Chapter 17: Battle Begins! Open Road Tiger!

  In the city of Luoyang, Dong Zhuo sat on a high platform, looking down at dozens of generals with great satisfaction. These were all his trusted generals, and whether they were brave or not was beside the point - after all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Dong Zhuo liked what he saw; "The allied forces have assembled an army of five hundred thousand to attack our family, what do you gentlemen think?"

  A man stepped out from under the account, wearing a three-pronged purple gold crown on his head and a hundred red brocade robe with a Xishu pattern. A beast-faced helmet was tied to his waist with a Linglong lion belt. He looked like a male lion standing there. Holding a halberd in his hand, the sharp edges of his cheeks revealed an aura that dominated the world, it was - "War God" Lü Bu!

  A superstar general of the Three Kingdoms period! One of the few in the entire history of China.

  "I wish to share my father's worries, and view the enemy army as nothing but weeds! I wish to personally lead 30,000 elite soldiers to attack the enemy army, and we will surely defeat them until they are completely routed!"

  "Hahaha!!" Dong Zhuo burst into loud laughter, he was very pleased with Lü Bu, this son, although not his own, but was invincible and brave! When Ding Yuan, the governor of Bingzhou, attacked him earlier, in the battle under Luoyang city, Lü Bu used only three thousand soldiers to defeat his tens of thousands of troops, making them flee in disarray. The past event was still vivid in his mind: "Good, good, good, my son is brave and invincible, he should be able to break through the enemy's army".

  "Why use a knife for killing a cow to kill a chicken?"! A man walked out from behind Lü Bu, with the stride of a dragon and the pace of a tiger, with a majestic aura: "Why should Lord Wen send his horse, I am willing to go, and I will surely make the allied army's troops fall like flowers in the water".

  "Haha, alright, with such a great general here! Our family doesn't need to worry about those jumping clowns, however, what we need to do is just defend and that's it, all generals listen up!"

  "Present!" "Hua Xiong acknowledges orders!" "Your subordinate is present!"

  "I appoint you as the vanguard, leading 50,000 troops to march towards Xishui Pass and defend it firmly, being cautious of the alliance bandits' surprise attack."

  "Promise!"

  "Xu Rong obeys orders!" "The last general is here!"

  "I order you to lead 50,000 troops and guard Tiger Trap Pass, you must not fail!"

  "Yes!", a sturdy-looking man replied in a deep voice.

  "Fan Chou, Zhang Jie, take orders!" "The last general is here!"

  "Order you to strictly guard all strategic passes and strongholds in Luoyang, to prevent the enemy from launching a surprise attack!"

  "Hello!"

  "Prime Minister, we must also prevent Han Sui of Yong and Liang from cutting off our rear!", reminded Li Ru beside him.

  "Hmm! I was afraid that turtle grandson would ruin our good fortune. Li Jue and Guo Si, listen to the order!"

  "The end is near!"

  "I order you two to each lead 30,000 troops and station them at Jie Valley Pass and Hangu Pass, to prevent Han Sui from launching a surprise attack!"

  "Hello!"

  "The rest of you keep a close eye on the situation in Luoyang, and as long as time passes, the Allied Forces will naturally disperse without a fight."

  All the generals responded in unison.

  "Ah!" Dong Zhuo finished all the military deployments, and after everyone left, he finally let out a sigh of relief. His stout body slumped into the Taishi chair, looking rather comfortable.

  "Prime Minister..." Li Ru saw him and frowned, saying: "At this critical moment, Prime Minister, you must not relax."

  "What's the hurry?" Dong Zhuo laughed: "The Imperial Tutor has hundreds of thousands of troops stationed at various passes, I reckon those eastern rebels won't be able to get in even if they use all their might!"

  After Dong Zhuo stabilized the situation in Luoyang, he transferred all his troops stationed in Xiliang to Luoyang, adding to the Xiyuan Army and other forces that had surrendered there. The total number of soldiers exceeded 300,000!

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  The Allied Forces' camp, the main tent.

  Yuan Shao, majestic and refined as jade, sat in the main seat of the Taishi chair. His bright eyes opened and closed, shining brightly, scanning the seventeen allied forces seated on both sides of the hall. With a glance, his heroic demeanor was revealed, and he felt extremely pleased in his heart.

