Chapter 384: Ulterior Motives

Lu Lingqi discovered that she was actually quite abnormal.

The first time she killed an enemy, she didn't actually feel much discomfort. After a moment of being stunned, her body seemed to immediately adapt to the feeling of killing.

She seemed to get a little pleasure from it.

Maybe it's because he has witnessed too much killing since he was a child, carried on Lu Bu's back?

Facing the enemy's sharp blade, she naturally swung her short spear to fight back, piercing and cutting off the opponent's limbs. The movements she usually practiced in martial arts were slightly distorted at the beginning, but after killing more than a dozen people, there was no deviation or deformation at all.

Just like now.

The enemies shot down under the city looked like scarecrows in Lu Lingqi's eyes. She knew in her heart that if she was shot by an arrow, she would suffer the same fate.

But facing the arrows, she remained calm and simply dodged them to the side.

The only thing she remembered in her mind was one sentence Lu Bu had said.

When facing the enemy's weapons, the wider your eyes are open, the harder it is to avoid them.

She seemed to have merged into this battlefield full of killing and become a chess piece to reap lives. She did not care about the outcome, but experienced the process seriously.

She did not enjoy the pleasure of killing, on the contrary she felt a little sick, but another voice inside her body told her that only killing could end the killing.

The battle will only end when one side dies on the battlefield. She is just speeding up the process.

Yuan Xi looked through the arrow hole and saw that Lu Lingqi's shooting was accurate and fierce. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He thought that this kind of effect could not be achieved just by practicing.

This girl is a little scary, so I'd better avoid messing with her in the future.

With a whistling sound, a stone as big as a human head came crashing down towards Lu Lingqi. Lu Lingqi squatted down, and the stone flew over her head and fell under the city wall.

Wooden ladders were placed on the city wall, and Yuan Shu's soldiers began to climb up. Soldiers on the top of the city wall came up with buckets of boiling gold juice and poured it down the city wall. Screams and a foul smell mixed together and spread.

Lu Lingqi frowned, but she still shot all the arrows in the quiver and tried to draw the arrows from Yuan Xi's quiver. Yuan Xi quickly stopped her and said, "Wait a moment and see what happens."

Gao Shun saw that Yuan Yao's army was crossing the moat and approaching the city wall. The pressure on the defenders on the city wall was increasing. He couldn't help but say to Wei Xu: "Now is a good opportunity. There are not many enemy troops coming from the city. If we go out of the city to attack them and block them from front and back, they will surely be defeated."

His suggestion was very reasonable. If they only defended the city without attacking, they would be passive and unable to gain an advantage. Going out of the city to defeat the enemy's vanguard would also have the effect of boosting morale.

After hearing this, Wei Xu hesitated and said, "Let's wait and see."

Gao Shun felt quite helpless, saying that the Xianzhen Camp was usually given to Wei Xu, and would be handed over to Gao Shun during the battle, but now Wei Xu refused to give in, and Gao Shun would not send troops.

Seeing that the enemy troops outside the city were increasing in number, he knew that he had missed the opportunity. If the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp went out of the city again at this time, the effect would not be so good.

Seeing Yuan Shu's army rushing forward despite the attacks of the defenders, using rafts to cross the moat and attack the bottom of the city wall without caring about casualties, Yuan Xi thought that Yuan Shu's army was indeed wealthy and treated human life as worthless.

But this kind of attack was indeed effective. At the beginning of the battle, they used saturated forces to put pressure on the defenders. The defenders of Huaicheng were at a numerical disadvantage and were suppressed to the point that they could hardly break out. If this continued, they would easily lose their fighting spirit.

The two sides fought for half an hour, and Yuan Shu's troops had already climbed to the top of the city wall, and the two sides engaged in a battle.

Seeing the increasing pressure on the city walls, Wei Xu turned to Gao Shun and said, "General, you can lead your troops out of the city now and attack the enemy troops that are attacking the city."

