Tiger Guards

Chapter 438 The Entire Army is Devastated
It was nearly midnight in Yongqiu City.

Throughout the night, the occasional neighing of horses could be heard, and messengers passing by outside the city often carried torches and rode lightly.

Cheng Lian had difficulty falling asleep. He had only seen the messenger being shot from afar, and not very clearly.

At such a distance, in his common sense, there were many examples of people being killed by armor-piercing weapons; heavy crossbows and horn crossbows in the army could achieve similar effects.

The "stray arrow" in the phrase "straight arrow kills" often refers to a powerful crossbow bolt whose trajectory is difficult to track.

Because written records of crossbows often contain exaggerated descriptions, even those records of accurate long-range shooting describe them as the finest and best quality crossbows.

If not properly maintained, errors will occur even when rewinding the crossbow, not to mention the trajectory deflection caused by slight differences in the crossbow bolts.

So the crossbow bolts were fired... The terror of stray arrows lies in their unpredictability; they could come from the side or even from behind.

In Cheng Lian's mind, the envoy who was shot at such a distance must have been well-maintained with a fine crossbow.

When the messenger was leading his army north, he fell to the ground by the roadside. An arrow pierced his chest from behind, killing him instantly. When the body was collected, the arrow shaft bore the four blackened characters "Arrow used by Marquis Zhao".

All five thousand officers and soldiers saw it clearly and knew that Zhao, the Grand Marshal, shot an arrow at the crossroads, about two hundred and thirty paces away, and the messenger was killed by an arrow.

The consequences were terrible; after setting up camp, the entire army was demoralized and had no morale whatsoever.

Even the hunting dogs that Cheng Lian kept were listless, whimpering and looking shifty.

"Report! Transmit the General's order!"

A group of cavalrymen arrived with torches, and after receiving the curfew order, they spurred their horses and charged into Cheng Lian's tent.

Cheng Lian's personal guards, who were on guard around him, came forward with torches. Surrounded by them, Cheng Lian stepped forward and, seeing that the messenger was an acquaintance, immediately asked, "How is it?"

"The Grand General orders that General Cheng Lian, the Valiant Cavalry Commander, shall march south at dawn to be assigned to Wei Yue and to pursue and annihilate the rebel army!"

The messenger shouted loudly, jumped off his horse, handed over a scroll of silk, and said irritably, "Quickly fetch some water, you're exhausting your father!"

Cheng Lian first examined the military dispatches, and after confirming that there were no errors, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Who persuaded the General to mobilize the troops?"

"Two men from Jiangdong, one named Wu Fan, foresaw that the general would ask him to perform divination. He left behind a divination, and three days ago he resigned from his post and left for Xuchang. No one knows where he went."

The envoy took a bowl of water and was about to drink it when he suddenly remembered his conversation with Song Xian and hurriedly asked, "Where is this water from? Could it be well water from the city?"

"It's definitely not the water used to soak bones in the city; it's water from a newly dug well outside the north city."

Cheng Lian immediately replied, but before he could finish speaking, the messenger picked up the bowl and gulped down some water. Finally, he puffed out his cheeks, squeezed the water out of his mouth to rinse, turned his head, spat it out, and handed over the bowl: "Three more bowls, please!"

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, turned to Cheng Lian and said, "Wu Fan is a remarkable man. The Grand General has already sent people to pursue him, intending to recruit him as an aide. There is also Yu Fan from Kuaiji. Tomorrow, Yu Fan will go north first to pay his respects to the Grand Marshal to clarify the misunderstanding. I don't think this battle will be fought. When you withdraw your troops tomorrow, make sure to supervise the officers and soldiers to maintain a neat and orderly military appearance, so as not to be looked down upon by the Grand Marshal."

Cheng Lian nodded in understanding. He wasn't afraid of Zhao Ji's disdain, but he was afraid of angering Lü Bu, who was already in a bad mood.

He didn't want to fight this battle either. As a cavalry general second only to Lü Bu and Wei Yue, Cheng Lian had a cavalry battalion of 500 men under his command, all thanks to the Grand Marshal.
As a core general under Lü Bu, Cheng Lian knew perfectly well that it was clearly an action authorized by the imperial court, proposed by the emperor and Lü Bu, to have Zhao Ji pacify and suppress Cao Cao's former troops, and that Zhao Ji had agreed.

However, Chen Gong and Zhang Yang wanted to take a big bite out of the fire, which angered Grand Marshal Zhao.

Not to mention Grand Marshal Zhao, even Cheng Lian himself would have already sent troops to attack by now.

The fact that he has been able to restrain himself until now, and even personally cover the rear, shows that he has given the general a lot of face.

