Chapter Seventy Arranged Marriage

  Shut your trap, you're getting on my nerves.

  Twice made a bet with Qin Xu, although it brought twice the experience of leading the horse to fall in public, but it made the relationship between Cheng Lian and Qin Xu the best among all the generals under Lü Bu's command.

  "Qin Zhubao, what are these two father and son thinking? Giving up the grain and supplies we've worked so hard to get is really effortless. Hou Cheng saw that Cheng Lian was speechless after being rebuked by Qin Xu, and sighed, "Not to mention anything else, among those military supplies, there were 100,000 stones that you and your sister had painstakingly managed to get, can you bear to give them up?"

  "Old Hou, Qin Zhubu and Zang Sima naturally have their own thoughts, don't say some strange words!" Qin Xu hadn't responded yet, when Song Xian suddenly pulled Hou Cheng to one side, gave a apologetic smile to Zang Hong, and said: "Zang Sima and young Zang Xiaowei, you two don't mind, Old Cheng and Old Hou are just like this, no other meaning. Don't mind."

  Zang Hong didn't react much, but Zang Ba gave Qin Xu a slightly surprised glance, truly not expecting that this young official who had risen to his position through family connections would have such good relationships with the generals in Lü Bu's army.

  "Alright, the situation is urgent. Qin Xu, stop being mysterious and share your opinion." Lü Bu said impatiently, waving his hand at Hou Cheng and the others.

  "What Zang Sima said earlier was a wise and steady word, indeed a good plan." Qin Xu rushed to Zang Hong and bowed his hands, saying: "Earlier, we were just suspicious that Cao Cao would betray us, so we decided to speed up the march by sharing horses with soldiers and supplies; now it seems that our previous judgment has confirmed our guess, so the soldiers and war horses must save their strength for battle. This is beyond doubt."

  "Then, Qin Zhubu, you also mean to agree to abandon the grain and supplies that we have worked so hard to obtain?" Hou Cheng muttered to himself, still having some misgivings.

  "Old Hou, are you guys agreed?" Qin Xu smiled and looked at Hou Cheng's rough but honest face, which had a wronged wife's appearance, and said: "When did I say to give up these grains and supplies for nothing? Don't forget, apart from the soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers, we also have usable troops. If we don't use them, it would be a waste."

  "Qin Zhubu, are you referring to those captured soldiers from the First Camp?" Cheng Lian suddenly reacted, realizing that this was the culprit who had led to the near-destruction of his Flying Cavalry Camp. It was Qin Xu and Lü Lingqi who had intervened, preventing Lü Bu from killing them all off. Cheng Lian immediately understood Qin Xu's meaning and hesitantly said: "But can these captured soldiers be trusted? They were once the elite of Yuan Shao's army, each one arrogant and unyielding. If..."

  Cheng Lian didn't continue speaking, but the meaning of his words was clear to everyone present. Cao Cao's army is approaching with great momentum, and Lv Bu's army will definitely have to respond with all its might, it's absolutely impossible to dispatch troops to guard these prisoners again. If these people have any other ideas, such as setting fire to these supplies and grains, Lv Bu's army would be left crying without a chance.

  "Who said we should use them to transport these supplies? This is our military's **!" Qin Xu smiled and borrowed Hou Cheng's words, smiling as he spoke.

  "Don't drag these useless things." Lü Bu said with a dark face: "Who did you learn this habit from, speaking halfway? From now on, spend less time with that old fox. You haven't learned much good, but instead learned some stinky habits."

  Lü Bu's words caused a burst of laughter among the generals in the account, which greatly eased the tense atmosphere. The conversation between the two also made the newly joined Cang Hong father and son see Qin Xu's position in Lü Bu's heart. Zang Ba, although still not quite pleasing to the eye, had just acknowledged Qin Xu's feelings and did not say anything for a while, pursing his lips silently.

  "Although the vanguard is indeed the elite of Yuan Shao's army, they were intimidated by our lord's prestige, and this route has been relatively smooth. My intention is...” Qin Xu swept a glance at the various generals in the tent, paused for a moment, and bowed his hands to Lü Bu, saying loudly: “Apart from the 7,000 remaining soldiers, we also have more than 10,000 miscellaneous troops. My intention is that apart from the cavalry and light cavalry serving as mobile forces, all other soldiers and miscellaneous troops should carry heavy loads and continue to march quickly, striving to reach the borders of Qingzhou before Cao's army encircles us, making them hesitant."

  "You mean to use these 300 vanguard soldiers as a decoy? No, no, this is absurd." Gao Shun, who had been silent until now, also spoke up: "Not to mention that Cao's army has three routes of troops, each with at least 20,000 soldiers. These 300 people are not even worth mentioning, let alone the fact that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have a mutual alliance. It's already fortunate if they don't defect before the battle, and you want to rely on them to hold off an enemy army ten times their size? This is simply a fool's dream."

  "General Gao, don't forget that the first to scale the walls were originally Yuan Shao's elite troops. Although they are Mo Yi's private soldiers, as long as Mo Yi is among our ranks, the likelihood of them switching sides on the battlefield will be greatly reduced. Moreover, if another general were to complete this task, perhaps there would be such concerns. Don't forget whose lives were saved." Qin Xu said with a confident expression.

  "Qin Zhubu, you..." Zhang Liao listened to Qin Xu's words and suddenly became the opposite of his usual calm and stern demeanor, revealing a surprised expression, saying: "Don't tell me, you want to...".

  "Not bad!" Qin Xu sneered and laughed, saying: "Now that we've reached this point, Cao Cao's three armies are less than a hundred miles away. If we concentrate our superior forces, with the lord's abilities, breaking through Cao Chun's eastern defense line to reach Qingzhou shouldn't be difficult. All of you generals are my army's elite warriors, the lord's right-hand men. Whether or not we can successfully enter and occupy Qingzhou depends on all of you."

