Chapter 52: The Death of Wei Xun (Part 1)

  The red hare horse neighs, the square heaven halberd dances, the flying general's divine power suddenly appears.

  Human heads are falling, hot blood is flowing, how can Lu Wenhou be underestimated!

  A faint light appeared on the horizon, under the sky and mountains, as if only Lü Bu's majestic figure was left, waving in the bloody waves.

  Lü Bu's expression was cold and indifferent, his Red Hare horse seemed like a red cloud, the Heaven-Defying Halberd swept back and forth, one man and one horse made it difficult for hundreds of soldiers who had rushed into the camp to get close.

  Even if they were under Yuan Shao's command, the elite vanguard who claimed to be the first to die in battle, led by Gongsun Zan, would still not have been able to escape the carnage of blood and flesh flying everywhere, and would have met their demise on the spot under Lü Bu's unstoppable spear.

  "General Wei, how can Lü Bu be so powerful? I was the first to climb the camp and more than half of our men are already dead or wounded. Has he not even been scratched? It looks like he's about to kill us all, what can we do?" The officer who had climbed the camp first wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling as he asked Wei Xu.

  "Lü Bu, the tiger of the world, how could he be captured and killed so easily? I remember when I followed... " Wei Xu said casually, but suddenly realized that he had misspoken, a hint of severity flashing in his eyes. "General, Lü Bu is extremely brave and cannot be killed without using extraordinary tactics. Does the General intend to sacrifice his soldiers?"

  "What do you mean by these words, General Wei?" The lieutenant was in a dilemma when he suddenly heard Wei Xu's words and his face lit up with joy. He hastily said: "General Wei has followed Lv Bu for a long time, and since he has spoken such words, he must have a plan to defeat Lv Bu! Now that so many soldiers have been lost, how can we afford to hesitate? Let us follow General Wei's orders."

  "Good!" Wei Xu smiled and made a gesture with his hand towards the more than twenty close attendants behind him who had not participated in the battle.

  "Ah! First login? General Wei, what is this?" The school lieutenant saw the sudden appearance of a personal attendant behind Wei Xu, who took out an object from his horse's backpack and was shocked.

  The first to die, the soldiers broke through the famous cavalry charge of Tianxia, turning the tide of the battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan. The decisive weapon was the "First Ascender" crossbow held by Wei Xu's own hands. As the leader of the First Ascender Camp, how could Colonel Yan not recognize it?

  The first登劲弩 can fire five arrows in a row, and each arrow can penetrate thick armor. It was the sharp weapon that helped Yuan's army to stabilize Hebei Province and intimidate the northern regions. In the battle against Gongsun Zan, General Ji Yi led over a thousand elite soldiers armed with this crossbow, hiding in the trenches. When facing Gongsun Zan's cavalry charge, they stood up and fired, causing thousands of Gongsun Zan's cavalry to retreat in disarray before the trenches, shocking the whole world.

  However, the manufacturing process of this first-class crossbow is extremely complex. Each component of the crossbow body is made from high-quality refined iron, and the crossbow string alone is several times stronger than those commonly used, making each one quite expensive to produce.

  Even Yuan Shao, who had a strong vision for the north of the Yellow River, gathered the power of one state and spent a month's worth of effort, could only produce more than 100 sets, showing how rare they were.

  Each one was registered and recorded; except for the first camp, other troops did not even have equipment, including Yuan Shao's personal guards. This time in Hebei, the first camp was also explicitly forbidden from carrying them. But unexpectedly, at this moment, twenty of these first-class crossbows appeared in Wei Xu's hands, how could it not surprise the school lieutenant?

  No wonder Wei Xu, who has been by Lü Bu's side for a long time and understands him very well, just shouted that he wants to make Lü Bu surrender. With this thing in hand, it's no wonder that Wei Xu speaks wildly.

  "Send General Lü to heaven!!" Wei Xu's face revealed a hint of triumphant sneer, and he lightly waved his hand, signaling to his attendants: "Release the arrow!!"

  "What?!"

  "What?!"

