Chapter 905 Narrow Road
A crimson military flag stopped outside, and a large number of Cao Jun's tigers and leopards rode in an endless stream.
Through the grass, Dong Fan saw the military flag stopped outside. A knight wearing a basin collar armor was talking to several horsemen, but the distance was too far and he could not hear clearly.
Dong Fan slowly pulled out the Huanshou knife in his hand, and the tooth soldiers behind him did the same.
He did not need to look back at the expressions of the Tooth Soldiers. These warriors who had been following him since the Daibei period were always his most trusted group of people.
Listening to the rumble of horse hooves outside, Dong Wang stared at the cavalryman under the military flag outside, swallowed his saliva, and jumped up suddenly.
Then the seventy tooth soldiers behind him also jumped up, got on their horses neatly, and followed Dong Fang like arrows towards the tiger and leopard cavalry.
Only Tao An was sitting in the grass. He knew his ability and would not interfere at this time.
A group of sudden cavalry jumped out from the grass, startling all the tiger and leopard cavalry.
Especially the cavalry general of Cao Jun under the flag was even more shocked. He hurriedly blew the horn to make the tiger and leopard cavalry who had already rushed to the front retreat.
But it was too late.
Dong Fan, who was prancing like a dragon, soared down the gentle slope like a bolt of lightning. He just made a circle with the Huanshou knife in his hand and rushed in front of the cavalry commander.
Then Dong Fan waved his blade lightly, and the cavalryman's head flew out.
Gao Rou died.
The hunter and the prey complete a reversal at this moment.
At the same time, a group of fang cavalry also ran down. They each found their targets, and like lightning, they killed the sluggish tiger and leopard cavalry on their horses.
Quick and neat.
After Dong Fan chopped down the flag, he picked up a horse pole from the tiger and leopard cavalry, then rode back, and then said to Tao An who was sitting on the ground:
"Mr. Tao, we can't stay here anymore. The enemy will find out soon. Now I plan to run north, and I can't leave the front."
Tao An naturally had no objection and got on the horse with the help of the tooth soldiers beside him.
Afterwards, everyone packed up their equipment, took the horses that were still on the battlefield, and then turned around and headed north.
They planned to make a big circle instead of going directly east back to the camp.
Although this result allowed them to be safe for the time being, it also lost an opportunity to make great achievements.
Afterwards, everyone including Dong Fang stayed up all night, regretting why they didn't continue eastward that day.
……
Along the dirt road, Lu Chang held the iron bone flower and walked in the middle of the cavalry.
Lu Chang is from Nanyang. He actually joined the Taishan Army not long ago. He was captured during the Yiluo War last year and joined.
But Lu Chang was lucky. He encountered a good time, that is, in order to launch a follow-up offensive against Nanyang. At that time, the Taishan Army promoted a group of good composition and strong military personnel from the surrendered prisoners of Nanyang as reserves.
Lu Chang met these two conditions. He was previously a riding slave of the Yin family of Nanyang. Not only did he have superb technical and tactical abilities, he was also a natural element that the Taishan Army wanted to promote.
So Lu Chang first joined the war against bandits in the Central Plains as a reserve cavalry, and later became an official. Due to his strong physique and excellent riding skills, he was transferred to Ding Sheng's legion and served as his tooth cavalry.
Ding Sheng also admired Lu Chang very much and thought that he was a natural horseman, so he arranged for him to be trained in heavy armor.
On the way, his boss Zhang Xi's soldiers had already told Lu Chang about this mission.
After learning that this time was to save Ding Sheng, Lu Chang was excited.
Not only because Ding Sheng has been kind to me, but also because this is undoubtedly a big opportunity.
After all, what credit can be compared to saving the coach in critical situations?
But soon, when they passed through a gap, they suddenly heard the sound of galloping horses in front of them, and Lu Chang shouted in a loud voice:
"Array!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the fifty heavy cavalry leaned against each other and formed an impact formation on the dirt road.
All the horses in the front row were put down, and the sharp and cold light shone in front of them.
Then thirty riders came out of the gap. Although the leader was fat, he was not angry and had a dignity of his own.
Until this time, both sides could clearly see the other side and exclaimed in surprise.
...
Ding Sheng gasped, took another sip of water from his water bag, and listened intently to Lu Chang's report.
When he heard that Cao Jun's troops had lurked across the Zi River, Ding Sheng's back was covered in cold sweat.
He finally understood where his uneasiness came from.
What a good thief Cao was, he actually played this trick on himself. He was not angry that such important information was not obtained by You Yi and others, but by two woodcutters accidentally.
Because the dense forest is far enough away from the Taishan Army's camp, and it is also on the east side of Mengshan Mountain. There are originally many valleys and dense forests, so it is normal for sentries to not detect it.
