Chapter 391
Chapter 391 – Cao Ren"s Miscalculation
Cao Ren hesitated if he should march out to meet Kong Rong on an open field .
If they stayed in-door and waited for their arrival, Cao Ren could save his men"s strength . The resource consumption would also be lower than marching out . However, they would be at a disadvantage had Kong Rong brought cannons with him .
Currently, all Cao Cao"s officers knew about the potential of this siege weapon as cannons were most destructive if they were used against buildings, city walls, or large weaponry, such as siege towers, watchtowers, or trebuchets .
The only way to counter cannons were direct combat .
The number of Tong"s cannons was still limited, according to Cao Cao"s intelligence agencies . Furthermore, cannonb.a.l.l.s could only kill a few dozen men per shot . Compared to repeating crossbows, this type of cannons was weaker when they were fighting against an army on a field battle . A loose formation could counter a round of cannon barrage with ease!
Judging the pros and cons, Cao Ren made up his mind .
"Gather our men! We"ll meet them on the battlefield!"
Yue Jin, Cao Ren"s aide, was dumbfounded by the illogical deployment order .
"Boss, it will be winter soon! We can wait for them inside the city and wait for them to freeze to death outside!"
"That"s not going to happen! All of Zhang Tong"s men are elites and experienced in warfare . If they"re coming here, then there is a purpose! They aren"t coming here to commit suicide for sure!"
"Come here with a purpose?"
Yue Jin stopped to think .
In reality, Cao Ren got tunnel vision, believing that Tong wanted to occupy Langye or destroy Cao Cao"s forces . He hinted at his aide that Tong might have plotted a move that could catch Cao Ren off-guard and destroy his army with his cannons .
However, Yue Jin misunderstood Cao Ren"s intention, thinking that Cao Ren wanted him to look at the big picture .
Pondering for a while, Yue Jin thought of the ambush ordered by their lord .
"Is this connected to the ambush plan? The one that we"re supposed to kill Sun Jian and Tong"s envoy?"
Cao Ren widened his eyes, "What are you talking about?"
"You"re not talking about the recent order?"
"I"m talking about the invasion!"
"What about the order? Don"t you think it"s connected?"
"What does this have to do with Sun Jian and the eunuch?"
"Well, are they trying to rescue these people?"
Cao Ren"s jaw dropped, "Is it?"
"I think Kong Rong"s mobilization is a bait to draw us out of our territory so that Sun Jian and the envoy can slip through our net . Since they are coming toward Langye, their next destination will be Kong Rong"s city . "
"I see! So Kong Rong is trying to help them!"
Cao Ren got gooseb.u.mps . Had Yue Jin had not warned him about Sun Jian, he would have neglected the ambush order .
"Which one should we prioritize, boss?"
Cao Ren groaned . Pondering for another minute, he made his decision .
"The city"s safety comes first! We"ll concentrate on the invaders!"
"Shouldn"t we split our force and use a few thousand men to ambush Sun Jian?"
Cao Ren scratched his head, "I"m not a strategist! How should I know!?"
Without a choice, Cao Ren asked for Cao Cao and others in the clan chat . Opposite of Cao Ren"s initial opinion, Cheng Yu, Pu Jing, and Cao Cao had the same thought .
Cao Cao: "Ignore the invaders . Use all your troops to kill Sun Jian . "
Cheng Yu: "Sun Jian and the envoy"s bodyguards killed Zhang Kai and his team . Using this as a measure of their skills, I don"t think a few thousand men can kill everyone . "
Pu Jing: "When a lion hunts a hare, he goes all out . Sun Jian and his men are no hare, so you"d better not looking down on them . Use everything you have to kill them even if you have to sacrifice Langye Commandery!"
Cao Ren received his order . He pa.s.sed it to Yue Jin .
"Our lord and our strategists told us to ignore the invaders . We"ll go after Sun Jian . "
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Sun Jian, Wei You, Tais.h.i.+ Ci, and others arrived at the border of Langye . Because of several check-points and inspections by Cao Ren"s men, their journey was delayed by many days .
Fortunately, Sun Jian and his subordinates were cool-headed enough to maintain their composure under pressure . n.o.body suspected that they were the fugitives .
Still, everybody was on edge as it was apparent that Cao Ren knew about their arrival .
Tais.h.i.+ Ci reported their location to Tong in the clan chat .
Tais.h.i.+ Ci: "We"re at Langye border, half a day away from the city . "
Kong Rong: "Our troops are at Gaomi County . Should we move further south? We haven"t detected Cao Ren"s movement . "
Tong: "Kong Rong, move south to Dongwu County . If Cao Ren still refuses to move, mobilize to Langye and demand to enter the city . "
Kong Rong: "I thought we won"t really attack them . Are we attacking Xu Province?"
Tong: "Not really . Do not forget that we still have that agreement with Cao Cao . We have full authority to enter their territory since we have a master-servant relations.h.i.+p . In the papers, Cao Cao is my underling, so he has to open his gates to welcome us!"
Kong Rong: "OH! I get it!"
Tong: "Tais.h.i.+ Ci, keep pretending to be merchants and enter the city using the main road . Don"t try to sneak around, or everyone will get caught . "
Tais.h.i.+ Ci: "Yes, my lord!"
