Chapter 63 Taking Advantage [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

"Your Excellency."

The scout quickly came to the tower and said quickly, "Captain Dong led his men to attack Cao's residence, and suffered heavy casualties."

The smile on Dong Zhuo's face froze.

"There were hidden arrangements in Cao's mansion. Before our troops entered the mansion, we explored it and confirmed that there were no ambushes. However, once we entered, soldiers started shooting at our Liangzhou troops from the outside."

The scout said, "Cao Cao has a personal guard beside him. He broke through the enemy lines and defeated more than a hundred of our Liangzhou veterans, killing Captain Dong."

Dong Zhuo's face darkened completely. He took a deep breath and the troops behind him gathered together like a roaring beast.

"How much did we lose, and how much did Cao Cao lose?"

"Only a few of our soldiers rushed out to pass on the message, asking you to send troops to help. If it's too late, I'm afraid that all the troops entering Cao's mansion will be killed... Cao Cao's losses are uncertain. It seems that only his outer guards were shot and killed when he entered the mansion..."

Before the scout could finish his words, Dong Zhuo kicked him in the abdomen and he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Since you don't know the true situation of Cao's house...how dare you enter the house, you idiot!"

Dong Zhuo was furious, pacing back and forth on the top of the city wall, murderous intent boiling: "Come here, mobilize more troops and horses, hurry to Cao's mansion!"

Li Ru was terrified and said, "Your Excellency, calm down. Do not send more troops. Your Excellency also said that it is difficult to predict the strength of Cao's army. It is a taboo to use troops without knowing the enemy."

"If we don't send troops, are we going to just sit back and watch the soldiers who enter Cao's mansion get killed by Cao Cao?"

The loss of 1,500 elite soldiers was like cutting Dong Zhuo's flesh.

He struck the battlement with his fist, causing a loud bang.

Li Ru bowed down and said, "1,500 men have been defeated. If we send more men, even if we can capture Cao's mansion, we will have to pay a heavier price.

How many of the old soldiers who followed you from Liangzhou are still under your command? "

He continued, "Only our own veterans are strong and brave enough to intimidate the newly surrendered imperial guards and stabilize the people's hearts in Luoyang. If all our own men are killed, the others will surely leave and be pulled away by the Yuan family and other nobles."

"If you can hold back your anger for a while, you can accomplish great things."

Dong Zhuo's eyes were still as violent as ever, but his tone was a bit slower:

"If I threaten Cao Cao with the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, what will he do?"

Li Ru said without hesitation:
"Just look at the night we stormed the palace. Cao Cao didn't come to the palace, but was doing other things outside. You can tell that the Queen Mother and the Emperor are not that important in his heart."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Dong Zhuo asked.

"The most urgent task is to suppress the noble families in the court, take control of the government, and force the Yuan family to bow down first."

Li Ru said: "Tonight, our target was the Yuan family, and engaging in battle with the Cao residence was unexpected."

Dong Zhuo suddenly asked another question: "Are you sure about Ding Yuan?"

"Whether we can suppress the Yuan family is the key. If we can force all the nobles in the court to bow their heads, then the situation will be set, and we will have at least 60 to 70 percent confidence."

Li Ru pondered for a moment and said, "Your Excellency has nowhere to vent your anger, so why not... attack Yuan's mansion."

"We were also planning to attack the Yuan family. In this case, attacking Cao's residence would only serve as a cover for us to attack from the east and west. The Yuan family would never have thought that we would suddenly launch an attack and go all out to deal with them."

Dong Zhuo took a few anxious breaths and said decisively, "Alright, quickly mobilize the troops and attack Yuan's family. I will go in person this time."

Li Ru breathed a sigh of relief. The best way forward was to suppress the Yuan family.

He did not agree from the beginning to attack Cao's house instead of Yuan's.

----

Cao Mansion.

Zhang Gong was among the first officers to charge into Cao's residence, and he and his soldiers rushed to the front.

It was not until Dian Wei broke through the formation and killed Dong Lue that Xiyuan soldiers with crossbows appeared on the wall inside the mansion, and the Liangzhou soldiers around them fell down in large numbers.

Seeing that defeat was inevitable, Zhang Gong joined the crowd and started running.

However, Zhang Gong suddenly fell to the ground while running, with a severe pain in his throat.

Someone threw a spear from the air and stabbed it into his throat.

