Order 47 Retreat

  After Zuo Feng left, Gao Fei went to the city of Chen Cang for a tour and comforted the wounded soldiers. He also showed concern for the soldiers, genuinely caring about his subordinates and sympathizing with the soldiers, earning him praise in the military camp.

  Yesterday's fierce battle caused the rebel army to lose tens of thousands of soldiers, which undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the rebels. Coupled with the cold weather and the shortage of food and grass in the rear, the idea of retreating has sprouted in the rebel camp.

  The rebels were stationed in the mountain path five miles outside of Chen Cang City, where the people of Chen Cang originally lived. After the people retreated to the area around Chang'an, it was abandoned. When the rebels arrived, they occupied the original residence of the people and expanded it, cutting down large areas of surrounding mountains and forests, and setting up simple tents that stretched out from the mountain path.

  In the rebel camp, Han Sui was sitting in his tent roasting a fire. The weather was so cold that nearly several thousand war horses had been frozen to death in the past few days. War horses were the lifeblood of these nomadic tribes, and losing them caused a huge stir among the rebels led by the Qiang people. Adding to this, more than 11,000 men had died in battle under Chen Chuan city in just five short days. This was an even greater blow to the rebel army that had been invincible on their march through Liangzhou.

  Han Shui furrowed his brow, his face stern, his eyes fixed on the flames not far in front of him. He seemed to see the soldiers who had been burned to death by the great fire yesterday from the light of the fire.

  "Alas! I didn't expect a small Chen Cang to block the way of my great army. Man proposes, God disposes. Today, let's rest for a day and attack again tomorrow. I don't believe I won't be able to conquer this Chen Cang City!" Han Sui drank a mouthful of warm wine by himself, and with a huff, he smashed the cup in his hand onto the ground, shattering it into pieces and producing a crisp sound.

  Just then, Beigong Boyu walked in from outside the tent, his arm still wrapped in a bloody bandage, the wound inflicted by Li Wenhao still throbbing with pain. As soon as he entered the tent, he saw Han Xi smashing a wine cup and spoke in a coarse tone: "General Han, we've been here for almost six days now, and six days ago you said that if we listened to you on this journey, we would have 100,000 troops stationed under Chen Cang City, and Chen Cang City would surrender at the sight of us. But now not only has Chen Cang not surrendered, but it's also resisting even more fiercely, resulting in over 10,000 deaths in just a few days... do you really have any confidence in taking Chen Cang?

  Han Sui, although elected as the leader, knew in his heart that he was just a figurehead in the eyes of Beigong Boyu, and also in the eyes of those Qiang tribal leaders. He had no troops or attendants of his own, and even in the past few days, many people in the army had begun to whisper among themselves about Bian Zhang's merits. The battle of Liangzhou was commanded by Bian Zhang, who took control with lightning speed, conquering almost all of Liangzhou except Dunhuang within a short half-month. Moreover, many Qiang tribal leaders secretly flocked to Bian Zhang. When he heard Beigong Boyu's distrustful words, he didn't say much, just made a gesture and said: "Sit!"

  Bei Gong Bo Yu was feeling very displeased, thinking that he had made a mistake in choosing Han Shui and Bian Zhang. He thought they were more famous than him and had better strategies and bravery, but now it seemed like he regretted his decision. He sat down on a stone stool, seeing Han Shui unable to come up with a plan, and muttered: "General Han, you'd better be honest with me, can we really take Chen Cang? I've already discussed this with General Bian, if you're not confident, then we might as well leave. The weather is too cold, the war horses aren't getting good fodder, and it will only get colder. We've already lost over 10,000 men before even taking Chen Cang, and those Qiang tribal leaders are already thinking of retreating. Everyone's saying that if they had known it would turn out like this, they wouldn't have come."

  Han Sui glanced at Beigong Boyu and asked in a low voice: "How is General Bian's injury?"

  "It's just a superficial wound, it won't kill you, just rest for a few days and you'll be fine." Beigong Boyu said, then couldn't help but mutter, "If I had known you were so incompetent, I wouldn't have let you command this battle in the first place. And what's with that nonsense about us living in Chang'an City this winter? It's all a bunch of crap!"

