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

Chapter 40 Lei Bu and Chen Lan, truly "famous generals"

"Yuan Rang, kill him."

"The last general takes command!"

With a command, he drew his sword, and blood and flesh flew everywhere. One of the armored soldiers protecting Liu Xun had his head fall to the ground!

"How dare you do this?"

Upon witnessing this shocking turn of events, Liu Xun was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly ordered the soldiers around him to come and protect him, while he turned his horse around and tried to escape.

At such close range, how could it possibly be possible to escape now?

The one-eyed armored warrior moved like a tiger among sheep, as if he were in an empty field. In a short time, all the soldiers who had fought desperately to protect Liu Xun fell into pools of blood.

Seeing Liu Xun trying to escape, his single eye narrowed sharply, revealing a chilling killing intent!
He immediately threw his longsword, which struck the horse squarely in the belly. The warhorse reared up, neighed, and fell to the ground, pinning Liu Xun beneath it.

When he finally managed to climb out of the horse's belly, he saw that the one-eyed armored soldier, who should have been an "old, weak, and disabled soldier," had already seized the spear, approached him, wiped the blood from his face, and grinned.

"You scoundrel! How dare you do this!"

Liu Xun was utterly horrified at this moment.

"I am Liu Xun, Liu Zitai, a trusted and beloved general of the Great General!"

Who dares to kill me! Who can kill me?
"You all"

Before he could finish speaking, he was no match for the other. In his panic, he barely managed to hold on for a few moves before a spear pierced his heart and impaled him on the spear.

"The Great General will surely avenge me, slaughtering this city in blood, leaving not a single one of you alive!"

"Noisy!"

Xiahou Dun opened his one eye and suddenly exerted his strength, sending the living man flying to Xi Zhicai's front, where he bowed and paid his respects.

"Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life."

Xi Zhicai didn't even glance at the enemy general's corpse at his feet. Instead, he looked at the two generals not far away who were shouting, "There must be a large army lying in ambush here! Soldiers, follow me and charge!" and then leading their troops in a hasty retreat. His brows furrowed slightly.

That's strange!

These two subordinates, whose names are unknown, are so cautious!

Seeing their commander being assassinated, they didn't take the bait, nor did they attempt to rescue him. Instead, they calmly turned and withdrew. Could it be that they truly saw through my plan and knew of my ambush?

As he spoke, he had already ordered all the ambush troops to come out and defeat Liu Xun's troops who were still putting up a stubborn resistance.

Xiahou Dun followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, he saw the deafening shouts of battle and two generals' flags fluttering in the wind as they fled into the distance. The characters "Lei" and "Chen" were written on them. After a moment's thought, he recognized them.

"Perhaps it is Lei Bu and Chen Lan? These two have followed Yuan Shu since he raised his army and have been deeply trusted by him over the years."

However, I've never heard of these two having any significant military achievements; the only thing they're not bad at is that we gave them fourteen cities.

He spoke truthfully, then frowned as he spoke.

“Military Advisor Xi, do you think it’s possible that these two are just cowardly and timid cowards?”

Upon seeing Liu Xun's death, they were terrified and dared not come to his rescue, so they led their men to flee.
Or should I lead my troops in pursuit? They still number less than a thousand; Dun will surely defeat them."

"No!
If they are cowardly and timid, their army will surely fall into chaos during their escape.

But look at how these two led their troops; although it was a retreat, it was like a charge. Having witnessed their commander's death, their morale not only didn't falter, but their momentum only intensified!

At this point, Xi Zhicai's eyes showed a strange expression, which prompted him to cough lightly.

"Forgive my poor eyesight, but I have never seen an army whose commander-in-chief died but whose morale was still high. The two of them must have had unique methods of leading troops."

Moreover, given the current high morale of this army, if you pursue them with fewer troops, it will be difficult to defeat them in a short time.

"If we bring too many troops, Yuan Shu might take advantage of the situation. He has 100,000 troops and is not far from here. If he leads a light cavalry to come and help us, Yuan Shu will not have time to retreat back to Yangdi. Our situation will be hopeless, and we cannot take the risk." Supported by him, Xi Zhicai sighed regretfully.

"They did not flinch at the death of their commander, their expressions remained unchanged when judging an ambush in battle, their troops remained orderly during the retreat, and their morale soared after a defeat. Lei Bu and Chen Languo truly possessed the demeanor of famous generals."

