There was a "whoosh" sound, and Lu Yuan narrowly avoided the arrow.
Then his body turned around, and several streams of real fire exploded, knocking away the other two arrows that were thrust diagonally from the side.
At this moment, he finally slowed down for a moment, rolled his body a few times, and stood on the city wall, breathing slightly.
He raised his eyes and saw that He Basheng raised another arrow in the distance, ready to go. Seeing that he was still, he released his hand without hesitation.
"hateful!"
Seeing this scene, Lu Yuan cursed secretly, opened his hand and made a move, and a ball of real fire flew up.
Amidst the roar, the arrow that was shot missed and flew away again.
But in an instant more insights came flying in.
The opponent is indeed an experienced shooter. Once he seizes the opportunity, he will attack continuously without giving the enemy any chance to breathe.
Lu Yuan and He Basheng had only been fighting for a moment, but they already felt heavy pressure.
He knew in his heart that if he continued to delay like this, sooner or later he would be exhausted by the opponent and eventually be defeated at the end of the battle.
'We must find a way to defeat the opponent's archery skills. '
While dodging, Lu Yuan looked up and saw the crimson divine bow in the opponent's hand, his eyes full of fear.
In the past, when he first started out, he relied on his hunting bow and superb archery skills to accumulate the capital to make a fortune.
At that time, with the divine bow in my hand, I could truly say that I owned the world.
But Lu Yuan never expected that now that he had perfected his magical skills and had entered the innate world, he would eventually be forced into such a situation by the guy he was eating at the beginning.
The opponent's archery skills were obviously not ordinary.
This guy He Basheng probably practiced innate skills related to archery, otherwise he would not have such power.
At this time, it is absolutely impossible to defeat the opponent's archery skills without defeating him.
As soon as this thought came out of his mind, Lu Yuan's eyes darkened, his body flashed continuously, and he dodged two more arrows. Then the whole person suddenly moved forward, his room spanned several feet, and approached He Basheng.
The latter responded equally quickly.
The moment Lu Yuan approached, He Basheng raised his hand and nocked an arrow, aiming in the direction he was coming from.
Although the enemy was coming very quickly, He Basheng's arrow was faster.
He was confident that before the opponent came three feet away from him, his arrow would penetrate the opponent's body and then kill him there.
Although He Basheng didn't know why Lu Yuan did this?
But he knew that this was a good opportunity to win.
Seeing the dawn of victory, He Basheng couldn't help but smile.
However, just when he was about to let go of his hand, release the bowstring, and shoot the person through.
Suddenly, there was a thunder in his ears, and he felt a pain in his brain, stars in his eyes, and his whole body froze.
Then there was a swift golden light in the distance, like lightning, floating toward him at an incredible speed.
Warning signs sounded in my heart immediately.
He Basheng came back to his senses instantly.
Then he didn't have time to think too much, and instinctively turned to one side of his body. Then he felt a pain in his right hand. The divine bow he held tightly in his hand suddenly broke into two sections. The golden light flashed past and struck the bluestone wall behind.
Just hearing a bang, a large crack opened in the solid city wall, and it was several feet deep, and then it stopped.
He Basheng fell down, and then looked at this scene and couldn't help but take a breath.
If he had been too late to dodge just now, the golden light would have struck him, and he would have been smashed into powder.
Suppressing the horror in his heart, He Basheng immediately came back to his senses, then looked at the cut on his right side, his bleeding arm, and the broken divine bow on the ground, and looked in front of him.
At this time, he could no longer care about regretting the divine bow that had been with him for decades. The great general of Beizhu Kingdom of the Zhou people stared at Lu Yuan and said with an extremely solemn expression: "Immortal cultivator!"
Yes.
The thunder and the flash of golden light just now were already recognized by He Basheng.
The fact that Lu Yuan was an immortal cultivator and knew magic was completely exposed.
After discovering this, He Basheng's fighting spirit disappeared and he no longer had the thought of fighting with the opponent.
The other party turned out to be an immortal cultivator!
Not only that, he is also a master with innate achievements in martial arts.
No wonder Gui Lianyun and Zhang Chanyi fell into each other's hands.
It turned out that He Basheng was still a little doubtful, a little unworthy, and even a little angry that these two people had disgraced Zhou Guo.