  Han Shui heard Beigong Boyu's complaints without making a sound, but in his heart, he had secretly harbored murderous intentions. He thought that only Bian Zhang would stand in the way of his control over all military power, but now it seemed that Beigong Boyu would also affect his future position. Since he chose to rebel, he couldn't just be a puppet; he wanted to be the true leader of the rebellion. However, he was very clear that this wasn't the time to kill Bian Zhang and Beigong Boyu yet. The morale in the military camp was low, and everyone had thoughts of retreating. Moreover, those Qiang people were also brought over by Beigong Boyu. He needed time to deal with these relationships, to gradually divide them, and then let those Qiang Hu die-heartedly follow him.

  "What's wrong with you? Can't you take down Chen Cang?" Beigong Boyu asked, seeing Han Sui remaining silent.

  Han Ji sank into thought for a moment, then looked up at Beigong Bo Yu and said slowly: "Chencang is small, but it's heavily guarded, and the unique terrain makes it impossible for our 100,000-strong army to launch a normal attack, which restricts us. Now that winter is approaching, the weather is getting colder day by day, and if we continue like this, it won't work. Let's retreat and wait until next spring when we can attack from Anding direction, where the terrain is relatively flat, and march south to threaten Mei Yang directly."

  Bei Gong Bo Yu heard this and stood up, saying: "At the beginning I said not to go to Chen Cang, but to An Ding. You insisted on going to Chen Cang. That Gao Fei is not someone to be trifled with. I've been fooled once before, you still don't believe me. I'll go and give the order now, the army will retreat to Ji Cheng."

  Han Sui did not utter a word, and when Beigong Boyu walked out of the tent, he suddenly stood up, with an extremely strong killing intent in his eyes, and said hatefully: "One day I will make you pay for your disrespect to me today!"

  Gao Fei was still on the city wall, telling the soldiers who were standing guard the story of Journey to the West. In recent days, he had discovered that these soldiers were very fascinated by mythological stories and would often climb up to the city wall to listen to his tales when they were bored. Every time he told the part where Monkey King Sun Wukong appeared at a critical moment to rescue Tang Monk, they all became very excited.

  It was just past the hour of Chen, when suddenly everyone heard a commotion coming from the rebel camp in the distance. They immediately became alert and quickly returned to their posts, gazing out at the mountain path ahead, while the drummer walked up to the drum and raised two drumsticks, ready to beat the war drum as soon as any rebels appeared.

  Gao Fei, like everyone else, remained highly concentrated at all times. However, after waiting for a while, no one was seen coming and going on the mountain path, and many thick black smoke rose from the rebel camp.

  After waiting for a while, Gao Fei vaguely felt that something was not quite right. He thought about it and then said to Lu Heng who was guarding the city gate: "Prepare ten war horses, bring eight people with you, let's go out of the city and take a look."

  "Leave the city? But General Hou's outside is a rebel camp, what if..." Lu Heng said in surprise.

  Gao Fei said, "If I'm not mistaken, the rebels should have retreated. Look at that black smoke over there, it's clearly from a big fire burning something and emitting smoke. It must be that the rebels withdrew and set fire to the villages they occupied along the way."

  "Alright! I'll go prepare right away, Master Hou, please wait at the city gate!"

  Gao Fei descended from the city tower, waited for a short while at the city gate, and soon saw Lu Heng bring eight cavalrymen with an additional war horse to his front. He mounted the horse, ordered the soldiers guarding the city gate to open it, and led Lu Heng and nine others out of the city.

  Gao Fei, Lu Heng and others proceeded cautiously, slowing down for a few miles before turning a corner on the mountain path. As expected, they saw the rebel camp burning fiercely, with thick smoke billowing up and the flames blocking the road.

  "I didn't expect Han to be so meticulous, fearing pursuit troops, he first used a large fire to block the road. Lu Heng, the rebel army has really retreated, let's go back!" Gao Fei smiled slightly after reading it.

