C282

The afternoon's sunset was lazy and warm, causing one to feel drowsy, but Gao Er who was lying in the grass was not sleepy. He stared wide-eyed at the large group of Xuzhou Army's soldiers surrounding the north gate of Xiao Pei. There were seven others in the surrounding bushes. They were also nervously staring forward, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Gao Er was one of Zhang Liao's guards. Yesterday, when Lv Bu led the army to Qiao County, Zhang Liao ordered him and the other seven guards to return to Xiao Pei to report. The eight of them, one man and two horses, had come back from the night and day. They hadn't thought that they would see the army surrounding the city, but luckily the city wasn't destroyed so they wouldn't be homeless.

He whispered, "Let's wait until nightfall before making any plans!"

A soft sigh came from behind him. It was still four hours before nightfall. Lying on the ground like that would cost his life.

Gao Er lightly snorted, and the others quickly quieted down.

The few of them just laid there without moving, staring at the scene in front of them. After an unknown period of time, Gao Er's face suddenly changed as he lay on the ground and listened. The other people's expressions also changed. They quickly turned their heads to look at the forest four to five miles behind them.

Gao Er raised his body and said softly, "There are about four to five hundred people riding horses! The horses we hid behind the trees will be found! "I wonder who it is?"

"Could it be the enemy's reinforcements?"

Gao Er shook his head, and frowned: "If we were to send reinforcements, how could there only be this many? Don't worry about that for now! Don't move, quickly hide! "

The remaining people crouched even lower, letting the grass a few feet deep completely cover their bodies.

On the other side of the forest, a rider from the White Horse Camp was reporting loudly to Gongsun Xu: "General, a dozen or so war horses have been found in the forest ahead!"

"War horse?" Gongsun Xu was a little surprised, those warhorses could not be Guan Yu's, and they could not be the Bingzhou Army's, so there was a high possibility that they were the messengers sent by Lv Bu, hence he quickly asked: "Can you tell which side's warhorses it is? Did you find anyone? "

"There are no obvious marks on the warhorses, and no one was found nearby!"

"Let's go over and take a look!" Gongsun Xu lightly pulled the reins and the black cloud strode forward.

When Gongsun Xu ran to the vicinity of the forest, the scouts ahead of him had already brought out the caged horses. He counted sixteen, and the horses did not have any obvious marks on them. He waved his hand in front of him. "Go and search around the vicinity to see if you can find the owners of these war horses!"

Nearly a hundred cavalrymen jumped down from their horses and walked into the forest with their weapons held tightly in their hands.

Gongsun Xu also jumped off his horse and quickly rushed to the high ground to look at the city ahead. He discovered that everything was still the same as when he left at dusk the previous day. His guess from yesterday was obviously correct. Guan Yu ordering his subordinates to cut down wood to make cloud ladders and the like was indeed just bluffing.

Yesterday, when Gongsun Xu brought Lv Bu's family members and rushed out of Xiao Pei, they headed towards the north without stopping. By midnight, they had already arrived at Eagle's Castle, which was 100 miles away. After barely resting for a few hours, when the sky had just started to brighten, Gongsun Xu left fifty people to protect Diao Chan and the other two. They brought the other people to return to the Xiao Pei, wanting to find out about Lv Bu's situation as soon as possible. However, just as he was about to reach the city gates, he suddenly discovered the sixteen war horses.

After less than an hour, the soldiers that entered the forest to search returned one after another, reporting that they did not find anyone.

Gongsun Xu frowned, and ordered everyone to mount, and prepared to enter the city from the north.

After a moment, the four hundred plus people got on their horses and followed Gongsun Xu.

Gao Er heard the sound of the horses approaching from the bushes and shouted softly, "They are coming over! Do not raise your head! " He turned and carefully peered through the grass in the direction of the sound of hooves.

In less than three hundred breaths of time, a group of Black Armored Cavalry Soldiers appeared before Gao Er's line of sight, and an ecstatic look instantly surfaced on his face. He did not know Gongsun Xu's true identity, but he knew that he was deeply respected and trusted by Wen Hou and his generals. Gao Er did not understand why the general was here, but he knew that this was his only chance to send a message into the city. He immediately ordered the others to continue hiding, and sprinted forward nearly a hundred steps with his back bent, then stood up and shouted towards Gongsun Xu and the rest.

Without waiting for Gongsun Xu's orders, Hou Yong brought a few people and ran over, pointing their weapons at Gao Er.

Gao Er anxiously shouted: "Don't move, we're on our own! They were his own people! I am General Zhang Wen Yuan's personal guard, and am ordered to return to the Xiao Pei to report. Unfortunately, the city is surrounded by the thief, and I am currently looking for an opportunity to get close to the city wall! "

Hou Yong looked at Gao Er suspiciously and escorted him to the front of Gongsun Xu.

"General, I am General Zhang Wen Yuan's personal soldier." Gao Er knelt on one knee and repeated what he had said just now.

After Gongsun Xu finished listening, he said in a low voice, "Show the letter to this general!"

Gao Er slowly reached into his bosom and took out a letter written in cloth, holding it with both hands.

