Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

A night owl flew across the night sky, then turned back and flew towards the woods behind with a strange cry.

The road below was dark. On the plain from west to east, a team of more than 6,000 people moved forward quickly. The ratio of horses to infantry was nearly two to one. The brown-armored soldiers riding war horses tried their best to slow down their pace and march together with the infantry behind them.

The quiet wilderness was filled with the sound of footsteps. Li Ji rode on his warhorse and called the scouts in the army. A personal soldier beside him lit a torch to illuminate the feng shui map in his hand. After pointing and confirming that the route was correct, he asked the personal soldier to extinguish the torch.

The blue-maned warhorse with its bells removed came over with its hooves. The general named Zhier Fulang wore a lion helmet and a Suan Ni armor. The long-handled moon axe in his hand was wrapped with gold threads. He clasped his fists on the horse's back and said, "General, the scouts in front are back."

"Let them come." Li Ji raised his head. There were many scouts in the army, and not all of them were sent out at once. It was common for them to come back in batches. Often those who came back late would bring some new information.

Several figures quickly stepped forward as they were greeted. The leader saluted and said, "General, most of the Qi army camps have extinguished their fires. They must have gone to bed."

Li Ji looked up at the moonlight and frowned: "It's not even the hour of Xu yet... so early?"

"Perhaps he and his men are planning to rest early and attack our army before dawn tomorrow?" Zhier Fulang said, tilting his head, "I heard that Lu Bu loves surprise attacks, it must be for this reason."

Li Ji thought about it and nodded: "Perhaps, but he didn't expect that I would attack him at night this time."

"Only the general has such courage. Anyone else would choose to stay in the city." Zhier Fulang raised his hand and clasped his fists: "Fortunately, Yelu Xiangwen defeated the vanguard of the Qi army during the day, otherwise who knows what the situation would be like today."

"I just had a sudden thought and wanted to give it a try." Li Ji smiled and lightly kicked the horse's belly to make it move forward. "If the Qi army travels lightly, they can reach Huizhou in one day. However, they are planning to attack Zhou and Champa, so they can't move fast. It's not surprising that they stopped halfway."

"Besides..." He took a breath and said, "I heard that after Xiao Haili fell into trouble, Lü Bu was insignificant. Now that he is seriously injured by General Kou, this will surely make Lü thief furious and lose his mind." He turned his head slightly, with a meaningful expression on his face, "When people are angry, they tend to make mistakes impulsively. This is a good opportunity for us."

"Only the general can convince him to let you come and have a try." Zhier Fulang followed behind with the moon axe in his hand, and said seriously, "I heard that the general is not happy to fight with the Qi bandits in the field, but he is still fully prepared. It is really not easy to let the general lead the troops to come at this critical moment."

"How can it be as difficult as you say?"

The wind started to blow, and the cold moonlight appeared for a moment before returning to the clouds. Li Ji stroked his beard with a smile, "The commander really wants to defeat the Qi bandits. I am just bringing the army to have a look. If there is no chance, we will withdraw." The right general turned around and said calmly, "I am not a stupid person. I will not do something that I know is impossible."

"The general is wise."

The general in the rear gave a compliment, which elicited a few chuckles from the front.

In the darkness, the undulating figures are moving away.

……

A night owl flew over the dark old forest. The night wind was getting stronger. From time to time, a bright corner of the moon could be seen. The army, which had been marching for a day, set up camp here. Tomorrow morning they would move out to Huizhou and then attack Shangjing.

The makeshift camp was not built very solidly. Several rows of deer antlers were piled outside, and there was a shallow trench in front of the wooden fence. Soldiers were patrolling the camp with torches.

In the temporary central army camp, Yu Cheng picked up the wine cup and poured a glass of wine to Lu Bu, then poured another glass to Wang Zheng, then turned around and walked outside and stood still holding the phoenix-head axe.

"Your Majesty, you suddenly slowed down your march during the day. Are you thinking that someone will come to raid your camp?" Wang Zheng sat there like a boneless person, with one hand supporting his cheek and leaning on the table. "Zheng thought that Your Majesty would be angry and raise an army, and was just about to persuade him."

Lu Bu took a sip of the warm wine and looked up at Wang Zheng: "I was indeed angry at first, otherwise I would not have ordered a quick march to reach Huizhou City at night. But later I calmed down and thought that since I was so angry...", turning the retro wine vessel, his expression was a little strange: "Then he should be able to guess what I am thinking, why not take advantage of it."

