Three Kingdoms: Daily settlement helps Liu Bei revive the Shu Han dynasty.

Chapter 137 Successfully Sowing Discord, Changnu Stabs Dong Chengjun in the Kidney

Before dawn, Dong Cheng led three hundred personal guards out of the camp.

He moved quickly, his sword striking his leg armor at his waist with a soft metallic sound.

Changnu's scouts, positioned on the western slope, spotted the enemy's formation from afar and immediately turned and ran back to their camp to report.

Changnu was eating when he heard the sentry's account and immediately slammed his bowl down on the table.

He walked out of the tent without even putting on his armor, and bumped right into the military commander who was rushing over.

"General, Dong Cheng has brought his men over, and they seem somewhat angry," Sima reported.

"How many people did he bring?"

"About three hundred men, probably his personal guards."

Upon hearing this, Changnu frowned.

Although he and Dong Cheng distrusted each other, they were far from reaching the point of fighting each other.

Moreover, the two of them had just reached an agreement on Cao not long ago.

What is the other party trying to do?

He strode to the camp gate and looked across the dried-up ditch.

Dong Cheng had already reined in his horse and stopped on the opposite bank of the ditch. Behind him, three hundred personal guards stood in two rows, their right hands resting on the hilts of their swords at their waists, as if they were about to draw their swords at any moment.

Changnu took a deep breath and stepped out of the camp gate.

He didn't even bring any personal guards; only his military advisor followed a few steps behind.

"General Wei," Changnu called out across the ditch, "what brings you here with your troops so early in the morning?"

Sitting on his horse, Dong Cheng, his voice laced with suppressed rage, demanded, "Last night, twelve patrolmen died, and one of them identified your men as the culprit!"

"I didn't do it," Chang Nu retorted without hesitation. "My men didn't leave the camp at all last night. They certainly wouldn't have gone to kill your men!"

Dong Cheng's gaze swept back and forth across Chang Nu's face, as if pondering how much of Chang Nu's words were true or false.

"General Wei," Changnu instinctively felt that something was amiss, so he reminded him, "I certainly didn't have anyone who killed you."

This is clearly someone trying to sow discord between us!

"Instigation?" Dong Cheng sneered, asking, "Then tell me, who is it that's instigating this?"

"Cao Hong!" The first person that popped into Chang Nu's mind was Cao Hong, who was stationed a few miles away.

So he shouted back, "It must have been Cao Hong who sent people! He wanted to see us make the decision beforehand so he could storm in and seize the emperor!"

Upon hearing this, Dong Cheng remained silent for a moment.

Could it really have been Cao Hong's men who did it?

The problem is that the guards insist that it was Changnu's soldiers who did the killing.

Seeing that Dong Cheng was wavering, Chang Nu cupped his hands in greeting and said, "We've come to this point. General Wei, please consider this carefully."

After saying that, he turned and walked back into the camp.

Sitting on his horse, Dong Cheng watched as Changnu gradually closed the camp gates, and he also felt something was amiss.

"Return to camp!" Dong Cheng ordered.

The three hundred guards returned to Dong Cheng's own camp with him.

After returning to his camp, Dong Cheng did not rest.

He summoned the captains to his tent and ordered them to inventory the weapons, prepare the provisions, and fortify the camp.

After returning to camp, Changnu felt increasingly uneasy.

"Reporting to the general, Dong Cheng is reinforcing the camp and patrolling much more frequently. It seems he's on guard against us," the scout replied.

The military advisor also said, "General, I believe this is most likely a scheme by Cao Hong to sow discord."

"Why don't we send someone to Dong's camp to examine the corpses together, then make a pact of non-aggression, and drive Cao's army away first?"

Changnu stroked his long beard and pondered for a long time before saying, "Judging from Dong Cheng's appearance, he clearly still suspects us."

If we go there on our own initiative, it will seem like we have something to hide.

Let's wait and see what he does next.

