Chapter 11: Autumn in the Sandy Arena

  Time flies so fast, in the blink of an eye, two years have passed. In these two years, several big things happened around Ao Lie.

  Firstly, Liu He, the eldest brother of the family, had a grand wedding with his wife a year ago. Although the ceremony was not too elaborate, it was still considered a significant event for a prominent family during the Eastern Han dynasty. The wedding lasted from dawn till dusk before it was finally completed. This made Ao Lie, who was attending the ceremony, feel extremely frustrated in his heart. If he were to replace Liu He as the groom, he might have run away immediately. What's more, many famous scholars came to congratulate them, including Ao Lie's future father-in-law, Cai Yong, a renowned scholar. What made Ao Lie even more anxious was that Cai Yong did not come alone; he brought his only daughter, Cai Yan, who was known for her exceptional talent and beauty - Ao Lie's future wife.

  In this era, chastity was not taken seriously, so there were no customs like not being able to see each other before marriage. Liu Yu and Cai Yong not only did not prevent Ao Lie and Cai Yan from meeting but also actively helped them spend time together in private. They tried to let the two young people further understand each other and deepen their feelings. Fortunately, on the second day of the wedding, Cai Yong had to leave with Cai Yan due to some business, which made Ao Lie breathe a sigh of relief. However, through more than two days of contact, Ao Lie felt that Cai Yan was indeed a talented woman, and she was also stunningly beautiful. After hearing the seven-character poem written by Ao Lie for Lü Bu in Xiang Er's place, Cai Yan surprisingly adapted it into a piano piece within the time of burning an incense stick. The music was clear, powerful, and very moving. When they parted ways, Cai Yan blushed and asked Ao Lie about his impression of her, which was equivalent to asking if he was satisfied with their marriage arrangement. Ao Lie tried hard but couldn't bring himself to say words like "I like you," "I really like you," or "I extremely like you." He could only write a poem called "Meeting Joy" and give it to Cai Yan. Meeting Joy: Silently ascending the western tower, The moon is like a hook, In the quiet courtyard of the deep mansion, autumn is locked in, Unable to cut off, still messy, It's the sorrow of parting, There's another flavor in my heart. Cai Yan blushed and carefully put away the small poem written by Ao Lie, then took out her handkerchief and wrote eight characters on it: "If you cherish me, I won't disappoint you." And so, Ao Lie and Cai Yan's first meeting came to an end, but both of them left a shadow in each other's heart. From then on, Ao Lie no longer resisted the marriage arrangement as he had before.

  There was another thing that happened not long after Liu and Da's wedding. Due to the increasingly fierce struggle between the imperial court's external relatives and eunuchs, with General-in-Chief He Jin at the helm of the external relatives and Zhang Rang leading the ten attendants among the eunuchs, they wildly recruited party members for power struggles. Later, Emperor Ling Liu Hong discovered this, although he was incompetent, but not to the point of allowing the two factions to freely divide the imperial family's power, so Liu Hong also promoted a batch of people in the imperial clan to take important positions in the capital city Luoyang, and Ao Lie's older brother Liu He was summoned as an attendant to go to Luoyang for duty.

  Apart from the above, there was nothing else that could move Lü Bu. For two years, most of the time, Lü Bu and Diao Chan were in Zhengyang Valley, studying martial arts and sparring with each other. After two years, Lü Bu's martial arts skills had improved dramatically, his strength had increased, and he had combined the Taiji spear technique and the 18 chopping techniques to create the "Taiji 18 Chopping Spear Technique", which became a unique style. Meanwhile, Diao Chan's martial arts skills had also reached new heights due to her practice of the Nine Transformations Dragon Technique. The two people's sparring had expanded from infantry battles to cavalry battles, hidden weapons, archery, fist and foot techniques, strength comparisons, and so on. Except for drinking contests, they had almost sparred in every possible way.

  At this moment, the sound of clashing metal echoed through Zhongyang Valley as usual. It turned out that Lü Bu and Ao Lie brothers were engaged in a cavalry battle drill.

  Lü Bu urged his horse to gallop wildly, and the halberd in his hand suddenly shot out straight, stabbing at Ao Lie's left shoulder. Ao Lie shook the reins, and the Snow Dragon Horse under him jumped sideways with all four hooves, dodging Lü Bu's attack by half a step. Immediately afterwards, Ao Lie swung his long spear, and at the moment of impact, he shook out three spear flowers in mid-air, each stabbing at Lü Bu's left and right shoulders and brow.