Hou Yong took the letter, and upon opening it, discovered that there was nothing abnormal with it, he turned around and handed it over to Gongsun Xu.

The letter was personally written by Lv Bu, the handwriting was crooked and it looked extremely bad, but Gongsun Xu did not care about the quality of the word, and read the contents of the letter carefully. In the letter, Lv Bu detailed his plan of defeating Liu Bei on the night before, but unexpectedly, on the way back, he was ambushed by Liu Bei, and after that, Yuan Shu's great army suddenly appeared. Even though he had killed Yuan Shu's great general Ji Ling, he did not have the confidence to break through the encirclement between the Xuzhou Army and them, so he was prepared to listen to Chen Gong's suggestion to temporarily hide in the Qiao County for the night, and make a detour and return to the Xiao Pei tomorrow.

"Yuan Shu this fellow is really an ungrateful person. He actually colluded with Liu Bei. He really is reckless!" After reading the letter, Gongsun Xu cursed in his heart, and asked with a cold expression: "When did you write this letter?"

Gao Er was shocked. She thought it was too late for her to send a letter, so she quickly apologized.

Gongsun Xu shouted angrily: "Cut the crap, hurry up and answer this general's question!"

"Here!" Here! General, this letter was written by the Lord yesterday when he broke through the enemy's encirclement and led the army to Qiao County. "

He took out a cloth bag from his backpack, and after opening the layers of parcels, he picked up a sharp piece of charcoal, added a few words onto the letter, sealed it with his own seal, and rolled it up as he handed it to Hou Yong: "Take this letter into the city, and come back quickly!"

Hou Yong agreed. After receiving the letter, he tied it to an arrow and rushed to the city wall with the one hundred cavalrymen.

Gao Er was shocked, the Xuzhou Army in front had at least three thousand people, could a hundred of them even penetrate the enemy lines and reach the city walls? He suddenly regretted handing the envelope over to Gongsun Xu. If he knew that this person was so arrogant, he would have waited until night to think of a way!

"Stand up!" Gongsun Xu waved his hand to get Gao Er to his feet, and said indifferently: "Where are your companions? Get them all here! "

Gao Er hesitated for a moment, then obediently ran back to call for help. As he ran, he looked forward, but the result made him shocked, and he was truly shocked to the point that he stopped his steps. The Xuzhou Army soldiers, when they saw Hou Yong and the rest were getting closer, not only did they not form a formation to stop them, they even made way for them, as if they were not facing one hundred and one riders, but one hundred and one prehistoric ferocious beasts.

The other seven people also noticed this, they also recognized that the cavalry army was the ally that came to Xiao Pei a few days ago, and no longer hid their traces, they ran over and asked: "Second brother, what's going on?"

How could Gao Er bother to answer? He could only watch as Hou Yong and the others easily approached the city wall, nocked their arrows, and sent the letter to the top of the city wall. Then, they returned and smoothly ran back to the city. At this moment, he only had one thought in his mind — had all the Xuzhou s gone dumb?

How could Gao Er have known that yesterday, after Gongsun Xu easily killed his way out of the city, Guan Yu, who had rushed over afterwards, looked at the corpses of his subordinates everywhere on the ground, and almost fainted from anger. After he recovered his strength, he carefully inquired about the situation of this battle. Sadly, he discovered a problem, and that was that even though he still had over ten thousand troops, without sufficient defensive equipment, he was unable to stop Gongsun Xu's several hundred armored riders. He was not sure if Gongsun Xu would rush back to the Xiao Pei again, so he could only issue an order in an extremely humiliated manner. If he met Gongsun Xu's men and horses once again, unless the Bingzhou Army in the city also went into battle, he would only need to obstruct them a little.

It was precisely because of this that Hou Yong's group was able to smoothly travel back and forth.

Hou Yong and the others returned to the group, Gongsun Xu waved his hand: "Go to Qiao County! You guys lead the way! "

Gao Er replied respectfully as he led the way with his seven companions. The four hundred of them quickly disappeared into the forest.

At the top of the city wall, Hou Cheng watched Gongsun Xu's group disappear from his sight and asked Gao Shun in puzzlement: "General Gao, why did General Gongsun suddenly head south?"

Gao Shun's face was filled with worry, he waved the letter in his hand, originally wanted to explain, but was afraid that if the news spread, he would lose his wariness, so he pretended to reply indifferently: "General Gongsun is preparing to go south to meet Master, so we won't be able to hold on!"

Hou Cheng suspiciously stared at the letter, but he didn't dare ask to come over to take a look. He could only helplessly shake his head.

At this time, Gao Shun suddenly pointed outside the city and laughed coldly, "Guan Yu is here!"

Hou Cheng looked towards Gao Shun's direction and saw that Guan Yu seemed to be cursing the Xuzhou Army's soldiers. He gloated with a laugh: "General Gongsun already scared Xuzhou. How would they dare to stop us again? It's no wonder that Guan Yu would be so furious! "

Gao Shun laughed, the worry in his heart was slightly alleviated. He turned his head and looked towards the south, hoping to see the figure of Lv Bu and the rest as soon as possible.