Chapter 40: A Move Behind in Chess

  "Fall back to camp."

  Cao Cao was extremely decisive and didn't say another word, he slapped his horse and turned around to leave.

  Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren did not dare to slack off, and hastily urged their horses to catch up.

  Although many people boast of their martial arts skills, they also dare not to be arrogant and rely on just over a dozen riders to challenge the thousands of Western Liang iron cavalry.

  Once surrounded, it will only end in a tragic death with the body and head separated.

  Xu Chu led his troops in a fierce pursuit of the enemy, chasing them all the way to the outer perimeter of Cao's main camp before withdrawing.

  In the dead of night, the Western Liang army took advantage of the darkness to launch a surprise attack on the camp.

  Cao Cao was on high alert and there was no opportunity to take advantage of him, so he had to withdraw his troops.

  The next day at dawn, Luo Zheng led his army out of Fan County in the north and rushed straight to Cangting.

  Cao Cao was quite perplexed upon receiving the news.

  Xiahou Dun did not understand: "The various lords of the world have already withdrawn their troops, and Lu Xun, a minor child, did not take advantage of the opportunity to go south. He returned to Luoyang, but why is he entangled with the various lords in Yanzhou? Now he has led his army north again. What does this guy want to do?"

  Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed. "This is bad! It seems that Luo Zhen's little son is going to cross the river and enter Ji Province."

  The crowd of generals heard this and were shocked.

  Cao Ren furrowed his brow and said, "The vassals have already withdrawn their troops. Why did Luo Zhen's son still go to Ji Zhou to burn, kill and loot? If he gets blocked in Ji Zhou, it won't be easy for him to get out. Luo Zhen's son is cunning and full of tricks, he wouldn't have overlooked this point."

  Cao Cao stamped his foot and said: "Zi Xiao doesn't know this, but Luo Zhen is a little child who wants to return from Ji Province to Luoyang!"

  Cao Ren was even more puzzled, saying: "From Jizhou southward, there are only two roads. One is to exit through Huguan Pass and head south from Bingzhou. The other is to cross the river at Linyang and head south. However, the strategic Huguan Pass is guarded by Zhang Yang, the governor of Shangdang, and it's impossible for Lu Bu's forces to find an opportunity to attack; moreover, Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, has a large army of 200,000 stationed at Linyang. How can Lu Bu easily cross the river?"

  Cao Cao said in a deep voice, "Luo Zhen is a cunning and resourceful young man. He would not have deliberately walked into a dead end. What if he had never intended to head south from Ji Province back to Luoyang, but instead continued to lead his army northwards, entering Youzhou territory from the north of Ji Province, then exiting from Daijun, passing through the Yellow River valley, and heading south along the west bank of the river, directly returning to Guanzhong?"

  "This..."

  Cao Ren was shocked and somewhat stunned.

  Xiahou Dun, Cao Hong and Cao Chun were also shocked.

  It's not that I don't dare to believe, it's just that I never thought of this path at all.

  After all, from Jizhou north to Youzhou out of the pass, and then around to Hetao, the journey is really far.

  Anyone with normal thinking would not choose this route back to Guanzhong.

  Cao Cao also knew that Luo Zheng continued to lead his army northward, and after much thought, he came up with this possibility.

  Whether it is true or not can be known by observing the actions of the Western Liang army.

  Xiahou Dun furrowed his brow and said: "If that's the case, why didn't Luo Zhen take advantage of the situation before the allied army arrived to cross the river and head north?"

  Cao Cao said in a deep voice, "I have been thinking about this for days. Logically speaking, Lu Xun's children are all cavalry, and they should have had enough time to cross the river and head north to kill their way into Ji Province before the allied army arrives at Yanzhou to surround them. However, over the past few days, my Western Liang rebel troops have been fluctuating greatly in strength, which means that Lu Xun's children must have split their forces to raid Qing and Xu territories."

  Xiahou Dun's voice was stern: "So to speak, Luo Zhen Xiaoer is waiting for another rebel army to come and merge?"

