Chapter 15: Utter Defeat

  It wasn't until they had moved all 3,000 dan of grain that it was almost dark.

  Luo Zheng and more than a dozen of his personal soldiers were all exhausted, their legs aching and feet soft, sitting on the ground panting.

  Chen Tong and over a dozen of his personal guards were about to fall asleep on their heads, at this time they didn't care whether it was a ghost or not.

  Luo Zheng, however, was not at ease and did not forget to remind them, "What you see today is not to be spoken of, it's best to rot in your heart. Whoever leaks even half a word will be struck by thunder from the heavens, and calamity will befall their descendants, do you all remember?"

  "Remember, remember."

  Chen Tong and over a dozen of his personal soldiers turned pale with fright, hastily nodding in agreement.

  People of this era have a deep-seated reverence for ghosts and gods.

  Luo Zhengzheng had figured this out, so he didn't use beheading as a warning, but instead brought up the heavens to intimidate them. As expected, these personal guards were instantly frightened, and it seemed that even if someone put a knife to their throat, they wouldn't dare leak half a word.

  The army stayed in Wan City for three days, and Luo Zheng only captured more than 500 craftsmen.

  Most of them are blacksmiths, and there are also carpenters, shoemakers, bamboo craftsmen, etc.

  Luo Zheng ordered his cavalry to drive more than 500 craftsmen to a large, uninhabited mansion in the north of the city. Then he dismissed the soldiers and had Chen Tong and over ten of his personal guards drive all the craftsmen into the vegetable garden.

  These craftsmen were initially dishonest, but as soon as they arrived at the vegetable garden, one by one they became honest.

  Luo Zheng again severely scolded them, and then left two personal soldiers to guard, before exiting the vegetable garden.

  Two close guards stayed in the vegetable garden, then organized more than 500 workers to clear up the large vacant land that had just been vacated, turning over all the black soil, and then planting corn, wheat and other crops that Luo Zhen had harvested, and watering them from the pond.

  Although lacking necessary farming tools, efficiency is somewhat poor.

  But more than 500 people gathered and finished cleaning up nearly ten acres of land in just one short day.

  Apart from leaving two mu of land temporarily for these craftsmen to settle down, the rest of the vacant land was turned over and planted.

  On the fourth day, early in the morning before dawn, Luo Zheng came to see Hu Zhen.

  Hu Zhi had just finished putting on his armor in the barracks, when Luo Zheng came in. He immediately gave an order: "Luo Zheng, quickly go and inform all the generals to come for a meeting. Our army has been stationed at Wan City for three days, today we must send out troops."

  Luo Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and hastily said: "This subordinate will obey orders."

  He originally thought about how to persuade Hu Zong to leave Wan City as soon as possible, but unexpectedly this guy still has a way to save himself.

  Yesterday, news came from Wuguan that the Allied Forces of the East are attacking Hu Laoguan urgently. No matter what, they want to force various lords to retreat when Hu Laoguan is broken through. Otherwise, if Hu Laoguan is broken through, the consequences will be unbearable.

  Wasting one more day here will make the situation even more critical.

  Luo Zheng is now still young and inexperienced, but he doesn't want Dong Zhuo to fall so quickly.

  After all, Dong Zhuo now controls the court and occupies the name and righteousness. If Dong Zhuo does not perish, it is still promising to mix under his hand. Even if Lao Dong wants to die, at least he has to wait until he has enough power and his own territory before dying.

  Before long, all the military officers above the rank of army supervisor in the army had arrived.

  Hu Zhong's face was flushed with excitement as he sat in the first place, looking around at the crowd of generals and said: "At present, the rebel army in Guandong is attacking Hu Lao Pass urgently. The general has decided to send troops to Henan today, and then go to Kong Rong's old nest to cut off his retreat. What do you think, gentlemen?"

  "The general is wise and enlightened."

  All the generals naturally spoke with one voice and praised him, without dissenting opinions.

  Anyway, this is not the territory of the Western Liang Army, wherever they go, they will burn, kill and loot, who would have any opinion.

  Luo Zheng naturally had no opinion, the only headache was that he wanted to attack Zezhou County, but it might not be that easy.

