My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 266: Challenge the Generals
This battle concerns Zuo Xian Wang's life and property, as well as his ambition to become the Great Khan, so Zuo Xian Wang can only win and not lose.

As the governor of Yanmen County, Lu Yi could retreat back to the interior if the war went against him.

Anyway, the imperial court had not officially declared war on Jiang Qu, so his retreat to Yanmen could not be considered a failure, but only a strategic retreat.

Therefore, although the situation was critical, Lu Yi did not feel the slightest sense of urgency.

"Your Excellency, the Alliance Leader is right. As the Deputy Alliance Leader, I should be duty-bound to help the Alliance in this difficult situation. However, compared to the Xiongnu, we Han people are all southerners, and southerners are afraid of the cold. Most of our troops are armored soldiers, so it is really difficult to mobilize them in this severe cold weather."

"This deputy leader does want to kill the enemy, but my soldiers are warming themselves by the fire in their tents and are unwilling to move, unless..."

Although Lu Yi had a righteous look on his face, he kept making excuses in his words, which made Zuo Xian Wang secretly angry.

"Unless what?"

King Zuo Xian suppressed his anger and asked Lu Yi angrily.

"Unless the Lord Alliance Leader grants a reward, money can move people's hearts. The reason why my soldiers are willing to abandon their wives and children and go out to help you is not just to make some money, right?"

Lu Yi said with a smile, expressing his true thoughts.

"Humph! This Lu Yi commands a large army and has repeatedly demanded money and property since joining the alliance. Although he is greedy, it is precisely because of his greed that he is not a cause for concern!"

What Zuo Xian Wang wanted was the position of Chanyu of Mo Nan, and money was secondary.

As long as he becomes the lord of Mo Nan, all the tribes will be loyal to him and obey his orders, which is equivalent to a group of fat sheep.

The wool comes from the sheep, so as long as he wins in the end, how much money can he not make back?

As for this annoying Lu Yi, there will be plenty of ways to deal with him after he takes over the Mo Nan Royal Court.

Therefore, upon hearing Lu Yi's greedy request, King Zuo Xian felt relieved.

"Oh, so you just want some rewards, why didn't you say so earlier, Deputy Alliance Leader?"

King Zuo Xian put on a smiling face, looking heroic.

"The warriors under the deputy leader are all heroes who have come from afar. Although our grassland is in poverty, we are still familiar with the art of hospitality. I will allocate another 5,000 cattle and sheep from the public treasury of the alliance to the men under the deputy leader. After they defeat Jiang Qu, I will give them another reward!"

"The leader has an extraordinary demeanor, which is admirable, but brothers should settle accounts clearly. If my army has any gains, whether it is cattle, sheep, horses, prisoners or property, they should all be handed over to me for disposal!"

Seeing that Zuo Xian Wang had given in, Lu Yi was still somewhat unsatisfied and continued to be aggressive.

"Just follow the deputy leader!"

When Zuo Xian Wang saw that Lu Yi was so greedy for money, he felt relieved.

He felt that Lu Yi was so greedy that he would never stop and would definitely seize the opportunity to attack Jiang Qu's troops with all his strength.

After Lu Yi's troops suffered casualties in the attack, it would be easier to deal with them.

"Master, your Excellency is a man of few words. I will return to the central army and prepare for the attack today!"

Lu Yi also had an excited look of success, and immediately took Lu Bu, Gao Shun and others out of the tent.

"Humph! Lu Yi is nothing but this!"

Looking at Lu Yi's excited back, King Zuo Xian's fear of Lu Yi was greatly reduced.

"Haha, brother, that Zuo Xian Wang was really frightened by you!"

After leaving the tent, Lu Bu could no longer bear it and smiled softly at Lu Yi.

"Haha, he is just a barbarian, his vision is limited. I am sure he will think I am greedy and will let down his guard against us."

Lu Yi also chuckled, and his words were full of contempt for King Zuo.

"In this way, we can paralyze Queen Zuo Xian and make secret plans to escalate the civil strife among the Xiongnu!"

Gao Shun also sneered and echoed Lu Yi's words.

……

After returning to the central military tent, Lu Yi immediately ordered everyone to cook, and then slaughtered cattle and sheep for a big meal.

The Han soldiers, who had been eating meat almost every meal for months, ate so much that their mouths were full of oil and they looked bloated.

Not only is the stomach full of waste oil, but everyone's belly also gets bigger.

Fat is not only the best energy reserve for the human body, but also an excellent weapon against cold.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they felt hot all over and were not afraid of the severe cold at all.

Seeing that the opportunity had come, Lu Yi left several hundred auxiliary soldiers to guard the camp, and left with two thousand armored soldiers and more than a thousand remaining auxiliary soldiers, plus more than a thousand soldiers from Zazade's tribe who were affiliated with him, a total of about five thousand people.

