Chapter 40: Crying is an Art (First Update)

  The Battle of Xiaoyang ended, and the entire Xuzhou campaign came to an end. Cao Cao mobilized his entire army of 100,000 troops, plus Liu Dai's 20,000 soldiers, totaling 120,000 men, under the command of Military Advisor Guo Jia, Generals Cao Ren, Xiahou brothers, Yu Jin, Li Dian, Xu Huang, and Xu Chu, to capture Xuzhou. Lü Bu broke through the siege and escaped.

  Cao Jun lost 120,000 soldiers and more than 50,000 were killed. What pained Old Cao the most was that out of the 3,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, less than 300 remained after the battle. One Tiger and Leopard Cavalry could produce ten elite supplementary soldiers, so 3,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was equivalent to 30,000 infantrymen. Not to mention the loss of horses.

  Lü Bu also suffered heavy losses, with 75,000 troops including the Wolfish Cavalry of Bingzhou, and in the end only 2,500 were left. He lost Xuzhou, and four generals: Song Xian, Wei Xu, Hou Cheng, and Cao Xing.

  The remaining ones were Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and Zang Ba.

  Liu Mang brought five thousand war horses, and after a battle outside Yang City, less than four thousand five hundred were left. Most of the war horses died under Guo Jia's arrows.

  "Has Han Yang woken up?!" Lü Bu took off his cloak and helmet, asking the people in the carriage.

  "Father, no!" A beautiful woman walked out of the carriage, with a head of black silk, a lovely face, having Lü Bu's sword-like eyebrows and also Yan's gentle beauty, she was indeed a peerless beauty.

  Isn't this the big sister of the Lv Bu's family!

  Lü Qílíng's face was exhausted, taking care of Liu Mǎng day and night was all done by her, feeding him food, wiping his body, thinking about this Lü Qílíng couldn't help but blush.

  Who made it so that there are so many women in this entire army, you can't let the big men take care of Liu Mang, can you? Besides, others are either Zang Ba's family members or Lü Bu's family members. Except for Miss Lü who has already been engaged to Liu Mang, which other woman can do such a thing?

  "Not yet!" Lü Bu's eyebrows furrowed, it was Liu Mang who saved him on the White Gate Tower, and also brought food, and it was Liu Mang's five thousand cavalry and heavy armor that saved Lü Bu's army. So for Liu Mang's safety, Lü Bu was more concerned than anyone else, which is why he had come no less than ten times already.

  "Your Excellency, don't worry! Han Yang is fine, just a bit pale due to blood loss. His vitality is not robust, that's all!" Chen Gong had already changed into new clothes, his original attire was stained with fresh blood and couldn't be worn anymore. Now he wore ordinary cloth robes, with the aluminum armor brought by Liu Mang on top. Chen Gong was also quite a dashing figure, standing there rivaling Lü Bu in appearance.

  "Is the blood circulation not vigorous?!" Lü Bu didn't know what he was thinking about, seeming worried and hesitant. In the end, he had to leave first "Hanyang wakes up immediately and sends someone to inform me!"

  "Understood, Father!" Lü Qílíng nodded her head. Although she and Liu Mǎng didn't have a real husband-and-wife relationship, they had the name of one now. And after these past few days of day-and-night care, he also knew that it was this guy in front of him, the one who had seen his body, yet was the benefactor who had saved his family.

  I heard he's also a celestial being?! Lü Qīlíng wasn't unaware of military affairs either, out of thin air appeared so many war horses and heavy armor, is this something a mortal can achieve?!

  Like Liu Mang, there is another big man who fainted, that is Cao Da Ye, the death of Cao Chun should not be said to be the loss of the Tiger and Leopard Riders, which made Old Cao directly heartbroken and fainted.

  It wasn't until these past few days that I slowly came back to life.

  After waking up, the first sentence is how are my tiger and leopard cavalry.

  "Lord, the 3,000 Tiger and Leopard Riders are now less than 300!" In fact, even that number is an exaggeration. Those who can still survive are basically all injured, and after the battle with the Pingzhou Wolf Riders, these Tiger and Leopard Riders have lost their morale. An army without morale, no matter how elite, cannot fight anymore.

