The weeds on both sides of the river have basically withered, and occasionally you can still see a small patch of pale green, with a little pale red dotted among them. The river is very wide, and the current is not fast, but the wind is a little chilly, and it is very uncomfortable to blow on the sweaty body. The sound of running water was gentle, as if it was afraid of waking up the tranquility of the wilderness.

The soldiers sat quietly on their horses, and one by one they looked very calm. For the coming battle, for the impending death, they seem to be unaware, calmly, calmly, as if they are one with the heaven and earth itself.

Li Hong and Xiaodao stood by the river, looking at the pursuers who were gradually approaching in the distance.

"Kuroko, you're the best soldier I've ever seen." Knife said suddenly.

Li Hong smiled, "Thank you." What's the length, how are you going to fight this battle? ”

"Fight." According to the idea of the knife, twenty people rushed up to fight it. As much time as you can resist, you can take as much time as you can. Li Hong stopped him.

Li Hong asked him, "Chief, do you want the twenty of us to be swept into a pulp by the enemy's iron horsemen?" ”

Xiaodao said helplessly: "Is there any way you can save everyone?" ”

Li Hong laughed, "Of course there is." But yours will be commanded by me once. ”

"As long as you can save everyone's lives, you can just want my life." The knife said excitedly.

Li Hong commanded everyone to ride their horses to the river.

"You see, there is a clear slope of a man at fifty paces from the meadow to this embankment. Don't underestimate the slope. Fifty paces can allow the enemy's horse to slow down quickly, unable to charge us. And behind us is the Wetshui River. If he rushes up with all his might, once there is no direct contact with us, he will inevitably rush into the river with the speed of the horse. Unable to make the horse reach the fastest speed, and the possibility of falling into the river, the enemy was certainly unwilling to take a strong attack in the face of this dilemma. ”

"You can't rely on the strong attack of war horses, you can only take a positional attack. There are few of us, so naturally we can't beat them. But we can find a way to turn the enemy's outnumbered advantage into a disadvantage. ”

In the distance, the sound of the horse's hooves of the pursuers was like a *, and it came violently. The knife was in a hurry and shouted: "Kuroko, tell me what to do, the enemy is coming." ”

Li Hong glanced at it casually, and continued to say to the soldiers around him: "Everyone turned their backs to the river, and lined up eighteen horses in groups of two to form a semi-circular horseshoe-shaped formation. In this way, the thickness and radius of this horseshoe formation are just enough for twenty of us to defend. The enemy attacks, we defend, and see who loses and who wins. ”

Li Hong glanced at everyone and said with a smile, "Understood?" ”

The soldiers, who probably saw the hope of survival, or drew strength from Li Hong's confident smile, suddenly perked up and shouted in unison, "Understood." ”

Everyone immediately followed Li Hong's request and tied the war horses together on the river embankment to form a solid fortress. Due to Li Hong's detailed explanation, the soldiers knew the advantages and disadvantages of both the enemy and us, so they were full of confidence, and they were all full of energy, like a dragon and a tiger.

Li Hong then said to the knife: "As long as we hold on until tomorrow, we will win." ”

The knife admired him very much. Wen Yan was surprised and asked, "Why?" ”

"Tomorrow their troops will be marching from the Red Flower Valley to officially launch a military operation against Luronse. It doesn't matter to us anymore. If tomorrow they have not killed us, they will withdraw and follow the army to action. ”

"How can you be so sure they're going to attack tomorrow?"

"Intuition." Li Hong said lightly.

Knife was anxious when he heard this, "You guessed?" ”

Li Hong couldn't help but laugh when he saw his anxious look, "I won't hurt you to lie about the military situation." Of course, I'm going to have to analyze the situation. ”

The knife kicked him hard and scolded, "I'm scared to death." ”

The sound of the enemy's horn sounded clearly in the ears of the two men. The enemy finally caught up.

The Karasuma man's iron rider suddenly stopped a hundred paces away. Their centurions could also see that the defensive formation set up by these Han people with their backs to the water could not be charged with iron horses at all. But let them give up the superiority of cavalry and go to hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, they could not accept it in their hearts. Moreover, the losses of his own soldiers must have been very large before approaching that strange formation, which was a slope nearly fifty paces away.

The Karasuma people hesitated in the grass a hundred paces away. The soldiers in the horseshoe formation slowly recovered from the initial tension, and the soldiers began to exchange ears.

Li Hong sat on the river embankment, observing the other party's movements from under the horse's belly.

The Karasuma people began to regroup. Soon, they began to advance steadily with the sound of bull horns.

Li Hong shouted, "Brothers, the Karasuma people are going to attack. Everyone prepares bows and arrows. Remember, two people in a group, one in charge of one person, and never let them break through the horseshoe. ”

The soldiers were busy for a while, and then they each found their own shooting positions.

