Chapter 17: Capture the Flag (Part 1)

  Two days later.

  Chenliu County is less than thirty miles away from Yangyi County in Dongguan.

  On the vast highway, a dense column of cavalry marched in an orderly manner across the plain. Under the reflection of the clear blue sky, this massive iron cavalry was like a sudden tsunami emerging from the sea, spreading across the entire land like a tidal wave.

  These thirty thousand Bianzhou Iron Cavalry were the same batch of horses and men who had set out from Luoyang. Each cavalryman was stern-faced, with a long spear or iron pike in hand. The warhorses neighed fiercely as they galloped, each row of mounted soldiers maintaining a solemn military bearing. Their imposing military might was awe-inspiring, sending shivers down one's spine.

  At this time, at the very front of the army, there were only two people.

  One of them was a middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing a grey cloak, gazing vaguely into the distance with an air of fatigue, yet his eyes shone with the brilliance of a sage.

  And another one was a military general.

  Wearing a three-pronged purple gold crown on his head, wearing a Sichuan red cotton hundred flower robe, wearing a beast-faced helmet and chain mail, with a Linglong lion barbarian belt around his waist; holding a square heavenly painting halberd, riding a fiery flame-like red rabbit war horse.

  Riding a horse, holding a spear, his cold and proud eyes gaze forward with an air of intimidation, yet without any emotion. His tall figure stands out against the backdrop of 30,000 troops behind him, but he doesn't lose any composure, instead exuding an inexplicable aura of dominance.

  These two men were Lü Bu, a slave of the Three Surnames family, and Chen Gong, his chief strategist.

  "Gongtai... This time, I'll take Yanzhou! Haha haha haha!" Lu Bu sat on his Red Hare horse, looking spirited and proud, the cold arrogance between his eyebrows not diminished but rather accentuated by being driven out by Li and Guo's treachery, now bursting into a cold laugh.

  He slightly furrowed his brow, and the face under the hood moved slightly. Chen Gong, however, did not heed the previous words and suddenly said in doubt: "Fengxian... you are now the commander of the three armies, you can't underestimate Cao Cao. If even you take him lightly, then the 30,000 soldiers behind will have to die with you."

  "Hmph, Gongtai is speaking such discouraging words again. Cao Cao has just led a large army to attack Xuzhou, and this time Yanzhou is already empty. The remaining less than 20,000 guards are nothing but straw dogs to me, Lü Bu! Gongtai is probably worrying too much!" Lü Bu said with a scornful smile.

  "Alas... perhaps, but we can't underestimate the generals of Yan Province either. According to Zhang Miao, Ren Cheng Li Dian, Dongping Yu Jin and others are all good generals, and there's also the strategist Xun Yu stationed in Yan Province. This time, we mustn't be careless."

  "Hmph, Yu Province? I've only heard of one person in these parts, that foolish little brat Yu Province's Ah Xin! This insignificant Yu Province is nothing but a mere chicken or dog to me. How can these mediocre people possibly stand up to my Pingzhou Iron Riders?! Even if the enemy army were more valiant, this halberd in my hand and Red Hare will cut them down together! What is there to fear!!" With that, he let out one final loud shout, not even bothering with Chen Gong beside him, quickening his horse's pace as he rushed forward, seemingly unwilling to listen to the latter's idle chatter.

  "Alas..." A sigh escaped his lips as well. Although Chen Gong still had some worries in his heart, he could only sigh and shake his head.

  *

  On the other side, in Dongjun County, there was another army rushing towards Puyang City.

  "Hurry up and give them all to me! We must rush to Puyang City before sunset!"

  A stout middle-aged general sat in a horse-drawn carriage, lounging lazily while occasionally urging the people beside him to hurry up.

  It seems that it is the two thousand step army from before.

  "Get all the siege engines ready before nightfall, and attack as soon as it gets dark! We are the vanguard this time, I must be the first to take down Yangzhou, you guys hurry up and advance!"

  Upon hearing this, the soldiers around him couldn't help but shake their heads repeatedly.

