Chapter Eighteen: A Thousand Troops Set Out on a Night Raid of Xiaogu Valley

  The ancients said that the hatred of killing one's father cannot be shared under the same sky. This is a great revenge that must be avenged, no matter what Zhang Yang was like in normal times, but as a son, he cannot forget his father's hatred and must avenge it.

  Actually, if you calculate it carefully, Tan Shixuan doesn't know how many people have a vendetta against him for killing their fathers, but he is still living well.

  In Gaotang, 150,000 Xianbei warriors were stationed. How many troops would it take to kill Tan Chitu in a crowd of 150,000 people? If not for the fact that he was hunting at this time, and if not for Gao Ping's accidental discovery of a small unnamed road, Lü Bu and his men probably wouldn't have had any chance to avenge themselves in their lifetime.

  If anyone could easily approach Tan Shi Huai, and kill Tan Shi Huai among 150,000 archers, then he would have died countless times already.

  The Book of Later Han records that Xianbei Tan Shi Huai, his father Touluohou, initially followed the Xiongnu army for three years, and his wife gave birth to a son at home. When Touluohou returned, he wanted to kill him. ...Touluohou refused to listen, so he abandoned him. His wife secretly told the housekeeper to raise him, naming him Tan Shi Huai. At the age of 14 or 15, he was brave and intelligent... He occupied all the former territories of the Xiongnu.

  Tan Shi Huai was abandoned by his father in the wilderness when he was young, and later raised by his maternal grandmother's family. From a young age, he had bravery and wisdom, and when he grew up, "he enforced laws to banish evil, rectified the wrongs, and no one dared to violate them". Later, he was promoted as a great leader, established his court in Pohan Mountain, 300 miles north of Gaoliu, and became powerful with strong soldiers and horses. All the leaders from east and west surrendered to him. He conquered the southern borders, occupied Dingling in the north, repelled Fuyu in the east, and attacked Wusun in the west, eventually possessing all the former territories of Xiongnu.

  So, Tan Shi Huai is indeed a very capable person, but in recent years, he has been getting older and his body is not in good health, so he basically doesn't show up much. This year, Tan Shi Huai is 41 years old, already past the age of doubt. Except for the autumn hunt on September 1st every year, it's usually impossible to see him.

  There are only a few days left until September 1st, and Tan Shiguai is preparing for the autumn hunt. However, he has no idea that someone else is also preparing to kill him.

  In a hidden valley outside the Jiuyuan City of Pingzhou, today is August 24th. It has been ten days since Lv Bu and his men formulated their military deployment plan after returning from their last trip to high school.

  Early in the morning, Lü Bu brought the last batch of a thousand war horses that had been prepared long ago. Because he was afraid of startling the Bingzhou army, Lü Bu had secretly sent the war horses to Jiuyuan Valley in batches over the past few days, and now this batch was the last one, with not bad quality. Although there were no top-grade horses, most of them were medium-grade war horses, with only a few being inferior horses.

  At the same time, Zhang Yang also led a war horse and found Ma Chao, "Brother Mengqi, look at the good things I brought for you!"

  Ma Chao heard this and took a look. Zhang Yang led a fine warhorse outside the military tent, which should be the good thing he was talking about.

  "Mengqi brothers, this is the war horse I've picked out for you from outside the valley. You won't need to ride that mediocre cavalry mount issued by the army anymore. As we both know, in this battle, life and death are uncertain, and a good horse can run a bit faster!"

  Zhang Yang was confident in killing Tan Shi Huai, but he didn't have the confidence to escape safely from Pochan Mountain. Not to mention him, even Lü Bu didn't dare say that he could definitely escape from Pochan Mountain.

  Ma Chao looked at Zhang Yang, feeling a warmth in his heart. Although he had not known Zhang Yang for long, Zhang Yang had indeed been very good to him, just like an elder brother treating his younger brother. He had already acknowledged Zhang Yang as a friend in his heart.

  "Then thank you, young uncle!" Ma Chao was also straightforward and thanked him before accepting Zhang Yang's gift.

  He knew Zhang Yang was a man who would lose face if someone refused his gifts.

  "Alright, Mengqi brothers, let's fight side by side!" Zhang Yang patted Ma Chao on the shoulder, and Ma Chao smiled back at him.

  On the second day, August 25th, Zhang Yang brought a batch of sheep from outside the valley early in the morning. There were dozens of them, because they would be departing tonight, and before going to battle, everyone should have a good meal to improve their diet.

  At the time of You, the whole army started killing sheep and cooking meat, eating casually, as much as they could eat, as long as they could still ride horses. The two elite camps' soldiers opened their mouths to eat, after the previous exercise, the soldiers of the two camps had already recognized each other, so now they ate together.

  Ma Chao looked at the soldiers who were enjoying their food, perhaps this was the last time in their lives that most of them would eat mutton. A thousand people went to make a surprise attack on Pohan Mountain, how many could come back alive? However, he just thought about it and didn't sigh anymore, and followed everyone to eat the mutton together.

  Time passed slowly while everyone was eating mutton, and the soldiers had all finished. It wasn't yet midnight when someone spread the order for the whole army to assemble at the drill ground. Everyone knew that they were going into battle, but no one knew where they were headed.

