Three Kingdoms: I rely on system loopholes to survive

Lü Bu was defeated in Jiangjin and trapped in a stream. He was ambushed from front to back. If it were not for Caizhong's unbearable situation and the possibility of escape, all his soldiers would have been killed. Lü Bu left through a small path in the forest and escaped only at night. Seeing that there were no more than 8,000 soldiers left, he set up camp by the Yitankou River and ordered Zhang Liao, who was guarding the city in Jiangjin, to lead his troops to help.

Seeing Lü Bu drinking again in his tent, Chen Gong hurriedly told him all about Hao Meng's anomalies: "My lord, these two defeats must have been caused by someone else. I think Hao Meng's behavior is suspicious. He retreated a step during the battle and was quite evasive in responding. I'm afraid he has already had other intentions."

Lu Bu was silent, with a look of doubt in his eyes. Hao Meng had always been favored by him for his eloquence, and he loved his way of doing things. Now he was fighting without using his full strength, which was really unusual.

Lü Bu had been drinking, and thinking about how he had been so successful in Jingzhou, he had never suffered such a great defeat. He was furious, and he put on his clothes and ordered the army to discuss the crime. He called Hao Meng to the center of the army and sternly scolded him, "You didn't rush to rescue me yesterday, and you wanted to watch me die. How can you be at peace?"

Hao Meng thought something had happened and was shaking like a sieve. Seeing that Lu Bu had no intention of killing him, he felt relieved and refused to admit it. "I was not able to rescue him in time, not intentionally! It was the rolling stones and flames that blocked our action, so we were slow! My lord, please understand! I have also explained the situation to you, my lord, please understand!"

Lu Bu looked at Chen Gong and saw him shaking his head slightly. He was still furious and ordered his soldiers to tie him up at the gate and whip him thirty times in public. Hao Meng cried out in pain and complained. In a short while, his back was bloody and his face was as white as gold paper. His eyes showed signs of death.

Hao Meng was sociable and good at flattery, and this sincere and pitiful scene actually eased some of Lu Bu's suspicion, so he ordered two soldiers to untie him and send him back to the tent to recuperate.

However, Hao Meng was a vengeful person, and he knew that Lu Bu and Chen Gong had already suspected him, so he would not be able to escape death sooner or later. So that night he ordered his general Xu Mi and others to lead 500 soldiers to sneak into the central camp, burn the tents, and shout orders.

Lu Bu was originally depressed. After drinking the only remaining water bag of wine, he went to bed a few minutes earlier than usual. Now seeing that the camp was in chaos again, he felt a little tired in his heart, not to mention identifying the identities of the rebel soldiers.

Those soldiers were caught off guard and faced with the turmoil. Their morale was further depressed. In a short time, they were defeated, their guards fled, and the central army fell into chaos. Hao Meng came out with a knife, his clothes stained with blood, and cried out in tears: "I am a loyal and good man, but I was humiliated by my master! My master must be greedy by villains! Everyone, follow me to get rid of the villains!"

Hao Meng had always disliked Gao Shun and Chen Gong, so they took advantage of the situation and led their troops straight to the big tent.

Lu Bu grabbed the Fang Tian Hua Ji and fled in a hurry without even having time to put on his outer robe. Gao Shun rescued Chen Gong from the chaos of soldiers and followed Lu Bu to protect him. The rest of the soldiers either dispersed or followed him.

There were unusual movements in Lu Bu's camp, so the scouts went to the water camp to report to Cai Mao.

Cai Mao was overjoyed upon hearing the news, and quickly gathered 50,000 soldiers and marched them in three groups, intending to win the battle in one go.

He secretly thought that Lu Bu was already at the end of his strength. If he could kill Lu Bu in this battle, he would be able to become famous and all the credit for the achievements would go to him. So he led the army through the waterway and left Cai Zhong and Cai Xun to guard the water stronghold.

At this time, Liu Qi and Zhong Ping were both in the camp, with only about 200 Bai Li soldiers, equipped with only ring-handled swords. Cai Zhong and Zhang Yun thought that Nanjun would be conquered, and if they left these two in Jingzhou, they might compete with Liu Cong for power, so they decided to kill them. They discussed secretly: "Now that the navy in the camp is under the command of all, why not take advantage of their weakness and eliminate them, and tell the outside world that they were killed by Lu Bu?"

After saying this, he went to find Cai Xun again. Cai Xun was hesitant at first, but Zhang Yun stressed that Liu Qi had the intention of seizing the throne, so he agreed to the matter.

The three men took into consideration that Zhong Ping was an envoy from Jiaozhou and tried to conceal their identity. At four o'clock that night, Cai Zhong invited Zhong Ping to accompany him on a tour of the camp. Zhong Ping pretended not to understand and stood up and said with a smile, "The general once said that you can dispatch all the food and supplies in the army? I wonder if it is still the case? The food and supplies carried by my soldiers are running out. Can you take two or three people to use them?"

