"Waaaaah~!"

The urgent sound of horns echoed through a small tribe of the Southern Xiongnu.

Upon hearing the horn, the able-bodied men of the tribe hurriedly ran out of their tents and headed towards the center of the tribe.

After the able-bodied men had gathered together, the tribe's leader came before them.

"Warriors, the Han Dynasty has issued a decree to purchase slaves! Now, a Xianbei slave, regardless of gender, can be exchanged for a shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, a jar of wine, and half a jin (a unit of weight) of coarse salt..."

Upon hearing this, the young men of the Southern Xiongnu's eyes lit up.

This price is more than double what it used to be. If I just go and loot a little, it'll be enough to feed my whole family for a year.

Seeing the gleam in his subordinates' eyes, the leader nodded in satisfaction, then shouted:

"Prince Yufuluo just sent an order saying that the Xianbei people have migrated south. This is a great opportunity for us to make a fortune. Everyone, get ready and set off immediately!"

"yes!!"

The group of young men roared excitedly, hurried back to their respective tents, grabbed their scimitars and bows and arrows, gathered some food, and then led their mounts together.

Soon, several hundred able-bodied men from the tribe followed their leader and left the tribe, heading towards the royal court of the Southern Xiongnu.

Meanwhile, other tribes belonging to the Southern Xiongnu were also gathering their able-bodied men.

Because the Han Dynasty had raised the price of Xianbei slaves significantly this time, the leaders of various tribes spared no effort in gathering all the able-bodied men of their tribes in order to obtain more resources.

Four days later, the leaders of various tribes led their warriors to gather at the royal court of the Southern Xiongnu.

Yuvro, who originally only planned to gather 20,000 men, couldn't help but feel a headache when he saw that more than 50,000 men had gathered.

This is a plundering expedition, not a decisive battle!

With so many troops mobilized at the same time, the Xianbei people would have been scared away just by the sheer number of them. What was the point of plundering them then?

Thinking of all this, Hufro also started cursing at the tribal leaders.

Even so, the leaders remained silent, their necks stiff.

There was no way around it; the price of the slave purchase order issued by the Han Dynasty this time was simply too high, so the noble leaders naturally refused to back down.

Seeing this, Hufro was also quite helpless.

Normally, those noble leaders could obey his orders, but when it came to matters of interest, even his father, Qiangqu, might not be able to control these greedy fellows.

Two days later, Lü Bu led a thousand wolf riders to the Southern Xiongnu royal court and joined Yufuluo.

"Brother, those guys are just too greedy. None of them are willing to go back. What do you think we should do?"

Upon seeing Lü Bu arrive, Yufuluo hurriedly asked Lü Bu for his opinion.

"Since they refuse to go back, let them come with us!"

Lu Bu waved his hand dismissively, but secretly sneered in his heart.

The original plan was to use the Xianbei people to wipe out more than half of the Southern Xiongnu's forces. Now that the Southern Xiongnu have willingly walked into the trap, Lü Bu naturally wouldn't refuse.

"But brother, with so many of us going, we'll be too conspicuous. Not only will the Xianbei escape, but if they send a large army to pursue us, we'll likely suffer heavy losses!"

Lu Bu waved his hand: "It's alright, just let them split up and act. As long as they return before the Xianbei army assembles, there shouldn't be any problems!"

"Since you've said so, then let's do as you say!"

Upon hearing Lü Bu's words, Yufuluo nodded in agreement.

Ever since Lü Bu helped him escape from the encirclement of Xie Zhiyu, Yufuluo had held his adopted brother in the highest esteem.

In addition, since last year, Yufuluo has followed Lü Bu in his repeated campaigns against the Xianbei in the north, and has once again been impressed by Lü Bu's bravery.

Therefore, when facing Lü Bu, Yufuluo could be said to have become a devoted fan, obeying him in everything.

Subsequently, following Lü Bu's instructions, Yufuluo divided the 50,000 troops gathered at the royal court into three routes: left, center, and right.

Lü Bu led a thousand wolf cavalry and Yufuluo's twenty thousand soldiers as the central force, rushing towards the target Xianbei tribe.

After two days of marching, the central army led by Lü Bu and Yufuluo was less than a hundred li away from the first Xianbei tribe.

Before dawn, Lü Bu, dressed in his finest attire, emerged from his tent. At that moment, the vast grassland was still shrouded in darkness.

Looking at the dark northern sky, Lü Bu woke the two guards outside the tent, "Sound the horn, assemble!!"

"Yes, General!"

The guard, now fully awake, shouted in response and quickly untied the horn from his waist.

"Waaaaah~!"

The mournful sound of the bugle pierced the silence before dawn and echoed throughout the camp.

Soon, a group of wolf riders under Lü Bu's command gathered around the tent.

Unlike the wolf riders, the Southern Xiongnu soldiers, who were fast asleep, actually broke into a riot upon hearing the horn.

"Hmph, what a bunch of useless trash!"

Looking at the Southern Xiongnu people running around and shouting indiscriminately, Lü Bu couldn't help but snort coldly.

Fortunately, Huvro reacted quickly and led his personal guards to suppress the unrest.

After much dawdling, until the first hint of dawn appeared on the horizon, the team finally organized itself.

Although Lü Bu was very displeased, he did not make too many demands. After all, these Southern Xiongnu soldiers were not like the Han Dynasty soldiers of today, who had training for emergency assembly in the middle of the night.

"Set off!!"

Upon seeing Yufuluo arrive to join him, Lü Bu didn't waste any words. He immediately mounted his horse and led his troops northward at breakneck speed.

Yufuluo also led the Southern Xiongnu soldiers, closely following behind Lü Bu.

By this time, the sky was beginning to lighten, and more than 20,000 cavalrymen galloped across the vast, verdant grasslands like a whirlwind, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

After galloping for about half an hour, the newly risen sun peeked out from the eastern horizon, its red rays shining brightly on the grassland.

In the distance, there is a river flowing from north to south. Not far from the river is a newly arrived Xianbei tribe, a medium-sized tribe with nearly six thousand people.

In the tribe, the women who get up early also begin their day's work. Some go to the river to fetch water, while others carry wooden buckets to the livestock pen to squeeze sheep's milk and cow's milk into the buckets.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew by, carrying with it the faint sound of horses' hooves.

The busy women stopped and looked up towards the south.

Upon seeing this, the women turned pale with fright and screamed repeatedly.

Before the women could see, a large dark mass of people from the south was rapidly approaching the tribe, and the sound of horses' hooves, like muffled thunder, grew louder and louder.

"What's going on? Didn't His Majesty say that no one would attack us?"

Gazing at the dark shadows in the distance, a Xianbei woman murmured something in a daze.