But now after discovering Lu Yuan's identity as an immortal cultivator, all the doubts, worthlessness, and anger that he had originally felt disappeared.
Encountering an immortal cultivator disguised as a warrior, they were caught off guard. Gui Lianyun and Zhang Chanyi were injured again, and it was not surprising that they died in Lu Yuan's hands.
It's just that such a way to die is too unfair.
He Basheng sighed in his heart, his fear of Lu Yuan had risen to an unprecedented height.
An innate master is not scary.
Even an ordinary cultivator is not scary as long as he is not at the level of a Taoist Master of the Six Great Paths.
But if the two are added together, then the threat of this kind of character becomes more terrifying than ever.
At this time, in He Basheng's heart, Lu Yuan's threat was no different than that of a warrior at the second level of Xiantian.
"You actually avoided me."
Lu Yuan met He Basheng's gaze with a stern expression, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.
He had just tried a combination of surprise attacks on Gui Lianyun and Zhang Chanyi twice before.
Every time, there was no miss and the target was successfully killed.
But I didn't expect that this time I would take action again, but He Basheng would snatch it away.
The previous Soul Capturing Technique was unable to capture the opponent for long, and he was detached in an instant.
'As expected of a master who is close to the second level of Xiantian. This divine soul's will is much stronger than the ordinary first level. '
Lu Yuan sighed secretly in his heart, and then the real fire around him ignited again, holding a magic formula in his hand.
But he was ready to continue his efforts and took advantage of the opportunity when the opponent's divine bow was broken and his arm was injured to kill this person.
However, seeing his posture, He Basheng took a deep look at Lu Yuan, and then without saying a word, he quickly flew down the city wall and headed towards the Zhou army's camp in the distance. go.
He has indeed escaped.
This sudden reaction made Lu Yuan a little surprised. When he wanted to pursue him, the other party had already left the city wall.
As for the Zhou people below, a large number of soldiers were like a swarm of ants, climbing towards the city wall one after another.
Seeing this situation, Lu Yuan did not dare to go deep into the army and pursue the opponent.
In the end, he had no choice but to throw out dozens of real fires in hatred, killing hundreds of Zhou people who were eagerly climbing on the city wall. After repelling them all, he left with regret.
…
He Basheng was defeated and fled. This incident had a huge impact on the military morale of the Zhou people.
The opponent was the military god of the Zhou Kingdom. He lost at this time. To the Zhou Kingdom, it was like the defeat of Bai Mengyang of the Yue Kingdom.
And the last time Bai Mengyang was defeated, what was the outcome?
The hundreds of thousands of troops who entered Xichuan to suppress the rebellion were all abandoned in Xichuan. The entire army was wiped out, and only Bai Mengyang escaped alone.
At this time, He Basheng was defeated and fled. Although there would not be such consequences, the situation was not much better.
Therefore, the next Zhou people's attack on the city only lasted for a short while, and then they retreated back with the sound of gold from the rear.
And perhaps Lu Yuan's exposure of his identity as an immortal cultivator today had too much of a deterrent and impact on He Basheng. For most of the next day, or even overnight, the Zhou people did not continue to attack the city.
The city had been attacked repeatedly, and the soldiers who had strained their spirits for several days finally got a moment of respite.
But on the eighth day, the Zhou people regrouped again, and this time sent more people, a total of 50,000 people, rushing toward Guancheng like a roaring mountain and a tsunami.
And He Basheng also changed his bow and arrow again and appeared in the siege army.
Not only him, but beside He Basheng, there was also a white-armored general, who was also standing with his sword in his hand, looking at the city wall.
Lu Yuan stood at the top of the city, looking at the two men.
When their eyes met, they instantly understood what the other party meant.
If you don't take action, then the other party won't take action either. And if I really want to bully the small with the big, use the dignity of the innate master to bully those ordinary Zhou soldiers.
Then He Basheng, the two innate masters, would no longer care about anything, and would also directly take action against Lu Yuan.
Two against one.
Referring to yesterday's situation, it was so difficult to deal with He Basheng. On the basis of having the other party, there is also an innate master.
With this kind of lineup, even Lu Yuan felt like he had a huge headache.
