He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Chen Deng and the other soldiers from Xuzhou were stunned. They thought they had made sufficient preparations, but they never expected it to be like this.

Chen Deng felt that he had gained a lot of knowledge tonight.

Just then, Zhang Fei, who was lying in ambush near the White Gate Tower, saw that Lü Bu was about to run away and immediately rushed out to join the battle.

Once he had a firm footing, Lü Bu drew his sword and charged left and right, sending one soldier flying with a punch here and another with a kick there. The Xuzhou soldiers on the steps either jumped down on their own initiative or passively.

Seeing that their commander had opened up a way out, the remaining Lü Bu troops began to rush frantically toward the steps, completely ignoring the Xuzhou troops that were surrounding them.

"Now! Fall!"

The crowd, huddled together, gave Jin Zhi room to maneuver, but the high temperature caused people to scatter again and wail. In the end, less than ten of Lü Bu's troops successfully made it to the top.

However, Lu Bu couldn't care less about that at this moment. He charged towards the city wall, preparing to jump off.

By this time, the people outside the city were already frantic, but having rushed all the way, they couldn't possibly have any siege equipment, not even a ladder, and could only stare helplessly outside the city.

Seeing that their commander had reached the city wall, everyone was ready to rush over and provide cover as soon as the commander jumped down.

Seeing that the duck in his beak was about to fly away, Zhang Fei panicked and cursed, "You thrice-surname traitor, don't you dare run! Today you'll see what's coming to you!"

Upon hearing the phrase "traitor who has served three masters," Lü Bu glared angrily at Zhang Fei, preparing to hurl a few more insults back.

Chen Deng, however, was staring at Lü Bu standing on the city wall from the darkness. The torchlight made his armor shine brightly. Chen Deng took a breath and drew back the small bow in his hand.

Just as Lü Bu turned his body, the vulnerable side of his chest, unprotected by armor plates, was revealed under his armpit.

A glint flashed in Chen Deng's eyes, and the arrow flew from his hand.

Hit the bullseye!

Lu Bu only felt a pain under his armpit, and before he could speak, blood gushed from his nostrils and mouth.

Lu Bu staggered a couple of times, staring wide-eyed at the spot where the arrows were fired, but all he could see was darkness. Finally, he fell headfirst towards the outside of the city wall, and several of Lu Bu's soldiers on the wall followed suit.

However, Wenhou was quite lucky; when he fell to the ground, he landed on his shoulder first.

But the people inside the city don't know that.

The attack on the city had already put Lu Bu's soldiers in a state of panic, and their commander's fall from the city wall became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"The general has been killed!"

"Stop fighting! I surrender!"

At this moment, the soldiers on the White Gate Tower had turned around to deliver the final blow to Lü Bu, and Zhang Liao immediately led the men outside the city to provide cover.

Zhang Liao arrived at the foot of the city wall and saw Lü Bu lying motionless. He then charged over with a small shield in hand.

Without having time to examine Lü Bu's injuries closely, Zhang Liao put Lü Bu on his horse and fled towards Xiaopei.

Limited by a shortage of warhorses, Chen Deng on the White Gate Tower could only watch with regret as Lü Bu and his men left.

--------

There was no time to savor the joy of victory; after fighting for so long, the entire army was starting to feel the strain.

Zhang Fei and Chen Deng bid farewell and went home to rest, leaving some soldiers behind to clean up the battlefield and repair the steps.

Meanwhile, the other nobles and commoners were wide awake, all eager to find out what had happened that night, and anxiously awaited the sunrise.

Zhang Fei didn't sleep for long. He still remembered Lu Wan's instructions: there was still one last thorn in Xiapi City that hadn't been removed.

So he only went back and dozed off for a while before leading the local soldiers of Xuzhou to blockade the Danyang troops' garrison and detain the main officers.

Zhang Fei personally oversaw the operation, explaining the greater good to the Danyang soldiers. Letters exchanged between Cao Bao and others and Cao Cao were read aloud so everyone could hear. He also distributed a portion of the property looted from the Danyang generals the previous night as rewards.

