Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

As he spoke, he beat his chest and stamped his feet, shifting all the blame onto his eldest son, who had already been killed by Zhao Yun.

Tian Chou also hurriedly joined in the lament, shifting all the blame to his nephew, who had also died under Zhao Yun's spear. He claimed that he was old and senile, had been deceived by the younger generation, and knew nothing about colluding with the Xiongnu or opening the gates to surrender the city. He said that at most, it was just a matter of not managing his family properly.

The two men, singing in unison and weeping, perfectly executed the drama of "sacrificing the pawn to save the king" and "dead men tell no tales." Some clansmen in the audience, unaware of the situation, also joined in, pleading for mercy and claiming innocence.

Gu Rubing listened expressionlessly, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. Guan Yu's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of disdain flashing across them. Zhang Fei simply scoffed.

"Bah! You two old foxes, you're quite the actors! Did your sons and nephews steal the seals on those secret letters?"

Chen Dao glared angrily, and if they weren't in the hall, he would have almost drawn his sword.

Gu Rubing raised his hand, stopping Zhang Fei from speaking, his gaze like a sharp sword piercing the two people below.

"You've certainly pushed it all away cleanly. Unfortunately, I'm not a three-year-old child, nor am I here to listen to your opera. The crossbowmen's reconnaissance, the secret correspondence, the movements of your private troops, the confession of the guards who led the barbarians last night…"

Every single incident points to you two as the masterminds! Now you still want to use such clumsy tricks to escape punishment? Do you really think my blade, Gu Rubing's, is ineffective?

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable resolve and killing intent, causing Gongsun Han and Tian Chou's cries to abruptly cease, their faces turning deathly pale.

They finally understood that their lord, still recovering from serious injuries, possessed a resolve and ruthlessness far exceeding their expectations. What did his noble family background or intricate connections matter? Faced with the facts of treason, the near fall of the city, and the opponent's powerful army and decisive, ruthless determination, all were utterly insignificant!
Gu Rubing, too lazy to watch their ugly behavior any longer, directly pronounced the verdict.

"The Gongsun and Tian families have received the nation's favor for generations, yet they have not thought of repaying it. Instead, at a time of national crisis and when the barbarians were besieging the city, they colluded with foreign enemies for their own selfish gain, opened the gates, and surrendered the city. Their crimes deserve the extermination of their entire clan! Now the evidence is conclusive, and the ringleader has been identified. Order hereby issued."

Gongsun Han, Tian Chou, and all adult males of their direct descendants were immediately taken outside the city and publicly executed by beheading!

His entire estate is confiscated and used to compensate fallen soldiers and provide relief to disaster-stricken people! The remaining accomplices and collateral relatives will be tried according to the law; those who should be exiled will be exiled, and those who should be sent to the army will be sent to the army! This sentence is to be executed immediately!

"No—! General Gu, spare me! Spare me!"

"We are a prestigious family! You can't do this!"

"We are willing to give up all our possessions, just to be spared a chance to live!"

Cries, pleas for mercy, and curses filled the air, but they were quickly dragged away by the ferocious soldiers. Gu Rubing's orders were swiftly carried out.

With the fall of two gray-haired heads and dozens of unwilling heads outside Yangle City, the Gongsun and Tian families, who had dominated western Liaoning for many years, were annihilated in the most tragic way.

His vast wealth accumulated over many years was inventoried and confiscated. Grain, cloth, gold and silver, land deeds, and house deeds piled up like mountains, greatly alleviating Yang Le City's predicament and deterring all those with ulterior motives.

Gu Rubing was stationed in Yangle, where he reorganized the city's defenses and settled the soldiers and civilians, while also sending Liu Bao to lead cavalry to pursue the fleeing Xiongnu coalition.

The Xiongnu people were terrified by the "sudden appearance" of Gu Rubing and the Five Tiger Generals. They didn't even have time to take the supplies and livestock they had left in the camp outside the city. They fled north and eventually escaped into Liucheng, a mountain town about a hundred miles northwest of Yangle.

Liucheng was originally an important fortress on the border of Youzhou, defending against the Wuhuan and other tribes. Its walls were high and thick, and it relied on the terrain to be easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the past, when the Han Dynasty was strong, it was a sharp sword piercing the grasslands; now, it has become a tortoise shell for the defeated Xiongnu coalition to resist stubbornly.

Several days later, Gu Rubing led his reorganized troops to the foot of Liucheng. Looking up, he saw that the city walls of Liucheng were more than four zhang high, built of bluestone, and were exceptionally sturdy.

What is even more infuriating is that dozens of bloody human heads are hanging from the crenellations of the city wall! Judging from their hairstyles and clothing, they are all Han Chinese civilians, including many women and children!

The Xiongnu defenders on the city wall brandished their weapons and let out provocative howls. Some of the captured Han women, disheveled, were pushed to the crenellations for public display, and then dragged away, with faint cries of despair coming from behind them.

