Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 286 Cao Cao's Discovery

Bianshui Bridge.

Neither side wasted much time; they each made a few arrangements and then began their duel.

"With Guan Yu of Hedong here, who will fight?"

Guan Yu went straight to the bridge, brandished his sword, and challenged the other side to a duel.

Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Dun.

Xiahou Dun shook his head violently.

Cao Cao then looked to his side and asked, "Who will go to fight?"

A young junior officer from Cao Cao's guard stepped forward: "Huan, go and meet Guan Yu..."

"Alright, beat the drums and cheer for Gong Liu!"

Seeing this, Cao Cao immediately ordered Xiahou Dun to beat the drum, and even took out his wine bag and threw it to the junior officer on the horse: "Drink to your heart's content, Gong Liu!"

The junior officer took the wine bag, drank it down in one gulp, and rode off on horseback, proclaiming, "Shi Huan of Pei State, I seek guidance from Commandant Guan!"

Guan Yu frowned when he saw that Shi Huan was dressed as a guard by Cao Cao, with only a red tassel on his helmet. He looked behind Shi Huan but did not see a military flag with the character "Shi".

Clearly, Shi Huan was merely Cao Cao's bodyguard captain.

However, according to convention, the captain of the guard is usually one of the best in the entire army, just like Zhao Yun, who was always by Liu Bei's side.

Guan Yu narrowed his eyes: "I have never heard of your great name... Very well, take this!"

Having said that, he rode forward at full speed and struck with his sword.

Guan Yu was always extremely fast with his sword. Although there was a hint of disdain, his sword strikes were still so fast that they were impossible to see.

Shi Huan swung his halberd with all his might, and sparks flew as the blade clashed, managing to block Guan Yu's attack.

Two horses passed each other.

Guan Yu abandoned his contempt, glanced at Xiahou Dun who was beating the drum, then turned his horse to look at Shi Huan, and charged forward again with his sword raised.

Liu Bei's troops were quite silent, neither making a fuss nor stirring things up. Guan Yu himself didn't say much either, but perhaps it was precisely because of this silence that the sense of oppression was extremely strong.

Guan Yu held his long sword in one hand at his side.

Shi Huan looked at Guan Yu approaching and pulled hard on his shoulder armor, gripping the halberd shaft tightly.

Then, gritting his teeth, he charged towards Guan Yu with his halberd raised.

The two horses crossed paths again, and Guan Yu's long sword flashed.

Shi Huan fought back with all his might and managed to catch the knife again.

But Guan Yu was strong, and Shi Huan was unsteady. He tilted his head back and barely managed to parry Guan Yu's blade, nearly falling off his horse.

As the two horses passed each other, Guan Yu turned around and swung his sword again, managing to stick half of his body out of the horse's side.

This is the function of the stirrups; Guan Yu had a place to brace himself with both feet. Although Shi Huan saw Guan Yu draw his sword, he could not dodge it at this moment.

There was no clanging of metal, only the sound of a knife cutting through wood and leather.

This could barely be considered three rounds before Shi Huan was stabbed and fell from his horse.

Shi Huan's horse rode back to Cao Cao's side all by itself.

However, Shi Huan did not die, nor was he seriously injured. The shoulder armor he had just pulled was almost cut in two, but the wound on his shoulder was very shallow.

He lay on the ground, his hands trembling—he could barely hold the halberd anymore, and there was a clear knife mark on the shaft.

Shi Huan managed to half-turn and parry with the shaft of his halberd. Although he couldn't block it, he at least deflected the blade's momentum, causing Guan Yu's sword to land on the thick part of his shoulder armor, thus preventing him from being directly beheaded by the counter-attack.

In this situation, he would inevitably fall from grace.

Guan Yu reined in his horse and looked back at Shi Huan on the ground. He hesitated for a moment, then spurred his horse back.

After returning to Liu Bei's side, Guan Yu whispered, "This man is skilled, but lacks fighting spirit. He only seeks to protect himself and has no intention of winning."

Liu Bei nodded: "Cao Mengde must want to deliberately retreat, but he doesn't want to damage morale too much... It's alright, it's good for Yide's reputation. Yide, be ruthless."

Zhang Fei nodded and rode off, pulling down his mask and raising his lance to look at the opposite side: "Zhang Yide of Yan is here, who will come to die?!"

……

Cao Cao brought Shi Huan back and sent another person, who turned out to be a young general.

However, this time it wasn't Cao Cao's guards, but rather a general leading an army.

When they stepped out of the ranks, their banner read "Separate Commander Cao," and under his banner were more than a thousand men.

"Cao Ren is here!"

Cao Ren looked much more imposing than Shi Huan, and his equipment was also quite sophisticated, wielding a long-bladed spear. The spearhead was three feet long, like a longsword, with a handle over ten feet long, and it looked quite magnificent, gleaming with a cold light.

This was, of course, a specially made weapon, not standard military equipment. In those days, it was even suspected of being a waste of iron, because making the spearhead too long was not as effective as making it less than a foot long.

