My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 9 Lei Bo: Zhang Fei, you man, don’t run away!
A few minutes later, the battle on Zhang Fei's side ended. Zhuge Jin finally dared to walk out of the cabin, to the deck to dissipate the bloody smell, and to take a look at the battlefield environment just now.

The geology along the Huai River is muddy, and those cowards in Yuan’s army who are greedy for life and afraid of death will flee as soon as they see the situation is not right, making it really difficult to chase them.

After Zhuge Jin confirmed it, he could only sigh: "Forget it, this is due to the weather and geography, not the fault of war. Since we let the survivors escape, we should ride to Haixi as soon as possible.

Although the enemy may not pursue us with all their might, it is better to be cautious."

Zhang Fei had been listening to orders and immediately obeyed them. He ordered all the cavalry to disembark and unload their belongings while he boasted:

"The enemy dares to pursue us, that's what we want! It's just the right time to share the pressure with my second brother."

Mi Zhu at the side couldn't help but poke him with his elbow: "How can you comfort others like you? The lord asked you to protect Ziyu! Not to use him as bait! What if he scares the women? If you can't talk, just say less!"

In the end, Zhuge Jin came to the rescue and changed the subject:
"Okay, stop talking about this nonsense. While the soldiers are leading the horses, quickly find a few prisoners and I will torture them for some information.

Also, quickly collect all the horses and armor left behind by Yuan's army. If necessary, you can use them to disguise yourself as the enemy. As for the weapons, forget it if you can't carry them."

Zhang Fei immediately captured several generals and squad leaders of Yuan's army and let Zhuge Jin deal with them, and then went to arrange other matters according to Zhuge Jin's orders.

Zhuge Jin didn't waste time and asked directly, "Are you Liu Xun's soldiers? Who is your direct commander? How far is the main force from here?"

The captives nodded and admitted that they were Liu Xun's troops. But they looked at each other and did not dare to answer the next two questions, as if they were under the tyranny of their former master.

Zhuge Jin walked towards one of them and said, "I'll give you a chance. If you tell me everything, I'll keep you in your original position and give you a piece of silk as a reward."

The prisoner hesitated for a moment: "With so few of you, you can't defeat General Liu. I won't die with you..."

Zhuge Jin nodded, walked behind the other person, drew out his sword and stabbed him hard, but because he was not skilled in the technique, it got stuck on the ribs of the vest.

The prisoner howled miserably and struggled hard. The smell of blood made Zhuge Jin feel slightly nauseous.

Zhuge Jin quickly controlled his emotions, kicked the opponent down, and used both hands to pull out the sword. He adjusted the angle and stabbed again, finally killing the opponent completely.

After doing all this, he took a few deep breaths, wiped the blood off his face, and pointed his sword at the other captives: "The conditions remain unchanged. Tell me what you think and I'll reward you with a piece of silk."

This time it was smooth, and I finished all the tricks in a few seconds:

The main force of Liu Xun's army was heading north along the Han Canal, and it would still be one or two days before they reached Huaiyin. However, he assigned two generals to lead the vanguard cavalry, and each of them searched north along the east and west banks of the Han Canal to provide cover for the main force.

The cavalry on the west bank was led by Chen Lan. That was Yuan Shu's heartland, and the risk of encountering the enemy was not great, so only a few hundred cavalry were assigned.

The cavalry on the east coast was led by Lei Bo. Because they were searching and advancing in the area controlled by Liu Bei, they were assigned more than a thousand cavalry.

Considering that Liu Xun had only 15,000 men in total, being able to gather 2,000 cavalry was already a lot.

This group of scouts was sent by Lei Bo. Lei Bo’s main force should be thirty miles to the south now.

"Thirty miles, we don't have much time left, let's go." Zhuge Jin got the information he wanted and decisively ordered the order to escape.

Mi Zhu asked, "What about these boats? Are they lost? There are still some heavy bags on board."

Zhuge Jin didn't care about those low-value materials, but Mi Zhu's question still reminded him.

Zhuge Jin suddenly had an idea and ordered, "Let Shiren assign some sailors to sail these boats downstream to Huaipu County.

