The 33rd Section: The Guest Arrives with a Hidden Agenda

  The next day, Zhang Kuang got up early. After hastily stuffing two pieces of flatbread and a piece of mutton into his belly, he rushed to the city wall to observe the enemy's movements.

  The sky has brightened. The enemy has started chopping firewood and fetching water outside the camp, and wisps of smoke have risen from the cooking stoves in the camp. A group of Han soldiers has arrived at a place not far from the city wall, beginning their daily drills. From time to time, horseback messengers come in and out of the camp.

  However, Zhang Kuang waited from morning till noon but did not see any signs of the enemy sending troops to attack the city.

  Isn't Sun Jian accumulating his strength?

  Zhang Kuang was delighted and relaxed.

  However, deep down in his heart, he always felt somewhat insecure.

  That night, Zhang Kuang dreamed of his past life again. The streets were crowded with cars and horses, pedestrians thronged the roads, advertisements covered every inch of ground, and beautiful women filled the air.

  At the moment of waking up from a dream, Zhang Kuang couldn't help but shed long streams of tears.

  Farewell! The various things of past lives...

  The next morning, Zhang Kuang ascended the city wall again at dawn to observe the enemy formation. The guards and generals beside him saw that Zhang Kuang's face was tired, thinking it was due to worrying about the war situation, so they comforted him a few words.

  But on this day, Sun Jian's Han army remained still and quiet.

  The development of the battle made Zhang Kuang somewhat incomprehensible. What's the point of being stuck like this?

  Is grain wasted?

  You should at least look like you're besieging the city. Just gathering outside the west gate, don't you know that yesterday at the east gate, a wealthy family took advantage of the dusk to transport two large carts of grain and vegetables into the city?

  Of course, Zhang Kuang would never dare to underestimate Sun Jian. Whether in the history he had read or the games he had played, Sun Jian was not only brave but also strategic. If it weren't for his fondness for leading from the front and accidentally getting hit by a cold arrow, who knows how the Sun family might have developed?

  Nowadays, we can only watch the changes quietly.

  Zhang Kuang settled down and put his mind at ease, beginning to adjust the personnel and equipment of his troops while strengthening the small-scale coordination between soldiers.

  Yesterday, while watching the offensive of "Meng Hu Yi Cong", the small-scale coordination of those Yi Cong left a deep impression on Zhang Kuang. Today, Ping Jun's army is in the city, with a narrow area, and large-scale military formations cannot be deployed. Zhang Kuang can only make do, grinding and polishing the single-soldier ability of his troops.

  On the third day, the actions of the Han army left the Tianping Army generals bewildered.

  Sun Jian surprisingly did so in front of the Tianping Army on the city wall, slowly and neatly packing his luggage, putting away his camp...

  The whole army has retreated!

  It's too weird...

  This is the common voice of all the generals of the Tianping Army.

  Sun Jian was a man of unyielding determination, and it was out of character for him to retreat in the face of difficulty. Yet, that's exactly what he did.

  Can't think it through...

  Shall we send troops to pursue them while the enemy is retreating?

  The generals on the city wall were divided into two factions and began to argue.

  Wang Guo, Zhou Cang, Yu Jin, Shen Fu and He Qian were of the same faction, advocating for cautious actions. The combat strength of these Han troops was quite impressive, and if they engaged in a head-on battle, even if the Heavenly Army mobilized all its forces, it would not necessarily be a match for the enemy. Before knowing whether the Han army's retreat was a tactic to lure the enemy, they unanimously believed that they could not pursue lightly.

  Dian Wei, although alone, overpowered the opposition with his loud voice. In his opinion, since the enemy had shown weakness, they should take advantage of it and move forward to strip off a layer of their skin. If nothing else, they should at least kick them twice, and could not just stand by idly watching the enemy escape.

  However, the debate among the generals was just a debate, and they all left one eye on their leader Zhang Kuang. In the Tianping Army, the final command was still in Zhang Kuang's hands. Without his consent, the generals could only talk about it.

  Zhang Kuang deliberated in his heart for half a day and finally decided: He wouldn't pursue anymore.

  His thinking angle is also different from other generals.

  Even if several Han armies were defeated, what significance would it have in the face of certain failure? The likely outcome was that they would be worn down and weakened, only to be targeted by the Han military for annihilation.

  Zhang Kuang's current idea is to conserve his strength as much as possible and make a fortune in secret. After avoiding the storm of the Yellow Turbans, when the Han dynasty's vassals start their great war and are too busy to pay attention to him, he will rise again from the east mountain, seize a fertile territory, manage it carefully, and finally slowly eliminate the other heroes.

