Tiger Guards

Chapter 277 Scheming and Fighting
Approaching Cao Cao's camp at a distance of about fifty paces, Zhao Ji quickly suppressed the three arrow towers on the opposite side.

Before the quiver of arrows was exhausted, Cao Cao's army had yet to show themselves or launch a counterattack.

He could only tug at the rope, the other end of which was tied to the wrist of a shield bearer.

Sensing the message, the shield bearer immediately blew his bronze whistle.

The whistle blew sharply, and Cao Cao's archers immediately began firing blind and swarm shots toward the sound.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhao Ji fired two arrows. He could vaguely hear a scream as an archer fell from the arrow tower, while the other arrow went silent, probably missing its target.

He prepared to fire, then pulled on another rope, and the shield bearers on this side blew their bronze whistles.

Only a handful of crossbow bolts were fired, and the faint sound of bolts hitting objects could be heard.

Because the soil is damp, most of the crossbow bolts do not make a sound when they hit the ground.

Seeing that Cao's army was no longer fighting back, Zhao Ji had no choice but to pull on the two ropes together to send a brief signal to retreat.

After the bronze whistle sounded, the thirty-odd sharpshooters who had been lying in ambush on the left and right, along with the shield bearers who were covering them, retreated and disappeared into the night.

Only after moving out of Cao Cao's firing range did they light torches and wait for the knights to approach with their horses.

Zhao Yun mounted his horse and couldn't help but ask, "Minister, why did you only harass Cao Cao's army today?"

"Previously, I did not want to engage in pointless killing and wanted to ask the Emperor to personally lead an expedition to Chenliu to crush Cao Cao's army in one fell swoop. I never expected that the former officials were short-sighted and, lured by the grain and fodder of Yingchuan, dared to persuade the Emperor to go to Yingchuan."

Zhao Ji spoke frankly and sighed deeply, "Since we cannot rely on the emperor's power to defeat the enemy army, we can only rely on the courage of us ordinary men."

Zhao Yun nodded, wanting to say something, but then felt that this occasion was inappropriate.

Back at the camp, Zhao Yun and Zhao Ji had a late-night snack together when Zhao Yun asked, "If you, Attendant, go to harass Cao Cao's army again tomorrow, in my opinion, Cao Cao's army will surely set up an ambush."

"Setting up an ambush?"

Zhao Ji pondered for a moment: "In Zilong's opinion, how many types of ambushes are possible?"

“I am skilled in using cavalry. If I were to be the garrison commander of this camp, I would leave two hundred elite cavalrymen. Once the Attendant and the Archers are close, the two hundred elite cavalrymen would suddenly attack, flanking from the left and right, charging and trampling back and forth. How could the Archers, with their flesh and blood, possibly withstand that? In the meantime, we would also use light infantry to sweep them away. The Archers would be in grave danger.”

Zhao Yun, putting himself in others' shoes, said, "Tomorrow during the day, carefully scout the terrain outside the camp and demarcate the shooting boundaries. Gather five hundred strong warriors. If the Attendant dares to approach and harass us, we will have the strong warriors fire a volley of arrows. Under the rain of arrows, we should be able to severely injure the Attendant."

After a brief silence, Zhao Yun continued, "This humble general has heard that Cao Cao's army is skilled at digging..."

He spoke seriously, but Zhao Ji chuckled, and Zhao Yun, though his face remained tense, managed to hold back his laughter.

After Zhao Ji finished laughing, Zhao Yun coughed twice and said, "Cao Cao's army is digging outwards from their camp, hiding elite soldiers. If you, Attendant, approach, these elite soldiers will suddenly attack and catch you off guard."

"If you're digging up a grave, then dig up a grave. Why are you talking about digging up soil?"

Zhao Ji smiled, picked up his honey water and took a sip: "Tomorrow, Xu Gongming will be guarding the camp. I will go forward with Zilong and Zhang Junyi to challenge him. Let's see if Cao Cao dares to accept the challenge."

"Does the Chamberlain want to duel between generals or soldiers?"

