Chapter 69: Three Paths Converge to Attack

  The city of Boma was originally the seat of Dongjun, but it was occupied by Heishan Baizao. After being defeated by Cao Cao, who was then the governor of Dongjun, it was guarded by Xiahou Yuan, one of Cao's most trusted generals, with an army of 20,000 men, and responded to other cities.

  Xiahou Yuan was originally puzzled by Cao Cao's decision to let Lü Bu pass through his territory. What kind of person is Lü Bu? A fierce tiger! Not taking the opportunity to kill him when he was at a low point, but instead waiting until he had established himself in Qingzhou and regained his strength, only to have him threaten Yan Province later on - Xiahou Yuan did not believe that Cao Cao could not see the consequences of letting a tiger return to the mountains. However, out of loyalty to Cao Cao, Xiahou Yuan suppressed his desire to engage Lü Bu's army of 20,000 in battle and instead closed the gates of Puyang, ignoring Lü Bu as he passed through.

  Fortunately, Lü Bu only stayed outside Puyang City for one night and set out at dawn, leaving Xiahou Yuan bewildered but unable to do anything. However, Xiahou Yuan still felt that something was off and sent countless scouts to follow Lü Bu's army.

  "General Miao Cai, the Lord's secret order!"

  Lü Bu's army had been gone for two days when Xiahou Yuan received a secret order from Cao Cao's messenger, informing him that Cao Cao had led his own 30,000-strong army, with Xiahou Dun as the vanguard, to pursue Lü Bu hastily.

  "I knew it, with Meng De's temperament, how could he let Lü Bu easily take over Qingzhou?" Xiahou Yuan tapped his bamboo scroll and laughed: "It seems that Meng De wants to catch Lü Bu off guard!"

  "General, Lü Bu has already left Puyang for two days. Should we set out now with the secret order from our lord?" asked Li Dian, Deputy General of Xiahou Yuan, in a puzzled tone.

  "Man Cheng, you don't know the whole story!" Xiahou Yuan's face flashed with a hint of arrogant smile, saying: "Our lord deeply understands my abilities. Let alone that Lü Bu's army has only been marching for two days with their families in tow, even if they had marched for five days, with our cavalry under our command, we can achieve complete victory in one day with a thousand-mile raid."

  "If so, I will ask you to be the vanguard!" Li Dian said with a fist bump.

  The whole of Yan Province was stirred up by a piece of news. The armies of Puyang, Jibei and Chenliu were mobilized frequently, all targeting the army of Lü Bu, which had already lost its effectiveness in restraining Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao.

  "Qin Xu, it seems that as you said, this Cao Cao has indeed made a move!" Lü Bu sat on his Red Hare horse, a hint of disdain flashing across his face.

  After Lü Bu received the news from Jia Xu, he set out overnight, carrying all his baggage, grain and horses, just like in Ye City. Except for Lü Bu's family and Cai's father and daughter, everyone abandoned their carriages and rode horses towards the last city of Dongjun, Jibei State, while sending out scouts to pay attention to Cao Jun's movements.

  It has been three days since leaving Puyang, and the distance to Jibei State is no more than 100 miles. Another 300 miles east would enter the jurisdiction of the former Qingzhou governor. Even if Cao Cao wanted to take advantage of the situation to eliminate Lü Bu, he had lost his moral high ground and excuse.

  Originally, everything was going smoothly, but just now, Lü Bu suddenly received a scout's report that the Jibei State army was mobilizing abnormally. Cao Jun's army, led by General Cao Chun, had begun to move towards their side, and there were also reports of Cao's army movements in the northwest and southwest directions. It is highly likely that this is what Qin Xu had predicted earlier - the main force of Cao Cao and Xiahou Yuan's army from Puyang.

  "Cao Cao has been eyeing Qingzhou for a long time, but if he hadn't just obtained Yan Province, he wouldn't have had the strength to swallow Qingzhou again. Moreover, with Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, and Tao Qian's forces intertwined in Qingzhou, Old Cao wouldn't have let you enter Qingzhou so easily." Qin Xu smiled lightly: "Now that Hebei is in disarray, a single Tao Qian isn't even worth mentioning to Cao Cao. So, the disputed land of Qingzhou from a few days ago has become a delicious pastry. With Old Cao's temperament, he wouldn't let you have it for nothing."

