Chapter 479: Parting with a Handshake (Continued)

At a particular moment, a weakly defended main camp became the key to deciding the course of the entire realm.

If the Yan army seized and held it, then this great decisive battle on the Central Plains would already be four-tenths won; but if the Cao army held it, the battle could drag on, and all possibilities would naturally remain in play.

And so, on one side, dense masses of Hebei cavalry surged forward, trying to use their numerical advantage and the mobility of their warhorses to press directly up to the Cao army's camp; on the other side, the Cao army, clearly inferior in both troop numbers and fighting strength, threw themselves forward with all their might, trying to stake everything on stopping the Yan army's assault...

To be fair, both sides' actions were somewhat rash, and not necessarily the optimal solution.

From the Yan army's perspective, when they threw out ten thousand riders right at the start to probe, they did not know whether that great camp in the Cao army's rear concealed twenty thousand armored soldiers, densely packed with countless powerful bows and heavy crossbows, whether they would suffer a setback for nothing, whether they would pay too great a price in blood for this.

And from the Cao army's perspective, their mistakes, especially those of Cao Chun who came bearing the imperial tally, seemed perhaps even more numerous... For instance, the previous night he had refused the forward camp's request to move troops into the rear camp to assist in its defense, instead pinning his hopes on the forward camp's packed ranks to intimidate any Yan army that might arrive; for another instance, today when he actually saw Gongsun Xun leading so many cavalry, he was clearly somewhat shaken and took no effective measures; and by the time he realized there was no more room to hide, he then, out of a cavalry commander's instinct and an impulse for revenge, chose to charge straight out, meeting attack with attack, rather than dismounting his cavalry to serve as infantry and help hold the main camp!

Especially that last move — one could absolutely call it irresponsible, call it impulsive... But then again, a twenty-seven-year-old commander of the Imperial Guard cavalry — why should he not be impulsive? Why should he be so rational?

And on a battlefield, that most absurd of places, how many five-zhu coins is rationality worth?! If he had chosen to stay and defend, only for the main Yan cavalry force to come trampling right up to the camp, and the twenty thousand laborers inside to collapse without a fight, wouldn't his three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry have become the greatest joke under heaven?!

So, war is war — no need for hypotheticals, no point in regrets.

Indeed, just as Xun You had warned, just as Gongsun Xun had come to realize, once both sides mounted their warhorses, drew their waist sabers, leveled their long spears, and drew their bows... all calculations, all rationality, all grand strategy, everything, everything lost all meaning!

Of all things under heaven, only war is not easy!

At this very moment, there was nothing but blade against blade, iron horse against iron horse!

Cao Chun threw open the camp gates and suddenly charged out with three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, aiming straight for the great banner bearing the character "Zhang" to the left of the main camp... There was no problem with this choice, because he knew very well that the man beneath that banner had to be Zhang Liao, the one who had killed Xiahou Yuan, and Zhang Liao's unit was at that moment more advanced and posed an even greater danger to the main camp!

Besides, the fact that Zhang Liao's unit had advanced so far so quickly did not necessarily mean that Huang Gai's unit, which had been sent to block him, was fragile; it was more likely that the man, seeing reinforcements arriving behind him, had simply taken a small vanguard force and pushed forward, seeking to achieve merit... In other words, Zhang Liao was very likely what one would call rashly advancing with light troops, and Cao Chun's sortie could very well create a local battlefield situation where the many fought the few.

And in fact, this was exactly the case — Zhang Wenyuan at this moment had only a little over a thousand riders at his side; the rest were behind, locked in combat with Huang Gai's unit. And the three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, striking without warning — setting aside the quality of their warhorses, the quality of their troopers and their rate of armor-wearing were absolutely the finest under heaven! And when this elite force, the very lifeblood of Cao Cao, suddenly collided at short range with Zhang Liao's advanced unit, it immediately produced a startling effect!

