Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 330 Amidst the chaos of battle, numerous loopholes emerge.

Xiapi, Gaoshun Prefecture.

The study light stayed on all night, and Gao Shun was hunched over his desk, reviewing military affairs over and over again, seemingly unable to find peace of mind.

He frequently inquired of those around him whether Zhang Liao and Wei Xu had made any unusual moves, worried that these two traitors who had surrendered to Yuan Shikai were sharpening their knives nearby, ready to kill them at any moment as a sacrifice to his banner, in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

However, despite repeated reports, neither of them made any unusual moves, seemingly at peace with each other and only here for peace talks.

Nevertheless, even the meticulous Gao Shun dared not relax his guard in the slightest, and three thousand soldiers were hidden and surrounded him in three concentric circles.

They had made up their minds not to allow Zhang Liao, their former comrade and close friend, and now the adopted son of the King of Han, to cause any trouble in the city.

Just as Gao Shun was keeping a close eye on Zhang Liao and Wei Xu, and the city was calm, a sudden sound of fighting broke out, and it was said that rebels were rising up everywhere.

A soldier rushed in with a report, "General, something terrible has happened!"

Fires broke out everywhere in the city, and many of Zhang Liao's former subordinates rebelled under the banner of restoring the Han dynasty, turning against our loyal soldiers and killing each other, creating utter chaos.

"what!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Shun's expression changed drastically. He glared angrily at the general responsible for monitoring Zhang Liao and his men's communication and demanded:

“I ordered you to arrange surveillance, with a full three thousand men surrounding them. How is it that Zhang Liao has contacted his old troops without my noticing?”
"Did you also collude with Yuan and deceive me?"

This will cause them great alarm, and they will repeatedly apologize, saying "I dare not."

"General, you are wise. Zhang Liao, Wei Xu, and their men are under strict guard. There is absolutely no way they could bypass us to contact their old subordinates."

There must be someone in the city colluding with Yuan Shikai, using the pretense of repairing the plank road while secretly advancing through Chencang. They are using these two to distract us while actually harboring rebellious elements.

Gao Shun also knew that now was not the time to investigate, and there was no time to find out who in the city was conspiring with Yuan Shikai to carry out a major plan.

"Since these rebelling troops are former subordinates of Zhang Liao, their primary objective must be to rescue Zhang Liao."

"The peace talks are a sham. This son must not be spared. You must immediately order three thousand armored soldiers to kill Zhang Liao right here in the mansion. Use the death of these two traitors as a sacrifice to set an example for the people."

"only."

Seeing him accept the order and leave, Gao Shun gave further instructions.

"The rest of you, follow me to lead the army and quell the rebellion in the city."

Before he could finish speaking, another soldier rushed in to report.

"Report! General, something terrible has happened."

There was a traitor who colluded with Yuan Shikai and secretly opened the city gate. Sun Yu, the general guarding the west gate, was leading his troops in a bloody battle against Yuan's army, trying to recapture the city gate.

The battle is extremely urgent; Yuan's army is pouring in relentlessly. Sun Yu urgently requests reinforcements, pleading with the general to rush to their aid immediately, otherwise Xiapi will be in grave danger.

Although Gao Shun was alarmed by the previous rebellion in the city, he remained calm. After all, it had only been one night, and not many people could immediately decide to follow Zhang Liao's rebellion. Moreover, even if a general rebelled, his soldiers might not necessarily follow him firmly.

At this moment, the rebels and the defending troops are locked in fierce fighting, and no victor has yet emerged. If he personally leads the troops to provide support, the rebellion will be quelled in no time.

But the news that someone had opened the city gates without permission truly terrified him, and his face turned grim and dark.

There are over 100,000 Han soldiers outside the city!
Once the city gates fall completely, the Han army will swarm in, and defeat will be inevitable.

Therefore, he made a decision immediately and issued the following order:
"Tell Sun Yu to defend the city gate at all costs, even if it costs lives, to hold it for me."

I will come to your aid immediately; we must recapture the city gate!

As he spoke, he then ordered his generals:
"Order all generals in the city to defeat the rebels by whatever means they choose and rush to the west gate to provide reinforcements, no matter what methods they use."

As he spoke, he called out to the general who had just been ordered to assassinate the adopted son of the King of Han, saying:
"With three thousand men killing three hundred, I'll only give you a quarter of an hour."

