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

"We can't beat them... we simply can't beat them..."

A young Xiongnu soldier watched as his tribesmen fell one after another, his hands trembling, and he almost dropped his scimitar.

He had just struck a Han heavy cavalryman on the back with all his might, leaving only a white mark, the recoil causing his hand to split open. The man, however, retaliated with a halberd, killing the squad leader beside him.

The splattered blood covered his head and face.

Fear spread like wild grass.

Some began to rein in their horses and turn around, no longer daring to charge head-on, but instead trying to flank the Han army's sharpest attacking arrows.

Some people simply turned around and ran away—after all, the grassland is so big, it doesn't matter where they run.

Some people stood there blankly, not knowing what to do.

Qu Bei watched from afar at the city gate, his eyes wide with rage.

He initially thought that with five thousand against one thousand, he had the advantage. Even if he couldn't win, he could at least fight to the death, and then he could lead his personal guards to clean up the mess.

Who would have thought it would be such a one-sided massacre?

"No retreat! No retreat!" Qu Bei shouted hoarsely. "Those who retreat will be executed! Hold the line!"

He killed three deserters in succession, but the rout was already evident and there was no way to stop it.

On the battlefield, Lü Bu had already led his personal guard to break through the Xiongnu cavalry formation.

The view ahead suddenly opened up.

He looked up and saw that the city wall of Meiji County was already four hundred paces away. A drawbridge spanned the moat in front of the city gate, and a group of people stood at the bridgehead—it was Qu Bei and his personal guard.

Lu Bu's extraordinary senses even allowed him to see clearly Qu Bei's face, which was contorted with terror.

He wanted to take a bow and shoot Qu Bei, but found it unlikely.

More than thirty personal guards and shield bearers stood densely packed in front of Qu Bei.

Each person held a large iron shield made of bread, the shields linked together to form a shield wall, completely blocking Qu Bei behind them.

Clearly, the Xianbei people who had escaped from Jinyang had already told Qu Bei that Lü Bu was an exceptional archer who could kill from two or three hundred paces away, and Qu Bei had been prepared for this.

Lü Bu turned his horse around and surveyed the battlefield where the cavalry had clashed. The Xiongnu cavalry had been routed. Cheng Lianzheng led a contingent of his personal guards in pursuit, killing the scattered fleeing soldiers, while Zhang Xiu mopped up the remaining enemy forces on the other side.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, many Xiongnu people simply threw away their weapons, dismounted, and knelt down with their hands raised.

"We are willing to surrender! We are willing to surrender!"

"Han army grandfather, spare my life!"

Such shouts rose and fell.

Lü Bu raised his voice and ordered, "Cheng Lian, gather the prisoners! Zhang Xiu, pursue the fleeing enemy!"

"Yes, sir!" The two accepted the order.

Lü Bu himself turned his horse around, replaced his halberd with a light halberd, and led a hundred personal guards toward the gate of Meiji City to see if he could kill Qu Bei.

Seeing his five thousand cavalrymen suffer such a swift and crushing defeat, and with Lü Bu leading his army charging towards him, Qu Bei was so frightened that he immediately fled back into the city.

Ahead of Lü Bu, there were still hundreds of Xiongnu cavalrymen desperately fleeing into the city.

When they saw Lü Bu chasing after them, they were terrified.

"Quick! Get into town!"

"Close the city gates, raise the drawbridge, and don't let Lü Bu in!"

The defenders on the city wall panicked, and someone shouted, "Fire arrows! Fire arrows to stop the enemy!"

A few arrows fell sparsely, but their accuracy was poor, and most of them missed their mark.

Even the few shots that hit the guards' armor did not cause any damage.

Lü Bu took the lead and charged into the group of fleeing soldiers.

Although the light halberd was not as powerful and heavy as the heavy halberd, it was still incredibly powerful in his hands. With strength and agility beyond human limits and supported by halberd techniques, the halberd blade flew, reaping lives like mowing grass.

"Those who surrender will be spared!" Lü Bu roared.

The sound was like a thunderclap.

The already panicked Xiongnu cavalry completely collapsed, and hundreds more abandoned their armor and knelt down to surrender.