As for cavalry collisions, a metaphor from Gongsun Xun himself had long circulated within the Yan army: it was just like two water-filled clay jars smashing into each other — the side that was stronger, faster, harder, and heavier would win in an instant! And in that clear victory and defeat, the victor could hardly avoid casualties, but the vanquished would suffer far greater and more immediate losses in a very short time.

The speed of such casualties far exceeded that of infantry engagements.

In practice, Zhang Liao's unit, caught off guard, immediately lost over a hundred men, no less! And they were pressed and killed without respite by the surging Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

And yet, though Zhang Wenyuan, suddenly struck such a blow, was certainly filled with fury for a time — ever since he had joined Gongsun Xun's command at Shanxian, when had he ever suffered such a bitter loss?! — under the promptings of reason and experience, this Tiger General of Bingzhou, only twenty-eight years old this year, forcibly suppressed his rage. While personally leading his personal guards, wielding his spear and fighting at the front to open a path, he strove to lead his unit, wheeling toward the outer side of the main camp, attempting to extract this advanced force of his, now clearly numbering fewer than a thousand riders, from the battlefield.

As one side waned, the other waxed. Watching Zhang Liao's banner moving outward, Cao Chun, though regretful that he had not succeeded in avenging Xiahou Yuan, could not afford to dwell on it in the heat of battle; instead, he grew invigorated, even overjoyed.

After finishing off a Yan cavalryman with one spear thrust, he immediately turned back to look around and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Where is Wenlie?!"

Cao Wenlie — that is, Cao Cao's clan nephew, Cao Xiu, the own nephew of Cao Hong, who had just this year undergone his capping ceremony on the battlefield — was at that moment serving as Cao Chun's deputy within the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Hearing this, he immediately answered from a distance: "Uncle, please speak!"

"Wenlie!" The battlefield was a chaotic mess; Cao Chun could not see Cao Xiu at all, but that did not stop him from raising his voice to issue orders. "Take a thousand riders back to camp! When Cheng Lian on the other side thrusts up to the camp front, you do the same as we just did — charge out of camp and catch him off guard! Once I've linked up with Huang Gongfu, attacking from front and rear, and stabilized the left flank, I will immediately come to your aid!"

And without waiting for Cao Xiu to respond, Cao Chun again looked around and gave orders: "Commandants Li and Ding, take your battalions and follow Wenlie! The rest, follow me north — we must link up with General Huang's unit!"

With these words, the man leveled his spear and rode straight north, his momentum like a rainbow.

The reason Cao Chun had not seen Cao Xiu just now was that the latter had been wounded in the recent cavalry collision.

Cao Wenlie had been stabbed in the foot — the foot resting in the stirrup — by a Yan cavalryman who had been thrown from his horse, using a knife from the ground; for a moment, blood flowed like a stream. That moment naturally needed no further description, but now, as Zhang Liao hastily retreated toward the outer edge of the camp ramparts, Cao Xiu seized the chance to bend down from his horse, remove his boot, and prepare to hastily bandage the wound right there on the battlefield — the elite armored troopers each carried a small pouch containing dry gauze that had been boiled in water, a practice Cao Cao had adopted since the campaign against the Yellow Turbans.

Such a little item, weighing almost nothing, could save the life of a precious armored soldier or armored rider when needed — truly the most cost-effective piece of equipment imaginable. Not to mention the Yan and Cao armies at this moment, even back when Shi Xie's entire family and Zhu Jun's entire family were fighting it out in Jiaozhou, this item had long been indispensable on the battlefield.

Returning to the scene at hand, Cao Xiu had just removed his boot and placed it on his saddle, then torn open the pouch containing the gauze, and was about to bend down to bandage the wound, when he heard Cao Chun's order. Ignoring the wound on the top of his foot, he simply gritted his teeth, used the gauze to bind his ankle to stop the bleeding, then pulled his deerskin boot back on, turned around, raised his spear, and shouted with fervent intensity... He demanded that the thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry turn back with him to camp, to prepare to meet Cheng Lian's unit on the right side of the main camp!