But Ding Sheng was vaguely dissatisfied with Guan Yu.
Because shouldn't Cao Cao be restrained by you, Guan Yu? How could he be allowed to withdraw his army so calmly?
At this time, Ding Sheng did not know that Guan Yu had followed the military order to march westward to Mushui and besieged Langya's army first.
After drinking the last drop of water, Ding Sheng couldn't help but pat his belly.
Years of meat-eating and high-intensity fighting did not make Ding Sheng a stronger warrior, but instead transformed him into a fat man with fat muscles.
Although he is no longer as agile as before and can no longer perform some of the angle movements he used to make good use of in the past, this body shape has given him greater strength and made him more majestic.
As the king once said to Duman: "The belly of my family can hold a boat."
In Ding Sheng's understanding, being a disciple means having a big belly. If you don't have a big belly, how can you support it?
Although there is a high probability that he, Ding Sheng, will not be able to become a disciple, because now the civil and military paths are separated, and military men like him can only enter the Privy Council when they get to the center.
But the Privy Council can be regarded as a military prime minister. When I, Old Ding, deal with the Cao thieves this time, I can also join the Privy Council and become a Privy Councilor.
When the time comes, we, Lao Ding, will be worthy of becoming a prime minister and truly honor our ancestors.
Thinking of this, Ding Sheng was not in a hurry to return to the camp. Instead, he took out a silver arrow directly from his bag and said to the tooth general beside him:
"You return to the camp immediately and order all the generals in the camp to come with their troops. Since you have discovered the Cao thief, we will finish him off in one battle this time."
General Naya took the Silver Arrow, and then led two Yaqimen to rush toward the camp.
After the three riders left, Ding Sheng patted the shoulder of Lu Chang, who was standing respectfully, and said boldly:
"Come on, let's go to the front to watch the formation first. Let's see how many soldiers and horses Cao Cao has come and how he has the courage to tease my beard."
Ding Sheng is really floating.
A few years ago when he was in Pingyuanjin, he was hung up and beaten by Lao Cao, but now he dares to say such big words when he comes back.
But Ding Sheng actually has confidence.
The power development of Cao Cao and Taishan Army in recent years is incomparable at all.
When the Pingyuanjin War broke out, the Taishan Army only managed to level Hebei, and Cao Cao had more than half of Qingzhou at that time. There was a gap in strength between the two sides, but it was not as big as imagined.
Therefore, as one of the five commanders of the Taishan Army, Ding Sheng's absolute strength is worse than Qingzhou. But how have the two sides developed in the past few years?
Cao Cao's fastest development was when he swept Qingzhou, but this was also the time when he was most glorious. After that, he suffered repeated setbacks in Xuzhou, and also had troubles in the process of moving to Central and South West Shandong.
In fact, Cao Cao's power was locked in the narrow Qingzhou at that time.
But let’s look at how the Taishan Army has developed in recent years.
First they flattened Youzhou, then leaped to Pingliao, then left Sedaibei, and then went all the way south, down to Bingzhou and Kejingdu. Now most of even Yong and Liangdu belong to the Taishan Army.
It can be said that if there are three in the world, the Taishan Army already accounts for the second.
Nowadays, with the power of Qingzhou, let alone the main force of the Taishan Army, it is very difficult to compare with the two armies of Ding Sheng and Dong Fang.
The Taishan Army not only has the advantage of manpower and material resources, but also its meticulous research on tools, technology and tactics, which crushes Qingzhou in another dimension.
When the Qingzhou Army prioritized allocating limited iron armor to the main army, the Taishan Army even had rural soldiers equipped with armor.
The gap between the two is already the gap between two eras.
Several years passed by, and Cao Cao was still working hard every day, but the gap between him and the Taishan Army became wider and wider.
After all, even a great man like Cao Cao couldn't resist the progress of the times.
So don't think that Ding Sheng is distracted at this moment. He has enough confidence. As long as Cao Cao dares to fight him head-on, he will give Cao Cao a taste of despair.
At this moment, Lu Chang and Ding Sheng's several tooth generals had already prepared the cavalry.
After confirming their direction for a while, they continued running towards the end of the dirt road.
……
Cao Hong, who had been lurking in Tiger Leaping Gorge, could not wait for anyone to come, nor could he wait for anyone to come. Just when he was wondering if he had made a mistake, he suddenly heard the general beside him exclaim.
Cao Hong couldn't help but turn around to scold him, and saw such a scene on the dirt road behind him.
The dust rolled up by the loess came into view, and groups of shining knights were running along the dirt road. The flags flying one after another and the robes on their armor all revealed that they were Mount Tai. military.
