Chapter 35: Ma Zuo's Lu Fei Kua

  About thirty miles east of Yangxin County, there is a low and gentle hill with dense pine forests on it. The official road from the east winds its way from the west to the hill, passing over the hill and dividing the pine forest into two parts.

  Inside the pine forest, thick layers of pine needles were spread out, dry and comfortable. Liu Xuan and Guan Ping, along with over a hundred scout soldiers, sat under the pine trees resting and chatting about the Battle of Yangxin County.

  "To fight with petty thieves like Zhang Wu and Chen Sun is not worthy of me. To be honest, I have no interest in it at all." Guan Ping said with a smile.

  "Yes! It's better than lying here, relaxed and comfortable."

  Liu Jing lay under a pine tree, with a pine branch in his mouth, staring at a squirrel on the top of the tree, mischievously jumping back and forth.

  He seemed very leisurely, although he also hoped to get a war horse from Zhang Wu and Chen Sun's battle, but this didn't need him to worry about it, Zhao Yun would help him take care of it.

  Guan Ping glanced at him again and smiled: "I heard from my father that Master Jing has some battle experience, has Master Jing fought in a war?"

  "What combat experience? I'm just good at running away quickly when I encounter danger. Don't I understand this principle?"

  Liu Cong's words brought a burst of hearty laughter from the soldiers, when suddenly a soldier on guard outside the forest shouted: "General Guan, someone is coming this way, it looks like an army!"

  The crowd jumped up one after another and ran out of the pine forest. Liu Xuan also jumped up and ran to the edge of the pine forest, climbed up a pine tree, and looked into the distance.

  Only a military team was seen on the official road in the distance, rushing towards this side, about two or three miles away from them. Liu Jiong saw at a glance that it was a defeated army, with a strength of about 400-500 people, led by a general riding a majestic white horse.

  Liu Xuan's gaze fell on that magnificent war horse, which was obviously a precious steed, tightly attracting his attention.

  "Everyone listen to my command!"

  Guan Ping gave a low order, "We will ambush this army."

  The crowd of candidates mounted their horses one after another and followed Guan Ping into the dense forest.

  This defeated army was from the defeat of Yangxin County, Zhang Wu collected more than 400 defeated soldiers and fled in a hurry towards Chaisang, and this official road is the only way to go to Chaisang.

  The crowd ran away in unison for over thirty miles, the pursuing soldiers were far away, Zhang Wu wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around, he was very familiar with this area, a hill in front of him was called Hei Lin Gang, after passing Hei Lin Gang, walking ten or so miles further would be a small town.

  "He turned around and said to the soldiers: 'Brothers, bear with it a bit longer, let's go to Yangdong Town to eat and rest!'"

  He urged his war horse to rush towards Hei Lin Gang, and his horse was extremely fast. The soldiers were exhausted and had no choice but to follow Zhang Wu's desperate sprint. Before long, the army rushed up to Hei Lin Gang and continued to flee east along the official road.

  Both sides were dense pine forests, and although it was still noon at this time, the light inside the pine forest was dim, and the cold wind blew from the gaps in the forest, making people feel a chill.

  Zhang Wu took the lead, with the soldiers behind him running intermittently. The team had already stretched for nearly a mile. In the dense forest, more than 100 Jingzhou scouts had drawn their bows and aimed at the defeated soldiers dozens of steps away.

  At this time, Guan Ping unexpectedly found that Liu Xuan was gone. He was greatly shocked in his heart and looked around, but he didn't see any trace of Liu Xuan.

  But time did not allow him to search around again, he made a decisive decision and ordered: "Fire!"

  Hundreds of arrows shot out densely from the forest, defeated soldiers were caught off guard, a burst of miserable cries, they fell to the ground one after another, they had long since become birds startled by the bow, with no will to fight.

  The sudden attack frightened them into loud cries and frantic flight. Guan Ping shouted in a stern voice: "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  The vanguard cavalry shouted and killed out of the pine forest, waving long spears, killing the defeated soldiers on the official road. The defeated soldiers on the official road were in a mess, screaming and shouting in horror, desperately fleeing.

  Zhang Wu rode his horse quickly and galloped all the way, soon he was the first to escape from the battlefield.

