Chapter 42 Battle against Lü Bu 2
Red Hare was fast, its four hooves off the ground, and yellow earth rolled behind its hooves like a dragon's tail.
Lu Bu raised his halberd horizontally, aiming straight for Zhao Yun's back.
Twenty steps.
Ten steps.
Five steps.
The hot breath exhaled by Red Hare almost hit the tail of White Horse.
In the blink of an eye, Lü Bu heard the sound of horses' hooves from both sides.
Not a lone rider.
It is a simultaneous attack from both wings.
On the left wing, a chestnut horse, the general with a single, wide-open eye, held a long spear at an angle.
The yellow horse on the right wing had its bow already sheathed and its sword drawn.
The battle flag was printed with the characters "Xiahou" and "Cao".
Two riders charged out from the chaotic army, one on the left and one on the right, brandishing their spears and swords, aiming straight for Lü Bu's flanks.
Lu Bu swept his halberd horizontally, deflecting a spear aimed at his chest, and then used the halberd's tail to smash into the blade.
With a loud clang, the three men and their horses stumbled.
Lu Bu steadied himself and scanned the two generals with his leopard-like eyes.
Cao.
Xiahou.
Cao Cao's men.
Lu Bu sneered, "Cao Cao, are you also here to die?"
Xiahou Dun did not answer, but instead flicked his spear, creating three spear flowers, aiming straight for Lü Bu's throat.
The shot was both fast and heavy.
Lu Bu dodged to the side, then swung his halberd back at Xiahou Dun's horse leg.
Xiahou Yuan's blade was already upon him, intercepting the halberd.
The two brothers grew up side by side and had a deep understanding of each other.
With spear and sword, advancing and retreating, they managed to keep Lü Bu entangled in place.
On the other side, Liu Bei's central army.
Liu Liang frowned when he saw the two "Xiahou" banners in the formation.
Why did Cao Cao's men also attack at this time?
Liu Liang didn't have time to think it through before raising his hand.
The banners are being rolled up.
The drumbeats suddenly changed.
Dust billowed up on both the left and right flanks of Liu Bei's army.
Zhang Fei charged ahead on his horse, his eighteen-foot spear gleaming coldly in the sunlight, piercing straight into the flank of Lü Bu's central army.
Guan Yu's phoenix eyes were half-closed, and his Green Dragon Crescent Blade dragged diagonally on the ground as he cut towards Lü Bu's rear from the other flank.
The White Feather Battalion infantry, arrayed with long spears, advanced like a mountain.
The Xiliang cavalry, seasoned in battle, had never seen such a display of strength.
With Zhao Yun luring the enemy in front, the Xiahou brothers attacking from the flanks, and two elite troops thrusting straight into their side flanks from the left and right.
Before the formation could even disperse, Lü Bu's army had already been torn open in three directions: front, middle, and rear.
Lu Bu was locked in battle with the Xiahou brothers when he suddenly heard deafening shouts of killing behind him.
A sidelong glance.
The three thousand iron cavalry he brought had been broken into several pieces by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on both flanks.
The dark-faced man's spear darted left and right through the ranks, and wherever it passed, Xiliang cavalrymen fell from their horses.
That red-faced man with a long beard wielding a greatsword was even more terrifying; every strike he made tore apart both men and horses.
Lu Bu's heart sank.
Since he followed Ding Yuan and served Dong Zhuo, he had never been schemed against like this on the battlefield.
With bait in front and ambushes on the flanks, the central army was cut off.
This is not a duel between generals.
This is a trap.
He, Lü Bu, was the prey that was surrounded.
Before the thought had even formed, the sound of horses' hooves drew nearer behind them.
Zhao Yun's white horse has turned back.
The silver spear cut through the wind, piercing straight into Lü Bu's back.
Lu Bu dodged to the side, then swept his halberd horizontally, forcing the Xiahou brothers back.
The four riders were entangled in the battle formation.
Lu Bu parried with his halberd, and his Red Hare spun in three different directions, but still couldn't break through the encirclement of the three men.
Looking out from afar, Dong Zhuo leaned against the ramparts and gazed at the pass, his face ashen as iron.
Li Ru whispered from the side, "Prime Minister, it's time to sound the retreat."
Dong Zhuo was greatly alarmed.
Lu Bu's three thousand iron cavalry had been divided into seven or eight groups, each fighting independently, and none of them could get close to the central army.
"Sound the retreat!"
A metallic sound suddenly arose.
Upon hearing the sound of metal, Lü Bu paused, his halberd momentarily still.
With that, Zhao Yun's spear tip arrived, knocking off the purple-gold tassel on his helmet.
