As soon as Lu Bu gave away his wealth, Xiang Yu found out about it.
However, Xiang Yu had always acted uprightly and disdained to arrange spies to monitor his generals. It was simply because Lu Bu's move was so big that even if he did not deliberately place spies, he still quickly learned the news that had been widely circulated.
Sima Ang, who reported the matter, actually had ulterior motives: he knew that he had made contributions to the Xiang family, but because of Lu Bu's casual suggestion, Xiang Yu established his capital in Guanzhong, which indirectly caused him to lose the throne he had long coveted. Although he was heavily rewarded, he could not help but feel resentful when he saw the other party taking advantage of this to rise to prominence.
Seeing that Lü Bu acted so ostentatiously and had so much evidence against him, he discussed with Dong Yi, who had also lost his throne, and they decided to use this incident to smear Lü Bu by saying that he was secretly buying people's hearts.
Xiang Yu frowned when he heard this and asked in a deep voice, "Is this true?"
Sima Ang was secretly delighted and said firmly, "It is absolutely true."
Xiang Yu's face suddenly turned gloomy.
Sima Ang, who thought he had succeeded in slandering someone, was busy gloating over his misfortune, but he never expected that although King Xiang's expression was as stern as usual, it was very heartwarming.
After all, he was the one who resembled his beloved general when he was young the most... The thousands of taels of gold and pearls were enough to arouse Zuo Yin's rebellious heart, but Fengxian ignored them.
Looking at the Chu camp, there were countless brave generals, but apart from Fengxian, he knew that there was no other person who was so ungreedy of the reward and would even donate all of it in order to train the troublesome Former Qin soldiers, even at the cost of his own initiative.
Xiang Yu rubbed his eyebrows with mixed feelings.
The general should be loyal to the king, and the king should also pity the general.
Xiang Yu was deeply moved by Lu Bu's selfless act of spending money to support his troops. Xiang Yu, who had always been generous to his subordinates, would never let his beloved general suffer.
After thinking for a while, Xiang Yu did not notice Sima Ang's shocked expression. He directly ordered a group of soldiers to send Lu Bu another batch of treasures taken out of the Qin Palace treasury as a reward.
The pile of golden treasures, so huge that it was difficult for a chariot to pull them, was so huge that even an ignorant person could easily tell that it was much more than the gold and pearls that King Xiang had given to Lu Bu before.
Sima Ang didn't dare to show any expression on his face, but he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
He clearly wanted to frame Lu Bu, so why did he ask for a reward on his behalf
King Xiang was always suspicious and jealous. Why did his blatant attempt to win over the hearts of the Former Qin army provoke such a reaction
The more Sima Ang thought about it, the more headache he felt and he regretted it deeply.
If he had known this would happen, he would have rather not said a word and let Lu Bu's golden pearl drift away!
Lu Bu, who was training his troops enthusiastically with Han Xin, was more surprised than surprised to receive this huge income.
Lu Bu couldn't help but sigh in his heart: This foolish king is not very smart, but he is extremely generous to his subordinates.
He was rewarded every now and then. Even a newcomer like him who had hardly made any contribution to the outside world was treated so generously, let alone the other generals who had followed Xiang Yu for many years
After muttering these words, Lu Bu casually glanced around and saw that they were all crudely made gold or jewels. There was no magical weapon that caught his eye, so it was difficult for him to be greedy at all.
He asked Han Xin to choose, but Han Xin was full of ambition at this time and was eager to show his skills as soon as possible, both to make a name for himself and to prove that he did not let down his brother's extraordinary promotion of him. How could he ask for more rewards
Both of them had seen it, but neither of them touched it. Lu Bu simply put all of it into the military supplies as the military supplies for the Guanzhong Army.
Although Lu Bu did not take a penny, he did not forget to help publicize King Xiang's generosity during morning training the next day because of the generous reward.
The Former Qin army, which knew nothing about the inside story, looked at the dazzling golden treasures, so how could they doubt the authenticity of this statement
Hearing that King Xiang valued them so much, it invisibly aroused their long-suppressed pride and motivation. In order to get the reward, they trained harder every day.
Han Xin led an army of more than 40,000 and mainly practiced the deployment of troops.
Lu Bu, with these 5,000 elite soldiers carefully selected by him personally, trained them to the utmost.
In a flash, a month passed, and it was the end-of-month examination that everyone had been looking forward to. The camp was extremely lively as those who were capable were eager to try, while those who knew they were not capable came to watch the fun and verify the authenticity of the reward from the new commander.