  After leaving the battlefield for a few miles, Zhang Wu gradually slowed down his horse's speed, looked back and gazed for a moment. He could no longer hear the cries of killing, and he finally put his heart at ease, muttering to himself, "Damn it, Liu Bei's troops are everywhere."

  Just then, a strange noise came from the left side, he suddenly turned his head, and saw a large pine tree slowly falling down, heading straight for him, scaring Zhang Wu to retreat several steps.

  "Boom!" A loud crash, the big tree fell in front of him, stirring up a cloud of dust, and the war horse was startled to lift its front hooves, letting out a long whinny.

  Just as Zhang Wu's attention was drawn to the fallen tree, a black figure leapt down from the big tree behind him, with a sharp war knife slashing straight at Zhang Wu's neck. At this moment, the loud crash of the falling tree covered up the sound of the knife slicing through the air.

  Just as Zhang Wu suddenly realized it, a severe pain came from his neck, and he blacked out, knowing nothing.

  Zhang Wu's head was chopped off by Liu Xuan with one knife, and the blood in his neck spurted out a zhang high, splashing all over Liu Xuan.

  Liu Xuan kicked away Zhang Wu's corpse, changed his seat to the saddle, and the pungent blood and fierce killing intent startled the war horse, which jumped over a large tree and galloped rapidly eastward along the official road.

  Liu Xuan tightly hugged the war horse's neck, his legs clamped tightly on its belly, and the wind whizzed past his ears. His riding skills were not exceptional, but he had a kind of unyielding determination that ordinary people did not possess, gritting his teeth to endure the horse's tossing and shaking, never falling off the horse.

  This was a contest of wills between man and horse, Liu Xuan knew that once he was thrown off the horse's back, he would lose this fine steed. He gritted his teeth, enduring the intense shaking pain in his internal organs, using all his strength to control the warhorse.

  The war horse galloped across the vast wilderness, leaving Yangdong Town far behind. It was unknown whether the horse had been running for half an hour or a whole hour, but Liu Xiu was already exhausted, while the horse remained spirited and continued to gallop with all its might.

  At this time, a two-zhang-wide small river suddenly appeared in front of him. The war horse let out a long whinny and jumped over the small river. The intense jumping of the war horse made Liu Xuan unable to hold on tightly, rolling off the horse and falling into the water with a "splash".

  The war horse galloped away, and Liu Xuan slowly climbed up the riverbank, his whole body aching as if it had been dislocated. His mood was depressed to the extreme, and in the end, he missed by a hair's breadth. He was so angry that he punched the mud with all his might.

  Just then, Liu Xuan suddenly heard a long whistle. He looked up in surprise and saw that a white warhorse was galloping towards him from afar, its mane fluttering in the wind, like a jumping white spirit on the grassland.

  Liu Xuan felt an unprecedented surge of joy in his heart, he endured the pain all over his body and crawled up, laughing loudly with open arms, welcoming the white spirit rushing towards him.

  ．．．．．．．．．

  The battle of Yangxin County has ended, it was an inevitable campaign, the rebels encountered the Jingzhou Army with absolute advantage without the support of the Jiangdong Army and were defeated in one battle.

  Over 9,000 rebels were beheaded and nearly 2,000 captured. The rest fled in disarray. With the battle over, the soldiers of Jingzhou were clearing the battlefield. Row after row of captive soldiers walked by with their heads hung low. The seized weapons, armor, war drums, and banners were piled up like a small mountain.

  Liu Bei rode his horse to the top of a hill, gazing far away at the prisoners of war passing by, but he was not in high spirits. His army had failed to capture the spoils of war he coveted - a fine steed.

  "Big brother, it's mainly because Zhang Wu that thief ran too fast, couldn't catch up with him, it's my responsibility." Zhang Fei was extremely self-reproachful on the side, he also wanted to help his elder brother get that horse, unfortunately he was blocked by the chaotic army and could only watch as Zhang Wu escaped.

  "Whatever!"

  Liu Bei sighed inwardly, he and the war horse had no affinity, that war horse was destined to belong to Sun Quan, a tolerant smile hung on his face, "Third brother, it's just a horse, don't take it to heart."

  Although his elder brother comforted him in this way, Zhang Fei still felt extremely guilty and unhappy.

