Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 43: Challenge
"General, Qu'a City is twenty miles ahead!" a lieutenant reported to the vanguard officer Le.
"Send orders to all the troops to set up camp five miles outside the city." Le Jue said.
"Wait a minute! General Le, you and I are both generals of Huainan. Now we are leading 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard. Even if we cannot sweep across Wu, it would be embarrassing if we are only responsible for setting up camp, right?" Li Feng, who came with him, said at this time.
"This...what does General Liang think?" Le asked after hesitating for a moment.
Among these 3,000 cavalrymen, Le Jiu was the vanguard officer, Li Feng and Liang Gang were Simas of other departments. Under Yuan Shu, these three were indeed "generals" second only to Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui. They even felt a little dissatisfied in their hearts - why am I not as good as General Zhang and General Qiao?
"Now our morale is high and the soldiers are not physically exhausted. Although attacking the city is not advisable, it is better to challenge them outside the city first. If they dare not fight, we can break their morale. If they dare to come out... haha, maybe we can be the first to make a contribution!" Liang Gang said insightfully.
Indeed, continuous non-response to fighting will affect the morale of the army - not to mention the psychological impact on the real officers, the decline in morale of the Ji-zao soldiers alone can significantly reduce the combat effectiveness.
Unless they are soldiers with special attributes like the "Danyang Elite Soldiers", or an experienced army that has fought many battles, or a governor like Lu Kang who is popular among the people and is stationed in place, the impact will be smaller when they are on the defensive.
"Yes, no matter how strong Lu Bu is, his troops are limited after all, and most of them are new recruits, which is not enough to be used as evidence." Li Feng agreed.
Le thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he ordered the lieutenant who delivered the message to rest on the spot and prepare to attack Qu'a directly!
This was also the result of the three people's confidence gradually increasing along the way - before arriving at Qu'a City, Bai Tu simply gave up on other small counties they passed by, and let the other side come to Qu'a to fight.
Ling Lejue and the others felt that Bai Tu was guilty...
When the news that the enemy was resting twenty miles away but showed no signs of setting up camp came back to Qu'a City, Lu Bu sneered with a mixture of seven parts pride and three parts annoyance - did their vanguard really want to come and fight directly?
"My lord, if they challenge us in the future, we must be cautious when fighting and not scare them. If Huainan really moves step by step, we will be in trouble." Chen Gong said with a wry smile.
"Don't worry, Gongtai, I won't do anything serious like damaging the hard drive." Lu Bu said.
Two hours later, three thousand cavalrymen slowly pressed down to the city - it was not impossible to attack the city, but they were cavalrymen, and no matter how arrogant they were, they would not dismount to attack the city.
Le Jue rode forward (started his engine) and shouted at the foot of the city: "Lü Bu! You coerced the court officials, harmed Jiangdong, and allowed your soldiers to plunder the people. Heaven and people are angry. My lord Yuan Shu specially sent us to bring back Lord Bai... Now that the soldiers have arrived, why don't you surrender?"
Yuan Shu was still trying to make a name for himself by accusing Lu Bu of coercing Bai Tu, and nominally wanted to "invite" Bai Tu to return to Shouchun - after all, he wanted to proclaim himself emperor last year, but was rejected by Yan Xiang, and now he has to keep a fig leaf.
"Yuan Shu has taken over the prefectures and counties and brought disaster to the Jianghuai area. You guys should not make mistakes!" Bai Tu shouted on the city wall.
"Hahaha, Lord Bai has lost his mind? It doesn't matter, when we arrive in Shouchun, my lord will call a doctor for you..." Le said simply.
Anyway, the reputation has been made known, and Le Jue doesn't really want to bluff anyone, he just wants to gain a reputation first. If you really want to talk about it, no one on both the enemy and us actually believes it.
"Lu Bu! Do you dare to come out of the city and fight?" Le challenged directly.