Soon, Cheng Lian issued a reply. After changing their horses, the messengers hurriedly set off south with torches to report back to Lü Bu.

On the west bank of the Honggou Canal, Li Tong also received Lü Bu's order at almost the same time.

Lu Bu was much more polite to Li Tong, a subordinate general who had both a base of support and the ability to negotiate surrender. He simply ordered Li Tong to retreat to the Ruyang area within three days to replenish military supplies and prepare for the subsequent pursuit and suppression of the rebels.

After seeing off Lü Bu's envoy, Li Tong walked calmly towards the main tent. Only after entering the tent did he speak: "I don't know if he was bluffing to intimidate Zhao Ji, or if he was backing down."

The village leaders who followed him into the tent took their seats one after another. Li Tong was only thirty years old this year, and the village leaders in the tent were about the same age as him.

Among the various forces, Li Tong only rose to prominence during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, becoming a minor regional warlord. Over the years, through consolidation, he became a major warlord in southwestern Runan.

The kind of leader who is rooted in the local area and can represent the voice of the local people is the clan leader; for example, Zang Ba and his group were from Taishan in Yanzhou, and were from the southern part of Taishan, but they settled down and grew strong in the neighboring Langya, so they were the leaders of the refugees and the leaders of the garrison.

One of them spoke up: "Perhaps it's a combination of both; seeing that things were beyond their control, they reined in their horses at the edge of the cliff."

Seeing that the others remained silent, and knowing that discussing Lü Bu and Zhao Ji's affairs too much was not safe, Li Tong said, "We will obey. After you return to your posts, please inform your officers and soldiers to reassure the troops."

"Here!"

No one was in the mood for idle chatter; the more they talked, the more trouble they would cause, and the more trouble they would cause the morale of the army to crumble.

He listens to whoever represents the imperial court.

To obey only the Han Dynasty court is both a stance and a pursuit of personal ideals.

If he resolutely carries out the imperial edict, then he will not make a mistake.

It was only because Zhao Ji didn't issue him a transfer order that he dared to lead his troops to turn south.

After his partners and key military officers left, Li Tong unfastened his sword, slowly drew it, held it upright, and gazed at the mirror-like blade. At that moment, he could only let out a long sigh.

Yuan Shu's escape was definitely not good news for him.

The development of scholars in Runan was too vigorous. Since the chaos in the world, insightful families have transformed themselves into powerful and influential families.

Cao Cao attacked and destroyed a group of nouveau riche from low social classes, like himself.

He was quick-witted enough to send an envoy to Cao Cao in advance to apologize, and it's possible that Cao Cao didn't want to delay the spring planting, which is why he let him go.

Later, when Xuchang was in turmoil, Lü Bu took the opportunity to kill a group of people, mainly from Yingchuan.

The Runan area, however, did not suffer too much damage.

Therefore, the Yuan brothers still wielded considerable influence in the Runan region, and these people had a fundamental survival conflict with newly rising warlords like Li Tong.

If the siege of Chen County captures Yuan Shu and the core rebel members around him, then Zhao Ji and Lü Bu's army will be within reach. They can then take advantage of the situation to kill them. The officials at the county and prefecture levels of Runan will not dare not to fight to the death, and the powerful clans and wealthy families of Runan can be completely wiped out.

Unfortunately, such an opportunity passed quickly, much to Li Tong's regret.

If Zhao Ji withdraws his troops and the two sides become enemies, even if Lü Bu captures the core members of Yuan Shu's rebellious faction, he will not be able to take advantage of the situation to purge the scholars of Runan.

Deep down, Li Tong strongly agreed with Zhao Ji's accountability and judgment of the officials.

The high-ranking officials were all like this, as were the prominent families and scholars from various regions who produced them—they were utterly corrupt.

Only the people in their respective hometowns knew what scholars were like in their local area.

Li Tong, who had been chivalrous and unrestrained since his youth, must have had the idea of ​​clearing away the injustices of the world.

But the road ahead is difficult, and there is almost no hope.

All he could do was gather allies, carve out a territory, and maintain peace in that region.

And now, in just ten years, his followers have begun to push him forward, and it's impossible to stop them.

Thinking about what would happen in the long term, Li Tong sighed again.

He got up, shoved his sword back into its sheath, hung it on the tent wall, turned around, lay down on a pile of dry grass, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

As for whether the Grand Marshal might suddenly send troops across the river to attack him...

Li Tong had no such concerns at all. This was a power struggle between the Grand General and the Grand Marshal. What did it have to do with him?
His value in winning him over is actually much higher, so why would Zhao Ji attack him?
Not only him, but his army also felt a sense of complacency.

(End of this chapter)