The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

Both sides agreed, which is indeed a good solution!

They estimated that even if a messenger were to notify Liu Bei at Yanmen, it would take him three days to receive the news!

Even if we travel day and night to get here, it will take at least seven days!

They have plenty of time to tackle these tough challenges!

Surely Liu Bei couldn't possibly send troops out without receiving any news first?

……

Flames soared into the sky within Jinyang City.

Holding his halberd, Lü Bu rode his Bingzhou horse over the corpses scattered on the ground. Blood from the tip of the halberd dripped down the blade and pooled on the ground, forming a crimson stain.

He was left with only fifty personal guard cavalrymen, all wounded, yet each one fearless in the face of death.

"kill!"

With another roar, Lü Bu spurred his horse forward, his halberd sweeping out and cleaving three Xiongnu cavalrymen and their horses in two.

The warhorse reared up with a neigh, its front hooves crushing the chest of a Xiongnu centurion.

"Who else dares to challenge me!"

These Southern Xiongnu people were immediately terrified! It was as if they were witnessing some kind of nightmare!

"The Flying General! It's the Flying General Lü Bu!"

"Run! This isn't a human! It's a monster!"

The surrounding Xiongnu cavalry were terrified and fled in panic, with not a single one daring to step forward to stop them.

But Lu Bu showed no joy on his face; instead, his eyes were bloodshot.

He could kill off these few hundred people, but he couldn't save the city's inhabitants from these Huns!

No one dared to fight him!

Even with only a few dozen guards behind him, he still managed to fight his way in and out of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry seven times!

Wherever they went, corpses littered the fields and rivers of blood flowed!

Lu Bu looked at the aristocratic clan area in the distance, which was surrounded by the Xiongnu.

He abruptly turned his head, looking towards the direction of the prefect's residence, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Zang Min! Wang Kai! You cowards! Hide inside and wait to die!"

Meanwhile, in his other direction, Wang Kai, who was being scolded, was still diligently saving his Wang family!

As for the other families, there's nothing we can do to help them for now!

Ding Yuan, with over a thousand old, weak, and disabled soldiers, held the civilian district in the south of the city.

There is no gold or silver treasure here, only tens of thousands of unarmed civilians.

The Southern Xiongnu were blinded by a bigger goal and temporarily looked down on this place, and were too lazy to send their main force to attack.

The people spontaneously helped Ding Yuan's soldiers repair the city walls, transport the wounded, and share their meager food supplies with the soldiers.

"Commander Ding, have some water." An old woman tremblingly handed a bowl of water to Ding Yuan.

Ding Yuan took the bowl of water, looked at the old woman's wrinkled face, and his eyes reddened.

He had guarded the border his whole life, and never before had he felt the weight of his armor as he did today!

"Grandpas, it's my fault. I failed to protect you."

"Commander, don't say that," the old woman shook her head. "At least you're still willing to protect us. Unlike those people in the north city."

Ding Yuan turned to look at Bei Chengxiang, his eyes growing colder.

Zang Min and Wang Kai, along with several thousand elite county soldiers, huddled inside the prefect's mansion, not daring to even show their heads!

Despite the fact that the people outside were burned, killed, and looted by the Xiongnu, they remained unmoved!

Inside Huguan City.

The same scene is playing out.

A military officer surnamed Gao actually managed to hold the civilian area in the south of the city firmly!

Fire arrows thirty paces to the left front.

"Change to spears and prepare to engage the enemy."

"Third team, fill in."

Under his command, the three hundred soldiers moved as one, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner.

They repelled three attacks by the Black Mountain Army in succession, suffering fewer than fifty casualties themselves!

Three days.

Three whole days and three nights!

In the dead of night! The powerful families of Bingzhou uttered a high-pitched cry that shocked all other aristocratic families!

According to their plan, the Southern Xiongnu and the Black Mountain Army concentrated all their forces and attacked the powerful families' fortified villages one by one.

Wang Kai's troops were scattered, and his own fate was unknown.

Without the restraint of the county troops, the Southern Xiongnu's attacks became exceptionally fierce.

The first family to be captured was the Feng family in Taiyuan.

The entire Feng family, consisting of hundreds of core members, was either killed or captured!

Gold and silver treasures were looted, and all provisions and weapons became the spoils of the Xiongnu!

Next came the Zhao family, the Su family, the Guo family...