Leaving aside Cao Xiu for the moment, let us speak only of Cao Chun. Leading the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, he had gained the upper hand in the first engagement, forcefully breaking through Zhang Liao's iron cavalry, and for a time their morale soared like a rainbow. And when they took only two thousand riders and continued north, crashing into the remainder of Zhang Liao's unit, which was locked in combat with Huang Gai's force, they grew even more elated!

It turned out that all Yan army units at present were of mixed composition. Among them were the so-called standing elite cavalry, normally stationed and deployed around Yecheng — every one of them treated just like the Cao army's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Not only were they superbly equipped, almost all in full suits of iron armor and carrying long spears, but they were also skilled in both archery and horsemanship, training ceaselessly day after day... But there were also so-called seasoned conscript riders, levied from various commanderies and kingdoms, men said to have combat experience.

And after mixing, the general practice was to retain half as a core elite serving as the general's own battalion, while the other half were promoted to officers to lead these conscripts. Doing this naturally and effectively raised the overall combat effectiveness of the army! But conversely, doing this clearly lowered the average combat effectiveness of any given unit.

In fact, Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was itself the reverse of this formula — it was an extremely elite force formed by selecting the finest troops from conscripts across various regions, even concentrating and drawing out outstanding officers.

So now, as the two armies clashed in melee, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, having won the first engagement and forced Zhang Liao to pull away to the outer flank, then came north to fight again, only to discover that the remaining troops of Zhang Liao's unit, aside from their warhorses, were actually inferior to them in individual soldier quality and military equipment! Not only that, but because Huang Gai had suddenly intercepted them midway, the rear elements of Zhang Liao's unit had been brought to a halt — they were troops who had lost their mobility advantage.

With the situation thus, it was no wonder Cao Chun was elated! At this moment, the man even began to fantasize about whether he could, with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and the four battalions of infantry working together, successfully break the siege, to the point of forcing Gongsun Xun's forty thousand cavalry to retreat!

If he succeeded, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry would surely win renown across the realm in this battle!

Zhang Liao's unit, struck this blow and with their reinforcements still not having successfully linked up, for a time showed signs of scattering and collapse. And one group among them, about one or two hundred strong, clearly a company-sized formation of cavalry, was spotted by Cao Chun, who seized the advantage and directly surrounded them, attempting to annihilate them completely.

Amid the chaotic fighting, one Yan cavalryman, clearly a conscript, after fighting fiercely alongside his comrades to kill a squad leader of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, found himself covered in blood and, in a daze, actually broke out of the encirclement, reaching the outer edge of the battlefield to the west.

When this man came to his senses and looked around, he first saw Zhang Liao's banner not far to the west, and beneath it, the clear figure of his own commanding general, evidently directing the regrouping of eight or nine hundred of his core elite who had disengaged from the battle; there were even riders on the periphery waving for him to come join them. But when he turned his head back, the comrades of his own company were still trapped within the encirclement!

And so, his blood surging for a moment, the man shouted out from a distance in his Hejian accent: "Does General Zhang see only his own core elite cavalry from Yecheng? Are we conscript riders from Anping and Hejian all worthless?!"

With these words, this conscript cavalryman from Hejian, without waiting for any response from Zhang Liao, raised his spear and rode off alone — heading back east, toward the battlefield where the chaotic melee raged beside the enemy camp!

It must be understood that Zhang Wenyuan was renowned in the army for his domineering temper, a man who never submitted to others — the foremost thorn in the side of the Yecheng military. The Army Supervisor, Chief Clerk, Registrar, and other adjutants assigned by the army would all get headaches at the sight of him; everyone dreaded being posted to his unit, and his reputation in official circles was even worse.

