Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

With the successive withdrawal of the princes from Guandong and Sun Jian, the battle against Dong Zhuo came to an end. The imperial capital had been moved to Chang'an, and Luoyang had become a ruin. The eight passes of Luoyang had lost their defensive significance. Lu Bu withdrew all the troops stationed at the eight passes and rearranged the defense line from Luoyang to Chang'an.

Duan Wei garrisoned Huayin with 5,000 men, and Zhang Liao garrisoned Xin'an with 10,000 men. These 10,000 men were all former Bingzhou soldiers with the highest loyalty. They were stationed in Xin'an to make it more convenient for them to return to Bingzhou in the future. Song Xian, Cheng Lian, and Hao Meng also went with Zhang Liao.

In addition, Xu Rong, Li Li, Wei Xu, and Hou Cheng were ordered to lead 8,000 troops composed of the Luoyang Army and the Liangzhou Army to garrison Shan County, with Xu Rong as the General of the Central Army. These people were also preparing to return to Bingzhou in the future. The newly recruited remnants of Hu Zhen and Niu Fu, totaling 6,000 people, were led by Lu Bu himself and returned to Chang'an first.

After all the troops stationed in various places had left, Lu Bu also led the rear team to return to Chang'an. However, when he reached the bank of Jian River, he heard the scouts report that Sun Jian's troops were spotted ahead.

"Sun Jian? He's actually come back!" Lu Bu was slightly surprised and asked, "How many people?"

"About ten thousand."

Lu Bu suddenly thought of something and turned to Hua Xiong, saying, "Quickly lead 3,000 men and turn around and form a battle line!"

Hua Xiong was puzzled, "Sun Jian's troops are in the front, why are they arrayed in the back?"

"If my guess is correct, there must be pursuers from behind." Lu Bu frowned.

No matter how confident Sun Jian was, it was impossible for him to stop him with only 10,000 people. In his dream, Cao Cao had come to chase Dong Zhuo, but was defeated by him and Xu Rong on the banks of the Bian River. This time Sun Jian went away and came back, which must have been instigated by Cao Cao.

If we say that among all the princes, there are probably only these two who truly want to support the Han Dynasty. Zhang Miao and Bao Xin may also have some desire, but their determination is definitely not as strong as these two. If the princes in Guandong had not withdrawn their troops and Yuan Shu had not called Sun Jian back, Sun Jian would have continued to fight westward.

Hua Xiong had just ordered the rear troops to turn around when scouts came to report that Cao Cao and Wei Zi were leading 8,000 troops and were only ten miles away.

At this time, Lu Bu's troops had just passed Luoyang. On the left was Yao Mountain, and on the right was Jian River. The terrain was flat but not very open. They were surrounded in the middle. Not only was it difficult to break through, but it was also easy to end up in trouble.

"The baggage carriers will stay where they are. All the baggage carts will form a circle, and the baggage carriers will stand in the middle of the circle." Lu Bu made a quick decision.

The baggage soldiers were responsible for transporting food and supplies. They were all conscripted civilians with almost no combat capability. If they were attacked by the regular army, they would be slaughtered in an instant.

"Fan Chou, lead two thousand infantrymen to form a battle line in the center of the front!"

"Yes!" Fan Chou responded and immediately went to organize the soldiers to form a battle formation.

"Han Lai and Wu Shan, each of you will lead 500 cavalry to the left and right wings of the infantry."

"promise!"

Under the command of their respective generals, all troops immediately set into motion, some pushing carts, some forming battle arrays. Before the battle even began, the banks of the Jian River were already covered in dust and the war horses were neighing.

After a period of chaos, Sun Jian and Cao Cao's troops surrounded them one after another, and the three armies confronted each other at the foot of Yao Mountain.

Lu Bu's army was neatly dressed in black armor and had a solemn appearance. The whole army was filled with a murderous atmosphere.

The armor of Sun Jian's army was also quite neat, and the helmet tassels on the soldiers' heads were all white, which formed a sharp contrast with Lu Bu's army.

Cao's army seemed a bit shabby, with only two or three thousand soldiers in the front wearing lamellar armor, and the rear soldiers all wearing double-crotch armor. They were already at a disadvantage in terms of momentum alone.

Cao Cao looked in the distance at the enemy's direction and saw that Lü Bu's army was already waiting in formation. He couldn't help but sigh, "Lü Bu is really alert. He even sent scouts in front and behind. I wanted to catch him off guard."

