Chapter 12: The Northern Tropic of Cancer (Part Two)

  In May of the year, Liu Shouwen, the military governor of Yichang, led his army south to Neihuang to intercept the Bianjun, but was ambushed and defeated. His general, Shan Keji, was killed in battle at Qingcaopo. The Bianjun generals Li Sian, Zhang Cunjing, Yuan Xiangxian, and others launched a surprise attack, and Liu Shouwen barely escaped with his life, fleeing back to the city of Weizhou. That night, the Lulong army, which had suffered heavy losses in the battle, retreated from their camp, but unexpectedly, Huangfu Jun, Ge Congzhou, and He Delun led troops out of the city to attack them. The rearguard of the Lulong army set fire to their camp in an attempt to block the enemy, but was killed by Li Sian and others who arrived soon after. As a result, the entire Lulong army was defeated.

  Thanks to the previous retreat arrangement in Li Chengzhong's military account, the well-organized Jianzu front camp maintained its integrity during the rout. Along the way, they encountered small groups of cavalry and infantry pursuing them several times, but Youdu did not flee wildly like other Lulong troops, instead turning around and stopping in their tracks, with long guns in the front row and bows and arrows in the back row waiting in formation. For such an intact unit, the pursuers had no interest in coming forward to fight, as there were more heads to be taken ahead, why bother fighting to the death here?

  As for the large group of pursuing soldiers, they could see them from a distance and hide or change direction to escape with ease. As a result, surprisingly, not a single person was lost along the way. This orderly retreat, while ensuring relative safety, also sacrificed speed, which was further suppressed by Li Chengzhong's deliberate control, in addition to being weighed down by food and weapons.

  Zhou Kan Dao was the first to raise an objection, his reason being simple: with this route, it would still take half a month to return to Youzhou. Along the way were pursuing troops, many of whom had already far exceeded Youdu. By the time those pursuing troops returned, both sides would encounter each other again. This viewpoint gained support from not a few Youdu soldiers, whose eagerness to return home was more pressing than ever before.

  Zhang Xingzhong firmly supported Li Chengzhong on this point, and after careful consideration, he expressed the reasons for Li's actions in his own words. A daily march of 40 miles is appropriate, allowing them to have the strength to engage in battle when encountering the enemy. For pursuing troops, an organized and capable enemy will not be attacked, except for the military common sense of "don't pursue a defeated enemy". Any victorious army does not want to make unnecessary sacrifices after a major victory, as they already have enough merits to receive military honors. This point has been fully proven in the encounters over the past two days.

  Since Zhang Xingzhong had realized his intention and declared it, Li Chengzhong was also unwilling to waste his words. With the support of Zhang Xingzhong and Jiang Miao, You Du continued to move north at a speed of 40 miles per day. Zhou Kan Dao and those brothers who were dissatisfied with the slow pace could only follow suit, they didn't have the guts to leave You Du and escape on their own. The fate of scattered soldiers fleeing alone in Hebei was terrible, which had been proven by the headless corpses seen along the way.

  Li Chengzhong also required everyone to save as much food as possible. At the time of departure, each person's package had only three days' worth of food, which means that at least twelve days' worth of food was still lacking. Fortunately, in this era, the Hebei region had dense pastures and forests, with a very good environment, so there were also many wild animals. Along the way, they mainly relied on hunting to obtain food, catching wild rabbits, hamsters, wild goats and other animals for consumption, trying to save as much grain as possible for future needs.

  You can often see the corpses of Lu Longjun soldiers lying on the ground, their heads cut off and left in the wilderness. Perhaps soon wild beasts will come and peck away at the flesh, eventually leaving only a pile of white bones. Thinking back to when these corpses were still living Lu Longjun brothers, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder on the battlefield, everyone's heart is filled with discomfort.

  After leaving the battlefield of Wei State, You Dou was temporarily safe for several days, and for a whole day, they didn't encounter any pursuing soldiers. However, this safety was destined to be temporary, as the pursuing soldiers had already surpassed You Dou, and perhaps on their return journey, they would meet again on a narrow road. Therefore, everyone was on high alert, not daring to expose themselves too much in the open wilderness, and instead proceeded along areas with forests.

