Chapter 989: Slaughter Is Merely a Means

"Cao Cao?" Lu Bu’s mind conjured up the image of that stout, short man, and he sneered dismissively. "Who cares? We’ll deal with the Xianbei on our own. Even if they fight until the heavens fall in the Central Plains, what’s it got to do with me?"

Lu Bu shrugged off thoughts of Cao Cao and Yuan Tan and refocused on the task at hand. He had fully embraced his role as the northern border defender.

Though he didn’t say it aloud, Lu Bu was rather pleased with himself. Twice now, he had been mentioned in major proclamations across the land—once for defending the borders and restoring lost territories, and once as the strongest warrior in the realm.

Lu Bu was the type of man who thrived on recognition, and now that he was receiving it, he felt the need to demonstrate his abilities further. He was determined to prove that he truly was getting things done, so he decided to redouble his efforts to reclaim Yunzhong County.

"Any movement from the Xianbei at Bu Ben Yi recently?" Lu Bu pushed thoughts of Cao Cao aside and turned his attention to the situation in the north.

"They’ve joined forces with the Dingling and Qiang tribes. It seems they’re getting restless," Hu Zhao said with a hint of a smile. Lu Bu's strength had earned him the respect of the Xianbei, especially his reputation as a warrior who could defeat a hundred men. It was enough to make any enemy wary.

When Lu Bu had first arrived in Wuyuan, things had been tough. But instead of relying on schemes like Chen Gong, Hu Zhao, and Zang Hong had initially planned, Lu Bu broke through by sheer force of will and martial prowess.

Just as the Qiang people revered strength, so too did the Xianbei. Without invitation, Lu Bu had crashed a meeting of the Xianbei tribes. Though they had declined in power over the years, the Eastern Xianbei’s three major tribes still held great influence, and the tribe Lu Bu had entered uninvited was one of the most powerful among them.

Naturally, they were displeased with the uninvited guest. However, Lu Bu adhered to their warrior's code of hospitality. When the tribe sent out nine champions to face him, Lu Bu defeated them all in an instant.

Power commands respect, and after this display, Lu Bu further proved his dominance by slaying the tribe’s only Inner Qi Leaving the Body expert with a single blow. Lu Bu had regained his lost honor in a manner that left him seemingly invincible.

With his overwhelming strength, Lu Bu forced all the middle and smaller tribes present at the meeting to submit to him.

Soon after, with thousands of troops arriving as reinforcement, Lu Bu used his halberd to carve a trench into the Xianbei plains, declaring that the Eastern Xianbei were not allowed to cross. He then set up camp in the territory, claiming it for his own.

The strong take what they need, including the lives of the weak. This was the way of the Qiang, the Hu, and the Xianbei. Lu Bu had more than enough power to justify his demands.

With Lu Bu’s overwhelming presence, the Xianbei tribes were left confused and fearful. Meanwhile, Chen Gong, Hu Zhao, and Zang Hong had swiftly gathered intelligence and established a defense system, all while feeding the tribes the notion that "lords and generals are made, not born," in the hopes of sowing dissent among them.

By the time three months had passed, Lu Bu had begun his campaign to annex smaller tribes, reclaiming much of Jiuyuan in just a few months. However, this success had also exposed the limits of his forces to the Xianbei.

The Xianbei realized that Lu Bu had too few men. Their entire population was trained for war, with every person capable of becoming a soldier at a moment's notice. In comparison to Lu Bu’s mere tens of thousands of troops, the Xianbei, along with the Dingling and Qiang, could muster nearly a hundred thousand.

If not for Lu Bu’s terrifying display of strength, the Xianbei would have attacked long ago.

This was also why Lu Bu had hesitated to pursue Ma Chao earlier. With the threat of a major northern conflict looming, Lu Bu couldn’t afford to let anything affect his peak fighting strength. When faced with a vastly superior enemy, only overwhelming combat prowess would earn the fear and submission of the Xianbei.

"Justice, you’ll be my personal guard, and the Formation Breaker Army will be my personal troops," Lu Bu said to Gao Shun with a cold smile. He was determined to crush the Xianbei with unparalleled might and show them what it meant to face the strongest under the heavens.

"I haven’t fought by your side in a long time," Gao Shun said after a moment of silence. Time had passed quickly, and it had been so long since Gao Shun had last served as Lu Bu’s personal guard that he could hardly remember.

At some point, Lu Bu had grown too cautious to rely on Gao Shun, and he had refrained from using the Formation Breaker Army as his personal guard. But now, after many years, he was ready to entrust them to Gao Shun once more.

"I remember the last time we fought together, you were my personal guard, and the Formation Breaker Army didn’t even exist yet. I wonder if you can still serve as my personal guard now?" Lu Bu recalled their battles in Bingzhou a decade ago and smiled.

"The Formation Breaker Army will be the best personal troops!" Gao Shun replied, his voice cold but filled with unwavering confidence.

"I’ll fight with all my might, and the rest is up to you. My life will be in your hands," Lu Bu said calmly as he looked at Gao Shun. "How can I allow the likes of the Qiang, Hu, and Xianbei to desecrate my Bingzhou? Their blood will wash away this disgrace!"

Hu Zhao remained silent. Although he was a proponent of moral education, he wasn’t naive. Even Liu Yu, the paragon of the moral educators, had not intervened when Gongsun Zan began his campaign of slaughter against the Hu people. All the realists among the educators knew that before you could teach a people, you first had to make them obedient. Sometimes, opening with the sword was necessary to ensure smoother teachings later.

In Hu Zhao’s eyes, the notion of "stopping violence with violence" and "killing to end killing" was misguided. Slaughter and violence were mere tools, not the end goal. The moral educators were not opposed to using slaughter as a means to achieve peace, but they sought to stop killing for killing’s sake. They saw Gongsun Zan as someone who had fallen into madness.

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