I Can Control My Ancestors-Chapter 243 - 22: Slaughtering Until None Dare Claim Supremacy
Gu Chen, as expected, directly led his troops to charge in.
There was no need to elaborate on this battle.
Under the influence of the monstrous fire, the morale within the city had completely dissipated, and the defending army had no intention to resist.
Gu Chen broke into the city with almost no effort.
What he faced next were Cao Ren’s "Five Stone Powder" troops.
This time, Gu Chen did not retreat at all.
He even directly charged with his army.
But this greatly stimulated the effects of the Five Stone Powder, making these soldiers utterly fearless, turning them into beasts devoid of reason.
Cao Ren, in such a situation,
led his army to retreat to Xuchang.
Before leaving the city, he looked at the fire that could burn the heavens, his body inexplicably shuddered, and he spat a mouthful of blood.
Gu Chen certainly would not allow Cao Ren to retreat peacefully.
The soldiers he left behind, though brave,
would eventually tire.
Moreover, the key issue was that these soldiers now lacked reason, and without clear-headed people to assist, Gu Chen had too many ways to lure them into the sea of fire to eliminate them.
After slaughtering all these men,
Gu Chen only left the wounded and weak soldiers to control the fire and then personally led his troops in pursuit.
He successively killed more than a dozen Cao army generals, exterminating nearly twenty thousand enemies.
He drew ever closer to Cao Ren.
But just at this moment, Lu Bu attacked.
Though Lu Bu was unwilling to face Gu Chen, he had no choice at this point.
Cao Cao had already handed him over to Cao Ren.
To abandon Cao and leave again?
Where in this vast world could he find refuge?
Would Gu Chen spare his life?
No matter what, he had to help Cao Ren block Gu Chen’s offensive.
But the ending was still no surprise.
Back in Bingzhou State, Lu Bu was already no match for Gu Chen, let alone now.
Gu Chen ambushed in Xihua.
Slew Lu Bu before the army, declaring him guilty of "disloyalty and unfilial conduct" to restore public morality.
His subordinate Bingzhou wolf cavalry either died or surrendered.
Upon hearing the news, Cao Ren could only retreat again, abandoning Chenliu and heading to Chen County.
Attempting to use the stronghold of Chen County to block Gu Chen.
But ultimately, he was intercepted by Gu Chen twenty miles outside Chen County.
Cao Ren, the great general of the Cao army, perished before the formation.
All his troops surrendered.
The major stronghold, Chen County of Chen Country, did not dare to face Gu Chen and surrendered at the sight.
The news quickly spread throughout the world.
In an instant, all four corners were shaken.
The talented lords across the world were terrified at the mention of Gu Chen’s name, and the Cao army found it utterly impossible to muster any will to resist.
In one battle, no one in the world dared to profess supremacy. .....
——————
"In the second month of the eleventh year of Jian’an, Gu Chen attacked Xuchang.
He openly set up scaling ladders and battering rams to the west of the city, while secretly sending death squads through tunnels three hundred zhang long, directly beneath the arsenal.
At midnight, the ground cracked, fire erupted, burning granaries, destroying weaponry, and scorching warhorses, with red flames lighting up the sky like daylight.
Cao Ren ordered his soldiers to take Five Stone Powder and fight to the death, but the burned stench filled the city, and soldiers scrambling to step over the city gates to escape ended up tripping over each other.
Amidst the chaos, Chen broke the city, wielding his spear and pursued for fifty li, beheading twenty thousand, piling armor as high as mountains.
Cao Ren retreated to defend Chenliu, sending urgent dispatches to summon Lu Bu from Wei Commandery for aid.
Bu, leading Bingzhou wolf cavalry, rode south overnight, only to fall into an ambush at Xihua.
Chen personally led elite cavalry to break through the formation, killing Lu Bu on horseback, beheading him to hang at the gate to redeem public morality.
The courageous cavalry of Bingzhou wept and removed their armor, ultimately drowning in the Ying River.
Ren, hearing of Bu’s death, was heartbroken, abandoning Chenliu to flee to Chen County.
Chen used the Fire Ox Array on eight fronts to surround them in the field, Ren’s armor was completely crimson while he shouted, "How can the foundation of the Cao Clan be destroyed by a mere child!" Ultimately, he was killed by a chaotic rain of arrows, and the elders of Chen County offered food to welcome the royal army.
That night, a comet swept through Ye City, and the ancestral temple of the Cao Clan in Xuchang collapsed without reason.
The Grand Historian said, "In the past, Han Xin secretly crossed Chencang Granary, yet it was not as wise as Chen burning Xuchang; Xiang Yu broke the cauldrons and sank the boats, but Cao Ren taking Five Stone Powder to display foolish loyalty was unmatched.
Watching Gu Chen under the moon beheading Lu Bu, and in battle killing Cao Ren, truly it was the scorching flame of Yan Han burning the wicked."
Since then, children’s rhymes in the Central Plains all sing: "Better meet a white tiger than encounter Gu Lang; the Green Dragon Crescent Blade cannot block his cold light."
—— "Yan Han Book, Gu Chen Biography"
