Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 557: Scheme against each other
Several people walked out of Hulao Pass and came to the front of the army.

"Where is General Cao Mengde?"

Cao Cao stepped forward quickly and said, "I am here."

When the man saw Cao Cao, he immediately smiled and said, "General Cao is indeed trustworthy. My master has specially ordered me to come and bring you into the city."

"I am deeply grateful for your leading the way. I will pass the order and lead the army to follow you to meet General Yuan."

Cao Cao turned around and was about to ask Xiahou Dun to reorganize the army and set off, but unexpectedly the messenger interrupted him.

"General Cao, wait a minute. The lord has ordered that Guan Yu and others station tens of thousands of troops in Shangdang, and they are in high spirits. Our army has fought hard for many days and is exhausted. If they attack, it will be difficult to defend. Therefore, I would like to ask you to leave half of your troops and station them outside Hulao Pass. I hope you will not hesitate to work hard and never retreat."

"Half of the troops?" Cao Cao instinctively became alert.

"What's the matter? General Cao, do you have any doubts?" the man asked with a smile on his face.

"Ah, no, General Yuan has been thoughtful and should do as you say. Allow me to give you a few instructions."

Cao Cao turned around and walked aside with several generals and advisers.

"My lord, this matter is a little unusual. Yuan Shu suddenly made such a suggestion. I'm afraid it's not accidental."

Guo Jia said.

"Could it be that our plan has been discovered by him?" Xiahou Dun guessed.

"Absolutely not. There are only a few of us who know about this plan. It is impossible for anyone to leak the news."

Cao Cao directly denied this possibility.

"Whether they have already known about it or not, we should always be on guard against others. We still need to prepare a backup plan."

Guo Jia's words were recognized by everyone.

After they discussed for a while, Cao Cao finally came back.

"Thank you for leading the way, Your Excellency. I have already asked Yuan Rang to lead 20,000 troops and station them here. We will set off now."

The messenger readily agreed: "General Cao, please."

Soon after the large group of soldiers passed through Hulao Pass, they heard the sound of the city gate closing behind them.

Cao Cao pretended to be nonchalant and kept looking at the movements on both sides of the road. The messenger glanced at him with a hint of disdain at the corner of his mouth.

"I heard that General Cao's grandfather was a eunuch. He must be very familiar with Luoyang City and the Imperial Palace. Why is he so curious about the scenery outside the city?"

The tone of his voice at this time was completely different from when he invited Cao Cao into the city. The sarcasm in his words was not concealed at all, especially the word "eunuch", which he emphasized very strongly.

Xiahou Dun and others were very angry about this, and when they were about to explode, they were stopped by Cao Cao with a look.

He smiled and said to the messenger: "It has been a long time since Cao left Luoyang, so it is inevitable that I feel nostalgic."

"Oh? Then I wonder how the scenery outside the city is different from what the general remembers?"

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, looked at the messenger, stared into his eyes, and did not answer for a long time.

The messenger was stared at by him for no reason, and he could not help but feel guilty, so he avoided his gaze: "General, why don't you answer me, but stare at me instead? It's really rude."

"Haha, hahaha... hahahaha..." Cao Cao suddenly laughed, making the messenger feel even more nervous.

"General...why are you laughing?"

"Hahaha, I laugh at you for coming here to deceive me on behalf of Yuan Shu. You don't know that your death is approaching, and you still dare to speak rudely in front of me. Isn't it ridiculous?" As soon as he finished speaking, the generals behind him pointed their weapons at the messenger. In a blink of an eye, the messenger felt a murderous aura all around him.

"General... General, why do you say that..." The messenger broke out in a cold sweat and was extremely nervous.

Cao Cao sneered, "Don't pretend. When we entered the pass just now, I saw that the soldiers on both sides all had unfriendly faces. And you, a bastard, were kind to us before entering the pass, but now you keep talking nonsense. Moreover, the grass and trees on both sides of the road are often shaking for no reason. There must be an ambush of soldiers and horses to kill us. Do you think I don't know?"

The messenger was shocked when he heard this, and could no longer care about anything else. He hurriedly shouted, "Quick, quick..."

Halfway through his words, Cao Cao drew his sword and stabbed him through the chest.

At the same time, waves of shouts and cries of killing came from both sides.

"Kill..."

"Protect the lord!" Xiahou Dun and others rushed to protect Cao Cao.

However, Cao Cao angrily rebuked him, "What a waste of effort! We are here to attack the city. How can we retreat just because we care about our lives?"

He raised his sword high and shouted, "My fellow soldiers, Yuan Shu has gone against the will of Heaven and raised an army to rebel. This is truly a heinous crime. Follow me to repel the ambush!"

Twenty thousand soldiers, led by several generals, attacked the enemy forces coming out from both sides. For a moment, swords gleamed and blood flowed like a river.

At Hulao Pass, Lei Bu stood on a high place, looking at the 20,000 soldiers and horses resting outside the pass, sneering in his heart.

"Hehe, take advantage of the last moments to have a good rest. You won't have the energy to do this anymore."

He had already received military orders. As long as the ambush was successful and Cao Cao and others were killed, he would take the lead in attacking and surprise attack the 20,000 troops.

He was thinking about how to kill the enemy and gain merit when he suddenly heard faint sounds of fighting.

He looked around and soon saw Cao's army engaged in a chaotic battle.

"Huh? How come they launched an attack so quickly? It's only a dozen miles away from Hulao Pass, and it's still dozens of miles to Hulao Pass. Could it be that Han Xian and Zhang Xun were greedy for merit and rushed forward, so they launched an attack ahead of time?"

At this moment, another clear and loud shout of killing suddenly came.

"Kill! Take down Hulao Pass and seize Luoyang City!"

"General, it's bad. Twenty thousand soldiers outside the city suddenly come to attack the city..."

Hearing the exclamation of a soldier next to him, Lei Bu turned pale with fright and quickly turned his head to look outside the pass. Sure enough, the 20,000 soldiers who had just been sitting on the ground to rest were, for some unknown reason, charging towards Hulao Pass with murderous intent.

A large number of soldiers, carrying ladders, quickly climbed up the city wall.

"What's going on? Shouldn't we be the ones to surprise attack them? How come it happened the other way around?" Lei Bu was suddenly extremely panicked and could hardly believe that what he was seeing was real.

He shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked carefully for a long time before he confirmed that he was really under attack.

"Quick, quick, counterattack, counterattack..."

Ji Ling, who was waiting outside the east gate of Luoyang City, waited for a long time but did not see Cao Cao's army arrive. Just as he was getting anxious, a soldier came running over.

"General, something terrible has happened. Our ambush was discovered by Cao's army. The two generals who were in ambush had no choice but to attack in advance. The two generals only have 12,000 soldiers and horses, which is difficult to defeat Cao's army. Please ask General Ji to send the troops quickly."

"What? Was discovered by Cao Cao?" Ji Ling was shocked and angry.

"Two idiots! Originally, they would have waited for Cao Cao to pass by the ambush site, and then they would have attacked from the rear while I attacked from the front. We would have succeeded, but now everything has been ruined by them! Send the troops, send the troops quickly!"

(End of this chapter)