The sky was light, Zhang Yan and the others rested for a night, finally relieved their fatigue, and after a simple breakfast, they re-mounted the war horse and headed towards Xiaxiang County.

At the same time, Tai Shici and Xu Sheng defeated Yuan Bing who went to Quyang and Quyang respectively, and they were also rushing towards Xiangxian County non-stop.

In Xiaxiang County, Yuan Shu heard that all the troops sent out had been defeated, some of them were wiped out, and some of them were only some remnants of the defeated generals, and he regretted that he had not listened to Yan Xiang's advice at the beginning.

At this time, a scout came from Huainan, and brought a news that shocked Yuan Shu: Liu Xuan, the assassin of Yangzhou, took advantage of the weakness and led an army of 30,000 to cross the river to invade Huainan.

Yuan Shu hurriedly asked people to find Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, Yan Xiang, Yuan Lian, Yang Hong, Yuan Yin, and Liang Gang to discuss countermeasures.

When everyone came to the hall of the county office, Yuan Shu hurriedly said: "Just now Wu Jing sent someone to send news that Liu Miao led an army of 30,000 to the north and had captured Liyang, and Wu Jing and Sun Ben retreated to Fuling. Huainan is my foundation, and it must not be occupied by Liu Xuan. But I don't want to give up in Xuzhou, what are your best plans to relieve the current crisis of our army? ”

Yuan Jian said: "Our army has lost one after another in Xuzhou, lost troops and lost generals, and has only occupied a small county town until now, and the Xuzhou soldiers are all brave under the leadership of Zhang Yan, if our army stays in Xuzhou again, I am afraid that the whole army will be wiped out." Huainan is the foundation of the lord, there must not be any mistakes, it is better to withdraw for the time being, first keep Huainan, reorganize the soldiers and horses, and then come to fight for Xuzhou is not too late. ”

After Yang Hong heard this, he also hurriedly said: "Yes, my lord, our army is lone and deep, surrounded by soldiers and horses from Xuzhou, if you stay for a long time, I am afraid that I will suffer the enemy on my back, it is better to retreat back to Huainan for the time being, and first repel Liu Xuan, which is the top priority." ”

Yuan's army lost one after another, lost troops and lost generals, morale was low, and he had already lost his will to fight, and everyone had long wanted to persuade Yuan Shu to retreat, but they were afraid of angering Yuan Shu, so they never dared to speak out. Now that I have seized this opportunity, I naturally have to persuade him hard.

Yuan Shu saw that Yuan Jian and Yang Hong were persuading him to withdraw from the army, so he asked, "Do you all have this opinion?" ”

Yuan Yin said: "Lord, the soldiers of our army are recruited in the Huainan area, and their families are in Huainan, if Huainan is lost, how can these soldiers be willing to stay in Xuzhou for a long time?" It is better to withdraw early, lest Liu Miao succeed. After our army returns to Huainan, we must give Liu Miao a little color to see, so that he knows where the lord's divine power is, and he will never dare to invade Huainan again. ”

Yuan Shu glanced at Yan Xiang again and asked, "Master Yan, what do you mean?" ”

"Retreat quickly, and change later!" Yan Xiang said.

After Yuan Shu heard these eight words said by Yan Xiang, he immediately made a decision and immediately decided to retreat and return to Huainan. After the order was given, the army began to pack up, take everything that could be taken away, and head all the way to Huainan.

Zhang Yan, Tai Shici, and Xu Sheng each led the cavalry to Xiaxiang County, and after the three soldiers and horses joined forces, Zhang Yan did not dare to attack easily because of the large number of Yuan Shu soldiers, so he sent people to Xiaxiang County to inquire about the news.

When the scouts returned, they informed Zhang Yan that the county seat of Xiaxiang was empty, the city was in shambles, and Yuan Shu's army was gone.

Zhang Yan was taken aback, and hurriedly sent scouts to inquire around, and an hour later, the scouts came back to inform Zhang Yan that Yuan Shu led the army all the way to Huainan.

Yuan Shu retreated in such a hurry, Zhang Yan guessed that it must be because Liu Miao sent troops to attack Huainan, he was about to lead the army to chase Yuan Shu, but suddenly saw a road of soldiers and horses coming from the south, the first one, it was Guangling Taishou Chen Deng.