  "Three thousand!! Three hundred!!" Old Cao muttered to himself, "Why, why did I have to pursue Lü Bu all the way to Kaiyang! Why didn't I hold a celebratory banquet after capturing Lü Bu back then!" Old Cao was filled with regret.

  "Zi and him!" Old Cao thought of his own clan brother and asked.

  "The body has been put into the coffin, and before death, it was still a look of loyalty to the lord!" Guo Jia said in a low voice. He couldn't say that Cao Chun's expression before his death was one of fear and disbelief.

  "Filial piety, filial piety!" Old Cao burst into tears again. To be honest, compared to crying, Old Cao was not much inferior to Liu Bei. Even in this era of heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty, there were many people who could cry, but none were as famous as Liu Bei. That's because Liu Bei's most outstanding ability was his crying, and his other abilities were overshadowed by his crying ability and ignored.

  The more he thought about Old Cao, the more heartbroken he became. Cao Chun was gone, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were gone, all these years of building up the heavy armor cavalry, just like that, they were all gone. Old Cao cried uncontrollably, without shame, and ran out, not even wearing shoes.

  A coffin was placed outside the account, and Old Cao lay on it and started wailing loudly.

  This cry also earned Old Cao the hearts of many people. Many generals stood outside the tent, watching as Old Cao had just woken up without even putting on his shoes or clothes, and immediately thought of the generals who had died in battle for him. Therefore, these generals all felt a sense of "dying for one's lord".

  Peach Boy and his two brothers were standing beside them.

  Zhang Fei, who was most straightforward, looked at Cao Cao's crying and wailing expression and said, "This Cao Cao is not a bad person, is he? His generals have died, and he can cry like this. It seems that he is also a sentimental person!" In Zhang Fei's eyes, what made someone a good person was their ability to cry and drink wine.

  "Meng De is also a hero!" Guan Yu also had some appreciation for Cao Cao, and if he hadn't followed his own brother earlier, he might be serving under the old man now. The old man even gave him the Red Hare in Xiapi, so Guan Yu was speaking well of Cao Cao.

  Looking at the reflection of the two brothers, Liu Bei did not have much expression fluctuation. Chi Tu said, "Did you buy it? Second brother, take a look at Guan Yu and say" Is that right? Two wise younger brothers, why don't you look at Cao Cao's mouth shape! What is he crying about!" The people standing far away couldn't hear what Cao Cao was saying, but Liu Bei kept paying attention to Cao Cao's mouth shape.

  "Ah oh!" Zhang Fei imitated Cao's tone and started speaking, but he just couldn't get it right. "Big brother, how do you read this?"

  "Zi He? Zi He! Hu Bao Qi?" Guan Yu was indeed looking, but at first he didn't notice what Cao Cao said. Now that he saw the expression, it became complicated.

  "My lord, restrain your grief! Restrain your grief!" Only Guo Jia's expression was the most helpless, because Old Cao kept shouting "Zihe" in his mouth, but this...

  Guo Jia had not yet had time to stop him, when Cao Cao opened the coffin lid and cried out in a tearful voice " Zi...!" But he could not bring himself to say another word, for inside the coffin lay Li Dian, who had taken his own life.

  "Li Dian?!" The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are gone, Cao Chun is gone, now it's good that Li Dian is also gone. Although Li Dian has always been a deputy general, Old Cao knew his skills. He didn't use Li Dian too much just to hone him, but now he's lying in the coffin.

  "What about the child?!" Cao Cao asked cautiously. He didn't dare to shout loudly, how could he tell others that he had cried for the wrong person? Li Dian was also one of his generals, but Li Dian's death hadn't made Old Cao cry like this.

  "General Cao Chun has already been arranged to be sent to Xuchang in a large carriage," Guo Jia whispered into Cao Cao's ear. Cao Chun was pinned to the ground by Lü Bu's full-strength thrown spear, his entire body and warhorse stuck together inseparably. Guo Jia had no choice but to send Cao Chun to Xuchang first, as there wasn't a coffin large enough; they would have one made once they arrived.

  "Good, good!" Old Cao's expression immediately changed.

  (PS: Thanks to Bamboo Gift and Dark Dragon for the rewards, thanks! Today, those who have recommended tickets and rewards will kill me!)