  "Gentlemen, now our eighteen armies have gathered here with 500,000 troops, vowing to eliminate Dong Zhuo and bring peace to the world. Yuan Shao said loudly: 'As the saying goes, unity of purpose and clear division of labor, our alliance leader asks, who is willing to take the lead and give Dong Zhuo a warning shot?'"

  The people under the hall looked at me, I looked at them, and neither of us spoke a word.

  Cao Cao was somewhat moved, but thinking that he had only 3,000 troops under his command, it would be difficult to bear the heavy responsibility, so he didn't make a sound.

  At this moment, someone stepped forward. "Alliance leader, Sun certain is willing to be the vanguard!" Cao Cao raised his head and looked, it was Jiangdong's fierce tiger, Wuchang Hou Changsha Taishou Sun Jian!

  Sun Jian, this man, is as fierce as a tiger, skilled in military strategy and tactics, and has 30,000 troops under his command, making him the perfect candidate for the vanguard position. Yuan Shao was overjoyed upon hearing this, thinking to himself that finally someone had given him face and hadn't let the gathering become awkward, so he smiled and said: "With General Sun as our vanguard, the alliance leader has nothing to worry about!"

  Yuan Shao immediately gave the military order, and Sun Jian received the order without delay. He bowed his fist to bid farewell, led his generals Huang Gai and Zu Mao out of the main tent, and immediately led his troops to rush towards the Zhi Water Pass!

  "Hey, that young fellow, has he eaten?!", Cao Cao's tent, Dian Wei shouted to Li Yu who was lying on the bed with a distant look.

  Li Yu had a clear understanding of himself, he didn't have the air of a turtle, to make people surrender to Cao Cao in front of him. This kind of thing still needs to be done by the boss. In the whole big account, only Li Yu and Dian Wei were left. Cao Hong was probably beaten by Dian Wei and felt embarrassed, so he excused himself to patrol the camp and slipped away. Actually, he went to find Yue Jin to apply some medicine for him.

  "General Zi Lian, what's going on here?" Le Jin asked while applying herbal medicine to Cao Hong. He knew that Cao Hong's martial arts skills were very high, at least not inferior to his own, and mostly defensive, so it could be said that Cao Hong's martial arts skills were strong in defense but weak in offense.

  Cao Hong's injury is not light! Especially the tiger's mouth was obviously shaken by a huge force, and his buttocks were swollen high, "Hiss!" Cao Hong grabbed the quilt and let out a cold hiss, then said in a low voice: "From now on, be respectful to Mr. or else... Hiss!"

  "Mr.? Mr. Wèi?" Lè Jìn asked in doubt: "The master is very approachable! What's wrong after all?"

  "Don't ask anymore! Just remember this sentence! Didn't I just not give him a smile? ", Cao Hong whispered: "Right, send ten horses to Chen Liu Taishou Zhang Miao later!"

  "Ten horses? Horses are very valuable now, does the master know?", "Don't worry, this is Mr.'s idea. Even if the master finds out, not only will he not be unhappy, but he will also greatly appreciate it, because...", "Because what?", Le Jin's curiosity has reached its peak now.

  "You'll know when the time comes!" Cao Hong awkwardly rubbed his nose.

  On the other hand, Li Yu himself was lying down and sleeping. Dian Wei stared at Li Yu for a long time, got impatient, and his stomach was also hungry. The lunch he had just eaten was ruined by the little brat in front of him. Dian Wei was so angry that he didn't dare to make a move, thinking that his own brother was still in Li Yu's hands, so he could only shout for food.

  "What's all the shouting about? It's making my ears numb!" Li Yu dug his ears and glared at Dian Wei: "Shan Xue, come in!", Shan Xue was his courtesy name, also given by Li Yu, his original name was Qu Jiang, he was a personal soldier assigned to Li Yu by Cao Cao, responsible for taking care of Li Yu's daily life and other chores.

  "What can I do for you, sir?" Qu Jiang was also a lucky survivor of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a wandering child who was a few years younger than Li Yu. He had just reached the age of majority and, having lost his family, had no one to preside over his coming-of-age ceremony, so Li Yu helped out in his place. This kind of thing he did with ease, as he had often done in the Xushi clan. The young man was quite robust and strong, with a sturdy build, and was also diligent and hardworking, which Li Yu liked very much.