  What kind of vanguard army is this? It's like a bunch of headless flies, although all kinds of siege engines are available, the commander-in-chief is so lazy and slack, and there is no morale in the army at all. What kind of vanguard army is this?

  "Hey, Dianwei, you said we're going to attack the city later. Are we the first ones up?" At this time, from a corner of the army, Liu Er poked his head out and looked around, then asked the sturdy soldier beside him.

  And this tall soldier was Dian Wei.

  At this moment, Dian Wei raised the tooth gate flag with one hand, and together with Liu Er, they were suddenly promoted from small soldiers of Guan Yu to knife shield hands. However, the knife shield hand was still a small soldier and could not escape the fate of being cannon fodder.

  Dian Wei held an iron shield in his right hand, and on his back was not a sword, but a large silver halberd. In his left hand, as usual, he couldn't put down a dry ration, eating while saying indifferently:

  "I don't know."

  "I heard these soldiers say that we, the halberdiers, might be the first to charge at the city gate, while those riflemen behind us are the main force. Isn't this making us cannon fodder? If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have become a halberdier. It would've been better to be a porter."

  Just as Liu Erwu was grumbling to himself, Dian Wei beside him didn't seem to notice at all and continued eating, but suddenly glanced up to see two blurry figures appearing in the distance.

  Report!

  At this time, a scout came galloping on horseback, and upon seeing the warhorse that this person was riding, it was indeed a rare sight in this besieging army.

  At this moment, a scout rushed forward to the front of the central army formation, looked at the middle-aged general and shouted: "Report! A human figure has been found in the front line moving towards our army!"

  At this, the lazy general was suddenly startled. He had been sitting comfortably in his carriage, but now he jumped up abruptly, looking tense and questioning the other party.

  "How many horses? Can you know each other's intention?"

  "Two men on two horses! Unknown origin!"

  "What? Two people! Two riders!" The middle-aged martial general was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted and burst out laughing: "I thought it was the city of Pu Yang that had discovered us and sent a large army. It turned out to be just two people, haha, no need to worry, don't bother with them, maybe they're not coming for us, you just go ask them their identity, go!"

  "Agreed."

  At this point, Zuo Botong also didn't care and immediately rode his horse towards the figure in the distance.

  But at this moment, Dian Wei saw that the scout and two figures were about to make contact, and the dry rations that had just been put in his mouth suddenly spat out. His eyes suddenly felt a killing intent from afar, and he said in a low voice: "Not good, these two... have come with ill intentions!"

  No sooner had he finished speaking.

  In the distance, a young general in white silver chainmail and a bare-chested giant of a man eight feet tall were riding horses at high speed.

  But just as he was about to approach and ask questions.

  The young general suddenly slapped the horse's belly, and the warhorse accelerated rapidly under this urging. The black long-handled bladeless knife in his hand rose to meet the sky!

  Before he could react, his right hand swung again, and the black knife, like a shooting star, instantly brought a strange, ink-colored aura that attacked him in an instant.

  Killing intent surged forth, but it was a shout that caught the scout off guard, so sudden that he didn't even have time to let out a pained cry.

  Suddenly felt a huge iron block like a hammer in front of his eyes suddenly rushed towards himself.

  "Hmmph..."

  Yellow and white brain pulp remained on the surface of the black iron, flowing with a stock of pungent blood, but accompanied by the former's expressionless cold smile. In an instant, the former was smashed to pieces, his face completely disfigured.

  Even the war horse of that general let out a neigh under this powerful force, and fell into the pool of blood as if it had lost consciousness.

  "Awesome..." From a distance, Dian Wei was staring blankly at the young general in the distance, watching as he instantly killed his opponent along with their horse, and couldn't help but let out a cheer.

  At this moment, the middle-aged general in front of the central army formation also stared blankly at this scene, but he didn't know who these two sudden uninvited guests were. He immediately called out timidly: "You! You! Who are you?!"

  Before his words had fallen, a stern shout came from afar at the same time.

  "I am Cao Xin, the chief farmer of the lord's account! You rebels, surrender quickly, otherwise today will be your doom!"

  *

  P.S: Sorry for uploading late, thank you Ant brother for your four votes every day, I'm deeply grateful!