Chapter 85

“Yangzhou Inspector Chen Wen and Danyang Administrator Zhou Xin are old acquaintances of mine; let’s go there first to recruit troops!”

“My Lord! More than three thousand of our troops have returned.”

Xiahou Ding Yuan rode over, his expression joyful.

Cao Cao?

“Miaocai, where did these troops come from?”

“My Lord, it is Liu Liu Xuande; he defeated Xu Rong and released all the troops we had been captured by Xu Rong, telling them to come back and find you.”

Cao Cao sighed deeply,

“Liu Xuande is a sincere man! I will remember this favor.”

Liu Bei letting these soldiers return not only built a good relationship but also spread his reputation for benevolence and righteousness—why wouldn’t he do it!

Emperor Hongnong Commandery,

“Report~~!”

“My Lord, ten miles ahead, Li Jue is leading ten thousand Xiliang soldiers, driving several hundred thousand commoners westward.”

Liu Bei shook the snow off his hands; he had finally caught up!

“Pass the order down: the whole army is to attack, catching the Xiliang soldiers off guard!”

“Understood!”

Li Jue was very satisfied; in this one day, he had earned more wealth than in the previous dozen years combined!

“The wealthy households of Luoyang are truly rich; in their haste, they actually brought so much gold and jewelry with them!”

He had also snatched several beauties; once he reached Chang’an, he would enjoy them in peace!

Li Jue was enjoying thoughts of his future happy life,

“Boom, boom, boom.”

The earth shook.

He looked back abruptly; amidst the swirling snow, countless cavalrymen were charging out from the rear like a flood—at least ten thousand!

Although he had ten thousand troops, most were scattered, driving and plundering the commoners; there was no formation to speak of!

“Report~! General, the troops in the rear are Liu Bei’s great army; Xu Rong has already been defeated by Liu Bei!”

“What?! 530”

Li Jue was greatly alarmed,

“Quick, tell Li Meng to lead the troops to meet the battle immediately!”

After the messenger left, Li Jue’s eyes rolled, and he took his personal guards and fled forward in a hurry,

“That’s Liu Bei, the fierce man who hammered Lu Bu away—I can’t beat him!”

“My Flying Bear Army isn’t here either; Liu Bei, I’ll let you off for now!”

After saying these harsh words, Li Jue ran away like a coward!

Li Meng led several thousand men to meet the battle, but when he looked back, he found that Li Jue had even taken the commander’s flag with him!

He cursed loudly,

“Li Jue, you piece of trash!”

“Men, follow me into battle to kill Liu Bei; Lord Dong will reward us heavily!”

He had not participated in the Battle of Hulao Pass, and he simply didn’t believe the rumors; he wanted to kill Liu Bei to perform a great service—every day, Dong Zhuo would mutter about killing the Big-Eared Thief!

Soon,

The two sides collided.

Guan Yu, riding the Red Hare, took the lead; his Green Dragon Crescent Blade flew up and down, and along the way, the Xiliang soldiers were instantly sent flying!

Guan Yu ran wantonly; with the Red Hare, he was like a tiger with wings, borrowing the horse’s momentum, his lethality was immense—wherever he passed, no one was a match for a single strike!

Li Meng?!

“I was reckless; this red-faced general is too strong!”

He turned his horse’s head and fled toward the rear,

“Li Jue runs damn fast!”

“Whoosh!”

With the Red Hare’s support, Guan Yu was faster than him; he swung the Green Dragon Crescent Blade fiercely, and Li Meng’s head flew several meters away!

The Xiliang soldiers were terrified and scattered in all directions!

Li Jue’s twenty thousand troops, with their commander fleeing and Li Meng beheaded, instantly became a routed army!

These routed soldiers were unwilling to part with the wealth and women they had just plundered, so Liu Bei’s cavalry pursued them and hacked them down one by one!

The more than two hundred thousand Luoyang commoners watched all this and secretly cheered,

“This is Liu Bei’s great army!”

“Inspector Liu? He is a man of loyalty and righteousness; he traveled a thousand miles to send troops, assassinated the Dong bandit, and gave porridge and grain to us Luoyang commoners!”

“The other warlords didn’t dare to pursue, only Liu Bei brought troops to chase them—what a good man!”

“Indeed, Liu Bei is a true hero!”

“Don’t you know? At Hulao Pass, Liu Bei sent Lu Bu flying with a single hammer strike!”

“What?! Inspector Liu is also in such good physical shape? Both civil and martial! A heaven-sent talent!”

The commoners discussed it heatedly.

Liu Bei sent people to pass a message to the commoners, the gist of which was:

Hedong and Taiyuan have houses in good repair, as well as grain for the winter, and with the protection of the great army, everyone can follow the army to Hedong to spend the winter in peace!

Hearing this, the commoners were instantly moved to tears; previously, Dong Zhuo had forcibly burned Luoyang City and driven them toward Chang’an,

while Liu Bei sheltered them from the wind and rain—the difference was clear!

Liu Bei’s benevolence and virtue were deeply carved into the hearts of the Luoyang commoners at this moment!

Many commoners told Liu Bei their names.

Liu Bei, riding his horse, cupped his hands to them one by one; at this moment, there was also a fire in his heart to save even more Luoyang commoners!

The barrage in the livestream also filled the screen,

“Liu Bei is truly benevolent!”

“I’m crying; the commoners have suffered too much, Liu Bei has truly done a good deed.”

“Compared to those other warlords, Liu Bei is far, far better!”

“Even Cao Cao only wanted to pursue Dong Zhuo and retrieve the Son of Heaven; he never thought about the safety of the Luoyang commoners.”

“This is the heart of the people; these Luoyang commoners will definitely identify with Liu Bei.”

“Indeed, Luoyang is the capital of the Great Han, and the education level of the commoners is generally quite high; Liu Bei will be able to gain quite a few talents.”

“Don’t be happy too soon; once the Guandong warlords retreat and Dong Zhuo frees up his hands, the first person he will deal with is Liu Bei, who is entrenched in Hedong Commandery,” a certain country’s netizen said sourly.

“It won’t even take that long; once the Big-Eared Thief continues his pursuit and meets Dong Zhuo’s main force, he’ll be finished!” an Indian netizen clamored.

Liu Bei, while soothing the Luoyang commoners, listened to Guan Yu’s report,

“Big Brother, our army killed over thirteen hundred Xiliang soldiers, captured over four thousand, and nearly four thousand escaped.”

Zhang Fei laughed from the side,

“Big Brother, Second Brother’s Red Hare is too fast; he snatched the head of Li Meng!”

Guan Yu cupped his hands,

Liu Bei laughed,

“A good horse must be paired with a good general; Yunchang gaining such a good horse is like a tiger with wings—it was worth it!”

“Yunchang, kill all those among the captives who participated in plundering the Luoyang commoners!”

“Understood!”

Soon, among the more than four thousand captives, over two thousand had their heads chopped off!

Liu Bei shook his head; one could imagine just how corrupt the military discipline of Dong Zhuo’s wolf-soldiers was!

Not long after, Zhao Yun arrived with his men.

Liu Bei had Zhao Yun lead the Luoyang commoners toward Maojin Ferry.

“Time is tight, Yunchang, Zhang Yide, let’s continue the pursuit!”

— Author's Notes —

“It is all thanks to Big Brother for gifting me the Red Hare; with the Red Hare, I finally know how much a good horse improves me!”