Chapter 57: Night Visit to the Allied Army's Camp

  The night was deep and the people were quiet, the gentle breeze blew gently on the flagpole, making a continuous rustling sound. After suffering consecutive defeats, the Allied Army's camp became unusually quiet. Yuan Shao was furious, Liu Bei and his two brothers stood in the center of the main tent with their heads hung low, not a single person dared to speak up to advise him. Today, Liu Bei's escape had made him lose face completely, and it had also cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers. If it weren't for Yuan Shao considering Liu Bei as his own kin, at the very least, he would have lost his head.

  "Hmph!" Yuan Shao snorted: "Anyone can talk big, vowing to defeat the Tiger Trap Pass, but what's the result? I've said it before, we shouldn't have listened to that insignificant county magistrate's words. You all didn't listen, and now look at us, our morale is low, how are we going to attack the Tiger Trap Pass?"

  Liu Bei raised his eyes and scanned the surroundings, coincidentally meeting Kong Rong's gaze. Kong Rong was a descendant of Confucius, known for being wise and virtuous. Liu Bei's eyes were filled with pleading. Kong Rong let out a deep breath: "Alliance leader, this can't be entirely blamed on them. Who made us misjudge people? Letting them leave is also an option!"

  "Come on! Get these impostors out of my sight! Don't let them stay in the camp!" A dozen or so soldiers, armed with weapons, were about to drive Liu Bei away. Liu Bei was helpless and looked at Gongsun Zan again. Today, Gongsun Zan was frightened and still trembling until now. As soon as Liu Bei's gaze fell on him, Gongsun Zan hastily turned his face aside. Liu Bei had no choice but to let the soldiers push and shove him, following them out.

  There is no big barracks, no place for Liu Bei and others to live. Now that they can't go to Gongsun Zan's place, they have lost their direction. Zhang Fei held a long spear in one hand and led the war horse with the other, looking up at the stars in the sky: "Big brother, where are we going? If all else fails, let's just return to Zhuo County! You can continue selling your straw shoes, I'll continue selling my meat, and second brother can set up a stall to sell dates. The three brothers will still be together, and it's great!"

  "Third brother, don't talk nonsense! Eldest brother has his own measure."

  Liu Bei also sighed and said, "Now that things have come to this point, we can only take it one step at a time. We can't go back to Ji County, let's go! First find a place to stay, and then make plans for tomorrow!"

  A few people had just left the main road, and a black shadow slowly emerged from the grass by the side of the road. Wearing all black, with a black cloth covering his head, only leaving two eyes rolling around. Looking at the backs of Liu Bei and others as they went away, he pulled down his face mask, revealing Long Fei's face, muttering to himself: "Liu Xuande has always had the reputation of repeatedly defeating and fighting, where can you go this time?" After speaking, he put the black cloth back on, running towards the allied army camp. The speed was very fast, in the darkness, a flash of movement and then disappeared again.

  Due to the defeat, some soldiers were slack, those who should be on guard gathered in a group chatting; those who should be patrolling didn't come over for half a day, and it was unknown where they went. From the side of the main camp, he found an unmanned corner, and Long Fei jumped over the fence into the camp. The sparse torches were burning weakly, and several dozing soldiers nodded occasionally. He found one that was similar in build to himself, covered his mouth and nose with one hand, and took out a blood-red dagger with the other, making a light slash at the neck, and the guy jumped twice before stopping moving.

  After changing his clothes, Long Fei swaggered around the military camp. Seeing the patrol team from afar, he immediately shouted loudly to greet them. Although he was met with cold stares, Long Fei didn't tire of it. The large camp was enormous, covering an area of about ten miles in circumference, with eighteen smaller camps connected together. Although they were interconnected, each small camp was independent and had its own personnel guarding the entrances, making it seem very secure.

  The dragon flew to the military camp of Yuan Shao. This time, the alliance with Yuan Shao had the most soldiers and horses, so Yuan Shao's tent was also the largest, located right in front of Tiger Trap Pass, and the other dozen or so smaller tents formed a semicircle behind Yuan Shao's large tent. The central military tent was the most eye-catching thing in the large camp, built on a high earth platform, with cowhide all around it, huge beyond imagination, and it is unknown how the ancients set up such a large tent. Hundreds of guards guarded the surroundings of the central military tent, and any slight movement would result in beheading.

  Long Fei did not force his way in, but hid in the shadow of a tent to observe the movements of the central army account. If he didn't guess wrong, all eighteen vassals would naturally be inside, and Sun Jian would definitely be there too. As long as he waited here, he could wait for him to come out. The evening wind struck, and it was still a bit cold. Long Fei hugged his arms tightly and tried to shrink together to resist the chill.

  "Hey, brother, what are you doing here?" A voice suddenly came from behind Long Fei. Long Fei's whole body was startled, and he stood up with a whoosh, one hand reaching into his waist to touch his dagger, his legs bent, making an attacking posture. "I'm asking you, are you deaf?" The breath carried a strong smell of alcohol, step by step approaching Long Fei.

  Just as the man's hand was about to touch Long Fei's shoulder, Long Fei suddenly turned his face around, and his two eyes revealed a fierce light. "Halt!" The sound of drawing a sword: "How dare you be rude to General Zuo! What army are you from?"