"Your Majesty can endure what others cannot endure, which is a sign of a wise ruler." Wang Zheng seemed to have grown bones suddenly, straightened up and saluted with his hands crossed: "I congratulate Your Majesty and Great Qi."

Lu Bu smacked his lips, waved his hands, and made an expression that said he would stop flattering others. He thought to himself, this is experience that I have gained at the cost of my life. Compared with life...

What's there to be unhappy about?
Wang Zheng also smiled when he saw this. It seemed as if the bones in his body suddenly melted and he went limp. "Your Majesty, tell me, when will the Liao dogs come to attack us?"

The candle flame exploded with a spark, illuminating the expression on the person's face. Lu Bu raised his head to look at the sky outside the tent, lowered his head to drink the wine in one gulp, wiped the wine stain on his lips and said: "If I lead the troops to attack, it should be at dawn, when the sky is darkest and the sleep is deepest."

In the firelight, his raised eyes sparkled.

……

On the hills in the distance.

"General, the Qi thieves are just ahead."

Zhier Fulang squatted on the ground, approached Li Ji and whispered: "When will we go to destroy the Qi bandits' camp?"

"No hurry, we have to wait until the Yin hour (dawn) when people and horses are sleeping the deepest."

Li Ji gently pushed aside the branches in front of him, sat cross-legged on the ground and carefully looked at the bonfire in the distant military camp: "The Qi bandits' camp is loose, haha, it seems that the surname Lu is really a bandit, he doesn't know the benefits of setting up camp, he only knows how to fight... um... not right!"

The words in his mouth stopped abruptly, and he lowered his head in silence, thinking about something. The people behind him did not speak either. He had been the Right Guard for a long time and knew that he did not like to be disturbed when he was thinking.

"The bonfire on the left side of the camp is very messy. Take your men to check out the defenses there." Li Ji turned his head with an indescribable look in his eyes: "Be careful."

Zhier Fulang nodded and said, "Follow me."

A team of scouts followed, and the group of people ran across the field. After a moment, they disappeared, as if they had disappeared into the darkness.

……

“Then your Majesty arranged the camp on the right side in a messy way, in order to lure out the possible Liao army?” Wang Zheng drank up the wine and leaned on the table with his head tilted.

Lu Bu smiled, stood up, picked up the wine spoon and filled up his and Wang Zheng's glasses. He stood up and walked to the door of the tent, looking at the bright moon covered by dark clouds in the sky: "It's not maybe, it will definitely come."

He picked up the wine cup and put it into his mouth: "I have commanded troops for many years, so I still have this confidence." He turned around with a smile on his face: "The burden on the shoulders of the people who lead the troops is actually heavy, but it is also these burdens that will motivate them..." He tapped his temple: "Be more confident in your own judgment. There is a saying in the art of war that the real is the fake, and the fake is the real. The mixture of truth and falsehood will make him more powerful."

Wang Zheng scratched his head and didn't ask why. Some things can't be answered just by asking. Besides, he was actually sure that someone would attack the camp. It's just that he thought differently from Lu Bu. In today's vanguard battle, it can be said that the Liao army has a slight advantage. In order to dampen the enemy's morale, it is common sense to attack them at night when they are unstable.

He rolled his eyes and let out a breath, but what the king did should be correct... Shaking his head gently, Wang Zheng picked up the wine and drank it all in one gulp.

Who cares? As long as the king makes the right decision, that’s all.

……

Amid the sound of the wind, the dark clouds in the sky dissipated a lot, and half of the bright moon appeared, trying hard to shed its light.

There was a rustling sound. Li Ji looked over there calmly and saw Zhier Fulang running back with the scouts. He gasped and said, "I have found out."

Li Ji also urged him and handed him a water bag: "Drink some water first before talking."

Zhier Fulang took it, gulped down most of it, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand: "The camp over there is really loose. I sneaked almost fifty feet outside the camp and was almost discovered. It was because the patrolling cavalry passed by there."

Li Ji frowned: "So close? Is it a trap?"

"...It shouldn't be." Zhier Fulang thought for a moment and shook his head, saying with certainty: "There are also a few sentries and secret agents outside. I and others avoided those sentries and found that some of the secret agents inside were dead asleep, and some were very sleepy. I was afraid of being discovered, so I didn't dare to kill them. I just came back and saw that these people hadn't woken up yet."