In recent days, Jiang Qu and Zuo Xian Wang have been fighting endlessly, and each tribe has taken turns to fight.

It has become a custom to fight in the afternoon every day and withdraw the troops at dusk.

Now is not the time for the decisive battle.

Moreover, the tribes on the grassland were unwilling to put all their assets at risk.

Therefore, every time a battle was fought, the number of people on both sides was one or two thousand.

In the battle of one or two thousand people, the armored cavalry under Lu Yi's command can be said to be superior to the heroes in the south of the desert.

Unless Jiang Qu can also imitate the great magician Emperor Guangwu and summon meteorites to fall, it is almost impossible for him to fail.

Therefore, not only were Lu Yi, Lu Bu and others relaxed about this battle, even Zuo Xian Wang was full of expectations and had full confidence in Lu Yi.

"Listen up, you bastards of the Rebel Alliance!"

"I am Haye, the chief of the Haye tribe. You bastards who want to fight without declaring war are now in a formal battle. Do you dare to fight to the death with me, Haye? "

The general sent by Jiang Qu this time was Haye, an old acquaintance of Lu Yi and others.

Although his tribe was annexed by Lu Yi, he was still a die-hard fan of Jiang Qu, so Jiang Qu gave him a lot of subsidies.

In addition, he fought in many battles, won many victories, plundered and captured a lot of prisoners.

After two months of not seeing him, he has not only recovered his vitality, but has also made further progress, with five to six thousand elite soldiers under his command.

In order to gain more rewards in this battle, he had already made a military order to Jiang Qu in front of all the princes in Jiang Qu's tent, stating that he would return victorious no matter what, and if he could not win, he was willing to accept any punishment from Jiang Qu.

Jiang Qu was indeed overjoyed when he heard this. He wanted to promote Haye, his loyal dog, so he announced in public that if Haye could return victorious, he would be appointed as the Lord of the Left Army of the Xiongnu and command the western grasslands of Bingzhou south of the desert. His position would be only below the Left and Right Wise Kings, and above the princes.

The series of victories had made him a little complacent, and he seemed to think that the rebels including Zuo Xian Wang were nothing special.

He was already extremely arrogant in his heart, and actually took the initiative to come to the alliance camp and challenge them.

The soldiers in the alliance camp were all horrified when they heard this. Even the tribal leaders who followed Zuo Xian Wang out to check the enemy situation were terrified, fearing that their own tribesmen would be conscripted by Zuo Xian Wang in the next moment.

"Alliance leader!"

"Haye has won consecutive victories and is unstoppable. Let's skip the fight today and dampen his arrogance!"

Some princes saw the anger rising on Zuo Xian Wang's face, and fearing that he would do something irrational, they hurried forward to persuade him. "This leader admits that this Haye is indeed a brave man among the Xiongnu, but he has lost his talent and followed the tyrant Jiang Qu."

"But don't panic, everyone. Have you forgotten that there is another great general in my alliance?"

Upon hearing this, Zuo Xian Wang suddenly burst into laughter and asked everyone with a smile.

"Could it be that the leader is talking about the deputy leader?"

The man who had just given the advice frowned and thought for a while when he heard the words. After a moment, he thought of something and his frown suddenly relaxed.

"Oh, the leader is right. How could we almost forget about the deputy leader?"

"But the deputy leader is arrogant and can only be deployed by the leader. If the leader says so, I'm afraid he has already persuaded the deputy leader to go to the battle, right?"

"Not bad!"

Zuo Xian Wang smiled and nodded, and was about to speak.

Suddenly, the camp gate opened wide, and five thousand soldiers rushed out of the camp with great momentum, attracting the attention of everyone in both armies.

"Haha, you loser, you are just a defeated general of my eldest brother. Last month, my eldest brother led his men to attack you, but you fled without a fight. Now you are here to my door!"

Before Lu Yi could say anything, Lu Bu could no longer suppress his desire to fight, so he rode forward, pointed at Haye and sneered.

Haye had won countless victories in the past few months, so how could he tolerate such humiliation? He ignored the tacit understanding between the two armies regarding the number of troops to be sent into battle, and immediately led his 5,000 soldiers to attack and cut Lu Bu, who had humiliated him, into pieces.

But his confidant beside him held the reins tightly and tried to persuade him again and again.

"Chief, have you forgotten? Those armored soldiers on the opposite side are the troops of Lu Yi who attacked us a month ago. Don't be impulsive!"

"What! Lu Yi is here!"

Upon hearing this, Haye slapped his forehead and shrank his neck in fear.