  The whole army gathered in the school field, and Lü Bu, Gao Shun, and Zhang Yang were already waiting there. After everyone arrived, Lü Bu said: "Brothers, some of you are the elite who have been trained by us for more than two years; some of you are the elite selected by Zilie from various military camps in Pingzhou. You are all good men in our Pingzhou army! Tonight, we will set out from here to complete a task assigned to us by our superiors, but I must tell you clearly that whether we can return or not, even I cannot guarantee it. Are you afraid?"

  "We're not afraid! We're not afraid!" The whole stadium shouted in unison.

  "Good, you are indeed the men of Pingzhou, and the elite of our army! Our mission this time is to launch a surprise attack on Tanhanshan and kill Dianshihuai!" Lü Bu said. The scene fell silent, in Pingzhou, even the most ordinary soldiers knew what Tanhanshan was and what Dianshihuai did, let alone these elites.

  But there was no fear on their faces, only a confident and fearless attitude. The silence lasted for about five seconds before the entire crowd erupted in unison: "Qī xí tán hàn shān, jī shā tán shí huái! Qī xí tán hàn shān, jī shā tán shí huái!" Fortunately, this was a very secluded valley, and normally nobody came here. Moreover, it was far away from Jiǔ Yuán City, otherwise with such loud voices, they would have been discovered long ago.

  Gao Shun and Zhang Yang looked down, feeling extremely proud, for below were their soldiers. With them here, the success of this expedition was now even more assured.

  Although the Great Han is still relatively peaceful at present, being a soldier in a place like Bingzhou can be said to be putting one's head on the line, and it's uncertain when they will have to fight against alien tribes such as the Xiongnu or Xianbei. After a battle, countless people die or are injured, so basically everyone who is a soldier in Bingzhou has prepared themselves for the possibility of dying on the battlefield.

  When soldiers are in Bianzhou, the vast majority of them are just trying to make a living, and there are hardly any who join the army for good food and drink. Ma Chao is an exception, he has ulterior motives that cannot be revealed. However, there is also a part of people who really want to dedicate themselves to their country, they are patriotic and enthusiastic young men who want to protect their homes and defend their nation.

  Even if Lü Bu didn't say it was an order from above, but said the truth that he was privately mobilizing troops, there would still be people who followed him. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is that the hatred between the Bingzhou army and the Xianbei is too deep. So if there's a chance to kill Tan Chitu right in front of them, most soldiers from Bingzhou will go for it, even if it means losing their lives. This shows just how deeply Bingzhou has been affected by the Xianbei invasion.

  "Alright, the time has come, let's set off!" With Lü Bu's order, all the soldiers mounted their horses which had been prepared beforehand. The horses also had eight days' worth of dry rations ready. They followed Gao Er onto a small nameless path. Riding horses was no big deal for the Bianzhou army, even if they weren't professional cavalrymen. Once on horseback, they were not necessarily inferior to cavalrymen either.

  The vanguard used swords, while the elite troops used long spears. Gao Ding led the way at the very front, followed by Lü Bu and his three men. Further back was Gao Shun's deputy general Huang Bin, the hundred, ten and five officers of the vanguard, and behind them were the ordinary soldiers of the vanguard. The elite troops brought up the rear, led by Ma Chao, with Sun Yi and Wang Da each leading their own units following behind.

  This thousand-man army set out at night, and in order to avoid the other garrison troops in Pingzhou as much as possible, they marched at night and rested during the day. Every evening, they marched for nearly five watches. Because it was a nighttime march, they really did manage to avoid the Pingzhou garrison troops. Since Gao Er led them on an unnamed small path that was also particularly remote, they didn't even encounter many ordinary civilians.

  There were a few villagers who saw them, but they didn't pay attention. Although the appearance of the troops in such a remote place was quite strange, ordinary villagers dared not ask anything, and they hid before they could even react. In this way, the thousand-man army marched for more than three days, and finally, Gao Er led them to the entrance of the nameless small road.

  To be honest, this place is located deep in the mountains, and there are no people or even birds, only wild grass and stones. Who would have thought that this place could lead to the Xianbei King's Court on Mount Pohan? It's just because this place has been uninhabited for decades, so there are no Xianbei guards at the entrance, otherwise, how could Gao Er and the others have arrived so easily?

  They set out from Jiuyuan Valley on August 25th at Xu time and arrived at the unnamed small road, which was already Zi time on August 29th. There were less than 100 miles left to enter the small valley of Pohan Mountain. Lü Bu ordered the whole army to continue advancing and speed up the march, while Gao Ping continued to lead the way in front.

  It wasn't until I walked into the unnamed small road that I realized how difficult it was to walk, because no one had walked for decades, so where was the road? Except for wild grass and stones, the grass grew almost as tall as a person. The speed of horseback riding slowed down by more than half, but fortunately, we could still march on, it's really hard to imagine how the high school students explored this route on foot back then.