Yet on the other hand, he was also universally acknowledged to have an extremely close relationship with the soldiers under his command — always sharing the same table when eating, the same room when sleeping, often even standing up for his soldiers, going so far as to distribute rewards and buy houses and arrange marriages for veterans leaving the service.

Therefore, having just now ignored his reinforcements and rashly advanced with light troops, only to be met head-on by Cao Chun and lose over a hundred men on the spot, he was already seething with fury and resentment, nearly driven to madness, and had only bitten down hard and avoided battle in order to cut his losses in time, pulling his core unit out to regroup. And now, to actually be misunderstood by a newly assigned subordinate, who thought that he, Zhang Liao, was actually a coward who cherished his own life and abandoned his comrades — how could he endure that?!

And so, driven by shame and fury, Zhang Liao neither spoke nor gave any order. Without a word, he simply discarded his long spear, drew from behind his horse two hand-axes — neither long nor short, half-length and half-short — then spread both arms wide, clamped his legs fiercely against his mount's flanks, and like an iron hawk spreading its wings, followed that Hejian conscript rider who had turned back to charge, heading straight for the chaotic melee of the battlefront ahead!

At this moment, he had barely gathered eight hundred riders around him, all veteran elite troops maintained at Yecheng, some simply old comrades from Bingzhou and Guanxi who had followed him for many years. Seeing this, they no longer bothered with formation, but one after another reined in their horses and spurred them to speed, naturally forming an arrowhead assault formation as they followed their general in a direct charge westward!

"General!" Within the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, sharp-eyed men had long since spotted Zhang Liao's movement and were pointing at him from a distance.

"I was just looking for him — and this dead dog of a bandit dares to come back?" Cao Chun, seeing that it was Zhang Liao who had fled and returned, was furious for a moment, yet remained unflustered.

After all, according to Cao Zihe's experience, a unit of around a thousand men, having lost one or two hundred, would already have its morale shattered; if you forcibly regrouped it and inflicted roughly the same number of casualties again, it would inevitably collapse completely!

Therefore, he did not take Zhang Liao seriously!

It was only the overall battlefield situation that concerned him — he felt this would waste time, to the point that Cao Xiu on the other flank might run into trouble, or that the main Yan army force, cut off by Huang Gai and Chen Dao, might break through.

"Commandants Wang and Zhu, continue the advance — you must swiftly devour those two hundred riders! Commandants Li and Gao, follow me west!" Cao Chun shouted repeatedly, summoning only a thousand riders to turn toward the west.

Now, the horse Zhang Liao rode was a light-black divine steed specially bestowed by Lady Gongsun, originating from beyond the frontier — powerfully built, able to outrun any herd for a thousand li, yet with a violent temperament and extremely difficult to tame. Because its neck was long and slender, in accordance with classical allusions, it was a horse of the so-called "Dao Li" breed. And so, though he had started later, he arrived first, actually overtaking that Hejian conscript rider on the battlefield and charging directly into the enemy formation at the very front!

A high-ranking officer of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, wearing a black silk cord and bronze seal at his waist, came straight at him, bellowing as he spurred forward fiercely, intent on achieving great merit. He never expected that Zhang Liao, meeting him head-on, would make a slight dodge on horseback, then whirl around and hack out with one hand-axe, directly cleaving through the back of the enemy officer's neck — a man clad in a full suit of iron armor — severing more than half his neck!

Pitiful was this high-ranking officer, at minimum a company commander, who encountered such a peerless Tiger General in the midst of violent rage. In but a single exchange, having uttered only a single shout, he met such a miserable end — the man's head was nearly hacked off, yet because the blade of the hand-axe was limited in reach, a layer of skin and flesh still connected it at the front, so it merely hung against his chest.

As eight hundred cavalry came charging in, the riderless horse, bearing its master's corpse, instinctively turned in panic, so that the master's head bounced several times against his own chest before, along with the corpse, falling from the horse in front of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry's formation.

Even though the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were composed entirely of fierce and valiant warriors from the Central Plains, seeing such a sight now, they could only falter for a moment; some even instinctively veered aside to avoid Zhang Liao.

