Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 42 Rescue Wentai
In the night sky, with a bright moon in the sky, Han army soldiers filed out of the camp. The ranks stretched for miles, like a fire dragon descending into the world, and pounced towards Changsha.

Zhang Yu led the cavalry outside the camp and watched Zhu Jun's army leave from afar.

"Hey!"

Zhang Yu sighed secretly, pulled the reins, and said, "Inspect the East Camp!"

"promise!"

Although Zhang Yu was a little depressed that he could not join the army to gain military merits, he could also understand Wang Yun.

Wang Yun had no confidants around him, and if he did not rely on the few troops in Zhang Yu's hands, Wang Yun would have no one to rely on. After all, the Wang family poured resources into training him, and he also had to work for the Wang family to ensure that Wang Yun would secure his position as the governor of Yuzhou.

After the army left, it was quiet late at night. Zhang Yu led Li Song and the cavalry to inspect the camp. Hao Zhao was left in the big tent so that Wang Yun could pass on the order.

An unknown amount of time had passed. Just when Zhang Yu was feeling sleepy, the sky suddenly lit up in the middle of the night.

Li Song caught a glimpse of it and said excitedly, "Fire! It must be the Yellow Turban camp on fire!"

Zhang Yu looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the night sky in the direction of Changsha suddenly became brighter, and the flames dyed the sky orange.

"Shut up!"

Zhang Yu stopped his horse, looked around for a while, and said, "Changshe is on fire, the wind is fanning the flames, Bo Cai is defeated!"

For some reason, Li Song suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "An army of hundreds of thousands was defeated just like that?"

"Ok!"

Li Song was a little melancholy, and said: "Bo had an army of more than 100,000 soldiers besieging Changsha, with great momentum, shaking the Central Plains. Now they are defeated because they set up camp on grass and trees and were burned by fire. It is unimaginable."

Zhang Yu rode back to the camp and said, "Generals and soldiers must not be careless. If there is even the slightest mistake, the army will suffer casualties at best, or even be defeated."

"It seems that Bo Cai may have some talent, but setting up camp relying on grass and trees is a stupid move," said Li Song.

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Bo Cai built his camp by relying on plants and trees. He had his own considerations. Just like the Yi people~"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu stopped talking abruptly and almost blurted out the Yiling fire.

Huangfu Song's burning of Changsha and Lu Xun's burning of Yiling were similar in some ways.

In order to surround Changsha, Bo Cai set up camp among the grass and trees; in order to avoid the scorching heat, Liu Bei led his troops to camp in the mountains and forests.

"Yi what?" Li Song asked.

"nothing!"

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Bosong will take more than ten riders to Changsha to investigate the situation. I will lead the riders back to the camp and inform Wang Yuzhou."

"promise!"

"go!"

After calling out to the riders behind him, Zhang Yu lit a torch and urged his horse to gallop.

After returning to the camp, Zhang Yu informed Wang Yun.

Needless to say, Wang Yun, as a loyalist to the Han army, was overjoyed. He immediately ordered the old and weak in the camp to bring out wine and meat, and to light a fire and cook as a reward for the victorious Han army soldiers.

As time passed, the fire burned all night long, dyeing the sky orange.

During this period, the cavalry sent back the military situation on the scene, which was almost an unanimous victory report.

Until dawn, the fire on the horizon died down a little. The Han army, which had been fighting all night, returned with some prisoners and some with their ears taken. Everyone was very happy.

Zhang Yu stationed his horse in front of the camp and led the cavalry to maintain order.

Suddenly, a rider came with a team. He had a decent appearance but looked extremely anxious. When he saw Zhang Yu, who was in charge of order, he stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Zhang, have you seen my Sima?"

Zhang Yu turned around and saw that it was Wu Jing, one of Sun Jian's subordinates. He asked in confusion, "I have been guarding the camp for a long time, but I have never seen your Sima. What's going on?"

Wu Jing was very anxious and said worriedly: "My troops were the vanguard. Sima led the way, holding a shield and facing the arrows, burning the Yellow Turban camp, and I led the troops to follow. However, it was dark at night, Sima rode alone to kill the bandits, and we were scattered in the camp and lost track of Sima."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu understood Sun Jian's situation. It was because Sun Jian was so distracted by the fighting that he charged into the Yellow Turbans alone and lost contact with the main force in the chaos of the night attack.

"Not urgent!"

Zhang Yu comforted Wu Jing and said, "Wentai is a brave man, and he is wearing strong armor. How could he be injured by the defeated army? Now he may have lost his way. I will send some people to go with you to see if we can find Wentai's whereabouts."

"Thank you, Zhang Congshi!"

Wu Jing said gratefully.

With Zhang Yu's help, Wu Jing led his men back to look for Sun Jian.

After Wu Jing had been gone for a while, an ownerless yellow-maned horse suddenly galloped into the camp, neighing loudly towards the sky, as if to attract everyone's attention. A group of people gathered around, wondering why the horse was neighing in annoyance.

"What's wrong with this horse?" the Han soldier asked in confusion.

Coincidentally, a burly and dignified Han cavalryman passed by and saw what the yellow-maned horse did. Being familiar with the nature of horses, he immediately understood the yellow-maned horse's intention.

The Han cavalry stopped their horses and said in a stern voice: "The cavalry master is in danger, and the soldiers and horses know the way back and ask for help from you. What is the meaning of you sitting on the wall now?"

"Step aside!"

As he spoke, the Han cavalry drove away the people who were watching the show and prepared to help the yellow-maned horse.

"Wait a minute!"

Zhang Yu led his cavalry over and recognized at a glance that this was Sun Jian's mount, and immediately called on the Han cavalry to stop.

