Chapter 8: Wrongly Killing Three Thousand

  Cao Cao was indeed a hero, knowing that Lü Bu had escaped but still smiling and saying "Everyone drink wine, wait quietly for the good news from Song Xian and Wei Xu, the two generals!"

  The boss was already in such a state, and the people below were even more joyful and smiling, those who drank wine drank wine and those who ate meat ate meat.

  "Report!" Another orderly rushed in "Reporting to the Chancellor, General Xiahou Yuan requests an audience!"

  "What's going on?" Cao Cao was taken aback. Wasn't Xiahou Yuan supposed to be in charge of eliminating the remnants of Lü Bu's forces within the city? Why would he show up at this time?

  Before Cao Cao could announce his entry, Xiahou Yuan rushed in.

  "Mengde! Mengde!" Xiahou Yuan hastily and anxiously rushed forward with rapid footsteps, shouting Cao Cao's name in his confusion.

  "What's wrong with Xiaohou Yuan?!" Cao Cao rarely saw Xiahou Yuan so flustered, even when he was sentencing himself to death all those years ago.

  "Meng De, where's Miao Ren?!" Xiahou Yuan exclaimed in extreme anxiety.

  "Is it Miao Ren?!" Cao Cao suddenly remembered that Miao Ren was the courtesy name of Xiahou De, the nephew of Xiahou Yuan.

  "What's wrong?!" Cao Cao asked.

  "At noon, the east gate of Xiapi was broken, my nephew Miao Ren entered the city, originally wanted to eliminate the remaining troops of Lü Bu in the city, and planned to return to camp in the evening. But now, not to mention people, even a single shadow can't be seen!"

  "Ah!" Cao Cao understood that Xiahou Yuan was now just an over-concerned elder, in the heat of battle there's no day or month, after a fight all he could think about was how to survive and kill more enemies, how could he possibly consider time?

  Xia Pi city has already been broken, the remaining inside are all the remnants of Lü Bu's army, and they can't make a big wave. Xia Hou De is also a deputy general with at least a thousand soldiers under his command, entering the city is a simple matter of merit.

  "Ah, you're worrying too much! Even Lü Bu, the greatest tiger in Puyang City, has fled. What else could possibly happen? Lü Bu's army had 70,000 armored soldiers, and these city walls have at least 50,000. We've been besieging the city for months, and we've already defeated those 50,000 soldiers, leaving only a few thousand remnants inside. With my Qingzhou army here, what could possibly go wrong? Perhaps you're thinking of earning more merit to impress me?" Cao Cao comforted Xiahou Yuan, who was still worried, "This Miao Cai really doesn't understand, treating his nephew and son like they're better than his own children!"

  In the year of great drought, he even cut off his own son's food supply to keep his late brother's daughter alive. Now, his two sons have grown up! Xiahou He and Xiahou Ba are also at the age of joining the army, but this wonderful talent is unwilling to bring his two sons with him, instead bringing his nephew Xiahou De by his side to teach him carefully.

  "But Meng De!" Xiahou Yuan wanted to say something more, he always felt that something was not right in his heart, just at this moment another messenger came over.

  "Report to the Prime Minister, General Xiahou De requests to return to camp!"

  "Haha, wonderful! Look at what you were worried about, it's here now!" Cao Cao patted Xiahou Yuan on the shoulder. Without these old brothers supporting him, Cao Cao wouldn't be where he is today.

  "It's just my imagination!" When he heard the herald's report, Xiahou Yuan's heart should have been put at ease, but he still felt uncomfortable.

  "Zuǒ yá jiāng xià hóu dé guī yíng!"

  Translation: "The vanguard will return to camp under Xiahou De's command!"

  "Come on, Miao Cai, let's go and take a look. How much credit did Xiahou family's Hu Zi get?!" The Xiahou and Cao families are actually one and the same, Cao Cao was originally named Xiahou Cao, he was adopted from the Xiahou family to the Cao family, so it's not wrong to call his own family like that.

  "Come on, everyone!" he said, pulling Xiahou Miao out of the White Gate Tower and heading towards the camp at the foot of the city.

  "Go, go, go! Let's take a look at the tiger of Cao's family!" These subordinates also had to give face to Cao Cao. They too wanted to get acquainted with this young general from Xiahou's family. Even Chen Gong, who didn't want to go initially, was dragged along by the soldiers.

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  A team of soldiers bearing Xiahou De's flag were standing sternly and gazing at the ancient city below Xuchang.

