Chapter 68: The New Law Gate

  In the spring of Jian'an 2nd year, AD 191.

  The imperial court issued an edict ordering Li Jue and Guo Si to enter the capital and participate in the reorganization of the Imperial Guard.

  As soon as this edict was issued, all the heroes of the world turned their attention to it - regardless of what purpose they had in mind, everyone's eyes were now focused on the northwest, which had not been particularly noticeable before.

  Li Jue and Guo Si received the imperial edict almost at the same time, and a military report also arrived, which only mentioned that Ma Teng and Han Sui of Xiliang were frequently mobilizing their troops and moving towards the area under Li Jue's (Guo Si's) jurisdiction.

  Upon learning of this situation, they looked at each other in silence as they gazed at the imperial edict in their hands.

  "The Emperor cannot tolerate you and me living a carefree life here."

  Li Jue glanced at Guo Si, who was sitting opposite him. The two were currently seated in a safe location where their territories intersected, surrounded by guards and horses, leaving only the two of them to discuss matters inside the tent.

  Kuang Ze drained the wine in front of him with one gulp, then let out a long sigh. However, the gloom on his face did not disappear with the wine, but instead became even more unsightly after swallowing the wine.

  "That little emperor really doesn't know what's good for him. If it weren't for the two of us not making a fuss about the matter of Dong Xiangguo back then, he wouldn't have been able to remain as emperor until now. How could he possibly issue such a ridiculous decree against the two of us?"

  It seems that scolding Liu Xuan is not enough, and then he scolded Lü Bu again: "That Lü Bu is also a bastard, Prime Minister regards him as his own son, but he actually defected to that little emperor and helped that little emperor escape to Chang'an and occupied the city of Chang'an."

  If it weren't for Lü Bu's sudden betrayal, Liu Xuan would never have left the control of the Prime Minister. In that case, he and Li Jue, under Dong Zhuo, had all the troops and power they wanted, doing whatever they pleased without any restraint, how carefree and joyful would that be?

  He even wanted to rush into the palace and take out a few palace maids to sleep with - of course, those noble people, of course, had to let Dong Zhuo choose first.

  Unfortunately, Guo Si did not know that Liu Xun was not unable to remove Dong Zhuo, but wanted to borrow Dong Zhuo's hand to push this era and let the chaotic scene of the heroes rise up earlier.

  Now that chaos has erupted, Liu Xuan immediately ignored Dong Zhuo, and Guo Si was no exception.

  As for Guo Si's words, Li Jue did not agree with them. The situation at that time was not as he said, but now it has become like this. Li Jue also didn't want to say anything that would dampen the morale of his comrades - the two were already in the same boat, and if one sank, the other wouldn't be able to escape unscathed either.

  At first, he and Guo Si followed Dong Zhuo. Later, Dong Zhuo's actions had already determined that the two of them would not become the new emperor's confidants - they were different from Lü Bu, who defected when the emperor was weak, and after helping the emperor seize power, Lü Bu also gained a certain status, at which point even if the emperor wanted to move him, he couldn't. In fact, Liu Xuan didn't consider this issue either, because Lü Bu was too easy to control, as long as his demands were met.

  Now the new emperor's power has taken shape, and all the civil and military officials in the court are working hard to govern, making the area around Chang'an a place of great vitality, which is quite out of place with this group of people who are used to the chaos of the world.

  Last year in Chang'an, they naturally saw the situation with their own eyes. The prosperous scene of a bumper harvest made them extremely jealous, and even gave rise to the idea of "grabbing a vote". However, before they could take action, Liu Xuan had already made his move.

  "What good plan is there?"

  After venting his frustrations, which were all meaningless nonsense, Guo Ze calmed down and had no choice but to ask Li Jue if he had any good ideas.

  As for entering the capital according to the imperial edict, it is absolutely impossible. Once they enter the capital, they will no longer be in their current position - now both of them are like local emperors on their own territories, can they still be so free and easy after entering the capital?

  "What better plan can we have? The long spear is already placed on our necks, can't we just surrender? Li Jue was also unwilling to admit defeat at this point, nor did he want to give up everything and escape. Having enjoyed the glory of wealth and honor, who would still be willing to live a hard life?"

  Besides, at present, the two of them are not without the power to fight back, with tens of thousands of fine soldiers in their hands. Even if Lü Bu really brings his troops to kill them, they have the confidence to engage in a fierce battle with him.

  The young emperor who sat in the imperial court and didn't know anything about worldly affairs understood that Li Jue was not a soft persimmon to be trifled with.

  Guo Si heard Li Jue say this, and his originally somewhat disordered thoughts gradually calmed down. He smiled and nodded in agreement: "It should have been like this a long time ago. If that young emperor were to find out about the true abilities of you and me, I'm afraid we wouldn't have any good days ahead of us."

  After finishing talking, Guo Si also started thinking about how to fight this battle and to what extent. Especially when Ma Teng launched a surprise attack from behind, making it very difficult for them.

  "It's unnecessary to worry about Ma Teng, just dispatch a great general to guard the strategic location of the throat, and don't let Ma Teng lead his troops forward. Once the imperial army is defeated, the Western Liang army will naturally retreat."

  Li Jue was skeptical about Ma Teng's loyalty to the imperial court, and although the Western Liang army was powerful, Ma Teng still had connections with the Qiang tribe, with several thousand Qiang cavalry under his command. But Ma Teng was also a regional warlord who controlled his own territory - would he really be willing to give up his power and listen to the young emperor's words?