Huaipu is a poor county, so it shouldn't be favored by Lei Bo. Even if he gets a report from a deserter, he will definitely guess that we are going to Haixi."

As mentioned earlier, in today's escort team, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da are Zhang Fei's men; only Shi Ren is Guan Yu's old subordinate, and his water and boat-handling skills are better than Zhang Fei's subordinates.

Just now, when Zhang Fei sent his troops ashore to kill Yuan Jun's scouts, he used his own direct subordinates and asked Shi Ren to guard the boat. Now that he had to divide his troops by land and sea, the task of retreating by boat would naturally be given to Shi Ren.

Do your part.

However, when Shi Ren in the crowd heard Zhuge Jin's order, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

"Could it be that Mr. Zhuge is holding a grudge and wants to use me as bait to lure away the enemy?" Shi Ren hated him secretly but did not dare to show it.

Shi Ren was of course well aware that over the past two days, his immediate superior Guan Yu had visibly distanced himself from him.

The reason was obviously that when Liu Bei first met Zhuge Jin, he said a few bad words about Zhuge Jin when he was responsible for introducing him.

I didn't expect Zhuge Jin to be so petty and now he is going to give him a dangerous task.

But Zhang Fei was obviously absolutely obedient to Zhuge Jin. Even though Shi Ren was timid, he could not refuse. In the end, he had to bite the bullet and accept the task.

Zhuge Jin, however, had no intention of dealing with him, and even gave him some instructions, mainly on how to deal with and escape if he encountered an enemy.

Then Zhuge Jin and his 200 riders fled eastward at high speed, taking with them the 60 additional war horses seized from Yuan's army.

……

From morning till noon, the group ran at a speed that would allow them to rest.

The women in the team were not fond of riding horses, so Zhuge Jin and Song Xin had to take turns riding with Song.

Fortunately, there were many captured enemy horses, so we could take turns riding them, changing horses every twenty miles, so we didn't have to worry about the horses getting tired. We estimated that we had run sixty or seventy miles, and we were already halfway through the journey. It was already three quarters after noon, and the sun was shining brightly.
After changing horses three times, Song was too weak to bear it any longer. When she saw a village ahead, she begged her son if she could take a rest and have some dry food for lunch.

Zhuge Jin looked at the sky and estimated that even if Yuan Shu's army sent out pursuers, they would not arrive so quickly. Besides, Mi Zhu also had two concubines who were unable to bear the pain.

Zhuge Jin thought about it for a while, and then discussed with Zhang Fei:
"Yide, if your family doesn't have some dry food, they may not make it to the evening. Eating and drinking on horseback can easily cause colic, so it's better to rest for a while and wait until the hottest time of noon before setting off again."

Zhang Fei of course followed Zhuge Jin's instructions completely, but he didn't want to waste time, so he made a rough but detailed suggestion:
"Why don't you take a rest while I send a few capable confidants to Haixi County to report the news, so that they can prepare for the response and take precautions. This will also prevent us from arriving after dark and making them afraid to open the city gates."

In ancient times, when it got dark, many troops defending a city did not dare to open the city gates, for fear that the enemy would disguise themselves and invade the city.

When Zhuge Jin heard this, he felt that what Zhang Fei said made sense. After all, there were still more than a thousand troops stationed in Haixi County. If they could be prepared in advance and provide support at any time, there would be more security guarantees.

After thinking for a while, Zhuge Jin came up with an idea, so he pulled Mi Zhu over and asked about the terrain along the way.

Mi Zhu told him that there were no hills in the area, just flat riverside plains with only some small woods at most.

Zhuge Jin thought for a moment and suggested, "In this case, Yide, can you send a messenger to tell the commander of Haixi to send troops to the west of the city to meet us when the time comes?

We don't have to go too far out of the city. We are marching along the Huai River anyway, so let them find a forest in Henan to the west of the city to ambush and support us. If Lei Bo really comes to hunt us down, we can be prepared."

Zhang Fei nodded, thought for a moment, and called Fan Jiang and Zhang Da:
"Please take some time to work on it. Go to Haixi to find Mi Zifang first and ask him to send troops out of the city to meet us in advance."

Fan Jiang and Zhang Da were a little surprised: "Captain, as the garrison commanders, we should follow you and provide protection. You can just send a soldier to deliver the letter."