  "Can Liu Mang's younger brother really do it?!" A soldier wearing ordinary Cao army armor and holding a long spear asked another soldier in a low voice.

  The entire city wall was surrounded by Cao's army, and if anything went wrong, they would be completely annihilated.

  "Don't worry! Even if we can't avenge ourselves and kill those traitors Wei Xu and Song Xian, it's still possible to break out!" The two soldiers were indeed Liu Mao and Lü Bu, who had taken off their armor. In fact, Liu Mao's palms were also sweating profusely. This was the entire city defense of Xiapi!

  It was still Lü Boss's place in the daytime, but now it belongs to Cao Boss!

  If it weren't for Guo Jia's plan to open the floodgates of the Yellow River, Lord Lv might have actually been able to withstand Cao Cao's attack.

  But there is no if in this world now, what he and Lao Lv have to do is rush out of this thousand-year-old city.

  "Revenge!" Lü Bu raised his head to look at the tall building on the east gate, that was the White Gate Tower, a landmark of Xiapi City, where he almost lost his life.

  "The Chancellor has an order permitting General Xiahou De to return to camp!" a loud-voiced herald shouted from the city gate.

  "The Chancellor has an order permitting General Xiahou De to return to camp!" One after another, the signal flags were quickly transmitted.

  "Ka ka ka ka!" The city gate of Xiapi slowly creaked open.

  Liu Mang and Lü Bu's faces also grew increasingly joyful.

  At this moment, the city wall suddenly remembered the loud laughter of Hao Mai, which made Liu Mang and Lü Bu's hearts tighten.

  "What a genius! I said you were overthinking it. Look at the majestic and refreshing appearance of Xiahou's tiger!"

  "Cao Cao, that's Cao Cao's voice!" Lü Bu had dealt with Cao Cao before, at Dong Zhuo's mansion in Luoyang and under the Tiger Trap Pass! Moreover, it was just a few months ago that Cao Cao had persuaded him to surrender, so Lü Bu could recognize Cao Cao's voice with one ear!

  "Chancellor, don't praise him too much. This kid is just a plowing ox, if you don't whip him a few times, he won't move!" Seeing his nephew's banner and the large army standing below, Xiahou Yuan's heart gradually calmed down, and he also called out to the Chancellor!

  "Jade needs to be taught, haha! Let's go and take a look at Xiaoren! Sweeping away the remnants of Lü Bu, Xiaoren is indeed using his strength!" Cao Cao laughed and led Xiahou Yuan and a group of civil and military officials down from the city tower towards the main camp.

  "Lord Lü, calm down, calm down!" Liu Mao placed his hand on top of Lü Bu's, who was now trembling all over with agitation and rage, especially after seeing a certain general standing behind Cao Cao! Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Liu Mao were already familiar to him, but the one who could provoke such anger in Lü Bu had to be Hou Cheng!

  Liu Meng was really afraid that Lü Boss would rush out and shout loudly, "Hou Cheng will die after this!" Fortunately, Lü Boss endured it.

  Lü Bu had his hand on the long spear, and as soon as Cao's old man came down from the city tower, he would immediately swing his army to slaughter. This way, not only would Cao Cao be unlucky, but also many of his civil and military officials would be killed.

  Cao Cao was about to leave the city gate, and a generation of heroes would die at the hands of Jiyu.

  Suddenly a herald's voice rang out and a messenger ran over.

  "Report, inform the Chancellor that Generals Wei Xu and Song Xian have rushed to Lü Bu's residence to capture his family members. When they arrived, however, Lü Bu's residence was already empty!"

  "What?!". Cao Cao was really furious this time, Lü Bu had escaped, that's all right, but if Lü Bu's family members were in his hands, he would still have a means to restrain the fierce tiger. Now it's gone, and what's more, there is also a beauty he has been coveting for a long time!

  "Rubbish! Rubbish!" Old Cao didn't say this out loud, he didn't want to hurt the hearts of Hou Cheng and those surrendered generals.

  "Wei Xu, Song Xian, where are you?" Cao Cao's tone was calm, his hand stroking the hilt of his sword at his waist. Those familiar with Cao Cao knew that his suspicious nature had flared up again - would this Song Xian and Wei Xu be a ruse? The goal was to exchange Dangyang for Lü Bu's departure. After all, Dangyang had already become a dead city due to Guo Jia's plan, and taking it down was only a matter of time.

  "Generals Wei Xun and Song Xian are on their way!"