  "Qin Zhubu, let me handle this matter. Anyway, my Flying Cavalry is not as good as it used to be and can't help the lord much anymore. Let me do it..." Cheng Lian was closest to Qin Xu, and upon hearing that Qin Xu had thoughts of going solo, he immediately spoke out in righteous indignation.

  "Give up!" Qin Xu patted Cheng Lian's shoulder, pointing to his own head and laughing: "If we were in a battle of wits, ten of me wouldn't be your match. But don't forget, you've lost to me twice already. This is something that relies on this," he said, tapping his forehead, "you're not good enough!"

  "Qin Zhubu..."

  Qin Xu...

  Song Xianhou Cheng Qin Yi and others under Lü Bu's command heard that Qin Xu was actually harboring this intention, and for a moment they were all somewhat agitated. Zang Hong and Zang Ba exchanged a glance, and the disdain in Zang Ba's eyes also lessened somewhat.

  "Alright, let's not say anything more. My mind is made up, and no one else can succeed in this matter except me!" Qin Xu also opened up and said, "Whoever tries to persuade will be useless! Cao Cao has come with all his might this time, hoping that we would fall into chaos before the battle even begins. We cannot let him succeed in his sinister plan. You can rest assured, I am most afraid of death and won't easily throw my life away."

  "Qin Xu, how confident are you?" Lü Bu did not join the other generals in persuading Qin Xu to give up this seemingly impossible task. Instead, he asked in a low voice: "With 300 captured soldiers whose hearts are unsettled, plus you, a chief clerk with no military power, facing Cao Cao's army of 70,000, even I wouldn't dare be so arrogant. Where does your confidence come from?"

  "To be honest, I don't have any confidence in this." Qin Xu sighed and said: "But now, no matter whether we launch a strong attack on Jibei or stubbornly defend against Cao Cao's siege, even if we are lucky enough to win in the end, it will still cause us great casualties, which would be very unfavorable for our lord to govern Qingzhou later. Since this is a desperate situation, let's just try to make the best of it and see what happens."

  "No way!" he said with a serious face: "You haven't been through the battlefield, you don't know how dangerous it is. When the time comes and Cao Cao captures you, relying on your luck to defeat two of Cao Cao's confidants will definitely lead to revenge from him. At that time, even if we want to save you, it would be futile and a waste of life."

  "Don't worry, my lord!" Qin Xu smiled faintly and said: "The Cao army has tens of thousands against our hundreds. Anyone can see the danger in this ratio. How could I not know that? But what you just said was a reassurance to me. I'm certain now - I absolutely won't die."

  "What does this mean?" Zhang Liao asked, looking at Lü Bu who was so angry that he couldn't speak.

  "You don't understand Old Cao, he loves talent like his life! If that night I didn't have a good performance, I would probably be dead for sure. But I happened to knock down two of Cao Cao's financial gods and strategists, so even if Cao Cao caught me, he would definitely try to persuade me to surrender first, and wouldn't hurt my life. Even if I was unlucky and got caught, it doesn't matter, I'm best at playing along, no big deal, just pretend to surrender for now, wait for the situation to change, our lord stabilizes his foothold in Qingzhou, and then comes to rescue me from Chenliu, what's there to fear?" Qin Xu said jokingly.

  "But..."

  "Never mind, don't say anymore." Lü Bu slapped the table and said in a deep voice: "Qin Xu is right, to set up multiple疑兵 (decoy troops) for our main force to break through the Jibei Cao Chun army and gain time. This matter will be handed over to Qin Xu!"

  "No way, I disagree!" Gao Shun, who had been silent and expressionless all along, suddenly spoke out of character in a loud voice: "This is simply absurd! Qin Xu is being absurd, Feng Xian you're also following suit, are you trying to repeat the mistakes of ten years ago? I strongly disagree!"

  Gao Shun, in a fit of rage, didn't even address Lord Cao, and directly vetoed Lü Bu's words, saying angrily.

  "Ten years ago? What's going on?" Qin Xu saw the situation between Lü Bu and Gao Shun again, didn't expect that Gao Shun who usually didn't speak much, actually dared to slap Lü Bu's desk at critical moments.

  "Old Gao!" Lü Bu said in a low voice, "There's no need to say more. Do you think I'm willing to let this kid take such a great risk? Today, I'll say something in front of all of you, Qin Xu, listen up too."

  Lü Bu was really furious now. Except for Gao Shun who remained calm and collected, everyone else stood at attention, waiting for Lü Bu's orders.

  "Everyone knows the character of Qin Zhongbo, and I'm not hiding it from you all - I truly love him! To be honest, I didn't want Qin Xu to take such a risk either. But this matter concerns the lives of 20,000 brothers in our army, and apart from Qin Xu's plan, is there any other way?

  Lü Bu said in a low voice: "Everyone has seen the relationship between Qin Xu and Ling'er with their own eyes, and those idle people in the military camp have spread many rumors about the two of them. I know all this. Today, as a father, I will make a statement - if Qin Xu returns safely, it will be the day when I marry my daughter to that kid! If...if Qin Xu dies for our sake, I will let Ling'er become his widow! That's how it is!"

  Lü Bu's words were both within and beyond the expectations of the other generals. No one had expected Lü Bu to say such a thing at this time. With Lü Bu having said that, Gao Shun found it difficult to continue speaking, so he could only glare fiercely at Lü Bu before retreating back into his ranks with a darkened face.

  "Ah...!" Qin Xu was shocked by Lü Bu's words, what did he mean? It was too sudden! No one had mentally prepared for this! An arranged marriage?!

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