  Lü Bu let out a loud roar, and the Heaven Halberd transformed into a straight thrust and horizontal wheel. Slanting diagonally towards Ao Lie's waist, it chopped down, while the halberd tail rose up, and with his left hand clenched into a fist, he punched the halberd tail with great force. The immense power caused the halberd tail to vibrate violently, and at high speed, three halberd tails suddenly appeared, heading towards Ao Lie's incoming three gun flowers. This move was precisely Lü Bu's killing technique derived from his comprehension of the Nine Transformations Heaven Dragon Technique. Over the past two years, Ao Lie had merged the Taiji Gun Method with the Turning Hand Eighteen Slashes into a brand new set of Taiji Eighteen Slashes. Lü Bu naturally hadn't been idle either; although he hadn't spent much time cultivating the Nine Transformations Heaven Dragon Technique and his comprehension wasn't entirely thorough, he still managed to merge what he had grasped into his halberd technique. Although it didn't reach the level of Ao Lie's self-created gun method, it added a few more unpredictable changes to his originally powerful halberd technique.

  Ao Lie's first strike missed, and he immediately urged the Zhoye Snow Dragon Horse to speed up and charge towards Lü Bu. At the same time, his spear technique changed, with both hands gripping the tip and tail of the spear handle, swinging an arc-shaped blow at Lü Bu. This strike combined the impact force of the Zhoye Snow Dragon Horse with Ao Lie's own immense strength. The long spear, bearing the brunt of Ao Lie's power, was bent into a bow shape. Seeing Ao Lie unleash this move, Lü Bu dared not be careless, and his Heaven-Defying Halberd paused for a moment before retracting slightly to accumulate force, then stabbing out again with great ferocity, aiming straight at the center of the spear handle in Ao Lie's hand, which had already been bent into a bow shape.

  Seeing Lü Bu's change of tactics, áo Liè's mouth corners rose with a hint of smile. Just as the spearhead was about to strike the gunstock, áo Liè's left hand, which had been gripping the handle at the tip of the gun, suddenly relaxed, allowing the curved gunstock to release its tension. The gunpoint, carrying immense inertia, fiercely chopped towards Lü Bu.

  Lü Bu was caught off guard by Cao Cao's sudden change of tactics and was momentarily stunned, hastily using his halberd to block the attack. The spear and halberd clashed, each carrying their owner's enormous strength, like two giant beasts colliding with each other.

  Clang——clang———clang————the lingering sound showed just how intense the collision was. The two horses crossed each other, and then ran forward for over a dozen steps before simultaneously turning their heads around, causing Lü Bu and āo Liè to face each other on horseback. However, after exchanging a glance, neither of them launched an attack. There was only one reason: the long spear in āo Liè's hand had already broken into two pieces. It must be known that Lü Bu's Heaven-Defying Halberd was a divine and sharp weapon, while āo Liè's long spear was just an ordinary iron-made weapon. In these past two years, this kind of situation had occurred countless times, with the number of weapons destroyed by the Heaven-Defying Halberd being uncountable. If it weren't for Xīng ér relying on selling golden silk leaves to make a living, āo Liè probably wouldn't even be able to afford a short sword.

  "Second brother has truly made rapid progress! In just two short years, he can already exchange fifty moves with me." Lü Bu sincerely praised.

  He threw away the half gun stock in his hand, looked at Lü Bu's Fang Tianhua halberd with envy, and said: "One day, I will also get a divine weapon, so that I won't be suppressed by my brother all the time." Suddenly, a flash of light flashed through his mind, Ao Lie thought of the broken array king gun in Guangwu Emperor's secret treasure, which was the weapon of Xiang Yu, the King of Chu. If he could take it out and combine it with the eighteen turns of the hand that Xiang Yu had passed down, um, after Ao Lie's integration, it should be called Tai Chi eighteen turns. If combined with Tai Chi eighteen turns, wouldn't it be like a tiger adding wings? However, the matter of exploring the treasure cannot be rushed, and now he has no soldiers or generals under his command. Even if he takes out Guangwu's secret treasure, he can't hold on to it for long, and it may even be coveted by others. It's better to wait until he builds a reliable team before doing so.

  At this time, a sudden horseshoe sound came from outside the valley, and the two brothers in the valley turned their heads to look towards the entrance of the valley. They saw a soldier wearing a county army uniform riding a horse and rushing towards them. When he entered the valley and saw Ao Lie, he rode his horse to Ao Lie's side, then dismounted and knelt on one knee, clasping his fists together and said: "Reporting to the two young masters, the governor has urgently summoned you back to the mansion." Ao Lie recognized that this soldier was named Xiao Huzi, a lieutenant under his father Liu Yu. During the Eastern Han period, the military system of the pre-Qin period was followed, with five men forming a squad, led by a squad leader; ten men formed a company, led by a company commander; fifty men formed a battalion, led by a battalion commander; one hundred men formed a regiment, led by a regimental commander; five hundred men formed a brigade, led by a brigadier; and one thousand men formed a division, led by a division commander. The Xiao Huzi who came to report the message was a regimental commander, with over a hundred soldiers under his command.