  "Go get some wine and meat for this barbarian, take more of it, this guy has a big appetite, treat him well! And I'll take a nap first, call me when the master returns!"

  "Yes!" Qu Jiang responded and turned to go get wine and food for Dian Wei. Before long, Qu Jiang came back with a large jar of wine, followed by two small soldiers carrying two large plates of meat dishes.

  "It's been a long time since I've eaten so full", in Qujiang, where he saw the ghostly eyes, Dian Wei drank a tank of wine, which is about 10 kilograms, and ate at least 20 kilograms of meat.

  "Little doll, who is your master?" Tian Wei asked.

  "Don't call me a little doll, I am the personal guard of Mr., my master is the famous Cao Gong in the world!" Qu Jiang said with pride.

  "But it's Cao Cao, the one who stabbed Dong!" Tian Wei exclaimed.

  "How dare you mention our master's name directly!" Qu Jiang said with an innocent face.

  "Hahaha!", a loud and clear laughter came, and someone lifted the curtain and entered: "What's wrong with calling my name? Isn't my name Cao Cao? Since it's called Cao Cao, it's for people to call!" The person who came was none other than Cao Cao himself!

  "My lord!" Qu Jiang hastily bowed, Cao Cao waved his hand, "The master told me to call him!" Qu Jiang said in a low voice;

  "Oh! I hope it won't disturb Wade's peaceful dreams!"

  "Master, the lord has returned!" Qu Jiang shook Li Yu, "Ah!" Dazed and confused, Li Yu stretched his waist and got up: "I've seen the master!"

  "Really, you are too polite," Cao Cao hurriedly said. As the day wore on, Cao Cao became more and more respectful to Li Yu, what he had said was all coming true, how could he not be surprised.

  "Look at Cao Gong!" Dian Wei also said on the side, Cao Cao measured, brave and extraordinary Dian Wei, puzzled and asked: "This is——?"

  "Ah!" Li Yu hastily said: "This is a Chenliu warrior - Dian Wei, brave and powerful, not even General Zi Luan can be his opponent. Of course, Master can ask General Zi Luan, I reckon he's still applying medicine."

  "Oh?" Cao Hong's martial arts skills were known to Cao Cao, and Cao Hong's skills were not ordinary, but he was far from being a match for the person in front of him! This is a fierce general! Could it be...? Cao Cao turned his head around, only to see Li Yu making eyes at him, and Cao Cao understood that this was the talent Li Yu had found for him, he just needed to subdue him himself.

  "This brave warrior, where is he now?" Cao Cao asked tentatively.

  "I was originally under Zhang Taishou's account, in charge of the tooth gate flag, it was this little boy who caught my brother and brought me here, and also asked Lord Cao to release my brother!"

  "What's going on here? Cao Cao, you've captured his brother?"

  "Who is it? Who's the brother? How am I supposed to know who his brother is! Tricking him, seeing that he can't even get enough food working under Zhang Mi, so I brought him over to serve our master, Dian Wei! We'll take care of his three meals a day!" Li Yu laughed.

  "How dare you frame me!" Diwu said furiously, "You are being extremely rude!" Xu Chu, who had not spoken until now, glared at him with anger in his eyes. Feeling Xu Chu's aura, Diwu also knew that this person was extraordinary and his martial arts skills were no lower than his own. With a cautious expression, he stared back at Xu Chu;

  "Silly you! I was just bluffing, and you believed it! I only happened to see your wanted poster!" Li Yu sneered with a curl of his lip.

  "Hmph!" Cao Cao looked at Li Yu's childish face and almost burst out laughing, but he suppressed his smile and pulled Dian Wei outside.

  Anyway, Cao Cao is like a big grey wolf, what profound justice and reason! All came.

  Dian Wei! Just like a household registration, everything was confessed. In the end, Cao Boss sincerely invited Dian Wei to join him and promised not only to exempt Dian Wei from his crime of murder but also to help him bring over his family members to live a good life.

  Then—Dianwei immediately surrendered and met Cao Cao, holding a pair of halberds as Cao's door god, forming the "Hummer" duo with Xu Chu.

  Cao Cao looked at Dian Wei's thin clothes and was very pleased to reward him with a brocade robe, which moved Dian Wei to tears.

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