The Three Kingdoms: Home Travel

After midnight, Chen Deng personally selected three hundred of his family's retainers, who transformed into elite troops from Xuzhou, and calmly marched out of the city.

Three hundred people left the city. The sound wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either. Chen Deng turned his head and glanced in a dark direction, a smile appearing on his face. That was the place where the refugees were being settled.

Afterwards, Chen Deng whispered a few words to Fang Yue, who was guarding the city.

Fang Yue nodded, his eyes shining brightly. He had already suspected that there were Yellow Turban spies among the common people. Now that Chen Deng had said so, how could he not cooperate?

The three hundred Chen family retainers each carried a bundle containing a set of ordinary people's clothes. They traveled a long way and sent out many people to scout the surrounding area until they were sure that no one was around before they quickly changed into the clothes. Then they placed their short swords and leather armor in one place, secretly marked it, and waited to retrieve them later.

The next day, it was broad daylight.

Fang Yue saw a group of people coming in twos and threes from afar and chuckled to herself. But she was surprised when she got closer and saw that there were some elderly and weak women in the group. What was going on?

It turned out that Chen Deng had secretly instructed the Chen family's retainers that if they saw any civilians fleeing the war heading to Xuzhou, they should try to blend in with them. Otherwise, with only three hundred strong men, it wouldn't be hard for a discerning person to see through the scheme.

If not? Then there's nothing I can do. Anyway, I just need to get to Xuzhou before noon.

This group consisted of about a thousand people, including three hundred Chen family retainers. They saw Yellow Turban scouts more than once, but the scouts did not stop them and let them go directly to Xuzhou, presumably at the behest of Zhang Yan and others.

Fang Yue glanced at the people in the group a few times and felt that she seemed to have seen some of them yesterday. She immediately understood what was going on. She summoned her subordinates and arranged for these people, along with the Chen family's servants, to be settled near the temporary houses. She also sent some people to help them build some simple thatched huts.

When Chen Deng learned of this, he used the excuse of inspecting the East Gate to walk around the common people, saying some inconsequential things. He also saw his own family's guards, but he pretended not to know them, nodded, and left.

When Chen Deng went to report this matter to Jiang Zhe, Jiang Zhe had already gotten up and was idly flipping through the Spring and Autumn Annals. However, he only read the Spring and Autumn Annals as a novel, since there were none of the entertainment devices that Jiang Zhe was familiar with here.

Xiuer was embroidering on the side when she glanced at Mo Yang, who was reading a book, and a faint smile appeared in the corner of her eye.

Jiang Zhe sat at the table, yawning and resting his chin on his hand. Suddenly, he saw someone walking in from the doorway and immediately dropped his book.

"Teacher!" Chen Dengxian bowed first.

Jiang Zhe waved his hand and asked eagerly, "How is it? Is everything arranged?"

"Everything is ready!" Chen Deng glanced at the books on the table and felt a chill run down his spine. Even someone as learned as his teacher never forgets to read. He is truly a role model for us all!

"That's good!"

"In my opinion, the Yellow Turbans will likely take the city within the next couple of days..."

"Hmm!" Jiang Zhe nodded, about to speak, when suddenly a soldier from Xuzhou rushed in and said, "Reporting to Lord Jiang, because the city is short of firewood, the people all want to go out to find some. General Fang is trying to stop them, but the people are very determined to leave the city, I'm afraid..."

"Hmm?" Jiang Zhe frowned and asked, "Which region's people are the majority?"

"Um... most of them are local residents, not those living in the city, but there are quite a few people in Xuzhou City too..."

"They've probably been dragged into this!" Jiang Zhe frowned slightly, then suddenly a thought struck him, and he quickly asked, "If the East Gate is like this, what about the other three gates?"

Chen Deng was taken aback, but then understood Jiang Zhe's meaning and immediately said, "This student will immediately contact the three gates and order them not to let the people leave the city..."

"No!" Jiang Zhe interrupted Chen Deng, and slowly said, "Simply blocking them isn't the solution. We need to consider the will of the people. Since they want to go out, let them go out. In my opinion, the Yellow Turban Army won't do anything to them, but..."

"but?"

"You must count exactly how many people went out!"

"It's not that..." Chen Deng was clever enough to understand immediately, "It's not that the Yellow Turban rebels in the city, seeing they didn't have enough followers, incited the people to go out of the city to find firewood, so that the Yellow Turbans outside the city could take the opportunity to infiltrate?"

Jiang Zhe nodded.