The training this month was indeed hard. Unlike Han Xin, who acted cold and ruthless in front of the soldiers and made them fear him, Lu Bu rarely acted like a commander. Seeing them making a fuss, he just lazily sat on the high platform with his hands folded and watched the elite soldiers competing in the parade ground, and did not send anyone to stop them.
According to the order issued by Lu Bu on the day he took office, those who could rank the top three in each skill in the monthly examinations would be rewarded with ten, five and three taels of gold respectively. With such generous rewards, how could they not fight hard
Although they also belonged to the capital's army, unlike the other two guards stationed in the imperial city, who were not born rich or noble, most of them were strong men selected from ordinary people in Guanzhong, and their family backgrounds were not very wealthy.
In the past, when the Former Qin Dynasty was still in existence, they fought hard but could only earn a meager amount of silver.
However, with the chaos in the capital, rebellions everywhere and the fall of the Former Qin Dynasty, the official silver has been cut off and has not been paid in full for nearly two years.
After that, when Ziying surrendered the city, they were incorporated into the Han army led by Liu Bang, and lived on the promised big cakes. However, the Han army did not even last until the day when the first salary silver was paid, as they were beaten like a stray dog by the Chu army.
Not to mention the Qin Palace gold that they might never be able to touch in this lifetime, even the silver that they were entitled to, they had already been deprived of for nearly two years. Thinking of their families who had suffered from the war and were becoming increasingly financially strapped, and looking at this huge reward that was so close at hand, how could they not fight hard for it
The competition was carried out in an orderly manner, and soon, amid the loud cheers of the onlookers, the top three soldiers in the six rounds of skills competition were decided.
The eighteen soldiers were all tall and strong.
The weather was originally hot, and the competition was very strenuous and exciting. Everyone was sweating profusely. After getting Lu Bu's permission, they took off their military uniforms, revealing their strong and muscular bodies.
Amidst thunderous applause, they, who had not had the opportunity to show themselves in such a long time, couldn't help but blush with excitement, and their smiles almost reached their ears.
"Good!" Lu Bu looked at the 18 brave warriors with ruddy faces and neither humble nor arrogant with satisfaction. He raised his arm and said generously, "Hurry up and bring the gold, so that these bastards won't think that I'm reluctant to give it away and will regret it!"
All the generals and soldiers laughed.
Unlike General Han who always had a stern face and strict training and was difficult to approach, although Lu Bu was the main general, he was a straightforward person who spoke bluntly, but his words touched their hearts.
As the generals and soldiers gradually got to know each other better and got along better with each other, their courage grew invisibly.
After the gold was brought, Lu Bu distributed it to everyone one by one according to their ranking. He also patted them on the shoulder and gave each of them an encouragement. The atmosphere became even more lively.
After the promised bounty was paid, Lu Bu grinned and looked at Han Xin, who had a blank expression on his face but a smile in his eyes, and deliberately asked: "General Han, I will snatch one person from you openly and bring these 18 warriors into my camp. Are you willing?"
Han Xin was very smart and could guess Lu Bu's intention, so he couldn't help but cough lightly.
Thinking of my brother's kindness, and facing the eager eyes of the crowd, it was difficult for me to put on a bad face, and I even joked: "It depends on what General Lu assigns them to do. Just being an ordinary soldier would be too unfair to the warriors."
The two men sang in unison, and they understood each other tacitly, but the simple-minded soldiers were excited when they heard it.
Especially since Han Xin, who usually had a cold face, took the initiative to ask the commander for an official position on their behalf, instead of letting the other party get it "for nothing". This huge contrast made them flattered.
Lu Bu was also very satisfied: he decided to use this little trick to win the hearts of the people, but it was just a whim, and he completely forgot to discuss it with Han Xin in advance.
But this opportunity did not disappoint him at all, and Brother Han cooperated with him very well.
"Since we have snatched away the talents from General Han, how can we let them down?" Lu Bu said straightforwardly, "I am in need of eighteen team leaders in my Xianzhen Camp, so let them take up the post! But the soldiers below are not convinced, so let's see what they can do next."
He was so focused on training his troops that he completely forgot to choose a name.
Now that he had to take it temporarily, he only wanted to get the 800 soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp who had once served under the most loyal Gao Shun, and had followed the commander to charge into battle and refused to surrender even at the cost of their lives.
Even though he regretted countless times that Gao Shun did not follow him here more than three hundred years ago, the three words "Xianzhen Camp" still seemed to have become a symbol of rock-hard loyalty in his heart.
