The Prodigal Son

In the afternoon, Qin Yu, who was still escorting surrendered soldiers and supplies to Haidong City with the main force, received the news.

Han Chong and Liang Hongqiao captured Haidong City without lifting a finger, and the city's garrison surrendered voluntarily.

Unfortunately, when the garrison tried to capture Xiao Hu and present him to them to curry favor, they discovered that Xiao Hu had already escaped with his men.

The grain supplies in Haidong City were scarce, enough to feed them and the surrendered soldiers for about a day.

Xiao Hu?

Qin Yu remembered Xiao Hu.

However, when he tried hard to recall Xiao Hu's appearance, he realized that he couldn't remember what Xiao Hu looked like at all.

Pity!

If Xiao Hu hadn't run away, we might have been able to trade him for some warhorses or something with Xiao Baoju.

Qin Yu felt a pang of regret, but immediately ordered: "Order Yue Hanshan to lead his troops with a small amount of provisions and rush to Haidong City overnight."

"yes!"

"call……"

After watching the messenger leave, Qin Yu let out a long breath of steaming air and then ordered someone to summon Yuan Dingguo.

"What are your orders, Commander Qin?"

Yuan Dingguo arrived quickly.

Qin Yu instructed, "Leave the escort of the grain and prisoners to us! You immediately take your troops to Haidong City. After resting for one night, immediately lead Liang Hongqiao and Han Chong's troops to launch a surprise attack towards Xiazhou and seize the grain that Beiqi is transporting to Shengzhou Prefecture!"

"yes!"

Yuan Dingguo accepted the order.

Qin Yu thought for a moment and then instructed again: "Send more people to scout out the situation in Xiazhou. If there are no Beiqi troops stationed in Xiazhou, then seize Xiazhou! Otherwise, take the looted grain and retreat back to Shengzhou Prefecture. I will quickly bring men to meet up with you!"

Yuan Dingguo accepted the order once again.

Afterwards, Qin Yu asked Ning Huang and Gui San and Gui Si to go with Yuan Dingguo and the others, while he stayed behind to clean up the mess.

……

"Giddy up! Giddy up..."

Xiao Hu rode his horse at full speed, braving the howling cold wind.

There were only a dozen or so of them, and they escaped incredibly quickly.

Not long after it got dark, they encountered a convoy transporting grain.

Xiao Hu quickly found Hai Du Chi, the young general from Northern Qi responsible for escorting the grain supplies, and ordered, "Quickly take the grain supplies and retreat back to Xiazhou!"

"Return to Xiazhou?"

Hai Duchi looked utterly bewildered. "I was ordered to escort grain supplies to Shengzhou Prefecture. Why would I return to Xiazhou?"

"What a load of rubbish!"

Xiao Hu said urgently, "Yelü Shu's troops have been defeated by the Ning army! Shengzhou cannot be held. Retreat to Xiazhou immediately, otherwise all this grain and fodder will be prepared for the Ning people!"

"What nonsense!" Hai Du Chi frowned at Xiao Hu. "Who are you? State your identity now, or you'll be treated as a Ningren spy!"

"I……"

Xiao Hu was nearly driven mad with rage, glaring at Hai Du Chi and roaring, "My name is Xiao Hu! My father is Xiao Baoju! Stop talking nonsense and get back to Xiazhou right now!"

Is Xiao Baoju's son?

Haidu frowned.

He did recognize Xiao Baoju.

But he didn't know Xiao Hu.

However, this grandson claims to be Xiao Baoju's son, so he must be?

He could say he was Xiao Baoju's son, and Ning Ren's spy could say the same thing!

After a moment's thought, Haidu Chi replied, "I don't care whose son you are, and I don't know if what you're saying is true or false!"

"But my orders were to escort provisions to Shengzhou!"

"If you really are Lord Xiao's son, go find Lord Xiao and have him order me to escort the grain supplies back to Xiazhou!"

He couldn't possibly believe the words of a stranger about something like this.

If what this person said is true, that's fine. But if it's false, and it delays the supply of provisions to the front lines, they could lose their heads.

"you……"

Faced with Haiduchi's insistence, Xiao Hu couldn't help but curse angrily: "You idiot! You're even more of an idiot than Yelü Shu! Fine, you wait, I'll rush back and get my father to give you the order!"

After saying this, Xiao Hu dared not delay and immediately led his guards to Yunzhou overnight.

He really couldn't do anything about dealing with such an idiot.

The only way to save their precious food supplies is to tell their father the news.

Even if it cannot be saved, we must order the grain and fodder to be burned. We must not let the Ning people benefit from it!

