difficult? The food and grass in Liangzhou station..." Ma Chao asked again.
Han Sui smiled bitterly and replied: "It's hard to be a good nephew if you don't know how to be a good man. This time we took away almost all the young people in Liangzhou. Originally, Liangzhou didn't have much food. Now it has continued to consume for nearly a year. We are about to run out of food." Already..."
"Cao Cao delivered the food on time..." Ma Chao said to himself.
"What did your wise nephew just say?" Han Sui asked doubtfully.
Ma Chao's expression changed and he said: "Since the food and grass supply is no longer sustainable, we must end the battle as soon as possible.
Cao's army outside Tongguan is gone. Why don't we also go to Hexi to reinforce? That thief Cao has many tricks..."
"My nephew is right, those cows and horses..." Han Sui asked.
Ma Chao pretended not to hear, waved his hand and walked away and said: "Then I will go to organize the army first. Uncle, please follow me as soon as possible..."
Han Sui and Ma Chao had the largest number of troops. They crossed the river from Weikou to the north one after another. They met Liang Xing's defeated army just twenty miles away.
Han Sui was horrified when he saw this. He stopped a few defeated soldiers to ask about the situation of the battle. The leader of the army replied dejectedly: "When we followed General Liang to the Hexi ferry, General Xu Huang of Cao Army had already led his elite infantry to cross the river from Pubanjin. They waited for work to fight against our exhausted troops, and returned with a great defeat..."
"Cao Cao can't go around Pubanjin from Hedong faster than you. Even though Xu Huang is from Hedong, he can't fly across the Yellow River, right?" Han Sui looked unconvinced.
The officer smiled bitterly: "I'm telling the governor that there are only a few thousand people crossing the river. They should not be Cao Cao's main force..."
Han Sui slapped his thigh fiercely, thinking that we have fallen into a trap. Cao Cao is so cunning that he even acted as the bait himself.
"Where is General Liang?" Han Sui asked.
"While we were retreating, we encountered reinforcements from General Zhang and General Cheng. General Liang joined forces with them to attack Xu Huang, and sent the last general south to report to the governor."
Han Sui breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the introduction, and said to himself: "Zhang Heng and Cheng Yi have thousands of troops, and coupled with the previous consumption of Liang Xing's troops, they should be able to defeat Xu Huang's forward troops. "
Han Sui ordered his troops to pass the general's message to Ma Chao, asking him to speed up his march to prevent Cao Cao from crossing the river.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the two armies marched hurriedly and met five miles south of the Hexi ferry. They found that the former army did not storm the ferry, but instead set up camp on the spot.
Liang Xing and Cheng Yi learned that Ma Chao and Han Sui's army had arrived, and personally walked out of the camp to greet them.
"I see that Cao Cao's army has gathered on the other side and has begun to slowly cross the Yellow River to the west. Do you plan to launch an attack after Cao Cao's army comes over? Where is General Zhang?" Han Sui said angrily.
Han Sui's tone was teasing, but he couldn't scold him too much, because although the ten Kansai tribes recommended Han Sui as the governor, they had no affiliation with each other. If everyone was unwilling to work hard for themselves, there was no way.
Liang Xing lowered his head and replied softly: "That Xu Huang is not an idle person. His camp was already set up when we arrived. The casualties of a strong attack were huge. General Zhang was killed by Xu Huang after he was ambushed..."
Han Sui was stunned when he heard this, and the impatient Ma Chao beside him suggested: "Now that Cao's thieves have begun to cross the river, how long will it take if we don't launch an attack at this time? Come with me to avenge General Zhang."
Am I not the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces? Xiaoma, you didn't distinguish between cows and horses before, and now you are playing the trick of overestimating the guest and taking the lead?
"Ahem, dear nephew, wait a moment, the time has not come yet." Han Sui said meaningfully.
Ma Chao was extremely puzzled and asked doubtfully: "There are not many Cao thieves crossing the river, so the time has not yet come?"
Han Sui stroked his gray beard and said meaningfully: "You can obey the order to cross the river and wander in the river. Don't worry about it!"
Neither Liang Xing nor Cheng Yi liked Ma Chao, so they immediately nodded in agreement. Seeing that everyone was unwilling to fight, Ma Chao could not let his troops fight alone.
The shortcomings of the temporarily organized coalition emerged. No one had absolute leadership authority, and everything had to be discussed before implementation.
Just when the Kansai Allied Forces were hesitant, the main force of Cao's army had all crossed to the river bank one after another.