At the same time, he whispered to Liang Gang and Li Feng, "Liu, Guan, and Zhang were outnumbered three to one at Hulao Pass. There is nothing shameful about that..."
"Don't worry, General. We understand!" Li Feng and Liang Gang were also making preparations.
Although they all underestimated Lu Bu, they did not have the confidence that Sun Ce had...
"Huainan bandits..." A trace of disdain flashed in Lu Bu's eyes.
But at this moment, Taishi Ci said, "General Lu, why do you need a butcher knife to kill a chicken? I will go and meet him!"
Lu Bu was stunned when he heard this, but Bai Tu had already said, "Okay, Ziyi, go!"
Bai Tu was also thinking about Lu Bu. After all... this guy looked too green and he was afraid that Lu Bu wouldn't be able to act.
Just as Taishi Ci unfolded his armor, started the engine, and jumped down from the tower, Lu Bu muttered, "Why does this sound familiar? It sounds like what Hua Xiong said in Luoyang before..."
After Lu Bu finished speaking, he found that everyone was looking at him. He blushed and said, "Ahem, that's not what I meant. Ziyi is much better than that old man Hua Xiong."
Yes, Hua Xiong said the same thing in Luoyang, and then he was chopped off by Guan Yu when he went to Hulao Pass...
Bai Tu was not nervous at all, but he was a little panicked by the flag raised by Lu Bu.
"Hey! May I tell you my name... I am Le Jiu, the great general of Huainan. I will not kill a nameless ghost with my sword!" Le Jiu could not help but shout when he saw that the person coming down was not Lu Bu.
"Under the command of Envoy Bai, Captain Taishi Ci." Taishi Ci used his common name in a serious manner and did not intend to show off his authority. He just looked at Le Jue calmly.
"Tsk, so you're just a captain? You're so blind that you dare to come forward!" Le said disdainfully.
As he spoke, Le took the initiative to meet the enemy. There was also an engine spraying from his back. The coverage of his gray-white armor was similar to that of Taishi Ci. He held a single sword in one hand and a square shield in the other...
Bai Tu wondered from the tower, "This Le is not well-known, and doesn't look very strong either. How come his armor is similar to Ziyi's?"
"There are usually only two kinds of armor, one is wooden and stone armor, the other is gilded armor. The former usually has few personalized markings and only plays an auxiliary role in battle, while the latter is greatly enhanced and has a unique combat method. Moreover, each set of gilded armor is different and can stay in the air for a short time... As for the stronger gold and jade armor, there are only one or two people in history in peaceful years." Lu Bu said.
Wooden and stone armor, as well as gilded armor, naturally do not refer to the material of the armor, but to the level of the corresponding military talisman.
"There's a huge difference between armors of the same level. Look at how clumsy he is, but because troubled times are approaching, all places are over-recruiting soldiers, so he used this energy to barely reach the level of gilded armor. Ziyi, Xingba, and Wenyuan are all close to breaking through the gold and jade armor. According to the current chaotic situation in the world, even if they themselves don't make much progress, it won't take them a few years." Lu Bu explained.
Bai Tu then vaguely understood - the more soldiers trained by Cheng Ji, the easier it would be for generals with military tokens to be promoted in armor!
In the past, just like the "Gold Seal and Purple Ribbon" of civil officials, there were usually only one or two military generals in history who possessed the "Golden Jade Military Token". However, now there are more than a handful of people who are close to or have reached this level that Bai Tu has seen.
As for Lu Bu, Bai Tu tacitly assumes that he is the "Golden and Jade Armor", but his armor is not fully revealed at ordinary times.
Taishi Ci and Le Jiu, in almost every aspect, straddled the gap between the upper and lower limits of the gilded armor...
In less than five rounds, Taishi Ci swept the square shield away with one spear, made a spear flower, and then pierced the opponent's helmet. Thanks to Le Jiu's skillful head-retracting, he saved his life!
