I, Zhou Cang, am the number one tank in the Three Kingdoms.

In the early hours of the morning, a gentle breeze awakened Guan, Zhou, and Sun in the pine forest north of Xudu.

Zhou Cang quickly put on his dried armor and handed the green battle robe back to Guan Yu.

"Sir, Yuanfu, you two wait on the main road five miles south of the city. Say goodbye to Cao Cao in person, and I will enter the city alone." Guan Yu took the battle robe and put it on, then got up to untie Red Hare.

Sun Qian yawned and nodded repeatedly: "It would be inappropriate for us to go together, so we will follow Yun Chang's advice."

Guan Yu nodded to the two men and then rode Red Hare straight to the north gate of Xuchang.

Zhou Cang and Sun Qian, who were left with nothing to do and seeing that Guan Yu wouldn't be back anytime soon, strolled along chatting.

Around noon, under the blazing sun, Zhou Cang, who hadn't eaten or drunk much rice or water in the past two days, was starting to feel unbearable under the sun's rays. He was hot, hungry, and thirsty.

"Sir, I have a favor to ask!" Zhou Cang said, opening his dry lips to look at Sun Qian.

"Yuanfu, please speak freely."

"We marched in a hurry these past two days and didn't bring enough dry rations. Besides, we've been fighting for days and our stomachs are empty..." Zhou Cang said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Uh... Hahahaha," Sun Qian didn't expect Zhou Cang to be hungry, and laughed, "This is easy, we'll just go find someone's house and beg for some food."

"Alright! Alright!" Zhou Cang readily agreed, but then hesitated. "But sir, my appearance might frighten the villagers..."

"Hmm...that's true. Yuanfu, you can rest here. I'll be right back." Sun Qian looked carefully at Zhou Cang's rugged face, then spurred his horse and rode away.

Zhou Cang dismounted, found a shady spot to tie his horse, and, not wanting to sit and wait idly, picked up his knife and started looking for wild fruits.

Huh? Green plums?

Before long, Zhou Cang saw a plum tree laden with fruit, standing alone by the roadside.

Almost as soon as he saw the plums, Zhou Cang felt his mouth water and rushed over without hesitation.

He scooped up a few with his large hand, wiped them haphazardly with his sleeve, and stuffed them into his mouth.

The moment you chew a green plum, an intense sour and astringent sensation surges from the tip of your tongue to the roots of your teeth, then spreads along your nerves to your brain...

"Ugh! Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!" Zhou Cang's face contorted as he quickly spat out the last bit of fruit pulp between his teeth.

No wonder nobody eats it even though it grows by the roadside!

This is so awful! Zhou Cang even recalled the fear of being dominated by lemons in his past life...

"Pah! Pah! If you're so sour, I'll chop you up..." Zhou Cang was muttering to himself when he suddenly heard the rapid sound of horses' hooves!

Turning around, he saw his own horse stamping its feet in panic, with two thin men beside it. One was stuffing a stick into the horse's mouth, while the other was quickly untying the horse's rope from the tree!

You dare steal my horse!

In a fit of rage, Zhou Cang forgot all the sour taste in his mouth and charged forward, dragging his Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword).

"Hey! Horse thieves, prepare to die!" Zhou Cang shouted and rushed to the two men.

The thief who had his mouth gagged was not afraid at all when he saw his master coming. He drew his knife and rushed forward, while the other man was still trying to untie the rope in a panic.

"Wow!" the thief shouted to bolster his courage, and swung his knife down. Zhou Cang dodged to the side, then "smack!" kicked the thief in the waist, and the thief fell to the ground.

Seeing his companion fall, the other man panicked even more. He couldn't untie the rope no matter how hard he tried, so he simply abandoned his companion and ran away.

The thief on the ground tried to get up and fight back, but Zhou Cang immediately raised his longsword and held it to his neck.

"Hero, spare my life... Hero, spare my life!" The thief stopped being stubborn, threw down his knife, and knelt down to beg for mercy.

"Hmph, get lost." Zhou Cang didn't intend to kill him. After all, he used to be a bandit himself, and the original owner's experience of robbing whatever he could find during his hard times was still fresh in his mind.

"Thank you, hero! Thank you, hero!" The thief hurriedly picked up the knife and scrambled away in the direction his companions had fled.

After running about a hundred paces, the thief suddenly turned around, pointed his knife at Zhou Cang, and shouted, "Black-faced thief! You'd better wait here if you dare!"

Zhou Cang stood there for a moment, then laughed and replied, "Fine! If you don't come, I won't leave!"

The thief looked around again to make sure Zhou Cang wasn't chasing him, then ran off cursing and disappeared.

Zhou Cang chuckled inwardly. "Grandpa, I used to be a big-time bandit. Isn't this just showing off my limited skills in front of an expert?"

So he simply sat down next to the horse and waited for the thief to call for backup.

Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour later, a group of people came galloping over, kicking up dust.

The two riders at the head, one tall and one short, wore yellow turbans, were dressed in brocade robes, and carried iron spears; the rest were all foot soldiers.

"It's this black-faced thief!" The soldier who had just been kicked over by Zhou Cang clutched his chest with one hand and pointed at Zhou Cang with the other, complaining to the older rider.

