The Three Kingdoms: Home Travel

However, Jiang Zhe's proposal had already been approved by all the strategists present. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao discussed it and made a decision: Yuan's army would be responsible for recovering the lost counties of Ji Province, while Cao's army would be responsible for surrounding and eliminating the thousands of Gong Bie Lou's cavalry, including the three thousand White Horse Cavalry. The next day, Yuan Shao ordered Yan Liang and Wen Chou to lead 40,000 infantrymen to recover Ji Province. To prevent Gong Bie Lou from launching a surprise attack, Yuan Shao also ordered Wan Yi to set up defenses in the Jieqiao area.

Cao Cao also transferred most of his archers and crossbowmen to that location, and in addition, he dispatched a great general, Cao Hong!

As previously agreed, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, Yue Jin, and Li Dian led 40,000 Cao troops to set up beacon towers along key routes in Ji Province, leaving several hundred Cao soldiers to guard them. Following Jiang Zhe's orders, these soldiers' duty was solely to guard the beacon towers and nothing else. Jiang Zhe even declared, "Even if those cavalrymen gallop past you, you need not concern yourself with them!"

Furthermore, Cao Cao, following Jiang Zhe's advice, set up several traps at intervals near the boundary bridge. The traps were very simple, just a few fist-sized holes dug in the ground, covered with weeds. If one didn't look closely, one obviously wouldn't notice them. Jiang Zhe also found it hard to imagine that Cao Cao actually sent Wan Ri to set up the "traps" Jiang Zhe mentioned. It took them three days of labor to barely complete them. This shows the scale of the project and the depth of Cao Cao's hatred for the White Horse Cavalry. ... Jiang Zhe deliberately left several roads without any traps, but these roads pointed in different directions... either to Yuan Shao's camp or Cao Cao's camp... Such a huge effort for just a few thousand cavalrymen truly proves the deep hatred that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao harbored for them. So what were the White Horse Cavalry doing at this moment, facing imminent disaster?

As the leader of the elite White Horse Cavalry, Zhao Yun, who was only in his early twenties, was able to take this position because of his superb martial arts skills. Just as Zhao Yun's troops were resting by the river, they let the horses graze on their own. The trained horses would run to their masters at their whistles, which was something the White Horse Cavalry had to do. After swallowing the hard and plentiful rice cakes with difficulty, Zhao Yun scooped up a handful of water from the clear river and let it slowly flow down his chapped lips into his stomach.

"Phew!" Feeling a refreshing coolness throughout his body, Zhao Yun took a deep breath and whispered, "Gentlemen, rest well. We'll set off in an hour!"

"Yes, sir!" The hundred or so elite cavalrymen who were eating responded in unison. Zhao Yun sat down against a tree and carefully wiped the silver spear in his hand, but he couldn't help but think of the person he had encountered a few days ago.

With his calm and refined demeanor, clear and honest eyes, and seeing the man's reluctance when distributing grain to the fleeing people and his affection for the young child, Zhao Yun couldn't think of a reason to kill him.

Gently raising his silver spear, which had been wiped spotless and was now completely clean, Zhao Yun murmured, "My ambition is to pacify the world, not to indiscriminately kill the innocent..."

Could it be that Zhao Yun had already seen through Jiang Zhe and his group's unusual nature?

Indeed, the intense killing intent emanating from the Tiger and Leopard Camp soldiers could be explained by the fact that they had killed a few bandits. But how could someone as strong as Zhao Yun not sense the intense killing intent emanating from the remaining guards on the other side?

"Death warrior!" That was Zhao Yun's opinion of the remaining guards. It was for this reason that Zhao Yun had initially intended to kill the refined young man. However, after exchanging a few words with him, Zhao Yun changed his mind. He simply couldn't bring himself to kill such a virtuous and righteous person!

"Bo Chang!" A soft call interrupted Zhao Yun's thoughts.

"Huh?" Zhao Yun looked at his deputy Li Liang in surprise, then glanced around in confusion. He saw that everyone was leading their horses and staring at him in astonishment. "It's been an hour already?" Zhao Yun was completely taken aback. Li Liang nodded and handed Zhao Yun the riding whip.