"Within a quarter of an hour, you must bring your men and the heads of Zhang Liao and Wei Xu to the west gate to see me, in order to intimidate the Han army."

The general, knowing the urgency of the situation, dared not hesitate and quickly bowed again, saying:
"I will certainly live up to the general's expectations."

As Gao Shun gave his orders, he hurriedly left the Gao residence, instructing his generals to gather all remaining troops that could be mobilized and rush to the west gate to provide reinforcements.

He led the more than a thousand soldiers guarding the Gao residence and rushed towards the west gate.

As he donned his armor and mounted his horse, he pointed to a trusted soldier and gave the order:
"You shall immediately go to the Trapped Camp and inform Zhang Cheng that he need not concern himself with the chaos in the city."

"Immediately take command of the entire vanguard battalion and proceed to the west gate to rendezvous with me."

The soldier received the order and was about to jog away when, unexpectedly, a soldier in the armor of the Trapped Camp approached slowly and reported:

"General, I have come to deliver a message on the orders of General Li Jun."

An envoy from the Trapped Camp appeared, attempting to persuade General Li, but how could he possibly understand General Li's righteousness?

We only saw that the messenger Yuan had been killed by General Li, and he died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

General Li said that there was more than one envoy in the camp who was in contact with Yuan Shikai, and he was gathering loyal and righteous men to eliminate the evil influence and purge the wicked.

General Gao, please go to the Trapped Camp and learn from this."

Gao Shun: "???"

What? The Trapped Camp can rebel?
Gao Shun was deeply gratified when he heard that Li Jun had directly executed Yuan's envoy to prove his loyalty.

It's laughable that Yuan Shikai is so ignorant, trying to claim that I was in the enemy's trap; he's practically courting death.

Seeing that Li Jun was suppressing the treacherous and rebellious forces within the Trapped Camp, Gao Shun had no choice but to issue an order for Li Jun to deal with the envoys in the Trapped Camp who were colluding with Yuan Shikai, and to join forces with Zhang Cheng as soon as possible to rush to the West Gate to provide assistance.

"only."

The messenger obeyed and left, but unfortunately, even someone as righteous as Li Jun might have had his own thoughts about this order.

There's no time to worry about the Trapped Camp right now; we can only hope that Li Jun and Zhang Cheng can quickly resolve the internal strife and come to our aid.

Gao Shun had already donned his armor and mounted his horse, leading his men to rush to the west gate to provide reinforcements.

Looking out over the city gate, they saw General Sun Yu and his men desperately blocking the entrance, risking their lives to build a blood and flesh city gate.

Outside the gate was an endless black ocean, with the Han army in black armor surging in like a tide, crashing against the last reef blocking the entrance.

Another man, clad in golden armor, rode across the battlefield, his long spear sweeping away all who dared to stand in his way.

He stood guard alone, charging towards the city gate, laughing loudly.

"My family has held high office for four generations, including Yuan Ce, the Grand Marshal. Who dares to fight me?"

Seeing this, Gao Shun hurriedly ordered his troops to intercept them, but just then he heard a report urgently from behind:

"General! Urgent report from the front lines!"

Gao Shun was frantic at this point, and didn't even have time to glance back at him. He just shouted, "Speak!"

"General! I am under the command of General Zhang Cheng. Li Jun has rebelled!"
Li Jun is a traitor to Yuan Shikai, yet he cries "stop thief!" as if my general is colluding with Yuan Shikai. This is utterly a distortion of the truth!
Please do not believe this scoundrel's words. My general urgently requests your assistance in upholding justice.

Gao Shun: "."

At this point, what right do I have to uphold justice for you?

He was quite bewildered at this moment. Wasn't Li Jun just now righteously killing the envoy who had colluded with Yuan to prove his loyalty?
Why is Zhang Cheng, one of his trusted confidants, now saying that Li Jun is colluding with Yuan Shikai to rebel?

He didn’t need to think about it carefully to have a vague feeling that his loyal and devoted entourage, the Trapped Camp, was probably in complete chaos.
He was both angry and anxious, and ordered, "Go back immediately and tell Zhang Cheng!"
I don't have time to deal with his petty affairs with Li Jun right now. I'm granting him full command authority, and he must obey orders in battle.