With Tong"s confirmation, everyone proceeded to Langye, bracing the dangers .
.
Tais.h.i.+ Ci and others arrived at the south gate of Langye City . As they had expected, Cao Ren set up another check-point .
As soon as they arrived, they found themselves at the back of a long line of merchant wagons and caravans . Tais.h.i.+ Ci and his company were not the only ones who had planned to enter the city .
"How long are they going to take!? It"s been days!"
"Can somebody tell the soldiers to hurry up? We"ll get caught by the winter at this rate!"
Hearing the complaints of the merchants, Wei You pretended to act as an errand maid . He approached a nearby merchant and asked, "What happens to the front? Why are we getting stuck here?"
The merchant grumbled, "The city protector ordered the gatekeepers not to allow anyone inside . This is stupid, you know? I"ve been here in the long line for three days now, and n.o.body can get inside! They"re trying to freeze us to death this winter!"
"Then, why don"t you go back to your previous city or county? It takes only a few weeks . "
"Do you see several guards around here?"
The merchants pointed at patrol guards in the area, who was glaring at them .
"These men told us that we can"t travel anywhere, or they will kill every single of us! Can you believe it?"
"Why are they doing that? Won"t they hurt their city and its people?"
"They"re looking for a group of fugitives . Unless they caught them, they wouldn"t allow anyone inside the city . "
"…"
Wei You returned with the piece of bad news . Sun Jian, Tais.h.i.+ Ci, and everybody listened to him in solemn .
Huang Gai and Cheng Pu grumbled, "What"s next? Are we waiting here as well? Our ration is almost out . "
Tais.h.i.+ Ci appeased them, "We have to wait . Let"s wait until our reinforcement arrives . They should be here in a week or so . "
Sun Jian was surprised, "I didn"t see you sending any messenger . How did you know that there will be a reinforcement?"
"Clan chat . Eh, I think you might not know this since you haven"t been invited to a clan . We"ll tell you once we arrived at Ye City . "
"…"
Sun Jian was astonished . Tais.h.i.+ Ci was still young, but Tong had bestowed him the clan chat ability, which was the same as Sun Fang"s .
A weird thought came to Sun Jian"s mind, "Can we join more than one clan at the same time?"
Sun Jian also asked Sun Fang in the clan chat .
Sun Jian: "Is it possible to join two immortal clans? I"m afraid that his majesty might invite us into his clan . "
Sun Fang: "I doubt it . The system said that we can only join one . "
Sun Jian had worries . This might spark a misunderstanding between Tong and himself since he did not want to rebel against the Han Dynasty .
Sun Jian: "Can you dissolve our clan, so we can join his majesty?"
Sun Fang: "The only way that I can disband this clan is my death . "
This confirmation hammered the final nail in the coffin . Between Sun Jian"s family and his ideal, he weighed the former more than the latter .
Sun Jian: "Gongfu, Demou, Yigong, we will lay low and try not to get involved in Zhang Tong"s affair . "
Seeing the clan message, Huang Gai and the others frowned . They glanced at their liege without alarming Wei You and Tais.h.i.+ Ci .
Huang Gai: "We"re not joining Zhang Tong, now?"
Cheng Pu: "So, we are laying low while we"re avoiding getting recruited into another clan?"
Han Dang: "Is it possible to mediate this issue?"
Sun Jian: "I don"t know . I"ll be trying to solve the feud between Fang"er and Zhang Tong . If he insists on killing Fang"er, then we"ll retire from his ranks . "
Cheng Pu: "Won"t he try to kill us like Cao Cao?"
Sun Jian: "I have no idea . Since he"s doing his best to get us out of here, let"s be on friendly terms with Zhang Tong for now . Once we can escape from Ye and regroup with Bofu and Fang"er, we will do so . "
A back-up plan had emerged during the escape . If Tong insisted on killing Sun Fang or harm the Sun Clan, Sun Jian schemed that they would desert from Tong"s ranks and flee to Lujiang, regrouping with Sun Ce and Sun Fang .
For now, Sun Jian wished to negotiate with Tong first .
.
Later that day, Cao Ren deployed all of his troops to search for Sun Jian . Because of Cao Ren and Yue Jin"s cautious, all scout teams consisted of 2,000 soldiers .
As a consequence of such large armies, their mobilization terrified the local population .
As Cao Ren and Yue Jin left the city, their subordinates who had surrendered to Cao Ren, Chen Gui, became the new prefect of this Langye .
He and his clan member, Chen Deng, continued Cao Ren"s policies, barricading all merchants and travelers from entering or leaving the city .
However, Cao Ren took away most of their local troops and their private soldiers . Only less than 2,000 garrison soldiers maintained the order here . With fewer troops, guards who oversaw the people outside the gates had a hard time suppressing the merchants .
The merchants outside the wall kept demanding and shouting at the guards . They gathered their private troops, bodyguards, and mercenaries to form an army, threatening to siege the city had Chen Gui not opened the gates .
In the end, Chen Gui and Chen Deng agreed to their terms and opened the gates, allowing them to come inside .
Sun Jian, Tais.h.i.+ Ci, and others received the boons from the uproar . All fugitives entered the city without a strict inspection .