  "Isn't Cao Mengde afraid of being ridiculed for breaking his alliance?" Lü Bu frowned and said, "I remember that when the lords formed an alliance to attack Dong Zhuo, only Cao Cao followed through on the agreement and was nearly wiped out by me. What's going on this time?"

  "My lord, don't forget that Cao and Yuan are also allies. If you offend Yuan Shao, Cao Cao can just say he lured the enemy in deep and pretended to cooperate with you. Cao Cao is capable of doing that! Qin Xu said nonchalantly: "Besides, even if Cao Cao doesn't say anything, I'm sure people won't think much of him because of your reputation, cough cough!"

  "Hum! How can you also become so noisy!" Lü Bu's face flashed with a hint of embarrassment, and he glared at Qin Xu with a dark expression, saying: "If you have the leisure to do so, go call Old Gao and Wen Yuan to discuss military affairs in the commander's tent!"

  "Yes!" Qin Xu responded and left. Since his in-depth conversation with Jia Xu, Qin Xu had realized the weakness of Lü Bu's military power - fame! Or rather, righteousness!

  In this era of the late Han Dynasty, having a good reputation often brings unexpected benefits. For example, the two old Liu brothers who are still hiding in Pingyuan County, if not for Liu Da'er's self-proclaimed descent from the Han imperial family and his tearful struggle to gain a good reputation, relying on their luck of attaching themselves to someone else's misfortune, they probably wouldn't have made it to Shu, and would have been eliminated long ago without even leaving behind any remnants.

  When Cao Cao welcomed Lü Bu into Yan Province, he raised the banner of righteousness, saying that he would protect the meritorious officials who had punished Dong Zhuo and not let the righteous scholars of the world feel cold-hearted. When he found out that Lü Bu's entry into Qingzhou was of no benefit to him, he surrounded Lü Bu on three sides, also claiming that it was for the sake of helping his ally Yuan Shao to reclaim justice! From this, we can see that in the minds of all the Han Dynasty heroes who had ideas, so-called righteousness is just a legitimate reason for me to hit you.

  Lü Bu, having killed Ding Yuan to surrender to Dong Zhuo and then killing Dong Zhuo to establish himself, although Lü Bu was able to win over the brave generals who were originally under Ding Yuan's command after he left Ding Yuan's army, which is quite strange. However, regardless of the real reason behind this, Lü Bu's refusal to explain himself, coupled with the increasingly absurd rumors that were circulating, meant that he would never be accepted by certain moral gentlemen.

  Lü Bu's army had been on the move for a long time, and now that they finally had a place to settle down, their reputation, which Lü Bu didn't take seriously, became an important factor in restricting the development of his army. Qin Xu decided to test Lü Bu's limits, fortunately, although Lü Bu was infuriated by Qin Xu's words, he didn't lose control completely.

  Qin Xu hastily went to inform Gao Shun, Zhang Liao and other generals to come to Lv Bu's side for discussion, discussing how to respond to Cao Cao's army attacking from three sides. Cang Hong, who had been following closely behind Lv Bu's personal guard camp, was actually called by Zang Ba.

  Although Lü Bu had made arrangements for Cang Hong and his son, due to the urgency of the situation, the two temporarily followed Lü Bu, coincidentally overhearing the conversation between Qin Xu and Lü Bu.

  Qin Xu's almost insolent words did not make Lü Bu turn against him, causing Cang Hong to look at Qin Xu with a somewhat unusual gaze. Furthermore, the various versions of the rumor circulating in the military camp about "Qin Zhugong's private meeting with the young lady on a moonlit night" made Cang Hong, an old and cunning man, unable to ignore this young chief clerk.

  "It's just because of her relationship with the skirt that she gained the master's favor, but you're making a big deal out of Qin Xu." For some reason, Zang Ba didn't like Qin Xu and saw Cang Hong being called over to lecture him, so he said impatiently: "With my father and son's abilities, we won't have a chance to stand out under the master? I think the master is just soft-hearted! Otherwise, why would that Qin person still be just a small steward with no real power?"

  "Proclaim loudly!" Zang Hong was satisfied with his son in every way, except for this stubborn and unyielding temperament, which gave Zang Hong a headache. Fortunately, Zang Ba still showed great respect and admiration for Lü Bu, otherwise Zang Hong really didn't know what kind of trouble this young man would stir up.

  "Got it! Got it!" Zang Ba rolled his eyes impatiently and said to Cang Hong, "Same old story, as long as he doesn't come to provoke me, I absolutely won't take the initiative to provoke him. Dad, don't worry about it. Now that Cao Cao's three armies are coming to besiege our lord, it's a great opportunity for me to make achievements. Don't bother me with these trivial matters."