  Lao Cao's face was uncertain, and he actually stopped on the stairs. He had forgotten that he should be meeting with Xia Hou De now. Just as he was delayed for a moment, another messenger ran over.

  Report, inform the Chancellor, General Xiahou Chun sent a report saying that in the west of the city, he has taken in the defeated soldiers of General Xiahou De, General Xiahou De was captured by Lü Bu's army inside the city, and hopes the Chancellor will immediately send troops to rescue General Xiahou De!

  "What? Marou has been captured?" Xiahou Yuan stepped forward first, grabbing the messenger soldier and shouting loudly. The voice was clear enough to be heard by Liu Mang and Lü Bu below.

  Xiahou De was captured, so who is this Xiahou De army below?

  "Not good!" Cao Cao's heart skipped a beat.

  "Not good!" Liu Mang was also shocked, his plan had a big loophole, that was originally those scattered soldiers of Xia Hou De, although the city of Xiapi was large, but with over a thousand people, there would always be a possibility of some running back.

  Once he ran back, Liu Mao's plan of using Xia Hou De's banner could only be to go and die.

  Fortunately, Xiahou Yuan lost his temper and shouted loudly, so that Lü Bu and Liu Mang below heard him. If it weren't for Xiahou Yuan's "help", Cao would have cleverly praised them openly, but secretly arranged archers everywhere, waiting to be beaten to death!

  "Charge!" Under Liu Mang's loud shout, the Lü Bu army beside him directly charged towards Cao Jun. Zhang Liao led his soldiers to quickly disperse and open up, revealing the men wearing sharp armor and holding large knives and shields of the Trap Array Camp in the middle.

  "With a determination to die in battle, there is no survival! Kill!" Cao Cao's army was caught off guard and the soldiers protecting him were immediately scattered.

  "Quickly!" Old Cao immediately made a decisive move and crawled to run towards the city wall, the stairs of the city wall were originally narrow and had no railings. Old Cao's action squeezed many people down, the martial arts general was still standing firm with his robust body, but those civil officials were miserable.

  The first to fall was Chen Gui, Chen Han Yu, the old man who had calculated Lv Bu's death in history. He didn't even get to see Lv Bu's downfall, but instead was pushed off the city wall by Cao Cao. His old and frail body couldn't withstand Cao Cao's strength, and he fell straight down. By the time he realized it was Cao Cao who pushed him, he had already begun his descent. The old man glared with anger, thinking to himself: "I betrayed Liu Bei and Lv Bu for what? Wasn't it all just so that my Chen family could dominate Xu Zhou?! Now I'll never get to see that day."

  "Cao Mengde, you will not die a good death!"

  The old man let out a poisonous curse and fell off the city wall, smashing into a meat pie.

  Watching Cao Cao's frantic escape, Lü Bu charged forward with his long spear "Lü Bu is here! Cao thief will die!" Without the Heaven Painting Halberd and without the brocade battle robe, but Lü Bu was still Lü Bu, that super warrior general, wherever he went there was no one who could be his match.

  "Genius save me!" Cao Cao's side, Xiahou Yuan stepped out, drew his sword and stabbed at Lü Bu. Xiahou Yuan was originally not on the same level as Lü Bu, and now he was holding a long sword against him. As the saying goes, "one inch longer is one inch stronger, one inch shorter is one inch more dangerous". In no time, Xiahou Yuan's body was covered with many bloody wounds by Lü Bu. If it weren't for the fact that his armor had been cut off by Lü Bu earlier, Lü Bu would have swept him aside with a single spear thrust. Although Xiahou Yuan wasn't his match, he would still need around thirty rounds to kill him. And if he killed him, he wouldn't be able to meet Cao Cao again - that guy could run faster than anything!

  Wan Cheng Jia Wen and Suan Ji were both escaped by him in that way.

  "Get out of the way!" Lü Bu was blocked by Xiahou Yuan for just a moment, and Cao Cao had already advanced several dozen meters. A guard soldier stood in front of Cao Cao, who drew his sword without saying another word and killed the soldier with one stroke, clearing the road to escape.

  "A three-name family slave dares to be arrogant, Zhang Fei of Yan is here!" A black-faced big man shouted and was about to jump out to fight against Lü Bu, but was pulled down by the big-eared man.

  "Zhang Fei?!" Lü Bu's eyebrows furrowed, and half of the reason why his reputation was so bad was thanks to Zhang Fei. That phrase "three-surname family slave" had ruined Lü Bu for many years!

  Normally Lü Bu would have gone up and fought Zhang Fei to the death, but now he kills Cao Cao.