When the two sides fought, he was really not sure he could beat the other side. Even if you think about it carefully, you may be in danger of death.
The two sides are intimidating each other. They are afraid of both sides. Everyone has scruples.
In the end, He Basheng did not take action, and Lu Yuan did not take action after all.
As a result, this offensive and defensive battle changed from a decisive battle between the innate masters to a brutal attrition of ordinary soldiers.
Fortunately, there was a big victory yesterday, and the morale of the soldiers in the city was very high. They repaired for another day and night, and they have greatly recovered both mentally and physically.
On the other hand, although the peripheral soldiers outside the city were still outnumbered, they had a huge advantage over the defenders in the city.
But the fact that the coach prepared is still there.
After a night of rectification, even though some morale was restored, it was still much worse than before.
With this increase and decrease, the gap between the defenders inside the pass and the enemy forces outside the city has shrunk a lot.
Therefore, after a day of fighting, the Zhou people left thousands of corpses behind, and finally retreated in panic.
At night, perhaps because he did not want to overpress Lu Yuan, He Basheng did not continue to attack the city as he had done in previous days. Instead, it rarely stopped and started repairs.
On the ninth day, the Zhou people attacked the city again. They also fought all day and rested at night.
It was still the same on the tenth and eleventh day.
In the past few days, Lien Chan had suffered heavy losses among the people outside the city. A rough estimate was that there were more than 100,000 corpses dumped under the city. But most of them were civilians accompanying the army. The casualties among the truly elite soldiers were actually not large, only ten or twenty thousand.
The same is true for Guan Inland Abyss.
Of the more than 30,000 defenders, more than 20,000 were civilians and only 5,000 were Miao soldiers. But the battle had reached this point, and of the 30,000 defenders, there were only less than 5,000 left.
Fortunately, at this time, the soldiers and horses mobilized from the rear finally came to support.
The troops from Fengcheng and Taibai Mansion, totaling 12,000 people, arrived at Guancheng.
These people are basically fighting soldiers, or Miao soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles. They are extremely strong and elite. In terms of combat power, it is much stronger than the civilians who were consumed before.
Their arrival instantly stabilized the already shaky Guancheng. The remaining five thousand soldiers and horses in the city also had their morale boosted again by the arrival of reinforcements.
While the city's side was replenished, the Zhou soldiers outside the pass failed to recover.
After fighting for eleven consecutive days, the number of soldiers and horses of these Zhou people who came from the southern expedition had dropped sharply from the original 300,000 to less than 200,000 now.
Not only did it suffer heavy casualties, but it also failed to capture Guancheng, which also had a huge impact on military morale.
Therefore, after learning that there were reinforcements in the city, He Basheng thought about it and finally did not continue to attack the city. Instead, he stationed troops outside the pass for repairs and confrontation.
More than ten days passed like this.
Within Guancheng, subsequent reinforcements arrived one after another. In addition to Fengcheng and Taibai Prefectures, each prefecture in the south of Hanzhong County sent 2,000 people to support.
With the arrival of these people, the garrison within the pass surged to 33,000 people, more than before the war began.
Even these people are elite warriors, and their actual combat power is several times greater than before.
Under this situation, Lu Yuan even detached thousands of troops and sent them back to Fengcheng and Taibai Mansion to resume the work of relocating the people.
And he was repairing it here, and the Zhou camp outside the pass didn't wait.
Over there, the troops are being reorganized, training soldiers and horses, and restoring morale. On the one hand, they asked for food, grass and equipment from the rear, and at the same time mobilized more civilians to supplement the strength of the camp.
More than ten days passed in this way, and the time came to mid-July of the eighth year of Hongdao.
After waiting for more than a month, the Zhou army's camp outside the pass had accumulated enough food and grass, and subsequent supplementary civilians also arrived one after another, and the number of troops and horses once again returned to 300,000.
After a month of recuperation, the originally low military morale slowly recovered.
Seeing this situation, He Basheng finally ordered the army to attack the city again.
Facing another round of his offensive, Lu Yuan just led the city's defenders to hold off for a few days, leaving some time for the rear, then gave up Xiegu Pass and led his army to leave.
Yes, he abandoned the pass and left.
The specific reason is not that Guancheng cannot be defended, but mainly that this cruel offensive and defensive battle consumes too much soldiers.