Gao Shun heard this and said hurriedly, "Now the city is full of people, and the formation of the trap camp cannot be deployed. It is more convenient and effective to defend the city."

After hearing this, Wei Xu sneered and said, "General, if you don't want to obey my orders, how about I hand over this position of commander to you?"

Gao Shun heard this, suppressed his anger, and said, "I dare not, I will leave the city now."

He went down from the city wall, opened the city gate with the Xianzhen Camp, and hacked and killed Yuan Shu's soldiers on both sides along the city wall. However, the enemy had too many people, and the wooden sticks and gold juice poured down by the defenders on the city wall made it difficult to distinguish between friend and foe, and many soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp were accidentally injured.

After Gao Shun led his troops to fight for a while, many casualties began to occur in the Xianzhen Camp. Gao Shun felt extremely aggrieved. It was not easy to train every soldier in the Xianzhen Camp, and they were not meant to be used this way!

Seeing that he could not carry out his plan, he had to retreat with his troops.

When Wei Xu saw this, he led his men down the city wall and said to Gao Shun, "General, why are you retreating?"

Gao Shun said in a deep voice: "It is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and ourselves under the city wall. We can only wait and see for the time being and wait for the opportunity to fight."

"The most appropriate way now is to take turns to defend the city from the top of the city walls, and wait until the attackers are tired before going out to attack them."

Chen Gong listened and nodded in agreement. Although he and Gao Shun did not get along, the battlefield was not the time for infighting.

After hearing this, Wei Xu sneered at Gao Shun and said, "Everyone has his own duties on the battlefield. Where does this move by the general put the others?"

"Since the general doesn't want to go out, I'll take them out!"

"Listen to my orders, follow me out of the city and kill the enemy!"

Wei Xu ignored Chen Gong and Gao Shun's dissuasion, and led the Xianzhen Camp out of the city, commanding them to charge into the besieging army while braving the arrows and stones. The two sides engaged in a melee, and Gao Shun watched the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp fall one after another, his heart bleeding, and he clenched his fists.

Yuan Xi looked at the situation of the Xianzhen Camp below from the top of the city wall and said to Lu Lingqi, "Take a look."

Lu Lingqi took a look and realized something was wrong. She frowned and said, "Is this place not suitable for performing exercises?"

"What on earth does Wei Jianjun think?"

Yuan Xi asked, "Does Wen Hou think that the Xianzhen Camp is too threatening?"

Lu Lingqi was shocked and blurted out: "Impossible?"

"Father is not someone so stupid as to cut off his own arm."

However, the situation under the city made her doubt. Seeing the continuous fall of the trap camp, she asked, "What should we do now?"

Yuan Xi smiled bitterly and said, "I am a guest official, there is nothing I can do."

"Unless you kill Wei Xu now, you can only watch."

Lu Lingqi stood up with his halberd in hand, and stabbed down an enemy soldier who had just climbed onto the top of the city wall, saying in a hateful voice: "Fighting is so unpleasant!"

The two sides fought for half a day before Yuan Yaojun called off the battle. Yuan Yao rode out on his horse and shouted proudly, "Today is just a greeting. I won't be polite tomorrow!"

"I'll give you one night. If you open the city and surrender, I'll forgive you for what happened!"

The faces of Lu Bu's generals on the city wall were very ugly. Yuan Yao dispatched more than 10,000 people to attack the city today, and the number of defenders on the city wall was far less than that of the other side. So after half a day, the difference in casualties between the two sides was not very obvious. Yuan Shu's army lost about one or two thousand people, while Lu Bu's army also had nearly a thousand!

This is very troublesome, because this number is insignificant to Yuan Yao, but for Lu Bu's army, which has only a few thousand defenders, it is a serious blow!

What's more troublesome is that if Yuan Yao attacks the city again tomorrow, he will have an even greater advantage than Lu Bu's army!

Chen Gong said to Wei Xu, "Should we discuss tonight how to deal with tomorrow's attack?"

