Chapter 56: Outside the Military Camp

  Time seemed to have stood still, every second was so slow.

  A silver-white light screen swept across a seven-colored arc of light under the sky, eerie and evil, with an aura of death, towards Lü Bu below Huai City.

  Swallowing the sky and earth, wearing a fierce armor, wielding a halberd that can split the heavens, riding a crimson hare horse, Lu Bu who dominated the world, could it be that he will die at the hands of petty men and lose his life in an unknown land?

  Qin Xu dared not look. At the same time, a surge of irrepressible guilt and loss welled up in his heart.

  If it weren't for forcing Wei Xu to rebel prematurely, leading to the fall of Chang'an, Lü Bu wouldn't have had to rush to Henan; if it weren't for plundering Ye City and provoking Yuan Shao, how would he have been calculated by Gongsun Zan and gone to Heishan? If it weren't for relying on some knowledge of the late Han history and underestimating the top strategist of this era, how could Lü Bu face today's disaster?

  Qin Xu couldn't stop asking himself, since coming to the late Han Dynasty, from initially wanting to join Cao Cao's forces to now doing everything for Lü Bu's army, what was right and what was wrong?

  "My lord!"

  The bodyguards and soldiers of the ambush camp who followed Lü Bu back suddenly let out a cry of astonishment. Qin Xu's body, which was facing away from Huai City, trembled even more violently. These soldiers who had followed Lü Bu for many years might find it even harder to accept that this invincible man could die in such a miserable way.

  Qin Xu's eyes stung, and he didn't dare to look at Lyu Linggui who was standing beside Song Xian. This little girl who regarded her father Lyu Bu as her ultimate idol had not made a sound, possibly because she couldn't accept this reality even more than himself.

  "Long live our great leader!!"

  "Long live our great leader!!"

  What's going on? Qin Xu, who had been as lifeless as dead ashes, suddenly heard the cheers of the soldiers and a wave of inexplicable anger rose up in his heart. What were they so excited about? Lu Bu was...

  No, Qin Xu suddenly woke up with a start.

  In front of him, three horses and three generals were charging towards his camp. Who else could it be but Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun?

  Is Lü Bu all right?

  How can you emerge unscathed from this hail of arrows?

  This is not scientific!

  Qin Xu's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the corpse of a man and his horse lying under the city wall, the horse's body was covered with silver-white crossbow bolts, densely packed like a porcupine.

  "Our lord is truly valiant, his strength in both arms surpassing that of ordinary men. He can actually make a warhorse weighing several thousand catties dance with water splashing everywhere!"

  "Of course, otherwise how would people call Lord Lu Bu a hero?"

  “……”

  Listening to the proud discussions of the Imperial Guard soldiers, Qin Xu also noticed the abnormality on the horse's body. It was hard to imagine that human strength could reach such a state, and after feeling relieved, he thought about it again and felt somewhat at ease.

  Lü Bu is a god of war in the late Han Dynasty, how can he suffer losses twice with the same trick.

  "My lord......" However, thinking about it, seeing Lü Bu return safely, Qin Xu still choked up a bit!

  "Hey! Our Qin Zhubu has finally returned to normal, he's crying!" Lü Bu said with a hint of warmth in his eyes as he looked at Qin Xu. Even Lü Lingqi, who had rushed to Lü Bu's side, couldn't help but gently pat Qin Xu's face.

  The Qin steward felt his face had greatly lost dignity for a while as a person of two worlds.

  Qin Xu felt embarrassed, but Xun Fang on the city wall of Huai City was about to vomit blood.

  Life is really tough!

  Lord Yuan Shao's large army had not yet arrived, and he received news of Lü Bu's return; by his side was only General Miu Yi, who was no match for Lü Bu, let alone that Lü Bu had the "Trapping Camp" with him, so if they really fought head-on, there would be no advantage at all.

  From the series of actions taken by Zhang Yang, the governor of Hebei, in sending Lu Bu's family and others, it can be seen that the so-called clearing of boundaries with Lu Bu is just an excuse, and it is difficult to trust. Although several generals from Hebei, led by Yang Chou, showed enthusiasm, Xun Yu, who was hot-tempered, actually looked down on these fawning people.