Zhang Yan saw Chen Deng leading the army and horses to arrive, so he went to greet each other, the two met, Chen Deng immediately saluted Zhang Yan, and the two exchanged a few words of greetings, only to learn that Chen Deng had completely annihilated the Yuan soldiers who went to attack Wei County. When Chen Jiao went to Qu'a, he happened to pass by Guangling, Chen Deng learned from Chen Jiao's mouth that Zhang Yan had few soldiers and needed reinforcements, Chen Deng immediately raised 3,000 soldiers and horses in Guangling, and immediately came to support with soldiers and horses.

When Chen Deng learned the news that Yuan Shu had withdrawn from the army and returned to Huainan, he immediately suggested: "Lord, you must not let Yuan Shu go, you must catch up, cover up all the way, and let Yuan Shu remember that Xuzhou is not so easy to bully." ”

Zhang Yan nodded and said: "That's what I mean, your soldiers are all newly recruited, don't go, now that Yuan Shu has withdrawn, there is nothing left for you to go down, you still have nothing to do, you should take the troops back to Guangling first, after all, you are stationed in Guangling, and I am much more relieved." ”

Chen Deng said: "It's okay." The lord took care all the way, and Yuan Long led the troops back to Guangling. ”

"Well, go ahead."

After a brief reunion, Zhang Yan and Chen Deng immediately separated, Zhang Yan took Tai Shici, Xu Sheng and other cavalry to pursue Yuan Shu, while Chen Deng led his troops back to Guangling.

Zhang Yan led all the cavalry, even if Yuan Shu left an hour or two before him, it didn't matter, after all, the cavalry ran relatively fast.

The group chased along the footprints left by Yuan Shu's army, while Zhang Yan sent scouts in advance to inquire about Yuan's army, and chased them until Shenshi, when they were about to catch up with Yuan's army.

Shen time, that is, the period from three to five o'clock in the afternoon. The sun has turned west, but the temperature has not dropped, and it is still so hot.

Zhang Yan and the others were already sleepy and tired, and the weather was hot, and people and animals were very thirsty. Zhang Yan had no choice but to ask the soldiers to stop and rest for a while, and get water near the river to quench their thirst.

The clothes on Zhang Yan's body were already soaked with sweat, and his whole body was full of sweat smell, and even the iron armor on his body was hot from the sun.

Everyone came to rest in a wood, and leaned against the shade of the tree, which made them much more comfortable.

The Xuzhou soldiers are like this, not to mention Yuan Shu's army, not to mention that Yuan Shu's army is mostly infantry, and they all need to rely on their feet to walk, so they will definitely be more tired than the Xuzhou soldiers.

After a short rest, Zhang Yan asked the soldiers to remount their horses, bringing enough water to drink on the road.

With Zhang Yan's order, the army set off again and headed towards Yuan Shu's army.

Thirty miles away, Yuan Jun, who had been walking for a day, had to stop on the side of the road again to rest, the soldiers were tired, the horses were tired, and no matter how anxious Yuan Shu was, he could not reach Huainan in an instant.

After a short rest, Yuan Shu made a decision, he was going to lead the cavalry first, leaving Liang Gang to lead the infantry behind.

As a result, the army was divided into two, Yuan Shu led 5,000 cavalry to quickly leave the army, and Liang Gang led 15,000 infantry to march slowly towards Huainan.

After the two armies separated, the distance between the cavalry and the infantry became farther and farther, and even though Liang Gang was a hundred unwilling, he was helpless.

Half an hour later, when Liang Gang arrived at the junction of Peiguo and Xiapi, the rear army suddenly had a big chaos, he hurriedly looked back, but saw that Xuzhou Mu led the cavalry to kill, and the fierce general Tai Shici took the lead, leading people to rampage in Yuan's camp.

The soldiers had no way to resist at all, and even Liang Gang was frightened, these days he fought with the Xuzhou soldiers, lost one after another, and was afraid when he saw the Xuzhou soldiers.

Liang Gang took the lead in leading the troops to escape, leaving the infantry behind him and leaving them alone.

Zhang Yan was injured and could not charge into battle, so he had to hand over this task to Tai Shi Ci and Xu Sheng, and he followed behind the large army from a distance under the protection of a hundred cavalry, watching Tai Shi Ci and Xu Sheng lead the army to attack Yuan soldiers on both sides, and successfully cut off more than 2,000 Yuan soldiers and encircled and annihilated.

The Yuan soldiers were blocked from the way, lost contact with the large army, and were very afraid of the Xuzhou soldiers, who completely lost their courage, and surrendered one after another, and there were more than 1,000 people.

