Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 945: The Five Tigers of Cao
On the same day that the victory report from Liaodong was sent back to Luoyang, Cao Cao in Yuzhou finally took action and launched a surprise attack on Zhang Yong after stationing troops on the front line for several months.

However, Zhang Yong had been in charge of Yingchuan for two years and had renovated and reinforced several cities, especially the city of Xuchang, which was equipped with a barbican, a moat, a suspension bridge, and an iron gate. The city wall was also raised by ten feet, making it impregnable and indestructible.

"Whoosh whoosh..."

The two hundred Jingshen Crossbows on the city wall continuously fired powerful crossbow arrows at the Cao army below the city, harvesting wave after wave of heads.

"Haha, shoot, shoot them to death...haha..."

Zhu Ye was on the city wall, watching the powerful Jingshen Crossbow killing and inflicting heavy casualties on Cao's army, and he couldn't help but jump for excitement.

He pulled Zhang Yong beside him and said, "Fourth brother, Cao's army is getting weaker and weaker. They have been attacking the city for two days in a row, and we haven't made any moves. We have relied on boulders, rolling logs, boiling oil, and this Jingshen Crossbow to defeat them one after another. Hey, this battle is really easy to win. When Cao's army retreats later, you can't fight with me. You must let me go out of the city to chase and kill them. I haven't encountered any enemy troops for two days. I am really frustrated."

Zhang Yong, however, did not look as happy as he did. Instead, his brows were furrowed and he looked troubled.

"Something is wrong... Cao Cao's military ability is even better than mine and Bo Ping's. He has been preparing for war for more than a year, so how could his combat power be worse than before?"

After hearing his doubts, Zhu Ye burst into laughter: "Haha, Fourth Brother, you are really smart all your life but foolish for a moment."

Zhang Yong asked, "Fifth brother, what do you mean by that?"

"Think about it, after a year of hard training, the combat effectiveness of our newly recruited soldiers is far from being comparable to those veterans. What kind of people are Cao's army? Their military rations, training, and even military equipment are inferior to ours. The more Cao Cao recruits, the stronger his army will be, but his combat effectiveness will naturally decline."

"Besides, this Xuchang City is managed by you, fourth brother, like an iron barrel. Not to mention Cao Cao, even if Sun Wu or Han Xin were reborn, they would definitely not be able to capture it."

Zhang Yong nodded slightly: "Well... what Fifth Brother said does make some sense... but..."

"Oh, how come Fourth Brother has become so fussy? It's a deal. When Cao's army retreats, you have to let me go out of the city to fight for a while, otherwise I won't recognize you as my Fourth Brother."

Zhang Yong looked at Zhu Ye, then smiled helplessly: "Well, kid, be careful and don't fight too long. If Cao Cao really has an ambush, can you..."

"Oh, I know, I know, hehe, Fourth Brother is still the best to me, after the fight, I will buy you a drink."

Zhu Ye shouted and rushed down the city wall to prepare.

Zhang Yong looked at his back and said self-deprecatingly, "Alas, it seems that what Mr. Gongda said is right. As the saying goes, worrying too much will lead to confusion. I have been distracted by my nephew's position as the crown prince. As a commander, I am not calm and naturally cannot see the situation clearly. But my fifth brother has always been so innocent. It is really rare..."

As he was sighing, he saw dust suddenly rising above the northern wilderness.

Zhang Yong looked from afar and was delighted: "It's Bo Ping!"

Sure enough, a few miles away, Gao Shun was personally leading an army of 100,000 and rushing towards this side.

The 200,000 Cao troops outside the city retreated like a tide in an instant.

"General, look! Cao's army is retreating."

"From the way they retreated, I saw that the soldiers were in disarray and had thrown away their armor and helmets. It was obviously not like they were faking defeat and fleeing. It must be because General Gao had come and the Cao army knew they were no match for him, so they retreated."

Several generals showed excitement.

Zhang Yong was also eager to try: "Okay, with General Gao's reinforcements here, Cao Cao is nothing to worry about. Send down the order, order Zhu Ye to lead the Thunder God Cavalry, as well as 5,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry, to go out of the city and pursue and kill him."

Although he believed that Cao's army was really defeated, Zhang Yong was calm by nature. In order to prevent Cao Cao from making other arrangements, he chose to leave most of his troops in the city.