The city gates are slowly closing, and the drawbridge is being raised.

"Wait for us!" shouted the first few dozen riders.

The gatekeeper hesitated for a moment—there were still several hundred of his own men outside the city, and it would be too cold-blooded to lock them all up.

In that moment of hesitation, Lü Bu had already reached a point not far from the bridgehead.

Seeing that the other side was about to raise the drawbridge, Lü Bu put his halberd into his spatial storage, took out his powerful bow, and fired two arrows in quick succession, accurately severing the drawbridge's ropes.

The rope snapped instantly, and the drawbridge crashed heavily back onto the moat. Lü Bu continued to drive the fleeing soldiers toward the city gate.

"Close the city gates! Close them now!" A centurion shouted from the city wall.

The gatekeeper gritted his teeth: "Close it!"

"Creak—"

The heavy city gates began to close.

The Xiongnu cavalry outside the city, who had not yet entered, were filled with despair.

"Your Majesty, let us in!"

"We are all your soldiers!"

Qu Bei had already retreated into the city and climbed the city wall under the protection of his personal guards.

His face was ashen as he looked at the carnage outside the city, gritting his teeth as he said, "We can't open it! If we do, Lu Bu will storm in!"

In order to save their own lives, they had no choice but to sacrifice the lives of these hundreds of comrades.

Finally, the city gates closed completely before hundreds of pairs of desperate eyes.

Outside the city, there were still more than three hundred Xiongnu cavalrymen who had just rushed to the drawbridge of the moat. They could not enter the city and had nowhere to retreat—Lu Bu had blocked their retreat.

"Lay down your weapons, dismount and surrender." Lü Bu reined in his Red Hare, pointing his halberd at them. "Those who resist will die."

"Clang!"

The first scimitar landed.

Then came the second game, the third game...

All three hundred-plus riders dismounted and surrendered.

Thus, this cavalry duel, in which the numbers were vastly unequal, lasted less than half an hour from start to finish.

Of Qu Bei's five thousand cavalry, more than two thousand were killed in battle, more than thirteen hundred were captured, several hundred fled, and less than a thousand escaped back to the city.

As for Lü Bu's 1,000 personal guard heavy cavalry, only a few were killed and more than twenty were wounded, which was almost negligible.

On the city wall, Qu Bei looked at the corpses scattered all over the city and the kneeling prisoners, his hands trembling.

What he thought was an advantage for me turned into a joke.

"Your Majesty, what should we do now?" a trusted aide asked in a trembling voice.

Force yourself to calm down and shed your humiliation.

If you can't win in open battle, then defend the city.

Meiji County was the court of the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu. The city walls were over two zhang high. Although they were made of rammed earth, they were reinforced with blue bricks on the outside, making them quite sturdy. The city had ample food and fodder, enough to hold out for several months.

When Lü Bu's siege drags on for a long time without success and his supplies run out, he will naturally retreat...

Thinking of this, Qu Bei calmed himself down a bit.

But then he thought of another problem: there was also the combined forces of Duji and Yufuluo in the south.

That army numbered five thousand, mostly infantry, but still a regular force. If they arrived and joined forces with Lü Bu, that would be six thousand strong…

He swept his gaze across the city walls, leaving behind his humble origins.

How many troops are there in the garrison?

Fewer than a thousand cavalrymen escaped and returned. Adding the infantry and laborers who originally stayed behind, the total number of soldiers capable of fighting was only a little over two thousand.

Six thousand against two thousand, three times the strength.

Moreover, the enemy has Lu Bu, a warrior capable of defeating ten thousand men, heavy cavalry, and siege equipment...

Qu Bei felt a chill in his heart.

"No, we can't hold on," he murmured.

Meiji County was, after all, just a county seat, not a major city like the capital of a prefecture. The city walls were limited in height and thickness, and the defensive facilities were inadequate. To hold out for a long time? That was simply wishful thinking.

Moreover, the morale of the troops within the city was unstable.

Just now, to save his own life, he locked hundreds of his comrades outside, leaving them to be captured or killed. This news must have already spread throughout the army. How many people are still willing to risk their lives for him now?