Chapter Ten Death

  "Zhang Liao, where are you?" Lu Bu bellowed out his orders.

  "End will be!" Zhang Liao half-knelt on the ground!

  "Zhang Liao is leading the vanguard for our army, crossing rivers and building bridges, opening roads through mountains!"

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

  "What's going on here?"

  "The end is near!" Gao Shun also half-knelt on the ground, Lü Bu was their master and they were his servants.

  "Go in sequence with your ambush troops as rear guard to cover the main force advancing forward!"

  "Yes!" Gao Shun knew that as the rear army withdrew from Xiapi, they would definitely suffer a pursuit by Cao's army and there would be no small number of casualties. However, he carried out the order without hesitation.

  "Liu Mang, my brother!" Lü Bu gave his final order. "Lead your troops to follow the central army and protect my family!" If not for Liu Mang, Lü Bu would have died in Xiapi by now!

  "Yes!" Liu Mang also half-knelt down, which made Lü Bu pause for a moment, because normally generals only needed to clasp their fists in respect, only family members would kneel on the ground!

  "Congratulations, we've got a great general back!" A middle-aged scholar stroked his beard and smiled as he said this. This person was Chen Gong, also known as Chen Gutai, who had been captured by Cao's army. Lü Bu failed to kill Cao Cao but instead rescued Chen Gong! This was indeed an unexpected delight!

  Chen Gong also greatly admired this young man named Liu Mang. Although he was not very old, he was able to rescue Lü Bu and come up with such a plan. This time, the surprise attack on Cao's army camp, to be honest, if it weren't for that messenger's mistake, Lü Bu might have really killed Cao Cao. At that time, Yan Province and Xu Province would have been in great chaos, and Lü Bu could have taken advantage of the situation!

  "Haha!" Lü Bu sighed and shook his head. From the beginning, he had a bad feeling about this kid Liu Mang. Everywhere he went, he seemed out of place in this world. You'd say he's just an ignorant country bumpkin who doesn't understand anything, but then he can analyze people so carefully and come up with strategies. But then again, he doesn't even know the most basic etiquette - it's really a strange thing.

  "Maybe!" Lü Bu didn't know what Liu Mang was thinking either, wanting to take him in as a subordinate and make himself his master also required the other party's willingness!

  "Break through the siege!" Lü Bu mounted a sorrel horse and under his command the army began to break through the siege.

  The east gate of Xiapi was opened, and Zhang Liao's troops took the lead. Less than a thousand men walked in front of the army, followed by the central army Lv Bu and Liu Mao, who led hundreds of soldiers to protect several horse-drawn carriages with family members out of the city. There were 800 trapped array camps inside the city gate, now only over 700 are left, most of them still carrying injuries, they need to cut off the pursuit, giving the vanguard and central army time to escape, they may face ten or a hundred times more enemies, they may be annihilated but they have no fear.

  They are the vanguard! They are the vanguard camp, with a determination to die rather than live.

  Watching the last soldier of the Central Army leave, Gao Shun prepared to close the city gate of Xiapi and block the east gate with sandbags, which can delay the enemy's pursuit and also may lead to the siege of the camp.

  They were also blocked, and the eight hundred soldiers of the ambush had made preparations for a desperate fight!

  "Brothers, are you afraid?!" Gao Shun, this normally taciturn man, spoke up.

  "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!" The officers and men of the besieged camp shouted loudly to Gao Shun.

  I thought that with such a smooth situation, everyone would be happy, but High Shun scolded, "Bullshit! You're afraid, I'm afraid too! There's nothing to be ashamed of! In just one more incense stick's time, the entire gate will be blocked to death. Who isn't afraid? It's not shameful! If anyone is now regretting and wants to leave, High Shun is not a person who doesn't know courtesy, then go ahead and leave! I, High Shun, won't blame you!"

  No one was born on the scene, everyone was staring at each other, with a look of struggle and reluctance on their faces, as well as an expression that seemed to accept death.

  "Zhang Kui, step forward!" Gao Shun suddenly shouted out a name.

  "General, I'm not afraid of death! I'm not afraid of death!" The man whose name was called out shouted loudly.

  "You didn't say you were afraid of death, what are you getting excited about!" Gao Shun rarely smiled.

  "Zhang Kui, you've been following me since Pingzhou, right? You followed Gao Shun into the ambush!" said Gao Shun.

  The Chinese character nodded slightly, as if recalling something in his mind.

  "Zhang Kui, a native of Jin Yang in Bian Zhou, is the only son of his family!" Gao Shun said, looking at Zhang Kui.

  "Is your old mother still doing well?!" Gao Shun pulled and dragged him along.

  "Mother, mother is dead!" Zhang Kui's eyes were all dim.

  "Oh!" Gao Shun looked at Zhang Kui's expression and didn't ask much.

  "Zhang Kui, I'm ordering you now to cross the city gate, abandon your heavy load and go after our lord's central army!" Gao Shun said.

  Gao Shun said this, and Zhang Gui became anxious. "General, I'm not afraid to die! General, please leave me behind, don't abandon me!"

  "You're the only child in your family, if you die it doesn't matter, but how will the Zhang family go on without you?" Gao Shun's voice suddenly rose "Your mother has already passed away, since I've been in the army you haven't shown any filial piety, if you die again, how can I face your mother when I go down? And tell them it was me, Gao Shun, who let the Zhang family be cut off and become extinct?! Are you trying to make this general fall into being unkind and unjust?!"

