Tiger Guards

Chapter 267 White Horse and Black Crow
Chenliu, Baimashan.

Cao Rendu led more than 5,000 infantry and cavalry to hide here. He climbed up to a high place and looked around, and saw a dense marching army on the northern bank of the Yellow River.

Zang Hong has taken over Puyang under the welcome of Puyang people. At this moment, Zang Hong is leading various troops to march towards Suanzao, west of Chenliu.

In order to resist Cao Ren's surprise attack, Zang Hong chose to march along the south bank of the Yellow River.

The troops under his command were hastily assembled, with insufficient armor, scattered equipment, and even few carriages and horses to transport food.

Cao Ren looked from afar and found that this new Yanzhou army was not even as good as the Yellow Turban Army of Ruying that he had previously defeated.

But in order to resist Cao Ren's attack, this new Yanzhou army mostly held long bamboos, almost cutting wood into weapons.

"General, Bingzhou Cavalry General Xu Huang and Jia Tong have arrived in Yan County and will escort Zang Hong into the city tonight."

A scout came to report, wearing the purple uniform of the Bingzhou Yicong Knights.

It is normal for scouts to wear the enemy's uniform.

Cao Ren just nodded when he heard this. He looked up and squinted at the daytime, only to feel that the south bank of the Yellow River in autumn was particularly desolate and cold.

He reached out and pulled out the silk book stuck in the gap of his armor. This was the letter of surrender that his younger brother Cao Chun had risked his life to get him.

But along with the letter of surrender, there were also Zhao Ji's instructions.

A rapidly growing and revived imperial court is obviously not in the interests of Zhao Ji, nor is it in the interests of Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu.

The reactionary feudal warlords seemed to have a special tacit understanding at this moment.

Cao Cao slowed down the pace of his attack on Lu Bu, and Zhao Ji deliberately came to Suanzao to form an alliance between all parties instead of attacking Cao Cao or Xun Yu.

Even Yuan Shao did not send troops to harass Shangdang and Henei, and remained on the sidelines throughout the process.

In this situation, Sun Ce wanted to rely on the court by seizing Xia Pi... This was obviously inappropriate.

As for Cao Ren, he could bear the accusation of betraying Cao Cao and relying on the court... This was at most a temporary accusation and would not cause any waves.

But Zhao Ji assigned him a task that he was very reluctant to do.

Cao Ren could sit idly by and watch the Qingzhou soldiers massacre the city, but he did not dare to take the blame for killing Zang Hong.

If Zang Hong was killed, the official career of his descendants would be ruined.

But Cao Chun was in Zhao Ji's hands, leaving Cao Ren with very few choices.

Cao Chun paid half his life for the document of surrender. The fact that Zhao Ji was willing to send it over meant that Cao Chun made the right bet.

The only thing he didn't calculate correctly was that Zhao Ji was also very wary of Zang Hong, and was afraid that Zang Hong would join forces with the court.

This bad thing was blamed on Cao Ren.

"General, look! Zang Hong is arriving!"

A captain pointed to the distance and shouted anxiously. The surrounding military officers were also watching. Although they respected Zang Hong, they had followed Cao Ren here to ambush.

There is Wuchao Lake near Baimashan. Although it is the end of August, there are still too many mosquitoes nearby. They have had enough.

My respect for Zang Hong has long been worn away by mosquitoes.

Before, he might have hesitated between continuing to feed the mosquitoes and killing Zang Hong, but now he just wanted to act quickly and leave this dangerous place.

Otherwise, he would be surrounded by Bingzhou soldiers and wouldn't be able to leave even if he wanted to.

To the north of Baimashan Mountain, on the bank of the Yellow River, is Baimajin.

Zang Hong was riding in an old, patched ox cart, and he looked very bad.

The siege of Tobu Castle lasted exactly one year, tormenting not only his body but also his will.

People's will can certainly be tempered, but more often than not it will be overdrawn.

Today, there is no luster in Zang Hong's eyes, and he suffers from severe insomnia. Although there is hope for the revival of the imperial court, the disaster victims in various parts of the Central Plains are crying out for food, which makes Zang Hong suffer.

Six years ago, when the heroes went to fight against Dong Zhuo, as the drafter and speaker of the coalition oath, Zang Hong had great prestige, but also great pressure.

At this moment, he could even feel the vitality in his body fading. Occasionally, when he was distracted, he could hear the ox and the ox cart discussing him, and even the hub and axle were arguing.

Keeping calm, he wanted to meet Zhao Ji and then go to the court to apologize.

Feeling the tranquility during the march, there were not so many tasks for him to deal with at the moment. After leaving Baimazin, the bumpy ride in the carriage allowed Zang Hong to quickly relax, and his drowsiness was relieved, and his mind was at peace.

"Envoy, the enemy army is attacking!"

Near the ox cart, Cheng Gonggui, a local tyrant in Baima, was riding a horse. When he saw the flags raised on Baima Mountain, he immediately called out to Zang Hong.

The entire marching team fell into chaos almost as the ambush troops raised their flags. The leaders, both big and small, shouted to the surroundings to gather manpower. Many people were just victims of the disaster and they abandoned their weapons and ran away.

Zang Hong opened his eyes and calmly looked at the ambush troops that appeared on Baima Mountain. Flags were waving everywhere on the gentle mountain.

Cao's infantry carried the flag and went down the mountain. Commander Cao Ren led more than 500 cavalrymen and headed straight for Zang Hong. After going down the mountain, the knights gradually accelerated, hoping to seize the first merit.

Only the generals and captains above were concerned about the negative impact of killing Zang Hong. For the middle and low-level officials, they really didn't care how many heads Zang Hong had.

