Chapter 29: The Battle of Kaiyang (2)

  "Lü Bu!" Xu Huang composed himself, looking at the golden-armored general in front of him. "The city is about to be breached, if you know what's good for you, it's best to give up resistance and go with us to surrender to Lord Cao, we can also plead for your life!" Xu Huang said sternly, the Cao army outside the city gate was growing larger, originally just a white dot in the black clothes, now mixed together with the black.

  Cao Jun has already occupied half of the country and his defenses are becoming increasingly solid, most of Lü Bu's army can no longer drive out the enemy but is in self-defense.

  Lü Bu looked at the increasingly numerous Cao army with an expressionless face "Is that so?!"

  "Wen Hou! You are also a loyal minister of the Han court, Cao Chengxiang represents the Son of Heaven, which is Your Majesty. To turn against the Son of Heaven with your spear is to seek death! Put down your arms, and perhaps Your Majesty will spare your life!" Li Dian had never fought against Lü Bu before, but he had heard of his reputation, so he was being very polite to him.

  "Surrender?!" Lü Bu laughed. "Spare my life?!" He laughed very happily. "Your choice is making things difficult for me!" Lü Bu took off his cloak and put it aside. "I, Lü Bu, was born in Wuyuan County, Jiuyuan County, a border town. You know what that place is like? It's cold and bitter, mostly inhabited by exiles. To survive, I, Lü Bu, entered the grasslands alone to hunt for food. Who would have thought that I didn't find any prey, but was instead surrounded by a pack of wolves! The night on the grasslands, oh so green and lush... over ten wolves! When I was surrounded, some cavalry from a neighboring tribe passed by and told me that if I begged for mercy and became their slave, they would save me! It was a matter of life and death. I, Lü Bu, had no weapons, but I didn't beg for mercy. Over ten wolves wanted to eat me! But I also wanted to eat them. I was starving, really starving! I knew that even if these wolves didn't come after me, I would still starve to death on the grasslands. So I went mad, and charged at the pack of wolves. I had to eat them to survive!" Lü Bu revealed his neck, which was covered in countless scars and bite marks.

  "You see? They bite me, I bite them. Wolves like to bite the vital parts - neck, arm, head! I learned from them, they bite where I bite too! In the end, it was their flesh and blood that kept me alive!"

  Learn from the wolf? Bite the wolf to death? Rely on wolf meat to survive?! Cao's army was drooling beside them. Xu Huang and Li Dian's personal soldiers surrounded Lü Bu, but they didn't dare move.

  Lü Bu continued, "As I grew up, I joined the great Han army. In winter, it was the time for the nomadic tribes to raid us. At the Battle of Jushi, our Han army had 123 men, surrounded by 30,000 Wuhuan cavalry in the wilderness! My weapon broke and I replaced it with another one, my warhorse died and I got another one, my armor was stained with blood that couldn't be washed off. Out of 123 men, only three survived, including me, Lü Bu. I never begged for mercy. Do you know how many Wuhuan people died at my hands?"

  Lü Bu stretched out his finger: "One hundred and twenty-three men, one hundred and two dead, defeated the Wuhuan cavalry of 30,000, beheaded 7,000 heads!"

  Every time the numbers were reported, Xu Huan and Li Dian felt a chill in their hearts. One hundred versus thirty thousand, this was already three hundred times the number of enemies, Lü Bu also thought he would surely die at that time, but who knew he became enraged, scared off the Wuhuan people, and escaped with his life after they scattered in flight.

  "Afterwards, I followed Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang! In the war against Wuhuan and Liaodong, I learned one thing from those foreign tribes, the grassland wolf packs, and our own Han officials: surrender is always a dead end. If I had surrendered to those wolf packs, perhaps I would have become just another pile of bleached bones on the grasslands by now. And if I had surrendered to the Wuhuan people, I might be a slave or even killed by them! Lu Bu laughed as he looked at Xu Huang and Li Dian: "You think I should surrender now?!"

  "Wen Hou, Cao Chengxiang is neither a wolf nor an outsider! He is the Chancellor of my Great Han and represents Your Majesty!" Li Dian still refused to give up trying to persuade Lü Bu to surrender.

  "What's the difference?!" Lü Bu smiled calmly. "Those scholars like Kong Rong are always saying 'wolf heart dog lungs', but they don't know that human hearts and lungs are even more ruthless than wolves, more poisonous than dogs. In Luoyang, outside Tiger Trap Pass, and in Xiapi City, three times he Cao Mengde almost died at my hands! What chance does he have to escape me?! Xiahou Yuan was also severely injured by me." Lü Bu sneered, "What's more, is Cao Mengde afraid that this three-surnamed slave will become four-surnamed?!"

  Li Dian really has nothing to say, if it were Li Dian himself, he would also think it's impossible. If someone almost killed you, would you forgive him? This scene of almost being killed by this person didn't just happen once, but three times. Not only did this person almost kill you, but also seriously injured your own brother, and most importantly, this person has a history of rebellion.

  Not to mention Cao Cao, even if it were a sage or a virtuous person, it would be impossible to forget just by saying so.

  "Lü Bu, did you really think we would advise surrender out of kindness? Don't daydream, we're just stalling for time!" Xu Huang spoke up.

  "Ah?!" Lü Bu looked around and saw that more than half of the city wall had been occupied, and Cao's army was getting stronger and stronger. The city of Puyang was about to be broken, and Lü Bu was already in a desperate situation.

  "Never mind whether the Prime Minister will bypass you or not. If you surrender, how can we take your head to present our merits?" Xu Huang sneered.

  "I'd love to take someone's head! How simple!" Lü Bu raised the trident in his hand, "The head is right here, waiting for you to come and take it!"

  "Since you're looking for death, don't blame us!" Xu Huan swung his giant axe "Brothers, come with me, kill Lü Bu and each of you will be promoted three ranks, rewarded with a mansion and a thousand gold coins!" The giant axe was raised and fell with a swoop.

  "Up, kill Lü Bu and the Prime Minister will surely reward you heavily, enfeoff your wife and children, establish merit and build achievements right here! " Li Dian looked at Xu Huang taking action and also swung his big knife forward.

  "Hahaha!" Lü Bu laughed heartily, his trident held high as he bellowed "I am Lü Bu, the Flying General! Who dares to fight me?" A fierce aura of a beast from the primordial chaos spread out.

  Li Dian had a misconception that his opponent was not human, but a beast, a behemoth capable of devouring the nine heavens.