Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 127: Divide and eat

Han Yi stood in the wind, lost and bewildered. After a long while, he stamped his feet, angrily jumped on his horse, and rode away.

After returning to the army, he reported the truth with trepidation.

Han You was furious. He grabbed Yan Yi's clothes and said sternly, "The enemy's baggage is right in front of me. I can take it if I want. Why do I need him to give it to me? Didn't you say that Yan Yi had already agreed to provide money and food? If you hadn't said that, why would I let him pass through my territory so easily?"

Han Yi thought to himself, given Yan Yi's dominance, would he stop even if you disagreed? Zhu Zhi's army was indeed defeated by Yan Yi. You are just taking advantage of the situation to wipe out the remnants of Zhu's army, and now you are demanding money and food. Do you really think he is a fool?

Of course, he could only mutter a few words in his heart, and said in a trembling voice, "Brother, calm down. You have defeated Zhu Zhi today, and your reputation will spread far and wide. Zhu's army's supplies have also been captured by our army. The most urgent task now is to eliminate the enemy as soon as possible to reduce our casualties."

Han You loosened his collar and looked out at the battlefield with a cold gaze. After a moment's contemplation, he suddenly sensed something strange and asked his attendants, "Do you notice how little baggage the enemy has?"

The left and right looked at each other in confusion. One of the generals frowned and said, "From my humble opinion, the enemy's baggage is indeed not much, far from the number of 7,000 soldiers. I'm afraid..."

Han You had a bad feeling in his heart and asked in a deep voice, "Afraid of what?"

The general said cautiously, "I'm afraid they left most of their baggage behind during the march."

His guess was indeed correct. In order to speed up the march, Zhu Zhi had abandoned most of the supplies on his way to Yong'an, and now they had all been obtained by Yan Yi.

Upon hearing this, Han You's face became even gloomier, and he suddenly felt that the reputation of defeating Zhu Zhi was not so appealing anymore.

In this battle, he lost a lot of soldiers. The initial estimate was that the casualties should be around 3,000. However, he only gained the false reputation of defeating Zhu Zhi and captured a small amount of enemy supplies. This deal was really a huge loss.

Han You felt a dull pain in his heart, and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head, and he cried out, "Not good!"

The generals on both sides were so frightened by his sudden surprise that Han Yi subconsciously asked, "Brother, what are you so frightened about?"

Han You's eyes burned with jealousy, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm afraid Yan Yi borrowed the passage not to pursue the remnants of Zhu's army, but to take advantage of this golden opportunity to attack Qiantang. Qiantang's garrison is empty, and there are no generals guarding it. It will be easy for Yan Yi to capture it. It's like gaining a city out of thin air. It would be fine for an ordinary city, but this is Qiantang!"

The generals were shocked when they heard this and sighed. The greater the power of the Yan family became, the harder it would be for them to survive. They were quite frightened.

Gong Cao Jia Ping suggested: "Qiantang guards the gateway to the East China Sea, and heroes from all directions covet it. If they can take it, we can also take it. Your Majesty must not miss it."

Although Jia Ping held the position of Gongcao, he often accompanied the army to offer advice. He was a military officer in reality, although not in name only.

Han You was silent for a long time, then he sighed and said, "Our army is small, not as strong as Yan's. What can we do?"

Jia Ping smiled slightly and said, "Why not contact Wang Lang and Xu Zhao and divide the spoils among them?"

Han You was overjoyed when he heard this, and even his breathing quickened. Suddenly, a hint of hesitation appeared on his face, and he said hesitantly, "It's just that due to the relationship between the two families today, if we start a war rashly, I'm afraid Lord Sheng will not be happy."

Jia Chang laughed loudly and said, "Your Excellency took the Qiantang River for yourself, what does it have to do with others? The road to Qiantang River wasn't built by the Yan family. How can he take it, but our army can't? Our army will do its best to restrain itself. If a war breaks out, it will be the fault of the Yan family! Lord Sheng should understand this."