With money, things became much easier. The Danyang soldiers were, after all, mercenaries, not anyone's private army. Their leaders were all gone, and officers of all ranks were imprisoned. What else could they do? So the Danyang soldiers chose to lay down their weapons, collect their money in batches, and the mutiny vanished without a trace.

Later, Zhang Fei organized another reward distribution, and the soldiers of Xuzhou were all overjoyed to receive their rewards. Last night, nearly a hundred men were mobilized, and so many houses were raided, yielding a considerable amount of wealth. After distributing rewards to everyone according to their contributions, there was still a lot left over.

At noon, high-ranking officials and wealthy families in the city received notices and flocked to the government office for a meeting. Mi Zhu, Chen Qun, and others remained silent, and officials of lower rank dared not utter a word. When they did ask questions, the answers were mostly just shaking their heads.

Zhang Fei and Chen Deng were the last to arrive, and the people inside immediately stood up and bowed.

"Gentlemen, last night Cao Bao and his men conspired with Lü Bu to seize the city gates and surrender it, but I have already killed them. Don't say I don't know the rules; these are letters confiscated from their homes, which shows that these men have long harbored rebellious intentions. I have summoned you all here today to bear witness to this."

Zhang Fei got straight to the point. Having successfully defended Xiapi for his elder brother, killed Cao Bao and his gang whom he had always disliked, and even captured Lu Bu's Red Hare horse, he spoke with great confidence and was in a much better mood.

The people in the room looked at each other in bewilderment. These generals from Danyang had been brought by Tao Gong when he took office. Although the generals from Danyang and the local aristocratic families had long disliked each other, the sudden loss of familiar faces still left them feeling somewhat saddened.

The feeling of shared sorrow over the death of a rabbit and the sorrow of a fox only lasted until the moment the letter was received.

There is no doubt that these letters are genuine, because my own family has received them as well.

The representatives of the Xuzhou aristocratic families were not angry that the generals of Danyang were two-faced, but rather that Cao Cao had offered them better terms than he had offered himself.

Cao Cao, the dog!

The man surnamed Cao looks down on us so much that he hesitated to give us even a county magistrate position, saying it would be difficult, but he readily gave these military men a captain position.

It's outrageous that they're allowing these people to take advantage of the chaos in the city to eliminate our aristocratic families!

Difficult to handle? If it's difficult, then don't do it!

Sitting in the main seat, Zhang Fei saw the people below gritting their teeth, wishing they could transform into Hannibal Lecter and devour Cao Cao on the spot. He couldn't help but admire how good Lu Wan's plan was.

When Lu Wan arrived this morning, he tried his best to sell the plan to Zhang Fei, saying that Cao Cao was the mortal enemy of the people of Xuzhou, and that showing Cao Cao's letter would help stabilize and unite the people of Xuzhou.

Zhang Fei, remembering how much Lu Wan had helped him, patted his chest and assured her of the matter.

In all honesty, Lu Wan only thought that helping Cao Cao make his presence felt among the powerful families of Xuzhou might be a good thing for him when he later joined Cao Cao's side.

Who knew that Cao Cao had already begun to pay attention to the power struggle among aristocratic families? His efforts to win over local officials were more focused on those with real power, while he adopted a suppressive attitude towards local aristocratic families. After all, no one wanted to have two more powerful fathers, since they already had the Yingchuan aristocratic family in their family.

At this time, Cao Cao began to famously appoint people based solely on their talent, in order to suppress the expansion of power by aristocratic families.

Of course, the aristocratic families could not understand Cao Cao's good intentions.

The various powerful families of Xuzhou present were determined to fully support Magistrate Liu. Magistrate Liu, seemingly naive, would stamp documents without carefully examining them each time. He was also kind to people, always coming to express his gratitude for even the smallest favors. Wasn't this the ideal lord they all envisioned?

When Liu Bei was alive, Xuzhou belonged to the people of Xuzhou; when Cao Cao arrived, Xuzhou became the Xuzhou of the people of Yingchuan.

In any case, they no longer wanted to have any interaction with Cao Cao, this two-faced swindler.