Chapter 560: The First Achievement After Leaving the Thatched Cottage

Thus, the guy who used the pseudonym Shanfu was actually XuShu, and he was tricked away by CaoCao. Bai Lang saw the pain in LiuBei's heart, and someone offered a plan, saying, "Yuanzhi is a rare talent in the world, having been in Xinye for a long time, and knows all the strengths and weaknesses of our army. If he is allowed to return to CaoCao now, he will surely be heavily used, and we will be in danger. My lord should try hard to keep him and never let him go. If Cao sees that Yuanzhi does not leave, he will surely execute his mother. Once Yuanzhi knows his mother is dead, he will surely avenge her. He will attack CaoCao with all his might." This person was Sun Qian. Of course, Bai Lang also heard it, and the reason was simple... The Second Brother and Third Brother were each busy leading troops to guard one side, and Zilong was stationed outside. These people invited Bai Lang to drink just so this idle person could serve as Liu Xuande's daily bodyguard...

However, what LiuBei said really made Bai Lang look at him with more respect. He was indeed a man of benevolence and righteousness, a man truly fighting for his ideals. "No. To have someone kill his mother and then use her son is unbenevolent; to keep him and not let him go, cutting off the bond between mother and son, is unrighteous. I would rather die than do an unbenevolent or unrighteous act."

"Just this one sentence is worth a hundred times more than that CaoCao. It is indeed our fortune to serve Xuande to the death." LiuBei interacted with others based on his aspirations, ideals, and benevolence, and those under him also came together for these ideals and aspirations. That is what Bai Lang said.

On this day, everyone followed behind Liu Xuande to see off XuShu, Xu Yuanzhi. The parting was quite moving, and both Guan and Zhang were there. Since they had arrived, Bai Lang naturally gave up the bodyguard position behind Xuande to the two of them and watched from the side, mounted on his Qingzhi horse. Xuande also had moments of losing his composure, such as when he hatefully said he wanted to cut down the forest that was blocking his view. It was at this time that Xu Yuanzhi returned. This return was the famous line Bai Lang heard: "This person is from Yangdu, Langya. His surname is Zhuge, his name is Liang, and his courtesy name is Kongming..."

It was a long, eloquent speech, and in short, it described Kongming as peerless in the world. He was indeed the peerless Crouching Dragon; strictly speaking, the Young Phoenix was a notch below the Crouching Dragon, at least that was how Bai Lang saw it. Liu, Guan, and Zhang went to visit the thatched cottage three times, but Bai Lang wouldn't go. Was it comfortable to stand outside someone's door with the Imperial Uncle Liu? Let his two sworn brothers do that kind of thing; Bai Lang was happy to be carefree and at ease. By now, Bai Lang was already a middle-aged man approaching forty, yet he was still the youngest in the LiuBei group.

Guan and Zhang were both older than him, and even ZhaoYun, Zhao Zilong, although called the "White-Robed Young General," was actually several years older than Bai Lang; he just had a youthful face. If Zhuge Liang joined LiuBei, he would truly be younger than Bai Lang.

At this time, it was quite peaceful. CaoCao's four provinces had suffered from droughts and floods that year, and the harvest was poor, making it inconvenient to use troops. Although Jingzhou had a good harvest, Liu Biao was merely a guest, lacking ambition, so he did not send troops to conquer. The Sun family in Jiangdong was busy conquering the Shanyue lands. The Xinye where LiuBei was located truly enjoyed a brief period of peace.

Liu Xuande visited the thatched cottage three times, a process that took half a year, until the spring when he finally visited Zhuge Kongming. After a round of questioning, the Longzhong Plan was born. LiuBei was overjoyed, like a fish in water, and immediately invited Kongming to be his military advisor. Bai Lang saw that Kongming was eight feet tall, just a bit shorter than him, but he looked like an elegant scholar who couldn't fight at all. "Sure enough, it's a Tang-style face..." Bai Lang thought. When Kongming saw Bai Lang, his attitude was quite good, and he even bowed first.

