Chapter 32: The Battle of Kaiyang (5) First Update

  "You're all here!" Lü Bu beheaded a retreating Cao soldier, splashing blood all over his face. However, Lü Bu didn't feel anything and only let out a sigh of relief as he watched the Cao soldiers retreat.

  As soon as he relaxed, the injuries on his body erupted, and Lü Bu stumbled. If it wasn't for Gao Shun supporting him, he would have probably fallen to the ground with a black eye.

  Lü Bu knew that these four were in charge of the other three gates, although they did not bear the brunt of the pressure like himself, but were also being attacked by Cao's army one after another. Yu Jin, Xiahou Dun, and Cao Ren - none of them were easy to get along with.

  Now four people have appeared here, does that mean three doors have been broken?!!

  As expected, Gao Shun finally spoke up. "My lord, I, Gao Shun, am incompetent and lost the South Gate!" The gloomy expression on his face was evident in his words. In fact, it couldn't be blamed on Gao Shun. What was he good at? Apart from leading the vanguard, it was attacking cities! If he were the one attacking now, he would have eighteen ways to take down Kaiyang, but his role was that of a defender.

  "The North Gate can't hold on anymore!" Zhang Liao said with a bitter smile, his Bianzhou Iron Cavalry, which should have been charging into battle on horseback, had instead been worn down against the city walls.

  "It's all Lord Cao's fault, you killed the last general!" Zang Ba directly knelt down on the ground, and more than half of the responsibility for not defending Kaiyang was on Zang Ba's body. If his 30,000 troops had not been dispersed, if that much grain and fodder were still there, if a thousand war horses were still there!

  But is there such a thing in this world? So Zang Ba was ashamed and knelt down to the ground, hoping that Lü Bu could kill him with one sword, so that he could be at peace.

  "Cough, cough, cough!" Lü Bu covered his chest, one cough after another, fresh blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth. Lü Bu's hand had already grasped the halberd, and a fierce killing intent burst forth in his eyes, ready to strike down with the halberd at any moment.

  Zang Ba had already closed his eyes, and Zhang Liao was so anxious that he kept turning around. If Lü Bu really had the intention to kill, there would be no one who could stop him.

  "Rise!" Lü Bu said in a deep voice. "In Lü Bu's army, there are only those who die fighting, not those who live on their knees!"

  "What?!" Zang Ba was taken aback, seeing that Lü Bu's hand had already loosened its grip on the Fang Tian Hua Halberd. He couldn't help but feel a sense of unease, wondering if Lü Bu didn't even want to take action himself.

  "Alright! Zang Ba's heart was filled with bitterness, and he bowed his head to Lü Bu, "My lord, take care, I'll go first!" With that, Zang Ba ran towards the city wall, wanting to climb over it directly.

  "Slap!" A loud slap suddenly rang out, Lü Bu angrily struck out with his hand, a slap sent Zhang Fei flying to one side.

  Five fingerprints suddenly appeared on Zang Ba's face.

  "Lu Bu, you!" Zang Ba was a general, and before surrendering to Lu Bu, he was the tyrant of Langya. Even after surrendering to Lu Bu, he remained an unyielding figure, which is why Lu Bu had never incorporated him into his army. Now, Zang Ba was about to go mad, having been slapped by Lu Bu in front of so many people. He wasn't afraid of death, but he couldn't bear the humiliation.

  "You still want to lay hands on me?!" Lü Bu sneered, "Zang Ba, Zang Gong, I thought you were a man of character. But after the fall of Xiapi City, you became foolish and dispersed your troops. If it was just foolishness, there might have been some hope for salvation, but now it seems that foolishness has reached its peak!"

  "Lü Bu, how dare you humiliate me!" Zang Ba had already forgotten that Lü Bu was his lord. People with a stubborn and unruly temperament have one major characteristic - they are easily irritated, and his hand had already grasped the hilt of his knife.

  "My lord!" Zhang Liao exclaimed, Lu Bu was being so unreasonable, scolding his subordinates at this critical moment, did he want another White Gate Tower incident?

  Lü Bu glared at Zhang Liao, signaling him to shut up. "You die! Do you think I, Lü Bu, can't stop you? If your death can make Cao Cao retreat his troops, then go and die for me! Not only that, but I'll personally behead you and send your head to Cao Cao!"

  "Me!" Zang Ba was slightly calmer, but then was stirred up again by a sentence from Lü Bu.

