Chapter 36: Xu Chu's Tiger Craving (Part 2)

  At this time, when Xu Chu was blindly inquiring about Cao Xin's whereabouts, the culprit had already arrived at Rencheng.

  "Where is Cao Xinren?! Where is Cao Xin?!"

  The empty and desolate city of Ren, without a single sign of life. Lü Bu and his group arrived at the central government office in Ren City, only to find that it had been ravaged and left in ruins. The broken courtyards were eerily silent, as if death itself was present.

  Lü Bu's face was filled with gloom, and his previous cold arrogance had vanished, replaced by a kind of unbearable anger.

  At this time, a small school came to the front of Chen Gong and Lü Bu, and immediately knelt down: "Report! My lord! All the weapons and grains in Ren City have been destroyed..."

  Suddenly, a sentence was transmitted into the ears of both people.

  Compared to Chen Gong's slightly surprised expression, Lü Bu's face flashed with a hint of ferocity, and he immediately said in anger: "Cao Pi is a scoundrel! How dare you be my enemy!"

  As he spoke, he suddenly let out a loud roar and with his halberd, instantly cut down the locust tree in front of the city gate into two sections... It can be seen how gritted Lu Bu's teeth were towards Cao Xing.

  "Alas, we're too late..."

  "Hmph, Cao Xing is too arrogant! I must chop him into a thousand pieces..."

  When Chen Gong heard this, he was not surprised, but rather seemed to have thought of something else and said: "Fengxian, Cao Xin broke into Rencheng just these two days, why did he abandon the city again?"

  Chen Gong was suddenly startled and hastily said: "Could it be that this person's target is our troops, not the city?"

  Lü Bu's expression turned calm once again, and after a moment of contemplation, his usual cold demeanor returned. "Is Lord Cao implying that he wants to eliminate us all?"

  Without waiting for a response, Chen Gong asked again in surprise: "Fengxian, which city has the weakest military strength among our troops?"

  Nature is the county of Yangyi...

  "Yangyi County!?" Suddenly, it was like a thunderbolt on a clear day, shaking his mind. Chen Gong suddenly woke up and exclaimed: "This is bad! Cao Xin is going to attack Yangyi!"

  As soon as the words came out, Lü Bu was also stunned for a moment, but then he showed a hint of disdain and said: "Gongtai, even if Cao Zhen is powerful, how can he eliminate my 30,000-strong army with just a few thousand men?"

  "Alas, till now you still don't understand, Cao Xin is no ordinary person. Within a short span of several days, he has launched consecutive sneak attacks on two cities in my rear, annihilating nearly 10,000 of my soldiers and beheading Zhang Mai, Hou Cheng, and Song Xian... Now Cao Cao will return with his main army soon. I initially thought that Cao Xin just wanted to hold back my army, but unexpectedly, this man actually wants to thoroughly defeat my army, with only 2,000 men... His military tactics are indeed ingenious, a rare talent in the world..."

  "Cao Cao has obtained this person's assistance. If we don't eliminate him as soon as possible, then taking Yanzhou will be completely hopeless..."

  Listening to Chen Gong's sincere words, Lü Bu also came to his senses at this moment. He closed his eyes tightly and said with some reluctance: "Then what should I do..."

  "For now, we should quickly gather our troops and launch a fierce attack on Puyang! Take down Yan Province in one breath."

  "What about Yangyi County?"

  "It's too late... As I expected, Yangyi County has already been breached by Cao Xin. At this moment, we can only join forces with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to attack Puyang. This is the only way to capture Yan Province. Once we combine our forces, I'm sure Cao Xin won't dare to be our enemy."

  At the same time, Lü Bu nodded and said: "However, the grain and fodder in Jianye City have been burned by that scoundrel Cao Song, and our army's rations will not last many more days."

  After a moment's thought, Chen Gong sighed and said: "We can only speed up our march, our army's food and grass can still hold out for a while."

  "No." With a wave of his hand, Lü Bu ignored the other's words and instead called over a centurion.

