Volume 1: Kyoto Winds and Clouds Chapter 71: The Tiger's Fame in the Martial Arena

  Sitting next to Liu Hong, Liu Zhang felt somewhat depressed. The whole court of civil and military officials, not a single person looked up to him. If he had known this earlier, he would have found someone to open a gambling den for him. If he opened a gambling den, he would definitely make a fortune. Seeing Liu Zhang sighing on the side, Liu Hong thought he didn't have confidence, so he comforted him: "Imperial brother, even if you lose, it's just resting for a while. At worst, I'll let you go to the local area to lead troops."

  "Cut..." Liu Zhang smiled and said: "Imperial brother, of course I'm not worried about losing! I was just thinking, if I opened a betting pool on myself winning, how much money could I make!"

  "Hmph..." Liu Hong had just picked up his teacup to take a sip when Liu Zhang's words made him spit out the water. Liu Hong pointed at Liu Zhang, laughing and scolding: "I really don't know if you're too confident or just heartless! You should know that normally, cavalry against infantry, without three times the manpower, the infantry will definitely lose. Now you only have some newly trained Imperial Guards under your command, while the enemy is a seasoned elite force, where did you get such great confidence?"

  "Elite of a hundred battles?" Liu Zhang shrugged and said, "Imperial brother, it's not that I underestimate them. Take a closer look, if I don't beat them until their faces are covered in bruises, they won't know how red flowers are!"

  *sigh*...

  A long and loud horn sounded, the Western Liang Iron Cavalry moved. Hua Xiong held a large knife, like a fierce tiger going down the mountain, charging towards Liu Zhang's army.

  "Zilong, Yide, take down Huaxiong! Huang Xiu, follow me!" Zhang Ren looked at Huaxiong and saw that he was the first to charge into battle. In his heart, he felt extremely disdainful. The most important function of a general is to command troops. Now that Huaxiong has charged into battle, his troops have no one to command them. What use is it if such an army has strong combat strength? As soon as they encounter a general who is even more fierce than Huaxiong, they will surely be defeated!

  "Advance! Guns!" Under Zhang Ren's command, Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei went forward to intercept Hua Xiong. The soldiers raised their long guns, forming a forest of guns!

  "Huang Xu! Ambush!" Huang Xu led a thousand men to quickly rush towards Hua Xiong's rear, Hua Xiong was cavalry, he didn't dare stop or turn his troops to deal with Huang Xu. Once the cavalry lost their impact, they weren't much stronger than infantry, and even had some shortcomings. After all, riding on horseback wasn't as agile as standing on flat ground.

  The two armies finally met, and the Western Liang iron cavalry collided with Liu Zhang's infantry. Many gunners were knocked flying by the impact of the cavalry, even knocking down a row of people, but Liu Zhang's troops remained stubbornly resistant.

  "Not good!" Hua Xiong was shocked, he found that the speed of his cavalry had slowed down, and even stopped. What's more frightening is that once the Western Liang Iron Cavalry stops, they will face countless long spears until they are knocked off their horses! At this time, Hua Xiong's best choice is to retreat, regroup his forces, and launch another attack. Unfortunately, Hua Xiong had no chance! Huangfu Song's troops had already surrounded them from behind.

  Hua Xiong's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he raised his long knife to kill Zhang Ren. The idea of capturing the leader first was not bad, but Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei were waiting for him! Logically speaking, either Zhao Yun or Zhang Fei alone could have handled Hua Xiong. However, Liu Bei thought they were a bit young, so to be on the safe side, he had both of them deal with Hua Xiong together.

  What kind of people are Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei? Hua Xiong had a hard time dealing with one of them, let alone two joining forces? After all, Hua Xiong was not Lü Bu, he couldn't withstand the attack of two top warriors by himself. Zhang Fei's spear was like Mount Tai, Zhao Yun's gun was like a spiritual snake, just as Hua Xiong blocked Zhao Yun's silver gun, Zhang Fei's snake spear had already smashed towards his chest.

