NOVPUBLiu Ye gazed at the sparse stars in the sky, and that waning moon, it truly was perfect weather for murder and arson.
"Tonight, Cao Meng De must be extinguished," Liu Ye said with a cold laugh.
It wasn’t that Liu Ye looked down on Cao Cao, but he truly couldn’t see any way out for him. The most terrifying aspect of an ambush from all sides was the continuous attacks that left the enemy disoriented. In the end, the soldiers wouldn’t know their commanders, and the commanders wouldn’t know their soldiers. The only path left was defeat and death, especially since Jia Xu’s choice of terrain clearly had not been made with Cao Cao’s escape in mind.
Jia Xu folded the map and slowly stood up. Using his body as bait was just a joke. If his 20,000 Soldiers of Mount Tai were defeated by Cao Cao in less than forty li of road, he might as well commit suicide by slitting his own throat.
Jia Xu merely wanted to see Liu Xuande’s courage. In this battle, Jia Xu had played out six simulations; there was no way out alive unless meteors from the heavens destroyed at least two of the surrounding ambush routes. Otherwise, Cao Cao’s entire army, which had been caught in an ambush and thrown into total chaos, would find their graves in Xuzhou Pengcheng.
At midnight, Liu Bei led Xuu Chu as the vanguard with 3,000 men to raid the camp. Xuu Chu swung his hundred-meter-long wavy dark light of the blade over Cao Camp, making it blatantly obvious that tonight was solely for a fierce assault. Then, with a great roar, he led 3,000 soldiers straight through the breach and into the camp,
As soon as they charged into the grand camp of the Cao Army, armies struck out from both sides. Fortunately, Jia Xu had warned Xuu Chu beforehand, so there wasn’t much panic. With a whirl of his Great Sword, he cut down scores of men and then, protecting Liu Bei on horseback, made to leave. Unexpectedly, as chaotic drumming sounded, the Xiahou Brothers attacked from all sides. Xuu Chu met Xiahou Dun head-on, while Wuu Anguo, a large man, blocked the arrows shot toward Liu Bei with his Great Hammer.
"Hahahaha, I’ve encountered a master!" Weapons collided, Xiahou Dun’s hand holding the Long Spear felt slightly numb, but his entire body was invigorated.
"Take this!" Xuu Chu bellowed as he slashed at Xiahou Dun, the dark Inner Qi on his blade surging continually.
"Don’t hurt people with your sneaky arrows!" Wuu Anguo brandished his man-sized Great Hammer toward Xiahou Yuan’s direction and rebuked angrily.
"Wuu Anguo, I didn’t expect to encounter you here," Xiahou Yuan squinted at Wuu Anguo, a top-level expert who managed to survive a solo fight with Lyu Bu at Hulao Pass, unexpectedly appearing among Liu Bei’s Army.
"Kill!" Liu Bei was not overly panicked. He had been prepared for Cao Cao’s defense before coming. After being ambushed, his fierceness surged, and swinging his Mighty Sword amidst his Guard, he slaughtered the Cao Army.
"Fire the arrows!" Cao Cao laughed and said, "Liu Xuande, you indeed personally led your troops to attack! Capture him for me!"
"Lord, retreat quickly!" Xuu Chu pushed Xiahou Dun back with a sword strike, leaving Wuu Anguo with two Great Hammers to block the arrows, while he guarded Liu Bei as they withdrew toward the outside of the camp.
Liu Bei’s Army was ultimately more elite than Cao Cao’s and, having not delved too deeply, soon left the Cao Camp. By this time, they could already hear the sparse sound of horse hooves.
"Reinforcements are nearing, my soldiers, kill!" Liu Bei exclaimed with a laugh.
Pengcheng, Cheng Yu, who had been standing on the city gate tower waiting, heard the galloping hooves, twisted his body, and walked down toward the city. Pengcheng had been handed over to Zhao Yan, and he was to lead the army out of the city and sandwich Liu Bei from both sides. Victory and defeat would be decided this night.
"Kill!" Hua Xiong, leading his 3,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry, charged into the rear of Cao Army’s forces surrounding Liu Bei with an astonishing momentum. Instantly, men and horses were overthrown. Then in one fierce sweep, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry cut through Cao’s encircling forces like vegetables, showing off their incredible destructive power at that moment.
"Spearhead, break formation!" Leading the Xiliang Iron Cavalry as if mowing through grass, they trampled those of the Cao Army who could hardly understand what was happening. Soon, they met up with Liu Bei.
"Lord, follow me quickly and let’s break out!" After meeting up with Liu Bei, Hua Xiong directed the Cloud Qi of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, the red flames wildly waving in all directions, directly repelling Cao Hong and several others who had been leading the attack.
"Rear Army to Vanguard, retreat!" Liu Bei ordered the messenger, signaling a withdrawal. Tonight’s night raid had failed; what remained was to see how Jia Xu’s claim of annihilating the enemy in front of their formation with five armies would turn out.
"Don’t let Liu Bei get away!" roared Cao Cao, who had seen Cheng Yu ignite the wood doused in Kerosene, suddenly lighting up the sky.
"Hmph!" Hua Xiong showed no fear of the army led by Cheng Yu charging at them. Although the cloud Qi of a bright vermilion revealed the Elite Troops of Danyang, to the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, there was no force in the world with greater Impact Force and destructive power. Any force that dared to block their path throughout history had been smashes to bits by them.
"Pierce through them!" Hua Xiong roared, and 3,000 Xiliang Iron Cavalry turned into fragmented Spearhead Formations, charging directly at the Elite Troops of Danyang.
In an instant, dozens of Xiliang Iron Cavalry fell to the ground, but far more were the Elite Troops of Danyang who were directly knocked away. The Great Shields guarding the front were shattered upon impact, and under Hua Xiong’s lead, the already demoralized Elite Troops of Danyang were broken through easily.
"It’s the Xiliang Iron Cavalry!" The Elite Troops of Danyang had fought alongside the Xiliang Iron Cavalry in the past, so upon first contact, those who had been in the battles of Xiliang all shouted warnings to make way.
After all, these people didn’t really have any sense of belonging to the Cao Army, being only pulled out by Cheng Yu to bolster military numbers. And they had encountered Hua Xiong’s Xiliang Iron Cavalry right off the bat. In the Great Han Dynasty, the only force capable of withstanding a charge from the Xiliang Iron Cavalry was the Xiliang Iron Cavalry itself; other troops would be crushed if they dared to block the way.