  After all, for a traverser, under the premise of knowing the general trend of historical development, if it still can't develop, then it's too disappointing to the expectations of the "Traversing God".

  Disregarding Tianwei's opinion, Zhang Kuang ordered He Qian to dispatch scouts to keep a close eye on Sun Jian's army from a distance and see what actions they would take. In addition, he also ordered the entire Heavenly Balance Army to remain vigilant and prepare for battle. Anyway, Zhang Kuang didn't plan to stay in this small county town for long. After waiting for several days, everything was calm and peaceful, and immediately the whole army set out on the road, advancing eastward.

  In the evening, Zhang Fei received a report that Sun Jian's army had set up camp thirty miles west of the city.

  The next evening, Zhang Kuang received another report: Sun Jian's army had set up camp seventy miles west of the city.

  Zhang Kuang heard this news and finally felt at ease for the most part in his heart.

  The Art of War says: "If you are 100 miles away and want to take advantage, the general will be defeated; if you are 50 miles away and want to take advantage, half of the army will arrive." Sun Jian was powerless to play any tricks.

  Zhang Kuang has recently been taking time out to study some military books and has gradually become able to apply some of the principles. However, in this era, most books are still recorded on bamboo slips and wooden tablets, which not only weigh heavily but also record a relatively small amount of information. Zhang Kuang had used five ox carts in the army to transport them, but they only transported less than one million words of books.

  Think about it, originally online, a novel with hundreds of millions of words, how many trucks would that fill...

  No wonder the scholars of this generation are all robust and powerful. Think about it, a single volume of Analects weighs dozens of catties. To hold such a heavy thing in one's hands, without some arm strength, is it possible?

  However, the news brought by the scout was not just this one.

  "General! Ten miles northwest, there is a friendly army of about 200 people without any flag, rushing straight towards our army!"

  "Oh?"

  Zhang Kuang was somewhat surprised.

  At that time, the Yellow Turbans had just risen, with a large number of devout Taiping Taoist followers as their backbone, and the organization was quite tight. Due to its ability to easily absorb a large number of refugees, the scale of the Yellow Turban Army often expanded rapidly. Small groups of Yellow Turbans with only hundreds of people were either defeated soldiers who fled after being beaten by the Han army or scattered soldiers sent out by the main force to forage for food or harass the enemy.

  These two hundred people should be the same as well?

  Considering they don't have a banner, it's more likely that they're defeated soldiers. It seems the scale of the Heavenly Balance Army will need to be expanded again.

  This yellow scarf army came very quickly. About an hour later, they arrived at the foot of the city wall of Shangfu County. Zhang Kuang led Zhou Cang to welcome them on the gate tower. When these two hundred or so people rushed straight to the foot of the city in a grand manner, under the illumination of the torches by the city gate, Zhou Cang suddenly shouted with surprise:

  "General! It's Pei Yuanshao!"

  "Pei... Yuan Shao..."

  Zhang Kuang's brain quickly turned, and he began to search for the original memories of this body. The fusion of the soul that crossed through the crowd with the memories of the occupied body, if there was no trigger, Zhang Kuang might not have thoroughly completed it in his lifetime.

  Pei Yuanshao, was of the same age as Zhou Cang. Both were secretly raised and trained by "Dì Gōng Jiāng Jūn" Zhang Bao as Yellow Turban warriors. Later, Zhou Cang followed Zhang Fei to carry out a mission, while Pei Yuanshao also joined the famous "General of Unyielding Ferocity"...

  Zhang Kuang was shocked in his heart:

  Pei Yuanshao was actually chosen as the personal soldier of "General Bozhou"! Could it be that the yellow turban under the city is the "General Bozhou" who just lost in Changsha?

  If it's really like this, Zhang Kuang's position as head coach is somewhat unstable.

  Although people like Wang Guo, Yu Jin, Dian Wei and Shen Fu were all promoted by him, they should not easily abandon Zhang Kuang. However, don't forget that the main body of the Tianping Army is actually the two thousand defeated soldiers who escaped from the great fire in Changsha!

  Character: Pei Yuanshao

  Bai Yuanshao is not a real person in historical records. However, since this book takes the novel as its basis, it doesn't stick to these things.

  The unfortunate extra, Pei Yuanshao, was mistakenly killed by his own general Zhao Yun in the novel. So, will he still be so unfortunate in this book?