"My lord, hurry up!" Shangguan Buyi, another local powerful man in Baima, helped Zang Hong onto the horse. Zang Hong grabbed his hand and wanted to say something, but the people around him pushed the horses, pulled the reins, and forced Zang Hong to flee westward to Yan County.

Shangguan Buyi sat on Zang Hong's ox cart and shouted to his attendants, "Follow me east!"

There are three surnames in Baima, and the one with a history of two thousand stones is Cheng Gong. Cheng Gonggui rode on a horse, waving his sword, and urged in a hurry, calling on the villagers to protect the ox carts and evacuate to Baima.

In the blink of an eye, most of the people around surrounded the ox cart and retreated the same way.

Compared to Zang Hong's head, Cao's knights were more greedy for various horses. Now armor, equipment, cloth, and gold were worthless, and horses were the most valuable because they could be eaten!

Especially mares, who are fed grass in winter and can even drink mare's milk if they are lucky.

The Cao army knights who were charging at a faster speed gradually dispersed, and more and more knights went to intercept and kill the thirty or so knights who were breaking out to the west. Only Cao Ren's personal knights stayed with Cao Ren all the time and attacked the largest group directly.

Cao Ren drew his bow on horseback and shot the familiar face Cheng Gonggui off his horse with one arrow.

Cheng Gonggui was shot and killed at the beginning of the battle. The people of Baima nearby were defeated and turned around and ran away.

The ox cart could not move fast because it was mixed in the crowd, and soon dozens of Cao's knights caught up with it and shot it with arrows. Shangguan Buyi, who was on the ox cart, was hit by an arrow.

But in order to cover Zang Hong's escape, the Yanzhou Xinzhou official who was traveling with the cart risked his own life, climbed onto the ox cart, opened his arms and hugged Shangguan Buyi to cover his face.

Arrows flew in succession and hit the official. Then another state official shouted angrily and jumped onto the carriage to block the arrows.

More state officials and guards surrounded the ox cart and engaged Cao Ren's cavalry.

Many people were too weak to run, and even after being shot by arrows, they still fought stubbornly or pointed at the Cao army knights and cursed them.

Cao Ren had a blank expression on his face as he rode his horse around the ox cart, drawing his bow and shooting arrows back and forth.

When all the arrows in the pot were used up, Cao Ren put away his bow, picked up his spear and rushed forward to stab. His personal cavalry followed him, repeatedly charging and trampling on the enemy.

Soon, more than 300 guards and state officials were killed and defeated, and the blood soaked the nearby ground.

Cao Ren reined in his horse and moved forward. His personal soldiers pulled the huddled corpses from the ox cart. After pulling out five bodies, they saw Shangguan Buyi sitting in the cart. He was not dead yet, but his body was stained with the blood of others.

Shangguan Buyi stared at the furious Cao Ren and spat out two words: "Traitor!"

Cao Ren rode forward and stabbed Shangguan Buzhi's eye socket with his lance.

Pulling out the spear, Cao Ren was worried about Cao Chun's safety and was filled with resentment. He held the spear with both hands and stabbed Shangguan Buyi again.

After feeling a little relieved, he saw several relatives dismounting from their horses and cutting up the meat of a dead cow.

More personal cavalry searched for the bodies and examined Zang Hong's corpse.

Cao Ren looked around and saw that the banks of the Yellow River were full of Cao's troops chasing and killing the enemy.

Although there would not be any decent spoils from hunting down these New Yanzhou soldiers who were like disaster victims, their heads could accumulate merit, which would be useful to many people in the future.

Even if he won't be used for promotion in the future...but if there's a chance, why not kill him?

The Cao army officers and soldiers have been in fear during this period of ambush in Baimashan, and they are full of resentment. Now is a good opportunity to vent.

As Cao Ren looked around, Niu Jin, a fifteen-year-old soldier beside him, suddenly reminded him, "General, there's dust rising in Yan County!"

Cao Ren turned his head suddenly and saw smoke and dust in the west, which was a sign of a large cavalry movement.

There was no time to search for and examine Zang Hong's head. Cao Ren immediately shouted, "Sound the horn and retreat!"

The sound of the horns spread one after another. After hearing it, the infantry and cavalry of Cao's army turned around and retreated towards Baimazin and Baimacheng.

While Zang Hong was fleeing, his hands and feet were weak and he accidentally fell off his horse.

The various types of cavalrymen who protected his escape were hunted down by Cao's cavalry and most of them were killed in battle, but Zang Hong escaped and fell to the ground, unconscious.

To the west, the wind is strong along the banks of the Yellow River.

It took Xu Huang a long time to stop the cavalry. After the dust settled, he could only watch the infantry and cavalry led by Cao Ren retreat.

What appeared before Xu Huang's two thousand cavalrymen was a blood-stained loess land. There were not many shrubs or grass, and all that could be seen was various kinds of loess.

There are abandoned yellow soil, ridges, roads, and ruins of walls. Occasionally there are some remaining roadside guardrails, but the remaining leaves are also yellow.

Everywhere were defeated soldiers wandering aimlessly and shouting, and the dead and wounded Yanzhou soldiers were lined up on the road.

At first glance, it's a doomsday scene.

The scene was no different from the chaos in Sanfu last year.

More and more crows came and circled over the barren land.

Xu Huang looked up and saw that the flock of crows was still coming from behind him.

Crows are not like wild geese, pigeons or sparrows. When flying at high altitudes, they are not densely packed and they keep a distance from each other in front, behind, left and right.

It looks sparse, but it is distributed very widely.

The crows gathered in larger and larger numbers and began to circle in the sky like a storm. Their cries became more and more urgent, as if they were chasing away living people.

(End of this chapter)