  Liu Bei, who had always been protected by his two sworn brothers on the sidelines, retreated while fighting and calmly observed the battle situation. This Xuzhou, this Xiaopei, should have been his own territory, but it was now occupied by two bandits. He would be happy no matter which one of them died.

  Zhang Fei was about to jump out and duel Lü Bu when he was stopped by Liu Bei, who couldn't wait for Cao Cao to die at Lü Bu's hands!

  As soon as Cao Cao died, Liu Bei would have his day to rise to prominence, and relying on the reputation of being the imperial uncle, he could still take over nearly half of Cao Cao's territory.

  "Big brother, what are you doing blocking my way!" Zhang Fei said discontentedly. This person was the one he hated the most - Lü Bu. Lü Bu was more handsome than him, his martial arts skills were higher than his, and his wife was still the number one beauty in the world. This kind of rich and powerful man was born to be an archenemy of Zhang Fei's!

  Zhang Fei was a butcher before he became sworn brothers with Liu Bei and Guan Yu. Butchers detest people who are ungrateful and disloyal, and it is clear that Lü Bu is such a person in Zhang Fei's eyes.

  "Third brother, Cao thief, Lü thief are all bandits, why do you need to take action? Just observe the changes quietly!" Liu Bei's eyes sparkled with sharp light, his heart was shouting loudly, kill, kill, Lü Bu, you get rid of Cao Cao, and then be killed by Cao Cao's large army. Then this Xuzhou! No, these two states of Xu and Yan are my territory, Liu Bei's territory!"

  Guan Yu didn't say a word, but instead looked at his elder brother. He found that he was getting more and more unable to understand his own elder brother.

  Zhang Fei's loud roar delayed him for a moment, and Xiahou Yuan rushed up again, his whole body covered in blood but still standing upright.

  "What a pity!" Lü Bu sighed, such a great general would rather die himself than harm Cao Cao. This kind of friendship moved Lü Bu's heart, and he thought again of Hou Cheng, Wei Xu, and Song Xian!

  A surge of unnamed fire raged in his heart. What right did you, Cao Cao, have to have such loyal and righteous men devoted to you?!

  He looked at Xiahou Yuan's eyes and changed his mind. He wanted to kill Xiahou Yuan, let Cao Cao know what heartache is!

  Cao Cao also saw the severity of Xiahou Yuan's injuries, and another general rushed up behind him. Cao Cao shouted loudly: "Hou Cheng, Hou Cheng assist Miao Cai in killing Lü Bu!"

  "Kill Lü Bu?!" Hou Cheng cried! Originally, he betrayed Lü Bu and was terrified, afraid that Lü Bu would come over and chop him with one knife. The longer he spent under Lü Bu's command, the more he knew about Lü Bu's terror, this is simply not human, it's a god.

  What was supposed to be avoided has now been exposed by Cao Cao's single shout, and Lü Bu was also killed! Cao Prime Minister, did your math teacher teach you language lessons?!

  A warrior with a combat value of over 100 and two other warriors, one at the top level and one at the second level, engage in battle!

  Still dare to kill people? If you're not minced into meat paste, that's considered a blessing from your ancestors.

  Can Hou Cheng escape? He also wanted to escape, but he couldn't. Not only is Lü Bu's attention now on him, even if it wasn't, he can't get away. He betrayed Lü Bu, and Lü Bu's army won't tolerate him. If he doesn't listen to his new boss Cao Cao now, then this vast world really has no place for Hou Cheng to go.

  "Damn it!" Hou Cheng gritted his teeth, picked up his large knife and charged towards Lü Bu.

  Hou Cheng's arrival enraged Lü Bu even more, but he did not forget his original intention, which was to kill Xiahou Yuan and cause Cao Cao heartache!

  Under one move and one style, Hou Cheng was fine, but Xiahou Yuan's body had several more wounds again.

  "Whoosh!" Lü Bu's long spear suddenly swung down, directly whipping onto Xiahou Yuan's helmet, the helmet was knocked flying out, and Xiahou Yuan was also knocked unconscious by this heavy blow.

  "It's all over!" Hou Cheng's heart tightened, two to one and he still lost, now he was even more humiliated. Should he kneel down and beg for mercy to see if Lü Bu could forgive him?

  At this moment, another sudden change occurred. Under the White Gate Tower, cavalry from four directions rushed towards the city gate with flames, looking at the flag numbers: Song, Wei, Yu, and Xiahou!

