The 72nd chapter of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": Lü Bu Meets Danger in the Valley of Mount Du and Fights a Desperate Battle Against the Elite Troops.
The cold wind cuts the face, people spit out mist, Lü Bu clearly feels extremely tired in the hasty march, but just as he led a group of cavalrymen through a mountain valley, they heard several consecutive cannon shots, and a team of horses blocked their way.
Lü Bu took a closer look and saw that the leader was none other than Ma Chao.
Lü Bu let out a loud shout and charged forward, but what he didn't expect was that just as he had finished fighting with Ma Chao, another large army appeared behind him, led by Cao Cao.
As Lü Bu was in a state of panic, Cao Cao gave the order and Yue Jin, Li Dian, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, and Xiahou Dun each led a unit of troops to attack.
The troops behind Ma Chao surged forward in a swarm, and Lü Bu's army was thrown into great disorder, with many trampling one another to death.
Seeing the danger of total defeat, Lü Bu turned to Zang Ba, Hao Meng and Cao Xing, who were following him, and said: "Quickly lead the troops to break through the encirclement!"
Zang Ba, Hao Meng and Cao Xinggang were given the order to act, Yue Jin, Li Dian and Cao Hong led a large army to block their way.
After a fierce battle, Zang Ba, Hao Meng, Cao Xing and others could not escape, and had to fight hard against the great generals under Cao Cao's command.
Lü Bu saw that the situation was very unfavorable to himself and did not dare to fight, trying to shake off Ma Feng with a few generals to escape.
But the horse owner would not give him such an opportunity. As soon as Lü Bu galloped a few steps, the horse owner shouted angrily, and the two horses were instantly side by side. Lü Bu violently pulled the reins, and Chī Tù's right hoof kicked to the side, almost kicking the leg of Xuē Chī.
Ma Chao was taken aback and thrust his spear forward. Lü Bu leaned back on his horse, Red Hare's two legs lifted off the ground at once.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Lu Bu, who was forced to the end of his tether, seemed to have gone all out, gritting his teeth and fighting desperately.
Ma Chao was very clear about his position in this battle. Even if he couldn't personally destroy Lü Bu, he wanted to let him taste the flavor of being trapped.
Zang Ba, Hao Meng, Cao Xing and others, along with several of Cao Cao's top generals, fought for over a dozen rounds before they all became frightened.
Cao Xing thought to himself that if they continued fighting like this, none of them would be able to escape. So he fought while retreating to the side of Zang Ba and Hao Meng's path: "Generals, I'll hold them off, you choose a chance to break out of the encirclement!"
Zang Ba and Hao Meng nodded, then Cao Xing suddenly went mad and swept his long spear towards Yue Jin, Li Dian and others. Several people were shocked and the horses whinnied. In an instant, Zang Ba and Hao Meng suddenly turned around, whipped their horses and rushed towards Lü Bu and others.
Ma Chao, who was pressing the attack, became careless for a moment and was nearly killed by a sudden blow from behind by Zhang Liao and Hao Meng.
Lü Bu took advantage of the momentum and shouted loudly, and the surrounding cavalry followed him in a desperate charge forward.
Ma Chao wanted to chase after them, but the several hundred elite troops under Lü Bu's command were so desperate that they didn't care about their own lives. They formed a tight line, blocking the road entrance with all their might.
Ma Fu urged his horse forward, knocking down several people with one shot. However, this group of cavalry seemed to be fearless, knowing that they couldn't withstand Ma Fu's attack, yet still rallied their spirits and fought desperately.
The groom helplessly shook his head, raised his spear and charged forward. After a fierce battle, the hundreds of cavalrymen who had blocked the road were scattered all over the place by him.
However, by the time Ma Chao successfully rushed out of the pass, Lü Bu and his men had long since gone.
Unable to catch up, the horseman pulled the reins and turned around, saying to Lü Bu's soldiers who were still fighting desperately: "Your general has abandoned you and fled, why don't you surrender quickly!"
What astonished Ma Fu again was that these cavalrymen actually took Ma Fu's words as northwest wind, still going their own way, slashing horizontally and vertically, and even some cavalrymen, after losing their war horses and weapons, simply fought with their bare hands.