  Cao Cao nodded and said: "If I'm not mistaken, it should be within ten."

  Xiahou Dun said with a start, "Since that's the case, there's still an opportunity. Since Lu Xun is leading his troops to cross the river and head north, and from Fan County northwards, there's only one crossing point at Cangting, why don't our army quickly make contact with other lords and hurry to Cangting to surround and block them?"

  Cao Cao sighed and shook his head, saying: "Lü Bu is a cunning child with many tricks up his sleeve. I can guess what he's thinking, but he won't be without precautions. Previously, this bandit had been circling around the allied forces of the lords, not showing any intention to cross the river and go north. This made us unable to guess his next move. Now that he has led his troops to Cangting, it must be that another rebel army has arrived at Cangting to join forces with him. If we want to surround and capture them now, I'm afraid it's too late."

  "Hey! This is infuriating."

  Xiahou Dun swung his arm fiercely, with a sense of unwillingness in his heart.

  Cao Ren, Cao Hong and Xiahou Yuan also looked unwilling, so angry that they wanted to vomit blood.

  Cao Ren said in a deep voice: "This thief is so treacherous, if we don't eliminate him one day, he will be a great threat to the hearts of all the lords."

  Cao Cao nodded in agreement, saying: "What you said is absolutely right. Although this bandit's name is not well-known, judging from the way he wages war, he is by no means easy to deal with. Compared to the famous and renowned generals under Dong Zhuo's command, he is even more difficult to entangle. If we don't eliminate him early on, he will surely become a great threat to my heart."

  All the generals were secretly shocked and remained silent.

  Cangting is located west of Dong'a and south of the Yellow River, it is the only ferry crossing within a hundred miles.

  Although this era is a bit chaotic, there is also one good thing about it.

  That is very environmentally friendly, without pollution. Not only are the mountains beautiful and lush, but large tracts of forest can be seen everywhere, with fresh air and numerous rivers of all sizes, none of which are polluted, with clear water that is visible to the bottom.

  Over a thousand years later, the Yellow River is polluted and murky, like muddy water after a mountain flood, with no fish surviving.

  The Yellow River is now a crystal clear river with abundant fish, and the people living on its banks can make a living by fishing even if they have no grain to eat.

  However, since the Western Liang army entered Yanzhou, there have been very few people coming out to work in the fields near Cangting.

  No matter whose army comes, the people's fear and hatred of war are hard to change.

  Moreover, I've heard that the Western Liang army is burning, killing, looting and plundering, doing all sorts of evil things. How can the people not be afraid?

  On the simple dock, Luo Zhen's personal soldiers guarded him as he gazed out at the opposite shore, and for a moment, he was somewhat distracted.

  It's been more than half a year since I came to this era, and it's still the first time I've seen the Yellow River scenery at such close range.

  If we put aside the extreme backwardness of society and the constant wars, this era indeed has many things worth nostalgia.

  At least in this era, there were no various pollutants and toxic foods. Everything we ate was non-polluting green products. Every morning after waking up, we could still breathe the freshest air, without worrying about eating sick pork or fake eggs one day.

  However, this era's inadequacies are also obvious.

  Travel is inconvenient, communication is inconvenient, and nothing is convenient.

  It's even hard to keep one's life, struggling desperately for survival every day.

  When I first arrived, those days were really dark and hopeless.

  Now looking back, Luo Zheng feels that his nerves are probably much thicker than those of ordinary people, and he was able to quickly adapt to this dog-eat-dog world, and stubbornly survived, and the more he lived, the better he became.

  "Your Excellency, Chen Tong has arrived."

  Xu Chu saw Luo Zhen dazed and speechless, and reminded him in a low voice.

  Luo Zheng finally came back to his senses and looked towards the river surface where hundreds of fishing boats were slowly approaching.

  Chen Tong stood at the bow of one of the fishing boats and shouted loudly: "The little man has seen the general."