Tell Li Jun not to cause trouble, but to quickly cooperate with Zhang Cheng and lead troops to the west gate to provide reinforcements. Once they meet, I will be able to discern who is loyal and who is treacherous. "Yes, sir."

The soldier obeyed the order and left, but unfortunately, when he arrived to deliver the message, all he saw was Zhang Cheng's body, which had been still warm from suicide.

With no time to concern himself with the battle, Gao Shun gave a brief order and led his troops to the city gate to reinforce the defending general Sun Yu. He even took the lead himself and fought fiercely against Sun Ce under the protection of his soldiers.

"Yuan Ce, stop your arrogance! Gao Shun will fight you!"

The two sides clashed in close combat, and during the bloody battle at the city gate, Gao Shun fought Sun Ce for more than ten rounds. However, he was somewhat outmatched and had to temporarily withdraw to catch his breath under the protection of his soldiers.

Just then, someone called out from behind:

"General, urgent report from the front lines!"

Gao Shun was overjoyed, "Has Zhang Cheng arrived? Quickly lead your troops to help!"

But then the man told him:
"General, the evidence that General Zhang Cheng, General Zhao Da, and others colluded with Yuan Xinghan is irrefutable."

General Li Jun is leading his troops in a fierce battle against these traitors and is unable to come to their aid immediately. Please, General, hold on a little longer.

Gao Shun: "???"

Should we persevere?

Looking at Sun Ce's invincible, blood-stained spear, Gao Shun felt like vomiting blood.

Zhang Cheng is my confidant, how could he betray me?

They even led Zhao Da and so many others to rebel?

What the hell!
But what could he do now that things had come to this? He could only curse Zhang Cheng in his heart for failing to live up to expectations, while gritting his teeth and continuing to hold off Sun Ce.

Later, we heard from the messenger that he had brought the latest military intelligence from the Trapped Camp!
"General, General Zhang Cheng did not actually rebel; he was framed."

General Li Jun fell into Yuan Shao's trap, and General Zhang Cheng sacrificed his life to prove his loyalty, thus thwarting Yuan Shao's grand plan.

General Li Jun, who is now furious, is leading his troops to wipe out the remnants of Yuan Shikai's faction and should be able to come to his aid soon.

General, you must hold on!

At this moment, Gao Shun, who had narrowly escaped death from Sun Ce's spear and was finally rescued by his soldiers, was completely numb.

How did I, a perfectly good member of the Vanguard Battalion, end up like this?

He gritted his teeth and said, "Tell Li Jun to hurry up," before reluctantly continuing to lead his troops to block the gate.

At this moment, he was furious that his camp was in complete chaos and could not come to his aid. He was also annoyed that the three thousand men he had sent to kill Zhang Liao were gone.
A quarter of an hour has passed, where the hell is he?

Is it really that slow for 3,000 people to fight 300?

If we could bring over Zhang Liao's head at this moment, it would definitely boost morale, not to mention we also have three thousand fresh troops!
Little did he know that the generals he had sent to kill the two traitors, Zhang Liao and Wei Xu, were already mired in a fierce battle and unable to extricate themselves.

The residences of Zhang Liao and Wei Xu.

When the three thousand Qi soldiers surrounded the mansion, the three hundred Han soldiers inside were already ready to fight, waiting for this moment to defend the mansion walls and engage in a fierce battle.

Originally, with three thousand men fighting against three hundred, and a mere courtyard wall, even the elite Han army, with a tenfold difference in troop strength, clearly could not hold out for long.

But among the Han army, there was one man, wielding a large sword, his hand resting on an iron-framed bow, who shouted loudly:

"Huang Hansheng of Changsha is here!"

Then, with a sweeping motion of his broadsword, he seemed to be "Ji Ling reborn," with almost no one able to withstand his attack. The arrows in his hand were like shooting stars, aimed specifically at the commanding officers.

The general assigned by Gao Shun was so frightened that he lowered his head and shrank back, not daring to show his face and give orders.

That wasn't all. Then another voice rang out, "Xu Zhongkang from Qiao County is here! Who dares to fight me to the death?"

Then another man charged out, fighting naked, his bravery invincible, terrifying the generals.

It turns out that the three hundred Han soldiers guarding Zhang Liao were not only elite troops carefully selected by Yuan Shu, but also included Huang Zhong and Xu Chu, two generals who rarely appeared in public and had never met Gao Shun and his men.

