Chapter 405

“Don’t go head-to-head, understand?”

He was afraid that Lu Bu would be stubborn and insist on fighting Cao Cao to the death in Pengcheng, which would be terrible.

Actually, Chen Gong really regretted not trying his best to dissuade Lu Bu from going to war with Liu Bei again.

He had vaguely felt something was wrong at the time and felt that there might be Cao Cao’s conspiracy in it.

But they hadn’t detected any signs of Cao Cao sending troops, and Lu Bu was impulsive and angry; even if he tried to persuade him, he couldn’t stop him.

It ended up like this.

Otherwise, with Lu Bu guarding Pengcheng and heavy troops stationed in Taishan Commandery, it would have been very difficult for Cao Cao to invade Xuzhou in a short time.

Of course, it was too late to say these things now; he could only think of ways to save the situation.

“Hmm!”

Lu Bu nodded: “I understand! I won’t be impulsive this time!”

“That’s it! I’m leaving!”

Saying this, Lu Bu walked away quickly.

“Sigh! I hope you really listened!”

Chen Gong looked at Lu Bu’s retreating back and sighed: “It’s fortunate that you didn’t bring your wife and daughter back from the Zou Qian Prince’s side; otherwise, I would really be worried that you would defend Pengcheng at all costs;”

“Even if Pengcheng had already fallen, you would probably still attack forcefully, at least to take back your wife and daughter, right?”

This was the only thing Chen Gong was glad about.

He even suspected that Lu Bu might have foreseen the current situation, which is why he wasn’t in a hurry to bring his wife and daughter back from the Zou Qian Prince’s side?

This was not impossible!

Because he could clearly feel that Lu Bu’s mindset had been different since he killed Dong Zhuo and left Chang’an!

Hegemony in his eyes had become even more like child’s play.

As if he wasn’t really competing for hegemony, but just playing a hegemony game.

Whether he succeeded or not didn’t matter, as long as he enjoyed himself.

This gave Chen Gong a very bad feeling, but he was powerless to change Lu Bu’s mind.

“Sigh! This is probably the reason for having no worries and having a retreat route!”

Chen Gong sighed in his heart.

With that excellent retreat route from the Zou Qian Prince, it was no wonder Lu Bu had such a mindset.

He could only sigh that Lu Bu, a person who had killed his master several times, could actually become a close friend who could trust each other with the Zou Qian Prince Su Xuan; it was simply extremely strange.

Over in Pengcheng,

"Kill!!! The first to scale the wall! It is Le Jin! Soldiers, follow me and charge! Take the gate tower and the city gate! Let the main army into the city!!"

While Lu Bu was still on his way back to reinforce Pengcheng, Cao Cao had already launched a surprise attack on the city. After a day of continuous, fierce assaults,

Pengcheng, which was already lacking sufficient troops, was eventually breached by Le Jin and the others, despite its tall and sturdy defenses.

The west city gate was taken, and Cao Cao's army of over a hundred thousand was ushered into the city.

"Retreat! Take the Lady and retreat! We cannot hold the city to the death!"

Seeing that Pengcheng could no longer be held, Wei Xu and the others immediately took Lu Bu's concubine, Beauty Wang, gathered Cheng Cheng Lian and the others, and urgently retreated from the east city gate, fleeing eastward.

Their speed and decisiveness were such that the pursuing troops sent by Cao Cao were unable to catch them.

"What a pity!"

Standing on the east city gate tower, Cao Cao gazed at the now-vanished Lu Bu’s forces and couldn't help but sigh: "I heard that Lu Bu's Beauty Wang is the adopted daughter of Wang Yun. She is said to be incredibly beautiful; it was by using this Beauty Wang to perform a beauty trap that Wang Yun had Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu wrapped around his finger!"

"What a shame, to let such a beauty run away! A pity! Truly a pity!"

Hearing this, Zhong Yao, who was standing to the side, felt his eye twitch slightly. He was speechless, but it wasn't appropriate to say anything directly.

Li Old Dian and the others simply acted as if they hadn't heard a thing.

Their lord's fondness for married women was common knowledge; they were long used to it and had nothing to say.

One could only say, as expected of their lord.

"My lord, there will be other opportunities! We will certainly clash with Lu Bu again, and when that time comes, he will surely be no match for you!"

