Chapter 25: Zhao Yun joins the team! Cao Cao, kept in the dark and deeply confused

"So, was I sold out by General Gongsun?"

Looking at Gu Yi, who was smiling at him.

The captain of the Changshan Volunteer Army showed a trace of tragic heroism on his face!

Just last night, his lord, Gongsun Zan, had found him.

He was ordered to lead three hundred White Horse Followers to escort an envoy to Hulao Pass.

At the time, the captain naively thought this was a high-difficulty mission entrusted to him by General Gongsun.

However, after arriving at Hulao Pass, just as the captain was preparing for battle.

The gates of Hulao Pass opened.

And then...

The captain learned that he and the three hundred White Horse Followers had been used by Gongsun Zan to exchange for the captured Yan Gang.

"We are all abandoned pawns..."

Behind the captain, the three hundred White Horse Followers were equally terrified and uneasy.

The lord they revered had sold them out without any warning.

"Where righteousness points, life and death follow."

"With the heavens as witness, the white horses as our oath."

The slogan of the White Horse Followers was once so resounding; now, the speed of the slap in the face was just as fast.

Fortunately, Gu Yi did not let them stay in their emo state for too long.

Instead, he specifically had Dong Zhuo send some scholars to provide psychological counseling to these White Horse Followers.

Commonly known as brainwashing.

As for the captain himself, Gu Yi decided to step in personally.

……

"Zilong, you don't have to be so pessimistic."

"What is so good about Gongsun Zan?"

"He knows how to fight foreign tribes, right?"

"Our Xiliang Army does too!"

"And in terms of military achievements, we are not behind him!"

The captain of the Changshan Volunteer Army, also known as Zhao Yun, commonly called Zhao Dayong.

Facing Gu Yi's brainwashing attack, he was momentarily unable to parry.

He lived up to his name.

The reason Zhao Yun was called the captain of the Changshan Volunteer Army.

Was because he was truly elected as the volunteer captain by the villagers!

Carrying the desire to build a career and the belief in caring for the people, Zhao Yun went to Youzhou to join Gongsun Zan.

It is just a pity.

Before any merit was established, he had already been sold out by Gongsun Zan.

To some extent, Zhao Yun's luck was extremely poor. ===== CHAPTER 52 =====

And the mastermind behind the change in his fate.

Was none other than Gu Yi, who stood before him.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun had not spent much time under Gongsun Zan’s command.

Plus, it was indeed Gongsun Zan who sold him out first.

After Gu Yi’s "mental counseling."

Zhao Yun finally had to accept the fact that he had joined Dong Zhuo’s army.

However.

Because Zhao Yun had not yet performed any service for the Xiliang Army.

Dong Zhuo could not directly grant him an official position.

Gu Yi simply kept Zhao Yun by his side to serve as the captain of his personal guards.

And after Zhao Yun officially joined.

Gu Yi did indeed keep his promise and released the captured Yan Gang.

Seeing Yan Gang return safely, Gongsun Zan was filled with mixed emotions.

Only, he did not know.

Although he had regained Yan Gang, he had lost a top-tier fierce general because of it.

And seeing this scene, Sun Jian.

Also let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

It seems Gu Yi is a man of his word.

As long as one does as Gu Yi instructs.

Zu Mao should be able to return safely.

……

In the following days.

Because the coalition was full of ulterior motives.

The attacks on Hulao Pass were extremely perfunctory.

With Yuan Shao deliberately preserving his strength.

The other stronger warlords also followed suit and restrained their troops.

In the end, the losses almost entirely fell upon the smaller warlords.

They were truly miserable.

And it is worth mentioning.

A battle also broke out at Sishui Pass.

Under Cao Cao’s leadership, the few warlords remaining outside Sishui Pass turned defeat into victory and repelled Hu Zhen’s attack.

But that was all.

It failed to bring any greater losses to the Xiliang Army.

To gather strength, Cao Cao suggested that Yuan Shao withdraw from Hulao Pass and retreat to Sishui Pass.

But this proposal was not adopted by Yuan Shao.

This made Cao Cao feel very suspicious.

Intuition told him that Yuan Shao was hiding something.

However.

Having always been outside Sishui Pass, how could Cao Cao imagine.

That Yuan Shao, the leader of the coalition, had actually already secretly sent people to contact Dong Zhuo?

Just like that, ten days flew by.

The date of the decisive battle agreed upon by Gu Yi and Xu You was getting closer and closer.

Inside Hulao Pass.

The generals of Dong Zhuo’s army were all eager to make contributions.

Among them, the "great filial son" Lu Bu was the most active.

Last time outside Hulao Pass, Lu Bu first fought Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, then was miserably chased by more than ten generals of the coalition.

If he hadn't run fast enough, he would have likely returned to his ancestors.

But even so.

This made Lu Bu feel deeply humiliated.

The coalition’s lack of martial virtue deeply stung him.

Consequently, Lu Bu increased his daily training requirements.

He honed himself diligently, hoping to take his martial arts to the next level.

However.

Very awkwardly.

Looking throughout Hulao Pass, Lu Bu could not find even one person who could spar with him.

As everyone knows, in martial arts, sparring with someone of the same level provides greater inspiration.

As a top-tier fierce general of the era, Lu Bu’s martial arts were already divine.

But the others inside Hulao Pass.

Even first-rate generals like Zhang Liao and Hua Xiong could barely withstand ten moves from Lu Bu at full strength.

This level of sparring was of no help to Lu Bu at all.

Extremely depressed, Lu Bu suddenly received a visit from Gu Yi on this day.

……. ===== CHAPTER 53 =====