Chapter 59: Who is Huang Que (Part 2)

  "Tiger tally?" Jia Yu was still calm, as if he had expected Qin Xu to do so, but Cai Yong, this stubborn old man, exclaimed.

  In this era, due to the limitations of communication and regionalism, it was very common for soldiers not to recognize their commanders, so tokens, seals, and sashes became certificates representing civil and military officials' positions. Recognizing objects rather than people also became a tacit rule among soldiers and generals.

  Qin Xu took out the Tiger Tally that Lü Bu had given him that night, which could command the 700 soldiers of the Trap Array Camp under Gao Shun. Qin Xu hadn't even had time to return it to Lü Bu yet.

  "Handing over the right to deploy troops in the trapped camp to a mere child like you is simply ridiculous!" Cai Yong said indignantly.

  For the old man's accusation, Qin Xu chose to ignore it.

  Jia Xu took the tiger tally from Qin Xu's hand, played with it for a moment, and then returned it to Qin Xu. After thinking for a moment, he said: "Since General Lü has decided to take over Qingzhou, this trip is not too smooth. Yuan Shao is stationed in Hebei, and the road to Jizhou is no longer passable. The only way is to borrow the road from Yanzhou to enter Qingzhou via Dongjun. The governor of Dongjun, Cao Cao, has a good relationship with Yuan Shao. Even if he won't openly obstruct us, he will secretly send troops to block our army's journey. With only 700 soldiers in the trapped array camp and these miscellaneous soldiers, without General Lü's reinforcements, we absolutely cannot withstand Cao Cao's army."

  What Jia Xu said was indeed correct. After crossing the river, they deviated from the original Siyi area and arrived in Yanzhou, which is basically within Cao Cao's sphere of influence. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao have not yet torn their faces apart and maintain a fairly good alliance relationship. Although with Yuan Shao's temperament, he would definitely not ask for Cao Cao's help, but Cao Cao and Lü Bu are not so friendly. If it weren't for Cao Hong being killed by Qin Yilu, Cao Cao might have lost his life to Lü Bu. Now that there is such a good excuse, how could Cao Cao let go of Lü Bu with his cunning?

  "Then we'll slow down and wait for the main force of our lord?" After all, he was a traveler, Qin Xu wasn't very familiar with military deployment, so he had to ask the expert, old fox Jia Xu.

  "Qin Zhubu's words are not wrong, if we can have General Lü's main force follow us, it would be the best. But those two will also think this way, I'm afraid Yuan Shao and Cao Cao won't give us time!" Jia Xu said thoughtfully.

  "Report! A thousand troops of unknown affiliation have appeared twenty li due south, advancing towards our army. Please instruct, General Gao!"

  Qin Xu was in the car when he suddenly heard a noise outside and was taken aback. It really did happen as Jia Yu had unfortunately predicted.

  Unknown army?

  Qin Xu and others have left Hanoi for two days. Because of Lü Bu's cut-off, Yuan Shao's side thought that nothing big would happen, and there was still half a day's journey to the river bank, and after crossing the river, it was the territory of Yanzhou. But at this time, suddenly an unknown army blocked the way, whose army?

  "Wen He, could it be Cao Cao's army? Intercepting us after learning of our military news?" Qin Xu said with a bitter smile. Yuan Shao's pursuing troops were blocked by Lü Bu in the river, and Luoyang was almost a deserted city due to Dong Zhuo's forced relocation. Apart from Cao Cao, Qin Xu really couldn't think of anyone else who could appear at this time within the borders of Hebei.

  "Judging from the journey, perhaps only Cao Mengde has this time." Jia Xu's eyes rolled around and asked Qin Xiang: "I don't know if Qin Zhuguan has a good strategy to retreat the enemy?"

  "Challenge me?" Qin Xu raised an eyebrow. If Cao Cao had brought a large army, Qin Xu might have only been able to surrender, but now that the two sides' military strength was roughly equal, although his own side didn't have many soldiers who could fight, and still had to divide their troops to protect the baggage and family members, there were still ways to think of. Qin Xu furrowed his brow and said: "The enemy's intentions are unclear, since they're not flying any flags, they must also be lacking in confidence. If we force a battle, although we can win, but at the cost of losing 800 out of 1000 men, this is absolutely unacceptable. For now, can we show weakness to the enemy and lure them into attacking?"

  Jia Xu smiled but didn't speak, glanced at Cai Yong and said to Qin Xu: "This kind of emergency situation near the enemy, Secretary Qin should discuss with General Gao. However, the enemy is only 20 miles away from our army, they can arrive in an instant, don't underestimate them."

  The old fox's words were vague and unclear, leaving Qin Xu's mind in a state of confusion, not quite understanding whether Jia Yu agreed with his views or not. However, the other party arrived soon after, and Qin Xu still understood, it seemed that for the time being, he couldn't figure out the meaning behind the old fox's words. At critical moments, General Gao was still reliable.

  Gao Shun had already begun to deploy after receiving the report from the scouts. Seeing Qin Xu arrive, he frowned and said: "The enemy cavalry's intentions are unclear, why didn't you go guard Master Qin's family instead of coming here?"

  Gao Shun's words were polite, but in fact he was annoyed with Qin Xu getting in the way. Originally thought Gao Shun would directly issue an order to drive him away, didn't expect Gao Shun would also say such insincere words.

  "Does General Gao know the details of the other side?" Qin Xu pretended not to understand what Gao Shun said and asked, "Could it be that Yuan Shao's pursuing troops have taken a detour and avoided our lord's line of sight, with the goal of targeting this batch of supplies we are escorting?"

