Xu Huang looked at Xia Houyuan expectantly and said to himself that you are a general under the lord's command and you must think twice before doing anything. He was particularly worried about Xia Houyuan going to Wancheng to snatch his daughter.

With the current strength of Cao's army in Nanyang, the feasibility of success in capturing Wancheng guarded by Xu Shu is very slim, but it cannot withstand the desire of a loving father to protect his daughter.

"Let's wait a little longer. Mi Fang has sent people to Wancheng to ask for help. Her sister is Liu Bei's concubine. It is impossible for Xu Shu not to send troops to rescue her. Let's capture a few prisoners of war and sacrifice them to the lord."

"oh"

Xu Huang's heart skipped a beat after hearing the explanation. He didn't know if Xia Houyuan really thought that or if he had other ideas. But Xia Houyuan's reasons were so good that he couldn't think of any reason to refute.

Because they were traveling lightly, Xia Houyuan and Xu Huang did not carry any baggage, so they had no conditions to set up a camp outside the city. They only ordered people to dig two trenches as traps, and used the soil dug out from the trenches to build a low wall.

Set up a simple campsite for camping.

Shortly after dinner after nightfall, Xu Huang suddenly saw a few stars in the south, which were obviously the light of torches.

Wancheng reinforcements are coming?

Xu Huang immediately went to find Xiahou Yuan who was already resting. He squatted beside him and shook his shoulder, and said urgently: "General Xiahou, wake up quickly. Reinforcements from Wancheng have arrived."

"What?"

Xia Houyuan couldn't hear the word "Wancheng" and got up from the ground with a start.

"General, come and see."

Xu Huang grabbed Xia Houyuan's wrist and pointed to the south of the camp to remind him.

Xia Houyuan rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and then asked Xu Huang: "That's it? There seem to be only a few dozen torches. Could these be reinforcements from Wancheng? Could Xu Shu have lost his mind and gone crazy?"

"Or the one exploring the front?" Xu Huang responded tentatively.

Xia Houyuan frowned and shook his head: "Tonight the clouds are thick, there are no stars or moon, and if there is any fire on the ground, you can see it clearly. If there is still a main force from behind, you can definitely see it."

Xu Huang responded, stroking his beard: "It seems to be true. Xu Shu is so resourceful, how could he do such a stupid thing?"

"Zixiao and Junyi have nearly ten thousand soldiers, and they may have blocked most of the enemies in Wancheng. Xu Shu wanted to increase his troops in Xi'e, but conditions did not allow it. These dozens of people may have come to report the news," Xia Houyuan murmured to himself.

"Then us" Xu Huang hesitated before speaking.

Xia Houyuan said sternly: "Since Xu Shu has come to give a gift, we will naturally be disrespectful and capture dozens of prisoners of war and dedicate them to the lord, so that we can successfully complete the mission."

"Then I will go."

Before Xu Huang finished speaking, he was intercepted by Xia Houyuan: "Gongming, you guard the camp, and I will lead five hundred people over in the dark."

"Have you extinguished the fire in the camp?" Xu Huang asked.

Xia Houyuan shook his head gently, "I'm afraid it's too late. Keep the status quo and don't move, otherwise you'll frighten the enemy."

"Wei." Xu Huang accepted the order with his fists clasped.

The march was slow in the dark, and after Xiahou Yuan had gone about five miles, he encountered reinforcements from Wancheng.

In an instant, the sound of fighting drowned out the cries of night insects.

Xu Huang stood high in the camp and looked out, only to see the dozens of torches kept bright, and they were rapidly and steadily advancing towards Xi'e.

What tactics did General Xiahou use? Was the ambush of five hundred men so deep?

Xu Huang looked carefully for a while and suddenly realized that the situation was not good. The number of torches did not decrease at all from far to near.

Could it be? More than a few dozen people?

Xu Huang wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could not command Xia Houyuan's troops left in the camp, so he could only mobilize his troops to respond.

