Chapter 58: Completely Impossible to Persuade

Maybe not be a general after all?

Lü Bu suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears welled up in his eyes.

"My younger brother is truly a heroic youth. To think you could utter such a resonant, carefree sentiment."

Lü Bu looked at Su Yao with extremely complex emotions in his eyes, as if he were looking at his former self.

Vibrant, arrogant, unstoppable, wielding his weapon solely for the sake of his own will.

However, the difference between the two was that this youth carried an extra layer of pessimistic, compassionate awareness within his heart—cloaked in a magnificent righteousness.

No, wait, was that really it?

Lü Bu's gaze suddenly cleared. This kid spoke better than he sang, yet when it came to killing, there was hardly any trace of universal compassion to be seen.

"Are those commoners truly so important to you?"

Su Yao nodded fiercely.

"Of course they are!"

Those were potential soldiers, a human resource reserve!

If the flames of war depleted the human workforce, this region would be utterly ruined, and heaven knows how long it would take to recruit people again.

Since he was born in Bingzhou, this place was his stronghold, and it had to be protected!

Su Yao's gaze was so sincere that not a hint of falsehood could be detected. Lü Bu stared for a long time before he could only feel helpless in the face of such naivety.

What an enviable young man.

Zishu, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold him back.

"Since you possess such awareness, Lü has nothing more to say.

However, let me ask you this one last time: do you truly believe that you can make it to the end relying solely on martial prowess and unbridled passion?"

Lü Bu sighed.

"How naive. If one could achieve glory and renown merely by relying on martial might and passion in today's Great Han Dynasty, this Lü would have been enfeoffed as a marquis and appointed as a general long ago."

Su Yao was indeed as brilliant as a supernova, boasting exceptional military exploits.

But were the achievements Lü Bu had carved out in the frontier over more than a decade really so few?

Lü Bu saw right through the corrupt officialdom. His inaction did not mean he was ignorant, but even so, he still wanted to see how this youth would make his choice.

To this, Su Yao's choice was:

"Would Lord Lü be willing to walk this path with me?"

"Huh?"

Lü Bu was dumbfounded, completely not expecting to be asked such a question in return. What on earth did this kid mean?

"A single person's strength may have its limits, but I believe in the strength of everyone."

Su Yao swept his gaze once more across the complex expressions of the surrounding crowd, and smiled.

"This path might be difficult to walk, but if I have the finest companions—the strongest Bingzhou army in the world—accompanying me, then who could possibly block our path? What matter could possibly be left unaccomplished?

Lord Lü calls me naive, yet I feel that you are belittling yourself, belittling these companions who have shared life and death with you!"

"You..."

Just as Lü Bu was choking on his words, Wang Ling suddenly let out a resounding cheer:

"My lord wishes to pacify the realm with martial might and restore a clear and bright universe to the common folk—what soaring, cloud-piercing ambition!

Since my benefactor harbors such resolve, how could the likes of us dare not offer our lives in loyalty?"

With Wang Ling taking the lead, the other soldiers knelt down in a flurry one after another, shouting in unison.

Even the same words, spoken by different people in different eras, could yield entirely different results.

Had Su Yao uttered those words right when he first joined the army, he would likely have received nothing but indifference and sneers.

Who do you think you are, spouting such grand boasts without even looking in the mirror?

Yet the current Su Yao possessed the extraordinary feats of capturing Hulubao Castle on the fly and annihilating the enemy at Xiangyang Pass.

Even if he were to babble incoherently, others would still be forced to take his thoughts seriously.

This must be the influence of prestige, Su Yao thought, blinking. Seeing his subordinates cooperate so well, he quickly seized the moment to sweeten the deal and win them over:

"Did you see that, Lord Lü? These are my companions.

As long as we brave warriors live and die together, we can surely look down with a smile upon a million-strong army with ulterior motives."

"A million-strong army..."

Lü Bu wiped his face, speechless at this kid who kept bragging without bounds.

"Fine, let's say your tongue is sharp enough. Speak then, what do you want me to do? I'll help you out just this once."

"Eh? Why only once?"

"You're not satisfied with just once?!"

Lü Bu glared.

"What? You want me, Lü Fengxian, to be your subordinate like these fellows? Wait until you can become a general before I do."

"Then Lord Lü must keep his word."