Red Hare neighed loudly and reared up.
Lu Bu reined in the horse with one hand, swept his halberd horizontally, and forced the Xiahou brothers to retreat.
He turned his horse, saddled it, and Red Hare leaped out of the encirclement.
Soldiers along the way tried to intercept them, but wherever the halberds passed, people were cut down like grass.
Lü Bu, alone on horseback, fought his way through his own defeated army, cutting a bloody path that stretched from north to south.
As Red Hare charged across the last open area before the pass, Lü Bu saw the two banners.
Under the large banner bearing the character "Zhang" on the left wing, a ten-foot spear lay across the front of the horse.
Under the large banner bearing the character "关" on the right wing, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade gleamed with blood.
Behind him, Zhao Yun's spear tip was already within ten feet.
On both sides, the Xiahou brothers brandished their swords and spears, sealing off all opportunities for escape.
Encirclement from five sides.
With life and death looming before him, Lü Bu's terrifying fighting power was unleashed.
The halberd lay across the saddle bridge, leaving Red Hare with no room to maneuver.
A spear thrusts from ahead.
The spear, carrying the force of wind and thunder, pierced straight into his chest.
Lü Bu turned sideways, his halberd parrying diagonally.
As the spears clashed, Zhang Fei's tiger's mouth trembled, and his arm went numb.
At the same instant, the Azure Dragon Blade slashed down from the right.
Guan Yu did not hold back in this strike.
The blade sliced through the air with a sound like tearing silk.
Lu Bu had not yet retracted his halberd when he met the blade with one arm.
The halberd shaft blocked the blade, and the clang of metal against metal startled the nearby warhorses.
The two weapons were pressed against the same halberd.
A spear and a knife, their forces twisting from two directions.
Lu Bu's arms were muscular and his veins were like snakes.
Red Hare's four hooves were deeply embedded in the yellow earth, and its body was bent into a full moon shape.
Zhao Yun's spear was already at his back, its silver light piercing through his armor, the tip of the spear touching his flesh.
Xiahou Dun thrust his spear towards his left rib.
Xiahou Yuan slashed his broadsword toward his right shoulder.
Lu Bu let out a furious roar.
That wasn't a war cry; it was the sound squeezed out from the depths of a trapped beast's chest when its neck hairs stand on end.
The halberd was suddenly swung in a wide arc.
The halberd blade first swept away the snake spear.
Zhang Fei felt an overwhelming force surge from the spear, his arms were struck as if by lightning, and the eighteen-foot spear almost slipped from his grasp.
At the same instant, the halberd's tail slammed into the surface of the Azure Dragon Blade.
Guan Yu's phoenix eyes suddenly closed, and the Green Dragon Crescent Blade trembled violently. The force traveled along the hilt and into his tiger's mouth. The hilt, which had never loosened since he joined the army, actually slid half an inch in his palm.
Lu Bu finished his stance with his halberd, the tip touching the ground, and used the momentum to twist his body.
Red Hare neighed and stood upright, its front hooves treading the air while its hind hooves pushed off the ground, squeezing through the gap between the two divine weapons that had been joined together.
Guan Yu held the sword in one hand, raising the blade once more.
Lu Bu did not give him a second chance.
Red Hare had already galloped more than ten feet away.
Guan Yu cleaved through the air with his sword, the blade sinking half a foot into the ground.
When he drew his sword again, Lü Bu had already broken through the last obstacle.
When the remaining soldiers of Xiliang saw their commander break through the encirclement, they swarmed to follow him.
Blood flowed from Zhao Yun's tiger's mouth, dripping down his spear.
Xiahou Dun's spear missed its mark, and he nearly collided with Xiahou Yuan's horse's head before he could stop in time.
The five riders reined in their horses in the yellow earth and looked back.
The Hulaoguan suspension bridge slowly rises.
Lu Bu stopped his horse at the entrance of the barbican, his armor on his shoulder torn in several places, blood flowing down his arm and into the patterns on his halberd blade.
"Hahahaha!"
Lu Bu suddenly let out a long roar.
The halberd rested on the ground, and Red Hare snorted, its hooves lightly scratching the blue bricks.
Of the three thousand iron cavalry, more than half were lost.
As for Lü Bu, today at Hulao Pass, he killed Zu Mao, a fierce general under Sun Jian, in the very first battle!
In the second battle, he fought Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han Dang to a standstill. After another ten rounds, he was certain to take the lives of the three generals.
The third round was even more exaggerated.
Surrounded by five generals—Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan—he escaped unscathed!
Although Lü Bu's army suffered a great defeat, Lü Bu himself became famous throughout the world for his bravery after this battle.