My original intention was to set an ambush. Even if I couldn't capture Yuan Shu in one fell swoop, I could still capture one of his generals.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Gonglu was quite cautious in his military tactics. Since entering Yingchuan, he had only used a thousand men as a vanguard to probe the enemy. Even after I sent fourteen cities, I was unable to provoke him into making the slightest mistake.

They finally got to see Liu Xun, the vanguard general, but he turned out to be a mediocre talent with power but no real ability.

You previously said that Lei Bu and Chen Lan were unknown figures, and that this was surely the case today, with all their merits stolen by Liu Xun. Killing them now makes it seem as if we are eliminating a parasite for Yuan Shu.

"It's a pity that it wasn't Ji Ling who came."

A ferocious look appeared in Xiahou Dun's single eye. "Otherwise, I swear to avenge the humiliation suffered in Qiao County!"

Just now, a sudden and unexpected event occurred outside Yangdi City, in the blink of an eye.

Upon witnessing Liu Xun's assassination attempt, Lei Bu and Chen Lan, still shaken, secretly felt fortunate.

Fortunately, the old scoundrel Liu Xun, greedy for all the credit, kept them at bay, never expecting that this action would save his life.

Seeing that the one-eyed armored soldier was extremely brave, Liu Xun's soldiers alone were no match for him.

The two men exchanged a glance, both overjoyed.

Very good!
Today, it is our duty as "loyal and righteous men" to rid our lord of this old villain and achieve great merit.

They thought this way, but their vanguard of a thousand men saw their commander in trouble and how could they not come to his aid?

At that very moment, Generals Lei Bu and Chen Lan stepped forward and ordered the troops to stop!
However, although the purpose was to eliminate the traitors for the lord, so as to prevent the smuggling of military equipment and provisions from exposing the potential threat they posed to him.

Incidentally, with the death of Liu Xun, the vanguard general, their nerve-wracking mission could finally come to an end.

He will certainly be punished for losing his commander, but with the achievement of capturing fourteen cities in succession, it should be fine.

Lei and Chen understood each other implicitly and had already made their own plans, but although this matter was a "loyal and righteous" act, they could not bring it up in public.

Lei Bu looked down at Liu Xun, who was already in dire straits and on the verge of collapse. After a slight pause, an idea came to him, and he immediately began to fabricate a story.

"Generals, please look!"
How could there be a way in the world to leave the main gate wide open and send only two old, weak, sick, or disabled people to carry out an assassination?

They used assassination tactics to attack our army, which was bound to come to our rescue, but in reality, they were using General Liu Xun's life as bait to lure us into their trap.

Once the enemy reaches the city walls, I fear their ambush will be sprung, and we will all perish here.

Chen Lan and Lei Bu had worked together for many years and had a tacit understanding. After hearing what Lei Bu had said, Chen Lan understood his meaning and then continued the conversation.

"That's exactly right!"
This must be a ruse by the enemy to feign surrender and lure them into a trap, which General Lei has already seen through.

The enemy is cunning; we must not fall into their ambush and let General Liu's sacrifice be in vain.

At this moment, all generals, follow me to immediately retreat to the central camp. We must inform our lord of General Liu's heroic sacrifice, and then lead a large army to attack, vowing to avenge this defeat!

"We will report all the blame to our lord, and we two will take full responsibility for the crimes committed in the previous fourteen cities on behalf of our brothers!"
This time, I will absolutely not allow you gentlemen to die needlessly in an ambush by treacherous villains.

Lei Bu drew his sword and shouted loudly, "Soldiers, follow me and charge!"

His face was filled with righteous indignation. He led his men in a "charge" backward!
This vanguard force of a thousand men was originally composed of Lei Bu, Chen Lan, and Liu Xun's trusted officers and soldiers.

At this time, most of Liu Xun's confidants had been led by him to accept the credit for surrendering the city, while the rest were all under the command of Generals Lei and Chen. When they heard these two say that they would use their merits to atone for their crimes, how could they refuse?

The crowd roared "Kill!" Their voices shook the heavens!
Following the two generals, they launched a "charge" towards the rear, displaying an indomitable momentum and a morale that far surpassed that of the past.

(End of this chapter)