Chapter 6: The Ambush

  Lü Bu had just put away his bow, when a high-ranking general standing beside him raised his hand and a team of soldiers with shields and iron armor rushed forward, shouting loudly: "The determination to die in battle is the only way to survive!"

  "Fall into formation?!" Liu Mao finally saw this so-called most elite infantry in the history of the Three Kingdoms.

  At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, all the big and powerful ones came out to compete with each other.

  There are "Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, Liangzhou Jiang Cavalry, Youzhou White Horse Righteous From, and Yanzhou Tiger Leopard Cavalry" among the cavalry.

  In the array of troops, there were "Xuzhou's Dan Yang soldiers, Jizhou's Da Ji soldiers, Jizhou's Xian Denglou camp, Qingzhou's soldiers, and the remaining one was Gao Shun's Trap Array Camp.

  The eight hundred strong Wolf Cavalry and the Trapping Camp were enough to compare with a regular army, and Lü Bu was able to become a warlord in this era of heroes at the end of Han because he had these two elite forces.

  Xiahou De's fall from his horse and the arrow wound to his arm caused his troops to momentarily panic, and with Lü Bu's reinforcements arriving, Cao's army was thrown into disarray.

  "Kill!" Another great general came out, leading the remaining soldiers of Lü Bu's army to launch an attack on Cao's army.

  At the first touch, these Cao troops had no will to fight at all.

  The Cao army was defeated, and Liu Mang was also helped up. Lü Bu walked forward with big strides, looking at Liu Mang's blood-soaked body and furrowing his brow. "Brother Liu Mang, why are you still here? Didn't I tell you to break through?"

  Liu Mang had not yet replied when Bian Chengyu spoke up, "Reporting to General, the adults brought us here to find you, they want to help General protect your wife and daughter!"

  "Nonsense!" Lü Bu said with his mouth, but in his heart he felt warm.

  "What's going on?!" The general leading the vanguard camp asked in confusion.

  "By the way, I forgot to introduce you. This is Liu Mang's brother, my great general Gao Shun, who can hold off an army with just 800 men." Lü Bu was not stingy with his praise. An army in ancient times represented at least one route of troops, and even if it was a small one, there were still tens of thousands of people. Eight hundred men holding off tens of thousands could be called the elite of the elite.

  "This is Liu Mang, a close relative of the Han imperial family," Lü Bu did not say that Liu Mang was Emperor Xian's brother, fearing that mentioning his illegitimate birth would hurt him. "This time I was able to escape and ascend to heaven, thanks to Brother Liu Mang." Lü Bu said with gratitude, if it wasn't for this rascal, he would probably be tied up in front of Cao Cao, suffering humiliation.

  "Thanks for saving our master's life!" Gao Shun indeed was not good with words, and he bowed his fist in gratitude.

  "Modesty aside, General Gao Shun's vanguard Liu Mao also admires him greatly!" The more taciturn and honest a person is, the more worthy they are of deep friendship.

  Gao Shun didn't say a word, but the proud look on his face showed that he had accepted the praise.

  Originally, Lü Bu single-handedly rushed to the provincial governor's mansion, and even a war god like him was having a hard time. It was really difficult to rescue his wife and daughter. At this moment, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao led 800 troops to break through the White Gate Tower. They knew that Xiapi could not be defended, so under Zhang Liao's and Gao Shun's discussion, they abandoned the west gate and rushed directly to the provincial governor's mansion in the city, rescuing Lü Bu's wife and daughter just as Lü Bu arrived.

  "My lord, Cao's army has been repelled by us!" Another general returned.

  "This must be Zhang Liao, Zhang Wenruo! I am Liu Mang." Without needing Lv Bu's introduction, Liu Mang knew that among those who did not betray Lv Bu at the Battle of Xiaopei, there were only these two generals.

  "Who is this?!" Zhang Liao was very puzzled as he did not recognize Liu Mao at all.

  "It was Master who saved him!" Gao Shun said in a few words.

  "Thank you for saving our master!" This was indeed consistent with Gao Shun's character of knowing gratitude and repaying kindness.

  After exchanging greetings, it was discovered that Zhang Liao not only repelled the Cao army but also brought back a captive. This person was none other than Xiahou De, who had almost killed Liu Bei earlier!

  His palms were numb, his hair was disheveled and tied up by Zhang Liao, with a look of despair on his face. Where was the heroic spirit of charging on horseback just now?

  "This Cao general, Zhang Liao, what did you bring him back for? Just behead him and offer his head to the flag!" Lu Bu furrowed his brow. He didn't have a single good feeling towards this Cao general. If it weren't for Cao Cao's attack, he would probably still be serving as the General Who Conquers the East, or as the Governor of the province.