Zhao Yun spoke in a serious tone. The concept of "fighting generals" is easy to understand, while "fighting soldiers" means that each side sends out an army to fight on the battlefield.

The armies participating in the battle must be elite and powerful.

Once defeated, the morale of the entire army will be damaged.

"Let's have a showdown with Cao Cao for now."

Zhao Ji picked up the water jar and shook it. The honey water inside was all gone. He said, "I am very sorry that I was unable to fight Yan Liang and Wen Chou in the battle of Hebei."

Zhao Yun nodded slightly in agreement, but it was unclear whether he agreed with the duel or with Zhao Ji's statement.

Having spent almost a month together, Zhao Ji and Zhao Yun had already tested each other.

In terms of exquisite and skillful swordsmanship, Zhao Ji is inferior to Zhao Yun; however, in terms of fierce and swift sword techniques, Zhao Ji has an overwhelming advantage.

Simply put, if Zhao Yun were to compete in swordsmanship with a martial artist of similar endurance and explosive power, he could easily outmaneuver his opponent.

Zhao Ji's swordplay is explosive and swift, often killing the enemy at the very start of the fight... Most people who encounter Zhao Ji for the first time suffer a slight loss and are then killed in one blow.

Therefore, the swordplay practice between Zhao Ji and Zhao Yun was limited to a few points, with each person mainly practicing on their own.

Zhao Ji's swordsmanship is practical and deadly; Zhao Yun's is the same, capable of killing within two or three moves.

What Zhao Yun feared most was that Zhao Ji's attacks were not a matter of gathering strength for a burst, but rather a series of closely connected sword strikes, each one fierce and deadly.

There's no way that if you block the first fierce sword, you can more easily block the second one.

In any case, Zhao Yun did not want to engage in a sword fight with Zhao Ji unless absolutely necessary.

As for horsemanship, Zhao Yun seemed to have been born on horseback, something Zhao Ji himself admired. To reach Zhao Yun's level, besides extensive riding training, one also needed talent.

In addition, there are archery skills and long-handled weapons. Zhao Yun is also good at archery and is a master archer.

However, Zhao Ji's archery skills allowed him to shoot from an even greater distance.

Just like their swordsmanship, Zhao Yun's use of spears was similar. He always kept his killing moves hidden in the second and third moves. Ordinary people couldn't block the first move, those who were proficient in the moves couldn't block the second move that countered the moves, and those whose minds were not stable enough couldn't block the third move.

Zhao Ji's main approach was to use fierce and swift moves. No matter how simple the slashing or thrusting, as long as Zhao Ji was fast enough and his explosive power was strong enough, he couldn't withstand this simple move. No amount of talking would help.

In terms of individual beheading statistics, Zhao Yun killed fewer people in those five or six years than Zhao Ji killed in six months.

Zhao Yun wasn't worried at all about the duel between generals.

It wasn't that he was arrogant or conceited, but rather that he and Zhao Ji together were truly formidable.

Xu Huang was also quite strong, but even so, Zhao Yun looked down on him. Anyway, he was confident that he could kill Xu Huang when they dueled.

The same applies to Zhang He, who was invited by Zhao Ji. In Zhao Yun's eyes, there are only five or six people who can currently compete with him in generalship.

It's understandable that they were curious about the people from the Central Plains under Cao Cao's command, so they took this opportunity to have a duel and learn from each other's experiences in using their own skills.

Based on Zhao Yun's understanding of Zhao Ji... when Zhao Ji puts down his bow and picks up his horse-slaying sword, you must stay away from Zhao Ji.

He was confident about the duel the next day, so he asked Zhao Ji, "Why does the Attendant-in-Ordinary suddenly want to duel with Cao Cao's army?"

“I know Lu Menghou very well. He has acquired so many knights. Tomorrow he will definitely lead his knights out of the camp and show off his power outside Cao Cao’s camp.”

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "He challenges from the east, and I challenge from the west. I want to see whether Cao Cao will close his camp and refuse to fight, or whether he will fight me."