  "General, Zhang Kui didn't mean it, Zhang Kui!" This battle-hardened man who had killed people without batting an eye was almost moved to tears by Gao Shun's words.

  "Get out!" Gao Shun said "I let you go, not to abandon you, but to catch up with the main army of our lord. I am leaving seeds for our Trap Array Camp. Gao Shun can die, Zhang Kui can die, but the Trap Array Camp, our lord's Trap Array Camp cannot be destroyed!"

  "General!" Zhang Kui knew he couldn't persuade Gao Shun, so he knelt down and kowtowed to him several times, each strike hitting the ground with a thud, and soon his head was bleeding.

  Gao Shun ignored him and continued to shout, "Lu Yi, Zhang Yao, Lü Jie, Cheng Yun, Hao Gai... Zhao Kai, step forward!" In one breath, he named over twenty people. "You all put down your loads and leave Xiapi with Zhang Kui to pursue the main army of our lord!"

  "General, what are you talking about? They may be the only child in their family, but I, Cheng Yun, am not! I still have an older brother!" Cheng Yun argued.

  Gao Shun looked at Cheng Yun and muttered to himself, "Yes, yes, you have an older brother, you're not the only child in your family. But where is your brother now? He's in our hearts! He will always live on in our hearts!" Cheng Yun's older brother was named Cheng Feng, who was also a member of the Trapping Array Camp but had died on the battlefield.

  "Get out of here! For your brother's sake, you'd better live a good life too! Did you hear me?!" Gao Shun was almost shouting.

  "Yes!" Cheng Yun replied with tears in her eyes. The twenty or so people stood in a row. "Brothers, put down your loads and let's go!" After finishing speaking, the group of people left without looking back. It wasn't that they were heartless, but rather they feared that if they looked back, they would never be able to bear leaving again!

  "Haha, I, Gao Shun, can die, my brothers can die, but the Lord's vanguard camp absolutely cannot perish!" Gao Shun watched with relief as the twenty or so people left, and with them, they would definitely be able to pull out another group of vanguard soldiers!

  "It's no longer called ambush camp without Gao Shun!"

  Soldiers on the periphery of the encampment discovered an unidentified person.

  "General Wei! General Song?!" A soldier who had fallen into the encampment recognized the two.

  "Wei Xun, Song Xian, how did you come here? Do you think that just because the master won't kill you, I, Gao Shun, won't kill you either?" Gao Shun had no good feelings towards Song Xian and Wei Xun at all. Despite being brothers for so many years, his killing intent was not reduced in the slightest.

  "Yes, yes, yes! Wei Xun and I should both be dead. We've come to atone for our sins!" Song Xian said with a smile.

  "Apologize?!" Gao Shun furrowed his brow and was about to order the execution of these two traitors.

  "Old Gao, you can go! Tell the master that although Pingzhou Army is my and Song Xian's home, we've already lost face to return!" Wei Xu said calmly, his eyes already having a strange glint.

  This kind of thing is understood by Gao Shun, that's a must-die heart!

  "What do you want to do!"

  "Die for your lord instead of you, Lao Gao!" Wei Xun's and Song Xian's troops immediately surrounded the city gate. Both sides drew their bows and crossbows.

  "What makes you think I believe you!" If Song Xian and Wei Xu were to betray again, allowing Cao's army to catch up with Lü Bu's army in one step, they would be finished. With their families, they couldn't escape quickly.

  "Don't worry! Cao Cao has already killed Hou Cheng, and we've also killed a lot of Cao's soldiers. It's impossible for us to surrender again!"

  Gao Shun fell silent for a while. "Have you really thought this through?!" Gao Shun said, "Once this gate is closed, you will truly not be able to leave!"

  "Don't worry, Old Gao! It's not just you, Old Gao, who is not afraid of death in the Pingzhou army!"

  "Good!" Gao Shun took a deep breath. "The vanguard will follow orders! The entire army will retreat from Xiapi and pursue the main force of our lord!"

  "Yes!" The eight hundred troops of the Trapping Array received their orders and left. No need to send them to their deaths, each one's heart had a thread of joy.

  "Old Song and Old Wei will meet again someday!" Gao Shun said these words against his will. Closing the city gate was like clipping one's own wings, a dead end.

  "Hey Lao Gao, don't forget to burn more paper money for me and Old Wei today. If you can't bring us glory in life, at least accompany us in death!"

  "Take care!" Gao Shun nodded and waved his hand, then turned around and left with a cloud of dust.

  "Let's go! Let's go!" Wei Xu looked at the departing army and shook his head, saying "Old Song, do you think we're stupid?!"

  "You're not stupid, what's wrong with you! Good brothers for a lifetime, Old Hou is already waiting for us below, we can't leave him alone!"

  "Yes, Old Hou, don't worry, we'll come find you later!" Wei Xu suddenly changed his expression and shouted loudly "Pass down my military order, seal off the city gate, fight to the death and do not retreat! As long as one of us is still alive, absolutely no Cao army will be allowed to leave here!"

  Master! Master! Let's be brothers again in our next life! Next time I'll be the older brother!