And in that moment of faltering, the eight hundred charging iron cavalry from Yecheng had already reached them.

The two sides clashed again. This time, it was likewise a collision of cavalry, likewise a swift resolution of victory and defeat, and likewise resulting in over a hundred direct casualties — but the victor was now unmistakably the Yan army!

Shielded by layers of personal guards, Cao Chun was uninjured, but his face went pale for a moment. Zhang Liao did not even turn his head, continuing his forward thrust, yet he could not help a cold sneer — after two direct clashes, both men had simultaneously grasped the crux of the issue.

Among them, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, being the best of the best, had superior individual quality and equipment; in a standstill mounted duel, they would defeat the Ye City armored riders. However, the Ye City riders’ warhorses were of better quality, and their horsemanship and understanding of cavalry charge tactics were also more profound!

In other words, setting aside the element of surprise, in short-distance, low-intensity, low-speed charges, or outright standstill combat, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry clearly held the advantage; but using their superior mounts to adjust formation, pulling back to find an opening and then launching a mass charge — there, the Ye City Iron Riders were clearly superior!

And once he understood this, Cao Chun naturally regretted sending Cao Xiu away, which left his forces even thinner and made it harder to withstand a charge. Zhang Liao, too, naturally realized how this battle should be fought!

However, although he now knew the key to this engagement, Zhang Wenyuan was in no hurry to pull back again. Instead, he brandished his twin halberds, riding the momentum of the eight hundred armored riders charging behind him, and together with that Hejian conscript rider, plunged into one of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry’s encirclements. Only after extracting those two hundred riders did he turn and head back.

Moreover, once he turned around, heedless of the blades and arrows crisscrossing the battlefield, he directly rested one halberd across his horse, then waved over that Hejian conscript right there on the battlefield and asked with a cold sneer: “Well? Does your general have no eye for you?!”

That Hejian rider showed no fear, immediately raising his voice in reply: “General, the might you just displayed was like a hawk striking barnyard fowl! The hawk soars nine heavens high, its gaze covering a thousand li — naturally, its eyes take in everything!”

Zhang Liao roared with laughter, then raised his twin halberds again, galloped off shouting, and ordered his entire unit to follow him and pull back to open ground to the west, preparing for the next galloping charge.

The sun was already gradually tilting west; it was now past noon, and the battle was locked in a stalemate for the moment.

And beneath the blazing sun, on the northern side of the battlefield, under the White Horse Banner, Gongsun Xun sat on his horse, rubbing the extraordinarily long hilt of the broken blade at his waist, his expression as composed as ever… He had no idea of the twists and turns between Zhang Liao and Cao Chun on that side of the battlefield, nor did he know that Cao Ang was inside that main camp, much less that someone named Cao Xiu had already joined the fight on another part of the field… In truth, even if he had known all this, he probably would not have cared.

In fact, he was not even the slightest bit stirred by the temporary stalemate on the battlefield before him.

There were two reasons for this.

First, the situation had already devolved into a chaotic melee. For the Yan Army cavalry, who had come lightly equipped on a rapid raid, they lacked gongs and drums — in other words, apart from sounding the assembly horn to signal a withdrawal, the only troops Gongsun Xun could now directly command were the six thousand-plus dismounted Xiongnu soldiers and the three thousand-plus Volunteer Riders.

Second, from the perspective of a seasoned battlefield commander, the apparent stalemate before him was actually an illusion.

Gongsun Xun knew very well that the offensive had stalled only because the Yan Army had been caught off guard by a sudden sortie from the troops inside the camp. Once the Yan Army officers regained their bearings, they would immediately suppress the enemy. Even without the officers regaining their bearings, if they simply kept pressing the attack and Cao’s army made no new moves, then with the height advantage conferred by their warhorses and sufficient numerical superiority, the twenty thousand cavalry arriving later would soon drive those two battalions of infantry into a desperate corner!

