The Three Kingdoms: Rise to Power Starting with Intercepting Liu Bei

After killing Sun Ce, Qin Xuan did not hesitate for a moment. He wielded the Dragon-Breaking Halberd and charged at the infantrymen. In less than a quarter of an hour, the hundreds of infantrymen were wiped out.

"Great Snow Dragon Riders, heed my command! Divide your forces in half to pursue and kill Zhou Yu and his men. Cease your operations once they escape from Wu Commandery; otherwise, annihilate them all!"

A short while later, seeing the corpses strewn all over the ground, Qin Xuan continued to order the pursuit. Although Sun Ce and his men had held them off for some time, the speed of the Great Snow Dragon Riders should be enough to catch up.

However, this place is very close to Danyang County, and Yuan Shu still has some territory here. Qin Xuan did not want to antagonize Yuan Shu at this time, so he ordered the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry to only pursue them to the border between Danyang and Wu County.

"promise!"

A centurion of the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry immediately took orders and led 250 men to continue the pursuit of Zhou Yu and his men.

Then Qin Xuan led the remaining 250 men to clean up the battlefield. If so many severed limbs were not buried, they would surely develop into a plague.

"Little Conqueror Sun Ce, you've met a disastrous start and a premature end!"

As everyone was dealing with the wreckage, Qin Xuan slowly walked to Sun Ce's body and uttered these words of lament.

Sun Ce officially rose to prominence in 195 AD, conquering various counties in Yangzhou and laying a solid foundation for Sun Quan's later development of Jiangdong.

But now, before he even left the mountain, he had already offended Qin Xuan, and ended up with his life shattered, which is truly lamentable.

After four or five hours of clearing, almost all the corpses on the Shui'an battlefield were gathered together and burned by the Great Snow Dragon Riders. The huge fire made the surrounding air extremely hot, and the heat wave spread outwards like a surging tide.

Qin Xuan ordered that the bodies of Yan Baihu and Sun Ce be taken away and properly buried.

Regardless, Sun Ce was a respectable opponent. It's just a pity that the two could only become enemies. All Qin Xuan could do was give him a dignified funeral and a proper burial.

············

Just as Qin Xuan was returning to Wucheng after defeating Sun Ce, Liu Bei, along with Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and dozens of followers, traveled a long and arduous journey to Anji in Danyang County.

After resting in a grove of trees and hiding for a day and a night, they were finally safe.

After everyone sat down to rest, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came to Liu Bei's side, their faces showing doubt and dissatisfaction. Zhang Fei was the first to speak and ask:

"Brother, what exactly happened last night? How did you know Qin Xuan and Yan Baihu were colluding? And why didn't we inform Sun Ce and the others at the time?"

"They're probably in grave danger now!"

After saying this, Zhang Fei stared blankly at Liu Bei, wanting a reasonable explanation. Even Guan Yu was the same, his bright phoenix eyes fixed on Liu Bei.

After all, they consider such betrayal of teammates to be extremely shameful.

Seeing the serious expressions on his two sworn brothers' faces, Liu Bei glanced at the dozens of followers resting not far away. Seeing that they were all resting under the trees and no one was paying attention to what was happening here, Liu Bei sighed and gazed into the distance with a deep look in his eyes.

After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke: "It's because Yan Baihu's behavior has changed so much. Back when he was outside Guangling City, Yan Baihu was incredibly domineering and didn't take anyone seriously at all."

"But once they arrived in Wu County, they were very enthusiastic, and a little too enthusiastic. So I had to be careful. On the first day I arrived in Wucheng, I sent several scouts to keep a close eye on the movements in Guangling."

"It was discovered that Qin Xuan had amassed a large number of troops in Guangling and secretly advanced to the border area with Wu County."

"Yan Baihu couldn't possibly be unaware of these circumstances, but he didn't tell us."

However, Guan Yu frowned and voiced his opinion: "Brother, could it be that Yan Baihu really doesn't know? After all, his men are just a rabble with no intelligence-gathering capabilities whatsoever."

Guan Yu's idea made some sense. No matter what, Yan Baihu could only be considered a local strongman. He didn't pay attention to the training of his soldiers. To put it bluntly, he was just a bandit.

The men under his command could never compare to a regular army.

