Chapter Twenty-Four: Play Big or Don't Play at All

  The era of cold weapons had no gunpowder smoke, no cannon fire, but there was a kind of hot weapon that could not be replaced, that is, bloody cruelty, and more visually impactful.

  Cao Cao's order to attack the city was like a signal for the entire Cao army to charge at the city walls like ants.

  The four city gates in the southeast, west and north were all under attack, wave after wave of Cao's army, staining the city walls red with blood.

  Zang Ba dispersed his soldiers, but he stationed himself in Kaiyang for a long time. As a result, the city defense of Kaiyang was not inferior to that of Xiapi, and even if Xiapi had the protection of the Si River, its defenses would not be better than Zang Ba's!

  Lü Bu was at the front, while Guo Shun, Zhang Liao and Zhang Bao were at the other three gates. The presence of these three men also helped to calm the nerves of the soldiers.

  Liu Meng had just repelled a wave of Cao's army on the city wall and hadn't even had time to rest when Old Cao's troops attacked again.

  Four city gates, each with 20,000 people attacking, and below them are tigers and leopards riding in a fierce stare.

  "Open the gate, open the gate!" Cao Cao narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the city in front of him. He had thought it was just a minor county town in Xuzhou, far inferior to the major strongholds of Xiapi, but he was wrong. Despite having the advantage of numbers and siege engines, they still suffered heavy casualties.

  "Filial piety, did you know who originally garrisoned Kaiyang?!" Cao Cao inquired.

  Guo Fu Xiao seemed to know what Cao was thinking, took a sip of wine and said: "Zang Ba hid in the high mountains, he is also a Chinese from Mount Tai. His father's name is Zang Jie, with two sons, Zang Ai and Zang Shun. When he was young, he gathered several people to rescue his guilty father, after which they wandered around. Later, he became the cavalry captain under Tao Qian, responsible for recruiting soldiers to resist the Yellow Turbans. Along with Sun Guan, Yin Li and others, they occupied Kaiyang, forming an independent force. In the second year of Jian'an, he led his troops to defeat Xiao Jian, occupying Ju City. This led to Lü Bu sending troops to attack Zang Ba, but later the two made peace!

  "Zang Ba Cang Xuan Gao?!" Cao Cao lowered his head and began to think.

  "This Kaiyang was originally Zang Ba's large camp, before being captured by Lü Bu, this was also the capital of Zang Ba to negotiate with Tao Qian! With his own strength, he can make Kaiyang like a state capital, this Zang Ba is indeed a talented person!"

  "My lord, my lord, you don't have to always think about recruiting talents. Do you want to recruit a traitor? Fine, now the south gate is being guarded by him, General Xiahou Dun has already launched several waves of attacks and can't even get on the city wall!" Guo Jia was also worried, his lord had a serious suspicious mind and loved talents, seeing anyone he wanted to recruit. If it were that easy to recruit, would Lü Bu need to come to Langya?!

  "Lord, I request to go into battle!" Looking at his own troops being unable to break through the city walls after attacking for so long, Xu Huang on the side grew a bit anxious.

  "Ah, justice!" Cao Cao looked at Xu Huang who was asking to go to war and shook his head "Don't be impatient, it's not the right time yet!" On the city wall, a golden armored general shone brightly in the sunlight like a god of war! This is Lü Bu, as long as he stands there, Lü Bu's army will be an invincible force.

  Lü Bu hasn't even made a move, how could Cao Cao possibly send his own great generals out? Xu Huang, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, Yu Jin, Li Dian - these are all powerful generals under Old Cao's command. However, not one of them is a match for Lü Bu. Sending them out now would only serve to give Lü Bu more heads to collect.

  One man alone cannot be the opponent of a tiger, but humans can use strategy. The tactic of exhausting the enemy, day and night non-stop attacking the city, Cao Cao has plenty of men! As long as they can exhaust Lü Bu to death, no matter how many people die it's worth it.

  "Alas, my evil has come and is no longer by my side!" Old Cao's face was gloomy.

  Guo Jia knew that Cao Cao was thinking of Dian Wei again. In the Battle of Wan City, Cao Cao not only lost his beloved son but also a fierce general like him.

  The sky gradually darkened, the sun was about to set, and the soldiers of both Cao and Lü Bu let out a sigh of relief. In ancient times, it wasn't like modern times when there were lights everywhere at night. In ancient times, except for moonlight, there was no other light source, so battles were fought during the day.

  "Sound the golden horn and retreat!" Cao Cao glanced at the golden-armored man on the city wall, and Lü Bu, also in golden armor, seemed to sense that Cao Cao was looking at him. He too turned his gaze, and their eyes met in mid-air, sparking a flame of rivalry between these two heroes of the chaotic era.

  "What casualties?!" Lü Bu asked his junior officer.

  "Three hundred and eighty wounded, more than one hundred and twenty-two dead!" The small school said that the injury represents a serious injury, can no longer go to the battlefield, in just one day, just a single white day, there were more than five hundred casualties, four city walls, that is more than two thousand people.

  How many men does Lü Bu have in total? Less than 10,000, can't they hold on for more than five days?!

  Cao Jun's casualties are no longer a concern, with the bodies piled up under the city wall numbering at least three thousand. But what can be done? Cao's army can afford to lose them, but Lü Bu cannot.

