Three Kingdoms Dance of Heroes

  The sun was shining brightly, with no clouds in sight for thousands of miles...

  Liu Bei and his party marched towards Xinye in a grand manner!

  "Third brother, let's take a break?" Liu Bei looked around at the exhausted faces of the civilians and furrowed his brow, saying aloud.

  Zhang Fei's mouth twitched, he glanced at the surrounding civilians, sighed silently, and could only nod in agreement. He left immediately, and a moment later, there was a commotion in front, which soon subsided.

  Liu Xuan stood beside Liu Bei, also secretly sighing. They had been marching for three days, but had only traveled less than thirty miles... At this rate, it would take at least half a month to reach Xin Ye!

  Ten miles ahead of Liu Bei, there was a mountain path with dense and lush forests on both sides. The trees were so thick that the sunlight filtering through them created dappled shadows on the ground, making it a beautiful sight to behold!

  Outside the dense forest, a Cao army general stood with his sword slung over his shoulder, gazing into the distance with a furrowed brow, seemingly deep in thought.

  "Wen Da, what's on your mind?" a bright and clear voice came over.

  Cao Cao listened and smiled lightly, turned around to glance at Zhu Ling, and said softly: "Nothing, just thinking about the battle between our lord and Yuan Shao..."

  Cao Zhang is Li Tong, this time Cao army's main general!

  Li Tong glanced at Zhu Ling and said loudly, "Wenbo, what are you running around for? If something goes wrong this time, we'll both be in trouble!"

  Zhu Ling laughed and said, "Wen Da, you're too cautious. This time we'll just ambush them and let Liu Bei know that we can't be bullied."

  Li Tong shook his head and said in a low voice: "Wenbo, be careful, don't capsize in the gutter!"

  "Go on, go on......" Zhu Ling muttered a few words, intending to speak, when suddenly, a scout rushed in and urgently said: "Reporting to the two generals, Liu Bei's large army is just five miles ahead!"

  "Hmph... Liu Bei's mother has finally arrived, we've all been waiting for him for a long time, he's really slow!" Zhu Ling said with a smile to Li Tong.

  Li Tong didn't care about Zhu Ling, and Zhu Ling also smiled coldly! Li Tong turned around to look at the scout and said calmly: "How many troops does Liu Bei have? Who are his generals? How many civilians?"

  "There are about two thousand soldiers, the leader is a big man with a full beard and eyes like a leopard's...the civilians seem to be around thirty to fifty thousand..." The scout reported immediately.

  "Hey... Liu Bei is really bold! With an army of 20,000, he dares to bring along 300,000 to 500,000 civilians?" Zhu Ling sneered.

  "Go, order the vanguard to prepare a barrage of rolling stones against Liu Bei's army. No matter what happens, we must break their formation and then quickly retreat, gather the civilians, and head straight to take over Runan!" Li Tong hesitated for a moment before suddenly raising his head.

  "Ah!"

  "What's this?" Zhu Ling asked in confusion.

  "Wen Bo, Liu Bei has taken away many of the people from Runan. At this time, there are probably only 10 or 20% of the population left in Runan City. If we were to capture these people and bring them back to Runan, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?"

  "Hmm..." Zhu Ling suddenly understood Li Tong's thoughts and chuckled: "Just as Wenda said, I'll do it!"

  "Wenbo, you'd better not stay here either. Go and prepare at the back to prevent Liu Bei and Zhang Fei from escaping!" Li Tong frowned and said.

  Zhu Ling listened with slight astonishment and asked: "Not ambushing anymore?"

  Li Tong shook his head and sighed, "Liu Bei has only 2,000 soldiers by his side. It seems that Guan Yu and Zhao Zilong have already gone to Jingzhou... Liu Bei is now accompanied by Zhang Fei alone. This is a great opportunity to deal with Liu Bei."

  "Alright, I'll go prepare!" Zhu Ling didn't say another word, responded with a single sound, and walked away.

  Li Tong watched Zhu Ling leave, turned around and looked ahead, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if there were faint sounds of killing and shouting coming from the front.

  A faint cold smile appeared at the corner of Li Tong's mouth.

  Rocks fall from the sky, and arrows rain down!

  Liu Bei's face was gloomy, his eyes were about to split, and he wielded the male and female double-edged sword, shouting loudly on both sides. As soon as he let out a loud roar, he was immediately covered by mournful cries and wails.

  At this time, Zhang Fei's eyes were bloodshot, and he came to Liu Bei's side, roaring: "Big brother, retreat! Cao's army occupies the mountain road, with the high ground, our soldiers have to guard against Cao's army and also prevent the civilians from escaping... it's really a case of having the heart but not the strength..."

  Liu Bei's face turned even darker after hearing this, and he immediately shouted sternly: "Many civilians followed me to Xinye, abandoning their homeland. What is the reason for this?"

