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

On July 24th, outside the north gate of Fancheng, Lü Bu arrived with an army of 20,000. Banners fluttered, swords and spears were everywhere, and morale was high.

On the city wall, Deng Ji leaned against the battlements, his face solemn.

The lieutenant asked in a trembling voice, "General, what if Lü Bu uses catapults to bombard the city again?"

Deng Ji interrupted him: "What are you afraid of? Fancheng is much stronger than Xinye. It won't be so easily bombarded by stones like Xinye. We have a fortified city, a moat, five thousand elite troops, and the support of Xiangyang and the navy. No matter how powerful Lü Bu is, he won't be able to take Fancheng!"

As they were talking, a Han soldier spurred his horse forward, reached the moat, and shouted towards the city walls:

"Listen up, soldiers on the city walls! His Majesty the King of Jin of the Great Han Dynasty has ordered: General Deng Ji, the garrison commander of Fancheng, is to answer!"

Deng Ji took a deep breath, gripped the battlement, and said in a deep voice, "Deng Ji is here!"

The soldier shouted, "The King of Jin has decreed that if General Deng opens the city gates and surrenders, he will be pardoned and given a more important position! If he remains obstinate, it will be too late for regrets when the city falls!"

Deng Ji remained silent for a moment, then said loudly, "This humble general has received great kindness from Governor Liu, how could I betray my lord? Please forgive me, Prince Jin!"

The soldier turned his horse around and reported the news to Lü Bu.

Lu Bu frowned slightly, spurred his horse forward a few steps, and looked up at the city wall: "Deng Ji, you escaped by chance in Xinye before. But this time, I will not let you escape so easily again. Besides, Xiangyang is right behind you, where can you escape to? If you open the city gates and surrender now, I will spare you the crime of resisting stubbornly."

Deng Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, it is my duty, and I have no choice but to obey. Please forgive me!"

Lu Bu looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and slowly said, "Very well, since that's how it is, I won't force you. Tomorrow we'll attack the city; you'd better take care of yourself!"

Having said that, he turned his horse and rode back.

……

July 25th, early morning.

As dawn broke, wisps of smoke rose from the cooking fires in the Han army camp. After breakfast, the soldiers lined up and marched out of the camp.

Outside the north gate of Fancheng, the Han army was arrayed four hundred paces away. At the front of the formation, Lü Bu, clad in golden armor and riding a red horse, held a halberd.

On the city wall, Deng Ji leaned against the battlements, his face grave. On the wall, five thousand soldiers stood ready, but their faces were filled with fear.

Lu Bu's name is known throughout the land. Now he is leading the royal army south. Can Xiangyang and Fancheng really be defended? Even if they are, how many of these soldiers will survive?

……

At the front of the Han army, Lü Bu dismounted and walked to the open space in front of the formation.

He raised his hands as if to grasp something out of thin air. The next moment, huge stones appeared out of nowhere on the open ground!

Each piece weighs tens of thousands of kilograms!

The Han soldiers were unfazed, watching as Lü Bu took out the huge stones one by one, stacking them layer upon layer. If any part of the stacking wasn't perfect, Lü Bu would simply take it back and rearrange it until it was just right.

On the city wall, Deng Ji and the garrison, though they had heard of it beforehand, were still dumbfounded.

A soldier exclaimed in terror, "General, he's built such a high stone platform! If he sets up catapults on it and bombards us from above, we'll be powerless to fight back. How can we defend ourselves?"

Another person said, "I heard that he built a stone platform over forty feet high in the Western Regions, ten times higher than a city wall!"

An uproar erupted on the city wall, and the morale of the defending troops plummeted.

Deng Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Don't panic! Pass down the order: everyone should stay close to the wall and take cover. We can fight back when the enemy attacks the city."

Even so, he himself wasn't entirely sure.

……

At the front of the Han army, Lü Bu's work on building the stone platform progressed rapidly. In less than an hour, the platform had been built to a height of over thirty zhang (approximately 133 meters).

On the city wall, Deng Ji and the defending soldiers watched with trepidation.

The stone platform rose higher and higher, now almost ten times taller than the walls of Fancheng. The Han soldiers standing atop the platform could overlook the entire city of Fancheng!