  At this time, someone in the distance shouted loudly: "General Xiaoguan is back."

  Liu Bei turned back to look, and saw Guan Ping leading over a hundred cavalrymen escorting several hundred prisoners of war, with a smile all over his face. Liu Bei smiled and went forward to meet him, "Worthy nephew, what's going on? You've also captured so many prisoners?"

  "We intercepted Zhang Wu's defeated soldiers, and even Zhang Wu was killed by Gongzi Jing."

  "Zhang Wu!" Liu Bei's heart skipped a beat, and he hastily looked towards the army. He saw Liu Xuan, and also saw Liu Xuan's majestic war horse. The soldiers swarmed forward, admiringly stroking this precious horse.

  Liu Bei felt an uncontrollable pang of sadness in his heart, never expecting that this precious horse would fall into Liu Xuan's hands. Looking at Liu Xuan's appearance, he was deeply enamored with the warhorse.

  At this time Zhang Fei's eyes were hot, he rushed forward on horseback, cupped his hands and smiled: "Gongzi Xun, my elder brother has admired this precious horse for a long time. Can you spare it?"

  "Yi De!"

  Liu Bei's face sank as he rebuked: "How dare you speak like that? I, Liu Bei, am not one to take away what others love."

  Liu Bei urged his horse forward, gazing intently at the warhorse for a moment before smiling and bowing: "Congratulations to Master Xun on killing the bandit leader and achieving great merit, and also on acquiring this fine steed."

  Liu Jue was extremely dissatisfied in his heart. This was the precious horse he had exchanged for his life, and Liu Bei thought he could take it away with just one sentence? Dream on!

  Although he thought so in his heart, he couldn't show it. At least on the surface, he had to appear magnanimous. Liu Jiao dismounted and led the war horse over to Liu Bei, "Liu Xianxiong is a hero of the world, worthy of riding a dragon steed or precious horse. Since you like this horse, please take it."

  He spoke beautifully and was very generous, but Liu Bei had already said the words earlier, he wasn't someone who would take something from others, even if Liu Xuan really gave it to him, he couldn't accept.

  Liu Bei's heart was bitter, but his face wore a grateful smile as he said: "Thank you, Master Jing, for your generosity. You are a young hero and this fine horse suits you perfectly. I appreciate your kind intentions, but I'm afraid I must decline the offer of this horse."

  Liu Jiong nodded, "Liu Xiangong is modest and humble, worthy of respect."

  However, Liu Xuan was willing to give the horse to Zhao Yun as a token of gratitude for teaching him martial arts. Liu Xuan led the horse before Zhao Yun, bowed and said, "The kindness of General Zhao's teachings is etched in my heart. This warhorse is a gift to you, sir, to express my gratitude."

  At this time, countless pairs of eyes looked at Zhao Yun, and even Liu Bei couldn't help but glance at him sideways. Everyone could see that when Liu Shao gave horses to Liu Bei, it was just a courtesy in response to Zhang Fei's gesture, but the way he presented horses to Zhao Yun was completely different, with a sincere tone.

  Zhao Yun pondered for a moment, he could feel Liu Xuan's intention, but if he accepted this horse, it would ultimately end up in the hands of his lord. Although his lord would get what he loved, this matter would affect his lord's reputation, which was not a good thing, so Zhao Yun did not want to do it.

  Thinking of this, Zhao Yun patted the war horse and smiled slightly, "Thank you, Master Xing, for your kindness. I think this horse has a lot of affection for you. Since it has recognized you as its master, how can you bear to transfer it to someone else? Horses also have loyalty, I hope you will take good care of it."

  Zhao Yun and Liu Xuan exchanged a glance, some words didn't need to be said out loud, they understood each other in their hearts, both of them showed a smile of mutual understanding.

  Not far away, Liu Bei glanced at Zhao Yun and Liu Xuan's conversation, his eyes turned extremely cold. He knew why Zhao Yun refused to accept the war horse, thinking that he was not as important as Liu Xuan in his heart, and would rather leave the war horse for Liu Xuan than offer it to himself. His loyalty to him had already faded, did he think he didn't know?

  After a while, Liu Bei turned around and gazed up at the sky, his hands clasped behind his back, but he let out a heavy hum from his nose, "Hmph!"

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