Why did the Taishan Army come from behind?
Although the judgment was in the wrong direction, it does not matter.
Cao Hong asked everyone to continue to lurk, planning to wait for the Taishan cavalry to break out when they passed through the gorge.
But an accident directly ruined Cao Hong's plan.
I don't know which bastard didn't follow Cao Hong's instructions to lurk on both sides of the gorge, but stayed on the slopes on both sides of the dirt road.
And he was sitting there leisurely eating dry food.
In fact, you can't blame these tiger and leopard cavalry. After all, weren't you, Cao Hong, the sentinel cavalry who said you were here to intercept the Taishan Army? Didn't the Sentinel Cavalry come from the west?
I didn't tell them that they would come to the Taishan Army in the east.
Therefore, these tiger and leopard cavalry were directly exposed to the sight of the Taishan Army.
When Cao Hong saw it, he could already see the Taishan cavalry outside starting to form formation. Apparently the other side realized that Cao's army was here.
Cao Hong didn't know how many unpleasant words he had already cursed, but in the end he had no choice but to raise his horse and shouted:
"Come up with me and kill the enemy!"
After speaking, Cao Hong took the lead and rushed towards the Taishan Army on the opposite side.
Again, Cao Hong's only big shortcoming is his greed for money. Apart from this, he is a first-class good man.
Since an ambush can't be achieved, if we encounter them on a narrow road, we can only fight with a sword.
Following Cao Hong's order, the guards around him blew heavy horns, and three hundred tiger and leopard cavalry rushed out from both sides of the gorge, following Cao Hong's leaping horse to attack.
On the opposite side, Ding Sheng on the dirt road was also startled by the sudden sound of the horn.
He never expected that the enemy troops had already come here. Ding Sheng was frightened when he thought that he had just rushed out from this road.
Fortunately, I, Old Ding, ran fast, otherwise I would have suffered the same fate.
If I, Old Ding, died like this, it would be a true injustice.
However, Ding Sheng immediately thought of Dong Fang and Tao An. When he thought that these people had not seen them yet, it seemed that they were probably already cold.
Ding Sheng felt uncomfortable for a while, and then angrily raised his horse and ordered the horsemen:
"The armored cavalry lined up on the side of the road, and all the light cavalry came down to the slope for me, and the whole team spread out."
At this time, although Ding Sheng could not determine how many cavalry the enemy had, the number was definitely greater than his own.
At present, Ding Sheng has fifty heavy cavalry and thirty tooth cavalry. He is not afraid of attacking forts, but he is worried that the enemy will open up a long front and then surround him from both sides. Then he will be in danger.
Therefore, Ding Sheng immediately sent all his tooth cavalry down the road, not only to leave a charging position for the heavy cavalry, but also to widen his own front to guard against the enemy's bypassing tactics.
And sure enough, when the Cao soldiers who rushed out saw a group of armored cavalry on the road, they jumped off the roadside and planned to go around and attack the Taishan army from both sides.
At this moment, in order to stabilize his morale, Ding Sheng loudly ordered:
"Heavy Cavalry Charge!"
After listening to Ding Sheng's order, the heavy cavalry who were already in formation lowered their visors. Then they formed a neat formation of five people and charged towards Cao Jun who was pouring out from the opposite side.
At this time, Lu Chang was on the front line as a forward.
Looking at the knights of Cao's army pouring out from the opposite side, Lu Chang tried hard to suppress the surprise in his heart. He could see that the knights opposite were also well-equipped.
Although their armor didn't cover as much as their own, and their horses weren't as tall as theirs, the people on the opposite side had the courage to draw their swords and fight in a narrow road.
This is only available to first-class combat troops.
Taking a deep breath, Lu Chang grunted, emboldening the whole team.
When the tigers and leopards of Cao's army on the opposite road were charging here, they also began to fight back with arrows.
Most of them couldn't retreat and turn around to shoot at the same time. They could only sit on their horses and shoot.
Most of the arrows bounced off the armor of the heavily armored knights of the Taishan Army, but many arrows still landed on their horses.
As more and more arrows were fired on the horses, a wail finally came from the team.
A war horse finally couldn't bear it and fell to the ground. Not only did it throw away the knight on it, but it also tripped the armored knight behind it.
Suddenly, the dirt road was in chaos.
It was at this time that Cao Hong, who had been eyeing the opportunity, roared, raised his horse and shouted:
"Kill!"
After speaking, the hundreds of tiger and leopard cavalry who had just completed their formation charged angrily at the Taishan armored cavalry amid Cao Hong's roar.
This was the first encounter between two cavalry armies at the peak of their combat power.
Once encountered, flesh and blood will fly everywhere, and the killing sounds will not stop.