At this moment, Cao Hong couldn't help but speak up to offer comfort.

Cao Cao and the others heard this and looked at Cao Hong with speechless expressions.

You really dare to say anything!

On Lu Bu's side, he hurried along and met up with Wei Xu’s group a few dozen miles from Pengcheng.

Only then did he learn the news that Pengcheng had fallen!

"Damn it! Cao Mengde has succeeded after all!"

Lu Bu waved his fist in resentment, feeling extremely irritated in his heart.

He had been too impulsive and careless! He shouldn't have been unable to resist starting a war with Liu Bei again; otherwise, this outcome would not have occurred.

Of course, Lu Bu didn't think it was entirely his own fault; it was mainly because that Zhang Fei had been too overbearing.

However, looking at the current situation, he might really have to go to Xiapi to join forces with Liu Bei and resist Cao Cao together.

He would certainly have to face Zhang Fei's mockery, and for a moment, he even felt like he didn't want to go to Liu Bei's side.

However, in the end, he endured it!

If not for himself, he couldn't be so willful for the sake of Chen Gong.

Chen Gong might have truly started with the intention of using him to lead him to Yanzhou to challenge Cao Cao.

But over these years, he had indeed treated him well and had wholeheartedly helped him devise strategies. He couldn't just screw Chen Gong over like that, could he?

At the very least, he had to give Chen Gong a dignified defeat.

"It seems I need to go to Jingzhou to meet with Su Boyuan ahead of schedule!"

"This isn't a bad thing either! I've already grown tired of this hegemony game anyway, and I have no interest in these brain-taxing matters!"

"Going to Su Boyuan's side wouldn't be bad; drinking with Su Boyuan, Huang Hansheng, and Zhao Zilong every day, and chatting—that seems quite nice!"

Lu Bu thought to himself.

Of course, he also missed his precious daughter and his main wife, Lady Yan.

Although he had exchanged letters with Lu spiritual energy and the others every month for the past year, it was ultimately not the same as seeing them in person.

"My lord, what should we do next?"

Wei Xu asked, looking at Lu Bu with some confusion.

Cheng Cheng Lian and the others were the same.

"There's no other way! I estimate that Taishan Commandery has likely fallen as well! Let's go directly to Xiapi to join forces with Mr. Chen Gongtai and then make further plans!"

As Lu Bu spoke, he waved his hand, turned his horse around with his army and family, and headed toward Xiapi.

Half a day later, they returned to the military camp outside Xiapi city.

At this time, Chen Gong had not yet fully prepared to depart, and when he saw Lu Bu returning, his heart sank, and he had a very bad premonition. He immediately stepped forward and asked: "My lord! What is this... Wei Xu! Cheng Cheng Lian, why are you here too? Could it be that Pengcheng has fallen?"

"Indeed!"

Wei Xu nodded in shame and said: "Cao Cao's offensive was too fierce, and we didn't have enough manpower. We held out for over a day before being forcibly breached!"

"We could only take the Lady and the remaining troops and flee Pengcheng;"

"We met the lord, who was coming to reinforce us, on the way!"

"Oh no!"

Chen Gong sighed in lament: "It's over! I fear Xuzhou can no longer be held!"

"My lord, we should make plans early!"

Hearing Chen Gong's words, Lu Bu was also slightly stunned and said: "Chen Gongtai, hasn't it reached that point yet? The combined forces of Liu Bei and myself haven't suffered much loss. If we gather our troops now, shouldn't we still be able to fight Cao Cao at Xiapi?"

Although he did indeed think that Xuzhou would sooner or later be lost, he hadn't expected Chen Gong to think so too.

This didn't seem like Chen Gong's character!

"It's useless!"

Chen Gong shook his head bitterly and said: "More than half of Xuzhou will soon fall into Cao Cao's hands. Relying only on Xiapi and a small part of Xuzhou, even if we combine our forces with Liu Bei's, we won't be able to hold out for long!"

"Not to mention anything else, just the grain and fodder alone—I fear Xiapi cannot support us for long."

"However, resistance is still necessary!"

"At the very least, I must make Cao Cao hit a wall and suffer some hardship at Xiapi so that I can vent my anger slightly;" **Chapter 643**

— Author's Notes —

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