"Entrapment Camp?"
It was the first time that Han Xin heard the name Lu Bu gave to the vanguard army of 5,000 elite soldiers. Although he didn't know the origin of the name, after carefully chewing and savoring the two words, he also liked it very much.
"Charge into the enemy's ranks, cut through the thorns and brambles, and be invincible." Han Xin straightened his face and looked at the overjoyed 18 people in a deep voice: "Now that we have entered the Xianzhen Camp, we must not bring disgrace to the name of Xianzhen when we go into battle with General Lu in the future."
Everyone's expressions were startled and they all bowed in response.
Seeing that the atmosphere, which had just been very high, was suddenly suppressed by Han Xin, Lu Bu could not help but wink at the cheap brother.
Han Xin understood what he meant, and reluctantly found an excuse to leave for the time being.
Without the black-faced god Han Xin in charge, the soldiers, whose excitement had not yet subsided, quickly returned to their excited state.
After a round of clamoring around the 18 people who were holding their heads high and looking very proud, someone took the lead and started to make fun of Lu Bu: "We have heard of your mighty power, would you be willing to show us some of your skills so that we can see what the world has to offer?"
Although Lu Bu never demonstrated personally during the training of the Xianzhen Camp, it was not difficult to tell from his agile physique and neat gait that this commander who was valued by the brave Xiang Yu must be a great martial artist.
Moreover, in this barracks, everyone has the same competitive spirit as Wu Wuerdi, and they have long wanted to see with their own eyes the ability of the commander.
Therefore, once someone took the lead, there would be thunderous cheers from all around, and everyone would insist on trying to show off the power that Lu Bu had hidden for so long.
Lu Bu stood calmly with his hands folded, looking around lazily, and snorted, "Do you think I don't know what you little bastards are thinking?"
If he failed here, the prestige that he and Han Xin had worked so hard to build up over the past month would not only be lost, but would also be greatly reduced.
Seeing that everyone was determined to fight to the death, Lu Bu smiled proudly and said in a rude manner: "I don't go on the field casually because I'm afraid of damaging my own morale. I want you to know the difference in strength and use this as an excuse to not have the energy to practice on weekdays."
When he made this boast, the soldiers looked at each other and couldn't help feeling a little unconvinced.
They are the most trusted capital army of the Qin Dynasty. They are an iron-blooded force that will never be afraid of fighting even if they are against the Chu army led by Xiang Yu!
What Lu Bu said was tantamount to a direct provocation. Anyone who had some confidence in his own strength would not take it seriously.
Originally they just wanted to make some noise, but now they were determined to make the boastful commander take action. They pulled out all the evidence and said in unison, "That's not happening. Please help, General!"
Lu Bu could hear their hidden anger, and he leisurely scratched his ears and said slowly: "It's not that easy for me to take action. There must be a gamble."
Under the gaze of the soldiers, Lu Bu grinned, showing his big white teeth, raised his chin towards the parade ground, and said, "There are still twelve targets left in the parade ground that have not been hit. I will ride my horse and run straight across the parade ground. If I can hit all of them, I will win. Are you happy?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.
There was a reason why those twelve targets were left after six rounds of competition: either the angle was too tricky or the distance was too far.
Even if he could shoot while standing, if he could hit eight out of the twelve, he would already be considered a sharpshooter far superior to the eighteen who had just won, not to mention the horseback shooting which was twice as difficult
What's more, Lu Bu boasted that he would only make one trip!
"The prize has not been announced yet," the soldiers were shocked, but Lu Bu continued, "If I win, you will have to listen to General Han and train for an extra month. You will not be allowed to leave unless you faint. If you dare to complain, you will be beaten. If I lose... the training will be halved, and the remaining gold will be distributed to you in advance. How do you think?"
The conditions for winning are so harsh, but the rewards are so generous, there is no reason why the soldiers would not be happy.
Although asking General Han to train for a whole month would probably be worse than death, but he was able to hit all twelve targets by riding a horse in one lap. Even Yang Youji would not dare to make such a boast when he was alive, let alone the unknown Lu Bu
It’s a benefit that comes right to your doorstep for free!
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Who was the one who was tempted and afraid of offending the general? They all responded in unison: "General, if you dare to gamble, we will accompany you!"
Lu Bu laughed loudly, took off the coat that was in the way, threw it behind him, and said happily, "Okay!"
When everyone dispersed, left the training ground, and gathered outside to make room for him, he raised his head and whistled, summoning the jade lion.
