After Taige Rui and the others withdrew at top speed, they quickly regrouped outside the forest. Not long afterward, Henry, Brown, Letty, and the others arrived with their respective main forces.
"My lord, we encountered Lü Bu and failed to arrive in time. My deepest apologies!" said Henry, the leader of the bandits.
Just as Taige Rui had expected, upon receiving the bandits' message, they had immediately rushed over to support him. Yet halfway there, they were suddenly startled by a dragon-like neigh, the whinnying of horses, and thunderous hoofbeats. Turning around, they saw Lü Bu at a glance, and the entire group scattered like frightened birds and beasts, not daring to face him at all. Lü Bu did not regard them as worthy of notice. Riding Red Hare, he vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye, heading in precisely the direction where Taige Rui and Emperor Xian were. Afraid of Lü Bu and unwilling to press forward rashly, Henry and the others lingered on the road for a while before continuing. Though they worried about Taige Rui and the others, they also knew that even if something had truly happened, rushing over would be useless. They would only add to the casualties and lose points.
After grasping the general situation, Taige Rui said, "You did well. You didn't charge in recklessly, didn't act rashly, and didn't cause unnecessary losses. This time, I miscalculated. I only thought of dealing with Yin Kuang, but overlooked Emperor Xian—and failed to account for Lü Bu as well. Damn it! After Yin Kuang's disruption, it's no longer likely that we can accomplish anything in Luoyang..."
"My lord, why don't I report Yin Kuang and the others to Dong Zhuo?" Letty said.
Taige Rui shook his head. "It's useless. It would only