"It's rare that such an army with good discipline can defeat ours." Li Ji shook his head with a look of surprise on his face. He felt that the failure of the previous attacks on Qi was really a great irony.

"Go down and have some rest." Li Ji said, and the figure sitting on the ground moved back a little.

Zhier Fulang's expression changed: "General, but we have to...", he pointed to the Qi army camp and made a cutting gesture.

"Hmm..." Li Ji nodded slowly, hesitated for a moment, shook his head and then spoke: "Things are going too smoothly. I think there is something wrong. Wait a minute, and I will send another group of spies to check it out later."

"Yes." Zhier Fulang was not dissatisfied. He just bent his body and walked back for a distance. A soldier brought him a piece of felt, and then he wrapped it around himself, fell to the ground, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The moon gradually moved, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and dark figures moved back and forth in places where no one could see. The camp of the Qi army became increasingly quiet.

Three groups of spies sneaked into the Qi army camp one after the other, and the information they brought back was the same.

Li Ji pondered for a while, still undecided, and waved to the scouts: "Send someone to check the situation of the other camps of the Qi army."

The scouts all took orders and sneaked over, but they were also cautious and did not dare to act as they did just now. This time they were almost discovered when they were a hundred feet away, so they hurried back to report to Li Ji.

The right general of the guard had just confirmed that the camp over there was led by an unruly general. Thinking that he had seen many such people in the Liao army, he finally put his heart at ease and ordered, "Wake me up at the beginning of the day," and then fell to the ground to rest for a while.

He was half asleep and half awake when he felt someone gently shaking him: "General, General, the time has come."

"Hmm?" Li Ji suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the personal soldier, turned over and sat up, turned his head to see Zhier Fulang standing in front of the soldiers holding the moon axe, rubbed his face hard, and whispered: "Bring the horse over."

He called over his generals and said, "The infantry will move the antlers in front and the cavalry will rush into the camp. If what I guessed is correct, Lu Bu must be in the center. So we must pass through the camp quickly to kill his center."

Zhier Fulang patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, General. I will chop off Lu Bu's head and present it to you."

"I am not Cao Cao, why would I need a dead man's head?" Li Ji couldn't help laughing, then he stopped smiling and looked around: "Let's go."

Several commanders shouted in unison and turned around. Soon, the rising and falling figures in the night began to surge, and teams of black shadows of different shapes dissolved into the darkness before dawn.

More than 6,000 soldiers of the Right Guard moved quickly. The scouts found the hidden stakes and killed the sentries. They quickly went outside the camp. The infantry moved the antlers away and cleared the space. Then someone sneaked in and opened the gate with a "creaky" sound, revealing the clothes taken off in the dim light...

Phew, the outer defense military camp.

"Prepare!"

Zhier raised Fulangyue Axe and pressed it forward: "Follow me——"

The war horses stamped the ground, and the cavalrymen behind them followed with a rumbling gallop forward. The surging figures in the dark night passed through the camp gate. Inside the camp, there was no sound from the tents, only the soldiers standing by the campfire moved twice.

Zhier Fulang did not care, but just kept moving forward along the military road. Li Ji, the commander of the central army, followed behind him. Doubts began to arise in his heart, and he heard the "dang dang dang" warning sounds of the golden gongs and the "dong dong dong" sounds of the war drums.

He immediately made up his mind and raised his spear high: "Follow General Zhier Fulang, attack the central army and kill Lu Bu!"

"Kill Lu Bu!"

"Kill Lu Bu!"

In the Right Guard, there were shouts like the roar of the mountains and the sea, and the sound of horse hooves rang out in the camp. Someone overturned the campfire, and the firewood with flames rolled in the air and hit the white tent on the side. Within two breaths, the flame ignited with a "whoosh", and the firelight illuminated the running cavalry, and the firelight reflected on the weapons, reflecting little bits of light.

“Speed ​​up, speed up!”

The army charging forward was like a huge wave. Li Ji glanced around with his excited eyes. Flames were burning, emitting red light all over half the sky. The army camp that was attacked was completely unprepared.

A hint of doubt flashed across his happy face, and after a moment of thought, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

"No! This is a trap! Retreat, retreat--"

The roar startled the surrounding guards, but was drowned out by the louder noises of the excited cavalry.

The panicked General of the Right Guard turned his head left and right and shouted, "Shout! Shout with us!"

"General! Fire...fire arrows!"

The sound reached his ears, and Li Ji turned his head suddenly. In his sight, a fiery red light spot fell. (End of this chapter)