"They're courting death!" Chen Deng sneered. "Do they really intend to send thousands of Yellow Turbans disguised as civilians? At most, a few hundred. Once they're inside Xuzhou, getting out won't be so easy. Let's cut off one of their arms first!"

"It would be best..." Jiang Zhe sighed after only starting to say, "But it's probably too late. In the time it takes to talk, if any civilians left the city through the other three gates, they would have already done so. There's no point in trying to stop them now. Yuanlong, you go to the East Gate immediately. I only need an estimated number!"

"Yes!" Chen Deng was also anxious. He bowed to Xiu'er and left in a hurry, with the Xuzhou soldier following closely behind.

After Chen Deng left, Jiang Zhe tapped the table with his hand while pondering the Yellow Turban Army's next move. Xiu'er, who was not far away, glanced at Jiang Zhe, smiled slightly, and continued with her work.

"Nine hundred and fifty-three..." Chen Deng stood atop the city wall, coldly watching the people leaving the city, silently counting in his mind, "One thousand..."

"One thousand three hundred..."

Nearly four thousand people went out, a number that startled Chen Deng. But recalling what Jiang Zhe had said before, he understood: the people love to follow the clouds!

Although Yellow Turban rebels were gathered outside the city, once someone took the lead, hundreds or thousands of civilians would follow. In this way, if the Chen family's generals could slowly approach the leading "citizens," they might be able to obtain some useful information...

In Xuzhou, only Chen Deng, with his photographic memory, could accurately count the number of people who rushed out of the city in such a short time (a very difficult feat). Even Jiang Zhe couldn't do it. Of course, in Chen Deng's heart, his teacher would always remain a mystery...

Once the people left the city, they dispersed. Except for the direction of the Yellow Turban camp, they went to cut down any flammable wood they could find.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, a few Yellow Turbans mixed among the common people exchanged a glance, and immediately two or three "commoners" walked away...

"What?!" Zhang Yan shouted from inside the Yellow Turban camp, "Three hundred elite soldiers left the city yesterday?"

"Yes!" the spy said.

Three hundred elite soldiers... what can they do? Zhang Yan pondered deeply. If it were a surprise attack, these soldiers would be too few. But no matter what, they couldn't be left to their own devices! Jiang Zhe's scheme a few days ago had been extremely ruthless, filling Zhang Yan with dread.

"I have one more thing to report!"

"Speak!" Zhang Yan frowned. Could there be some bad news?

"I've heard that five thousand elite troops from Xuzhou have been dispatched to escort grain supplies, and they will be returning soon!"

"Food supplies!" Zhang Yan's eyes lit up.

"Yes!"

Could those three hundred elite soldiers have gone to inform the five thousand Xuzhou troops? That doesn't make sense! If it were just a message, only a few people would be needed. Zhang Yan rubbed his forehead, truly unable to figure it out.

"My time is short, I must take my leave now!"

Zhang Yan waved her hand impatiently, and the spy left.

Jiang Zhe, Jiang Zhe... what exactly are you planning?!

Zhang Yan was now very troubled. The news brought by the spy was both good and bad. The bad news was that they didn't know where the three hundred elite soldiers from Xuzhou were, so they had to be on guard at all times. The good news was that the five thousand soldiers from Xuzhou were escorting grain supplies...

Should they take Xuzhou first or the supplies? Zhang Yan was undecided. According to Zhang Niujiao, Zhang Yan would be in charge of the entire battle. As a result, Zhang Yan suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulders. If he made a mistake, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"If we take the supplies first, things will be fine, but if those five thousand Xuzhou soldiers see the situation is bad and burn the supplies, then..." Zhang Yan shook his head. "We should take Xuzhou first. According to (the spies), the three richest families in Xuzhou have granaries full of grain... We must take Xuzhou first, and not lose sight of the bigger picture! And we must do it as soon as possible! If we wait until those five thousand Xuzhou soldiers arrive, they will be able to attack from all sides, making the siege even more difficult..."

And those three hundred elite soldiers... Damn it! Jiang Zhe is utterly despicable!

Zhang Yan slammed his hand on the table and stood up, saying in a deep voice, "Pass down the order: after midnight tonight, coordinate an attack from within and without to seize Xuzhou!"

"Yes!" the guards replied.

(I'm not feeling well today. I think I caught a chill on my way to work this morning. I have a terrible headache now. I took some medicine and tried my best to write one chapter, but I just can't manage the other one. I'll see if I can finish it when I go to work tomorrow. If not, I'll finish it when I get back tomorrow. My head hurts, I'm going to sleep now.)

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