The speed of the Karasuma people was very fast, and in the blink of an eye, it was only eighty steps. The knife urged: "Kuroko, shoot!" Li Hong shook his head: "We have few weapons, so we must use them sparingly." Wait for them to get a little closer. ”

The Karasuma people have already started firing long arrows. The knife was in a hurry and shouted: "If we don't fight back, we will be shot as hedgehogs." ”

Li Hong shook his head resolutely, "Everyone be careful, if you can't do it, hide under the horse's belly." Quick, fast. After saying that, he drilled through first. The soldiers moved faster than rabbits, and in the blink of an eye, they were all under the belly of the horse.

The long arrow whistled and made an astonishing roar, and it came in an instant. Only the sound of the pop and the arrow burrowing into the horse was continuous. The neighing of the horses continued to sound, and they became restless, some struggling to escape. But the reins of the horses were tied together, and they were tightly pulled by the soldiers, and they could not run. The meadows of the embankment were immediately filled with enemy arrows.

The Karasuma people then sent out a second round. Due to the close proximity of the two sides, the power of this round was greatly reduced, and many arrows were fired into the river.

Li Hong was the first to cheer, "It's our turn." Everyone shoots in parallel, whether it is a man or a horse, and they all shoot down. ”

Twenty men stood in different corners, drawing bows and arrows. The Karasuma people pushed their horses hard, trying to get through the slope earlier and get closer to the enemy's horse formation, so that the opponent's long arrows would also lose the effective shooting distance. The Karasuma people also wanted to shoot, but in the face of tall war horses, even if they shot arrows, they were just nailed to the war horses. A hundred people can't deal with such a small group of people? No one thinks it can't.

In everyone's expectation, Li Hong finally shouted: "Shoot ......"

At a distance of forty or fifty paces, the long arrow hit it in the blink of an eye. The Karasuma cavalry was unstoppable, and immediately fell off their horses. A few more horses were shot, and the horses were in pain, and galloped forward, and then they were shot by more arrows and fell, and the cavalry on the horses naturally became live targets.

More Karasuma cavalry roared, kicked their horses in the belly fiercely, and continued to look up the slope.

Li Hong shot his tenth arrow. He saw that the Karasuma soldier who had been hit by the arrow was no more than ten feet away from him, and the beard on the soldier's face was much less than that of ordinary people, and it was estimated that he was a young man. He grabbed the arrow that pierced his chest in one hand, and swung it in the air in despair with the other, as if he were about to grasp a life-saving straw. His body stretched out on the galloping horse's back, then soared into the air and fell heavily to the ground.

"The war horse in the inner circle is lying down......," Li Hong turned around and ordered loudly. Several soldiers standing beside the horses hurriedly grabbed the reins of the horses and patted them on the back. The war horse obediently lay down. The enemy will soon be approaching, and if the space under the horse is not blocked, the chances of the enemy surprise attack will be greatly increased.

Li Hong saw the soldiers who had died in battle. Three people counted arrows and lay in the middle of the clearing. Although there were war horses as cover, there were still brothers who died.

After losing more than thirty soldiers, the Karasuma cavalry finally rushed to the periphery of the horseshoe formation.

The Karasuma people were a little helpless. It's as if they've eaten a cow bone. Although the delicious bone marrow is inside the bone, you need to take something to break the bone before you can suck out the bone marrow and eat it. Now the Karasuma people just don't have sharp tools. They gathered outside the enemy line, riding war horses back and forth. Occasionally, the two sides fired two arrows at each other, but there was no threat.

The Karasuma people hesitated for a short time, and then launched a fierce attack on the horseshoe formation. They used crowd tactics, in teams of ten people, to quickly approach the enemy formation, and then jumped from their horses into the horseshoe formation to engage the Han soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.

Li Hong had no choice. At this time, it depends on courage and perseverance, and whoever can persevere to the end will be the winner. Li Hong roared out: "Brothers, kill them." ”

The knife also shouted on the left side of the formation: "Kill, kill them." "Fierce hand-to-hand combat began.

The Karasuma people jumped down from a high altitude and attacked, so they naturally suffered a big loss. The Han army had just started with two or three people attacking one, and several knives were slashing at different angles, and no one could resist it. Li Hong was the most fierce and alone, and the Karasuma people who jumped in from his defensive area all died cleanly in the air, without snorting.

The Karasuma people did not flinch, they continued to move forward, continued to approach the formation, and continued to jump inward, more and more people jumped, more and more densely, and more and more people in the horseshoe formation. Seventy or eighty people, seventy or eighty horses, were all huddled on this narrow embankment, tightly entangled. There were still a few Karasuma people outside the formation who simply stood on horseback, instead of sending a few cold arrows to surprise the Han soldiers in the array.

