Chapter 22: The Unusual Army of Chenliu (Part 1)

  Blood-soaked crimson piled up on the city walls, the gentle sunset swept across the withered yellow sky, set off against the torn cries that filled the air, until only a few desolate points remained.

  The city wall has long been submerged in blood, the ground is covered with the limbs and broken arms of the defenders, some soldiers even had a ferocious expression on their faces as they died, as if everyone had held on to the end.

  But...

  Ren City was breached again.

  "Hmph, Li Dian is indeed overestimating himself. With just a mere 2,000 men, he dares to resist my army head-on? How utterly foolish."

  Lü Bu arrived at the city gate tower, with one foot heavily trampling on the face of a dead defending soldier, and coldly laughed. "Where is Li Dian now?"

  At this time, Chen Gong also stumbled to the city head, but suddenly saw Lü Bu trampling on a dead man's face, and immediately frowned, but still said: "Li Dian just led the remaining twenty people to escape from the north gate, and quickly ordered the pursuit."

  Dong Zhuo waved his hand, and Lü Bu burst out laughing. "These petty thieves are nothing to worry about! Let them go. We've taken over Rencheng this time, plus the previous Wuyancity and Lucheng, what we should be thinking about now is how to attack the next city."

  "Alas..." He shook his head, and Chen Gong continued: "Feng Xian! I told you not to underestimate the generals of Yangzhou. This time, it's like Li Dian - with only 2,000 men, he was able to exhaust our army of 10,000 for two hours before we could capture him. It will probably become even more difficult from now on."

  "Haha, Governor, you're worrying too much! We have 30,000 strong troops, and with your help, what's there to fear about taking over Yan Province? Moreover, Chen Liyu Zhang Miao has already surrendered to us, and most of the local commanders in Yan Province have responded. Within a few days, we'll occupy Chenliu, Yangyi County, Rencheng, and other places! Adding to that, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun's conquests of Wuyan City and Lucheng! A small province like Yan, can be taken with just a flick of the wrist!"

  He nodded reluctantly, and Chen Gong smiled awkwardly: "I hope so... As long as we can occupy these five cities, we can use them to shield each other and restrain each other. This time, our military strength in Yanzhou is scarce, and we can also get what we want..."

  "Haha, of course, how could a mere Cao Cao be an enemy of mine?"

  Report!

  However, just as Lü Bu was sneering to himself, a scout suddenly rushed up to the city gate and shouted.

  Lü Bu narrowed his eyes and said with some impatience, "What's all the fuss about?"

  "Report to the General," said the scout, "an urgent message has arrived from Yangyi County, eight hundred miles away!"

  "Oh?" Seeing that messenger took out a letter from his bosom, Lü Bu felt strange for a moment, and gestured to Chen Gong to take a look. He said puzzled, "What urgent news could there be at this time?"

  At this time, Chen Gong, who had just finished reading the letter, suddenly shook his body violently and spat out four words with an extremely ugly face.

  "Chen Liu... lost it."

  Yesterday

  Cao Xin did not expect the road to be so urgent, because they were all infantry, so the marching speed was extremely slow. However, he was also fortunate that it was an infantry army, and some deep mountains and dense forests were much easier to walk than cavalry.

  However, in recent days, Cao Xin found that he had some wild ideas. He originally ordered the production of 10,000 wooden guns and thought that each soldier only needed to make five wooden guns, without requiring them to be neat and tidy, as long as the gun head was carved out, it would be fine to make a simple wooden gun. In this way, with 2,000 people working for three days, they could also produce 10,000 guns.

  Ke Gang had just received a report from Dian Wei, but in these days, he only made 4,000 wooden guns, which was far beyond his expectations.

  "Maybe it's because the road is too urgent..." Cao Xin muttered all the way, but in his heart, he thought that 4,000 was enough for the time being.

  "Big brother! Weren't we supposed to launch a surprise attack on Yangyi County? Where are we going now? Everyone has been up for two days already!" Just then, Zhou Yu rode over from behind, asking in confusion.

  Seeing that it was Zhou Yu, Cao Xing did not immediately respond to the other party, but instead asked himself, "Have my words been passed down?"

  "It's all been arranged."

  He glanced at the distance, Cao Xin's heart was greatly settled, and he ordered again: "Pass my order, we are almost at our destination. Tell our brothers to hold on for a while, tell them to prepare for battle. Once we enter the city, they can sleep, drink, and eat meat. Proceed according to plan. After the whole army advances another hundred steps, the whole army will mourn, but remember! Everyone's clothes can be messy, but the formation must not be messy!"

  Although he didn't understand what Cao Xin meant, Zhou Jue had always been obedient to Cao Xin, so he didn't think much and just accepted the order and left.

  With a cold smile, Cao Cao gazed at Chenliu County in the distance, now within sight, and revealed a hint of an eerie grin.

  But in an instant, that strange smile suddenly disappeared.

  Instead, a blackened face with smudges of dirt (which they had deliberately wiped on their faces earlier) and heart-wrenching sobs.

  At this time, on the city wall of Chenliu County, a middle-aged man with a slightly plump body and wearing a gray-brown long gown was looking out at the distance. Suddenly, he heard a cry coming from afar and couldn't help but feel startled in his heart.

  However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the soldiers in the distance were all shabbily dressed and had a disheveled appearance, as if they hadn't eaten for several days. When the group of soldiers approached again, the middle-aged man suddenly realized that they seemed to be his own troops.

  "Hurry! Hurry and call Liu Yue to come over!" The middle-aged man was shocked, staring blankly at his own soldier who had returned so dispiritedly, and hastily said to the people beside him.

  In the blink of an eye, a capable and refined scholar in his thirties rushed over. He had also seen this group from the city wall and respectfully said to the middle-aged man: "Governor, these people..."

  The middle-aged man who was called Taishou by Liu Jiao was naturally not to be guessed, and it was Zhang Miao, the Chenliu Taishou who had surrendered to Lü Bu.

  At this moment, Zhang Yan looked at the group of soldiers under the city and said displeased: "Hmph, a bunch of useless things. What is that bastard Zhao Xiang doing? He actually led his troops like this."

  In a fit of rage, Zhang Miao immediately shouted loudly towards the city below: "Where is Zhao Cun?! Why are you all so dispirited and humiliated?!"

  At this time, Cao Xin at the foot of the city had already smeared his face with black ink and cried out: "Your Excellency! Wei Xun of Yangyi County saw that Zhao Sima had taken the lead in meritorious service, so he led his troops to kill General Sima. We were caught off guard and suffered a great defeat at the hands of the bandits... Our helmets were lost and our armor was shed, please, Your Excellency, take charge for us..."

  "What?!" He immediately flew into a rage, Zhang Chao saw that the faces of these soldiers were all pale and gloomy, suddenly he couldn't bear it anymore, just as he was about to order his men to open the city gate.

  Liu Yue, who was standing beside him, hastily interrupted, "Your Excellency, please wait! Look at this group of people, although their clothes are disheveled, but upon closer inspection, their formation is actually quite orderly...this seems somewhat suspicious..."