Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1029 Liu He Seeks Death
In front of Hulao Pass, the three armies, with a total of no less than 300,000 soldiers and horses, fought for most of the day. As the sky gradually darkened and they still could not gain any advantage, Cao Cao and Liu Bei finally called off the battle.

All that was left were corpses all over the ground, most of which were naturally soldiers from Cao and Liu.

The envoys of the twenty-one countries in the Western Regions were now completely convinced. Based on the battle they had witnessed today, any one of the three armies was enough to sweep away their small countries, and the imperial army was clearly in the upper hand. Moreover, General Guan Yu, who had terrorized the Han Dynasty and was well-known in all the countries in the Western Regions, had not yet been dispatched.

Therefore, in the minds of the envoys from various countries, the outcome of this war had already been decided. Once the Han Dynasty had quelled the rebellion at home, the national strength it would possess would be unimaginable for the envoys from small countries. It would at least be much stronger than the Northern Huns, Parthia, Kushan and other forces that they had seen with their own eyes.

As a result, the envoys abandoned their last bit of doubt and began to urge the progress of the letter of credence, hoping to return home with the Han Dynasty's letter of credence and the envoy as soon as possible.

Thirty miles outside Hulao Pass, a sumptuous banquet was set up in Cao’s army tent.

Of course, although they were not defeated today, their losses were greater than Liu He's, so it naturally cannot be called a celebration banquet. This banquet was specially arranged by Cao Cao for Liu Bei.

Cao Cao personally stood outside the general's tent, looking forward to something.

After a while, a scout from Cao's army came back on horseback, and Cao Cao immediately went to meet him.

"How is it? Is Lord Xuande here?"

The scout shook his head and said, "Governor Liu said that he sent troops to clear the emperor's side, but my lord, you respect Qiangyin Hou as the emperor. He has different ideas from you and will not make plans with you. He is the uncle of the Han emperor and a loyal minister of the court. How can... How can..."

Having said this, the scout didn't dare to say any more.

"How can you associate with a traitor like Cao, right?" Cao Cao finished the words for him.

"How can this be possible!" Cao Hong was furious: "This Liu Bei is simply shameless."

However, what was unexpected was that Cao Cao was not angry at all. Instead, he raised his head and laughed loudly. His laughter was very hearty, without any sign of laughter of extreme anger. This made Cao Hong and others very puzzled.

"Meng De, why are you still laughing when Liu Bei humiliated you like this?" Xiahou Yuan asked puzzledly.

Guo Jia rolled his eyes and said, "I think the Lord's invitation to him may be a test."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Yes, those who know me well are filial."

After saying this, he turned around and went back to the general's tent, leaving Cao Ren and other generals looking at each other in bewilderment.

Upon seeing this, Guo Jia took the initiative to explain to them, which was exactly what they wanted.

"Have you ever thought about this? Liu Bei still claims to be a minister of Liu He. What would the impact be if he lived and ate with us, the so-called traitors who set up a new court, and shared the same fate?"

Xiahou Yuan said without hesitation: "Of course we know about this. Fighting together on the battlefield can be said to be a coincidence. Eating and drinking in the same camp after the battle to celebrate the victory will naturally give people a handle to say that he actually has ulterior motives, which is of course very detrimental to the morale of the army. But this shouldn't make Meng De so happy, right?"

A soldier came out of the general's tent carrying a pot of freshly warmed wine. Guo Jia intercepted it without saying a word and took a big sip from the spout.

"Hmm... good wine, good wine..."

After taking a few bites, he continued speaking.

"You only know one side of the story. Who is Liu Bei? How could he be a fool to deceive Liu He for so many years by pretending to be a loyal minister? I know the pros and cons here, and my lord knows it. Doesn't Liu Bei know it? If he still comes to the banquet tonight, then it's hard to say whether his 'ulterior motives' are directed at Liu He or at our army."

After saying that, he picked up the wine jug and walked away, leaving only the shouts of "good wine" echoing in the military camp.