One after another, powerful families that had been passed down for hundreds of years were wiped out under the iron hooves of the bandits.

The once arrogant and domineering scions of powerful families are now being slaughtered like pigs and dogs.

Cries, pleas for mercy, and screams echoed through the sky.

They finally experienced the hardships that ordinary people usually suffer.

But all of this was their own choice.

When Liu Bei sent people to warn them, they scoffed at the idea.

They thought that as long as they held onto their fortified strongholds, they could rest easy.

They thought the bandits would only rob ordinary people and wouldn't touch aristocratic families like theirs.

Now they understand that in the face of absolute power, so-called status and position are worthless!

Wangjiawubao in Taiyuan.

This is the largest and most fortified fortified village in Taiyuan.

Wang Rou led two thousand of the Wang family's private soldiers and held out for three days and three nights.

But in the end, they could not stop the repeated attacks of more than 10,000 Xiongnu cavalry.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, the gate of the fortified village was smashed open.

The Southern Xiongnu cavalry surged in.

"Master! Run! We can't hold on any longer!" The guard grabbed Wang Rou's arm and shouted anxiously.

Looking at the family business she had built up over her entire life, and at the clansmen lying in pools of blood, Wang Rou felt as if her heart was being torn apart!

He gritted his teeth, and as the head of the family, hardened his heart and said:

"Go! Lead the core clansmen through the secret passage!"

Wang Yun and dozens of other core clan members changed into ordinary people's clothes and secretly slipped out through a secret passage.

They hadn't run far when they encountered a patrol of Xiongnu cavalry.

"Grab them!"

The Xiongnu cavalry charged forward, shouting.

Wang Rou was terrified, thinking she was doomed to die that day.

Just then, a red lightning bolt streaked by, and a chaotic sound of hooves came from not far away.

"clang!"

The halberd blocked the Hun's curved sword.

Lu Bu reined in his horse and stood in front of Wang Rou, his back to him:

"Get to the back."

Wang Rou suddenly opened her eyes, looked at that tall and straight back, and tears streamed down her face.

He had looked down on commoners his whole life, but now this cursing sounded so pleasant! So melodious!

At the same time, in Shangdang County.

The gate of Guo's fortified village was rammed open by the Black Mountain army using battering rams.

Zhang Yan, carrying two swords, was the first to rush in.

The ground was covered with gold and silver treasures, and the granaries were full of grain, which was all high-quality grain!

Even if you robbed tens of thousands of households, you still couldn't get that much money and food!

These powerful families are usually stingy and always refuse the imperial court's grain and military levies, but they have enough grain to last them for ten years, and several cellars filled with green copper coins!

"Search! Leave not a single grain of food!"

Zhang Yan kicked open the warehouse door and her eyes turned red as she looked at the mountain of grain and copper coins.

I've never seen so much money and food even when I was a Yellow Turban rebel!

His parents starved to death because these wealthy families hoarded grain and sold it at high prices.

Now, it's finally their turn.

One powerful family after another was destroyed.

Those scions of noble families who were usually high and mighty were now kneeling on the ground begging for mercy like dogs.

Those ladies who usually lived in luxury were now trembling with fear.

No one sympathized with them.

The people outside the city watched as the Shijia Fortress was engulfed in flames, but not a single one offered to help.

Over the years, powerful families have seized land and imposed exorbitant taxes, driving countless families to ruin and death.

This is the retribution they deserve.

Three days.

The wealth accumulated over hundreds of years by most prominent families in Taiyuan and Shangdang was completely looted.

The private soldiers were almost all killed or wounded.

The remaining few are also in dire straits, running out of supplies and with low morale; they won't last much longer.

After learning about the current situation, the two prefects, Zang Min and Yang Mei, regretted not listening to Liu Bei!

If only I had let Liu Bei boss them around back then!

That way at least someone will take the blame for them!

……

Jinyang City.

Hufro looked at the mountain of spoils and couldn't stop smiling.

"The Han people are so rich! After we've looted all this, we'll go back to the grasslands!"

Zhang Yan of Shangdang County was also very pleased with himself.

He had never been this rich in his entire life.

With this grain and money, he could recruit soldiers and horses, dominate the Taihang Mountains, and even seize Bingzhou, thus restoring the Yellow Turban Rebellion!

Just then, a scout rushed in like a madman.