At this moment, they unleashed their combined power, terrifying the three thousand Qi soldiers and halting their offensive.

At this moment, another man leaped onto his horse and led three hundred Han soldiers out to fight. It was Zhang Liao, Zhang Wenyuan!

“Zhang Wenyuan, the adopted son of the King of Han, is here. Why don’t you surrender?”
Disarm and you will not be killed. Join my ranks, assist the King of Han, and together we will create a great empire!

The Qi army's offensive slowed down again, and the morale of the troops gradually declined. The Qi general who was hiding with his head down became more and more anxious when he saw this, but he was afraid of Huang Zhong's arrows and dared not show his face, which made it difficult to boost the morale of the troops.

Fortunately, the difference in troop strength was tenfold. Although the momentum was temporarily at a disadvantage, it was not something that three hundred men could easily defeat in a short period of time. They were able to maintain the battle situation with difficulty.

What truly terrified this Qi general was that, despite being in Xiapi, the very heart of Qi's main camp, the troops he was waiting for did not arrive with reinforcements from his own side.

"General Zhang Liao, we've come to your aid!"

"Long time no see, Brother Wenyuan. If you become rich and powerful, don't forget me!"

"Wen Yuan, do you still remember our life-and-death friendship in Bingzhou?"

Loud laughter could be heard as one after another, the traitors who had been persuaded by the envoys to the Yuan dynasty came to their aid, causing the three thousand Qi soldiers, who originally had a numerical advantage, to be subtly surrounded by Zhang Liao's old troops.

With attacks from both inside and outside, and with generals like Huang Zhong, Xu Chu, and Zhang Liao on their side, their demise was inevitable.

This general, who came under orders to kill the two traitors Zhang Liao and Wei Xu in a single moment to sacrifice to the flag and rush to Gao Shun's aid, never understood why he died.

How were these rebels, who had set fires all over the city, able to defeat their comrades who were trying to stop them so quickly and have them rush to their aid?
Logically speaking, just like Li Jun in the Trapped Camp, there were those who colluded with Yuan Shikai to rebel, and those who were loyal and righteous in eliminating the traitor. With the two sides fighting each other, it was indeed impossible to resolve the internal strife so quickly and come to support them.

But they actually didn't solve their problem at all!

This was because, amidst the fierce infighting that raged throughout the city, an elite force would occasionally emerge, shouting, "We are determined to fight to the death!" and instantly break through the battle, taking the "loyal and righteous" Qi army that was eliminating the traitors with them.

These rebel troops, former subordinates of Zhang Liao, originally intended to rush to Zhang Liao's aid and open the city gates to let the Han army into the city.

Suddenly realizing that the opponent who had been blocking their path had been taken away, they lost all interest in pursuing them.

Anyway, as long as the King of Han's "830,000" army enters the city, no matter if you are a remnant or not, you will be purged. Therefore, they all rushed to rescue the King of Han's adopted son and come to earn merit.

As for the Trapped Camp, which recruited loyal and righteous men everywhere...
Meanwhile, Li Jun had purged the wicked and Cao Cao was in charge of the battle. At this time, the first messenger sent back by Gao Shun arrived late.

Upon receiving the order to join Zhang Cheng and rush to the west gate to provide reinforcements, Li Jun glanced regretfully at the unseeing eyes of the dead Zhang Cheng, and said to the generals:

"The situation is urgent. We wish to assist Lord Gao, but with only six hundred soldiers, we fear our strength may be insufficient."

When we gather the scattered people in the city, unite the loyal and righteous, uphold righteousness, unite the people, and bring everyone together as one, we will save Lord Gao from the west city.

Tonight, we will cleanse the city of its malevolent aura and avert disaster!

"I am willing to follow Lord Li, even if it means death."

Li Jun then led his men into battle, charging left and right through the city, putting out fires everywhere.

Whenever he saw the traitor Yuan fighting against the loyal and righteous, he would break through the battle.

He then used his silver tongue to lure people away under the pretext that "gathering everyone to help Gao Shun and reclaim Ximen is the most urgent task."

The Qi army was astonished to see that the Trapped Camp was led by him alone; how could they not believe it?

And so the snowball grew bigger and bigger, and its momentum grew stronger and stronger!
(End of this chapter)