Zhao Yun took the whip, lightly whistled, and immediately a white horse galloped from afar. Pure white, without a single blemish, just like the spear in his hand, "Heroic Dragon Gallbladder." This white horse was also a gift from Zhao Yun's master. He mounted the horse, glanced at the cavalry, and whispered, "Go!"

"promise!"

The sound of horses' hooves gradually faded into the distance... "Hmm?" After traveling several miles, Zhao Yun suddenly caught sight of a troop of soldiers. Judging from their armor, they did not seem to be Yuan Shao's soldiers. What was going on?

"Cao Cao's soldiers!" Zhao Yun was stunned to see the flag among the soldiers, black with white characters, and the character "Cao".

"Cao Cao is here so fast!" Zhao Yun frowned; after a quick glance, he saw that the enemy numbered several hundred and seemed to have already spotted him and were on guard. Looking at the cavalry behind him, Zhao Yun decisively shouted, "Go!"

It's worth mentioning that Zhao Yun's hundred-odd White Horse Cavalry suffered no losses. This was partly due to the White Horse Cavalry's elite status, and partly because Zhao Yun was cautious and didn't easily lose soldiers; a direct confrontation was the last thing he wanted. After riding for a while, Zhao Yun was astonished to find that the hundreds of Cao soldiers weren't pursuing him. He looked back in confusion, and what he saw shocked him. Thick black smoke was rising from where they had just been, heading straight for the horizon, very conspicuous in the daylight. "Not good!" Zhao Yun shouted in a daze, "We must leave this place!"

"Commander?" Li Liang asked Zhao Yun with a puzzled look. "A mere few hundred soldiers blocking our way, and they haven't even pursued us. Why are you so panicked, Commander?"

"You didn't do that?" Zhao Yun asked, frowning as he pointed at the smoke signal. "Hmm?" Li Liang glanced at the smoke signal in confusion, then replied, "Just a little smoke..."

"It's not that simple!" Zhao Yun reined in his horse and said thoughtfully, "I knew Yuan Shao wouldn't let us run rampant in Ji Province, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. We must leave this place and return to our lord, otherwise, we're all likely to perish here!"

Seeing that the cavalrymen still looked puzzled, Zhao Yun explained, "What do you think that is? Do you think it's smoke from cooking? Let me tell you, you are a wolf smoke signal, which the Wuhuan use to communicate with their armies... I didn't expect that someone in Ji Province knew about it, so we have no choice but to return to our lord!"

"I see!" Li Liang nodded and said, "Could it be that the soldiers set off smoke signals to warn us when they saw us?"

"Exactly!" Zhao Yun glanced at the smoke signal again and said calmly, "But those chariots aren't chasing us. They must have been ordered to just guard the smoke signal. Let's go!"

"promise!"

Like Zhao Yun, most of the other cavalry also encountered these smoke signals. The elite White Horse Cavalry, naturally wary, retreated. The ordinary cavalry, however, were less concerned, assuming it was cooking smoke, but were soon spotted by Cao Cao's patrolling soldiers nearby.

Unfortunately, how could infantry catch up with cavalry? Even so, these cavalrymen vaguely realized that they could no longer stay in Ji Province. As the days passed, Zhao Yun and his men encountered Cao soldiers who placed beacon fires almost every day. Like the previous Cao soldiers, they only guarded the beacon towers. If Zhao Yun and his men got a little closer, the Cao soldiers would draw their swords and be on high alert. In Zhao Yun's eyes, annihilating these Cao soldiers would be very easy, but what would be the use? The beacon fires had already been set off. If they did not leave and fought them, the consequences would be unimaginable. After thinking it over, Zhao Yun had no choice but to continue north.

Aside from the matter of the beacon fire, it is worth mentioning that the soldiers at Zhao Yun's well were becoming increasingly vicious, numbering over a thousand. This suited Jiang Zhe's plan to "reorganize them into a single force for a decisive annihilation." When they reached a distance of one day's journey from the boundary bridge, Zhao Yun discussed the matter with the leaders of the White Horse Cavalry and ordered the cavalry to rest on the spot. By this time, four to five thousand cavalrymen had gathered, and more and more troops were slowly joining them.