The lieutenant, head tilted back, said in a trembling voice, "General, Lü Bu's fortifications are so high, our every move is under his watchful eye! How can we possibly fight this battle?"

Deng Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Don't panic. No matter how powerful his catapults are, they still need to be accurate! Send the order to disperse and defend the city, hide along the walls, and don't gather together!"

Even so, he himself knew that this was self-deception.

……

Outside the city, Lü Bu had stopped building the platform and stood on top of it, overlooking the entire city of Fancheng.

On the city walls, the defending soldiers appeared as tiny as ants. The streets and houses within the city were laid out before them. To the south, the Han River shimmered, and the city of Xiangyang was faintly visible on the opposite bank.

Lu Bu took a deep breath, released dozens of catapults and giant crossbows from the top of the stone platform, and then waved to those behind him.

"put!"

The war drums beat, and the bugles sounded!

The operators, who had climbed up the stone steps left by Lü Bu, skillfully operated dozens of catapults and giant crossbows to fire simultaneously. Huge stone projectiles and thick crossbow bolts roared out and crashed down on the walls of Fancheng!

Boom boom boom!

Stones pelted the city walls, shattering bricks and sending dust flying! Some stones flew over the walls and crashed into the city, causing countless houses to collapse with deafening roars!

A giant crossbow descended from the sky, piercing through the city tower and striking the unsuspecting soldiers inside.

The soldiers guarding the city wall were terrified and covered their heads to hide.

Deng Ji, hiding behind the battlements, shouted, "Don't panic! Don't panic! Hide! Hide under the wall!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a second volley of stones came hurtling in!

Boom boom boom!

This time, several stones struck the city wall directly! One of the defenders was hit by a stone and turned into a bloody mess! Another stone hit the city tower, sending wood chips flying and causing half of the tower to collapse!

At this moment, on the stone platform, Lü Bu took out a 20-stone strong bow that the Ministry of Works had specially made for him from his spatial storage, and nocked a specially made long arrow.

He aimed at the city wall and fired an arrow in a flash!

The arrow flew like a meteor, heading straight for the city wall!

A military officer who was warning his colleagues to take cover was shot in the throat by an arrow and fell backward to the ground!

The soldiers guarding the city wall were greatly alarmed and fled in panic.

Deng Ji hid behind a battlement, still shaken. He had just witnessed the arrow fly from the stone platform hundreds of paces away and strike the military officer with perfect accuracy!

"Three or four hundred paces away, a single arrow kills," Deng Ji muttered. "Is this guy even human?"

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!

Lu Bu fired several arrows in quick succession, each one taking a life! The soldiers guarding the city wall were so riddled with arrows that they couldn't even lift their heads to observe the situation.

Meanwhile, the catapults on the stone platform continued their relentless bombardment.

Boom boom boom!

A section of the city wall of Fancheng was bombarded by dozens of stone projectiles, causing bricks and stones to fall off, cracks to spread, and the wall to be on the verge of collapse!

Suddenly, a loud bang!

A section of the city wall finally gave way and collapsed with a roar! Bricks and stones rained down, and dust filled the sky!

Deng Ji's face turned deathly pale, and he hissed, "Quickly, quickly plug the breach!"

But is it too late?

Lu Bu had already stepped down from the stone platform and began placing stone blocks into the moat. One huge stone after another was thrown into the river, and then thick wooden planks were laid on top, quickly building a makeshift bridge.

Zhang Fei led his army to wait for an opportunity to strike north of the bridge. Once the bridge was open, they would immediately rush across the moat and break in through the gap in the north wall of Fancheng.

Seeing this, Deng Ji knew the situation was hopeless. He gritted his teeth and said, "Send the order down: retreat through the water gate and take a boat to Xiangyang!"

The lieutenant was shocked: "General, retreat now? But our lord ordered us to..."

Deng Ji interrupted him: "How can we defend in this situation? Let's go, or it will be too late!"

The deputy general had no choice but to pass on the order.

Thus, Deng Ji, who should have been a loyal general of Liu Biao, once again led his troops to flee by water before even engaging in actual combat.