  It seems that if we want to drag Lü Bu until Lord Yuan Shao's main army arrives, we can only use a clever plan. Being able to delay for a moment is already a moment, of course, if we can gain something from it, that would be even better.

  Fortunately, Yang Chou had already made up his mind to surrender to Yuan Shao. Without saying another word, he presented the "letter of surrender" that Yan Baihu could not help but believe in, which suddenly inspired Yan Baihu to come up with this clever plan to lure Lü Bu into the city and kill him. Moreover, Yan Baihu had arranged for Ji Ling to be the first to climb the camp and set an ambush on the city wall. In Yan Baihu's opinion, even if Lü Bu did not dare to enter the city, as long as he approached the city gate, he would have achieved his goal.

  But unexpectedly, Yang's speech, which had been rehearsed dozens of times, was seen through by a young scholar with just a few words, leaving Yuan Shao secretly astonished. But Lü Bu then came chasing after Yang as if he had thought it out himself, and this made Yuan Shao so delighted that he almost jumped for joy.

  The space on the city wall is not large, and only a hundred or so soldiers can be arranged to rush into the camp. However, it's enough! Five hundred strong crossbow arrows, and at such a close distance, even if Lü Bu had three heads, he wouldn't be able to dodge them.

  Xun You saw Lü Bu's first shot, and the continuous stream of arrows shot towards him. For a moment, he even felt as if he was floating on clouds.

  Lü Bu was dead, and the captured Gong Ji and Xu You would surely be killed by the remnants of his party. In front of Yuan Shao, Yan Baihu had the merit of killing Lü Bu to avenge Yuan Shao, and there were no more annoying petty people competing for favor, what a wonderful future!

  What a pity!

  Ideals are plump, reality is bony!

  Just as the soldiers of the vanguard were getting up, Lü Bu seemed to have been prepared early, relying on the speed of his red horse, and with a single swing of his halberd, he swept Yang Chou off the ground. The tip of the halberd had not yet been withdrawn when it stabbed towards the neck of Yang Chou's warhorse. When the crossbow arrows were shot out, Lü Bu had already used his superhuman strength to spin the heavy warhorse around with the halberd as an axis. Although the vanguard's powerful crossbows could penetrate armor, after passing through the horse's body and slowing down, even if a few of them happened to pass through the horse and hit Lü Bu, it was like scratching an itch.

  Xun Yu loaded the strong crossbow very slowly, and it was slow enough that Lü Bu had time to calmly retreat back to his formation at the city wall. Although Xun Yu couldn't see Lü Bu's face clearly, he thought that he must be looking down on him with extreme contempt.

  "You are just a slave of the Yuan family, how can you trivial schemes deceive me, Lü Bu? I was just playing with you!" Lü Bu shouted at the city wall with disdain.

  "Lü Lü......Lü Bu..."

  Lü Bu's words were extremely overbearing, causing Yan Baihu's face to turn pale, and even the soldiers of the vanguard camp, known for their bravery, felt a little weak in the knees.

  They have been following Yuan Shao for a long time, and many of them were already serving as his bodyguards during the alliance to overthrow Dong Zhuo. They had naturally witnessed Lü Bu's heroic bearing, which made him view the heroes of the east as nothing. It was also at Mount Taihang that Lü Bu's single note on his lute caused the soldiers who first climbed up the camp to hesitate and not move forward.

  "Release Zhang Tuan immediately, or you will lose your lives!" Lu Bu said with a proud and arrogant expression. "Otherwise, relying on this small city in Hebei, I, Lu Bu, will take all of your dog heads within the time it takes to burn an incense stick!"

  "General Lü... General, sir... it's not that Governor Zhang is not inside Huai City!" A Henan general who had previously attended the military council meeting replied in a trembling voice, while Xun Yu remained silent with a cold expression on his face atop the city wall.

  "Lord, Yuan Shao has taken over Huai City, all the generals have defected, and Zhang Taishou is probably already...” Qin Xu wiped his face with force, not giving Lv Linggui a chance to continue joking, and leaned in close to Lv Bu.

  "Hmph!" Lü Bu's face changed dramatically after hearing this, and he pointed his halberd at the general of Hebei on top of Huai City, angrily saying: "Where is Zhang Yang? You'd better tell the truth, otherwise, even if you're hiding in Huai City, I'll have ways to make your corpse into a thousand pieces!"