"With me personally leading the troops in the city, even if Cao Cao has some tricks to lure the tiger away from the mountain, or to deceive us by feigning defeat, we will be safe."

He felt at peace.

"Haha, Mr. Cao, your grandfather is here..."

Zhu Ye roared, swung his two hammers, and rushed out of the city gate.

Gao Shun immediately divided his troops, with half of them led by his deputy general into Xuchang City, while he himself led an army of 50,000 to hunt down Cao's army.

Although Cao's army was fleeing at a fast speed, the 500 Thunder God Riders and 5,000 cavalry led by Zhu Ye were even faster than lightning.

Cao's army had just retreated less than ten miles when Zhu Ye, with his 5,500 cavalrymen, took the lead in chasing them.

"Ha... You bastard, take this hammer from me."

Zhu Ye swung the Hunyuan Thunderbolt Hammer in a circle, attacking from both sides and smashing towards the soldiers at the rear of Cao's army.

"Puff... Puff..." After two muffled sounds, the heads of two Cao army soldiers exploded on the spot.

Cao's army retreated all the way, and Zhu Ye chased them all the way. Under his entanglement, the speed of Cao's army suddenly slowed down, causing the 30,000 infantry behind Zhu Ye and the 50,000 troops led by Gao Shun to gradually approach.

"Hey... Lao Gao, you're here too. I, Lao Zhu, have always admired your abilities. Come on, let me give you some of the credit."

Zhu Ye pointed at a group of Cao's troops in the left front with his sledgehammer and said, "Look, those enemy troops are yours. The ones over here are mine. Neither of us is allowed to steal the other's."

Gao Shun, however, remained indifferent. He just clasped his fists in greeting and then commanded his army to form a battle formation and start fighting.

The heavy shield soldiers, divided into teams of twenty to thirty men, cut off the lagging Cao troops one by one, and then were killed one by one by the three thousand Golden Sword Battalion under Liu He's command after Liu He expanded the army, as well as the spearmen among Han Wu's soldiers.

This speed of killing the enemies was actually slightly faster than Zhu Ye's, which made Zhu Ye anxious.

"Hey, Lao Gao, slow down, slow down..."

Seeing that Gao Shun ignored him, Zhu Ye shouted to the cavalrymen around him in a bad mood: "Everyone, work harder. If we lose to Gao Shun in chasing Cao's soldiers today, then when we go back, everyone will carry a weight and circle the wall of Xuchang."

When the soldiers heard this, their eyes turned red. Although Zhu Ye seemed carefree and amiable at ordinary times, once he started training soldiers, he would definitely be a nightmare to all soldiers.

Carrying weights and running around the city is already an extremely strenuous training. This guy would often give difficult questions along the way. For example, if he saw a forest, he would require the soldiers to run around the forest for a longer distance. If he saw a river, he would require them to run around the upstream of the river. After each training session, not to mention the ordinary soldiers, even the middle-level generals in the army, no one could stand up.

"Kill it..."

"We must not let the general train more. Let's all use our best skills..."

Each of the 5,500 cavalrymen wished they had a few more hands, especially the 500 Thunder God Riders. They had followed Zhu Ye the longest and knew his "torturing" methods best. Now that they were ruthless, their speed in killing the enemies was almost as fast as that of many ordinary generals.

Zhang Yong, who was on the city wall, could still see the fighting of the army from afar. He saw that Cao's army was indeed retreating all the way. Facing the pursuit of Zhu Ye and Gao Shun, they had no power to fight back. The heavy stone in his heart finally fell.

"It seems that what Fifth Brother said is correct. The newly recruited soldiers of Cao's army are not well trained. Their combat effectiveness and morale are not high. As the saying goes, 'A wise man can make mistakes even if he makes a thousand plans.' Although Cao Cao is good at military affairs, he is not a god. It is me who is too cautious."

Zhang Yong laughed at himself, shook his head, turned around and went down the city wall to greet the Chenliu reinforcements that had just entered the city.

The army pursued like this for a long time, and gradually, they were more than 20 miles away from the city of Xuchang. Originally, looking around, they saw only wild grass and rocks in the wilderness, but now a river ran across it, and there were dense forests on both sides of the river.