  Inside the temporary military account, Qin Xu couldn't understand why Zang Ba's gaze at him was somewhat off, but now that things are urgent, he didn't think much about it. According to the latest news from the scouting horse, Cao Cao has really made a big move this time, and the troops of Chenliu, Puyang, Jibei, and other counties have been withdrawn by Cao Cao, leaving only over a thousand horses and men for Xun Yu to guard Changyi and Chenliu. He mobilized nearly 70,000 cavalry and infantry with the idea of winning a complete victory in one battle, surrounding Lü Bu's army in the Jibei area, not allowing Lü Bu to enter Qingzhou.

  "My lord, Cao's army has torn up the treaty and is attacking us fiercely. They must have made thorough preparations. I think we should turn around and strike back immediately, catching Cao off guard and capturing the leader first. I am willing to lead the vanguard!" Cheng Lian had just selected 500 men from the miscellaneous troops to supplement the Flying Cavalry Camp, which was almost dispersed by Xun Yu's previous attack, and was eager to achieve merit, so he hastily spoke up to Lü Bu.

  "Even if Cao Cao's main force has 30,000 troops, with just this small number of men, one charge and not many will be left." Hou Cheng retorted bluntly: "In my opinion, since the Jibei Cao army is fully deployed, the city of Jibei must be empty. Why don't we let the Divine Bow Camp and General Gao's Trap Array Camp take action, and seize the city of Jibei? Occupy the city to defend it, I reckon that Cao Cao won't get any benefits easily."

  "Lao Hou said it well, I agree!" Song Xian's relationship with Hou Cheng had become even better after Wei Xu's betrayal and death. Upon hearing Hou Cheng's suggestion, he immediately echoed: "Although Linzi is not far away, we are not familiar with the situation there. If Cao's army disregards the Han law and dares to cross the border to pursue us, it would be better to take Jinan by force and fight against Cao Cao."

  "What does Ziyuan think? Let's hear it." Lü Bu saw that the generals under his command did not show any intention of fleeing due to the disparity in military strength, and nodded in satisfaction. He looked at the newly appointed Lieutenant-General Cang Hong, who was silent, and asked.

  As for Lü Bu's army, this method of discussing and gathering ideas was still unfamiliar to Cang Hong. After being asked by Lü Bu, Cang Hong thought for a moment before saying: "Cao Cao has disregarded the alliance and suddenly launched an attack on our lord, which is actually a very risky move. If he wins, then it's fine, but if he becomes bogged down in a prolonged battle without achieving victory, his rear will certainly become chaotic. This place is only over 300 miles away from Qingzhou, and if we hasten our march by two days, we can arrive there. If our lord can abandon the heavy baggage and lead a light cavalry to advance quickly, then Cao's army will certainly not achieve its goal. After all, our lord is the governor of Qingzhou, and I'm sure Cao Cao wouldn't dare to casually cross the border without reason, leaving behind a pretext for other lords."

  "Zang Sima, this is a wrong idea!" Hou Chengyi immediately interrupted as soon as he heard that Zang Hong had the intention of abandoning their supplies: "Zang Sima doesn't know something, these supplies and grains were brought by our soldiers with great effort from Long'an and Ye City, they are the foundation of our army. If we abandon them, how can we establish ourselves in Qingzhou? It's not appropriate!"

  "Hmph! Short-sighted!" Zang Ba saw Hou Cheng counter-arguing Zang Hong and said discontentedly: "Now our army's soldiers and supplies are concentrated in one place, the marching speed is far from that of Cao's army. Not to mention others, but Guan Yu, the defender of Puyang, is known as the 'Divine General', if he doesn't give up these external things and quickly enters Qingzhou to preserve his strength, being caught up by Cao's army, what will be lost won't just be these supplies!"

  "You little scoundrel, so lacking in propriety! When Old Hou is speaking with your father, what right do you have to interrupt?" Cheng Lian saw that Zang Ba's words to Hou Cheng were somewhat impudent and angrily said.

  "Shut up, old man! General Zang Ba's words make sense!" When Zang Ba heard someone agreeing with him, a hint of pride flashed in his eyes. He looked in the direction of the voice and found it was Qin Xu who spoke up. Meanwhile, Cheng Lian, who had just been furious, was suddenly silenced by the young official's glare.

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