  Twenty strong crossbows fired five arrows in a row, taking only a moment's time. Hundreds of short steel arrows shot out with a sharp whistle and flew towards Lü Bu! The formation in front of Wei Xu changed.

  Lü Bu's rise to power, with his halberd in hand, leaving behind a trail of broken shadows, reaping the lives of one by one.

  Suddenly, a sense of crisis cultivated from years of battlefield experience made Lü Bu subconsciously push away a soldier from the vanguard who was about to slash at Red Hare's leg. The Heaven-Defying Halberd swung leftward by instinct.

  "Ding ding ding!"

  Even Lü Bu, with his superhuman strength, felt a slight numbness in his palms from the sudden and continuous impact of this blow, which was no less than the full force of several warriors.

  Looking again at the chest of the soldier who had just opened the camp, there were more than a dozen cold and shiny arrowheads densely exposed.

  The soldier of the vanguard who was just knocked flying by Lü Bu turned out to have blocked a steel crossbow bolt shot at Lü Bu by Wei Xu. The several unlucky soldiers of the vanguard in front of Lü Bu also suffered a tragic fate, not dying at Lü Bu's hands but instead being taken down by their own comrades.

  Lü Bu's eyes narrowed, these soldiers were wearing soft leather armor made of cowhide, which was difficult to be injured by swords and knives. Even if Lü Bu wanted to stab through, it would take some effort. He didn't expect that these short arrows could penetrate the body, no wonder the force was so great when he blocked those crossbow arrows just now.

  "Wei! Xù!" Lü Bu's eyes gleamed with a chilling light, and he looked in the direction of the crossbow arrow, wasn't it his own nephew Wei Xu?

  "Hurry, load the crossbow! Hurry!" Wei Xu saw that this first wave of intense shooting not only failed to harm Lü Bu, but instead opened up a gap for Lü Bu who was surrounded on all sides. And when he saw that Lü Bu's target was himself, Wei Xu was so shocked that he almost fell off his horse.

  "My lord, we... we have no more crossbow bolts! The five that were handed to us on that day are all we have!" A personal attendant behind Wei Xu spoke with a difficult expression.

  "What?!" Wei Xu's face turned pale with shock, looking at the dwindling number of elite soldiers surrounding Lü Bu due to his own "help", while the cavalry he brought, exhausted and disorganized, were gradually being repelled by Lü Bu's personal guards. Wei Xu's fingers gripping the reins had turned white, his twisted face filled with fear, suddenly shouting: "Gong Ji has deceived me!"

  Wei continued to wrong Gong Ji, and Gong Ji might have been trying to guard against Wei's imitation or inadvertently spreading this sharp tool outside, so when handing over to Wei, he omitted the part where Yuan Shao exceptionally quickly replied after borrowing this sharp tool.

  "This first登劲弩strong then strong, not only manufacturing is extremely difficult, loading is also extremely laborious. At that time, if it wasn't for the large base number, being able to alternate with Gong Sun Zan, the outcome was still uncertain. If we can get rid of Lü Bu and relieve my heart's hatred, even if I lend him twenty sets, what can he do? Moreover, without these specially-made crossbow arrows, how can he imitate them?"

  Pitifully, Gong Ji thought he was superior in military strategy and didn't listen to this sentence. When he temporarily lent the secret equipment of Yuan Shao's army to Wei Xu, he only exaggerated the power of this sharp weapon and repeatedly warned him not to use it lightly until the crucial moment. He thought that relying on this flawless and ingenious military plan, killing Lü Bu would be as easy as turning his hand over. However, he didn't expect that the person he entrusted was unreliable, not only did he fail to achieve merit, but this sharp weapon also helped Lü Bu alleviate a lot of pressure, and even Wei Xu scolded him severely. If Gong Ji knew about it, who knows what he would think.

  "General Wei, wha...what to do? Lü Bu is unscathed, I was the first to climb the camp and over 200 soldiers have been killed or wounded. Lü Bu, Lü Bu is about to break through!" The lieutenant's lips trembled, but his eyes were scanning all around, as if searching for a way to escape.