After hearing this, Wei Xu nodded and said, "Okay, let's discuss this at night at the residence of Marquis Wen."

Gao Shun stood in the city, looking at the Xianzhen Camp he wanted to bring back, his face gloomy.

The 700 soldiers in the Xianzhen Camp suffered over a hundred casualties in half a day. If this continues, the Xianzhen Camp will be wiped out in a few days!

Lu Bu's official residence was the front half of his mansion, and the two were connected. When Yuan Xi learned about this and decided that he would also participate, he knew it was almost time.

He almost knew what kind of medicine was sold in Wei Xu's gourd, but the truth would only be revealed when the medicine was poured out of the gourd.

He sent Lu Lingqi back to the mansion, and before leaving, he reminded her, "It's unpredictable in the mansion at night. Tell your mother not to come out unless it's absolutely necessary."

Lu Lingqi seemed to have guessed something and nodded. She opened the back door, peeked in for a few times, and then sneaked back to her room.

She crouched down and jogged all the way. Seeing her boudoir just in front of her, she quickly jumped in. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she saw Yan sitting in the middle of the room, staring at her.

Seeing that she was caught, Lu Lingqi was about to run away, but Yan's face was as cold as frost and she asked, "Where have you been?"

Lu Lingqi stammered, "I just went to the top of the city to take a look."

Seeing that the armor Lu Lingqi was wearing was covered in blood, Yan was furious and anxious, "How could a woman go to that place?"

"If something goes wrong, have you thought about your mother?"

"Don't go out of the house again!"

Lu Lingqi lowered her head and rubbed the corner of her clothes, muttering, "Mother is so boring. Sooner or later, I will get married, and then I will belong to another family. How can mother know whether I will follow you to the battlefield in the future?"

After hearing this, Yan became even more angry, "Don't think I don't know that it was that Yuan Xi who bewitched you!"

"I don't think he has any good intentions. Taking you as a concubine is wishful thinking in itself. Taking you to the battlefield is even more dangerous to your life, isn't it?"

"You are not allowed to associate with him anymore!"

Lu Lingqi pouted, "Father has agreed, so does mother still want to find another husband for me?"

Yan sneered and said, "Why not!"

"I heard that Yuan Gonglu's son Yuan Yao came with his troops?"

"I heard there are tens of thousands of troops. Can we hold them off?"

"If the situation doesn't work out, you might as well marry him, and even marry him as your legal wife. How could he be worse than Yuan Xi?"

Lu Lingqi hurriedly said: "Mother is confused, now father and Yuan Shu have fallen out, and the enemy is at the gates of the city, I will just be a concubine if I marry him!"

Yan refused to give in. "It's better than that Yuan Xi. Anyway, I don't agree with your marriage to him!"

Lu Lingqi thought of the rather wretched Yuan Yao on the city wall today. His appearance and martial arts were far inferior to Yuan Xi's. She became anxious and blurted out, "I have already secretly agreed to spend my life with that fierce tiger. How can I marry someone else?"

"You!" Yan's eyes went dark, her body staggered, and she almost fainted, "You are so brave!"

"How dare you do such a thing!"

Seeing this, Lu Lingqi simply gave up and lied to the end, "My daughter was being hunted by the enemy, and he saved me. How do you think I lived those days, mother?"

"My daughter almost lost her life, but he saved her and they lived together in the same tent for several days. Can my daughter still marry someone else?"

It has to be said that Lu Lingqi, a good girl in Yan's eyes, suddenly lied without blinking, which was quite deceptive. Yan immediately believed it to about 70%.

With tears in her eyes, she said, "I'm not talking about you. Yuan Xi has many wives and concubines. If you marry him, can you bear it?"

"Mom is very worried."

Seeing this, Lu Lingqi felt upset and knelt down and said, "I know your mother is trying hard, but how many friends does your father have in the world today? How many of them really want to marry my daughter?"

"Mother, do you think that Yuan Yao would be better than him?"