Ma Chao thought that they must be elite troops under Lü Bu's command, and since he valued talent as his life, he did not want to drive them away or kill them all.
But if they don't surrender, this is all he can do.
"Kill!" The groom shouted loudly and rushed into the crowd, after several rounds of fierce fighting, the original elite had long been overturned, defeated and disintegrated.
Cao Cao led his troops to sweep through the valley with a momentum that could destroy ancient trees and decayed wood. Cao Xing, who had stayed behind to cover up for Lü Bu's escape, was already beheaded by Yue Jin on horseback.
Cao Cao, who had once again tasted the joy of victory, pointed at Cao Xing's corpse and said to Yue Jin: "This battle was fought with his life to protect his lord, his loyalty and bravery are commendable. Later, you will send someone to choose a high place and bury him."
After Le Jin was killed, he hastily ordered the soldiers to move his body away. After dealing with all the remaining cavalry, Ma Fang came before Cao Cao and others and said: "In this battle, our army also suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, we ambushed Lü Bu again, otherwise if he had rushed to the rear of Sun Taigong, Sun Taigong would have been in a precarious situation!"
Cao Cao burst out laughing and said, "If Governor Ma thinks so much of Governor Sun, Governor Sun will surely be grateful when he finds out. Now that Dong's army is already in a state of collapse, if we don't take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack, I'm afraid the opportunity will slip away!"
The horseman looked at the soldiers under his command, each with a hungry face, and ordered: "Brothers, all infantrymen get on horses, follow me to rush to Hu Lao to fill our hunger!"
His order directly made those soldiers who thought they would continue to fight cheer and rush around to grab horses.
The groom saw the situation was chaotic and hastily shouted: "Brothers, don't panic! If there is no horse, two people can ride one!"
Cao Cao, who was sitting aside, suddenly showed a smile and said: "Is it true that Ma Teng is really going to return to Hu Lao Guan?"
Ma Fu smiled and said: "Of course, isn't Brother Meng De hungry?"
Cao Cao sighed and mounted his horse, saying: "In that case, let's hurry up and set out!"
Ma Fu smiled and said, "Brother Meng De, don't sigh! Everything is currently under my control. Later, when we arrive at Hu Lao, we only need to eat and watch the various lords exert their strength to attack Hu Lao!"
"Alright! Since that's the case, let's go!" With that, Cao Cao led his generals to open up a path, while Ma Fu followed behind, urging the troops to advance.
Upon arriving at the Tiger Trap Pass, Yuan Shao led various lords to personally welcome him. He said: "General Ma, General Cao and Governor Sun have taken back the Taiyuan Pass twice, killing the enemy troops until they were frightened out of their wits. Truly a feat that cannot be forgotten!"
Ma Chao said: "Before we had time to report, in a mountain valley, my brother Meng De and I have already annihilated Lü Bu's 8,000 elite cavalry. Lü Bu is lucky to have escaped!"
Yuan Shao's eyes lit up upon hearing this and he hastily asked: "Is this true?"
Ma Fu turned around and looked at Cao Cao, who smiled and said, "How could this be fake?"
Yuan Shao applauded and cheered after hearing this, while the other lords were also overjoyed, as if they had seen the dawn of victory.
Ma Chao replied to the military officers' words, but he had not yet fulfilled his promise, so he did not have the energy to accept the excessive praise of the various lords. Instead, he said loudly: "Alliance Lord Yuan, I and Meng De and Sun Gongzi have fought hard, but so far, the three armies have not made any progress, and we have not even had a drop of water or a bite of food. Does Alliance Lord Yuan know about this?"
Yuan Shao was taken aback: "Is there such a thing? The alliance leader immediately sent someone to summon Gonglu (Yuan Shu's courtesy name) from Xiangjiang, and ask him what's going on. However, before that, the army still has some grain and fodder, let the soldiers eat their fill, and the war horses have their bellies full."
The groom shook his head and said: "This is unnecessary. I estimate that if we wait for a little while, someone will come with grain and fodder."
As soon as Ma Chao's voice fell, Yuan Shu walked into the camp with great respect, followed by Huang Gai and Cao Hong...