  "We're saved!" Hou Cheng's face lit up with joy. Now, there were no more organized troops of Lü Bu in Xiapi City. Those who came rushing with flags must be Cao's army.

  Song is Song Xian! Wei is Wei Xu! Yu Jin, Xiahou is Xiahou Dun!

  Song Xian and Wei Xu, two virtuous younger brothers, were also present. Hou Cheng's face lit up with joy and laughter. The original intention to kneel down and beg for mercy had turned into a desire to protect Xiahou Yuan in front of everyone.

  "How detestable!" Lü Bu now especially wanted to kill Xiahou Yuan and Hou Cheng, but he knew that although Hou Cheng was incompetent, he was also a second-rate figure. Killing these two people would be easy, but he himself might not be able to get away!

  Each of these four routes has more soldiers and horses than I have!

  "Where is Cao Chengxiang? Yu Jin is here, kill!"

  "Meng De, don't panic! Yuan Rang is here! The two Langs follow me to charge and kill!" Xiahou Yuan and Yu Jin arrived because they heard the sound of fighting at Baimen Tower. Wei Xu and Song Xian came back to report after failing to capture Lü Bu's family members. The four troops happened to arrive at the same time!

  "Hmph!" Lü Bu abandoned Hou Cheng and Xiahou Yuan and walked down from the city wall.

  "Mother!" Liu Mang killed a Cao soldier, and just as he was about to behead Cao's old man, Lü Boss would have escaped to ascend to heaven, but who knew that four more armies emerged along the way!

  All four roads, each with more troops than I have in total, even if there are ambushes set up, they can't hold on! Moreover, among them are Wei Xun and Song Xian, two people who, if caught by them, would make survival impossible. Probably not even death is a luxury that can be afforded~!

  "Wouldn't it be great if Made could get them to kill each other!" Liu Mang burst out with a crude remark, and suddenly had an epiphany! Mutual destruction! Liu Mang laughed!

  He put down the long sword in his hand, clenched his fists, puffed out his chest and shouted towards the sky: "Song Xian, Wei Xu, two generals, if not now, when will you rebel!"

  "What?! Zhang Liao was taken aback at first, was Wei Xu and Song Xian pretending to surrender? No way, in that case, they wouldn't need to tie up the lord either!"

  "What!?" Yu Jin and Xiahou Yuan were also shocked. Were Song Xian and Wei Xu going to rebel? No way! Lü Bu's army had already been defeated, what good would rebelling do for them?

  "This is an enemy's plot to sow discord!" Yu Jin calmed down.

  "What?!" Cao Cao was the most surprised, originally his suspicious mind was heavy, now it has increased to another level, plus Xiahou Yuan's serious injury and his previous speculation, Cao Cao suddenly "enlightened".

  "Good, good! These two scoundrels Wei Xu and Song Xian have a great plan, a great plan indeed! They've managed to deceive me, Cao Mengde, and the entire world!" Cao Cao's face grew darker with killing intent. Today he almost got killed by Lü Bu. "Sacrificing the small for the big! Haha, using Xiaopei as a pawn to save my own life is a great plan, a great plan indeed!"

  "Chancellor, no, no!" Hou Cheng panicked. What kind of rhythm is this? Who is the traitor and who is the good person?

  "Hou Cheng?!" Cao Cao's eyes flashed with a red glow, indicating that he was going to kill someone. "Come here!" He beckoned Hou Cheng to come closer to him.

  "Chancellor, I, Mou, am willing to stake my life on it. Generals Wei and Song will absolutely not betray you!" Hou Cheng knelt down, his face filled with terror.

  "Wouldn't betray, right?" Cao Cao muttered to himself, suddenly thrusting the Heaven-Reliant spear in his hand straight at Hou Cheng's chest.

  "Plop!" A blood flower bloomed, and the entire sword had already pierced into Hou Cheng's chest.

  "Chancellor, Chancellor, you, you!" Hou Cheng's words became incoherent due to the pain. "Why, why?!" His eyes were filled with confusion.

  "I won't betray! Why did you betray Lü Bu? Since you said you would stake your life on it, then I'll fulfill your wish and take your life!" With a kick, Cao Cao sent the unrepentant Hou Cheng flying, and bellowed "All troops, listen to my orders, quickly eliminate Song Xian, Wei Xu, and Lü Bu's remaining forces!" In that instant, his heroic aura flared up again!

  It is better to wrongly kill 3,000 people than to let one guilty person go free. This was Cao Cao's motto in life!