"That's right, Second Brother is right. Yan Baihu is a bunch of useless trash. How could he possibly scout out enemy positions?" Zhang Fei chimed in, clearly agreeing with Guan Yu's opinion.

Liu Bei nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. That's what I thought at the time too, but I still didn't let my guard down until yesterday morning when I accidentally discovered that Yan Baihu's army was showing signs of movement. That's why I asked you, my third brother, to keep a close eye on Yan Baihu's movements."

"As for why Yan Baihu was so bold as to attack us, it must be because he has Qin Xuan backing him up. Otherwise, would he dare to turn against us?"

"It's a pity about Sun Ce and Zhou Yu; it seems their chances of survival are slim!"

"It's a pity about Sun Ce and Zhou Yu; it seems their chances of survival are slim!"

In the end, Liu Bei looked disappointed. If he hadn't been careful, he would have fallen into Yan Baihu's hands.

"Brother, so you mean we're just going to let Yan Baihu get away with this? I can't swallow this!"

Zhang Fei was not one to suffer a loss easily. Yan Baihu dared to scheme against them like this, causing them such a great loss. He had to find a way to get revenge.

"Heh!" Liu Bei scoffed disdainfully. "Yan Baihu is probably dead already. Could he have defeated Sun Ce? Even if Sun Ce hadn't killed him, he wouldn't have been the ultimate beneficiary. The real beneficiary is Qin Xuan!"

Based on Liu Bei's limited understanding of Qin Xuan, cooperating with Yan Baihu was tantamount to seeking help from a tiger. Qin Xuan would never be able to resist the temptation of Wu Commandery, and Yan Baihu was doomed.

"Qin Xuan~~~ It's that Qin Xuan again! I must kill him!"

Upon hearing Liu Bei mention Qin Xuan, Guan Yu seemed to transform into a completely different person. The murderous glint in his eyes was impossible to conceal, and the chill emanating from him caused the surrounding temperature to drop considerably.

"Second brother, relax, we will definitely avenge this!" Liu Bei noticed Guan Yu's unusual behavior and gently patted his back to comfort him.

"Second Brother, don't worry, I will definitely avenge you!" After Liu Bei made his statement, Zhang Fei was not to be outdone. This warmed Guan Yu's heart, and he felt less upset. His hatred gradually dissipated, and he slowly returned to normal.

"Let's go, let's get back as soon as possible. We're already in Danyang territory, they shouldn't be able to catch up here."

After resting, Liu Bei led these people back to Liu Yao's side.

As evening fell, the Snow Dragon Cavalry, responsible for pursuing Zhou Yu and his men, finally returned to Wucheng. Qin Xuan had long since taken control of the area, and the remaining counties would soon fall into his hands as well. Due to Yan Baihu's death, Qin Xuan controlled most of Wu County almost effortlessly, and his territory expanded once again.

Since Wu Commandery belonged to Yangzhou and was far from Qin Xuan's base in Tancheng, and given the complex situation in Yangzhou, Qin Xuan planned to appoint Chen Deng as the governor of Wu Commandery, with Xue Rengui leading 10,000 troops to garrison Wu Commandery and continue training new recruits.

"How is the situation?"

Qin Xuan asked with trepidation, after all, Zhou Yu was a formidable opponent, and if he failed to defeat him, who knew how much trouble it might cause.

Upon hearing this, the centurion of the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry suddenly knelt down, bowing his head, his voice tinged with guilt: "My lord, we failed to catch up with Zhou Yu and the others; they escaped."

Qin Xuan's heart sank, but he didn't show any emotion, simply asking calmly, "Why is this happening? What exactly happened?"

The centurion looked up, a hint of annoyance flashing in his eyes:

"We were misled by the fake hoof prints they made. By the time we followed their hoof prints to a mountain forest, it was too late. We had already lost them."

Qin Xuan frowned slightly upon hearing this, and couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for Zhou Yu's wisdom. It seemed that Heaven had spared them from destruction, as they were able to escape the pursuit of the Great Snow Dragon Riders.

"Alright, go down and receive thirty lashes. Take this as a warning for the future, understand?"

"Yes, thank you for sparing my life, my lord!" the centurion said, bowing in gratitude.