"Zi Fu's words have opened my eyes. You are truly my wise counselor!"

Han You clapped his hands and smiled, no longer having any worries. While leading his troops to attack Zhu Zhi, he wrote a letter and sent someone to deliver it to Wang Lang and Xu Zhao by express horse.

Yan Yi personally led his army, passing through a detour and heading straight for Qiantang. After marching two or three miles, a scout arrived on horseback with the news: "Young Master, we've spotted enemy forces in the Yushan area, numbering approximately five hundred. They're led by Zhang Gong, and they're suspected to be remnants of Zhu Hai's army. They're now marching along a mountain path towards Yong'an."

Yan Yi was slightly stunned. He had made up an excuse to pursue the remnants of Zhu's army just to cover his tracks, but he had never expected to actually encounter the remnants of the enemy army. "How far is it from here?"

The scout clasped his fists and replied, "The mountain roads are rugged and difficult to travel, so it's hard to tell the time. It should be between one and two hours."

Yan Yi dismounted and said, "Bring me the map."

Si Qing quickly took out the military map of Wu County and spread it out on the ground.

The map was hand-painted on silk, ten feet long and six feet wide. The map focused on cities, passes, mountains, rivers and strategic routes. Due to the lack of precise measurement tools and methods, the scale and orientation of the map were not very accurate, so the army would also bring special guides to supplement the shortcomings of the map.

A guide who was familiar with the terrain of Yong'an and Shishan Mountains quickly arrived. Combining the scout's description and pointing to the map, he gave a detailed explanation of Zhang Gong's marching route.

The marching intention of Zhang Gong's troops was clear at a glance. They obviously wanted to rush to Yong'an to meet up with Zhu Zhi, because if their troops headed south, they would be blocked by Qiyun Mountain and it would take at least another day to get out of the Shishan Mountains.

Yan Yi listened carefully and asked, "Which is the shortest way for the enemy to reach Yong'an?"

The guide said without hesitation: "Lushan."

Yan Yi nodded slightly, holding the whip, and began to think.

The most important thing right now is to attack Qiantang, but Zhang Gong's 500 troops cannot be left alone. After all, this is an elite force that can pose a threat to their own army's food supply.

He paused for a moment, then gave the order, "Si Qing, lead two thousand troops and continue the march towards Qiantang. Capture the forts, bridges, and key roads along the way to clear obstacles for the rest of the troops. Li Chou, Wei Kuan, and Li Bian, follow me to Lushan to ambush Zhang Gong's forces!"

The generals responded loudly.

The army was then divided into two parts, and Yan Yi personally led 1,700 troops to Lushan.

The march along the official road was quite fast, and since the army was only three or four miles away from Lushan, no trace of the enemy was found when the entire army arrived at Lushan.

Yan Yi looked up and saw a mountain path about half a meter wide winding through the foot of Lushan Mountain. On both sides of the path stood towering hills, with lush forests and a deep and unfathomable depth.

He observed the mountain for a while and said thoughtfully, "This mountain is too conspicuous and easily spotted by enemy scouts. Let's set up an ambush on the mountain ahead."

Li Chou clasped his fists in response and immediately sent out scouts. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, he saw that there was no enemy ahead, so he ordered his soldiers to cut wood and move stones in preparation.

The 1,700 soldiers were lying in ambush on two hills 300 meters away from the east side of Lushan Mountain, sharpening their swords and stringing their bows and crossbows, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

At this moment, Zhang Gong's troops were marching three miles away from Lushan.

Zhang Gong, following Zhu Zhi's orders, led 500 soldiers to ambush at Yushan, attempting to join forces with Zhu Zhi to attack Chen Gan's troops.

However, when he led his troops to Yushan, he waited and waited for a full hour, but not only did he not see Chen Gan's troops passing by, there was no movement from Zhu Zhi either.

Zhang Gong was anxious, so he sent two scouts to Zhu Zhijun to find out the situation.

It was these two scouts who exposed his whereabouts!
(End of this chapter)