  "Hua...!" Hua Xiong spat out a mouthful of blood as he was knocked off his horse by Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun quickly followed up with a spear thrust to his neck, causing Hua Xiong to instantly lose consciousness.

  "Hua Xiong is dead, spare those who surrender!" The Western Liang soldiers heard the shouts of Liu Zhang's army and turned around to see that Hua Xiong was nowhere to be seen. They immediately fell into chaos. At this time, Zhang Ren led his troops in a fierce attack on the remaining Western Liang cavalrymen who were still on horseback. In no time at all, the drill ground was left with only neighing war horses and soldiers groaning on the ground.

  "Assembly of the entire army!" Ignoring the defeated soldiers on the ground, Zhang Ren let out a loud roar. All the soldiers in Liu Zhong's army began to form up, even the wounded ones stood firmly in their ranks without moving. Once all the soldiers had assembled, Zhang Ren and the other three suddenly knelt down at Liu Hong's feet and shouted: "Long live the Great Han! Long live Your Majesty!"

  Liu Hongmeng stood up, when had he ever felt such a passionate and stirring feeling. While on the other side, Yuan Wei's face turned somewhat pale. He finally understood what it meant to lose everything while trying to gain something!

  "Imperial brother, you always like to give me surprises!" Liu Hong looked excitedly at the five thousand soldiers on the drill ground. He had never thought that under equal military strength, infantry could defeat cavalry.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "Imperial brother, although you are the emperor, I still have to say this. What is this? If it weren't for insurance, I would dare to let them double their military strength! Without this skill, I would dare to collide head-on with the Wuhuan people? Do you really think those Wuhuan people are made of mud and can't be defeated?"

  "Haha! It's not mine, but unexpectedly underestimated the imperial brother!" Liu Hong laughed and said: "Guanyun Hou Liu Zhang, listen to the order: I command you to take over Feng Fang's 20,000 men, and must train another elite army for me! The soldiers under your command, I grant them the name Hu Ben!"

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Liu Zhang bowed and made a courtesy after that, he couldn't help but glance at Yuan Wei with great satisfaction. Yuan Wei's old face turned blue and red, wondering if he would suddenly have a cerebral hemorrhage!

  "Hmph!" Yuan Shu let out a cold snort and left the school grounds, his face had already lost all dignity, there was no point in staying any longer. However, He Jin couldn't leave, Hua Xiong was after all Dong Zhuo's man, and Dong Zhuo was his friend.

  Liu Hong saw that things had already been settled, so he took Liu Zhang back to the palace, leaving only He Jin alone to clean up the remnants of Dong Zhuo's Western Liang soldiers. After all, this was a struggle between high-ranking officials, and as a governor, Dong Zhuo did not have the qualifications to participate, even if his subordinates were fighting on the battlefield.

  Of course, He Jin and Yuan Shu could also bring Dong Zhuo into the Western Garden, but Yuan Shu looked down on Dong Zhuo, and He Jin did not dare to bring Dong Zhuo in. Who knows what the tyrannical Liu Zhang would do if the Xiliang army really won? In He Jin's view, Liu Zhang was already on the same front line as him. However, He Jin never thought that the invincible Xiliang army would lose so decisively. In fact, this is also Dong Zhuo's fault. If he had sent Xu Rong or Li Jue and Guo Si, they would not have lost so decisively. But Hua Xiong was just a fierce general, charging forward, he didn't know how to retreat, let alone lead the army in battle, he really had some difficulties. Moreover, Liu Zhang's generals were much stronger than Hua Xiong!

  After gathering the remnants of the Western Liang army, He Jin ordered people to carry the heavily injured Hua Xiong to the General's mansion. Dong Zhuo was still in the General's mansion tasting tea, and he had full confidence in Hua Xiong and the Western Liang soldiers! When Hua Xiong was carried into the General's mansion, Dong Zhuo was stunned. He never thought that his first brave general would be beaten like this.