  Lu Heng and the other eight people all looked very excited, the battles of the past few days had not been in vain, and finally made the rebels retreat. Lu Heng took a look at Gao Fei, seeing that Gao Fei's face seemed to have no surprise, but instead had a hint of worry, so he asked: "The rebels retreated, why isn't General Hou happy?"

  Gao Fei did not respond, but instead turned to the other eight cavalrymen and said: "You all go back first, tell everyone in the city that the rebels have retreated, and let Fu Xie and Gai Xun prepare a celebratory feast. Tonight we will celebrate grandly."

  The remaining eight cavalrymen all shouted "Yes!" and galloped back with joy on their faces.

  Gao Fei saw the eight cavalrymen walking away, and then said to Lu Xiang: "Last night, a sacred decree came from the imperial court. My killing of Zuo Chang was offset by my merits, and I was temporarily appointed as the governor of Liangzhou to command these troops in defending Chen Cang..."

  "Marquis, this is a good thing! The Marquis should be delighted!" Lu Heng interrupted Gao Fei's words with joy.

  Gao Fei smiled and continued: "In addition, the imperial court has dispatched General of Chariots and Cavalry Huangfu Song to lead an elite army of 100,000 soldiers to quell the rebels. And after Huangfu Song arrives with his troops, I will hand over these soldiers and horses to him. This way, I will no longer have any military power under my command, and the position of Governor of Liangzhou is also just a nominal title. Once Liangzhou is pacified, I reckon someone else will be appointed to take on this role."

  Lu Heng's face, which had initially been delighted, immediately turned sorrowful and said: "The Duke devoted himself to the imperial court, but unexpectedly the imperial court treated him this way. It's really chilling. Duke, the 4,000 catties of yellow gold that Bian Xi brought back from Liangzhou have not been put to use yet. Why don't you use them to buy an official position again?"

  Gao Fei sneered and said, "I'm not buying it. Even if I did, it wouldn't last long. Those gold pieces will still be useful later. What I want, don't you understand?"

  Lu Hengdao said: "What Master Hou means is... recruiting private soldiers?"

  Gao Fei turned his head and took a look at Lu Heng, feeling that this guy was more and more to his taste, just like the tapeworm in his own belly. He smiled and said, "That's right, it's private soldiers. As long as you have your own soldiers in hand, you're not afraid of going anywhere."

  "Marquis, how many men do you need to recruit?"

  "Two thousand people!"

  Lu Heng thought for a moment and said: "Your Excellency, I have an idea. I don't know if it's feasible or not?"

  "Go on!"

  "Nowadays, in Chen Cang City, apart from the more than 700 cavalrymen brought back by Hou Ye from Liangzhou, there are also over 10,000 regular Han soldiers. It would be better for Hou Ye to select some men from these 10,000 and fill up the remaining 2,000, then secretly transform these 2,000 into Chen Cang civilians. Although the number of soldiers is reduced, Hou Ye can claim that the reduced 1,000 were killed in battle. According to the Han Dynasty's laws, all soldiers who die on the battlefield are entitled to a pension twice their military pay, and then Hou Ye can use some money to support these people. In this way, the selected soldiers will receive extra military pay. Although they become Hou Ye's private soldiers, they still get the same monthly military pay as before, so they won't care whether they are official soldiers or Hou Ye's private soldiers, and they will definitely be willing to serve Hou Ye."

  "Haha, you really are my confidant, even your thoughts are similar to mine. However, this matter needs to be kept confidential, don't forget that in Chen Cang City there are still people like Fu Xie and Gai Xun who are meticulous and calculating, we must do it in a way that deceives heaven and crosses the sea, can you guarantee that?"

  "Don't worry, Your Excellency, I have a plan, all we need is a small outbreak..."

  "Plague?"

  Lu Heng smiled and told Gao Fei his plan, Gao Fei listened and thought it was feasible, so he nodded in satisfaction and said to Lu Heng: "Go ahead and do it, but from now on you must never shout anything like 'Long live' again, remember!"

  Lu Heng nodded and said: "I understand, Master Hou, I have taken note of it."