Early May.

Lu Bu, who was stationed in Xinshui, couldn't wait for the news of breaking through Juyang, but waited for Xu Huang, who returned with the remnants of the army.

Looking at the soldiers who had returned in embarrassment, Lu Bu was stunned and hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Xu Huang knelt on the ground and clenched his fists, with shame on his face: "Lord, the last general is ashamed of your high expectations, please punish him heavily!" ”

Lu Bu found a place to sit down and asked Xu Huang to tell the details.

Xu Huang didn't dare to hide it, and reported the matter to Lu Bu in detail.

Xu Huang besieged the city in Juyang for nearly half a month, but Cao Ren, who defended the city, was particularly tenacious and repeatedly repelled the besieging soldiers. Until more than ten days after the fierce battle, seeing that the city was about to be breached, the clinker Xiahou Yuan suddenly came out from the rear, caught Xu Huang off guard, and retreated dozens of miles.

At the same time, the timely arrival of Xiahou Yuan doubled the confidence of the hopeless soldiers defending the city, and once again exerted a new fighting spirit.

In this way, Xu Huang knew that the strong attack on Juyang had come to naught, and after weighing the pros and cons, he could only lead his troops back and wait for Lu Bu to punish him.

When the plan for attacking Juyang was formulated, Lu Bu asked the generals under his command who could lead the troops to break the city.

Xu Huang volunteered, stood out among many generals, and successfully won this position. I wanted to make a great contribution with this, but I unexpectedly encountered the Waterloo of my life and returned defeated.

Kneeling in the tent, Xu Huang knew that he was guilty, and touched his head to the ground, not daring to lift it.

"Lord, General Xu was also careless, so he let the enemy general take advantage of the loophole, please be gracious." Zhang Liao, who had a good relationship with Xu Huang, came out to plead with his fists.

"Please be gracious!"

With Zhang Liao as an example, the other generals in the tent also pleaded for Xu Huang.

After all, Xu Huang has no grievances with them, he can save them easily, and he can sell personal favors, so why not do it.

Lu Bu frowned calmly, anger is one thing, tens of thousands of soldiers have been folded, and anyone will feel distressed. On the other hand, because Xiahou Yuan was caught off guard, no one thought that Xiahou Yuan, who was far away in Bo County, would rush thousands of miles to help Juyang.

No wonder Cao Cao learned that Juyang was in trouble, and he was able to sit firmly in Diaoyutai, it turned out that he had already planned.

Lu Bu glanced at the generals who were pleading, then at Xu Huang, who was kneeling on the ground and was sincerely afraid, and said in a deep voice: "You swore to me before, but now Juyang not only failed to take it, but also lost countless soldiers. I should have punished you severely, but when the people interceded for you, and remembered that you had done great deeds in the past, I forgave you this time, but the death sin could not be avoided, and the living sin could not be escaped. ”

Lu Bu's voice was loud, if Xu Huang was not punished today, how would he govern the army in the future.

"Summoned all battalions to fight against Captain Xu Huang, the battle was unfavorable, resulting in a large number of casualties among our officers and men, demoted to two levels and retained, and fined forty military sticks."

Lu Bu made a judgment, and Xu Huang, who was kneeling on the ground, replied gratefully and loudly: "Thank you for your kindness." ”

Then, Xu Huang stood up and followed the soldiers who entered the tent and walked out of the tent.

Under the watchful eyes of many soldiers, the forty military sticks were finally beaten.

Xu Huang, who walked out, was carried into the tent, his buttocks were like a puddle of soft mud, and it was estimated that he would not be able to get out of bed for ten days and a half months.

During the punishment, Xu Huang had cold sweat on his forehead, but he didn't cry out in pain.

At this point, the soldiers all respected him as a man.

"Lord, what should we do next?" Huang Zhong asked with a fist.

The plan to capture Juyang failed, and everything naturally had to be rearranged.

If the remote path can't be walked, then you can only open the mountain and cut off the water when you encounter the water.

"How many soldiers do we have?" Lu Bu sat back in his seat and asked.

"Back to the lord, counting these brought back by General Xu, there are about 37,000 people in total."

Lu Bu made a little calculation in his heart, Dingtao soldiers and horses were about fifteen thousand, and Cao Cao personally sat in the town, with Lu Bu's current strength, if he forcibly attacked the city, the chance of winning was five or five.

The lion fights the rabbit, and also uses all his strength.

Lu Bu didn't want to continue to consume with Cao Cao, either he didn't fight, and if he wanted to fight, he would try to eat it in one go!

"Order, Shangdang County Shou Zhang Yang, Hedong County Shou Qian, Hanoi County Shou Wang Kuang, Luoyang Ling Du Ji, Chen Guoxiang Wu Zhi, within a month, give me 20,000 soldiers and horses, transport them to Chenliu!"

Nearly 60,000 soldiers and horses attacked the city, and the chance of victory was at least ninety percent.

Hearing Lu Bu's order, Xiao Ji's face was embarrassed: "Lord, other places are fine, but Chen Guoxiang belongs to Yuzhou, and it seems that he will not be dispatched by us......"

Lu Bu directly waved his hand at this: "Send someone to tell him that if he refuses to send troops, when I clean up Cao Cao, I will cut him next." ”

This is the way of the world, it may not be possible to speak well, but if you have a big fist, you will definitely be able to do it.

Lü Bu's orders were quickly conveyed, leading to all the places mentioned.

Knowing that Lu Bu was raising soldiers and horses, Cao Cao in Dingtao City began to fidget, if he really let Lu Bu gather the soldiers and horses, then he Dingtao City is estimated to be extremely dangerous.

That night, Cao Cao wrote a letter, and sent people to Ji and Youerzhou, and passed it to Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan, explaining to them the stakes, and saying that the number one enemy to deal with at the moment should be the ambitious Lu Bu.

Once Lu Bu devours Yanzhou, it is likely that the next turn will be Jizhou and Youzhou, where he is located.

Whether he can persuade these two to join forces to fight the enemy, Cao Cao is actually not too sure. If Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan can let go of their prejudices, it is the best, if not, then they can only rely on Cao Cao to resist Lu Bu's anger from the front.

During this period, Cao Cao repeatedly sent people to attack Lü Bu's grain road, but he failed to succeed in the end.

A month later, 20,000 soldiers gathered from all over the country finally arrived in Xinshui.

Chen Guoxiang Wu Zhi originally refused to push, but after hearing Lu Bu's threat, he immediately changed his tone and chose to cooperate decisively and honestly.

Yuan Shu's 100,000 troops were all defeated by Lu Bu, not to mention his own land of the Hou Kingdom.

With 20,000 soldiers, the capture of Dingtao was almost a victory, and Lu Buzhi proudly climbed the high platform built in the camp.

Just as Lu Bu was about to carry out pre-war mobilization, at this time, something seemed to fall on his face.

Lu Bu stretched out his palm and pressed it with his thumb, took it down and looked at it, it was a small thing, six slender feet, thin wings on the back, two tentacles on the top of the head, and eyes like small green lanterns.

This kind of insect was seen in the field when Lu Bu was a child, commonly known as grasshopper, also known as flying locust. The leaves, stems, buds and fruits of wheat, rice, vegetables, fruit trees, and weeds, which are staple foods, can be said to be a complete scourge.

"Look over there!"

Some of the soldiers seemed to have discovered something terrible, and they cried out in horror.

Lu Bu looked up, and in mid-air, it was full of dense locusts, so many that they almost covered the sky overhead.

A heart sank to the bottom in an instant.