Transmigrating to the Three Kingdoms as Lu Bu: I Have a Pseudo-Apocalypse System

More garrison troops on night duty poured in from all directions, but Xu Huang's 1st Army light cavalry had also entered the city and rushed towards the north gate, preparing to seize the north gate and welcome Cao Xing's main force into the city.

Lü Bu then mounted Red Hare, a horse brought from outside the city by his personal guards, and raised his halberd high: "Imperial Guards, heed my command! Head straight for the Prefect's residence and capture Yan Yan alive!"

"promise!"

The Imperial Guards, their morale soaring, charged toward the Prefect's residence under the leadership of Lü Bu and Zhang Xiu, while Xu Huang led a thousand light cavalrymen toward the North Gate.

The Prefect's Residence.

Yan Yan was awakened by his personal guards' urgent knocking on the door.

"General, something terrible has happened! Lü Bu has somehow dug a hole in the west city wall and led his army in!"

Yan Yan was shocked. He sat up abruptly, donned his armor, grabbed his sword, and rushed out of the room.

The streets outside the government building were in complete chaos, with shouts of killing spreading from west to east and flames shooting into the sky.

"How is this possible?" Yan Yan could hardly believe it. "Without any warning, Lü Bu suddenly entered the city?"

"It's true! A large archway has appeared on the west wall, big enough for cavalry to pass through!" the guard cried.

Yan Yan gritted his teeth: "Gather my personal guards and fight alongside me!"

He led three hundred personal guards on horseback out of the mansion and saw Lü Bu and hundreds of imperial guards rushing from the west street, killing and wounding the Shu soldiers on night watch along the way.

Seeing Lü Bu wielding his halberd and having killed two more Shu soldiers, Yan Yan roared in fury, "Lü Bu, you scoundrel, don't be so arrogant! Take this!"

After saying that, he grabbed his broadsword and charged forward. Along the way, some Imperial Guard soldiers rushed forward hoping to gain merit, but Yan Yan killed one and seriously wounded two others. If it weren't for their heavy armor, all three of them would have died.

But Yan Yan's bravery was limited to this.

He certainly had an advantage against ordinary soldiers, but against Lü Bu, he couldn't even last a single exchange.

When Lu Bu's 99-pound halberd came crashing down, Yan Yan's long sword slipped from his hand, his tiger's mouth split open, and he was even thrown off his horse, landing several feet away on the ground.

"General!!!"

Yan Yan's personal guards were shocked to see this and rushed forward to desperately resist the attack of Lü Bu's imperial guards.

Lu Bu refrained from attacking again for the time being, and instead shouted to Yan Yan, "Yan Yan, the imperial army has entered the city, and Mianzhu will undoubtedly fall. If you surrender now, I will spare your life."

With his hand split open and blood gushing from his mouth, Yan Yan stood up with the help of his personal guards. Upon hearing this, he roared, "Lu Bu, you traitor! Kill me if you want! In Yizhou, there are only generals who would rather die than surrender!"

Seeing this, Lü Bu stopped talking nonsense.

Too much talk will prolong the battle and increase casualties among our own soldiers.

Therefore, Lü Bu, Zhang Xiu, and hundreds of Imperial Guard cavalrymen launched a heavy attack. Even though Yan Yan's personal guards fought bravely and desperately, trying to protect Yan Yan and retreat to the prefect's mansion to defend it, they were powerless to do so.

Yan Yan's three hundred personal guards, along with the Shu soldiers who rushed from the surrounding area, were killed by Lü Bu, Zhang Xiu, and the Imperial Guard heavy cavalry. More than two hundred of them were killed. The battle on the main street in front of the prefect's mansion only came to an end when all of Yan Yan's personal guards were killed by Lü Bu and Yan Yan was captured alive by Lü Bu.

When the other Shu soldiers saw that Yan Yan had been captured, even though Yan Yan stubbornly insisted that Lü Bu kill him and that he would never surrender to Lü Bu, they had no will to fight and laid down their weapons to surrender.

Meanwhile, Xu Huang led his light cavalry to easily breach the north gate from inside the city. After all, it was the middle of the night, and not only were there not enough soldiers on the city walls, but they were also defending against an external enemy. They never expected the enemy to attack from inside the city, so they had no way to defend themselves.