  After all, the Western Liang army has entered the Central Plains, and it's likely that various places have already received news of this. It's unlikely to be possible to launch a surprise attack again. Moreover, with the loss of Wan City, the defenders in various places will be extremely vigilant, and the tactic of "borrowing a tiger to leave the mountain" can only be used once, and it won't work if used again.

  But for now, it's better to rush out of the army, and only when we arrive in Yu State can we see what happens next.

  Before dawn.

  The 8,000 Western Liang cavalrymen left Wan City and headed north, passing through Bo Wang and Ye County, and went straight to Yu Zhou.

  Tiger Trap Pass, Allied Army Camp.

  Yuan Shu summoned his trusted advisor Jin Shang and asked: "Is there any news from Nanyang, has the Western Liang rebel army reached Qiao County?"

  Jin Shang replied: "There is no news yet, but..."

  "But what?"

  Yuan Shu hastily furrowed his brow and asked.

  Jin Shangdao said, "However, Kong Yi knew that the Western Liang rebels had killed their way into Yu Province, and for the past two days he has been advocating for retreat. If this continues, I'm afraid it will shake the morale of the troops. Moreover, the governor of Yan Province, Liu Dai, and the governor of Xu Province, Tao Qian, have not been very active in attacking the city these past few days. It seems they are also worried that the Western Liang rebels will kill their way into their territories and plunder their old nests. I estimate they also want to retreat."

  "Don't even think about it."

  Yuan Shu didn't think much and said, "This general was once harmed by the Xiliang rebels in Nanyang. Now that Kong Rong, Tao Qian, and Liu Dai are like weeds on a wall, they still want to retreat? Where is it that easy?"

  Jin Shangdao said, "However, at present the Western Liang rebels are rampaging across the Central Plains, and all the various lords are wavering in their hearts. They want to withdraw their troops to defend their own territories. If we don't quickly capture Tiger Trap Pass, the allied army will eventually disperse."

  Yuan Shu slammed his hand on the table and glared with his eyes: "Whoever dares to retreat, this general will not forgive him."

  Just as they were speaking, a flurry of footsteps sounded outside and a young school servant rushed in, looking frantic.

  "General, something's wrong!"

  Xiao Xiao rushed into the main tent, looking flustered and shouting loudly: "Just received news that Wan City has been breached by the Xiliang rebel army!"

  "What?"

  Yuan Shu sprang up in surprise, "What did you say? Say it again?"

  "General, Wan City has been breached."

  Yuan Shu said in a stern voice, "Yan City is the strongest city under heaven, and it has 3,000 elite soldiers stationed there. The Western Liang rebels are lightly equipped and moving quickly, without any heavy baggage or siege equipment. How can they possibly break into Yan City? What kind of food does Yuan Yin eat?"

  Xiao Xiao Yan said: "General Yuan Yong fell for the Xiliang rebels' trick of 'luring the tiger away from its lair', leading 2,000 troops to Bowa Slope to clear out the mountain bandits who had been raiding our army's grain convoys. As a result, they were ambushed by the Xiliang rebels and the entire army was annihilated. General Yuan Yong also died in battle."

  "Ah, I'm so frustrated!"

  Yuan Shu almost fainted with rage, let out a loud roar, and kicked over the table.

  Jin Shang was also shocked, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. He hastily asked: "Even if General Yuan Yun leads the army to suppress the bandits, there should still be a thousand elite soldiers in Wan City. The Western Liang Army has no siege equipment, how can they easily break through Wan City?"

  Xiao Xiaodao: "I heard that the Xiliang rebels captured General Yuan Yin, and used General Yuan Yin to deceive the city gate open."

  Yuan Shu's face turned iron-green with rage, and he gritted his teeth, saying: "You beast, you deserve to die, you actually dare to collude with the thief. If this beast were not a nephew of my clan, I would have exterminated his entire family."

  Jin sighed and asked again, "Where is the Xiliang rebel army now?"

  "In Luoyang."