He was caught off guard by Lu Yi and did not dare to resist for even a moment. He ran away in shame with his men.

In the past two months, he had not seen the Lu Yi army go into battle and thought that he had led his troops back to the Han area.

If he knew that the rebel general who came out of the camp to fight today was Lu Yi, he would never dare to come and fight.

"Damn it! Why does this Han Chinese, Lu Yi, always stay on the Xiongnu grasslands?"

"Now it's him who's on the battlefield. His cavalry is equal to ours. My 5,000-man army can't even defeat his 2,000 armored cavalry, not to mention his 3,000 reserve troops."

"But I have to go into battle. If I flee without a fight like I did last time in front of the two armies, I won't be able to cover up my lies even if I tell them all. Besides, I, the clan leader, have already made a promise. Even if I can return safely, the Khan will not let me off easily!"

"Is my Haye tribe going to perish here today?"

When Haye thought of this, he felt so regretful that his intestines turned green.

"Haha, don't panic, Chief. The Han people are only good at armor and weapons, but when it comes to bravery and fighting, they are far inferior to us Xiongnu men who grew up on the grasslands. Although we cannot suppress our entire army and fight them recklessly, we can challenge their generals in front of the battle!"

"This is what the Han people call the strategy of using the strong to attack the weak!"

When Haye was feeling extremely regretful, the confidant who looked quite clever suddenly smiled and gave Haye a suggestion when he saw this.

"Wonderful!"

"The Han people have always been very concerned about their reputation. Now we are in front of the two armies, under the spotlight of the masses. If we pick a general, Lu Yi will definitely not refuse. If we can kill a few Han generals and return, this clan leader will have kept his promise and won a small victory!"

"This will not only wash away the shame I suffered a few months ago, but will also greatly shake the morale of the rebel alliance. It really kills two birds with one stone."

"You are very good. The rewards given by this clan leader have not been wasted. I will record your contribution and reward you after we return to the camp."

Haye was overjoyed upon hearing this and started praising his confidant repeatedly.

"Hehe, it's all thanks to the good training of the clan leader!"

"I am willing to be the first to go into battle and kill the Han general who just spoke for the clan leader!"

The confidant was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately volunteered.

"Okay, then I will wait here for you to return victoriously!"

Haye patted Na's confidant's shoulder approvingly and laughed.

After hearing this, Nahaye's confidant expressed his loyalty again, then rode his horse to the front of the battle formation amid the puzzled gazes of all the people in the two armies, pointed at Lu Bu with a look of contempt and shouted loudly.

"You Han general, stop talking nonsense. You Han people are very eloquent, but your hands are as weak as women. Where is Lu Yi? Do you dare to fight me for three hundred rounds in front of the two armies to decide your life or death?"

As soon as Haye's confidant said this, the Haye army behind him immediately cooperated and burst into waves of humiliating and strange shouts towards the Han army opposite.

Upon hearing this, the high-ranking officials on the city wall of the alliance camp all looked worried and suspicious, and even King Zuo Xian couldn't help but frown.

It is true that Lu Yi's cavalry is well-equipped with armor and weapons and can charge into battle without any enemies. However, when it comes to his personal martial arts, that is another matter.

The impression Lu Yi gave him was just that of a Confucian general, and perhaps his personal martial arts skills might not be as strong as his commanding ability.

If Lu Yi fell into Haye's provocation and gave up the grand formation and instead fought with Haye's confidant, it would be equivalent to falling into Haye's trap.

There is no benefit in winning, and losing will only affect the overall morale of the alliance.

"Master, don't worry!"

Hexutuo and his son Hatler, who had been standing next to the Left Wise King, were the only two Huns on the city wall with normal expressions.

Seeing that Zuo Xian Wang had a worried look on his face, he could not help but stroke his beard and comfort him with a relaxed look.

"Oh? It seems that the old patriarch seems to have confidence in Lu Yi's personal martial arts?"

"Haha, although my brother-in-law's personal martial arts is not as good as his brother Lu Bu, he is still one in a million and it is difficult to find an opponent."

"Back then, the young leader of the Zade tribe, Zador, was famous for his bravery and was almost the best among the younger generation. But he was still killed by my brother-in-law with just a few moves."

"Although Haye is also a famous warrior, he is nothing compared to my brother-in-law!"

Hartler was also full of confidence and kept persuading him.

"Oh? Is Lu Yi really so brave?"

King Zuo Xian looked towards Lu Yi's army formation suspiciously.

"Haha, you are just an unknown general under the command of Haye, the loser. How can you be qualified to fight with my big brother!"

"It's really an idiot's dream!"

"If you want to fight my brother, you must defeat me, Lu Bu first!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Bu said sarcastically with disdain.

……

(End of this chapter)