  "Yuan Shao's pursuing troops? Impossible!" Gao Shun was taken aback by Qin Xu's question and replied, "Qin Zhongbo is overthinking, if it were Yuan Shao's pursuing troops, there would be no need to hide and sneak around like this, it would be meaningless."

  "Could it be that Cao Cao, Cao Cao crossed the river and attacked across borders to take advantage of Yuan Shao's orders and gain benefits from within?" Qin Xu spoke out his own inference, waiting for Gao Shun, this seasoned general's acknowledgement.

  "This... isn't easy to say!" Gao Shun apparently had the same idea, and nodded after Qin Xu spoke.

  "Report! General Gao, Qin's chief clerk, the scout has come to report that twenty miles southwest of our position, an unidentified army of over a thousand men has appeared and is advancing towards us!"

  "Another army with unknown origins?" Qin Xu looked at Gao Shun in puzzlement. If Cao Cao really intended to cross the river and attack, there was no need to send two armies separately, right?

  Moreover, the two armies combined have only a little over 2,000 people. If they really intended to surround Qin Xu and others, it wouldn't be necessary to use such a small number of people to complete the encirclement, would it?

  "Re-explore!"

  "Promise!"

  Gao Shun seemed to have gone with Qin Xu, while in the rear Lü Bu was leading a large army entangled with Yuan Shao's pursuing troops. This had only happened two days ago, and now two unknown armies appeared at the front. Even if Yuan Shao really did have contact with Cao Cao or other forces, and they agreed to attack Lü Bu together, these people's information was too well-coordinated. It seemed that almost as soon as Yuan Shao received the news, he sent troops, this tacit understanding was truly efficient in an era where communication basically relied on shouting.

  "Pass the order, the entire army will stop advancing and use the baggage carts as a barricade to form a defensive formation. Send someone to report to the lord that we are holding out for reinforcements! Ensure that our families and supplies do not fall into enemy hands!" Gao Shun, after all, was a seasoned veteran and quickly issued the orders in an orderly manner.

  "What kind of person is coming after all?" Qin Xu was also getting more and more confused.

  A mere twenty li of distance was nothing but a moment's time for cavalry, and soon Qin Xu saw the true appearance of the two armies.

  Qin Xu can be certain that these two armies appearing at the same time will absolutely not belong to the same force. There are obvious differences in both equipment and morale.

  "Who comes here? Why do you want to block our army's path?" Gao Shun had already set up a defensive formation before the arrival of the two armies, with his troops drawn and their horses armored, fully alert and watching the two thousand-man teams in the distance.

  “……”

  The two armies that suddenly appeared were also silent, as if the commanders of both sides had not expected another army to appear at the same time. No one answered Gao Shun's question, and instead they watched each other vigilantly.

  "How interesting, how interesting!" Qin Xu's originally somewhat flustered state of mind gradually calmed down in this suddenly appearing and rather comical scene, and he even had a sense of watching a tiger fight from the safety of a mountain.

  "Qin Xu, with your small build, what are you doing here to join in the excitement? Quickly go and hide in Sister Yan's car!" Only Lü Linggui could say something like this. Although every time Qin Xu and Cai Yan were together, Lü Linggui would coincidentally appear afterwards, when they truly encountered danger, the person she trusted most was actually Cai Yan.

  "Big sister, you're not protecting the two ladies in the back, what are you doing here?" Qin Xu also found it strange. Seeing Lü Linggui's helmet and armor, he could tell that this girl was definitely showing off the good fighting genes of the old Lü family as soon as she heard about the unknown army arriving.

  At this moment, adding the 700 people in Lü Bu's army where Qin Xu is located, on this small plain less than 50 miles away from the Great River, there are actually more than 3,000 soldiers gathered. What's strange is that these three armies do not belong to each other, yet they are evenly matched. The atmosphere between the three parties is tense, but none of them take action easily, and even the most basic procedure of exchanging names has not been performed.

  This strange state lasted for nearly half a time, even in the military forces of both sides, there were small parts of chaos, still without changing this strange three-party confrontation.

  "It seems that the two armies facing each other are also on guard against each other." Qin Xu, who had completely relaxed his mood, whispered to Lü Linggui beside him.

  "Are you saying they're not on the same road?" Lü Linggui only reacted now, and coquettishly said: "Why didn't you say so earlier! Right, then why are they all stuck here, neither starting a battle nor retreating? You're so clever, you must have figured out what's going on, right?"

  "My dear sister! It's been said so clearly, why are you still asking?" Qin Xu helplessly said: "They're afraid that if one side attacks our army, the other side will likely attack them from behind, and under the pincer attack, whoever makes the first move will be finished!"

  "With such a good opportunity, why didn't Uncle Gao take the initiative to attack?" Lü Linggui's face flushed with a hint of redness as she asked, trying to calm herself down after being teased by Qin Xiang's previous sentence "My elder sister".

  "General Gao is considering the family and luggage behind us, we can't act rashly, he has already sent someone to inform the master!" The two armies facing each other also seemed to be annoyed by this formation. In both armies, a figure wearing armor appeared, seemingly the leader of both armies. Qin Xue stared intently at the movements of these two leaders and replied to Lü Lingxue's question without turning his head.

  "It's better if they're in cahoots, thinking of using that old trick of the mantis stalking the cicada while the oriole waits behind. This fine iron spear of mine has been ready for a long time, but it hasn't seen any blood yet." Lü Lingxue said with a mix of relief and disappointment, noticing that Qin Xu hadn't caught her momentary lapse.

  "They might have come with the intention of 'picking up fish' and 'taking advantage', but they wouldn't have expected to run into someone with the same intentions. This battle, I reckon, won't be able to start." Qin Xu said with narrowed eyes, seemingly deep in thought.

  Starting point welcomes readers to visit, the latest, fastest and most popular serialized works are all on the starting point of original!