  The lieutenant said: "What orders does the general have?"

  Lü Bu said: "You quickly go to the people of Rencheng and hastily collect some grain and fodder, saying it's for taxation!"

  "Stop it, Zhang Fei! This is robbery! We've already lost the support of the people in this region, we can't do this..."

  "Hmph, no need to say more! With a great enemy in front of us, who cares about this sort of thing!" Not heeding the previous words, Lü Bu continued to shout orders: "Go quickly! Plunder! Take everything for me!"

  "Promise!"

  Suddenly, a thread of helplessness flashed through his mind. Chen Gong was sitting on the war horse at this moment. When Lü Bu said these words, the former's body suddenly swayed slightly.

  In his heart, he couldn't help but bitterly smile, 'Now I finally understand why Cao Xin had to do that... Lord Cao! When will you ever listen to one word from Chen Gong...'

  On the other hand, Chenliu County, Yanzhou.

  Under a black cloak, walking slowly in the wind on the road to Chenliu, Xu Chu and his companion saw group after group of people carrying their families and hastily leaving this place.

  Three or two people in a row, with a travel bag slung over their shoulders, walking on the big road at the edge of the sky, looking far away like ants emerging one after another.

  "Old man, where are you all going?" Hurriedly blocking an old man, Xu Chu asked in confusion.

  At this moment, the old man was intercepted by someone, but he saw that the other party's physique was robust and was slightly startled. "Who are you? What do you want to do?"

  Xu Chu and the other man exchanged a glance, immediately understanding the old man's concern. They cupped their hands together in respect and said seriously: "Sir, there is no need to be alarmed. We are just ordinary travelers who happened to pass by. We were wondering where this large group of people is headed?"

  Xun Yu and Xu Shu didn't have any malicious intentions, so the old man immediately put his mind at ease. However, upon hearing this sentence, he couldn't help but laugh and say: "You two aren't from Yangzhou, are you?"

  "We are from Qiao County in Henan Province!"

  "Oh? From Jia County? You're almost a Yanzhou person too, how...haven't heard about it recently?"

  At this point, Xu Chu didn't understand what the old man was saying and asked again, "What exactly happened in Yan Province?"

  The old man sighed: "A few days ago, General Lü Bu of Wēn Hóu led 30,000 Pingzhou Iron Cavalry to attack Yanzhou. Now this place has been controlled by General Lü Bu."

  "Oh? Isn't Yanzhou Cao Gong's territory?"

  The old man shook his head upon hearing this, "It's said that Cao Gong's father was killed by Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou. Now most of the troops in Yanzhou have been withdrawn by Cao Gong, and the military strength of Yanzhou is already empty."

  "Isn't Xuzhou going to be lost then?" Xu San said at this time.

  Upon hearing this, the old man shook his head again and smiled: "No, at this moment General Cao Xin is entangled with Lü Bu..."

  "General Cao Xin!" Upon hearing this name again, Xu Chu's eyes lit up at once and he asked: "How many troops does General Cao Xin have?"

  The old man said: "It is said that there are two thousand people."

  Xu Chu said: "Two thousand people? How can a mere two thousand people contend with Lü Bu's thirty thousand troops?"

  But now it's a laugh, the old man said: "Don't underestimate these two thousand people. It is said that General Cao Xin led the army with a method, relying on these two thousand people, Chenliu and Rencheng were attacked a few days ago, and many of Lv Bu's men were annihilated..."

  Xu Zhu was somewhat stunned, but couldn't help asking: "Then where are you going?"

  The old man couldn't help but laugh and said, "You don't know, do you? General Cao Xin has just issued a decree, wiping out the tax records of all places in Yanzhou. But Chenliu is still under the rule of Lü Bu... and he's even increasing taxes! He's also forcibly seizing grain! We're all going to have to move to other counties... Ah, where are you people headed?"

  Upon hearing this, Xu Chu dismounted and cupped his hands in respect, saying: "May I ask where General Cao Xin is?"