The dark night is full of mystery. I wonder how many enemies are following behind those dozens of torches.

Xia Houyuan led 500 men to make a sneak attack, but was defeated steadily by the opponent, which also showed that there were many enemies.

Xu Huang did not dare to ask everyone to light fires. He was afraid that Mi Fang would find reinforcements coming to rescue him and send troops from the city to cause a combined attack from inside and outside, so he only asked a hundred people to light fires for illumination, and the rest of the soldiers followed the fires to meet them.

The firelight outside the city was scattered, and the sound of the soldiers fighting drowned out all the wild beasts, birds and insects.

Xia Houyuan originally planned to steal the chicken, but found that behind the torch were countless enemy soldiers.

Just as he was about to test the opponent's fighting power, he was caught off guard by two strong men with a team of swordsmen.

Passive counterattack, unexpectedly unable to stop.

Xia Houyuan knew that he had encountered a tough situation, and quickly ordered an emergency retreat towards the camp. He kept fighting and heard the sounds of killing. From time to time, some people screamed and fell to the ground, while others fled into the darkness in panic.

Five hundred soldiers were in chaos for a while, and at the critical moment, fire approached from behind.

Xia Houyuan guessed that Xu Huang was coming to meet him, so he led the defeated troops closer to the fire. However, the enemy troops in the darkness refused to let go. They shuttled across the wilderness like night owls, not missing any opportunity to hunt.

The defeated troops collided with Xu Huang's army, causing a short-term panic and commotion. Fortunately, the enemy troops restrained themselves when they saw the fire.

The general was easy to spot on horseback. While catching Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang couldn't help but ask: "General Xiahou, are you okay? Who will Xu Shu send to help?"

Xia Houyuan frowned and shook his head: "It was too dark to see clearly, but I just used the firelight to vaguely see two ferocious-looking strong men."

"A ferocious face? A strong man? Could it be Zhang Fei?" Xu Huang exclaimed.

Xia Houyuan sternly denied: "Impossible, Zhang Fei is a horse general, and I recognize his face, and these two are both foot generals, and they look very good."

Xu Huang swallowed, thinking how could he forget? He accidentally said the wrong thing, so he quickly changed the topic.

"The infantry general should be an unknown person. Does the general know how many troops the opponent has?"

"This is a fool's errand."

Before Xia Houyuan finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of fighting around him.

After a brief period of "calm down", the enemy suddenly launched an offensive against Cao Jun. Xu Huang hurriedly ordered to form formations to defend against the enemy.

Xia Houyuan hurriedly reminded: "You only light a few torches, and you expect the soldiers to quickly form a formation? What's more, the line of sight is unclear at night, and no one will fight with you."

Xu Huang has been in the army for many years and has experienced many night battles, but this is the first time he has encountered without lighting like this since he became attached to Cao Cao.

Seeing Xia Houyuan's question, Xu Huang quickly explained: "The general is worried that if everyone raises fire, Mi Fang will attack from behind, which will be very disadvantageous to us. In addition, the enemy will only have a small amount of light."

"What time has it been? How can you compare with the enemy? They can see even without light."

"How can that be?"

"Hurry up and let everyone use fire to defend against the enemy and return to the camp as soon as possible to hold on. Mi Fang will send out troops to make further calculations."

"only."

Xia Houyuan obeyed from Cao Ying's position. Xu Huang had no choice but to obey the order even though he had all kinds of reasons, so he ordered people to hold fire for light while retreating.

The defenders of Western Hubei heard the noise outside the city, and fires were lit on the southern wall, but Mi Fang did not choose to send troops.

The two teams fought in the dark, and Xu Huang only got rid of his opponent when he was approaching the south of Xi'e City.

In darkness, in chaos.

Xu Huang saw a familiar figure dragging his sword towards the south gate of Xi'e. He looked very much like the hero who had fought alongside him.
Chapter completed!