  But even so, the Youdu still encountered the first team of retreating Bianjun pursuers. At that time, Jiang Miao, who had better eyesight, saw a small forest in the northeast, and it was already noon, so Li Chengzhong decided to lead everyone into the forest for a short rest, avoiding the scorching sun directly above their heads. This decision was very normal, and none of the three team leaders raised any objections. So Youdu quickly entered the forest.

  Here, they ran head-on into a small group of Bianjun infantrymen who were resting in the forest. Both sides suddenly encountered each other, and were shocked and bewildered. After a round of shouting, they stood facing each other with swords drawn. The Youdu people outnumbered them, with more than twice as many men, while the Bianjun army had only ten men, looking like a well-organized team. The leading Bianjun officer did not dare to take the initiative to attack first.

  The Bian army, although small in number, was well-equipped. Everyone wore leather armor and iron helmets, and besides being armed with swords, they also had two crossbows! In comparison, the Youdu army looked somewhat shabby. Especially when looking at these two crossbows, Li Cheng's heart suddenly tightened, and he didn't dare to be presumptuous.

  The two sides faced each other for a long time, with sweat dripping down their foreheads. Neither side dared to make the first move, nor even wipe away the sweat. Behind the Bian army was an ox cart filled with heads, which made Li Chengzhong's eyelids twitch and his scalp numb. He knew that this must be the spoils of war, and the heads on the cart were definitely those of his comrades from the Lu Long army. His heart was filled with grief and anger as he looked at the cart of heads, and he wanted to charge forward and kill these bastards. But...he still had twenty-two brothers behind him, and he had previously loudly promised them that he would bring them back home safely.

  "Brothers on the opposite side," said an officer of the Bian army suddenly, "why don't we just not fight each other? You go north and we'll go south, let's just pretend we didn't see each other."

  Li Chengzhong looked at the cart again, thought about the brothers behind him, and finally held back, nodding his head. Both sides slowly retreated, and when Li Chengzhong led his team out of the forest, the Bian army also rushed to drive a cow cart through the forest, heading south.

  Relieved of the danger, Li Chengzhong let out a big sigh of relief. He was about to speed up their journey when he suddenly heard the "slapping" sound behind him. Turning his head around, he saw Zhou Kan Dao vigorously slapping his own face, with two red palm prints on his cheeks. Everyone stared in astonishment, except for Zhou Kan Dao's fellow townsman Zhou Xiaolang, who was holding onto his arm to stop him, but Zhou Xiaolang's eyes were already red too.

  Zhou chopped the knife and slowly squatted down, covering his face with both hands, bursting into tears: "I'm just a coward... I'm just a fearful coward! I should have charged up..."

  Zhou Xiaolang also shed tears beside him.

  Li Chengzhong asked for half a day, Zhou Kan Dao only cried and didn't answer, only Zhou Xiao Lang cried to explain the situation. From here, another 30 miles north is Zhou Ge Zhuang outside Wucheng City, which is also the home of Zhou Kan Dao and Zhou Xiao Lang. The heads on the cow cart behind the Bian army were not the brothers of the Lu Long army, but the villagers' heads from Zhou Ge Zhuang! Among them, several were familiar to the two men. The Bian army was killing the good and taking credit for it!

  Zhou chopped the knife and squatted on the ground, crying and repeatedly slapping his own mouth: "I'm arrogant about my bravery, but I'm a coward! No guts to go up and fight to the death... damn you, Zei Jun's army, not even sparing a nearly sixty-year-old old man... Third Uncle... you've been taking care of me since I was young, but I don't dare avenge you!"

  Zhou Xiaolang also cried: "And Xiao Yaozi..."

  Zhou Kan Dao was taken aback: "Is there still Xiao Yao?"

  Zhou Xiaolang's face was covered in tears as he nodded: "Dalan, I saw Xiao Yao, inside..."

  Zhou chopped the knife and shouted again: "Xiao Yaozi... I'm sorry for you..."

  The two of them burst into loud sobs, and the brothers all fell silent. Li Chengzhong thought about the heads in that cart, his heart feeling oppressed and hard to express.