As Zhou Cang watched this scene, it was somewhat reminiscent of the time he and Pei Yuanshao had gathered at Woniu Mountain, and he couldn't help but be lost in thought.

The older rider slowly rode forward, stopping when he was ten paces away from Zhou Cang.

The man had a sallow, thin face, a mustache, and small eyes that scrutinized Zhou Cang from head to toe.

Zhou Cang stood up, without saying a word, and just stared straight at the other person.

It seems this person is the leader of the bandits.

"Black-faced thief, if you know what's good for you, leave your horse behind and I'll spare your life." The thief leader's hoarse voice threatened Zhou Cang.

"What can you do to me if you don't know what's good for you?" Zhou Cang looked at him with a smile, holding his knife in both hands and getting into a fighting stance.

"Hmph, you don't know what's good for you? Then I won't be polite." The bandit leader's face gradually turned ferocious. He squeezed his horse's belly with his legs and thrust his spear at Zhou Cang.

Zhou Cang steadied himself on his horse, raised his longsword, and swung it to meet the iron spear—

With a clang, the longsword deflected the iron spear, and Zhou Cang used his waist and abdomen to swing the sword upwards with a backhand motion!

"Smack!" The bandit leader was struck in the waist by the back of a long-handled sword and was thrown off his horse.

Zhou Cang intended to spare his life, since they both seemed to share the identity of "remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, now living in the mountains," and he had only been ashore for a short time, so there was no need to kill him.

The bandit leader didn't think so. After being swept off his horse, he felt utterly humiliated. He picked up his gun, quickly got up, and slashed at Zhou Cang from the side.

Zhou Cang didn't retaliate; he simply leaped to the side, dodging the attack.

A slash, a thrust, a sweep! Zhou Cang dodged three blows in a row. Seeing that the bandit leader was panting heavily and had dropped his iron spear, he thought that the other party was finally going to give up.

Unexpectedly, the bandit leader found the long spear too clumsy and drew his waist knife, preparing for close-quarters combat.

"Brother! Don't be reckless!" The young man on horseback, who had been watching from behind, couldn't help but shout.

The bandit leader ignored him completely, slowly circled Zhou Cang for half a minute, and then, feeling that he had seized the opportunity, suddenly pounced on Zhou Cang.

Knowing that his opponent was not particularly skilled in martial arts, Zhou Cang waited until he was close enough that the blade was about to strike before suddenly lunging forward and punching his opponent's wrist, knocking the steel blade away.

Zhou Cang thought, "Surely this time they'll give up?"

Who knew that after the bandit leader recovered, he was so angry that his face turned red, and he gritted his teeth and grabbed Zhou Cang to take his Mo Dao!

This is unbearable; they've gone so far as to court death.

"Swish!" Zhou Cang decisively twisted the hilt of his knife and slashed at the neck of the bandit leader.

The bandit leader twitched twice on the ground and then fell still, his blood splattering all over Zhou Cang.

The young man on horseback who remained in the band of thieves felt a complex mix of emotions upon seeing this.

On one hand, his elder brother was indeed overestimating himself; even the ruthless thief was being so lenient with him, yet he insisted on courting death.

On one hand, his elder brother is dead, and now his soldiers are all looking at him, hoping that he will avenge his brother. Should he fight or not?

There wasn't much of a chance of winning the battle either. The strangely shaped broadsword in the opponent's hand and his seemingly immense strength left him in a dilemma.

After weighing the options, he chose the safer approach, decisively dismounted, took a few steps forward, and bowed to Zhou Cang with clasped hands.

"My brother has offended the might of the valiant warrior and is courting death. May I ask the valiant warrior's honorable name?"

As Zhou Cang was wiping the blood off his knife, he saw how polite and sensible the boy was and couldn't help but turn around to examine him carefully.

The boy was tall and thin, with sharp brow bones and bright, intelligent eyes. Unlike his older brother, who had a shifty look and was clearly destined for failure, he was much younger.

"My surname is Zhou, my given name is Cang, and my courtesy name is Yuanfu." Zhou Cang simply gave his name, since they were outside Xudu City, and it was best not to cause any further trouble.

"Whoa...!" Zhou Cang was about to ask the boy's name when he was interrupted by the neighing of a horse. He turned around and saw that Sun Qian had returned.

"Yuanfu? Uh... what's going on here?"

Sun Qian was slightly surprised to see a corpse lying at Zhou Cang's feet and a young man bowing to Zhou Cang not far away, with dozens of foot soldiers behind him.

His first thought was that Zhou Cang was so hungry that he had ambushed and killed a small group of soldiers passing by...

Zhou Cang, unaware of Sun Qian's thoughts, smiled and pointed to the corpse at his feet, saying, "This man wanted to steal my horse and also wanted to take my life, so I had no choice but to kill him."

After saying that, he pointed to the boy opposite him and said, "I am just introducing myself and my companion. Please do not be alarmed, sir."

Sun Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief, spurred his horse to Zhou Cang's side, and before he could even speak, Zhou Cang asked, "I see that you are a very imposing man. May I ask your name?"

The young man bowed slightly and answered politely:

"His surname is Liao, his given name is Hua, and his courtesy name is Yuanjian."

Ok?