The 71st chapter: Lu Bu's Three Heroes Meet Their Match

  Ma Fu quickly arrived at the city gate with Song Xian and Hou Cheng's heads, snatched a long spear from a soldier's hand, and killed anyone he saw.

  Cao Cao and others suddenly saw the soldiers on the pass in great disorder, and did not know whether to send out troops. However, when he saw a groom open the gate alone, with countless soldiers rushing towards him from behind, he immediately ordered the army to attack.

  Facing the powerful garrison, Ma Fu angrily shouted: "The two rebels Song Xian and Hou Cheng have already been beheaded by me, why don't you quickly surrender?"

  Having said that, he threw the two men's heads upwards, and when the two skulls rolled in front of the soldiers, they finally believed.

  But at this critical moment, a general who defended the city stood up and shouted angrily: "Don't panic, everyone! We are a million soldiers, how can we be afraid of them? Brothers, charge! Avenge General Song and General Hou!"

  The groom exerted his strength and swung the long spear in his hand, and it actually passed through the body of the general guarding the city. The defending army was greatly shocked, and with Cao Cao and Sun Jian leading many horses and men to kill them, they scattered in all directions for a while.

  The three armies of vassals were like bloodthirsty men who had killed until they saw red, killing anyone in their way and easily breaking into the Taigong Pass.

  After entering the pass, Ma Fu once again accepted the surrender of the defeated soldiers and ordered the troops to rest in place, waiting for further orders.

  Those soldiers have gone a whole day without food, and their stomachs are growling with hunger. And Yuan Shu, who is in charge of transporting grain, still hasn't arrived with the grain.

  Ma Teng had already guessed what Yuan Shu was going to do and immediately consulted with Cao Cao and Sun Jian.

  Sun Jian immediately ordered Huang Gai to go and hurry up with the grain, while Cao Cao had Cao Hong accompany him.

  Huang Gai and Cao Hong were about to leave when the groom spoke to them in such a way that they both nodded their heads in agreement, bid farewell and left.

  Cao Cao then took the opportunity to ask Ma Fu where several of his generals had gone.

  Ma Fu only said that he was left in his army by Ma Teng, and did not say much else.

  Yuan Shao, who was stationed at the Tiger Trap Pass, heard that Ma Teng, Cao Cao and Sun Jian had succeeded again and was overjoyed. Moreover, after seeing the letter sent by Ma Teng, he became even more excited and somewhat arrogant.

  He gathered all the vassals under his command and said: "We have waited for a long time, now that the opportunity has finally arrived, who is willing to go to the front of the pass and challenge them to battle?"

  What made Yuan Shao somewhat surprised was that the general did not take the initiative to ask for it, so he simply said: "Governor Gongsun, if you send Guan Yu under your command, will you agree?"

  Gongsun Zan glanced at Liu Bei, who sat upright, seemingly intentionally avoiding Gongsun Zan's gaze.

  Although Liu Bei had repeatedly told Zhang Fei not to be rash, when he saw this situation, he still couldn't sit still and stood up shouting: "I, Zhang Fei, am not willing to be a turtle with its head drawn in! Is it just a matter of three surnames' slaves? Are you all afraid to the point of becoming like this? You don't go, I'll go! Just watch me take the heads of those three surnames' slaves!"

  Having said that, Zhang Fei took the 12-foot snake spear and walked out of the camp. Liu Bei and Lü Bu called out several times, but didn't see Zhang Fei turn his head back, so they hastily followed him.

  All the vassals saw a good show and immediately adjusted their troops, arrayed at the front of Tiger Pass.

  Only to see Zhang Fei riding his horse to the bottom of Tiger Trap Pass, shouting: "You three surnames' slaves, if you have the ability, come out and fight a duel with your grandfather, don't hide inside like a turtle!"

  Lü Bu, who had originally planned to destroy the enemy army at dawn, heard someone insult him as a "three-family slave", immediately crushed the teacup in his hand and led a team of cavalry to the front gate.

  Lü Bu indeed came out, and Zhang Fei burst into loud laughter, saying: "The turtle that hides its head has finally stopped hiding its head! Today I, Zhang Fei, will fight you until you hide your head again!"