Bai Lang naturally returned the bow. The personal character of Liu Xuande and Zhuge Kongming was the highest in the late Han and Three Kingdoms period. Even if one did not respect Kongming's wisdom, one had to respect Kongming's dedication to his duties until his death. His attitude was much better than the unconvinced look of Guan and Zhang, roughly the same as ZhaoYun's. Kongming also valued Bai Lang quite a bit. Bai Lang's bravery was known throughout the world, and now he was a peerless fierce general. Naturally, he was an important piece in Kongming's planning.

It was just that Bai Lang's talent for commanding troops made Kongming sigh a little, "Your martial bravery is peerless in the world, but this ability to govern the army is a bit..." Bai Lang laughed loudly, "How can I compare to the Marquis of Huaiyin? I am just a general of a hundred men." Bai Lang was quite open-minded now. Since the troops and subordinates in his hands had joined LiuBei, he naturally took the initiative to let Xuande distribute them to the various generals, and he himself only led less than a thousand Bingzhou White Tiger Cavalry.

And the infantry led by Gao Shun and Gao Gan had now become the main infantry force in LiuBei's hands, and they were not distributed in large numbers to other generals.

Since Kongming had become the military advisor, he naturally had to go to Jingzhou to discuss with Liu Biao the matter of Huang Zu being killed by Sun Quan of Jiangdong. Kongming had already taught Xuande beforehand that whenever Liu Biao mentioned letting Xuande go, he should use the excuse of returning to Xinye to reorganize the army. Bai Lang did not follow to protect him this time, but instead, ZhaoYun followed—the matter of guarding the city was handed over to Gao Shun.

Anyway, after Xuande and Kongming returned, CaoCao also appointed Xiahou Dun as the commander, with Yu Jin, LiDian, Xiahou Lan, and Han Hao as deputy generals, leading an army of one hundred thousand to reach Bowang City to spy on Xinye. Liang was simple, "You can order Yuzhu to lead eight hundred cavalry to challenge them, and Xiahou will be defeated." Hearing this, Bai Lang thought to himself, "Fire burning Xinye is not enough..."

Kongming had long since seen through Bai Lang's level. With his peerless bravery and the White Tiger evil spirit, leading a few hundred cavalry was his limit, and it could best exert his lethality. "Not too many; too many will lead to defeat," Kongming once said to Xuande. Bai Lang led eight hundred White Tiger Cavalry north to face Xiahou's one hundred thousand-strong army. He had been fighting with the northern armies for many years, and seeing the Cao army coming like a flood, he didn't have a trace of fear.

"Renrang! Come out and fight me!" Bai Lang's roar spread in all directions, and the Cao army's vanguard showed signs of panic. Bai Lang rode his horse right up to the Cao army, within an arrow's distance, and challenged them from left and right. With Xiahou Dun's violent personality, he actually didn't come out to fight Bai Lang, letting this fierce tiger challenge him repeatedly in front of his formation, watching as the Cao army's morale continued to decline.

Bai Lang challenged for half a day without seeing any Cao generals respond. He stopped shouting, turned his horse around, and ordered his troops to dismount and rest, eating and drinking freely in front of the one hundred thousand Cao troops. Behind Bai Lang, there were actually ZhaoYun's one thousand troops, and even Yunchang and Yide each had two thousand troops quietly circling around, and Guan Ping and others had five hundred men ready with fire-starting materials. After one night, all the armies were in position and had already had a good sleep.

Throughout the night, Bai Lang didn't even wait for Xiahou Dun to raid the camp, even though Bai Lang's scattered camp was not far from the Cao army's formation. The next day, after Bai Lang finished breakfast and moved around, feeling that he wouldn't get appendicitis, he ordered the whole army to put on their armor. "Break the Cao army and eat lunch!" Although farmers only ate two meals a day, soldiers had to eat three meals a day. Bai Lang held his long spear high, and the eight hundred cavalry lined up in a spearhead formation behind him, with Bai Lang as the tip.

Not caring whether that coward Xiahou Dun would come out to fight or not, Bai Lang prepared to step directly into the camp. ===== CHAPTER 561 =====