novel
| ← Ch.403 | Ch.405 → |
Chapter 404
Chapter 404 - Guan Yu's Karma
Cao Cao read Guan Yu's message scroll, which informed him about Liu Bei's stance in Hongnong.
Similar to Liu Bei's promise to Liu Biao, he attempted to surrender to Cao Cao with the condition that he got to retain his position as Hongnong's governor.
He burst into laughter, "Oh, Liu Bei. You've never changed, no matter which world it is. Whoever your lord was, you always betrayed them for your personal gain. Now, are you planning to use me again?"
Cao Cao looked at the combat between infantry at the center. Guan Yu had long retreated from the frontline and regrouped with the charging 20, 000 footmen. The infantry wave was so massive that all of Cao Cao's commanders were panicking.
Cheng Yu received the scroll and read it. He frowned, "Isn't this man Yuan Shao's underling? What is he doing here?"
"He's a leech. Without his sworn brothers, he's nothing special. For now, let's survive Li Ru's onslaught. That man is going all-out."
.
20, 000 Footmen crashed against Cao Cao's remaining troops. This time, Li Ru's soldiers also had archers, who fired their arrows into Cao Cao's ranks.
Cao Cao's men retaliated with their grapeshots and repeating crossbows while the frontline held their advance.
Unfortunately, Cao Cao's forces were at a disadvantage in numbers and cavalry's strength.
5, 000 Cataphracts routed Li Dian's horsemen and destroyed Cao Cao's flank defenders. They proceeded to Cao Cao's main battalion, which consisted of cannon crews and spearmen.
However, Cao Cao was ready.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Grapeshots from cannons and spearwall formation managed to stop their charge.
Three hours into the fight, 15, 000 Remaining Xiliang soldiers brokethrough Cao Xiu's rank and captured the general.
Upon the defeat of Cao Cao's relative, the warlord decided to retreat.
His 55, 000 soldiers reduced to 25, 000 in a day, which disheartened everyone but Cao Cao.
On the other hand, the victor suffered more casualties.
15, 000 Xiliang cavalry, 5, 000 cataphracts, and 10, 000 footmen remained after Cao Cao had fallen back to Hulao Gate. From 70, 000 to 30, 000, the loss was significant.
Still, Guan Yu's footmen secured something that Cao Cao's men left behind, a wheeled cannon.
Taking advantage of the victor's side, Li Ru had his men looted all corpses. He also took all dead warhorses, converting their meat into provision for his men.
In the temporary camp of Li Ru, the prisoner Cao Xiu was taken to the strategist. Guan Yu, the assisting commander, was at his side, looking at the prisoner in a pity.
He believed that Li Ru would not let this Cao Cao's cousin live.
Li Ru looked at Cao Xiu in solemn, "What's your name, general?"
"... Cao Xiu."
"You look young. How old are you?"
"... 18 maybe?"
Guan Yu revealed a bitter smile. The first time he killed somebody was when he was in his 20s, but this lad was commanding an army in his teen.
'Come to think of it, Zhang Tong also has many young generals. This land is so rotten that so many people have to take up arms in their youth. '
Guan Yu's memories from the other timeline resurfaced. Comparing this life with this strange memory from a different world, he did not like the current development.
At this rate, Liu Bei would follow the trend of history, becoming the first emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty once he had obtained a territory of his own.
The purpose of their fighting was for the people, not personal gain!
'Can I stop his ambition? What should I do to stop Xuande from continue fighting?'
While Guan Yu was in deep thought, Li Ru was interrogating Cao Xiu.
"What's the total number of your troops?"
Cao Xiu almost swore and cursed at Li Ru. But once he recalled the death of his men, he found it insignificant to reveal the outdated information.
"80, 000"
Cao Xiu exaggerated.
"That's odd. I thought he had only 50, 000 to 60, 000 men. Are you hiding your troops elsewhere?"
"We didn't mobilize all our troops. The rest are protecting Hulao Gate."
Li Ru frowned, "Oh?"
He fell into silence, staring at the teenage general.
"Take this liar away and kill him. We don't need him anymore."
Cao Xiu's face paled. He gritted his teeth as he stared into Li Ru's eyes.
Before Li Ru's men could drag Cao Xiu to the execution ground, Guan Yu blocked the men and appealed to the strategist.
"Sir Li Ru, can you reconsider? I believe this youth is Cao Cao's cousin. He's more valuable if we keep him alive."
Li Ru shook his head, "That's more the reason that I want him dead. Cao Cao and his ally clans are a thorn to our lord and his majesty Yuan."
"I'm sorry. As his majesty's subject, I have the authority to decide all prisoner's fate. Please don't forget that you're within our territory."
Li Ru glared at Guan Yu, "Don't step over the line, general. I may look weak, but I'm the grand commander of this army. You may be a general of Yuan Shu, but under the chain of command, you work for me."
Guan Yu chuckled in sarcasm, "Not anymore. We're not serving the Xiongnu."