This time, Zhang Yan did not trap them again, but took them all prisoners, tied them together with ropes, tied them together, tied them together, sent a hundred cavalrymen, guarded them on the spot, and sent someone to notify the nearby county commander, so that the county commander could bring the county officials to come and bring these prisoners back and temporarily detain them in the cell.

After that, Zhang Yan took Tai Shici and Xu Sheng and continued to pursue Yuan Bing.

Zhang Yan and the others were like a fierce beast, biting off the tail of Yuan soldiers every time, and then besieged them, and those Yuan soldiers were all frightened and surrendered one after another. Zhang Yan took the same way, taking all the prisoners into custody, but asked the local county commander to come and receive the prisoners.

Several times in a row, in less than an hour, Yuan Bing was swallowed by the Xuzhou soldiers 5,000 soldiers and horses, Liang Gang led the army to the Qixia gathering in a panic.

At this time, it was getting late, Liang Gang gathered all the people under the wall, thinking that he had 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, why would he be afraid of the Xuzhou soldiers who only had more than 2,000 cavalry, so he boosted morale and prepared to fight to the death with the Xuzhou soldiers under the wall.

Yuan Bing was encouraged, and they also showed the spirit of preparing to fight to the death, but after waiting for a long time, they did not see the Xuzhou soldiers coming to attack.

The Yuan army was sleepy and tired, and Liang Gang mistakenly thought that the Xuzhou soldiers were afraid and did not dare to come, so he ordered the army to rest on the spot.

At that time, the soldiers of the Yuan army, who were sleepy and tired, were basically asleep, and even Liang Gang himself was immersed in sleep, when suddenly, a rapid sound of horses' hooves rolled, and the ground trembled, followed by screams one after another.

Liang Gang and the others woke up from their dreams, and they didn't know where so many soldiers and horses came from, a strong man rode a war horse, waved the big knife in his hand, and harvested Yuan Bing's head to his heart's content, and for a while blood splashed everywhere, and his limbs flew wildly.

Reflecting the dim moonlight, Liang Gang noticed that the people who launched the attack were not Xuzhou soldiers, they were all some flat-headed people dressed in messy clothes, led by a strong man, this group of people were brave and good at fighting, and they were unstoppable.

The army was in a mess, and Liang Gang saw that the other party was not a Xuzhou soldier, so he got on his horse with a gun and said angrily: "Damn, where did the thief come from, he actually dared to sneak attack our army, and he didn't want to live!" ”

Liang Gang shouted loudly, stabilized the position around him, and spread the word everywhere, saying that these were just thieves, Yuan Jun calmed down, and saw that it was indeed not the Xuzhou soldiers who came to attack them, they were all some flat-headed people, some of them still held shovels, sickles, and steel forks in their hands, and they only attacked with courage, and suddenly shook their spirits.

Yuan Jun changed his cowardice in fighting with the Xuzhou soldiers, instantly became taller, and under the leadership of Liang Gang, began to counterattack those who attacked them.

Zhang Yan led Tai Shici, Xu Sheng and others to pursue Yuan's army all the way to Yuanxia, but because they were also exhausted, and Yuan's army still had more than 10,000 people, they decided to rest for the night first and attack tomorrow.

Who knows, everyone slept until midnight, and suddenly heard the earth-shattering shouts of killing from the lower ground, and everyone suddenly woke up from their dreams. Zhang Yan ordered his troops and horses, quickly moved towards the lower part of the wall, climbed a high post, and saw an unknown team led by a knight fighting with Yuan's army.

"Where did this come from?" Zhang Yan asked, pointing to the team of unknown origins.

The scout glanced at it, but couldn't say why, they were all very unfamiliar with this team.

Zhang Yan hurriedly glanced at it, but saw that this team was about 3,000 people, many of them had no weapons, although it was a sneak attack, but the number of Yuan troops was too many after all, and this team had not undergone formal training, but was surrounded by Yuan army.

"No matter where the soldiers and horses come from, since they are attacking Yuan's army, they are friends of our army. Tai Shi Ci, Xu Sheng! ”

"The last general!"

"Each of you will lead a thousand cavalry, attack from the left and right flanks, and the rest from behind!"

"Whoa!"

After the order was issued, the army was divided into three, and Zhang Yan stood quietly on Gaogang Mountain, leaving only ten cavalry to protect him, closely watching the entire battle situation.