Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 23 Ambush
Upon learning that Zhang Yu was coming, Zhang Liao was overjoyed and warmly entertained Zhang Yu, Li Song and Zhang Yang.

That night, several people got drunk. After the banquet, Zhang Yu hugged Zhang Liao and told each other what had happened in the past six months.

On the couch, Zhang Liao was drunk and complained, "I was a county official when I was young, and my colleagues all took advantage of me because I was young and assigned me all kinds of chores. Last month, I couldn't stand it anymore and provoked someone to beat me up. I defeated him in two or three moves. Since then, no one dares to take advantage of my youth!"

Zhang Yu put his arm around Zhang Liao's shoulders and said with a smile, "How can a man be bullied by an incompetent person? Well done, Wenyuan."

"hey-hey!"

Zhang Liao hit Zhang Yu on the chest and said jokingly, "You are not as good as Ji'an. He studied with Duke Changwen and secretly befriended his daughter. If Ji'an becomes Wang's son-in-law in the future, he must not forget me!"

"Shh!"

Zhang Yu signaled Zhang Liao to lower his voice and said with a headache, "The Wang family is a prominent family in Bingzhou, and our Zhang family is only a powerful family on the border. I am afraid that Lord Chang Wen will look down on me!"

Zhang Liao comforted him and said, "Lord Chang Wen taught you the military book and is interested in cultivating Ji'an. It may be possible that you would accept Ji'an as your son-in-law."

"If that's the case, I'm not worried!" Zhang Yu sighed.

Zhang Liao seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Does Ji'an know about Wang Yun's past?"

"I'd like to hear Wenyuan's detailed explanation!"

Zhang Liao moved his feet onto the couch and said, "When Wang Yun was young, there was a eunuch named Zhao Jin in Taiyuan, who was a great threat to the county. Wang Yun led his men to capture and kill him, thus eliminating this scourge for the people. Although the prefect was punished and died, Wang Yun felt guilty and mourned for him for three years."

"Three years later, a nobleman in the county named Lu Fo was cunning and evil, so the governor recruited him to be a clerk in the Five Officials. Wang Yun angrily rebuked the governor. The governor wanted to kill him, but fortunately, the governor Deng Sheng heard of Wang Yun's name and recruited him to be a deputy driver. After that, Wang Yun was recruited by the Three Dukes and was appointed as the Imperial Censor by the Minister of Education Gaodi."

Although the Wang family of Qi County was very famous in Bingzhou, it was only considered a middle-class family in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty. The fact that Wang Yun could become the most dazzling political rising star in the Han Dynasty's political arena had a lot to do with his outstanding ability.

Zhang Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Wenyuan wants me to follow Wang Yun's example?"

Zhang Liao nodded and said, "Although his family is not well-known, if he had a good reputation, Wang Shi would look at him with more respect. With Miss Wang's help, Ji An should be able to win the beauty!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu hugged his knees and said thoughtfully: "Wang Yun can kill eunuchs and scold evil officials in the inner counties, but I need to find another way to make a name for myself in the frontier!"

"Ok!"

Zhang Liao stroked his stubble-covered chin and said, "How to become famous depends on Ji An!"

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "There are few Han people on the border but many Hu people. If I can kill some of the evil Hu people and eliminate a great evil for Han, my reputation may spread."

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and said, "The Xianbei Chanyu Kuitou is close to us, so none of his people have violated the border, but have traded with us. Qianman, on the other hand, has always had a feud with Kuitou, and often instigated his people to violate us. If Ji'an wants to kill the evil Hu, he can kill those who often violate the border."

"Let me go back and discuss it with my father!" Zhang Yu said.

"This matter should be dealt with as soon as possible. The sooner we report it to the prefectures and counties, the more likely the people will be able to spread the news in the New Year," said Zhang Liao.

"Thank you Wenyuan!"

"nothing!"

Zhang Liao took off his outer robe and asked curiously, "What does Miss Wang look like?"

Zhang Yu recalled and said with a smile: "She is a beauty of the country!"

"Brother Ji'an has an extraordinary appearance, he is the best among men!"