The battle was extremely fierce. Li Hong had already been squeezed out of the area he was defending by the Karasuma soldiers. If there are a few more Karasuma people, they can push away the horses standing together and open the gap in the horseshoe formation. The Karasuma people who are waiting outside can rush up. Li Hong was in a hurry, gave up his defense, attacked with all his might, and no longer cared about his own life and death, like a man-eating tiger, he rushed directly into the middle of the Karasuma people, and stabbed the big man who was holding the reins of the horse with both hands in the back.

The knife roared and stabbed the enemy in the chest, but then he felt a sharp pain in his vest, and then he saw the tip of a bloody war knife rush out of his chest. Knife smiled helplessly. The big head was angry, and he shouted heartbreakingly: "Knife ......" He no longer cared about the war knife that slashed at him, and the long sword in his hand was directly inserted into the enemy's flank. At the same time, the enemy's knife slashed into the chest of the big head, making a dull bone-breaking sound. And Zheng Xin's sword cut off the enemy's head almost at the same time, blood splattered, and the cry was terrible.

Wu Ba saw his comrades-in-arms fall one after another, and his anger made him lose his mind, and he even had red eyes. The long sword in his hand no longer has any moves, and he clenches the handle of the sword with both hands, just chopping, chopping. The two knives slashed at his back, and he didn't feel anything, but plunged his long sword into the enemy's chest. A long arrow shot at him, piercing straight through his heart. Wu Ba fell, along with the enemies he killed.

Li Hong slashed at the enemy who rushed towards him. He already felt like he couldn't hold it anymore. The ferocity of such a Karasuma man is beyond his imagination. They rushed forward with complete disregard for their lives, regardless of how many people were sacrificed. In this small array, there were already corpses lying there, and there was not even a place for inserts in the denseness. In some cases, several corpses were piled on top of each other. Li Hong saw that the knife was dead, the other three army commanders were also dead, and the remaining four soldiers were still struggling to resist. Outside the formation, more than two dozen enemies were preparing to make the final assault.

It was at this time that Li Hong heard the sound of horses' hooves, dense horses' hooves. Then there was the cheers of the Karasuma people. Enemy reinforcements came.

Li Hong was desperate. This battle was 108,000 miles away from his prediction. The tenacity of the Karasuma people and the courage to fight for their lives allowed them to win. Even if it's a pyrrhic victory, it's a victory. They would rather die in battle than guard their prey like cowards and give up the attack. Attacking, continuous attacks, they destroyed the lives of the Han soldiers, and also destroyed the fortresses of the Han soldiers.

The last blow, as long as the last blow, everything will be over.

The appearance of reinforcements greatly stimulated the remaining Karasuma cavalry. Probably fearing that the credit would be taken away from them, they immediately launched the final blow.

Looking at the enemy who jumped in like a tidal wave, Li Hong shouted to the remaining soldiers: "Go, go, go from the river." ”

No soldier listened to him. Everyone is still fighting like crazy people. Li Hong quickly retreated, and he saw Zheng Xin. Zheng Xin was surrounded by three or four enemies and was already in danger. Li Hong flew out of the small axe without hesitation, picked up a knife from the ground, and killed both knives at the same time.

"Let's go, let's go." Li Hong shouted at him. Zheng Xin nodded subconsciously, and the long sword was pulled out from the enemy in front of him, bringing out a puddle of blood. Li Hong dodged the slashing of the enemy behind him, his eyes were quick, and the knife in his left hand was inserted into the chest of an enemy who had outflanked him, and the knife in his right hand blocked a slash that rushed up from the right. Li Hong gave up the knife inserted in the enemy's chest, and with his left hand, he pulled the small axe from the corpse of the enemy soldier lying on the ground, rounded it, and slashed it fiercely on the enemy's thigh behind his back. The enemy howled and flew upside down.

Li Hong and Zheng Xin moved back to back and quickly towards the river. At this time, the other three warriors in the array had been swept up by the wolf-like Karasuma people and chopped to the ground.

More than a dozen Karasuma people flew towards them.

"You go first." Li Hong shouted, suddenly turned around and rushed forward. Zheng Xin didn't dare to hesitate, under the cover of Li Hong, he ran two steps, flew high and jumped high, "plopped", and got into the icy river.

Li Hong tried his best to show his might, killing three people in a row. The Karasuma people were even more crazy, rushing up desperately, thinking that they must kill him, and they couldn't escape again.

It's not that Li Hong doesn't want to escape, he can't escape at all, and these roaring men can't eat him. Li Hong was forced to retreat step by step, retreating into the icy river water.

Li Hong continued to retreat, and the more he retreated, the faster he retreated.

The Karasuma people reacted, and this person also escaped by borrowing water. A few soldiers standing on the shore immediately took their bows and arrows, and shot them as soon as they took them. Li Hong roared and threw his sword at the archers on the shore.

The sword whizzed in the air and sped away.

As soon as one of the archers raised his bow, he saw the bloody sword flying towards him, and he screamed in fright, but he could no longer dodge, and watched as the sword pierced through his chest.

Li Hong sank into the river.