Zhao Yun frowned, but quickly understood Zhao Ji's thinking. Zhao Ji concluded that Cao Cao would not close his camp to avoid battle tomorrow, but would accept their challenge and ignore the arrogant and vigorous Lü Bu.

Ultimately, Cao Cao never suffered a major loss at the hands of Zhao Ji.

They probably still wanted to test their skills and see if they could gain an advantage.

However, what Cao Cao thought was not important; what mattered was that there were important things to do tomorrow.

Zhao Yun didn't linger. As a self-disciplined person, having eaten and drunk his fill and chatted enough, he had no interest in bothering Zhao Ji and causing trouble, so he immediately took his leave.

Zhao Ji arranged for two guards to escort Zhao Yun back to his camp, and then led more than fifty cavalrymen to inspect the various camps.

When he returned to his tent, he saw Zhang Zan holding a silk scroll and coming to greet him: "Attendant, this is an urgent message from Zhang Xiu."

"Why is it him?"

Zhao Ji was puzzled. He picked up the silk scroll and read it over and over. He glanced at Zhang Zan, who had a happy look on his face, and said, "This is not a good thing. If it weren't for Zhang Xiu, everyone in our army would know that there is a poisonous snake hiding at the bottom of the clear pool. Now that Zhang Xiu has muddied the water, we can't see the snake. It's not good for me to take this opportunity to make trouble and get rid of this snake."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zan's smile faded. Zhao Ji, holding the silk scroll, sat back on his folding chair, removed his helmet, and began to study the scroll for the second time.

It cannot be denied that Zhang Xiu did a great job, but he also indirectly helped the Three Yangs strengthen their control over the court.

Zhang Xiu's attack on Yingyin and Li Tong's capture of Xuxia's residence were like a punch to Xun Yu's liver. Now Xun Yu can't even stand up straight, so what right does he have to bargain with the court?

With Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong's supply lines cut off, Cao Cao's entire southern and central front was put on the defensive.

Xun Yu's side just couldn't negotiate better terms, but once he integrated into the court, who could suppress him in the future?
Moreover, by alerting the enemy about three days in advance, Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong must have already begun their retreat.

Unable to recapture the promised grain depot, they would certainly have to withdraw to the Chenliu battlefield before Cao Cao's prestige was still intact and before negative news spread within the army.

In other words, he and Lü Bu needed to speed up their attack. If they dragged it out any longer, Cao Hong and Xiahou Yuan's 20,000-plus troops would be able to get close to the battlefield and strengthen Cao Cao's forces.

Tomorrow, we will defeat Cao Cao's army in a duel, and the day after tomorrow, we will launch a pincer attack on Cao Cao's camp.

I just hope it doesn't rain in the next two days, as that would affect military operations.

Zhao Ji pondered for a moment, then turned to look at Zhang Zan: "Write a letter to the Prince of Chen, asking him to mobilize the troops from Ningling to assist in the battle. Also, tell the Prince of Chen that the officials had misled the emperor and almost caused the defeat of the Chenliu army. The Prince of Chen is the Grand General, and he should be the one to rectify the court and investigate the treacherous officials, both inside and outside the court."

Zhang Zan sat down to the side, picked up a brush and moistened the ink, and asked in doubt, "My lord, would the Prince of Chen agree?"

“Everyone in the world has a way out, but Prince Chen does not. The ministers are incompetent; they dare not hate me, but they dare to hate Prince Chen.”

Zhao Ji said in a low voice, "King Chen also knows that he is a mirror. As long as he lives, he will make the court officials lose face. If he joins forces with me, the Chen royal family will have a chance to continue. Otherwise, they will never have a good ending."

"Yes, I understand."

Zhang Zan felt more confident and knew how to phrase his words when negotiating with the Prince of Chen.

Previously, there were concerns that Prince Chen would be perfunctory. Now that they had grasped Prince Chen's lifeline, the two sides could naturally cooperate more deeply and forge a deeper friendship.

(End of this chapter)