  "Lü Bu! Is heaven not going to destroy you?" Wei Xu's face was ashen, and he fiercely rubbed the bandage on his forehead, his yellow teeth chattering with rage, and his eyes seemed to have tears in them.

  "General Wei, as long as the green hills remain, we don't have to worry about running out of firewood. Lü Bu may be strong, but his military strength is only over 20,000 men, and the number of soldiers he can deploy is only a few thousand. Moreover, he has no logistical support or supplies. For our lord, it's just a matter of waving his hand to destroy him. Let's still avoid his sharp edge for now, find Lord Ping, and then make arrangements." The chief captain of the vanguard corps, who was holding General Wei's shoulder, said.

  "This... Lord Wei... The general's words are reasonable!" Wei Xu's ugly face twitched a few times, and he forced a smile, saying: "Today's defeat is all because Lü Bu's luck has not yet run out. I hope the general will speak well of me in front of Mr. Ping, and may I ask the general's surname and great name?"

  "This is natural, this is natural!" Zhang Nan's face showed a hint of shame as he saw the soldiers of the First Legion still desperately attacking Lü Bu, but it quickly disappeared, and he smiled wryly: "I, Zhang Nan, am just a lieutenant, I dare not claim to be a general."

  Song Xian, who had originally decided to kill Lü Bu, seemed to have lost his soul when he saw Wei Xu suddenly appear here, as if he had planned it in advance. During the battle between the two armies, he did not join the battlefield. When Lü Bu killed the last of the vanguard soldiers and rushed towards him, he suddenly discovered that Wei Xu's figure was missing from the scene.

  "Song Xian!" Lü Bu arrived at Song Xian's side, still holding the cold and intimidating guandao that had not been stained with a single drop of blood. However, he found that Song Xian's eyes had lost all their luster. Lü Bu let out a heavy sigh and said, "Do you still have the strength? Wei Xu's cavalry is still battling our Imperial Guard, will you come with me?"

  "Master... Master! I..." Song Xian looked at Lü Bu in disbelief, his eyes cloudy.

  "Let bygones be bygones! As long as I still remember when I joined Dong Zhuo's army, you were the only one who didn't misunderstand me. You're still my personal bodyguard!" Lü Bu used his halberd to pick up a long sword from the ground and tossed it in front of Song Xian, then turned around and charged towards the cavalry led by Wei Xu without looking back.

  "My lord!" Song Xian tightly grasped the long knife in his hand!

  Without the help of the vanguard, they were counterattacked by Lü Bu's personal guard and killed. Wei Xu's cavalry had traveled a long distance to get there and were already exhausted, both men and horses. Now with Lü Bu joining in, who was once a war god-like figure in the Western Liang army, their morale collapsed completely. In less than an incense stick of time, they all knelt down and surrendered.

  "Our lord is mighty! Our army has won a great victory!" The troops, though exhausted to the extreme, still cheered with voices that shook the heavens.

  "General Song, your undercover work will be rewarded when we return to the camp. For now, quickly regroup our troops! We are already within the Black Mountain bandits' territory and must not let these thieves take advantage of us!" Lu Bu said loudly, glancing at Song Xian who was standing beside him with his head hung low in shame.

  "…Yes! I will obey the order!" Song Xian gritted his teeth, forcing back the sourness in his eyes and the agitation in his chest, responding loudly.

  "What a pity that Wei Xu escaped!" Lü Bu gazed at the receding back of Song Xian, and suddenly laughed self-mockingly, shaking his head with a sigh.

  "Report! My lord, there is an army of over a thousand men and horses approaching without any banners or flags, they will arrive in an instant. General Song has already ordered the Imperial Guard to be on full alert, please give your orders!" Just as Lü Bu had entered his tent, a scout suddenly came to report.

  "What? Is the Black Mountain bandit's information so accurate?" Lü Bu's eyebrows furrowed, and just as he had raised his halberd to exit the tent, he saw a cavalry unit charging towards him like lightning from afar.