Lu Yuan had only been fighting for four days, but he had lost another five thousand troops and horses, which was a huge drain.
How many elite soldiers is he?
Especially the elite soldiers who are trustworthy.
After the continuous consumption since the Northern Expedition, including the land south of the Yangtze River, there are now only 70,000.
How can such a small number of troops and horses be enough?
If these people are lost, then how can Lu Yuan stabilize the country and subdue the captured Zhou soldiers without his own core troops?
Therefore, the direct line soldiers in hand can no longer be consumed.
Fortunately, at this time, after nearly half a year of hard work, the household registration relocation work in Hanzhong County has almost come to an end.
In the entire six prefectures to the west and north of Hanzhong County, after half a year, Lu Yuan directly moved 200,000 households in one go, with a population of more than one million. In the four prefectures to the south, 100,000 households and more than 500,000 people were relocated.
Taken together, Hanzhong County has relocated 300,000 households and 1.6 million people.
It can be said that Lu Yuan's move caused Hanzhong County to directly lose more than half of its household registrations, which was a huge blow to the strength of this place.
Although it is not impossible to continue migrating in the future.
If these 300,000 households and 1.6 million people were all resettled, it would be enough to fill Dongting County and the three prefectures east of Xichuan County.
After all, Dongting County had been in war for several years and the population loss was only over one million. The three prefectures east of Xichuan County are estimated to have hundreds of thousands.
The population that migrated and plundered from Hanzhong County was just enough to fill these places.
If there are more, there will be no place to put them.
Therefore, seeing that his strategic goal had been achieved, Lu Yuan naturally did not need to continue to hold on to Xiegu Pass and could lead his army to retreat.
On July 25, the eighth year of Hongdao's reign, Lu Yuan led his troops to withdraw from Xiegu Pass.
Then on the way, they gathered the soldiers from all the prefectures along the way, and the number of soldiers and horses reached 50,000, and continued to the south.
On the first day of August, Lu Yuan led his army to Nanzheng City.
The next day, Lan Cai'er led the 30,000 garrison troops at Yangping Pass back to Nanzheng.
Three days later, 30,000 civilian warriors recruited by Zhou Qing from Xichuan County arrived at Nanzheng City.
As a result, there were 120,000 soldiers and horses gathered by Lu Yuan inside and outside Nanzheng City. Among them, there are 50,000 combat soldiers and 70,000 civilian warriors.
On the eighth day of August, after He Basheng divided his troops and captured Lu Yuan and abandoned the six prefectures north of Hanzhong, he led his troops southward and arrived at Hanzhong County.
But at this time, He Basheng's military advantage over Lu Yuan instantly dropped from the original ten-fold difference to the current two-fold difference.
Moreover, Nanzheng City is also a county city. The city is high and the pond is deep. There is a large amount of food, grass and weapons in the city, and there are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses guarding it. It is really difficult to capture He Ba Sheng's 300,000 troops.
Therefore, after trying to attack several times, He Basheng gave up this plan.
Later, Lan Cai'er also showed up with Lu Yuan several times. After learning that there was another innate master here, He Basheng completely gave up the idea of attacking the city.
Originally, he and another Zhuguo general worked together, but they were just able to contain Lu Yuan.
At this time, the opponent has another innate grandmaster, and the fragile balance between the top-level combat power is instantly broken.
At this time, if we attack the city again, it is difficult to guarantee whether an innate master will take action if the opponent is in a hurry.
Even if Lu Yuan could be restrained by them, he would not be able to take action.
But as long as Lan Cai'er, the innate master, appears on the battlefield, the morale damage to his side and the consumption of troops and horses will be extremely terrifying.
Therefore, after the balance of power between the two sides was determined and a balance was achieved, He Basheng did not dare to attack the city at will.
After that, apart from sending some troops every day for symbolic small-scale confrontations with the enemy, there were no major battles.
And time was delayed like this, and it came to September of the eighth year of Hongdao.
Not long after the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the refreshing autumn day was coming to an end, news finally came from the Zhou court in the north and the Yue court in the south.
The peace negotiations between the two countries, after these months of Hanzhong War, continued negotiations and compromises, finally came to fruition.
The peace talks are over.