Zhang Gong's throat gurgled and he died in a moment!
Xiao Xiang, who was guarding Cao Cao, always performed his duties conscientiously and never left his side. This was the only attack he made in the entire battle.

He had long been displeased with Zhang Gong, who was charging at the forefront of the Liangzhou army with a fierce look on his face. When he saw that he was trying to escape, he threw his spear from the air to take his life.

At this time, Dian Wei also stopped and stood silently. There were no officers from Liang Province standing beside him.

The rest of the Liangzhou soldiers were either killed or were fleeing. Cao Cao said, "Investigate the mansion inside and outside, hunt down the deserters, and redeploy the defenses."

"Go ahead, army!"

Someone shouted, and almost all the Xiyuan soldiers looked at Cao Cao and suddenly became quiet.

Cao Cao looked around at everyone and said, "Today we have an enemy attack, and it is all thanks to the cooperation of all the troops. I am very grateful. Let this battle be the beginning of my Xiyuan Army becoming the strongest army in the world!"

"Cao is willing to join forces with the other troops. Are the other troops willing to do the same?"

"We are willing to follow the superior army!!"

"The strongest army in the world! The strongest army in the world!"

The Xiyuan army shouted in unison, their fighting spirit high.

At this time, the morale of the Xiyuan Army was high. They all said that the soldiers from Liangzhou were powerful and were veterans of long battles.

But Cao Cao led them to fight against the attacking Liangzhou army, annihilated more than a thousand enemies, and suffered less than two hundred casualties on his own side, which was a complete advantage.

At this time, they would not hesitate to let the Xiyuan Army and Cao Cao in the palace counterattack Dong Zhuo and break into the palace.

【你的声望+1，声望+10，声望+100，+100……伱的声望17107/20000】

[You have established a high prestige among the Xiyuan Army, and they are willing to follow you in battle. The loyalty of your troops has been improved overall.]

[You gather the reputation of your tribe, and the spirituality of a military strategist is born in your body. Your military strategy of sneaking into Chencang (minor success) is being improved, and the skill value is increasing. Your innate military strategy of listening to the battlefield has a listening range of 20 feet]

[When your reputation reaches 20,000, your talent will be upgraded and the first direction will appear]

The entries continued to give hints, and Cao Cao's reputation soared.

What is 'pointing'?
The sky will be bright.

There were still shouts and screams coming from the alleys outside the palace. It was the Xiyuan Army chasing the defeated soldiers.

"Clean up the battlefield, then prepare for battle and prevent the enemy from coming again," said Cao Cao.

The troops responded loudly and each performed their duties.

Cao Cao watched for a while and then returned to the inner house.

Cui Lie went to check on the casualties of the imperial guards.

Cao Cao walked towards the inner house, followed by Dian Wei, Xiao Xiang and other personal soldiers.

Several of the royal soldiers couldn't control their emotions and spoke to Dian Wei in a low voice.

Dian Wei's performance just now shocked these personal soldiers.

The group turned a corridor and saw Jia Xu hiding behind the gate of the inner house, looking out.

During the previous battle, Cao Cao sent someone to call him to watch the battle, but this guy never showed up from beginning to end.

He saw Cao Cao and asked carefully, "Can the enemy troops retreat?"

Cao Cao said unhappily, "My house has many visible and invisible defenses. It is far from being breached. You can rest assured. The enemy has been defeated."

Only then did Jia Xu come out from behind the door.

"Go to the study."

Cao Cao took Jia Xu to the study and said, "Xiao Xiang, have someone send a message to Madam and Diao Chan first. They must have been awakened by the loud shouting and fighting in the front yard just now. Tell them not to worry.

Just say that there is a fight outside the palace and it has nothing to do with us."

Jia Xu waited for Cao Cao to finish speaking before speaking: "With your military wisdom, you should have seen that something strange happened tonight."

"Go on."

"Has the superior army figured it out already?"

"Master Yuan."

"He used the Upper Army to deal with Dong Zhuo. If the Upper Army was defeated, Yuan could take control of the Xiyuan Army."

Jia Xu: "They have realized that without troops, they are at a disadvantage in Luoyang. I have a plan for you, General."

Your plan is likely to be against the will of heaven and earth... Cao Cao thought.

Ps: Please vote and read on, thank you, I will probably update more on the weekend~
(End of this chapter)