  Crying, Zhou Dabao suddenly stood up and rushed back the way he came, with Zhou Xiaolang following closely behind. Li Chengzhong hastily ordered people to carry the two back. Zhou Dabao was indeed very strong, and it took Zhang Xingchong and three other brothers to pin him to the ground. Struggling, Zhou Dabao shouted loudly: "Let me go! Let me go! I want to go back and avenge myself! Li something, tell them to let me go! Damnable Zhang Xingchong, quickly release your hand!"

  Li Chengzhong is not the kind of person who would rather stab himself twice for his brother, and in a strict sense, he is even a bit selfish. The things he did, such as following the army to rush into Bei State and gathering troops before the entire army retreated, were all for his own sake. However, he is not the kind of selfish person who would harm others without benefiting himself. On the contrary, his personality contains a strong sense of passion. He would be deeply moved by being in the magnificent Lu Long Army, fight to the death during the crisis in Bei State, cheer and applaud for Commander Liu Ren's words, and feel sorrow and pain for the countless brothers who died under the city of Wei.

  At this moment, looking at Zhou Feng and Zhou Xiaolang struggling on the ground, thinking of that cart full of heads, his hot blood surged up again. He glanced around at every brother in the group, then nodded to release the two men, took a deep breath and said: "I want to go back... Is there anyone coming with me? Those who want to come follow me, those who don't stay here and wait." After speaking, he turned around and headed back on the original road.

  Jiang Miao didn't say a word, closely following Li Cheng's back. Wang Dalang whistled and also followed quickly. Zhou Kan Dao and Zhou Xiao Lang were stunned, hastily got up, wiping away tears while chasing after Li Cheng. Zhang Xingzhong stood silently in his original spot, watching as Li Cheng and the others gradually disappeared into the distance.

  There were twenty-three people in total, with sixteen following Li Chengzhong. On the way, Wang Dalang scolded Zhang Xingchong several times: "This Zhang guy is a coward!" But was stopped by Li Chengzhong: "Don't blame them either, life and death are one's own, who doesn't want to live?" He didn't blame Zhang Xingchong, but rather understood him. To be honest, the brothers of the Lu Long Army had already been broken by the Bian Jun, letting them go back and fight on the road of escape, and for people who were not related to their deaths, it was indeed a bit forced. Even among those who followed behind him, there were many hesitations, they belonged to Jiang Miao and Zhou Kandao's group, only because of the inertia of obeying superior officers, did they reluctantly follow up.

  A group of people returned to the small forest and began to follow the wheel tracks south. Wang Dalang was a hunter by origin, and his tracking skills were quite skilled. Along the way, he didn't lose sight of them, and soon saw the backs of the Bian army driving cattle carts slowly on the horizon.

  Li Chengzhong turned around and saw Zhou Kan Dao's eyes reddening as he was about to charge forward, so he hastily pulled him back. Zhou Kan Dao glared at Li Chengzhong, but Li Chengzhong ignored him and suddenly spoke in a low tone to the crowd: "Some of you may still be hesitating, wondering whether to go up and fight, whether to risk your lives for revenge for Zhou Da's hometown. So I want to say two things. If you were in their shoes, if your loved ones had been killed, what would you think?"

  He paused, seeing that everyone was pondering his words, Li Chengzhong continued: "Zhou Da is from Jizhou, Jiang Miao is from Dingzhou, I am from Youzhou, and Wang Dalang is from Shen Zhou... In short, we are all Yan Zhao people! Today, Zhou Da's hometown was killed, I am very angry, very indignant. I am thinking, by tomorrow, will it be the turn of Dingzhou people, Youzhou people, Shen Zhou people to be killed? We are the Lulong Army, we were born here, grew up here, this land is our roots! If we don't go to protect them, who can protect them? If we don't go to avenge, don't make the Bianjun pay the price in blood, tomorrow the heads piled on the cow cart may be Jiang Miao's hometown, may be Wang Dalang's hometown, may be everyone's hometown!

  After finishing speaking, Li Cheng let out a long breath and saw that everyone's emotions were somewhat agitated, so he said: "That's all I have to say. Now there is still an opportunity. Later when we fight, those who don't want to go can stay here."

  Zhou Qiang's eyes were red and puffy, and he looked at Li Chengzhong with a choked voice: "Li Lang..."

  Li Chengzhong smiled and stopped him, turned around and left, with fifteen people following immediately behind, none of them falling back.