Cao's army was killed so badly that they even abandoned dozens of military flags. They were in a state of disgrace and no longer cared about anything else. The army rushed into the woods and quickly escaped along a narrow path.

"Ha, today, this forest is the burial place of Cao Aman." Zhu Ye was extremely excited and rushed in without hesitation.

Gao Shun suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute."

"Xilulu..." Zhu Ye instinctively stopped the silver-armored beast under his crotch and looked at him with great dissatisfaction.

"Old Gao, why did you suddenly call me? Did you see that I killed more enemy soldiers than you and were afraid that I would steal your credit? Hehe, it seems that you, Old Gao, are not without desires."

Gao Shun's expression remained unchanged. He stared at the woods ahead and said only a few words: "The atmosphere is not right. I'm afraid there is a trick."

Zhu Ye also glanced at the woods and pursed his lips and said, "What's wrong? Why can't I see it? If you think it's wrong, stay here by yourself. I won't wait for you."

He patted his warhorse, called upon the more than 35,000 soldiers he brought with him, and continued the pursuit.

Gao Shun frowned and said to his deputy general, "It is inconvenient for the heavy shield soldiers to move in the woods. You and them will stay here."

After saying this, without waiting for the deputy general to react, he led the rest of the soldiers and followed Zhu Ye into the woods.

In the woods, there was another round of fighting, leaving behind two to three thousand corpses of Cao's army, and dyeing many trees, flowers and plants scarlet.

Zhu Ye and Gao Shun quickly chased to the river, but the situation before them shocked them and they immediately stopped the army from advancing.

Cao Cao and his companions, who had been fleeing in panic before, were now on an open space on the other side of the river, ready for battle. Cao Cao and his many generals were in high spirits, and the army behind them was also lined up in neat and orderly formations. They did not look like defeated soldiers at all.

"Oh no, Lao Gao, you were right, this old thief really has an ambush."

Zhu Ye's expression changed slightly.

Gao Shun looked solemn and waved to the army. The soldiers behind him immediately took up a defensive formation and were ready for battle.

"Using the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers as bait is shameless."

Gao Shun looked at Cao Cao with some annoyance.

Cao Cao also looked at him and said, "Gao Shun, Gao Boping, you are really amazing. You guessed my plan so quickly. To achieve great things, let alone more than 10,000 people, even 100,000, 1 million, or 10 million people can be sacrificed. As long as the world is not stable and the people cannot have peace, that is the real disaster."

"Shameless old thief, all places under my elder brother's rule are in good order, and agriculture and commerce are thriving. If it weren't for the ambitious people like you, there wouldn't be such a war. You still dare to brag here, you are so shameless."

Zhu Ye said with great disdain.

"Whatever you say, I don't want to argue with you."

Cao Cao shrugged and continued, "I have calculated a thousand times, and finally I have predicted the situation today. I finally waited for Madam Xun You to give birth to a child. He just returned to his hometown in Yingyin the day before yesterday. I knew that the chance to win had come. Without Xun Gongda, you guys alone, humph, although you have some skills, you are no match for me."

"Bah!" Zhu Ye spat and said, "You old man, you are too arrogant. What if you set up an ambush? I am good at breaking ambushes."

After saying that, he called the cavalry behind him and charged forward.

The water in that small river was only half calf-deep at its deepest point. The war horses they rode were all carefully selected and bred, and they crossed the river easily.

"Hey, you want to play the game of attacking them halfway across the river? It's useless in such a shallow river. It seems that you are just a name for nothing. Take this blow from me."

Zhu Ye swung his sledgehammer and rushed towards Cao Cao.

Cao Cao raised his lips and said, "Don't worry, there will be no strategies or tricks today. Our army will use its true strength to completely defeat you, the most powerful general under Liu He."

He winked at Xiahou Dun and others around him, and Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Huang Zhong rode out on their horses at the same time.

Xu Chu and Dian Wei attacked Zhu Ye directly, while the other three led the cavalry, crossed the river and attacked Gao Shun.

When Zhu Ye saw that it was these two people who came to fight, he immediately said disdainfully: "Humph, you are just defeated generals, and you dare to come and die. I will kill you today."

Two sledgehammers were swung out one after the other, hitting the two men respectively.

