Chapter 42: Yuan Shao Sends Relief (Part 2)

  Gao Jun led his troops to raid the camp and emptied the granary in Ye City, which had stored over a million stones of grain. Just as they were about to leave, the soldiers inside Ye City finally reacted.

  Over a thousand of Yuan Shao's soldiers and the family troops of the great families in Ye city received the scattered miscellaneous orders, holding torches and rushing straight to the south gate.

  Just as Lü Linggui and Gao Shun were about to let Qin Xu go first, a sudden shout of killing and a shrill alarm sounded from the west gate of Ye City.

  "What's going on?" Lü Lingkui, who had been waiting in array, looked somewhat bewildered, while Qin Xu wore a joyful expression, thinking to himself that the timing was just right.

  The powerful clansmen and soldiers of Yuan Shao within the city were also bewildered by the earth-shaking cries of killing that came from the west gate.

  "Storm into Ye City!"

  "Storm into Ye City!"

  "Ugh!"

  "Ugh!"

  Ximen's soldiers had already been withdrawn in large numbers due to the incident at the south gate, and now they were facing an unknown number of attackers in the darkness, with shrill alarms sounding one after another, growing more urgent by the minute.

  "It seems we can return to Hanoi safely." Qin Xu and Gao Shun exchanged a smile, leaving Lü Linggui bewildered.

  "What are they doing?" Lü Linggui was originally a careless person, seeing no way to fight back, she pulled the reins and pointed at Yuan Shang and Lü Bu on horseback.

  "These three are also a burden, might as well...” Qin Xu pointed at the west gate where the killing cries were coming from, and a hint of teasing appeared in his eyes. He pointed at the three people on horseback and smiled: "Dead Cat, I'll give you another arduous task!"

  “……”

  The family soldiers and the Yuan army in Ye City were finally attracted by the urgent alarm sound of Ximen. The enemy at the south gate had already fled far away, and if Ximen was breached, Ye City would be broken immediately.

  "Ah! It's Hei Shan Zei! It's Hei Shan Zei!"

  "The Hei Shan bandits have launched a night raid on Ye City!"

  Wave after wave of panicked cries, the defensive line set up by the garrison on the city wall was like a burst dam, and before the reinforcements arrived from within the city, it was overwhelmed by the Black Mountain bandits who had climbed onto the city head. Ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them, and the ratio of tens of thousands of Black Mountain bandits to hundreds of Yuan's garrison troops left to guard the west gate reached a terrifying one hundred to one! Even the most cowardly of the Black Mountain bandits seemed to have been injected with chicken blood under this military strength ratio, and they scrambled to climb onto the city head one after another.

  In less than the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, Ye City has fallen!

  However, the Black Mountain thieves were ultimately not strong in combat power. The Yuan army and the aristocratic coalition army rushed to the west gate, although they still had a ratio of ten to one with the Black Mountain thieves, but temporarily fought against the Black Mountain thieves with equal strength.

  Zhang Yan led Yang Feng and other Hei Shan leaders, after breaking into the city, did not fight with the defending army inside the city, but instead took his elite soldiers to attack the grain depot in Ye City.

  The Heishan army, although claiming to be a million strong, gathered in the mountains, and the limited land was not enough to support so many people. The main purpose of repeatedly raiding the prefectures and counties north of the Yellow River was also to obtain military rations for survival.

  "Empty? How can it be empty?"

  "Gongsun Taishou didn't say that Handan City had a reserve of at least 100,000 dan of grain? What's going on?"

  Looking at the empty granary, the generals of the Black Mountain Army were one by one enraged.

  "TNND! This old Yuan has been dominating Hebei and claiming to be the overlord of Ji State, how can there be no leftover grain in the city?" Yang Feng spat out a mouthful of saliva and said with hatred.

  Zhang Yan narrowed his eyes, as if he felt something was off. Previously intimidated by Lü Bu's reputation and the three thousand cavalry under his command, Zhang Yan had reluctantly agreed to Lü Bu's strange request and stayed put for three days under Lü Bu's surveillance. In Zhang Yan's eyes, Lü Bu did keep his promise. Three days passed, and when the Black Mountain army discovered this, Lü Bu's troops had completely vanished without a trace.

