Hwa Xiong's tragic death. This made the guards at Mushui Pass especially angry.
How could he use such a shameless move as the Chaotic Arrows Piercing the Heart in a duel between two commanders!
Therefore, in the following battles, Sun Jian's army was repelled by the defending troops several times.
Sun Jian had no choice. How could there be an army that was less than half of the defending army? He was also the vanguard. If he died here, how embarrassing would that be! Helpless, he could only resort to this plan.
With the momentum of killing the enemy's main general, he launched five attacks in a row, but they were all blocked by the closed rolling wooden stones and arrows.
Seven to eight hundred soldiers had died in vain, so Sun Jian could only sound the bell and withdraw his troops. They retreated five miles and set up camp.
Among the generals, Li Su was the leader. He did not dare to be complacent. After repelling the enemy's attack, he immediately sent a fast horse to Luoyang to report.
History often liked to play jokes on people. Just like Lu Bu, he wanted to pay Cai Yong a visit and express his hatred for Dong Zhuo. However, before he reached the Cai Residence, he met the messenger sent by Dong Zhuo.
When he arrived at the Imperial Palace, he found out that Hua Xiong was dead, but not at Guan Yu's hands! Originally, Lu Bu thought that after Hua Xiong killed Yu She and Pan Feng, he would become Guan Yu's stepping stone to fame. He didn't expect that he would die under a bow and arrow.
As expected, Dong Zhuo immediately sent Li Cui and Guo Si to reinforce Mushui Pass with thirty thousand soldiers. As for himself, he personally led the 150,000-strong army and charged towards Hulao Pass, which was 50 miles east of Luoyang. Accompanying them were Li Ru, Lu Bu, Fan Chou, and Zhang Ji.
But before he left, he did something that caused the entire Luoyang to panic.
Grand Tutor Yuan Kui was Yuan Shao's uncle, and he was also an influential figure. He had many disciples in Luoyang.
Li Ru was naturally afraid that after the army left, they would cause trouble in the rear and work together from the inside and outside to take over the Western Liang Army's pot. He directly sent troops to capture everyone in Yuan Kui's residence. They followed the army to Tiger Cage Pass.
At Mushui Pass, Sun Jian had attacked for several days without any progress, but the number of defenders at the pass was increasing. This was not the only bad situation. The logistics officer had also sent the news that they had run out of rations in the morning.
It turned out that the narrow-minded Yuan Shu was afraid that Sun Jian would get the first credit, so he deliberately stopped giving Sun Jian food.
After the guards heard the news, Li Cui, Guo Si, and Li Su discussed it together.
Actually, Li Su had nothing to do with it. But because he had successfully instigated Lu Bu to defect, and after Hua Xiong's death, Li Su's performance had been remarkable.
"What if this is fake news and they are deliberately luring us?”Li Su asked carefully. Li Cui and Guo Si's opinion was to immediately send troops to kill. They actually didn't put Sun Jian's twenty thousand troops in their eyes.
"Then let's just miss such a good opportunity?”Guo Si asked.
"Why don't we split into two groups tonight, one on the left and one on the right? No matter how many ambushes there are, they won't be able to withstand our numbers.”Li Cui suggested.
"Generals, how about this? Tonight at midnight, you will each lead fifteen thousand men and charge out. I will lead ten thousand men and cut off their retreat. Tonight, Hu Zhen and Zhao Cen will guard the pass.”Li Su thought of a foolproof plan. With his fifty thousand men charging out from three directions, it would be useless even if they wanted to ambush him.
"Alright, let's do that." The hot-tempered Guo Si immediately agreed.
Sun Jian was throwing a tantrum, but there was nothing he could do about it. The few grain collectors he sent out had all failed. Kong Rong was still kind-hearted and sent him more than ten carts of rations, barely managing to feed the entire army.
However, the news that there was no food spread throughout the camp, and the soldiers began to panic.
In the middle of the night, the 50,000 soldiers stealthily charged out of the pass. With the sound of a cannon, Li Cui and Guo Si led their troops into Sun Jian's camp.
In the chaos, the enemy had more than half of his forces, and Sun Jian was unable to organize an effective resistance. He could only bring his personal guards and sneak east through the chaotic army.
After killing a few batches of Western Liang soldiers, he gathered another 500 to 600 people. Sun Jian finally met Zu Mao and Han Dang. There were only a few dozen people left by the two of them.
The three of them gathered their troops and prepared to rush out of the camp. They finally left the battlefield, but they met Li Su who had been lying in ambush behind their camp.
The ten thousand strong army immediately swarmed toward Sun Jian, wanting to kill him and take the credit.
Just as he was about to escape, he was mercilessly stopped in hell by Li Su. In his despair, Sun Jian wanted to charge at Li Su. No matter what, he had to drag someone down with him before he died.
Zu Mao and Han Dangli held back the impulsive Sun Jian and looked around. They could only escape from the forest on the left and right. They hurriedly asked Sun Jian's guards to carry him into the forest. The two of them led the remaining soldiers beside them and charged towards the enemy.
Seeing the other party charge towards his central army without a care for their lives, Li Su did not fight them head-on. He immediately called out the three thousand archers he had brought with him, lit up fire arrows, and fired at the enemy.
The pitiful Zu Mao and Han Dang had no time to resist before they were shot to the ground along with their horses. Their bodies were also burned cleanly.
Before the remaining few hundred soldiers could surrender, they were chopped into minced meat by the Western Liang soldiers.