Apparently, someone had already informed Zhang Yu about the noisy scene.

"Zhang Congshi!"

The Han cavalry actually recognized Zhang Yu and greeted him with a bow.

Zhang Yu looked at the strange Han rider and asked, "Who are you?" "My surname is Cheng, my name is Pu, and my courtesy name is Demou!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu became interested. He never expected to meet Cheng Pu at this time.

"The yellow-maned horse belongs to my friend. What do you think, Mr. Cheng?" Zhang Yu asked with a bow.

Cheng Pu was afraid that Zhang Yu would think he was stealing horses, so he took the initiative to explain: "I am from Youbeiping and I know the nature of horses very well. Now I see this horse neighing, as if it is asking for help from its master, so I want to go with it."

Zhang Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, he seemed to understand something.

If the historical events were not changed, perhaps Cheng Pu could serve Sun Jian because of this incident. Sun Jian was seriously injured, and Cheng Pu and Wu Jing accidentally saved Sun Jian, and the two formed a friendship.

Maybe Cheng Pu was not an outstanding general, but he was already a great man in the world because he could leave his name in history with his ability. There was an obvious opportunity to poach him, so how could Zhang Yu miss it?

Zhang Yu's thoughts quickly flashed through his mind, and he said, "Mr. Cheng must be exhausted after the battle, so you can go back and rest first. I have an old relationship with the horse owner, so I can go and rescue him!"

Zhang Yu went to rescue Cheng Pu as a friend, so Cheng Pu did not hesitate.

"Thank you for your help, Zhang!"

"Thank you, Mr. Cheng, for your kindness. The horse owner and I will pay a visit to you later."

"Easy to do!"

After the two of them finished talking, Zhang Yu asked someone to inform Wang Yun, and he led several riders to follow the yellow-maned horse.

In order to save his master, the yellow-maned horse with human-like instincts galloped in a hurry, and Zhang Yu led his cavalry to follow closely behind.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Yu followed the yellow-maned horse to an area with lush vegetation, and then saw the yellow-maned horse neighing towards the sky.

"Chasing the wind!"

A joyful voice was heard from the bushes, and by identifying the tone, it could be recognized as Sun Jian's voice.

"Brother Wentai!"

Zhang Yu jumped off his horse and shouted loudly.

"At this!"

Sun Jian shouted loudly, "Is this Ji An?"

"It's down!"

Zhang Yu followed the sound and finally found Sun Jian in the weeds.

Sun Jian's face was pale and there was a smear of blood on his thigh. Although it was bandaged with a linen towel, the bright red blood could not be stopped from flowing out, and even dyed the surrounding green grass red.

Zhang Yu helped Sun Jian up and asked with concern, "What happened to Wentai?"

Sun Jian shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "I saw the enemy general fleeing last night. I was eager to make a contribution, so I chased him alone. I was ambushed by the enemy general and fell to the ground with several wounds. Fortunately, I met Ji An who rescued me!"

"Be careful!"

Zhang Yu called Zhang Maoshan to help Sun Jian walk through the bushes.

Glancing down at Sun Jian's injuries, Zhang Yu suddenly had an evil thought. If he killed Sun Jian here, he didn't know what changes would happen in the future.

Sun Jian died, but the brothers Sun Ce and Sun Quan were still alive. Without the rise of Sun Jian, the Sun family would probably have been unknown.

But it’s hard to predict what will happen in the future. The little tyrant Sun Ce can still fight and maybe even lead the Sun family.

"Jian?"

Seeing Zhang Yu remained silent, Sun Jian asked.

"Oh?"

Zhang Yu helped Sun Jian onto his yellow-maned horse and said, "If Zhuifeng had not understood human nature, how could Yu have found Wentai?"

"Zhuifeng is smarter than ordinary horses. If there had been no Zhuifeng in previous battles, I would have died in battle."

Sun Jian lay on the horse's back, stroking his beloved horse with his hand, and sighed.

Zhang Yu rode ahead and asked his attendants to look after Sun Jian while he returned along the same route.

"Wentai is brave in battle and often leads the troops. But for the sake of his own safety, Wentai needs to be more careful in future battles." Zhang Yu said kindly.

Sun Jian sighed slightly and said, "In battle, one often faces life and death. How could I not know that I have a wife and children at home? It's just that my father didn't provide me with protection. If I don't sacrifice myself and take the lead, how can I be appreciated by my superiors?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu remained silent.

There is no warrior in the world who is willing to live on the edge of a knife every day. There are only reasons that cannot be helped. As a powerful warrior, if Sun Jian did not fight bravely, no one would be willing to follow him, let alone promotion.

Zhu Jun appreciated Sun Jian not only because they were both from Jiangdong, but also because Sun Jian was not afraid of death in battle.

Before he was appreciated by Wang, he had always fought bravely for the first place in the battles between him and Chigan.

Even though he was appreciated by Wang, for the sake of merit, he would risk his life, break through the blockade and deliver the letter to Changsha.

For a moment, Zhang Yu actually missed Li Suyi and Wang Ji.

Sun Jian looked up at Zhang Yu and said with a smile: "If it weren't for Ji'an's rescue, I would have died here. I owe you my life, and I will repay you in the future."

Zhang Yu suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Without his rescue, Sun Jian might have met the powerful general Cheng Pu. After his efforts, Sun Jian was saved, but he did not meet Cheng Pu.

"Easy to do!"

Zhang Yu remained calm and said with a smile, "You and I are colleagues, and it is only natural for us to help each other. If I get into trouble in the future, I will ask Lao Wentai to help me."

"Easy to say!"

Sun Jian was very generous and said, "If Ji'an needs help in the future, just send someone to tell him!"

(End of this chapter)