  "What can we do now?!" Lü Bu had never wanted a strategist to come up with a plan as much as he did today, one that would allow him to retreat from Cao Cao's great army.

  "Long live the ancestors!" Chen Gong's expression was also gloomy. They had all been deceived by Zang Ba. If Zang Ba hadn't dispersed the troops, relying on the 30,000 soldiers of Taishan, plus the 10,000 Chen family soldiers on the road, with an army of 40,000 in hand, Cao Cao would not have dared to make a move. But now the 30,000-strong army was gone, leaving only 5,000 stones of grain and a few hundred sets of armor, plus less than 100 war horses.

  The current situation is even more severe than that of Xiapi, and there are no more troops outside Xuzhou to rescue them.

  "Alas!" Lü Bu sighed, he knew that he had already fallen into a desperate situation. The battle of Xiapi had taught him that there was no city in this world that could not be breached.

  "If it's really impossible, then Gongtai, you take Bu's daughter and Liu Mang, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba with their hundred or so war horses to break through the encirclement!" Lu Bu's eyes gleamed "With me, Lu Bu around, I can definitely help you stall for a day or two!"

  "My lord! Absolutely not!" Lü Bu's army is called Lü Bu's army because of the existence of Lü Bu. If Lü Bu were gone, would it still be called Lü Bu's army?

  Liu Meng stood by without speaking, but his heart was warm. At this critical moment, Lü Bu didn't think of breaking through himself, but thought of his daughter and Liu Meng. To be honest, Liu Meng was actually just working for Lü Bu, but boss Lü Bu could always think of him, that feeling was like a senior! Yes, it's the kind of feeling seniors have towards their juniors.

  The button in his body that showed transmission had lit up again. Liu Mang was originally going to leave, but now...

  "Give me money!" Liu Mang said calmly.

  "Huh?!" Chen Gong furrowed his brow. What's with thinking about money at a time like this?!

  "I'm telling you, give me the money!" Liu Mao repeated again, looking at Lv Bu and Chen Gong's puzzled expressions. Liu Mao explained, "Three days, just hold on for three days, I'll be back. General Zhang Liao said it himself, as long as we have enough horses, his Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry will be invincible! I can bring you horses, bring you armor, but I need money, a lot of money!"

  "Is this true?!" Lü Bu's eyes lit up, his mounted archers from the state of Yan were truly wolf-like cavalry, and with horses, they would be even more formidable than the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the White Horse Volunteers, or the Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

  "When have I ever cheated you!" Liu rolled his eyes "But I need a lot of gold!"

  "How much do you need?!" Chen Gong still had a worried face, the money left by Kaiyang was not much. In this chaotic world, horses had become strategic materials and were all controlled by several lords in the border towns, such as Yuan Shao, Ma Teng, Han Sui and others. They simply did not intend to sell horses, even if they sold them, it would be dozens of gold per horse. With the money left by Kaiyang, how many horses could he buy?

  Buying a horse, Liu Mang is not an expert, but Liu Mang has a classmate whose family raises horses. In Shandong Hongwei, there is a huge breeding farm. According to that classmate, an ordinary adult horse costs around 10,000 yuan, only some racing horses can reach several million.

  Jinzi, when Liu Mang came, the price of gold in the market was 300 yuan per gram. To buy a mature horse, you need 35 grams, and one hundred horses need 3500 grams.

  "How much do you need?!" Liu Mang asked back.

  "A thousand war horses?!" Chen Gong said cautiously, uttering a single number.

  "A thousand taels?" Liu Mang calculated that it was equivalent to 35,000 grams, which is about 70 catties of gold. According to the Three Kingdoms' standard, that would be 1,120 ounces of gold.

  Liu Mang added an integer "1200 gold!"

  "What?!" Lü Bu jumped up in surprise.

  "This can't be?! Chen Gong also lost his composure, this price is too damn rip-off!"

  "Isn't it expensive?!" Liu Mang didn't know the price of warhorses in the Three Kingdoms era, but this was indeed the market price for horses nowadays. "If you think it's too expensive, I can still negotiate with them!" Buying a thousand horses would be a transaction worth over ten million, and such a deal would definitely come with discounts.

  "No, no!": Lü Bu and Chen Gong hastily shook their heads.

  "How much more gold is left in Kaiyang Prefecture?!" Lü Bu asked Chen Gong, suppressing his own joyful expression.

  "There's less than 2,000 jin left, but General Zang Ba must still have several thousand jin!" Zang Ba was preparing to retire and return to his hometown, so his mansion must have accumulated a large amount of assets that originally belonged to Kaiyang.

  "Alright!" Lü Bu calmed down and said, "I'll borrow 5,000 taels of gold from Zang Ba and tell him I'll repay double later! After that, I'll give all 7,000 taels to Han Yang. I want 5,000 war horses!" Lü Bu stretched out five fingers as he spoke.

  "Five thousand horses?!" Liu Mang's eyes widened as he stared at Lü Bu. "This is seven thousand jin of gold, even if we buy five thousand warhorses, there will still be two thousand jin left!" What about buying helmets and armor with the rest?!

  Lü boss is going to make a big move this time.