Chapter 29 - Battle of Kaiyang (2)
Original by Bro Got a Gun, Translated by James
“Lu Bu!” Xu Huang's gaze was set on the golden armored general in front of him. “Kaiyang is about to be breached, if you were sensible, then you’d best renounce resistance and follow us together to Prime Minister Cao to surrender. If you do, we shall plea for leniency for you and ask the Prime Minister to spare your life!” Said Xu Huang with a stern voice. The amount of Cao troops that on the frontal walls was constantly increasing. Originally, there was but a couple white clothed soldiers on the walls that was packed with black clothed soldiers. Now, the black and white was completely mixed together.
The Cao army had already taken over half the wall. Their strength was also growing continuously. The Lu Bu army could no longer repel their enemies down the walls, all they could do now was defend themselves.
Lu Bu looked at the constantly increasing Cao troops. With a face void of expressions, he said. “Is that so?!”
“Marquis of Wen! You are an official of Han! Prime Minister Cao was the delegate of His Majesty the Son of Heaven! To dare point your blade at the Son of Heaven, you are seeking your own destruction! It’s best you lay down your weapon, perhaps then His Majesty will spare your life!” Although Li Dian had not battle against Lu Bu before, he had heard of rumors of Lu Bu’s reputation and prowess. Thus, he was speaking to Lu Bu with a respectful tone.
“Surrender?!” Laughed Lu Bu. “Spare my life?!” He laughed with a great display of happiness. “I find your suggestions to be very difficult to accept!” Lu Bu took off his cloak and placed it aside. “Did you know that I, Lu Bu, was born in Jiuyuan county of Wuyuan commandery out in the frontier?! That region was a place of great scarcity and populated by exiled people. In order to survive, I, Lu Bu, entered the prairie alone to find prey. Who would’ve thought that instead of finding prey, I was instead surrounded by a pack of wolves! On the lust green prairie, I was surrounded by tens of wolves that night! Foreign cavalries had passed by me when I was surrounded by the wolves. They spoke to me. They told me as long as I beg them and become their slave, they will save me! A matter of life and death! I, Lu Bu, was unarmed and defenseless. I, Lu Bu, did not beg for assistance. Tens of wolves! They wanted to eat me! I too wanted to eat them! I was hungry, very hungry! I knew that even if these wolves hadn't found me, I would’ve died from my hunger on the prairie. Thus, I went insane! I charged into the pack of wolves! I needed to eat them! I needed to eat them in order to survive!” Lu Bu exposed his neck. On his neck was countless bite scars.
“Did you see that? For every bite they gave me, I returned them a bite! Wolves target the crucial locations of others - neck, arm and head! I learned from them, wherever they bit me, I would bite them back at the same location! Finally, I survived via their blood and flesh!”
Learn From wolves? Bite wolves to death? Survive via wolves’ blood and flesh?! Some nearby Cao soldiers swallowed their saliva. Xu Huang and Li Dian’s guards have surrounded Lu Bu but they dared not move.
Lu Bu continued. “When I grew up, I joined our great Han army. Winter was when foreigners come and plunder us. In the Battle of Jiuyuan, our Han army of a hundred and twenty three strong was trapped by thirty thousand Wuwan in the middle of wilderness! Thirty thousand Wuwan heavy cavalries! In that battle, my weapon broke apart, one after another, I changed my weapons. In that battle, my war horse died, one after another, I changed my horse. My armor was dyed red by the blood, unable to wash off. A hundred and twenty three men, only three survived! Amongst them was I, Lu Bu, Lu Fengxian! Never had I beg for forgiveness! Do you know how many Wuwan died by my hands?!”
Lu Bu extended his fingers. “A hundred and twenty three men. A hundred and twenty died. We defeated the Wuwan cavalry of thirty thousand, killed seven thousand!”