Zhang Fei's face darkened: "If we send an unknown person, even if he has Zi Zhong's talisman, Zi Fang may not believe it completely. He is a hesitant and suspicious person. It is safer for you two to go.

Besides, the several military marquises under Zifang's command are all unaware of the enemy's situation today. If you go, you can lead the way for the Haixi soldiers. Once this is done, I will go back and tell my eldest brother to promote you to the rank of Qujunhou!"

Fan Jiang and Zhang Da were delighted, but they could not show on their faces that they were accepting the order for the sake of promotion, so they just pretended that it was their duty.

On the other hand, Mi Zhu also hurriedly wrote a short letter to Mi Fang, asking them to take it away together. He believed that this would strengthen Mi Fang's determination to provide assistance, since he was here to escort his own brother after all.

Zhuge Jin also took advantage of the time when Mi Zhu was writing the letter to tell Fan Jiang and Zhang Da a few details, which were nothing more than a deduction of the subsequent situation and a general response.

Fan Jiang and Zhang Da felt a bit of a headache after hearing this, but they still had to admire the gentleman's quick thinking.

After all, Zhuge Jin had seen the working methods of modern staff departments through various media channels in later generations. He could think of countermeasures for various emergencies in war.

Even if only some superficial knowledge was taken out, it would be enough to make the ancients dazzled.

……

After seeing off Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, the family members and clerks here had almost all finished their dry food.

Everyone found a place under the shade of a tree to rest for a while and drink some water to calm their stomachs.

Zhuge Jin knew the medical principles of appendicitis, and he didn't want to get appendicitis by shaking immediately after eating.

In this era, if you can't find Hua Tuo surgery, appendicitis can be fatal.

Seeing that they had rested until the early hours of the afternoon, he told everyone to continue on their journey.

There are still sixty miles to go to Haixi. We won’t stop on the way. When it’s time for dinner, we can only endure the hunger. There will be hot food once we enter the city.

We safely passed the time of Wei and Shen, and as the sky was getting dark, we were less than twenty miles away from Haixi County.

The clerks and women in the group also felt more and more relaxed, thinking that the enemy was probably not pursuing them with all their strength.

But at this moment, Zhang Fei noticed that there was smoke and dust rising about seven or eight miles behind him, rolling closer, and there was also a faint "Lei" flag fluttering, which was obviously the cavalry of Lei Bo's army that the captives confessed in the morning.

"What was Lei Bo thinking? He just spotted a group of several hundred Xuzhou soldiers, and he went after them like that? I really underestimated his determination. I thought he would give up and go to Huaiyin to meet up with Ji Ling first."

Zhuge Jin, who was galloping with Zhang Fei, thought for a moment and then made a firm judgment:
“I heard that Lei Bo and Chen Lan were born as bandits from Huoshan, and they got their positions by helping Yuan Shu fight against powerful fortresses and plundering military supplies.

These people have not changed their bandit nature, so they will naturally "raise money and food" before the commander arrives. However, they did not chase in the wrong direction. It seems that Shi Ren's misleading effect was not achieved at all. "

After hearing this, Zhang Fei also agreed with it.

How could those vanguard cavalry generals who were born as thieves miss the opportunity to burn, kill and plunder when the commander is not in charge? This opportunity is rare!

If they don't rob now, will they wait until Liu Xun has controlled them right under their noses before committing crimes?

After understanding this, Zhang Fei felt eager:
"Fortunately, sir, he had made plans in advance and asked Fan Jiang and Zhang Da to notify Mi Fang first to pick him up.

I see there is a fruit forest ten miles ahead. Most likely, Mi Fang has arrived. How about we lure them over there and then strike back?
If Mi Fang hasn't arrived yet, we will run at full speed and at least escort you into the city."

Zhuge Jin hesitated for a moment and reminded, "The enemy is numerous and we are few, are you sure?"

Zhang Fei swung his snake spear vigorously, confident: "Though Lei Bo is numerous, they certainly didn't have a lunch break, nor did they have the opportunity to change horses. In the end, they had to sprint and chase. We can wait for them to tire themselves out, so even though they are numerous, we don't need to be afraid!"

(End of this chapter)