  "General, although the granary is empty, this Ye City is the seat of Ji Province and there are many wealthy families inside the city. Why not..." Bai Rang's eyes flashed with a hint of cruelty as he smiled wickedly at the Black Mountain generals.

  "Not bad!"

  "Xiao Bai is really quick-witted!"

  Hei Shan's generals highly approved of Bai Jiao's proposal, and Zhang Yan also temporarily put down the suspicion in his heart. He shouted: "That's right! These aristocratic families must have accumulated countless gold, silver, jewels, grain, and military equipment at home. We can't come to Ye City for nothing. Tell our brothers to fight quickly and decisively, let's go rob the wealthy families!"

  "Agreed!" The various generals of Hei Shan all had joyful expressions as they restrained their respective troops.

  "General, these three people were found at the city gate!" Zhang Yan had just finished instructing his generals when he saw a trusted aide leading several men who were holding down a young noble and two armored warriors, who came to report to him.

  "Who are these three people?" Zhang Yan asked.

  Xiao's didn't know, only when he met the three men, all three were unconscious and thrown at the south gate! Xiao reported.

  "Wake them up!" The Black Mountain generals took some time to restrain their troops, and Zhang Yan felt that these three people might be the key to resolving his own doubts and the empty granary.

  "Ah! You gang of scoundrels, quickly release this young master, otherwise when my father's great army arrives, you will all be reduced to dust!" After being tossed about twice in one night and fainting, Yuan Shang was almost crying.

  Instead, it was the Lü brothers who, after waking up, did not say a word and looked at each other with a face full of remorse, guiltily looking at Yuan Shang who was also tied up like a rice dumpling.

  "Your father?" Zhang Yan heard Yuan Shang say this and stared at him for a moment, then smiled: "Isn't your father Yuan Shao?"

  "Exactly!" Seeing Zhang Yan mention Yuan Shao's name, Yuan Shang brandished his spear and said proudly: "My father's great army is nearby. You'd better let me go quickly and return the military rations in full, or else my father will make you regret being born in this world!"

  "Army rations?" Zhang Yan's eyes narrowed, and he immediately understood. Before the Black Mountain Army broke into Ye City, other forces must have entered Ye City first and emptied the granary. Zhang Yan didn't even need to think about it, connecting it to Lü Bu's strange request earlier. If he still didn't understand that he had been used as a shield by Lü Bu, then Zhang Yan would be a fool.

  "Hmph!" Zhang Yan let out a helpless bitter laugh. Even if they knew it was Lü Bu's trick, what could they do? Lü Bu's 3,000 soldiers had them pinned down for three days, unable to move. Were they supposed to go ask Lü Bu for military rations now?

  Fortunately, Lü Bu's army didn't go too far, at least the wealthy families in the city still left some for our Black Mountain Army, otherwise Zhang Yan could only comfort himself like this.

  "Great General! What to do with these three? Is it...?" Xiao Xiao made a beheading gesture, scaring Yuan Shang who hastily shouted loudly: "What are you going to do? Are you trying to make a mortal enemy of my father, Yuan Gong?"

  It has to be said that Yuan Shang is indeed somewhat quick-witted, and these words really moved Zhang Yan's heart.

  Although they are allies with Gongsun Zan, the most unreliable thing in this world is the word "ally". If Yuan Shao was really defeated and even annexed by Gongsun Zan, then Gongsun Zan's next target would definitely be his ally, the Black Mountain Army. At that time, it wouldn't just be a matter of providing financial or military aid, but rather Gongsun Zan, who is very familiar with the Black Mountain Army, would not hesitate to attack them immediately after defeating Yuan Shao.

  "Aren't you just looking for food? Ye City has been emptied by you, but my father's army still has no less than a million stones of military rations. If you can spare my life or form an alliance with my father, he has always liked to make friends with heroic scholars, and is much more generous than that old man, Gongsun Zan!"