Xu Chu and Dian Wei did not panic at all when facing this man who had beaten them severely and caused them to vomit blood and had to stay in bed for months to recuperate. They raised their weapons and pushed forward.

"Dang...dang..."

There were two loud noises, deafening. The two men took three steps back at the same time, but Zhu Ye was also shocked and his mind was confused. His hands were numb, and the silver-armored beast under his crotch was also forced to take a step back by the huge force.

Zhu Ye was extremely shocked. He opened his eyes wide and looked at the two men: "How is it possible... In less than two years, how could your martial arts improve so quickly?"

Dian Wei and Xu Chu did not answer him, but took a step forward and attacked again.

"System prompt: Zhu Ye is fighting against Dian Wei and Xu Chu. Zhu Ye's basic force is 99 points. The King of Soldiers, King of Armor, and mount have increased by 5 points in total. The special skill 'Brave Force' is triggered, and the force is increased by 8 points."

"Trigger the special skill 'Thunder', and increase the force by 3 points."

"Trigger the special skill 'Golden Hammer', increase the force by 2 points, and at the same time increase the force of all the soldiers of the Thunder God Cavalry by 2 points."

"Zhu Ye's current comprehensive force is 117 points."

"Dian Wei's current basic force is 100 points. He has completed his temporary mission to enmity the host, and gained 1 point of force bonus. His basic force is increased to 101 points, and his special skill 'Brave' is strengthened."

"'Brave' special skill. Previously, when you are at a disadvantage in battle, your own force will be increased by 3 points. When you are in desperate situation, your force will be increased by 1-3 points depending on the degree of danger. Now, you can increase your force in any situation, and the increase value has increased from 3 points to 4 points. The force increase after desperate situation remains unchanged, but if you enter a place of near death, you can randomly burst out an extra 2 points of force for a desperate attack."

"Dian Wei's basic force is 101 points. Weapons and armor increase by 2 points in total. The special skill 'Brave' is triggered, and the force increases by 4 points. The special skill 'Infantry Combat' is triggered, and the force increases by 5 points. The current comprehensive force is 112 points."

"Xu Chu's basic force is 100 points, and his weapons and armor have increased by 2 points in total. This place is a hillside forest, so the special skill 'Pingshan' is triggered, which increases his force by 2 points and reduces Zhu Ye's force by 1 point. However, Zhu Ye's 'Thunderbolt' special skill ignores all negative effects that reduce force, so the 'Pingshan' special skill's 1 point reduction in force is invalid."

"Xu Chu's current comprehensive force is 104 points."

"System prompt: Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Huang Zhong, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei have practiced martial arts and sparred with each other for two years, and their friendship is deep. They are also praised by Cao Cao as the five brave generals in the army, so the temporary combination skill 'Five Tigers in Battle' is activated. When three of these five are in combat on the same battlefield, their martial arts will be increased by 1 point each. If four of them fight at the same time, it will be increased by 2 points. If five of them fight at the same time, it will be increased by 3 points."

"Five people are currently fighting at the same time, each increasing their martial arts by 3 points. Dian Wei's overall martial arts becomes 115 points, and Xu Chu's overall martial arts becomes 107 points."

Upon hearing this prompt tone, Liu He, who had just been discussing the situation in Yuzhou with Xun Yu and seemed confident and ready to take back Yuzhou in one fell swoop, was suddenly stunned.

"What's going on? How did Dian Wei and Xu Chu improve their martial arts so much in less than two years? Also, this temporary combination of special skills is too strong. System, come out, I want to argue with you. Did you think it was too easy for this host to conquer the world, so you took the initiative and secretly gave Cao Cao cheats?"

Liu He rarely deals with the system now. He usually just listens to the system prompt sound occasionally. But this sudden and inexplicable situation made him unable to bear it any longer.

The long-lost, cold voice of the system appeared again.

"Reply to the host, the system did not give Cao Cao any benefits. The martial arts level of the five of them, the tacit understanding of combat cooperation, the friendship between them, and the titles given to them by Cao Cao all meet the system's conditions for activating the combined special skills. As for the rapid increase in the martial arts of Dian Wei and Xu Chu, there are other reasons."

"Don't come on, why don't you tell me the reason? I don't believe it. Did these two guys take a powerful pill? If you don't explain this matter clearly today, this host will never let you go."

(End of this chapter)