It was not until dawn that Li Cui, Guo Si, and Li Su returned to the pass. In this battle, the three of them only lost a thousand men. However, he had killed more than 15,000 of the enemy's men and two of their local generals.
After daybreak, less than 2,000 people from Sun Jian's army managed to escape back to the camp. They were completely defeated.
Sun Jian was furious and Li Cui and the other two were elated.
In the large tent where the dukes were discussing, all sixteen dukes were seated inside.
"I didn't expect X Literature Station to lose so badly. How should we attack next?”Yuan Shao did not want to pursue the responsibility of the defeat. If he pursued it, he would not be able to avoid the responsibility of that idiot Yuan Shu. This matter was also tacitly understood among the princes. At this moment, he also regretted letting Yuan Shu be the logistics commander. He might as well hand it over to the honest Kong Rong.
"Now, both Mushui Pass and Tiger Cage Pass have been heavily guarded by Dong Zhuo. Our original sneak attack plan has failed. I think it's better to split our forces into two groups. One group will attack Mushui Pass, and the other will attack Tiger Cage Pass.”Cao Cao didn't want to talk about Sun Jian's failure, lest the people didn't get along, so he quickly gave his suggestion.
The dukes discussed for a long time before agreeing. Thus, they divided their forces into two groups. Wang Kuang, Qiao Mao, Bao Xin, Kong Rong, Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, Zhang Chao, Sun Jian, and Cao Cao led their troops to Hulao Pass to meet the enemy. Cao Cao was in charge. Letting Sun Jian tag along was only to comfort him so that he wouldn't feel neglected. As for Yuan Shao himself, he led the other seven groups of people to attack Mushui Pass.
At this moment, there were still more than 80,000 soldiers guarding the Lishui Pass, while Hulao Pass had 150,000 elite soldiers. Although the dukes were unwilling, they still led their troops on their way with Cao Cao's persuasion.
Below Tiger Cage Pass, the dukes led their own troops and lined up on a high slope. So he sent people to call for an array in the pass.
Looking at the neat formation, Lu Bu laughed inwardly. This was a show of strength on the outside but a show of weakness on the inside. The military orders had not even been unified yet, and everyone was fighting their own battles. The victor could already be determined before the battle had even begun. But he couldn't win the battle. He had to find a way to lose. Otherwise, how could he encourage Dong Zhuo to return to Chang 'an?
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of staying in Luoyang, but the Central Plains was a place of war, and it was impossible to develop in peace. Moreover, in recent years, the Yellow Turban rebels had caused trouble. Other than the capital region, which was still bustling, the other places were basically uninhabited. But now, Yongzhou was extremely wealthy. At that time, when he developed, he would occupy the Hebei and Youzhou, occupy the north, and look down on the entire Central Plains. Who could stop him?
Lu Bu stopped thinking about it. Seeing that someone was dying to fight, Lu Bu immediately asked Dong Zhuo,""Godfather, there are only a few clowns below. I will destroy them for you.”
"Alright, with my son taking action, the dukes are no longer a concern. I will wait for your good news at the pass.”Dong Zhuo laughed and said happily.
After ordering 10,000 cavalrymen, Lu Bu charged out of the pass. This time, he only brought Zhang Liao and Dian Wei with him. However, he left them in the pass. He did not want to lose his strength, so he only brought Western Liang cavalry with him. Even so, there was no need to doubt their fighting strength. They were definitely much stronger than the soldiers and horses that the dukes had gathered at the last minute.
After the cavalry had lined up at the pass, Lu Bu rode his Red Hare and walked fifty to sixty steps forward, shouting,""I am Marquis Wen, Lu Bu. Does anyone dare to fight me?”
Seeing his arrogant appearance, the dukes were all angry. Cao Cao immediately asked,"Who is willing to fight?" In fact, he already had many capable generals under him, such as Xiahou Dun (Dun meant the same as Dun, so he used the word Dun for convenience) and Xu Zhu, whom Lu Bu had given up. However, he couldn't bear to send them on stage. Cao Cao still had to preserve his strength so that he could amaze the world with a single feat.
As soon as he asked, Wang Kuang's subordinate, Fang Yue, rushed out and shouted,""Don't be arrogant, Lu Bu. I, Fang Yue, have come to meet you.”
Stroking his beard, Wang Kuang smiled and said to the dukes around him,""Fang Yue is a famous general of my Hanoi. She is enough to resist this traitor who betrayed his father.”
The vassals all agreed, but Cao Cao thought to himself," Hehe, a famous general? To put it nicely, he would definitely be killed by Lu Bu. I'll just watch a good show for a while. When they send a few more people up to die, I'll let Xu Zhu go up and give them a big shock. Cao Cao had seen Lu Bu's strength and knew that Xu Zhu was on par with him. After Lu Bu exhausted his stamina, Xu Zhu would attack and win.
In fact, Cao Cao had taken it for granted. The gap between Xu Zhu and Lu Bu was not small. However, at their level, it was impossible to see the difference without a hundred rounds.
Seeing Fang Yue flying towards him, Lu Bu smiled and shook his head. Riding his Red Hare, he charged forward. The moment the two of them got close, he didn't wait for Fang Yue to do anything. He thrust out his halberd and pierced through Fang Yue's chest.
(The first and second chapters will probably be finished at around 11 o'clock. Everyone, come and vote quickly. Let's make Lu Bu's ranking higher. Thank you, everyone.)
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