Zhang Liao took advantage of the light to look at Zhang Yu's appearance and said with a smile: "Daughter Ru Wang has a beauty of the country, so she is worthy of my brother."

Seeing Zhang Liao staring at him, Zhang Yu felt a little uncomfortable, and quickly blew out the candlelight, saying, "Go to bed early, I need to get up early tomorrow to travel!"

The two men did not violate each other and slept until dawn.

Zhang Yu got up early in the morning and wanted to return home, but because of Zhang Liao's warm hospitality, everyone had to stay in Mayi for another day and did not leave until the next day.

October, Yanmen Road.

The trees on both sides of the road were withered and yellow, and many branches were blown away by the north wind and fell among the mountains. It is expected that in the next few days, the branches of the trees on both sides of the road will be bare, and will not be replaced with a layer of green until the arrival of spring.

More than 20 Han cavalrymen surrounded seven large carts and moved forward in the valley. As they got closer to Chanhewu, everyone became more relaxed and talked and laughed with each other.

Zhang Yu rode on a horse, wrapped himself in a felt blanket, and chatted with Li Song.

Li Song rode his horse alongside Zhang Yu and said, "Jian, if you want to become famous for killing the Hu people, you might as well start with that Chi Ganren."

"The Chigan people are a tribe under Qianman. Since they migrated south from the south of the desert, they have behaved recklessly. They not only robbed border residents, but also secretly attacked their own tribes. If we can destroy the Chigan people now, we can eliminate a great threat to the border. Moreover, Kuitou has always disliked the Chigan people, so there is no need to worry about making enemies with the Xianbei!"

The leader of the Chigan tribe, Chigan Puda, had a rough style of doing things. Relying on the fact that he was from a tribe under Qianman, he migrated from the south. He not only competed with the Xianbei people for pastures, but also often robbed the Han people.

In order to negotiate trade with the Xianbei, the Han Dynasty turned a blind eye to Chigan Puda's crimes. However, due to prestige issues, the Xianbei Chanyu sent people to blame Chigan Puda, but Chigan Puda did not take Kuitou's words to heart and continued to do as he pleased.

Therefore, if Zhang Yu wanted to become famous, Li Song thought it would be most appropriate to start with Chi cadres.

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "There are about 500 Chi cadres, more than 3,000 people. If they fight to the death, we can defeat them, but there will be many casualties. We need to think about this matter carefully."

Based on the calculation that each household can send out two cavalrymen, Chi Cadre can send out a thousand old and weak cavalrymen in times of crisis. However, there are only about two or three hundred infantrymen in Canhewu. If they forcefully fight against Chi Cadre, they may be able to defeat him, but their own casualties will definitely be heavy.

While Zhang Yu was thinking about how to deal with the Chigan people, the Chigan Hu people had already set their sights on Zhang's caravan.

On a distant hill, Chigan Puda was sitting on a chair, guarded by several fierce Hu cavalrymen. Li Pu looked respectful and was talking to Chigan Puda.

Chigan Puda stood up from his chair. Although he was short, his aura was very terrifying. He asked, "How do we deal with Zhang Yu?"

Li Pu bowed and said, "Just execute Zhang Yu. I need to bring back his head. In addition to the goods agreed upon before, the goods obtained from Zhang's caravan will also be sent to you."

"it is good!"

Chigan Puda glanced at Li Pu and could not help thinking to himself: "The Han people are as insidious as poisonous snakes. They don't want to take action themselves, so they have to use their own hands to harm Zhang Yu in order to cover up the traces!" The strategy that Li Pu proposed to Wen Shao can be summarized in four words: killing with a borrowed knife.

Li Pu heard that Chi Ganren had a grudge against Zhang, so he suggested that Wen Shao bribe Chi Ganren to ambush Zhang Yu on his way home, so that he could take revenge without dirtying Wen Shao's hands. Under Li Pu's money offensive, Chi Ganren did not hesitate too much and naturally agreed.

"ebe!"

Chigan Puda looked at a Xianbei man with hawk-like eyes and ordered: "Raykt Zhang Yu! (Go and kill him~)"

"Ok!"