  "Chen Tong," Lu Xun asked loudly, "where is Xun Yu and his family?"

  Chen Tong replied: "General, rest assured that Mr. Xun Yu and his wife and children are on the opposite bank, and I have left a hundred men to protect them."

  As they spoke, the fishing boat had already docked at the pier.

  Chen Tong jumped onto the dock and hastily paid his respects.

  Luo Zheng gazed at the fishing boat that was slowly approaching the shore and found that all the rowers were fishermen with fearful expressions on their faces.

  Chen Tong smiled and said, "These little ones are all inexperienced ducks who have never been in the water and won't know how to handle these fishing boats. We've recruited some local fishermen to help out. Don't worry, General, I've assigned fifty men to keep an eye on their families, so there shouldn't be any problems."

  Luo Zheng nodded and said: "This is good, Chen Tong, you finally learned to use your brain."

  Chen Tonggan chuckled a few times, scratched his head and said: "It's just what the general said, that sentence, familiar with three hundred Tang poems, can't write poetry but can recite. Following the general for so long, if there's still no progress, this humble one will really be beyond salvation as the general said."

  "Hahaha!"

  Luo Zheng burst out laughing, and the crowd of military officers behind him also followed suit.

  At this time, General Ji suddenly stepped forward and reported: "General, Li Meng and Wang Fang's army have arrived at Gucheng."

  Luo Zheng nodded and said, "You've arrived quite quickly, how much longer until we reach Cang Ting?"

  Commander Ji Hou replied, "Last night, Li Meng and Wang Fang led the army in a nighttime march, so they were able to arrive at Gucheng early this morning. From Gucheng to Cangting is only about 40 li away, and if the cavalry rides quickly, it's estimated that they will arrive at Cangting within an hour and a half."

  Luo Zheng nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Pass the order to the army, hurry up and rest, wait for Li Meng and Wang Fang's army to arrive, then immediately cross the river and head north. After arriving at the northern shore of the river, we will reassign and rest."

  "Roger."

  The officer with authority loudly responded and immediately quickly left.

  Luo Zheng said, "Send more scouts to closely monitor the movements of the rebels in Guandong. Also, order Hou to cross the river and head north, thoroughly investigate the situation around Yangping on the left and the Ji Zhou area, and report back to the army at all times, without any mistakes."

  The captain of the guard hastily replied and retreated with an order.

  It's still before noon, and the sun is still early in its journey.

  Four thousand Western Xia cavalrymen, apart from those on sentry duty, were all resting on the sandy beach by the river, or in groups of three to five going down to the river to catch fish, piling up firewood on the beach and roasting the fish for food.

  Lu Zheng found a secluded spot, opened the door, and led Xu Chu into the vegetable garden.

  In the vegetable garden, a piece of shade is green, and in the newly opened seven mu of land, the wheat seedlings have grown to more than ten inches, with extremely strong growth.

  The rest of the corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and other crops are also growing well. The Xu family and hundreds of craftsmen have nothing to do but play in the fields, with joyful smiles on their faces.

  The ancients passed down teachings that people regard food as their heaven.

  In the eyes of ordinary people, crops are absolutely the things that need to be cherished most.

  Two of them, with flushed faces and beaming smiles, rushed over as soon as they saw me, bowing deeply in greeting.

  Luo Zheng summoned a group of blacksmiths and discussed with them the method of smelting iron and casting weapons.

  The iron smelting technology of this era was very backward and the production efficiency was extremely low.

  Although Luo Zheng didn't understand iron smelting, he was born in an era with advanced information and understood some basic principles.

  And yet these most basic theories are precisely what this era lacks.

  Although these blacksmiths were skilled in their craft, they lacked a mature theory to guide practice.

  Lu Zheng said a few words, and immediately these blacksmiths heard their eyebrows flying and colors dancing, excitedly inexplicable.

  Around 4 pm, Li Meng and Wang Fang led three thousand cavalry to finally arrive at Cangting, where the seven thousand Western Liang iron cavalry joined forces.