  "Yes!" Zhang Liao was about to behead Xiahou De, but was stopped by Liu Mang.

  "Xiahou De? Xiahou De!" Liu Mang remembered, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there really was a character named Xiahou De who appeared in Chapter 70. He was Xiahou Shang's older brother. He guarded Tian Dang Mountain in Hanzhong and accepted the surrender of Zhang He and Xiahou Shang after their defeat. During his battle with Shu generals Huang Zhong and Yan Yan, his army's food supplies were set on fire by the Shu army, and while he was leading troops to put out the fire, he was killed by Yan Yan.

  Xiahou De and Liu Mang are unclear, but Xiahou Shang still knows that he is the nephew of Xiahou Yuan. Since he is Xiahou Shang's older brother, then he should also be Xiahou Yuan's nephew. Now, among those attacking the city, there happens to be troops under Xiahou Yuan, perhaps this can be used as a trick.

  "Now we are besieged in the city, what we need most is to break out of the siege, but the opposite Cao army has tens of thousands of armored soldiers, and it's impossible for us to hard charge! So we can only use this king card in front of us!" Liu Miao was very concerned about breaking through the siege, after all, it was related to his own life.

  "General Zhang Liao, where is Xiahou De's command flag?!" Liu asked Zhang Liao.

  "Down!" Xiahou De's command flag was abandoned on the ground by the soldiers behind him, who were frightened by Xiahou De's fall from his horse. In the chaos of war, it remained intact.

  "Liu Mang brothers are thinking?!" Zhang Liao seemed to have thought of something.

  "It's going to be like this for me!" Liu Mang laughed and said "Lü Boss, can I borrow your military power again?!"

  "Liu Mang's younger brother, just take it as you like!" Lü Bu is not a good person, nor is he a bad person, he is simply a petty man! Whoever treats him well, he will treat them well.

  "Good!" Liu Mang walked to the front row "Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, where are you?"

  "Present!" Zhang Liao and Gao Shun both knelt down halfway!

  "General Zhang Liao, have your men take off our black uniforms and put on the white uniforms of Cao's army!"

  "Yes!" Zhang Liao took his leave and departed.

  "General Gao Shun, you will lead the Ambush Troops to hide within General Zhang Liao's army and await further orders!"

  "Yes!" Gao Shun also took the troops to prepare.

  "Cheng Yu!" Liu Mang shouted at Cheng Yu "Go and help General Xiahou take off his armor, it's too heavy to wear after the battle!"

  "Huh?!" Cheng Yu didn't understand.

  "Execute the order!"

  "Yes!" Cheng Yu also took orders and left.

  "Lü Boss, as for you and me, we just need to take off our armor and wait for the opportunity!" That's exactly what Liu Mao thought!

  Now the city of Xiapi has been breached, and Cao's army is pouring in through the east gate, west gate, north gate, and south gate. It's impossible to truly break out of the siege, and even if we succeed, it will be at a terrible cost!

  So the only way is to use Xiahou De's flag, Cheng Yu and Xiahou De are about the same in stature, wearing Xiahou De's helmet and armor will not be recognized by those close by, and the sky has gradually darkened.

  In addition, Zhang Liao brought soldiers who changed into Cao's army uniforms. As long as they didn't run into acquaintances, they definitely wouldn't be discovered.

  Gao Shun's 800 elite troops were hidden among the disguised Cao army soldiers, and once they discovered the situation, they could break through the camp and leave.

  He had Diao Chan and himself swap armor because their own armor was too conspicuous, he wore the golden sacred clothes although it was dark but would still be recognized by the glow, Lü Bu's white armor was also familiar to Cao's soldiers due to many battles against them.

  With Lü Bu's high-ranking officials, Zhang Liao and three fierce generals, plus 800 elite soldiers, they were a sharp spear thrusting straight into the enemy's chest.

  It wasn't long before Zhang Liao and Gao Shun returned, they had already made arrangements.

  "Liu Mang, younger brother, let's go!" Lü Bu had already escorted his family to safety and now he didn't want to stay here for another moment.

  "Lü Boss, don't worry!" Liu Mang shook his head, took off the sacred robe and put him into Lü Bu's family carriage, changing into a ordinary general's armor.

  He now knows the benefits of that holy garment, not only is it well-protected, but also because it's made of aluminum alloy, so it's incredibly light, a full set of armor weighs only 20 kilograms or so. Now this iron armor has only chest plate and back plate, other places are not protected at all, and with the helmet, it weighs over 50 kilograms.

  "Let the soldiers rest for now! We'll arrive at night, and that's when we'll make our breakthrough!" Liu Mang found a place to lie down, the blood on the ground was already not a concern as long as it wasn't too wet.