After that, it would be the total collapse of the enemy camp and the complete seizure of Guandu!

“Prefect Zhu!”

Just as Gongsun Xun’s heart and face alike remained utterly unruffled, within the forward four camps, one of the two remaining battalions that had yet to commit troops — led by Lu Dai, the Grand Administrator of Lujiang, who could be counted among Liu Bei’s original retinue of officers — personally came to the neighboring camp of Zhu Zhi, the Grand Administrator of Kuaiji, and met with him face to face.

“Prefect Lu.” Amid the clashing of metal and neighing of warhorses, Zhu Zhi, fully armored and grim-faced, greeted him with a hasty salute. “Please, instruct me.”

“Prefect Zhu.” Lu Dai, hand on the saber at his waist, spoke urgently and without any courtesy. “The situation is already critical. If we do not move now, I fear we will soon be unable to move at all! I intend to abandon the camp immediately. I ask you to go support General Huang on the western flank, while I go support General Chen. We will fight a retreating action from both flanks, converging toward the rear at the main camp where Young Master Cao is stationed, and hold our ground there to await Minister Cao!”

“If we could achieve that, it would of course be ideal! But I fear Duke Yan will not give us that chance!” Zhu Zhi replied gravely. “I fear that the moment we leave camp, the waiting Xiongnu cavalry to the north will press forward at once, and then, conversely, outside the camp, the entire army will be dragged down and collapse…”

“I also know that Duke Yan still has reserve troops to the north, but we cannot simply sit here waiting to die, can we?” Lu Dai retorted anxiously. “In such a situation, if our two camps, nearly ten thousand soldiers, were to be defeated without even fighting, that would be the greatest joke of all!”

“At this juncture, of course we cannot shirk battle!” Zhu Zhi replied earnestly. “But going to the flanks now is simply seeking our own death…”

“What exactly does Prefect Zhu mean?”

“This is Deng Dang, a Major of a Separate Detachment under my command!” Zhu Zhi, his expression unchanged, raised a hand to point at an officer beside him. “He has just proposed an utterly preposterous stratagem. I do not think highly of it, but at this moment, it is worth a try!”

“What stratagem?” Lu Dai hastily asked Deng Dang.

“Nothing else — a feigned surrender to assassinate Duke Yan, that is all.” The thousand-dan Major named Deng Dang bowed his head in reply, his forehead covered in sweat. “I have just discussed it with Prefect Zhu. In truth, there is not much chance of success!”

Yet Lu Dai, after a brief stunned pause, blurted out the exact same words as Zhu Zhi: “At this moment, it is worth a try!”

“Moreover!” Zhu Zhi, standing nearby with his saber clasped in his arms, added coolly, “We can send Deng Dang to feign surrender while simultaneously preparing for battle. Whether he succeeds or not, we can then immediately exploit the ensuing chaos to charge forward and strike directly at Duke Yan!”

Lu Dai fell silent for a moment, and the officers of both camps around them also fell silent for a moment under the blazing sun.

In truth, setting aside whether they could break through those six thousand-plus Xiongnu cavalry and the three thousand-plus world-renowned White Horse Volunteers, consider just one thing: the Yan Army consisted entirely of cavalry. To try to strike directly at Duke Yan with ten thousand infantry from two battalions — to be frank, the odds of success were far too low. They could only pin their hopes on the brief chaos that might follow the success or failure of the assassination… In essence, like the feigned surrender and assassination plot itself, this was a so-called desperate gambit that one would never normally consider.

It was a stratagem theoretically devoid of any value!

And yet, as Zhu Zhi and Lu Dai had just said — at this moment, it was worth a try! After all, as two true veteran generals who had been active since the campaign against Dong Zhuo and the Yellow Turban Rebellion respectively, they could see very clearly that the situation, which appeared to be a stalemate, was in fact already extremely perilous!