"brute!"

Zhang Fei roared in fury and was about to urge his horse forward. Guan Yu grabbed him, his own face ashen, but his phoenix eyes blazing with murderous intent. Chen Dao and the others also glared at him with eyes blazing with fury.

Gu Rubing rode on a specially chosen, docile warhorse. The wound under his ribs throbbed with pain, but his face remained as cold as iron.

He looked at the heads hanging on the city wall and the arrogant barbarians, a cold, emotionless smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Yun Chang".

Gu Rubing spoke slowly.

"Big brother."

Guan Yu spurred his horse forward half a step.

Although he was still recovering from his injuries and his strength was reduced to less than one-tenth, and his Azure Dragon Blade was also cracked, his aura of a martial saint who looked down on the world was still there. For him, splitting open the city gate or a section of the city wall in front of him was not an impossible task.

Guan Yu understood, gripped the hilt of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade with both hands, and a sharp aura, though not at its peak, still made people's hearts tremble as it gathered around him, and the blade faintly hummed.

The Xiongnu defenders on the city wall seemed to sense the threat as well, their shouts abruptly halting, and many archers nervously aimed their arrows at Guan Yu.

However, just as Guan Yu was about to fully gather his strength and unleash that earth-shattering strike—

“Squeak…”

The heavy iron-clad city gate of Liucheng slowly opened a crack inward! It wasn't a wide-open gate for a large army to launch an attack, but only wide enough for a few people to pass side by side.

Immediately afterwards, a burly Xiongnu general, dressed in magnificent leather armor and wearing a feathered headdress, rode out slowly from the gate alone.

He wasn't carrying a weapon; instead, he was holding a simple white flag, and with an almost fawning smile on his face, he headed towards Gu Rubing's army formation.

A few dozen paces in front of the two armies, he reined in his horse, dismounted, and knelt on one knee in a traditional steppe greeting, shouting in broken Chinese.

"Honorable General Gu of the Han Dynasty! I am Huyan Zhuo, the leader of the Xiongnu Baiyang tribe! I have come here on the orders of our allied Chanyu to surrender! The Chanyu wishes to hold a banquet in the city to discuss the matter of submission with you in person, so that we may turn hostility into friendship! We humbly request that you do us the honor of entering the city for a discussion!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in Gu Rubing's army.

"Surrender? Now you know how to surrender? Where were you before!"

"A banquet in the city? It's clearly a trap!"

"My lord, you must not go in! The barbarians are cunning; they must have laid an ambush!"

"Yes! They must be afraid of General Guan's might and want to lure our lord into the city to harm him!"

Generals Zhang Fei, Chen Dao, and Liu Bao all tried to dissuade him, and even Guan Yu frowned, looking at Gu Rubing. The other side was deliberately shouting so loudly in front of both armies to ensure everyone could hear. If Gu Rubing refused outright, he would appear cowardly and affect morale; but if he really went in, everyone knew the risks were extremely high—Liucheng was now a den of dragons and tigers!

Gu Rubing sat on his horse, his expression calm, as if he had not heard his subordinates' advice, nor seen the wide-open city gate that resembled the mouth of a giant beast.

He simply looked indifferently at Hu Yanzhuo kneeling on the ground, then suddenly smiled, a smile that sent a chill down Hu Yanzhuo's spine for no apparent reason.

"Oh? The Great Khan wants to invite me into the city for talks?"

Gu Rubing's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly.

“Good. I’ve been wanting to see what kind of hero would hang the heads of my Han people on the wall.”

"Lord!"

The generals were greatly alarmed.

Gu Rubing raised his hand to stop them, his gaze sweeping over Guan Yu and Zhao Yun.

"Yun Chang, Zilong, you two come with me into the city. Yide, Shuzhi, you two command the troops outside the city. If we do not receive a signal from you after one hour, or if there is any change inside the city, do not hesitate, attack the city immediately!"

His words were both an arrangement and a message for Huyan Zhuo and the garrison on the city wall.

Guan Yu and Zhao Yun exchanged a glance. Although they knew it was dangerous, seeing their lord's resolute decision and his specific designation of them as his guards, it was a sign of absolute trust. Without hesitation, the two clasped their hands in agreement.

"As ordered!"

Guan Yu brandished his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and Zhao Yun brandished his gleaming silver spear, spurring their horses to protect Gu Rubing on either side. Gu Rubing gently spurred his horse, and the three of them, on horseback, rode leisurely towards the open gates of Liucheng.

Hu Yanzhuo quickly got up, remounted his horse, and led the way. His smile remained unchanged, but a subtle, eerie glint flashed in his eyes.

Under the tense and worried gaze of thousands of soldiers outside the city, Gu Rubing and his two companions slowly disappeared into the shadows of the city gate.

The city gate slowly closed behind us with a heavy thud, cutting off the light and sound from outside the city.