He shook his head as he spoke, "What a pity! If the others had listened to me and turned around to launch a surprise attack, these people would not be enough to fill the gaps between our teeth with Lu Bu's rearguard. Now that his army is in full formation, the outcome of this battle is still uncertain!"

Xiahou Dun interjected, "If they're not coming, why bother chasing them? Even if we win today, we'll inevitably suffer heavy casualties. What good will that do us? My lord, you don't intend to march on Chang'an with such a small force, do you?"

Cao Cao said, "Why can't we march on Chang'an? If Lü Bu dies today, his armies will fall into disarray. Bao Xin, Zhang Miao, and the others will see an opportunity and will undoubtedly respond to the call to attack Dong Zhuo once again. Then the Han rebels can be destroyed!"

Although Xiahou Dun had never fought Lü Bu, he knew from watching him single-handedly kill five generals that day that Lü Bu's martial prowess was already incredibly high. He was somewhat discouraged and said, "With Lü Bu's bravery, even if we kill all 6,000 of his soldiers, he can still break out of the encirclement. As long as he escapes to Xin'an, he can regroup."

Cao Cao stood on his horse, squinting his eyes as he surveyed Lü Bu's formation. His gaze fell on the chariot formation in the center, and he mused, "Perhaps I have a way to lure Lü Bu to his death."

"What method?" Xiahou Dun asked curiously.

Cao Cao surveyed the surrounding terrain and the enemy's troop formations. Pointing to the lush vegetation on the left side of the battlefield, he instructed Xiahou Dun, "Later, Cao Ren and I will lead the main force to attack the right troop formation to draw the enemy's attention. You will lead a small group of elite soldiers, bypass the foot of the mountain, and attack the central chariot formation. If we can capture Mr. Zhang, we might be able to lure and kill Lü Bu."

Xiahou Dun also knew that the legendary Mr. Zhang was a woman, and asked uncertainly, "Would Lu Bu take risks for a woman?"

Cao Cao was actually not too sure, but he just wanted to give it a try. If it succeeded, that would be the best. If it didn't, rescuing Amo from Lu Bu's clutches would also be good. Such a smart woman must become a member of his Cao family.

Cao Cao didn't have time to explain too much to Xiahou Dun at the moment, so he just said, "Just capture the person. Remember, he must be alive."

Xiahou Dun nodded, "Got it, capture him alive!"

Cao Cao carefully examined the mountainous terrain nearby and said, "You've captured the man, so there's no need to return the way you came. Run towards that valley."

He then said to Xiahou Yuan, "Take a group of men and go around from behind to ambush. If Lü Bu comes after us, we will kill him in this mountain."

Cao Cao looked around the team in front and didn't see Lu Bu. He breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that Lu Bu was probably in the front army dealing with Sun Jian. After all, Sun Jian was much stronger than our side in terms of both military strength and combat effectiveness.

At this moment, the sound of war drums was heard from the direction of Sun Jian's army in front. From a distance, it could be seen that the army formation in front of Lu Bu had moved. Cao Cao also ordered his soldiers to beat the drums, and the shield and spear formation in the front, which was specially used to restrain the Liangzhou cavalry, began to move forward.

Looking down from the sky, Cao Cao's infantry was arranged into a hollow square formation, with the purpose of waiting for the enemy cavalry to rush in and then encircle them.

However, these soldiers of Cao Cao were newly recruited soldiers not long ago, and their formation was obviously not good. The shield soldiers in the front were either in front or behind, and their shields were either squeezed together or loose. The vertical lines on the left and right sides of the square formation were crooked. After only walking about a hundred meters, the team had become uneven, and there was even a gap of several tens of meters wide at the lower left corner of the formation.

Seeing this, Hua Xiong showed an extremely disdainful smile on his face. He waved his hand and two thousand cavalrymen rushed towards Cao's army like arrows.

The black cavalry from Liang Province were like a rushing tide, and the moment they collided with Cao's army, they created waves of red blood. The mountains and rivers were filled with the howling of soldiers fighting and the sound of weapons clashing.

Although Cao's army formation was not in order, dozens of Hua Xiong's cavalrymen were killed at the moment of collision. However, a gap was soon opened in Cao's phalanx. Hua Xiong was not worried at all about being trapped in the middle. After he broke in, he split the team into two sides and began to plunder and kill the opponent's crooked formation.