They could only stake everything on one desperate thrust!

“Major Deng!” Having made up his mind, Lu Dai cupped his hands in a straightforward salute to Deng Dang. “Then I entrust this to you. I will return to camp immediately and ready the troops…” He paused, and without waiting for Deng Dang’s response, turned to Zhu Zhi. “Prefect Zhu, let us agree: if the single strike fails, we will immediately retreat together and see if we can bring a portion of our troops into the main camp!”

Zhu Zhi nodded silently.

The matter was urgent. In mere moments, the helpless Deng Dang hastily led seven or eight of his Danyang personal troops to the front of the camp and made the handover with the colleagues stationed there.

By Zhu Zhi’s order, he was to seize this opportune moment to defect!

“You jinx!” Under Zhu Zhi’s distant gaze behind him, Deng Dang checked his equipment while grumbling incessantly at a young soldier of only eighteen or nineteen beside him. “This was all your rotten idea… If we both end up dead under the blades of the White Horse Volunteers, won’t your sister cry herself blind at home? The moment I discovered you’d followed me into the army back in Chen Commandery, I should have sent you back, you jinx… That way, even if I died, your sister would still have someone to lean on in the future!”

Deng Dang’s brother-in-law — none other than the nineteen-year-old Lu Meng, who had run away from home to “seek rank and fame” with his brother-in-law — was entirely unimpressed by this: “The realm is in chaos. Even back home in Runan, everyone knows the House of Han cannot endure. This is precisely the time to seize rank and fame… If not for you, brother-in-law, having followed Sun Polu in Jiangdong and risen to the rank of thousand-dan Major, I might well have long since enlisted with our neighbor, General Chen Dao!”

“I should have made you study books long ago. Otherwise, how would it have come to this?” Deng Dang shook his head helplessly, giving up on lecturing his brother-in-law.

Lu Meng was just about to retort when, unexpectedly, Deng Dang suddenly grabbed him and, under Zhu Zhi’s watchful gaze behind them, sprinted forward with all his might.

Moreover, as he ran, he shouted toward the Xiongnu cavalry ahead, who had already grown alert: “I am Deng Dang, a Major under Zhu Zhi! I have critical military intelligence to report to Duke Yan!”

Even as he spoke, he forcefully threw down the saber at his waist, raising his official seal and cord high with one hand while dragging his brother-in-law Lu Meng with the other — and inside Lu Meng’s clothes, as planned, was hidden a short blade.

Several arrows flew from behind but none found their mark. The unit of Xiongnu cavalry ahead, having hastily mounted, hesitated momentarily at the sight, but ultimately shielded and surrounded the two men, then escorted them rearward toward the White Horse Banner, which was in fact only a few hundred paces away.

————— I am the dividing line of pulling someone by the hand and running —————

“Zhang Liao, styled Wenyuan… As a general, he was arrogant and unruly, frequently clashing with his colleagues, and was known as one of the Three Scourges of the Ye Capital. Only the Grand Ancestor favored and indulged him, keeping him constantly as a commander in charge of three thousand elite riders at Ye. At twenty-six, he was appointed Lieutenant General.” — New Book of Yan, Volume 71, Biographies, Chapter 21

“Cao Chun, styled Zihe. He lost his father at fourteen and lived apart from his full elder brother Ren. He inherited his father’s estate, was rich in wealth, and had servants and retainers numbering in the hundreds. Cao Chun managed and supervised them without losing order, and the villagers all considered him capable. He was fond of learning and respected scholars, so many scholars flocked to him, and he was praised far and wide for this. At eighteen, he became a Gentleman Attendant at the Yellow Gate. At twenty, he followed Cao in campaigns. At twenty-three, for his valor and heroic distinction, he was appointed Commandant of Cavalry, commanding three thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.” — New Book of Yan, Volume 27, Hereditary Houses, Chapter 2

PS: Did everyone have a happy Qixi Festival last night?

(End of Chapter)