  General Zuo was Yuan Shu. He didn't want to listen to Yuan Shao scolding people in the tent, so he excused himself and came out to get some fresh air. Just after he finished urinating, he saw Long Fei shivering at the corner of the tent. Intentionally teasing this big-headed soldier, he spoke jokingly. Looking into Long Fei's eyes, Yuan Shu was taken aback, not expecting a small soldier to be so fierce. To show his magnanimity, he smiled slightly and signaled the guards to put down their weapons. He sized up Long Fei from head to toe: "Not bad, kid! You look like just a squad leader. Follow me! How about becoming one of my guards?"

  Although there was a strict hierarchical concept in the army, when he came here, Long Fei still didn't understand, at least not yet, how many levels of difference there were between Wǔ Zhǎng, Shí Zhǎng, Xiào Wèi and Zhōng Láng Jiàng, let alone what this Shì Wèi was.

  Yuan Shu laughed: "You really are a fool, look how cold you are. Come on, follow me into the tent!"

  Long Fei hastily shook his head, inside there were too many familiar faces, such as Gong Sun Zan and Cao Cao, all of whom he had seen with his own eyes. If he was recognized, he would naturally die without a place to bury his body. Yuan Shu saw Long Fei's frightened retreat and burst out laughing, strutting away. Looking at Yuan Shu's arrogant back, Long Fei let out a long breath. He hastily went around the tent and found another more secluded hiding spot.

  It was around midnight when the so-called nobles in the tent stumbled out one by one, drunk and staggering. By the light of the torches, Long Fei recognized each of them. But Sun Jian was not among them, which struck Long Fei as strange. Just as he was about to go look elsewhere, someone suddenly shouted loudly: "We don't need Sun Jian! We can still attack Tiger Trap Pass and Luoyang without him! Sun Jian, don't think that without your old man we can't take Luoyang!" The speaker was Yuan Shu. He had drunk a lot, his words were incoherent, and he stumbled as he walked, with five or six soldiers supporting him from all sides.

  Looking at the direction of Yuan Shu's fingers when he spoke, Long Fei guessed that Sun Jian's large camp should be in the northeast and quickly slipped into the darkness. Constantly changing clothes, constantly checking the big flag. When I arrived at the third military camp, the atmosphere here immediately became different. The soldiers were spirited, standing guard upright, patrolling back and forth, and from time to time, one or two people wearing armor walked by. On the high-flying red flag above the gate, a large Sun character was embroidered. Long Fei nodded, searching for weaknesses around Sun Jian's camp.

  Sun Jian has been marching and fighting for many years, so he naturally knows the importance of discipline and soldiers. He also has his own unique methods for deploying troops. Long Fei circled around a big circle, but couldn't find any weaknesses. This made Long Fei nod involuntarily. Sun Jian was indeed a talented person. Although no breakthrough was found on Sun Jian's side, some abnormalities were discovered in the large camp next to him.

  The large camp next door also had a considerable number of people, and in the middle of the low thatched huts, several small hills of hay attracted Long Fei's attention. According to Xu Shu's depiction, when marching, there was no place to store food, so many people would gather several carts together, pile up the grain on top, and then cover it with thatch. Could these be the allied army's grain and fodder?

  After taking a look at the flag, Long Fei was even more certain. The second banner with the large character "Yuan" didn't need to be asked, it was definitely Yuan Shu's. Long Fei re-enacted his old trick, flipping over one of Yuan Shu's soldiers, stripping him of his clothes and putting them on himself, then walking forward with his head down. The Yuan brothers were truly a pair of useless fools, their words were all empty talk, they weren't even half as good at governing the army as Sun Jian. Just like in Yuan Shao's camp, the soldiers were lazy and slack, the guards patrolling the area were sparse. Long Fei moved about inside as if he was in a deserted land.

  "Halt!" Just as Long Fei was about to approach the granary, a dozen or so soldiers suddenly appeared with their weapons pointed at him. Fortunately, Yuan Shu had some brains and at least the people he stationed around the granary were somewhat serious. Long Fei hastily stopped in his tracks, dropped his weapon, and raised his hands. The dozen or so soldiers looked at Long Fei's comical appearance and burst out laughing. A few of them surrounded Long Fei, constantly staring at him, one of whom asked: "In the middle of the night, why aren't you sleeping? What are you sneaking around here for?"

  "I'm here to burn the grain!" Long Fei said calmly.

  "What?" The leader naturally didn't dare believe his ears, leaned in closer and asked again.

  Long Fei suddenly launched a surprise attack, the blood-red dagger in his hand lightly slashing across the man's neck, leaving a shallow gash. One of them flashed out and grabbed the wrist of another person beside him, pulling it into his own embrace, while his right hand stabbed out, the dagger piercing the left chest of that person. A sweeping kick sent two soldiers flying, his right hand making light slashes to the sides, cutting off the carotid arteries of the two men. It wasn't until now that Yuan Shu's army reacted: "There are assassins...!"

  Looking at the few people running far away, Long Fei did not go after them. He kicked the fire basin towards the grain warehouse with one foot. The hay covering the food was quickly ignited. Long Fei ran while setting the rest of the granary on fire. By the time Yuan Shu woke up from his drunkenness, there were raging flames outside the tent. Soldiers were running around frantically, shouting for help to put out the fire. The fire was too big and there was no water source nearby, so they could only watch as the fire burned everything clean.

  Long Fei followed the fleeing soldiers in the camp, dodging and weaving, aiming at an empty space and flashing into the darkness. Until the second day dawned, the fire in the granary was still burning fiercely, and no one knew who did it after asking all the patrolling men. Starting from Yuan Shao's big camp, except for Sun Jian and Cao Cao's camps, all others had casualties.