  Now the city of Ye is in a mess, with cries and screams echoing through the night sky. Most of the family soldiers of the aristocratic families in Ye City have been called up by Governor Su Cheng to defend the city, and they have almost all been consumed in the battle against the Black Mountain Army. The guards left behind in each household were already scarce, how could they withstand the harassment of the Black Mountain bandits?

  Grains, gold and silver, money, women, whatever caught the eye of the Hei Shan bandits was forcibly taken away. Anyone who showed even a hint of resistance would be killed with one stroke of the knife. These gentlemen, who were used to being treated with respect and courtesy, had never experienced such an ordeal before. Many were frightened out of their wits, and several were scared to death on the spot.

  Perhaps the Black Mountain bandits understood the principle of "slow and steady wins the race", or perhaps Zhang Yan had previously instructed them that as long as they were not from a wealthy family, the Black Mountain bandits would not be offended in the slightest. This actually created a lot of trouble for Yuan Shao when he besieged the Black Mountain bandits later on.

  "Qin Xu, did you know all along that the Black Mountain Army was coming? Were you intentionally keeping it from me?" The crowd surged forward towards the river, and the sounds of battle grew fainter. It wasn't until then that Lü Linggui's scrunched up face finally asked Qin Xu in a muffled tone.

  "Big sister of mine!" Qin Xu exclaimed, "Didn't you hear our conversation that night? Why are you still asking?"

  "Can't I just not have heard it all?" The young lady's proud and arrogant attitude made Qin Xuan retreat repeatedly.

  "Qin Xu, this time you've really made a fool of Xu You. If he finds out, I'm afraid you won't be able to get away with it!" Gao Shun looked at the thousands of war horses and the bags of grain on their backs, and for once had a good mood, joking with Qin Xu.

  "Mr. Xu probably doesn't have the heart to think about these things now, with Ye City being breached and his son Xu Ziyuan unable to escape blame! We didn't just let the Black Mountain bandits off scot-free either, did we? It's not like we retreated for three days for nothing! Our lord leading 3,000 cavalry to resist the so-called million-strong Black Mountain bandits is completely justified!" Qin Xu sneered and replied "It's just that bringing back this many grains, fodder, and warhorses will probably require some explaining at Zhang Taishou's place, and Yuan Shao might even give him trouble!"

  "No big deal, you think Zhang Taisou can govern Hebei under Yuan Shao's nose and be an ordinary person?" Gaoshun winked at Qin Xu, and they tacitly understood each other.

  "What a pity for the people of Ye City, to be implicated in this war for no reason!" Lü Lingxue suddenly said, looking at the towering flames rising from the direction of Ye City.

  "Heishan army can stand in Hebei, and will never harm innocent civilians, Ling'er doesn't need to worry." Gao Shun said calmly "As for those aristocratic families, who often do evil deeds, Heishan army can teach them a lesson, perhaps the city's civilians will secretly rejoice."

  Gao Shun's comforting words were actually quite poor, and after he finished speaking, the three of them fell into silence.

  "I just don't know what kind of tricks these aristocratic families will come up with to bully the innocent commoners again after Hei Shan is gone." Lü Linggui let out a sigh that didn't match her age.

  "Prosperity, the people suffer! Death, the people suffer too!" Qin Xu suddenly blurted out this sentence, and was stared at by Lü Linggui as if he were a monster, looking somewhat embarrassed.

  "No, this is not the Black Mountain bandit's military horn, it's the charge horn of Yuan Shao's vanguard camp!" Qin Xu and Lü Linggui stared at each other with wide eyes, while Gao Shun furrowed his brow and listened to the faint sound coming from the direction of Ye City, saying "We must speed up our march, otherwise if the Yuan army discovers that the horse farm outside the city has been raided, they will definitely disperse and search for us, we can't hide for much longer."

  "It seems that Yuan Shao arrived just in time!" Qin Xu laughed and dodged Lv Lingjie's sparkling eyes.