Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 395 Signs of Defeat
Ren Yuan and the others listened silently to Wei Jun's complaints, and then, following the memories they had gathered, went to the stables.

The groom was feeding the horses with fodder when he looked at them and asked, "Where are your horses?"

"That's all," Ren Yuan replied in a muffled voice.

"Then what are you doing here? Do you want to steal the horse's fodder?" the groom said irritably.

"No, let's see if we have any more horses we can use," Ren Yuan said.

"There aren't any extra horses left; you've all killed them and eaten them all," the groom said angrily. "Eat them all! I'm out of fodder anyway!"

Although the groom appeared to care for the horses, the subtle clues in the stable did not escape the sharp eyes of Ren Yuan and his companions.

The warhorses were in very poor condition; they were generally weak and listless, with dull coats and so thin that their ribs were visible. Several of them even had diarrhea and were shivering... This was the result of feeding them only green fodder and no concentrates.

Furthermore, the preservation of the green material was also problematic; it had likely already spoiled.

Ren Yuan also saw that several warhorses had festering sores on their buttocks, with maggots wriggling in the pus and blood, a result of long-term salt deficiency.

The Northern Dynasties, having risen from nomadic origins, had a deep-seated love for warhorses. According to the Wei Laws, warhorses were entitled to one dou of millet and two liang of salt daily, and sick horses were to be isolated.

If the lack of food and salt can be explained by military shortages, then the failure to isolate sick warhorses is simply a sign of neglecting cavalry preparedness and irresponsibility.

~~
As Ren Yuan and his party left the stables, they encountered a patrol of Wei troops. Although the patrol was organized with torches, their steps were scattered and disorderly. The soldiers, like their warhorses, were listless, their spear shafts dragging on the ground, leaving serpentine tracks in the mud.

Looking around, the sentries on the arrow tower were already leaning against the railing, yawning, and their hard bows were not even strung. It was clear that the Liang army had been avoiding battle and had lost their vigilance, so they were too lazy to strung their bows all day... Since they would just unstrung the bows when they were off duty, why bother strung them?

Ren Yuan and his companions wandered all over the Wei army camp without being questioned about their aimless wandering. In the twilight of a dynasty, military preparedness was indeed in disarray; no wonder the Six Garrisons' troops routed them so easily…

After memorizing the Wei army's deployment and the locations of various fortifications, Ren Yuan used his invisibility technique to quietly investigate the officers' camp.

In his experience, the commander-in-chief is usually very powerful and might be discovered if you get too close. The lieutenants around the commander-in-chief, on the other hand, don't have such high levels of intelligence, but they know just as much as the commander-in-chief.

Following the faint aroma of wine and meat in the air, he arrived at a lit tent. With a sweep of his divine sense, he saw five or six officers sitting around a stove, where meat was stewing and wine jugs were hanging above the fire.

The officers drank, ate meat, and gambled, showing no intention of sharing the hardships with the soldiers.

This is actually normal. The officers are all from noble families. Who would share the hardships with a bunch of ordinary soldiers?

Ren Yuan waited patiently outside the tent for a long time and finally heard something useful...

"What does your father mean?" a bearded general asked a handsome young officer as he rolled the dice. "Does he really want to go for the big score?"

"Didn't we say we should stop while we're ahead? A great victory over Monk Yuanfa is already an unexpected bonus. What if we expose ourselves if we fight the Liang army again?" Several other generals asked.

“But staying here isn’t a solution either. When we marched out of Yanzhou, we only took seven days’ worth of provisions with us, and they said the rear would send supplies. It’s been half a month, and we haven’t seen a single thing,” the young general sighed.

"Isn't that normal? The Yanzhou side would love for us all to die in Xuzhou so we won't go back and cause trouble for them. Why would they send us supplies?" The group was quite self-aware.

"Sigh, everyone in this world is looking out for themselves, what's the point of us suppressing any rebellions?"

"Even if we're thinking of ourselves, we have to take Pengcheng. Only with territory can we support our troops and live more comfortably," the young general said. "But Pengcheng has high walls and deep moats. How can we attack it? The men down there are so hungry they're practically blind. They'll probably fall down the ladders halfway up," the generals said, naturally unwilling to attack the city.

“Of course there’s an inside man.” The young general laughed. “Yuan Fasheng has fallen back into his old ways from Yizhou. He’s started treating people like dirt. He plans to abandon Pengcheng, but he’s unwilling to cross the river to the south alone. So he’s preparing to force all the officials and civilians in the city to go with him. He’s also going to mark the foreheads of the more than 3,000 soldiers guarding Pengcheng and make them his servants, forcing them to go south as well.”

"This guy never learns his lesson. Isn't he just inciting another rebellion?" the generals laughed.

“Isn’t that it?” the young officer laughed. “That’s why the officials and people in the city have been contacting my father, asking him to quickly lead his army into the city to relieve the people’s suffering. They are willing to cooperate from within and without.”

"No wonder," the generals exclaimed in realization. "What's the use of leaving an empty city if we wait for Monk Yuanfa to take everyone away?"

"No wonder the Liang army is holding back; they only want people, not the city." Now everyone suddenly understood, and all the things they couldn't figure out before became clear.

"No wonder, Xuzhou is a place of constant warfare, easy to take but hard to defend. But it doesn't matter to us, having a city to eat in is good enough."

"So, when will the operation take place?" the generals asked the young officer again.

"It will be tomorrow night. Father will announce it when we hold the meeting at dawn," the young officer replied.

"Then tomorrow will be busy." The generals laughed and said, "Let's make the most of tonight and play a couple more rounds."

After saying that, they continued playing cards and talking about women, with vulgar language constantly escaping their lips...

Seeing that he couldn't hear anything of substance, Ren Yuan quietly slipped away.

~~
After the reconnaissance was completed, Ren Yuan and the others did not leave the Wei army camp. Instead, they directly passed the intelligence to Chen Qingzhi through Chen Lingzhi and asked for instructions on the next steps.

In Liang Jun's camp.

After listening silently to Chen Lingzhi's report, Chen Qingzhi smiled knowingly and said softly, "Tell A Yuan that it was I who asked Zhu Yi to persuade Monk Yuan Fa to abandon the city."

"Why?" This was a question Chen Lingzhi asked himself.

“In that case, Yuan Fasheng will be unable to stay in Xuzhou at all.” Chen Qingzhi said calmly, “Otherwise, even if the court repelled the Northern Dynasty’s reinforcements, it would only benefit Yuan Fasheng for nothing.”

"Yes." Chen Lingzhi naturally understood his meaning. Chen Qingzhi wanted Xuzhou directly under the jurisdiction of Liang, not just a vassal state. Especially since the governor was a useless person like Yuan Faseng, who was completely harmful to the court.

“But if you do this, the people of Xuzhou will suffer,” Chen Lingzhi said in a deep voice. The tone of their voices did not sound like that of a father and daughter; rather, it sounded somewhat like they were defying the natural order.

"The people of Xuzhou are going to suffer either way," Chen Qingzhi replied, and then offered no further explanation.

“You really are as hard-hearted as iron. It seems I worried for nothing. You were born for war.” Chen Lingzhi sighed softly. “Speak, A Yuan is still waiting for instructions.”

"Tell him that I will lead my troops to attack at four o'clock tonight, and ask him to provide support then," Chen Qingzhi instructed.

"The two armies' camps are only a hundred miles apart. Can they possibly arrive by the fourth watch?" Chen Lingzhi was taken aback.

"Who says the army has to stay in the main camp?" Chen Qingzhi smiled faintly.

(End of this chapter)