  Perhaps he thinks the imperial court still has prestige, so he came to attack us two. If that's the case, just tear off the last fig leaf of the imperial court and let Ma Teng see its true situation, I reckon he won't be able to get along with us anymore.

  It's hard to say, by that time Ma Teng might still turn against us and join forces with our own people to attack Chang'an together.

  He shared his speculation with Guo Zhi, who immediately became overjoyed: "When that time comes, you and I can also follow the example of Dong Zhuo, control the imperial court, command the heroes of the world, whoever disobeys will be punished by military force."

  Li Jue also thought of this, and immediately nodded: "A man in the world should be like this!" After finishing speaking, he raised his wine bowl to drink with Guo Si. After drinking a tank of wine, they each led their personal guards back, deploying troops and preparing for a major battle with the imperial court. As for the imperial edict, it was thrown into a corner and never considered again.

  At this time, the court had not explicitly stated whether Li Jue and Guo Si were willing to follow the arrangements of the court, but in fact, the imperial army was already ready to go, just waiting for Liu Xuan's order, the army would immediately set off.

  This time, Liu Xuan did not summon Cao Cao back, but let him continue to stay in the north to reorganize the Hu and Bao cavalry, while guarding the Yellow River crossing, preventing the heroes of Guandong from entering the northwest through the Yellow River.

  This worry is not unnecessary, knowing that later Ma Chao led his troops to Chang'an, occupying the strategic location of Tongguan, and Cao Cao had to cross the river to enter the northwest to fight a decisive battle with Ma Chao before finally retaking the land of Guanzhong.

  Therefore, it was already a great compliment to Cao Cao's personal ability to leave only Cao Cao and the few thousand new recruits who were reorganizing. If Liu Xuan did not trust Cao Cao's abilities, he would have dispatched a unit of imperial guards to garrison there long ago.

  However, Cao Cao still sent Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, brothers under his command, back to the imperial court, where they were at Liu Xuan's disposal.

  Cao Cao knew that Liu Xuan's subordinates who were actually capable of using their talents were not many, especially the generals who could lead troops and charge into battle. There were even fewer of them, with Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun, this pair of brothers, also being good enough to allow Liu Xuan to free up his hands and feet.

  He naturally didn't know that Liu Xuan now not only had Lü Bu and his generals, but also the three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang. After Liu Bei was appointed as the Central Protector of the Army, the two brothers were also incorporated into the Imperial Guard, but they weren't directly under the command of the Central Protector's army. Instead, they were truly part of the Imperial Guard's military organization. At present, both men are deputy generals, each managing a thousand soldiers and horses, and are true holders of actual power.

  This was also thanks to Liu Bei being a relative of the Han imperial family and Guan Yu having beheaded Hua Xiong at Tiger Trap Pass, otherwise, with their original identities, they would not have been able to take up this position.

  With these two brothers, why would Liu Xuan still worry about not having a general to use? Moreover, Lü Bu liked to lead the army personally and take charge of the vanguard. If he encountered a general who dared to challenge him, it was likely that Lü Bu would be the most excited. It seemed that as soon as Lü Bu took action, one would come and one would be killed, two would come and two would be killed in pairs. The other generals just needed to do their own jobs well, why bother wasting energy?

  What's more, Lü Bu was summoned into the palace by Liu Xuan and then transmitted a set of skills. After learning this set of skills, Lü Bu felt that he could learn it in one go, but there was no effect at all. He was puzzled and couldn't help asking: "Why is there no change after mastering it?"

  Liu Xuan didn't mind, because he knew it was just a normal situation: "This set of techniques is amazing in that as long as your foundation is solid, you can learn it immediately. However, whether or not you can actually use it, and what moves you'll be able to use, is something nobody can predict."

  Lü Bu looked surprised: "What's going on?"

  Liu Xuan immediately explained the key points, and also connected them with Lü Bu's previous cultivation methods: "The method that Lü Bu practiced before has already helped him cultivate a ball of energy inside his body, which means he has truly passed this threshold. From now on, it's just a matter of constantly making the energy ball stronger."

  "But the method you're being taught today is how to utilize this internal energy, a rather unusual technique that requires the practitioner to figure it out for themselves. Perhaps one day you'll suddenly understand and naturally grasp the method that suits you best."

  To put it simply, this mantra will select suitable moves from the many recorded techniques for the practitioner to use based on their different situations, thoughts and characteristics. Specifically, with Liu Xuan's skills in hand, most of them naturally come from some game skills that have been played before.

  Lü Bu finally understood what it meant after listening to the explanation. In short, even if he learned it, he couldn't use it yet and needed a similar process of realization. Fortunately, Liu Xuan told him that even if he didn't actively realize it, he would naturally explore suitable techniques for himself over time.

  Moreover, as one's cultivation deepens, they will come to realize even more powerful moves.

  To make Lü Bu more intuitive about these moves, Liu Xuan relied on the dragon energy of Chi Xiao to release a Half Moon Slash. However, what surprised Liu Xuan was that as soon as he finished his move, Lü Bu immediately swung his spear and danced up a pale yellow moonlight, then with a flick of his spear, a Half Moon Energy shot out in response.

  Lü Bu: "Like this?"

  Liu Xuan: "......"