  "What a thing you are, Zang Ba!?" Lü Bu pointed at Zang Ba's nose and scolded: "The city has fallen, it should be the responsibility of the commander-in-chief, the fault of the commander-in-chief! You, Zang Xuan Gao, want to commit suicide to apologize, do you want me, the commander of this army, to kill nine clans to apologize?!"

  Lü Bu stood up and looked at the remaining Lü Bu army which was full of wounds, then suddenly knelt down on one knee.

  "Master! Master?!" Zhang Liao was stunned.

  "Absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible!" Gao Shun's words became incoherent.

  "Lü Bu? Lü Fengxian?!" Zhang Fei's determination to fight to the death also subsided.

  "What's the point of this again!" Chen Gong sighed and didn't stop him.

  "My fellow brothers, you have followed me, Lü Bu, through battles from Jiuyuan to Luoyang, from the borders to the Central Plains, and back to Pingzhou, Jizhou, then to Yanzhou, and now we are besieged in Xuzhou! Although I, Lü Bu, may not have achieved great accomplishments in my lifetime, I have not owed anyone anything. I killed Ding Yuan because he treated me as a servant, despite being called his adopted son. A mere chief clerk, I was stuck in that position for seven years! How many seven-year periods does one's life have?"

  "Dong Zhuo? He gave me Red Hare and gave me prosperity, I killed him, not just because of Lady Ren, everyone thought I Lü Bu was caught in Wang Yun's beautiful plan, but who among you can know, a man cannot even protect his own wife, what else can he do, scold me for being a traitor, scold me as a three-surname slave, I admit it all, as long as I Lü Bu can live well, I don't care about the mouths of the people in the world!"

  "But to you, I owe a great debt! You followed me through thick and thin, suffered countless deaths and injuries, without complaint or regret. Even if Wei Xunhou became Song Xian, and Hao Meng, Chen Deng, and Chen Qiu all turned against me, there would still be you by my side!"

  "Below Yu broke through, as long as you surrender with Cao Mengde's love for talent, he will definitely bypass you, but you didn't! You didn't surrender and instead followed someone to charge out! And Bu? He couldn't bring you wealth and glory, couldn't let you build merit and establish a family, Bu is ashamed!"

  Lü Bu's eyes looked over, as if wanting to take in all the soldiers and remember them in his heart. On the other side, Zhang Yu, who had followed him since his father's time, was from Bianzhou, Jizhou, Luoyang, and Chang'an! These were all places of sorrow for Zhang Yu, because except for him, his whole family had died in battle, his father and three older brothers all dying on the battlefield.

  Zhang Yu's tender face was covered in blood, he was only fourteen years old, but now he had become a seasoned and elite soldier who had been through hundreds of battles! Lü Bu didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

  "Now the city is about to be breached, and there's still one chance! If you want to leave, the city gate can't be opened, but you can reach Cao's camp through these cloud ladders left behind by Cao's army. I can also write a letter for you, Cao Mengde only wants my life, Lü Bu's life, as long as I die, he will still give me this face and spare your lives!"

  "My lord, we won't leave!" Zhang Liao knelt down, knocking his head against the green bricks, with hot tears streaming from his eyes.

  "My lord, you're dead! Gao Shun won't live!" Gao Shun's eyes were fixed on Lü Bu as he also knelt down.

  "I'll follow the general to death!" a veteran from Pingzhou shouted, one of his arms was gone, and a rough bandage made of hemp cloth was tied around it, blood had stained his entire uniform, his face was pale, but his voice was extremely loud.

  "Our general is dead, we are lost!" Another soldier raised his mutilated long sword.

  "General, we won't leave!" If we were going to leave, we would have left long ago!

  "Yes, we won't leave! A man's death is just a bowl-sized scar. At worst it's death, but even if we die, we must follow the general!"

  That fourteen-year-old Zhang Yu silently walked to the front, pointing to a bone circle made of grass ropes on his body, with small bones on it: "General, my father is dead, my brother is also dead! Zhang Yu has nowhere to go!"

  "We will follow General to death! We will follow General to death!" The voice grew louder and more majestic.

  "You!" Lü Bu, this bloodthirsty man who never shed tears, also had his eyes filled with tears. General! This title was so familiar, it was the same boastful words he spoke when he stood outside the pass years ago, he wanted to conquer the Wolf's Lair, he wanted to become the Flying General of Great Han.