  "What... General... What's going on?" Dong Zhuo was suspicious, wondering if Hua Xiong had been beaten up by someone!

  He Jin told the whole story of what had happened on the school grounds with a bitter smile, and Dong Zhuo listened with his eyes wide with astonishment. He couldn't believe that those useless Forbidden Guards, who had been trained by Liu Biao for only a few months, could defeat his crack troops who had fought in numerous battles.

  Not to mention Dong Zhuo, even He Jin did not want to believe it. But the fact is that they cannot help but believe it. However, Hua Xiong's defeat was not a bad thing after all. At least it made He Jin and Dong Zhuo understand that Liu Zhang was not someone who could be easily offended.

  Hua Xiong was also one of Dong Zhuo's most trusted and beloved generals. Dong Zhuo had this good point, he was loyal enough. Seeing Hua Xiong unconscious, he quickly asked He Jin to call the imperial physician to treat Hua Xiong's injuries. When the imperial physician opened Hua Xiong's armor, Dong Zhuo and He Jin were shocked. They thought that even if Hua Xiong was injured, it wouldn't be too serious, but after opening his armor, the protective mirror that Dong Zhuo had given to Hua Xiong was already shattered into powder!

  "What kind of person would do this?" Dong Zhuo stared in shock.

  He Jin said bitterly: "A man holding a strange long spear, seems to be called Zhang Fei!"

  "Is it the one riding a black horse, with a long spear in hand and a spearhead like a swimming snake?" Dong Zhuo swallowed his saliva, he remembered Zhang Fei at the wine shop front, with just one spear, he burst open Hua Xiong's big knife!

  "Exactly!" He Jin sighed and said: "He and another young man attacked Hua Xiong together, and Hua Xiong couldn't even block a single move before being swept off his horse."

  "Dong Zhuo knew that Hua Xiong had been defeated, but he didn't expect him to be defeated so decisively."

  "Zhongying, I advise you not to oppose Crown Prince Hou again in the future, otherwise...I won't be able to protect you!" He Jin looked at Dong Zhuo with a very sincere expression.

  Dong Zhuo understood that He Jin's advice must have had some underlying reason that he was not aware of. However, Dong Zhuo was dependent on He Jin and would never go against him. Suppressing his anger towards Liu Chao, Dong Zhuo politely said to He Jin: "Please be at ease, General. I will never again clash with the Crown Prince."

  "That's best!" He Jin let out a sigh of relief. What he feared most was that Dong Zhuo would get hot-headed and turn against Hua Xiong and Liu Chong.

  "I... where am I?" Hua Xiong, who was knocked unconscious by Zhao Yun, woke up under the skilled hands of the imperial physician. He saw Dong Zhuo and immediately knelt down from the bed, saying: "This general is incompetent, losing face for my lord, please punish me, my lord!"

  Looking at the pale but loyal general, He Jin's face was filled with envy. Dong Zhuo immediately helped Hua Xiong up and said: "This defeat is not your fault, it's mine for not grasping the enemy situation, which led to your defeat! General, take good care of your wounds, we have a long future ahead!"

  "Yes! Cough...cough!" Hua Xiong responded loudly, but unexpectedly stirred up his injury, and couldn't stop coughing.

  "Take a good rest!" Dong Zhuo sighed and said to He Jin: "General, we'll go back first!"

  "He General Hua is so seriously injured, why don't you stay here and recover?" Everyone likes a loyal and dedicated general, and He Jin took a liking to Hua Xiong.

  "Thank you, General!" Hua Xiong smiled and said: "Although I am injured, I can still return with the Lord!"

  "Alright! You can go back first!" He Jin, although his eyes were red from anger towards Hua Xiong, also didn't want to force him to stay. Watching Dong Zhuo's departing figure, He Jin's heart felt an indescribable emotion.