The city gates and barbican fell one after another and were opened by Xu Huang, allowing Cao Xing's main army to enter the city smoothly.

Although Shu army deputy general Deng Xian, who was stationed in a military camp near the North Gate, rushed to the scene and tried to stop them for a while, he was powerless to turn the tide. Moreover, Deng Xian was wounded and captured by Xu Huang in the chaos of battle.

With the commander-in-chief Yan Yan and deputy commander Deng Xian captured, and the imperial army successfully entering the city, coupled with the formidable reputation of Lü Bu as the greatest warrior in the land, the Shu army inside the city lost all will to fight and threw down their weapons to kneel and surrender.

Even though a few lower-ranking officers in the Shu army occasionally put up a stubborn resistance, few soldiers were willing to fight to the death alongside them. In the end, before dawn, Mianzhu City was completely captured by Lü Bu's army.

In this battle, the Shu army suffered over 800 dead, 2,000 wounded, and over 12,000 captured. The imperial army suffered fewer than 100 casualties, making it another resounding victory with a starkly lopsided casualty ratio.

As dawn broke, the battle was completely over.

Lü Bu took over the governor's mansion and ordered the treatment of the wounded, the imprisonment of prisoners, and the pacification of the people.

At the same time, he sent the original courier from Mianzhu to Chengdu to deliver the message and put pressure on Liu Zhang.

April 9th, noon.

The Chengdu Prefectural Governor's Mansion was eerily silent.

Liu Zhang sat in the main seat, holding a military report in his hand about the fall of Mianzhu and the capture of Yan Yan and Deng Xian. His face was ashen.

Neither the civil nor the military officials dared to speak out.

After a long silence, Zhang Song spoke first: "My lord, Mianzhu has fallen, and the gates of Chengdu are wide open. Yan Yan and Deng Xian have been captured, and the Chengdu garrison has only seven thousand men left. How can we withstand Lü Bu's army?"

Pang Xi angrily said, "Zhang Ziqiao, what are your intentions in repeatedly boosting the morale of others while diminishing your own?"

"Your humble servant is only thinking of the millions of lives in Yizhou!" Zhang Song said solemnly. "Lu Bu broke through Jianmen Pass in one day and Mianzhu Pass in one night. He truly possesses the divine ability to provide inexhaustible provisions. Otherwise, how can we explain the speed at which his army could conquer cities? Now our army is besieged in Chengdu. How many days can we hold out? When the city falls, everything will perish. How can our lord face the spirit of our late lord in heaven?"

Wang Lei sighed, "What Ziqiao said is straightforward, but it is the truth. In the current situation, we will surely perish if we fight, but we may survive if we surrender."

Fa Zheng continued, "My lord, although Lü Bu holds the emperor hostage, he is still nominally a subject of the Han Dynasty. If you surrender Yizhou, it will be tantamount to surrendering to the Liu imperial family, which will protect your ancestral temple and the officials of Yizhou. This is a win-win situation."

Liu Zhang asked in fear, "What if... what if Lü Bu refuses and insists on killing me?"

Fa Zheng said, "When Lü Bu entered Guanzhong, he took Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Yanzhou, and treated all the lords who surrendered with great kindness. Wang Yi, Ma Teng, Zhang Yang, Zhang Yan, Chen Gong, and others are now either still in their original positions or have been promoted. As our lord is a member of the Han imperial family, Lü Bu would certainly not dare to harm him, lest he lose the trust of the world."

This is why Lü Bu treated surrendered officials well, generally allowing them to remain in their original positions or even be promoted; this was to reduce the resistance of other warlords' officials. If a change of leadership was needed, it would be done gradually after the pacification of the realm.

Of course, in any era, there will always be people as loyal as Yan Yan.

Huang Quan exclaimed, "No! Yizhou is the foundation of our late lord's territory; how can we surrender it so easily? This humble general is willing to lead our elite troops to protect our lord as he retreats to the south, where we will defend our territory from the natural defenses, unite with the southern barbarians, and plot a resurgence!"

Yang Huai, Gao Pei, and other generals echoed, "This humble general is willing to go!"