A strong, overwhelming stench of blood, burnt smells, and the foul odor of some kind of excrement wafted towards me.

The light was dim. Gu Rubing reined in his horse and slowly scanned the scene inside the city gate.

The first thing that catches the eye is the corpses of ordinary people lying haphazardly on both sides of the street. There are elderly people with white hair, and women and children curled up like shrimp. Most of the bodies are incomplete, and the bloodstains have long since dried and turned black, mixed with the soil.

Some of the dilapidated doors and windows were wide open, the interiors either empty or ransacked.

The horrific scene on the street, the stench and burnt smell permeating the air, and the suppressed sobs and crude taunts coming from the nearby houses and alleys that made Gu Rubing's face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.

As he rode on his horse, his gaze swept across the direction from which the sounds came. Without even seeing it with his own eyes, he could imagine the inhuman atrocities taking place inside.

The Xiongnu general leading the way, Huyan Zhuo, seemed used to this, even wearing a nonchalant smile, as he urged them on.

"General Gu, this way please, Great Chanyu..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Yun, who was to Gu Rubing's left, suddenly sharpened his gaze!
Without warning, Zhao Yun's Dragon Gallant Silver Spear transformed into a silver lightning bolt, not striking anyone, but instead aimed at a half-collapsed house on the right, from which the cries of a woman and the laughter of a man could be heard most clearly!

"break!"

With a low shout, accompanied by a chilling aura, the silver spear swept horizontally! A condensed, almost tangible silver spear light shot out, not as a point thrust, but as a massive silver scythe sweeping across!
"Boom——!"

The already dilapidated brick and wood structure was abruptly cut in half by the spear's beam! The upper half of the roof and walls collapsed with a roar, kicking up clouds of dust and revealing the interior.

Five or six Xiongnu soldiers, some wearing only leather armor and others completely bare-chested, were surrounding a Han woman whose clothes were tattered and whose face was streaked with tears. Their faces wore lewd and cruel smiles.

Some were tearing at the woman's tattered clothes, while others clapped and cheered. The house was suddenly destroyed, dust flew up, and the Hun soldiers were startled, their movements froze, and they looked up in astonishment.

When they saw Gu Rubing, who was riding on horseback with a cold expression, and Zhao Yun, who was holding a silver spear and exuding murderous intent, their lewd smiles instantly turned into terror.

"A Han...Han general?!"

Zhao Yun gave them no chance to react or beg for mercy.

Almost the instant the houses collapsed and visibility returned, his figure vanished from his horse, appearing like a ghost among the Hun soldiers. His silver spear flashed like countless cold stars, leaving only afterimages!
"Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!"

Five soft sounds rang out in succession, like sharp blades piercing skin. The five Xiongnu soldiers didn't even see Zhao Yun's movements clearly; they only felt a chill in their throats or chests before their consciousness plunged into eternal darkness. Their faces still bore the look of disbelief and horror as they collapsed to the ground.

Zhao Yun didn't even glance at the corpse on the ground. He took off his cloak and gently covered the woman who was curled up on the ground, trembling and almost paralyzed with fear. He whispered something.

"Don't be afraid, hide inside and don't come out."

His voice remained cool and clear, yet it carried a reassuring power.

Having done all this, Zhao Yun flashed back to his horse, his silver spear pointing diagonally at the ground, its tip untouched by blood, as if the thunderous slaughter had never occurred. Only the lingering chilling killing intent emanating from him made the surrounding air seem to drop several degrees.

The Xiongnu general Huyan Zhuo, standing nearby, frowned deeply upon witnessing this scene, a flash of displeasure and anger crossing his face. Zhao Yun had, right before his eyes, executed his soldiers without hesitation; this was undoubtedly a great act of contempt and provocation.

But he moved his lips, glanced at Gu Rubing, whose face was calm but whose eyes were cold, and then looked at the red-faced, long-bearded general on Gu Rubing's other side, who, though not making a move, exuded a heavy pressure like a mountain.

He swallowed back the rebuke that was on the tip of his tongue, only letting out a heavy snort, turning his head away from the collapsed houses and the corpses on the ground, and urging them on.

"General Gu, please hurry, don't keep the Great Chanyu waiting."

Gu Rubing didn't say a word about Zhao Yun's actions from beginning to end, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

He didn't even glance at the rescued woman, his gaze only growing colder, as he followed Hu Yanzhuo towards the county government office in the city. Guan Yu and Zhao Yun stood silently guarding him on either side.

The closer they got to the city center, the fewer corpses and bloodstains appeared on the streets, but the deathly silence of those who had survived the catastrophe and the fearful gazes lurking in the shadows grew even stronger. Finally, they arrived at the Liucheng County government office.

This building, which originally represented the majesty and order of the imperial court, now had its doors wide open, and stood two rows of burly, fierce-looking Xiongnu guards, their bodies reeking of blood far more heavily than those of ordinary soldiers. (End of Chapter)