Only those in the martial arts world would deliberately use such unusual weapons in order to make a name for themselves and be remembered by others.

As soon as Cao Ren stepped out of the ranks, he launched a rapid attack. When Zhang Fei saw someone stepping out, he turned around and retreated a short distance before turning back on his horse and accelerating back onto the bridge.

"watch out!"

The two horses charged at great speed. When they were only a dozen paces away from Zhang Fei, Cao Ren suddenly threw his short halberd at Zhang Fei, and then brandished his specially made long spear and thrust it straight forward.

The thrown halberds are actually only used to distract the enemy; their actual power is far less than that of bows and crossbows. This is also the method used by wandering knights.

Zhang Fei had seen too many wandering knights since he was a child, so he naturally wouldn't be fooled. He used his left hand to hook a halberd and knock it away, then set up his lance and charged forward.

This is completely different from Guan Yu's approach.

Guan Yu was a traditional duelist, engaging in close combat on horseback.

But Zhang Fei charged forward on horseback with a lance, looking like a lump of iron charging forward with a lance.

The lance was eighteen feet long, but it looked unremarkable. It was just a long wooden pole, not even painted, with only a triangular pyramid less than three inches long at the tip.

After all, the gun barrel is just a consumable.

Cao Ren had never seen such a cavalry lance before and was unaware of its power. He only thought that Zhang Fei's lance shaft was too long and therefore not flexible. He swung his long-bladed spear with all his might at the head of Zhang Fei's lance, trying to parry the cavalry lance using conventional fighting methods.

But Cao Cao, who was outside the arena, sensed something was wrong and shouted, "Zixiao! Get out of the way!"

The two horses charged at an incredible speed. As Cao Cao shouted, Cao Ren had already struck Zhang Fei's spearhead, but the spear's momentum was only slightly deflected, and the triangular spike still hit Cao Ren's shoulder.

The spear shaft broke, and Cao Ren was stabbed off his horse.

The outcome could be decided in a single blow.

Zhang Fei threw down the wooden pole to slow the horse down, lightly tapped the horse's belly with his foot, and turned the horse around.

Cao Cao quickly led the Xiahou brothers forward to protect Cao Ren, shouting loudly, "Xuande, we admit defeat! We will retreat thirty li!"

After saying this, he ordered Xiahou Dun to lead men to carry Cao Ren onto the carriage.

His troops immediately retreated.

Cao Cao stayed behind last, picked up the broken spear shaft from the bridge and examined it, then stared at Zhang Fei's returning horse for a few moments before turning to look at his own warhorse.

Then, he suddenly turned around and scanned the cavalry in Liu Bei's army, as if he had figured something out.

Cao Cao threw down his spear and retreated step by step. After mounting his horse, he glanced back and saw Liu Bei leading his army forward to cross the bridge before riding away at full speed.

……

"Is Zixiao alright?"

After retreating to the vicinity of the old city, Cao Cao stationed his troops in a village in the countryside and went to check on Cao Ren's injuries.

"Fortunately, it wasn't a fatal wound, otherwise there would have been no chance of survival... But the bleeding won't stop, and if it doesn't stop soon, we'll have to use a branding iron..."

The wandering knights under Cao Ren's command reported back.

Cao Ren was biting on a piece of hemp cloth to endure the pain. The triangular cone in his wound had been removed, and two wandering knights were trying to stop the bleeding.

"Brother, you are incompetent... Zhang Fei's battle tactics are quite unique..."

Upon seeing Cao Cao arrive, Cao Ren spat out the hemp cloth and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Shi Gong Liu's martial arts skills are far inferior to Zi Xiao's, yet he was still able to hold his own against Guan Yu for three rounds. However, Zi Xiao was injured by Zhang Fei in one round, which was not Zi Xiao's fault."

Cao Cao said, “I see that Zhang Fei’s feet are both wearing iron stirrups, and the horse equipment of Liu Bei’s cavalry is quite different. Their spears are also a bit strange. We should learn from their strengths and then have a contest with them.”

"Mengde, it seems Liu Bei hasn't pursued us... The scouts report that Liu Bei appears to have turned north!"

At this moment, Xiahou Dun rushed in to report: "Wei Zixu has set up an ambush, but the plan to lure the enemy has failed..."

"...Since Liu Bei has ceded the Jishui Bridge, then let Yuan Shao lead the main force to besiege and kill Liu Bei... We will prepare food and rest for the night, and tomorrow we will take Hulao Pass!"

Liu Bei was not fooled, but Cao Cao was not discouraged and immediately changed his tactics.

That's how war is; it's normal for many plans to fail. If you use ten plans, you only need one to succeed.

but……

At that moment, Weiz, who was lying in ambush in the southern part of the old city, discovered that a group of uninvited guests seemed to be coming from behind him.

Lü Bu's troops have already circled around to this location.

Lü Bu's name was quite well-known in Bingzhou, but among the Guandong coalition forces, probably only Yuan Shao knew how formidable Lü Bu was.

(End of this chapter)