Chapter 703 Falling Short of Success

Cao Cao praised Zhou Yu so highly, and Cheng Yu on the side nodded and agreed: "What the Prime Minister said is right. I heard that Sun Ce left a last word to his younger brother Sun Quan before he died, saying, 'Ask Zhang Zhao if you are not sure about internal affairs. If you don't decide on foreign affairs, ask Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu really has the ability to use troops this time."

"I didn't expect that Zhou Yu is just a weak scholar, but he is so good at fighting."

Dian Wei beside Cao Cao scratched his head and said in disbelief.

"Haha, Ziman. Meng Bi and Xia Yu are both warriors, but they can only charge into battle, but they cannot lead troops in battle." Cao Cao said with a smile.

"Alas, I can no longer lead troops to fight for the Prime Minister, but I will definitely fight to the death to protect the Prime Minister's safety." Dian Wei said, patting his chest.

Cao Zhen, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said: "Prime Minister, now that Uncle Zi Xiao is trapped in the Jiangdong Army, our army can send troops to meet the Jiangdong Army. Once the trapped soldiers and horses are exhausted, our army can rescue Uncle Zi Xiao and our cavalry." Secondly, if we cooperate with Zi Xiaoshu inside and outside, it will not be difficult to defeat Jiangdong's army."

Cao Cao nodded appreciatively: "Zi Dan is right, Wen Lie, you should learn more from Zi Dan."

Cao Xiu nodded solemnly: "After this battle is over, I will definitely go back and read more military books."

"good."

Cao Cao ordered: "Zihe, you take Zidan and a thousand cavalry."

"No." Cao Chun and Cao Zhen agreed with fists clasped.

Cao Cao said again: "Wen Qian, you lead 10,000 infantry as the vanguard and approach Jiangdong Army. Wen Lie will serve as your deputy general. Study hard."

Le Jin and Cao Xiu also clasped their fists and agreed.

"Remember, the infantry and cavalry must cooperate with each other to stabilize the position. First, we must rescue Zixiao's troops, and then confront Jiangdong's army. Unless Jiangdong's army attacks or the Prime Minister orders, we must not fight with Jiangdong's army."

"promise!"

The four generals Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Yue Jin agreed in unison, and then led their respective armies away.

Cao Chun led a thousand cavalry out of the battle. These one thousand cavalry were tiger and leopard cavalry. However, since the horse armor was still being made, these one thousand cavalry were still just "leopard cavalry" for the time being.

One thousand leopard riders did not gallop, but marched in formation. At the same time, Le Jin also commanded 10,000 Cao's troops. One of the four large formations followed Le Jin and slowly advanced towards Jiangdong's army. One thousand leopard cavalry and 10,000 Cao's infantry maintained a steady rhythm. Push forward.

"Our army will follow too!"

Cao Cao waved his hand, and the remaining nearly 30,000 Cao troops slowly lined up, following Cao Chun, Le Jin and others.

Tap tap tap!

A total of 40,000 Cao Cao's troops lined up, their horses' hooves and footsteps trampled on the earth, making a rumbling sound, as if a giant beast from the Classic of Mountains and Seas suddenly appeared in the wilderness and trampled the earth.

"Grand Governor, Cao's army is coming, how should our army respond?"

Taishi Ci sent a sentry rider to ask Zhou Yu.

"Order Ziyi to release Cao Ren." Zhou Yu ordered.

"Let him out?" Cheng Pu was surprised: "Isn't this a failure of success?"

"Old General Cheng, just now the five hundred cavalry of Cao's army and Cao Ren's troops joined forces outside, and they almost broke our army's formation. If tens of thousands of Cao's troops and Cao Ren's troops joined forces outside, how long can our army last?"

Zhou Yu ordered: "Order Ziyi to open a gap and let Cao Ren out, but don't do anything. Send more archers to shoot arrows and snipe the enemy's cavalry. The more the better."

"promise!"

"Send the order! After Cao Ren is released, the entire army must gather outside the north gate of Shu County to deal with Cao's army." Zhou Yu said again.

"promise!"

The sentry horse galloped over, then galloped back and told Tai Shi Ci of Zhou Yu's order.

"What? Are you going to let Cao Ren go?" Tai Shici frowned.

"Ziyi, the Commander-in-Chief is also worried about being attacked by the enemy. It's better to listen to the Commander-in-Chief first." Xu Sheng advised from the side.

Taishi Ci sighed: "Okay, order to open the gap, set up archers on both wings, and try to kill Cao's cavalry as much as possible."

When Taishi Ci's military order came out, Jiangdong's army of course immediately executed it. Jiangdong's army formation suddenly shrank, and more than a thousand soldiers withdrew one after another, pushing them to the two wings, leaving a gap.

"Cao Lifeng, the prime minister's army has arrived. Jiangdong's army is too timid to retain our army." Niu Jin laughed.

"wrong."

Cao Ren frowned: "Jiangdong Army has evil intentions."

Niu Jin looked up in confusion and saw that the first row of Jiangdong Army on both sides of the gap were sword and shield men, and behind the sword and shield men were rows of archers. They stretched their bows and nocked arrows on the strings. The arrow exudes a biting cold light, and once it hits, it will definitely tear open the skin and flesh.

"Damn."

Cao Ren snorted coldly: "Order the entire army to keep their bodies low and speed through."

"promise!"

Cao Ren's order was passed down, and these cavalrymen also realized that something was wrong, and each one fell silent. Then they grabbed the reins of the war horse and lowered their bodies as low as possible on the horse's back.

"kill!"

Nearly nine hundred Cao Jun's cavalry galloped out in an instant. Each of Cao Jun's cavalry desperately urged their horses to the highest speed, hoping to quickly pass through this death passage.

"Prepare!"

Taishi Ci held the wolf-fang arrow and stared at the cavalry of Cao's army galloping in the smoke. In his eyes, he calculated that the distance between Cao's army was getting closer and he gently pulled out the bowstring.

"put!"

Whoosh whoosh!

There were thousands of Jiangdong Army archers in two rows. Thousands of arrows flew out at once. The arrows were like locusts, overwhelmingly covering Cao's cavalry.

"ah!"

"Well"

Immediately, many Cao Cao cavalrymen were hit by arrows and fell from their horses, and the huge horses became live targets. Each horse was hit by dozens of arrows, and they were bleeding profusely. They fell to the ground in pain. , Cao Bing on his back was also thrown off.

Taishi Ci's eyes were as bright as a torch, and he opened his bow and fired. He did not fully draw the bowstring, but fired halfway. He was like a machine. He took the arrow from the quiver behind his back, put it on the bowstring, loosened the string and fired, in just one minute. Inside, he actually shot more than a dozen arrows, and each arrow was extremely accurate. None of the arrows hit the horse, but all of them hit Cao Bing.

The head, heart, and throat were all vital parts of the human body that Taishi Ci shot. More than a dozen of Cao's soldiers died under his arrows alone.

"Hurry!"

Cao Ren urged the horses desperately and shouted loudly. The nine hundred horsemen seemed to be bathed in heavy rain, but the raindrops were arrows.

The arrows of Jiangdong's army were shot down like a violent storm. In just a few dozen seconds, Cao's army suffered heavy casualties. More than 300 cavalry were killed and injured at once, and only more than 600 were left.

However, the clouds and mist were finally cleared to see the light of day. More than 600 cavalry braved the violent rain of arrows from Jiangdong Army and finally rushed out. However, these Cao Jun cavalry who rushed out were basically covered in blood. At least there were several arrows hanging on his body, and they were all in a miserable state.