Su Yao felt a slight sense of regret, thinking that recruiting Lü Bu truly wasn't that easy; this was probably the difference between a novel and a game.

In a novel, one could emit a mighty aura and have lackeys flock to one's side, but to recruit a character like Lü Bu in this game, it seemed it not only required favorability and loyalty, but was also tied to his fame and status.

Yes, Su Yao had spent so much breath here not just to earn a campaign quest, but also to ride the momentum and recruit Lü Bu along the way.

Having set the goal of clearing the game as quickly as possible, Su Yao had placed improving his strength as his top priority.

As a Three Kingdoms game, collecting military commanders was of paramount importance. Even Xu Huang had to be recruited, so Lü Bu—the peerless warrior of the Three Kingdoms who was proficient in commanding cavalry—was naturally someone Su Yao would never let slip away.

However, judging by the present situation, recruiting Lü Bu still required a period of accumulation.

Regardless of what Su Yao was thinking inwardly, once he had cleared the obstacles for the campaign and secured Lü Bu as a temporary teammate, he immediately began preparations to set out.

Having his subordinates drag away the two now-useless Yellow Wave army leaders amidst their wailing, Su Yao next arranged for the two-hundred-man transport unit, which hadn't played any useful role at all, to escort all the prisoners back to the Wang family fortified village in Qi County and hand them over to the old village chief for temporary placement.

Finally, leading Cheng Lian, Jin Fangyan, and the rest of the all-cavalry detachment, along with the twenty horsemen led by Lü Bu, he dashed straight toward Jiexiu County city.

In Su Yao's strategy, Jiexiu absolutely could not fall.

This was not only because Jiexiu was adjacent to Qi County—a minor selfish concern about it being the southern gateway to his new novice-village home—but also because Jiexiu was a critically important strategic hub for the entire Bingzhou.

Jiexiu, established as a commandery and county during the time of the First Emperor of Qin, got its name because it connected Taiyuan to the north, reached Hedong to the south, and linked to Shangdang on the east, serving as the intersection of three commanderies; it was a veritable pivotal thoroughfare.

As long as Jiexiu remained in his hands, the Yellow Wave army's strategic objective of plundering Taiyuan, marching east into Shangdang, and linking up with the Black Mountain bandits to form a single massive front would be rendered utterly impossible to achieve.

Controlling this place was the first step to suppressing the Yellow Wave army, and therefore, Jiexiu had become the key to Su Yao's initial clash with them. Whoever captured Jiexiu would gain the strategic initiative.

Then, when Su Yao galloped without stopping all the way to Jiexiu County city, he discovered that Jiexiu...

had fallen.

"What the f*ck? So fast?"

Su Yao looked in astonishment at the Xu family banner fluttering atop the city wall.

Jiexiu County city had fallen into enemy hands. As far as the eye could see, aside from a small number of soldiers moving in and out of the city gates, more enemy troops had chosen to pitch camp outside the city.

Less than ten li to the east, a camp was under fervent construction, clearly intended as a detached garrison post.

"We didn't waste any time either. When we came to Jiexiu last time, weren't there still over a hundred garrison troops? How did it fall so fast?" Wang Ling was also immensely surprised. After the escort mission a couple of days ago, he had even specifically purchased plenty of military rations in Jiexiu; he never expected that upon returning, the city walls would already be flying another's banner.

"According to the confession of that bandit chieftain Wang Daying, Xu Huang's force also numbers two thousand men. Although the art of war states that you attack when you have tenfold their strength, they don't seem prepared with proper siege equipment. The loss of this county city is indeed rather fishy," Song Xian muttered softly, though in his heart he felt a slight sense of relief.

It seemed this battle wouldn't be fought, and they could return to Jinyang early. After all, they currently had only a little over a hundred all-cavalry troopers.

Chasing after a siege with such a setup was simply unrealistic.

It was better to hurry home and wait for the inspector's rewards instead!

However, when he reported his thoughts to Su Yao, the reply he received was:

"Stop messing around. Since we've already come all this way, you expect me to slink back empty-handed?

If Xu Huang can take this wretched little county city, why shouldn't I, Su Yao, be able to take it?

It makes no sense otherwise.

Siege, let's get it started!"

Su Yao waved his long saber, and his warhorse reared up on its hind legs.

The rest of the crowd could only let out a unified sigh. Forget it, let it be; persuasion was useless anyway, utterly impossible to stop.