"I wonder who came up with such a treacherous plan against Yuan Shao!" said Wei Geng, the chief of the White Horse Cavalry, with resentment. This drew a chorus of agreement from the nearby cavalry, all of whom condemned the planner. Sitting far away against a tree trunk, Zhao Yun, holding his silver spear, heard this and couldn't help but picture Jiang Zhe's calm and fearless demeanor.

"How could it be him!" Zhao Yun shook his head, trying to dispel the thought from his mind. To avoid attracting the attention of Yuan and Cao armies, Zhao Yun and the others did not light a campfire. They simply ate some dry rations by the stream and went to sleep, knowing that tomorrow would be even more difficult—breaking through the encirclement! Zhao Yun fell asleep muttering these two words. It was still early morning, and the sky and earth were shrouded in a gray haze. Li Liang, who was on night patrol, glanced at the sleeping Zhao Yun and wanted to wake him.

However, before his hand could even touch Zhao Yun's shoulder, Zhao Yun, who was fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, drew his sword from his waist in an instant, and slashed. "Uncle, Uncle... it's... it's me..." Fortunately, Li Liang shouted "Uncle" quickly. In just two seconds, Zhao Yun's sword had already touched his neck. "Phew! Sorry!" Zhao Yun was also taken aback and sheathed his sword. "You scared me to death!" Li Liang felt a chill run down his back, clearly having been frightened into a cold sweat.

"Next time, just call me!" Zhao Yun patted Li Liang on the shoulder, looking apologetic. "Okay," he said. "Oh, by the way, Commander, are we going to charge into Yuan Shao and Cao Cao's camp today?"

Zhao Yun frowned and said, "We should avoid it if possible. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have 200,000 troops, which is far beyond our mere few thousand... We only need to return to our lord and tell him the truth!"

"What a pity!" Li Liang scratched his head and said regretfully, "Before, we traveled freely in Jizhou, so powerful and influential..." "Alright!" Zhao Yun said with a smile, "Your military achievements are enough to promote you to squad leader, so what's there to complain about?"

"Indeed!" Li Liang smiled and followed Zhao Yun out of the woods. "Greetings, everyone!" As fellow barons, the formalities were optional, but Zhao Yun never slacked off.

"Zilong!" said Wei Geng, the White Horse Cavalry Commander, with a smile. "We are discussing how to return to our lord. What are your thoughts, Zilong?"

Zhao Yun was humble and never had any conflicts with his colleagues. Moreover, he was highly skilled in martial arts and was well-regarded even within the White Horse Cavalry. "In my opinion, there is a very high chance that we will run into Yuan Shao or Cao Cao on this trip."

"Hmm?" Ma Shang, the White Horse Cavalry Commander, asked doubtfully, "Does Zilong have any proof?"

"No!" Zhao Yun shook his head, but the chieftains who knew his character were all waiting for Zhao Yun to continue, because Zhao Yun never spoke nonsense.

"Have you all noticed? It seems he deliberately gathered us together..."

Wei Geng's expression changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Zilong, do you mean that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao deliberately set up this plan to wipe us out in one fell swoop?"

Zhao Yun nodded, looking towards Yuan Shao's camp, and said, "Yuan Shao must have a brilliant plan. Alas! I wonder what traps await us ahead..." "Hmph!" Ma Shang snorted coldly and said in a deep voice, "Even if there are traps, what do we have to fear? The Wuhuan are known as the elite of cavalry, yet we defeated them. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao don't have many cavalrymen; how can they stop our elite cavalry?"

"Excellent!" Wei Geng said firmly. "After the soldiers have eaten their fill, we will set out. They will call us the White Horse Cavalry, a name I greatly admire. We must not tarnish our reputation!"

"Haha!" Ma Shang laughed loudly, "Then let Yuan Shao and Cao Cao see the might of the White Horse Cavalry under my lord's command! Zilong, are you willing to be the vanguard?"

"It is my wish, but I dare not ask you!" Zhao Yun gladly accepted.

"Zilong, we will all be under your command in this battle! We must make Yuan Shao and Cao Cao pay!"

"Thank you all for your kind words!" Zhao Yun smiled as he accepted the heavy responsibility. Looking at the soldiers surrounding him, Zhao Yun felt uneasy. Would this journey be smooth sailing?

As Zhao Yun pondered, Jiang Zhe's image involuntarily surfaced in his mind. Who exactly was he? Why did the thought of him fill him with unease?

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