  Gao Shun glanced at Gao Er, implying that the kid was doing well. Gao Er smiled and continued to lead the way without saying a word. Ma Chao looked at this nameless small road and thought about how the Romance of the Three Kingdoms said that Huarong Road was particularly difficult to walk on. He estimated that this small road was much more treacherous than Huarong Road. The key point was that Huarong Road was a good road, but there were so many wild grasses here.

  The army marched for another day, and finally reached the head. From dark to light, from light to dark, they marched through the night and into the next day. Suddenly, Lü Bu ordered the entire army to stop advancing, because Gao Er said that they would soon arrive at a small valley in Pochan Mountain, indicating that they had already entered Pochan Mountain.

  It's just the beginning of September, at the hour of Yin, and the intelligence from Class 2 says that there is a small team of 100 people in Xiaogu. They need to be eliminated without alarming anyone, and then ambush on the road where Tan Shiguan must pass through for hunting, waiting for an opportunity to kill him.

  Tan Shi Huai will enter the mountain at Si time and must make all preparations before that.

  Lü Bu let everyone rest in place first, eat some dry rations to replenish, and there will be a battle later. It's just past the hour of Yin (around 3:00 am). Lü Bu had the whole army rest for an hour, and then attack after the hour of Mao (about 5:00 am).

  The soldiers began to eat dry rations and rest, and an hour quickly passed. After the hour of Mao, Gao Shun ordered the whole army to approach Xiaogu, killing the enemy at all costs, not leaving one behind.

  The war horses' hooves had been wrapped up, fearing that the sound would be too loud and wake up the garrison. One hundred people may not seem like much, but they can report to the Xianbei royal court, and a thousand troops quietly approached the small valley where the Xianbei army was stationed.

  As they were about to approach the camp, they were discovered by the Xianbei soldiers guarding the camp. "Who are you?" The soldier was speaking in Xianbei language. Lü Bu saw that his army had already been exposed, so he pointed forward with his halberd and shouted, "The whole army will attack and annihilate the enemy!"

  A thousand-strong army charged into the enemy camp, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Quick..." The soldiers guarding the camp had only shouted twice when they were already killed by Lü Bu's spear. The thousand-strong army entered the enemy camp like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, and the Xianbei guards who were still asleep did not have time to react before they were all killed. In less than a moment, the battle was over, with 100 enemies annihilated, while the thousand-strong army had no casualties, only a few were slightly injured.

  A thousand people ambushing a hundred, and they are the elite of the thousand, led by the Flying General Lü Bu. If someone were to die in battle, it would be truly embarrassing.

  Although it was a small victory, Lü Bu still had no expression. "Fuyi, send someone to take over this small valley, and when we retreat, we will return from here!"

  "Agreed!" Gao Shun nodded in agreement. Even if Lü Bu didn't say it, Gao Shun understood that they would have to retreat from here later, so someone had to stay behind. Moreover, just in case some Xianbei people came over, it was better to kill them all to prevent any leaks.

  "Zhao Guang, you and your men stay here and take over Xiaogu. Remember, there are Xianbei people nearby, kill them all! You can wear their clothes and wait here." Gao Shun said to a hundred-year-old beside him.

  "Got it!" Zhao Guang, the hundred-year-old, responded with a loud "got it".

  "Hurry up and sweep the battlefield clean, after that we'll lead the army to lay an ambush!" Lü Bu said to Gao Shun and Zhang Yang.

  The soldiers began to clean up the battlefield. With many hands, the work was done quickly. In a short while, it was finished. There were also provisions for a month left in this small valley by the Xianbei hundred-man squad. Lü Bu ordered that they be evenly distributed among everyone. The provisions of a hundred-man squad could last a thousand-man army three days. Previously, Gao Shun had each person bring eight days' worth of rations, and they had already eaten more than five days' worth. With these additional supplies, it was enough for them to eat on the way back.

  On the other side, Zhao Guang's hundred men had changed into Xianbei guard uniforms. They were left to garrison this place, with a very heavy task. If this place is exposed, the entire army will be exposed as well.

  "Zhao Guang, everything is up to you now!" Gao Shun patted Zhao Guang's shoulder.

  "Please be at ease, General. My brothers and I will definitely guard the valley well and won't let the enemy find out!"

  "Alright, let's go back and head home together!"

  "Yes!" Zhao Guang replied.

  It's not that Zhao Guang and his troops were the strongest in the ambush camp, but Gao Shun left only him behind. This was because Zhao Guang was the most steady and best at thinking on his feet among the ambushers, so it was natural to let him take on such an important task.

  This small valley is still some distance from the route that Tan Chou and his men will take when they come to hunt in the mountains. Lü Bu gave orders for the whole army to set out, with Gao Shun leading as before, but this time not with a thousand men, but nine hundred. Zhao Guang was ordered by Gao Shun to remain on guard in the small valley.

  Lü Bu and his men were not ambushing on the road from the Xianbei royal court to Mount Tan, as that would be too close to the Xianbei royal court. Instead, they were preparing to ambush on a section of the road that Lü Bu must take after entering Mount Tan to go hunting.

  In comparison, that place is relatively far from the Xianbei royal court, and the Xianbei army will not be able to provide support quickly. Lü Bu and his men unanimously believed that this was the best place for an ambush.