Cai Zhong felt that Zhong Ping was too polite. He had to use up the dry food he brought with him before asking for food and grass in their camp. However, he wanted to weaken the guards beside Liu Qi, so he immediately responded: "This is what my brother agreed to. Of course, I can do it. I wonder how many people the envoy will bring with him. Do you need our help?"

"Twenty people will be enough, and it will be enough for about a hundred people."

Zhong Ping smiled innocently and picked out ten strong soldiers to follow him. Cai Zhong took a look and then led Zhong Ping to where the food and grass were.

Seeing that Zhong Ping had left, Zhang Yun wanted to go to Liu Qi's room to find out what was going on under the pretext of a casual chat. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped into the room, Zhu Feng came out from behind the door and cut his heart with a knife! Zhang Yun even had time to open his eyes, and the Bai Li soldiers beside Liu Qi quickly caught Zhang Yun's body and moved it to the couch, but Zhang Yun stopped breathing in an instant without even making a sound.

While Cai Xun was still waiting for Zhang Yun's reply, he heard someone running and shouting in the camp. Someone was shouting "fire". Cai Xun was startled and went out to investigate. He saw soldiers coming from the granary and thought something was wrong.

When he asked, he found out that the granary was on fire. He no longer cared about Ping and Liu Qi, and gathered a thousand people to fetch water from the river to put out the fire.

After burning the granary, Zhong Ping led his troops to retrieve the bows and arrows from the camp. He had in his hand the token given to him by Cai Mao. The captain who was guarding the baggage also knew that Zhong Ping had the power to dispatch the troops, so he did not suspect anything. Seeing this, Zhong Ping used the excuse of lack of manpower to recruit a hundred men from the captain's command to serve him.

"Chen Gong is cunning. Now there is chaos in the camp. I am afraid that the general has fallen into a trap to lure the tiger away from the mountain. You should quickly report to the generals and come to discuss the matter."

The hundred men took the order and left. Soon, beacons were lit in various water strongholds, and the generals went to the central army to find the Cai brothers to inquire about the news.

At that time, there were less than 2,000 soldiers left in the central army water camp. Cai Mao had already led the main force to fight, leaving the rear camp empty. Zhong Ping and others openly divided their troops into three groups under the pretext of Lu Bu's attack:

One part was to guard the camp and prevent chaos, one part was equipped with bows and arrows and ambushed outside the granary, and one part crossed the water to the middle of the river and occupied the gate of the central military camp.

In the past few days, Bai Li soldiers were often seen in the camp, and the soldiers did not take it seriously. Only one of the generals noticed something unusual, but by then they had reached the central army, the boat bridge had been broken, and the camp gate had been closed, so it was too late to retreat.

Soon, Liu Qi appeared first, followed by Zhu Feng holding the heads of Zhang Yun and Cai Zhong in their hands. Zhong Ping arrived late with the head of Cai Xun and threw the talismans on the two men on the table.

Liu Qi smiled and said, "Here is the letter. Will you obey my orders?"

Several lieutenant generals were terrified when they saw this. Some of them wanted to speak, but when they saw the blades of dozens of Bai Li soldiers soaked in blood, they had no choice but to bow their heads and accept the restraints. Among them, some opportunists shouted, "We are willing to obey the orders of the eldest master!"

Before daybreak, Cai Mao pursued Lü Bu in vain, and was shot in the right chest by an arrow from the reinforcement Zhang Liao, and fell into the water. He was rescued by his personal soldiers, but returned wounded. When the boat reached the central army water fort, it was controlled by Zhong Ping. Before the gate could be opened, the boat was entangled by hooks and ropes.

Cai Mao woke up from his coma and saw this. He was horrified and said, "Has the camp been lost?!"

Suddenly, there was a strange noise from the bottom of the boat. Before Cai Mao could react, a man jumped up. It was Liu Qi's retainer Zhu Feng. He had been lying in ambush underwater for a long time. His attack lacked some power, but fortunately, it hit Cai Mao's injured right chest. Cai Mao screamed in pain, fell into the river, and died instantly.

Afterwards, the soldiers on the boats were leaderless. They looked up and saw Liu Qi standing in front of the camp, holding a talisman. The bodies of Zhang Yun, Cai He, and Cai Xun were exposed at the gate of the camp. Two lieutenants followed Zhong Ping and said, "The Cai family first killed my father and wanted to kill me. Now they have been executed. Are there any of you who are dissatisfied?"

The soldiers were in an uproar for a while, and then all surrendered. Zhong Ping immediately ordered the ships to be reorganized, and the food and weapons to be counted. He collected 300 warships and tens of thousands of arrows, which could be used as a navy of more than 8,000.

At dawn, everyone in Nanjun heard about the unusual movements in the water stronghold, Lü Bu's defeat, and the death of Cai Mao. The crowd was shocked. When Mrs. Cai heard that her brothers were all dead and the water stronghold was captured by Liu Qi, she fainted in shock and anger and never recovered.

(End of this chapter)