  "General Lü, I'm not talking nonsense!" The Henei general was so frightened by Lü Bu's shout that he urinated and, without caring about the sideways glances of his companions, shouted out the truth with a crying tone: "Just now, General Mika led Governor Zhang towards the south gate. Governor Zhang is safe! General Lü, don't remember me! Waaah!"

  You're a big man, with Yuan Shao backing you up from behind and Yan Liang by your side, and yet on top of the city wall of Huaiyin, surrounded by soldiers who were the first to scale the walls, not only did you pee your pants at the mere shout of Lü Bu, but you also cried!

  For a moment, between the two armies, except for the crying voice of that general from Hanoi, there was a brief silence.

  "Chengnan? Not good!" Zhang Liao suddenly exclaimed "The two ladies are still waiting for my news in the military camp! Those thieves, aren't they trying to use Lady Zhang?"

  Zhang Liao did not dare to continue speaking, but everyone in Lü Bu's army changed their complexion.

  "You dare!" Lü Bu roared in anger.

  Lü Bu's family is his Achilles' heel. If Yan and Diao Chan were to come to harm, it's unknown what crazy things Lü Bu would do.

  "And for now, leave your heads here and go!"

  Lü Bu led his troops to gallop away, and Xun Yu on the city wall of Huaiyin didn't come to himself until the guards reported that Lü Bu's army had left. He quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead that he hadn't noticed before and let out a sigh of relief.

  In the south of Huai City, a team of nearly 500 soldiers wearing armor from the Hebei army surrounded Zhang Yang, who was the governor of Hebei, and had just arrived at the gate of Lü Bu's military camp.

  "Halt! Who goes there?"

  Lü Bu's army was strictly disciplined, and even if the commander-in-chief was not present, there was no slackening of vigilance. Not to mention that in the military camp now, besides Lord Lü Bu's family members, there were also two "spoils of war" with high status, so they couldn't be taken lightly.

  "How dare you! This is Governor Zhang Yang of Hanoi, don't you recognize him?" The general-like man who had been standing close to Zhang Yang shouted.

  "It turned out to be Governor Zhang, I wonder what important matter brought Governor Zhang here?" The gatekeeper was a flying cavalry soldier who was ordered to stay and guard, he respectfully gave Zhang Yang a military salute and asked.

  "Director Zhang has come here, naturally to discuss important matters with your master, how can it be something that you soldiers can ask about? Don't you quickly move aside!" This commander's appearance wasn't impressive, but his voice was unusually loud, and in just a few sentences he attracted the attention of the soldiers inside the camp.

  "Officer Zhang, our master..." The soldier was not very old and was indeed startled by the loud voice, opening his mouth to speak.

  "Your master... uh!" Zhang Yang seemed to be quite afraid of the general beside him, and after saying half of it, his somewhat frail body suddenly paused, and he didn't continue speaking.

  "Cough, cough! Zhang Taishou's body is not feeling well. When sending your family master and dependents out of the city, he caught a chill, but forgot an important matter that needs to be personally conveyed to your family master and dependents. Quickly let us in, otherwise it will delay things, you won't be able to bear the consequences!" Although the loud-mouthed general intentionally lowered his voice, it still sounded louder than normal people's conversation tone.

  "Cough, it's extremely urgent! Let us in quickly!" Zhang Yang's facial muscles twitched, and his eyes darted back and forth restlessly, as if something was not quite right.

  "Wait a minute! This matter needs to be reported..." The soldier also seemed to have noticed the strangeness between Zhang Yang and this general, and said with a cautious expression.

  "What a racket!" The loud-mouthed general did not expect that this small gatekeeper would also be so troublesome, and a flash of murderous intent flickered in his eyes. He turned his hand over and raised the long knife on the bird wing ring, angrily saying: "You have been obstructing Zhang Yang's actions in every way, you must be a spy for the Western Liang army, I will get rid of this spy for Lü Bu!"

  "Who are you? How dare you address Lord Zhang and our master by their names?! And in front of the Flying Cavalry, you even dare to speak so recklessly!"

  Just as the loud-mouthed general was about to kill the gatekeeper on a pretext, a rough and husky voice coldly spoke up!

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