  Lü Bu gripped his long spear tightly, his sword-like eyebrows radiating an aura of murder: "You're looking for death!"

  "Who knows who will die first! If you have the ability, let's fight your grandfather and me for 300 rounds!"

  Lü Bu flew into a rage and charged at Zhang Fei with his halberd, but before Red Hare had gone a few paces, the soldiers behind him shouted loudly: "General, wait! There is an urgent military situation to report!"

  Lü Bu was just about to turn his horse around when Zhang Fei burst out laughing and said, "What's this? You haven't even started fighting yet, and you're already going to tuck your head in like a turtle?"

  Lü Bu let out a loud roar, and with a swift kick of his foot, he sent Red Hare galloping towards Zhang Fei. At this moment, he didn't care about any urgent military matters; if he couldn't destroy the man in front of him today, he would completely lose face before his generals behind him!

  Zhang Fei successfully enraged Lü Bu and swung his 18-foot snake spear to take the initiative, for a time, the two men fought fiercely, turning the sky and earth upside down, with dust flying everywhere, while the soldiers of both armies watched with boiling blood.

  Two men fought each other fiercely, after twenty or thirty rounds of intense fighting, Guan Yu saw that Zhang Fei was at a disadvantage and feared he would lose, so he hastily rode his horse to assist him.

  The two joined forces, and their power increased greatly for the time being. As the elder brother, Liu Bei saw that both of them were at the forefront of the battle line. Although he had always adopted a moderate strategy before, now he couldn't care about so much anymore, and directly drew his sword to join the fight.

  Seeing the three brothers beating Lü Bu, Yuan Shao said to the various lords around him: "After this battle, I'm afraid no one will dare look down on these three brothers again!"

  Zhang Yang saw the intense scene in front of him, although he was increasingly impressed with the three people in his heart, but when all the lords were competing to praise them, he still pretended to be expressionless and indifferent.

  Just as Lü Bu was fighting hard against the three generals, another soldier shouted loudly: "General, Dong Zhuo has sent an urgent military report, and he hopes you will come quickly to hear it!"

  Lü Bu, upon hearing that it was his adoptive father's military information, did not dare to slack off and immediately ordered the horse to retreat. However, Liu, Guan, and Zhang, the three brothers, were not willing to let him go so easily, and in an instant, they surrounded him tightly once again.

  Lü Bu's strong generals saw this scene and began to worry about Lü Bu, but they could do nothing. Lü Bu had a rule that whenever he fought alone against enemy generals in front of the two armies, his generals were not allowed to help him without permission, otherwise they would be punished according to military law.

  Like Lü Bu, a fierce general who had always been undefeated in battle, but since meeting Ma Chao and the three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang, they felt that this rule needed to be changed.

  After the generals had repeatedly consulted with no result, Zhang Liao couldn't care about that much anymore. He immediately strung his bow and shot three arrows in a row, but Lü Bu took advantage of the opportunity to escape.

  All the vassals saw Lü Bu defeated and retreated, and they rushed to pursue him one after another. At that time, the soldiers brought by Lü Bu were either captured or fled, and many were killed or injured.

  After Lü Bu led the troops into the Tiger Trap Pass, stones and arrows rained down from above. The various lords were repelled several times after attempting to force their way through, and had no choice but to retreat back to their original position to regroup.

  "What's the military situation? Hurry up and tell me!" After entering Tiger Trap Pass, Lü Bu didn't even dismount his horse, directly asking the soldiers beside him.

  Only one soldier said: "Taiguan Pass has been breached, and a bandit army is attacking the imperial palace. General Dong ordered you to immediately lead a light cavalry with him to launch a pincer attack and annihilate the bandits!"

  Another soldier said: "Last night at the third watch, General Song and General Hou were killed in their quarters! The Taiguan Pass was breached in an instant, and more than half of the 10,000 defenders surrendered!"

  "What?! Why didn't you say so earlier!" Lü Bu grabbed the soldier with one hand, his eyes blazing with fury.

  Zhang Liao, who was standing by, hastily advised: "General, this is not the time to lose your temper. Let's hurry up and lead our troops to rescue the palace."

  Lü Bu didn't dare to waste any more time here either, so he immediately abandoned the soldiers and led his 8,000 light cavalrymen in a swift rush towards the imperial palace...