Before he could finish speaking, a guard outside the tent lifted the curtain and rushed in, reporting urgently, "General, our supply convoy has been robbed!"

The brothers from the grain protection team who managed to escape said that it was done by more than a dozen men in black.

But judging from the arrows they used, they were clearly Han-style crossbow bolts!

Changnu suddenly stood up, knocking over the table in front of him.

"No wonder Dong Cheng retreated so easily; he was deliberately trying to mislead me so he could seize my military supplies!"

"General, something's not right here!"

The military advisor's expression changed, and he quickly advised, "Dong Cheng said that our men killed his men last night."

Today our grain convoy was robbed.

Could this really be Cao Hong secretly instigating things?

Upon hearing this, Changnu calmed down slightly.

Just then, another guard rushed in, lifting the curtain, carrying a mud-stained letter.

The guard, panting heavily, reported, "General! Our scouts have apprehended a suspicious man in Dong Cheng's rear camp! And they found this on him!"

Changnu snatched the letter, opened it, and read it carefully.

The handwriting on the paper was messy, and the content consisted of only a few lines:

At midnight, General Yu Zilian launched a pincer attack on Changnu's tribe. After the success, Dong Cheng was recommended to be appointed General of the Cavalry, jointly in charge of the defense of Luoyang.

Changnu's face immediately turned extremely cold.

He tossed the letter to Sima and asked coldly, "Take a look for yourself, is this still framing someone?"

After reading the letter, Sima's face also turned flustered.

He recognized Dong Cheng's handwriting from previous correspondence, so he no longer hesitated.

"General," Sima said in a deep voice, "if Dong Chengzhen is colluding with Cao Hong, we will be attacked from both sides and it will be difficult for us to hold our ground."

Changnu paced back and forth for a moment, then said, "Pass on my order: leave three hundred old and weak men to guard the camp, and plant many flags to make it look like the whole camp is there."

The rest of the men, having eaten and drunk their fill, took their weapons and, as night fell, immediately circled around from the back of the mountain to raid Dong Cheng's rear camp!

"General, are you planning to strike first?" Sima exclaimed in surprise.

His original intention was to tell Changnu to run away quickly, but he didn't expect Changnu to want to take him down first.

"Dong Cheng wanted to join forces with Cao Hong to eliminate me," Chang Nu sneered, "but I deliberately took Dong Cheng's camp first, and then set up an ambush to attack Cao Hong!"

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Sima did not try to persuade him further, bowed, accepted the order, and withdrew.

Around 9 p.m. at the end of the first watch of the night.

The night was dark and the wind was high.

Changnu led 1,200 soldiers down the hillside along the path behind the mountain and quietly made his way to the gate of Dongying's rear camp.

Dong Cheng was planning to reinvestigate the death of the patrolman the next day, and he never expected that someone would attack him, especially from behind.

The two soldiers on night watch in the camp had already fallen asleep back to back on the watchtower.

By the time they heard the commotion below, it was already too late.

Changnu's soldiers moved aside the barricades, broke down the camp gates, and their battle cries instantly shattered the silent night!

Dong Cheng was having a dream in which he stood on the throne, pointing out the flaws in the country and wielding his power.

Several guards suddenly rushed in, dragged him up, and walked him outside.

Dong Cheng was dazed for a while, but when he heard the shouts of battle outside, his voice suddenly tightened.

Dong Cheng's soldiers were in complete disarray.

Many of them weren't even fully armored, nor did they have any weapons; they just ran around aimlessly.

"General! Changnu has broken in from the rear camp!" The captain of the personal guards rushed over, covered in blood, with half a broken arrow still stuck in his shoulder. "The brothers can't hold them off. You'd better mount your horse quickly and head back to Luoyang!"

Dong Cheng's expression changed drastically.

He never expected that Changnu would actually dare to make an inside deal when Cao Cao's army was pressing in.

But Dong Cheng knew the situation was hopeless, so he could only grit his teeth and order, "Retreat west, back to Luoyang!"