Whenever Lu Bu mention numbers, Xu Huang and Li Dian’s hearts trembled. A hundred against thirty thousand! That’s three hundredfold! Enemies three hundred times as many! Lu Bu also thought that he was certainly going to die too. Who would’ve imagined that because he went berserk and killed so many, the Wuwan grew afraid of him and issued an order to flee. Only then did Lu Bu managed to survive.
“Afterwards, I started working under Ding Yuan, Ding Jianyang. Bing Province Heavy Cavalries, we fought against the Wuwan and the Liaodong! From those foreigners, from those prairie wolves, and from those Han Dynasty officials, I learned of one thing - surrendering meant death! Had I surrender to those wolves, then perhaps I would’ve already become a cluster of bones on the prairie! Had I surrender to the Wuwan, then perhaps I would either be their slave or be killed by them!” Lu Bu smiled as he looked at Xu Huang and Li Dian. “Say, do you still think I should surrender?!”
“Marquis of Wen! Prime Minister Cao is neither wolves nor foreigner! He is our Great Han’s Prime Minister, the representative of His Majesty!” Li Dian didn’t give up on trying to persuade Lu Bu to surrender.
“What is the difference?!” Lu Bu gave off an insipid laugh. “Those learned men like Gongtai always spoke of the heart of wolves and lungs of dogs, heart of wolves and lungs of dogs. However, what they didn’t know was that men’s heart were so much crueler than those of wolves, men’s lungs were so much more malicious than those of dogs! In Luoyang, outside of the Hulao Pass and inside Xiapi, three times! Three times he Cao Mende almost died in my hands! Say, how would Cao Mende possibly spare my life?! Furthermore, I had gravely injured Xiahou Yuan.” taunted Lu Bu. “Besides, is Cao Mende not afraid of this slave of three surnames turning into a slave of four surnames?!”
[TL: heart of wolves and lungs of dogs = a term to describe how cruel and unscrupulous someone is.]
Li Dian was left speechless. Even if it was him, he knew it was impossible. If someone almost killed you, how would you possibly be able to forgive that person? And this scene of almost killing you happened not just once but three times. Not only did this man almost killed you, he also gravely injured your blood brother. Most importantly, this man had a previous record of rebelling against his masters.
Much less Cao Cao, even a sage could not possibly be able to just forgive and forget this person right away!
“Lu Bu, did you really thought that we would be trying to persuade you to surrender out of our goodwills? Stop daydreaming! We are merely stalling for time!” said Xu Huang.
“Oh?!” Lu Bu looked around, half of the city wall was now occupied by the ever increasing Cao troops. The city of Kaiyang was soon to be broken through and it was already impossible for Lu Bu to escape now.
“Forget about whether or not the Prime Minister would forgive you. If you were to surrender, how would we present your head as our achievement?!” sneered Xu Huang.
“Want my head?! That’s simple!” Lu Bu raised his trident. “My head’s here waiting for you to take it!”
“Since you wanted to die, then you cannot blame us!” Xu Huang waved his gigantic axe. “Brothers, attack Lu Bu! Once we killed him, all shall ascend three ranks, rewarded with a residence and thousands of gold!” The gigantic axe was lifted up and came striking down on Lu Bu.
“Attack! Once we killed Lu Bu, Prime Minister will certainly reward us greatly! This was the perfect opportunity to achieve something for yourselves, to grant your wives a title and to make your son heir to your titles!” Seeing Xu Huang engaging Lu Bu, Li Dian brandished his blade and joined the fray.
“Hahahaha!” Lu Bu laughed loud and proud. With his trident erect against the sky, he shouted. “Lu Bu, Lu Fengxian is here, who dare battle against me?!” An aura belonging to a great and uncultivated ferocious beast was overflowing from Lu Bu.
An scene came into Li Dian. It appeared as if what they were confronting wasn’t human at all. Instead, it’s a beast, a great and uncultivated ferocious beast that could swallow the Ninth Heaven!