The snow-white horse galloped towards them, as dazzling as lightning. Lu Bu raised the corner of his lips slightly, but instead of standing still, he quickly grabbed the horse's back, turned over neatly, and rode on it.
Although Yu Shi had been bullied by Wu Zhui in the Chu army's main camp, he turned things around when he came to this camp and became the boss that no horse dared to mess with in the stable. The whole spirit and outlook of the horse was completely different from before.
The jade lion is quite intelligent, and it seems to understand that the owner on its back is about to show off his skills, so it stamps its hooves on the spot on the sidelines, revealing its eagerness in its briskness.
Seeing that Lu Bu put on the quiver without saying a word, which contained twelve arrows, not one more or one less, the surrounding soldiers became even more noisy.
Lu Bu seemed not to hear the noise they made. He held his chest high, his back straight, and his tiger eyes scanned the twelve targets in the field one by one, as if he wanted to imprint their positions deeply into his vision.
When his energy is completely concentrated, he is always completely focused.
After looking around, he slowly lowered his eyes, raised one hand and reached into the quiver, directly took out three long arrows, and pressed them loosely on the string.
It was just a seemingly simple preparatory action, but it made everyone hold their breath unconsciously and watch intently without blinking.
The next moment, Lu Bu lightly squeezed the horse's belly, and the Jade Lion, which had been eager to try, immediately changed its mind, raised its head and let out a long roar, raised its front hooves high, leaped into the air on the spot, and stirred up clouds of dust when it stepped on the ground!
When the steeds were running at full speed, the training ground, which was usually spacious enough to accommodate tens of thousands of soldiers at the same time, seemed frighteningly short.
But at this moment, in the eyes of everyone off the field, what was more breathtaking than the white horse whose blurry afterimage was barely visible was the crazy speed with which Lu Bu drew his bow and shot the arrow.
They could only hear the clatter of horses' hooves, which mixed with the thunder of the arrow leaving the bow, and it was even denser than the raindrops in a summer storm.
Following closely behind were long and narrow arrow shadows, like carrying thousands of feet of golden light, or like falling stars, breaking through the air quickly!
Before they could catch the blurry afterimage, they heard the sound of straw targets being shot over and falling to the ground, which was several beats slower than that.
But in a flash, Lu Bu, who had rushed to the other end of the parade ground on horseback, had already put away his longbow in a cool manner, with an empty quiver behind him.
There was complete silence.
When everyone gradually came to their senses, they were shocked to find that there was really no straw target standing in the field!
Twelve arrows in total, every one of them hit the target!
Some people squeezed closer to look in disbelief, and were so shocked that their scalps tingled.
Not only did the sharp arrow hit the center of the bull's eye with incredible accuracy, but due to the tremendous strength of the shooter, it was able to penetrate the heavy target even though it was a hundred steps away!
No wonder all the targets were shot to the ground, that was the divine power that could shoot through the center of the bull's eye!
The jade lion had no idea of the boundless shock and instinctive fear in the hearts of the people around it. It only knew that it had not run enough, so it mustered up the courage and made a few "hiccups" to express its dissatisfaction.
The next moment, Lu Bu pinched its ear roughly. The Jade Lion shook its head aggrievedly and immediately stopped making trouble.
"What's going on?"
Lu Bu waited for a long time, but all he saw was a group of fools staring in astonishment, with neither applause nor cheers.
This really made him feel depressed as he had just rarely put in nearly 90% of his effort and used his best skills.
For the sake of his image, he at least resisted the urge to curse. He just slapped his thigh with the bowstring in dissatisfaction and looked around vigilantly: "You are not blind or deaf, why don't you say anything? Are you trying to shirk your responsibility?"
As soon as these harsh words were spoken, the tens of thousands of soldiers who were still stunned finally recovered from the heart-shaking unparalleled domineering aura, as if they had returned to the human world.
As soon as they came to their senses, it was the jade lion's turn to be frightened.
—The training ground, which had just been completely silent, suddenly woke up and burst into cheers and applause that were overwhelming, earth-shaking, and loud enough to break the ears!
Frightened by the loud noise and not knowing what was going on, Han Xin hurried out of the main tent and rushed towards the parade ground.
As soon as he arrived, he saw his brother holding his head high, riding an equally proud jade lion and circling in the parade ground, showing off his might. The soldiers who had run to the outside of the field for some reason were like crazy, jumping up and down and shouting.
Han Xin: “…”
What did he accidentally miss