The thin Xianbei man, with one hand on his chest, mounted his horse and rode quickly!

On the Yanmen Road, the Zhang caravan was hurrying to reach the next resting place.

Suddenly, the leader Zhang Yang seemed to hear some unusual noise and looked up to signal the following Han cavalry to stop marching.

"what happened?"

Seeing the team stopped, Li Song asked.

Zhang Yang's face was solemn, and he said, "There seem to be cavalrymen on the mountain!"

Just as everyone was listening with bated breath, Hao Zhao discovered something, shouted to everyone, and gestured with his bow.

"Enemy attack!"

"Enemy attack!"

Zhang Yu looked over suddenly.

But in the direction Hao Zhao pointed, there were people gathering in the forest and smoke and dust rolling. And as time passed, the thunderous sound of horse hooves continued to ring in Zhang Yu's ears, and wild shouts echoed on both sides of the road.

"The barbarians are attacking!"

"Borrow the carriage for shelter."

In an instant, Zhang Yudu issued a warning, calling on the Han cavalry near the Hu people to retreat to the other side so that they could take advantage of the cover of the carriages.

"Whoosh!"

Before the voice fell, a dozen arrows flew through the air, and the slight whizzing sound filled Zhang Yu's ears.

Although they did not expect to be suddenly attacked on the way home, the Han cavalry who were able to trade horses and engage in business were all agile. Faced with the sudden attack of the Hu people, they responded quickly and looked for nearby cover.

An arrow passed by Zhang Yu's body and shot into the crossbar of the carriage. The arrowhead penetrated about an inch, Zhang Yu pulled out the arrowhead, took a closer look, and saw that it was a familiar bone arrow, and shouted.

"Screw the barbarians!"

"It was an ambush by the Chigan Hu people!"

Zhang Yu threw the arrowhead to the ground fiercely, quickly put away the hand clothes given by Wang Ji, picked up the strong bow, and cursed: "These dogs, I didn't go after them, but now they come after me!"

"Bo Dao, take some people to guard the back!"

"it is good!"

Hao Zhao brought four or five people with him to guard another piece of forest for everyone.

Zhang Yang and Zhang Yu did not ride their horses forward, but held their horses, used the carriage as cover, dismounted and shot at the Hu people on foot.

Zhang Yu spotted a Hu man running out from behind a tree, jumped up and down, and shot the man to death with one arrow.

In an instant, several Hu cavalrymen who charged first were shot down by arrows. Even if a Hu cavalryman broke through the arrows, the carriages connected in front and behind would block his gallop.

Zhang Yang seized the opportunity, suddenly jumped up from behind the chariot, and stabbed a Hu rider with a spear off his horse. He was so brave!
"Whoosh!"

Arrows flew through the air. Zhang Yu drew his bow and shot while constantly observing the surrounding situation.

Suddenly, Hao Zhao, who was guarding the side forest, shouted loudly: "The Hu cavalry are attacking from behind, there are so many of them!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu retracted his head behind the car, looked at the crowds of people in the woods, and cursed in his heart.

"Uncle, there are more than a hundred Chigan Hu people, and they are attacking us from both sides. We can't defend with just carriages."

Zhang Yu untied the reins of the black-maned horse and said, "Everyone, retreat on horseback, hide in the dense forest, and look for an opportunity to fight again!"

"What about the cargo on the carriage?" Hao Zhao shouted reluctantly.

"You want life or money?" Zhang Yu cursed.

Zhang Yu pulled open the canvas covering the carriage and shouted, "Throw the valuables from the carriage onto the ground, quickly!"

"I'll make them all spit it out later!"

"Second leader?" Someone asked Zhang Yang for his opinion.

Zhang Yang looked at the goods he had worked so hard to sell with a painful look on his face, and shouted, "Listen to Ji An's instructions and throw the valuables on the carriage to the ground!"

"it is good!"

"Take the wounded!"

As Zhang Yang ran, he used his long spear to pry open the canvas, and then poked a few large holes in the grain bag. The rice grains in the sack gushed out like water.

(End of this chapter)