  Ao Lie's eyebrows furrowed, and he asked, "Father, what happened?" Xiao Hu Zi replied, "This morning, a military report came from the border that the Xiongnu people have invaded again and are plundering. The old master is furious about this." Ao Lie's face sank, his voice carrying a stern tone: "The Xiongnu have repeatedly invaded our borders; if we don't give them a severe blow this time, I fear it will be catastrophic." Xiao Hu Zi glanced at Ao Lie, wanting to speak but hesitating. Ao Lie looked at Xiao Hu Zi's expression and asked, "Is there something else?" Xiao Hu Zi sighed and said, "The governor's anger is not just because of the Xiongnu invasion; it's also because Young Madam was taken away by the Xiongnu leader, Zuo Xian Wang. The governor is furious about this."

  "Miss? Isn't Eldest Sister in the capital Luoyang, how could she be taken by the Xiongnu?" Ao Lie asked in surprise. Xiao Hu Zi hastily replied: "Not Eldest Miss, but... Ah, it's Second Miss, your wife who hasn't entered the door yet." Upon hearing this, Ao Lie suddenly felt a surge of nameless fire rushing to his forehead, almost as if he was about to burst through his skull. The phrase "If you cherish me, I will not betray you" appeared clearly in his mind, along with Cai Yan's every frown, smile, movement, and gesture. Only at this moment did Ao Lie realize how important Cai Yan was in his heart, and only then did he understand that he liked Cai Yan so much.

  A surge of anger burst forth from Ao Lie's body, and he drew his sword, shouting loudly: "Xiongnu Left Wise King, I will not stand idly by while you!" Lü Bu, who was standing beside him, also understood the situation through Ao Lie and Xiao Hu Zi's conversation, and his heart seethed with anger. He shouted: "A mere Xiongnu Left Wise King dares to be so arrogant! Second Brother, let us go to the battlefield together and see just how capable this Left Wise King really is!"

  When the three men on horseback returned to the governor's mansion, a loud drumbeat came from within the compound. Ao Lie, who had been trained by his father since childhood, recognized that Liu Yu had sounded the drum to assemble the soldiers. Ao Lie turned back to call out to Lü Bu and Xiao Hu Zi, then galloped towards the military training ground in the mansion.

  When he arrived at the military school grounds, Liu Yu was already standing on the high platform, loudly speaking to the three thousand gathered soldiers: "Brave warriors of Great Han, the Xiongnu people have betrayed their trust and once again invaded our borders, harming our citizens. You officers, what should we do?"

  The three thousand soldiers under the platform shouted loudly: "Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!!"

  Liu Yu spoke loudly again: "Don't deceive the generals and soldiers, this time leading the Xiongnu to invade is the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu. This person is cruel and inhumane, even my daughter-in-law who has not yet entered the door was taken away. This time I will take an oath to cut off the head of the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu, are you willing to follow me to fight bravely and defend our home?"

  The three thousand soldiers under the platform shouted again: "Swear to follow the governor to death! Swear to follow the governor to death!!"

  Ao Lie saw this situation, his chest was boiling with hot blood. He rushed up to the commanding platform in three or five steps, knelt beside Liu Yu, and shouted loudly: "Ao Lie asks to be the vanguard! If we don't win, I'll bring my head back to see you!"

  The soldiers under the platform were naturally very familiar with the second son Ao Lie, knowing that their own second son was both civil and martial, so they shouted in unison again: "Mighty! Mighty!!"

  Liu Yu felt the morale of the soldiers below, and then looked at Ao Lie with a low head. To be honest, he was very reluctant for Ao Lie to serve as the vanguard on the battlefield. After all, they were father and son, connected by blood! If Ao Lie made even the slightest mistake, Liu Yu couldn't bear it. Especially since his own son, although brave and powerful, was only ten years old! However, when he looked down and saw Ao Lie's determined eyes, he knew that Ao Lie would definitely become the vanguard. Well, no matter how strong a young eagle is, without experiencing wind and rain, it cannot become a soaring eagle in the sky. Thinking of this, Liu Yu said loudly: "Ao Lie, listen to my order! I will appoint you as the vanguard of the front army, and grant you the position of Colonel. You can freely choose 500 soldiers from the army to open the way for the great army!"

  "Ao Lie responded loudly: 'Ao Lie obeys orders!'"

  P.S: There were many things at the beginning of the year, so when Da Kun had time, he would write more and try to guarantee two chapters a day.