Cheng Yu walked over, looked at Guo Jia's back, and said with disdain, "How disrespectful..."

Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and others shook their heads helplessly. Among the several counselors in the army, Cheng Yu has always been proud of the so-called scholar's character and looked down on Guo Jia, whose behavior was somewhat "improper". Fortunately, both of them were people who knew the overall situation and took the overall situation into consideration, so no adverse consequences were caused. The lord turned a blind eye to this.

In the huge Cao army camp, everyone from Cao Cao to ordinary soldiers started to have dinner.

The food provided by Cao's army was naturally not the same as that provided by the Han army. A bowl of porridge thick enough to hold chopsticks upright, a coarse grain cake, or two coarse flour buns were enough to fill their stomachs. Even so, such food was considered top-notch in the army of that era, except for Liu He, the eccentric guy. In addition, everyone in the army, including Cao Cao himself, ate the same food as them. Cao Cao also left the banquet that had just been set up in the commander's tent without touching it, so the soldiers of Cao's army still enjoyed their meal very much.

Just as they were enjoying their meal, they suddenly heard the sound of gongs from the watchtowers surrounding the camp.

"Qiang Qiang Qiang..."

What followed was a series of loud drum beats.

In the military, the sound of the gong represents the presence of an enemy, the sound of the drum represents preparation for an attack or to meet the enemy, and the sound of the gong naturally means to withdraw the troops.

All the soldiers jumped up instantly: "Enemy attack!"

"Shhhhh..."

A burst of fire fell from the sky.

Thousands of rockets were fired in from outside the camp. Before Cao's soldiers could react, the second and third waves of rockets followed.

In a blink of an eye, the tents within a hundred steps of the camp turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"It's on fire, put it out quickly..."

Cao's army was in chaos, and the camp gate, which was originally almost impregnable, naturally turned into a ridiculous pile of wood.

"Fight in..."

Zhao Yun took the lead and shot down Cao's soldiers on the arrow towers on both sides of the gate with two consecutive arrows. Then he picked up his spear and rushed into Cao's camp.

Behind him, ten thousand Flying Feather Cavalry, shooting arrows left and right at Cao's tents, followed Zhao Yun closely and charged into Cao's camp without restraint.

"Zhao Yun, you bastard, stop being so arrogant!"

Before Xiahou Yuan's men arrived, his arrows arrived first. A feathered arrow broke through the air and pierced Zhao Yun's face.

"Hmph." Zhao Yun didn't care at all. He shot the arrow to the ground with his spear and then went straight to kill Xiahou Yuan.

Xiahou Yuan held a spear and fought with Zhao Yun for a few rounds, but he was at a disadvantage.

"Oh no, your martial arts skills have improved to this extent. Don't chase me. I'm leaving now."

He left these words and then rode away.

How could Zhao Yun be willing to let them go? He turned around and told the Feiyu Cavalry: "You must not disperse. You must gather in one place and search everywhere. If we can burn down Cao's granary, everything will be fine."

Then he chased after Xiahou Yuan.

At the entrance of the general's tent, Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Xi Zhong, Jia Xu, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Shu and others were all looking at the fire not far away.

Cao Cao looked a little puzzled. "What is Liu He's intention? We just fought today. With the wisdom of him, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cui Jun and others, how could they not guess that our camp must be well guarded to prevent him from attacking at night? Why would he send people to rob our camp? Is he looking for death?"

Cao Hong, however, did not care about that and shouted: "Why bother about that? Zhao Yun is a general of the enemy army. Since he has come, we cannot let him leave alive. I will go to help Miaocai and capture and kill Ci Liao."

He was about to turn around and leave, but Jia Xu called him back: "General, if you do this, you will fall into Liu He's trap."

Cao Hong was a little unconvinced: "What tricks can Liu He have? Could he really send Zhao Yun to die? Even if he really has a trick, as long as he can kill Zhao Yun and destroy these 10,000 Feiyu Cavalry, it will be enough to severely damage the enemy's vitality."

(End of this chapter)