  Jin Shang sighed: "This time, Wan City was broken, and the scholars and civilians in the city were all unlucky. The civilians are nothing, but if the Wan City scholars are slaughtered by the Xiliang rebels, Master will not be able to stand firm in Nanyang again."

  Yuan Shu's heart was shocked and his gallbladder was trembling, and he realized the severity of the problem.

  "It doesn't matter if common people die, anyway they can't rebel, and even if people are gone, more can be born."

  But if the aristocratic families of the lower classes are being plundered, who will still support Yuan Shu.

  Without the support of the gentry class, how can we stand firm in Nanyang?

  Yuan Shu was born into a prestigious family with a long history of distinction, and he knew the dangers that came with it. In fact, his occupation of Nanyang mainly relied on the prestige of the four generations of three dukes in the Yuan family, and only after Sun Jian killed the former governor of Nanyang, Zhang Zi, did he gain the support of the Nanyang aristocracy.

  If it were not for this, how could Yuan Shu have established himself in Nanyang in such a short period of time.

  Now that Wan City has been breached, if the Southern Yang scholar families were to be slaughtered by the Western Liang army, the consequences would be unthinkable.

  The more Yuan Shu thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he was almost driven to death by Yuan Tan's stupidity.

  If Yuan Yue hadn't died in battle, Yuan Shu would have definitely chopped that stupid calamity into pieces and thrown them out to feed the dogs.

  "No, General, I must lead the army back to Nanyang immediately."

  Yuan Shu suddenly stamped his foot and let out a loud roar, then rushed out.

  Jin Shang was stunned for a moment, then hastily followed him out.

  Yuan Shu had originally wanted to slip away unnoticed, but with a large army on the move, how could he possibly keep it hidden from the other lords?

  Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and other lords from various routes quickly arrived upon hearing the news. After inquiring about the cause, some were speechless for a long time, while others secretly rejoiced at the misfortune of others. Especially those lords who were dissatisfied with Yuan Shu almost couldn't help but smile with joy.

  Watching Yuan Shu's misfortune is always a delightful thing.

  However, Yuan Shu's escape route was absolutely impossible.

  With the capture of Tiger Trap Pass imminent, Yuan Shu, as the main force of the anti-Dong coalition army, how can he retreat at this critical moment.

  Yuzhou Governor Kong Rong had previously received an urgent report from Xu Jing that the Western Liang rebels had invaded Yuzhou. He had intended to retreat, but was repeatedly obstructed by Yuan Shu. Seeing Yuan Shu wanting to flee, he immediately exhorted him with righteousness: "At present, Dong Zhuo is wreaking havoc on the capital, and the imperial authority is not established. The Yuan family has been loyal and virtuous for generations, assisting the Han dynasty. As the leader of the allied forces, you should be serving the country at this time. How can you retreat in the face of battle?"

  Xuzhou Governor Tao Qian, Yanzhou Shepherd Liu Dai, and Chenliu Prefect Zhang Miao, among other princes, all expressed their support.

  Yuan Shao frowned, but also said in a loud voice: "The matter of retreating the army will be put on hold for now. General, please return to your camp first and we'll discuss it together."

  Cao Cao also smiled and said: "What Yuan Shu said is extremely right, at present the city of Tiger Trap Pass is about to be broken, we should unite as one and launch a surprise attack on the pass, rush to Luoyang, rescue the Emperor from danger, and support the Han dynasty when it is about to collapse. How can General He retreat?"

  All the vassals echoed in agreement, thinking that what he said was elegant.

  Yuan Shu's face turned iron-green with rage, and he pointed at Kong Rong, shouting: "You old scoundrel, how dare you deceive me like this! When the Western Liang rebels invaded Yuzhou the other day, who was it that wanted to retreat? And now you still dare to lecture me? I will not let you off easily!"

  No matter how good his temperament was, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed and retreated to one side.

  Cao Cao smiled and said: "General, please calm down first, let's go to the main tent of the central army and discuss it again."

  Changsha Governor Sun Jian, Jibei Minister Bao Xin, Shanyang Governor Yuan Yi and others also rushed forward to persuade him, pulling and dragging Yuan Shu into the central military tent to discuss how to deal with this deep-troubled Western Liang cavalry.