Guan Yu drew a sword from a sheath on his waist. He cut Li Ru's neck in one swing.
Li Ru's subordinates were shocked. They also took out their weapons and screamed, "Traitor!"
Guan Yu snorted. He disappeared from where he was standing.
In the next second, afterimages flashed, and all officers in Li Ru's tent fell.
The red face general turned to Cao Xiu, who was shaking in fear, "I won't kill you, child. I only want peace."
In wary and confusion, Cao Xiu muttered in a cracked voice, "... Are you a friend or foe?"
"Honestly speaking, both."
"Fair enough. What are you going to do next?"
"Be my messenger, and I'll let you live. How's that?"
Cao Xiu did not care what Guan Yu was doing or what his motive was. Since this was a second chance in life, he would not refuse this deal.
"Deal!"
"Good. Wait here for a while. I'll finish everything shortly."
Guan Yu walked out of the tent to meet other commanders of his army and Li Ru's subordinates.
Five hours later, Guan Yu returned with his men, who was bath in blood. He cut Cao Xiu loose and gave him a scroll, containing his message to Cao Cao.
"Tell your foster father that I want peace. I hope he can welcome my brothers and me."
Cao Xiu had a scare when Guan Yu mentioned about his foster father. Aside from himself and Cao Clan members, nobody should have known about his relationship with Cao Cao.
This young general was a distant relative of Cao Cao. Originally, Cao Xiu and his family settled down south of Yangtze River, Wu Commandery.
Upon hearing that Cao Cao was raising a force, he traveled from the southern province to Xuchang, joining with the Cao banners.
Cao Cao treated him as if he was his son. Cao Xiu even lived in the same residence as Cao Ang and Cao Pi.
Like Cao Ang, Cao Xiu was talented in martial arts. He also had the charisma of a commander.
Cao Cao wanted to train this foster son figure into a good commander, so he led this teenager commanding a few of his battalions.
This was a secret relationship between Cao Cao and Cao Xiu that only insiders knew, yet Guan Yu was aware of it.
Cao Xiu looked at Guan Yu in wary, "I will. I hope you won't trick me."
"I'm not into killing a defenseless child. Take my token and scroll, then leave."
Cao Xiu took everything from Guan Yu. Before he left with a horse, he bowed to this red face general.
"I owe you one."
Guan Yu smiled, "No, we're even. I owed Cao Cao a favor."
"Huh?"
Cao Xiu did not understand that Guan Yu mentioned about the time when he served Cao Cao in the other timeline.
.
In 200 AD, Liu Bei and Cao Cao fought against each other in Xu Province after they had killed Lu Bu.
Liu Bei Army was overwhelmed and routed by Cao Cao, and Guan Yu was captured in the process.
Cao Cao had admired Guan Yu's character, so he recruited this general into his army. Unfortunately, Guan Yu's loyalty was with Liu Bei, so he refused.
Still, Zhang Liao, as an old friend of Guan Yu, managed to persuade this god of war to temporary join Cao Cao's forces.
Cao Cao was so happy that Guan Yu joined his side. As a reward, he gave Lu Bu's red hare to Guan Yu to win his favor.
Later in the same year, Guan Yu repaid this kindness by slaying Yan Liang in the Battle of Boma during the war between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Because of this action, Yuan Shao almost executed Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, who had sought refuge under his banners.
Fortunately, Liu Bei and Yuan Shao had secret deals, which they instigated former Yellow Turban officers, Liu Pi and Gong Du, into raising their army in Runan and attacked Xuchang. Had they not had the deal, both brothers would have died by Yuan Shao's hands.
Still, Cao Ren defeated Liu Pi, Gong Du, and Liu Bei's rebel army, forcing Liu Bei into fleeing to Jing Province, refuging under Liu Biao.
Afterward, Guan Yu left Cao Cao's ranks when he heard about Liu Bei's whereabouts, which saddened Cao Cao. As an act of friendship, Cao Cao allowed Guan Yu to leave without hindering him.
.
In the 14th-century novel, Guan Yu managed to repay this debt by sparing Cao Cao after he captured the warlord in the Battle of Chibi.
However, history records never had this detail. Cao Cao was never captured by Guan Yu after the former was defeated in Chibi.
In this world, Guan Yu had not repaid for Cao Cao's favor yet, which plagued his mind after he got the otherworld's memory. This was a good chance to settle this karma.
Guan Yu laughed, "Don't worry about it. Just go."
Cao Xiu bowed, "Thank you, general!"
After Cao Xiu left, Guan Yu felt a change in his body.
Upon checking his virtue status, he found that one of his four unawakened virtues were at 100%. Without hesitation, Guan Yu activated his awakening.
After a slight spasm, a fifth virtue soul appeared behind Guan Yu. It was [Honesty].
Now, Guan Yu had [Diligence], [Kindness], [Loyalty], [Patience], and [Honesty].
He turned around to see his fifth spirit of virtue.
'I wonder how many spirits Zhang Tong has? Is he still stronger than me?'
| ← Ch. 403 | Ch. 405 → |