With this in mind, Xiao Hu hurried along the way.

The next day at noon, they finally arrived at Xiao Baoju's place, where he was still organizing people to empty Huyao.

"What happened to you? Why did you come back?"

Seeing Xiao Hu rushing back, looking travel-worn, Xiao Baoju couldn't help but look puzzled.

There was also a hint of anger in his eyes.

If this rebellious son ran away because he couldn't endure the hardships of military life, he would definitely chop him up!

"I'll explain in more detail later!"

Xiao Hu gasped for breath, panicking, "Yelü Shu's troops must have been completely wiped out! Quickly send someone to order that Hai Duchi to retreat to Xiazhou with the supplies, or just burn the supplies!"

"What?"

Xiao Baoju's expression changed drastically. He grabbed his son and roared, "What exactly happened? How could Yelü Shu's entire army be wiped out?"

That's 20,000 men!

Even if you sent 20,000 pigs to guard Shengzhou, the entire army wouldn't have been wiped out!

What exactly was Yelü Shu doing?

"I don't know the specifics either. Yelü Shu didn't want me to gain merit, so he abandoned me in Haidong City, but they must have fallen for Ning Jun's treacherous scheme..."

Xiao Hu casually grabbed the teacup next to him, gulped down a few mouthfuls of tea, and then briefly told Xiao Baoju about Yelü Shu's plan and the course of events.

After hearing Xiao Hu's words, Xiao Baoju felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

idiot!

Yelü Shu, that self-righteous fool!

He guarded Shengzhou Prefecture well. As long as the supplies arrived, the Ning people would definitely not choose to launch a full-scale attack on Shengzhou Prefecture!

As long as they occupy Shengzhou Prefecture, Xiazhou, Liaozhou, and Bozhou will all be theirs.

Yelü Shu's defeat almost wiped out half of their gains!

"Prepare the horses!"

Xiao Baoju roared, quickly mounted his warhorse, and headed towards Xiao Yangguang's military camp.

He couldn't possibly make such a big decision on his own.

We must ask Xiao Yanguang for his opinion.

If Xiao Yanguang's cavalry can quickly withdraw and occupy Xiazhou, it may be possible to preserve the grain supplies that were sent there.

Otherwise, all that grain and fodder would have to be burned!

Soon, Xiao Baoju arrived at Xiao Yanguang's place, where he was leading his troops in a standoff with the Ning army at Huguan, ten miles outside the pass.

"idiot!"

"You greedy, stupid pig!"

After hearing Xiao Baoju's words, Xiao Yangguang roared in fury.

"Now is not the time to talk about these things; we need to come up with a solution quickly!"

Xiao Baoju advised, "Right now, we either need to send cavalry quickly to pick up the grain transport team, or we have no choice but to burn the grain..."

Sending infantry to provide support would be too late!

Xiao Yanguang tried his best to suppress his anger and lowered his head in deep thought.

The rest of the cavalry are in his hands!

But if they retreat, the Ning army at Huguan will surely pursue them.

They can retreat quickly, while Hu Yao's men have no time to retreat at all!

Moreover, the bridge over the Panjiang River is only so wide, and evacuation will take time!

We cannot retreat hastily!

Otherwise, even they will suffer heavy losses!

After weighing the pros and cons, Xiao Yanguang, filled with resentment and anger, squeezed out a single word through gritted teeth.

"burn!"

The only option is to burn it!

We can't let Ningren get away with this!

Xiao Baoju felt a pang of bitterness in his heart and asked again, "Then...should we still send troops to seize Xiazhou?"

Xiao Yanguang smiled wryly and asked in return, "Do we still have soldiers to send?"

He wants to send troops too!

But they simply don't have that many troops!

He has 30,000 cavalry on his side.

There were also 20,000 infantrymen guarding the secret passage upstream of the Panjiang River.

Of the remaining 30,000 infantrymen, 10,000 were in Xiao Baoju's hands, who organized the Yan people of Huyao to empty Huyao.

The remaining 20,000 troops were deployed in Yunzhou, Jizhou, and Muzhou to maintain order and train the surrendered Yan soldiers.

He has no more soldiers to send out!

Sending people there by force would be giving the Ning people credit for their war effort!

Xiao Yanguang grew angrier the more he thought about it, wishing he could tear Yelü Shu to pieces.

I repeatedly told him to just guard Shengzhou, but he was still greedy for merit and acted rashly, falling into the Ning people's treacherous scheme.

Now, they have no choice but to cower north of the Panjiang River!

idiot!

That damn stupid pig!