  "It is unacceptable to abandon the common people... This doesn't need to be said again..."

  Rumble...

  A boulder the size of a millstone fell from the sky and crushed to death several soldiers who were protecting the civilians. Several soldiers were instantly turned into minced meat, dead beyond recognition!

  Zhang Fei's eyes were bloodshot, and he didn't care about Liu Bei anymore. His snake spear danced in the air, casting a series of overlapping shadows. He bellowed: "All troops listen to my orders, quickly pass through the mountain path..."

  Having said that, Zhang Fei patted his horse and went forward to open the way. Liu Bei's eyes flashed with a hint of unknown light, and he followed on horseback.

  Liu Xuan of the rear army furrowed his brow, gazing at the hail of stones, arrows and giant logs being recklessly thrown down. He thought to himself: "The Cao army's speed is indeed swift, my father was already very cautious beforehand, yet they still managed to discover us..."

  "It seems Cao Jun really views his father as a thorn in his eye, a stab in the flesh..."

  Liu Xuan furrowed his brow, his mind dazed, and suddenly heard a loud shout: "Young master be careful..."

  All he heard was a strong gust of wind, Liu Xuan's heart skipped a beat, but his reaction wasn't slow. A donkey rolled over to dodge, and when he looked up, an arrow had been deeply embedded in the ground, its feathers still quivering.

  Liu Xuan saw that he couldn't help but swallow his saliva, slightly shook his head and looked at himself, covered in mud and looking very disheveled. After glancing around at the desolate situation, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart, then picked up a sword and shouted loudly: "Those who can still breathe, follow me..."

  Liu Xuan's shout was like a bright lamp in the dark, and soon a group of people gathered around him. Liu Xuan didn't hesitate, and urgently shouted: "Everyone follow me from behind, remember, don't be distracted by anything else, just keep running forward..."

  At this time, there was another burst of "whooshing", "rumbling" and "hissing" sounds of huge rocks crashing and arrows piercing the air.

  "Hurry up and follow me...!" Liu Xuan didn't dare to hesitate, quickly running forward with his long sword swinging left and right, knocking down the incoming feathered arrows one by one.

  All the way, Liu Xuan only saw that there were seriously injured and dying civilians along the road, with mad and miserable cries, as well as confusion in their eyes. Liu Xuan's heart was filled with sorrow, anger...and helplessness!

  Liu Xuan let out a loud roar, his right arm swinging mechanically, the long sword flashing with a cold light "whooshing" as it cut through the air, deflecting most of the feathered arrows. Despite this, Liu Xuan's body was still riddled with wounds... Fresh blood flowed down and stained his clothes red, but Liu Xuan seemed unaware, his low growl filled with anger, the long sword shaking back and forth as if it knew Liu Xuan's thoughts.

  Bang!

  After an unknown period of slaughter, Liu Xuan suddenly felt his body completely relaxed. Before he could even catch his breath, he glanced around at the environment, but it was as if a huge darkness had swallowed him up in an instant, and everything before his eyes turned black.

  Young Master...

  Xuan'er...

  …………

  Liu Bei was already standing beside Liu Xuan, looking at him lying on the ground with a large patch of fresh blood on his body. A thread of anger flashed through Liu Bei's eyes, and his mouth twitched slightly. After a moment, the military doctor stood up and said to Liu Bei: "General, the young master overexerted himself, and he lost a lot of blood..."

  "To the point of fainting, rest for a while and it will be fine."

  Liu Bei nodded after hearing that Liu Xuan was fine, and said: "Thank you, doctor!"

  "General, there is no need for this, it's beneath you."

  A moment later, Zhang Fei's eyes were red with rage, his face twisted in a terrifying scowl, and he roared: "You damned Cao troops, don't let me catch you, or I'll tear you limb from limb..."

  Liu Bei was taken aback and immediately looked at Zhang Fei, shouting: "Third brother, how many casualties do we have in our army? How many civilians were killed or injured?"

  Zhang Fei lowered his head and remained silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice: "Our army has suffered hundreds of casualties..."

  "There are only nearly ten thousand ordinary people left..."

  Liu Bei listened, his eyes misty with tears, and suddenly two streams of tears flowed down his face. He choked back a sob, saying: "This is my fault, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have invited this disaster..."

  At this time, Liu Xuan also woke up and listened to Liu Bei's words. He sighed helplessly and said in a low voice: "Father, this is not the time to say this..."

  "Father, Cao Jun is too ruthless and cunning." Liu Xuan hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "The best plan now is to break through the siege and join forces with Second Uncle Zhao."

  Liu Bei nodded upon hearing this, and with his wide sleeves, he wiped away a tear. He then spoke in a low voice to Zhang Fei: "Third brother, quickly assemble the troops and set off immediately, arriving at Xinye as soon as possible..."

  "Yes, big brother!"