Chapter 122: The Rapid Assault on Xiang City

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Cao Hong had been closely watching Shen Chenjun’s sudden movements.

After nightfall, around dusk, he dispatched General Li Kuang to pursue them. Since Shen Chen had withdrawn his troops before taking a detour, Li Kuang had a slight advantage in time and was able to catch up more quickly.

Less than half an hour after Gan Ning had laid his ambush at Lushan, Li Kuang arrived and clashed with the two thousand soldiers lying in wait there with his own thousand men.

The battle caused few casualties. After confirming the enemy’s numbers, Li Kuang hurried back to report to Cao Hong.

At the same time, Liu Dai, stationed at Kunyang, and Wang Zhong, stationed at Wuyang, were suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by scouts posted outside the cities. They learned that several thousand torches had passed through the area. Not daring to delay, they immediately sent messengers to contact Cao Hong.

The messengers dispatched by Liu Dai and Wang Zhong rode at full speed. Covering forty kilometers took them less than an hour. Thus, before dawn—at the final moment of the hour before daybreak—Cao Hong received two reports.

First, as he had expected, Shen Chen’s army had left roughly two thousand men behind to cover its retreat.

Second, the main force appeared to have already passed Kunyang and was heading straight toward Xiangcheng.

Upon receiving these two reports, Cao Hong was elated. There could be no mistake: Shen Chen had chosen to make a direct assault on Xu Du. They had to pursue him at once.

He immediately shouted, “Pass on my order. Leave the city at once and head north to reinforce Xu Du.”

“Yes, General!”

The officers and soldiers cupped their hands and acknowledged the order in unison.

When Cao Hong began to suspect that Shen Chen might make a direct attack on Xu Du, he had already ordered the army cooks to prepare food through the night. He then arranged for the soldiers to sleep until the third watch before dawn—four in the morning—when they would rise to eat.

By the final watch before dawn, around five in the morning, the sky had begun to brighten. The soldiers had finished breakfast and were all refreshed and full of energy.

At a single command, the entire army set out. Around eight in the morning, they reached the vicinity of Lushan.

Just as before, the instant they drew near, countless soldiers began shouting and beating their drums.

Cao Hong showed no fear and ordered an attack.

Only two thousand ambushers were stationed there. Seeing the enemy’s overwhelming numbers, they collapsed almost as soon as the fighting began, retreating in panic as though crying for their fathers and mothers.

Seeing this, Cao Hong laughed loudly. “Little Shen Chen, you actually thought you could fool me into believing you were making for Xu Du? Such a trifling trick! Pursue them!”

“The general has ordered a pursuit!”

Li Kuang and the other deputy commanders immediately issued the order.

Once the pursuit began, the army lost all formation. Cao Hong’s troops quickly scattered in every direction, chasing down the fleeing soldiers of Gan Ning’s army.

But just as they approached Lushan, countless arrows suddenly poured down from the dense woods covering the hillside, catching Cao Hong’s troops completely off guard.

“Cao Hong, you have fallen into our trap! Kill them!”

Riding on horseback, Gan Ning suddenly burst from the woods on the left. Several thousand soldiers behind him raised a deafening battle cry.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

Their thunderous shouts rang across the entire battlefield.

The soldiers of Gan Ning’s army, who had been pursued moments earlier, immediately turned around and launched a counterattack. With no formation to speak of, Cao Hong’s troops were split apart in an instant, each group forced to fight on its own.

“What?”

Cao Hong, watching from the rear, was horrified.

His army’s formation had first fallen into disorder, then been battered by a storm of arrows. Their morale plummeted, and the soldiers began retreating one after another.

Li Kuang hurriedly said to Cao Hong, “General, we have fallen into an ambush. We must withdraw at once.”

“Retreat!”

Cao Hong immediately ordered the gong sounded to recall the troops, then fled south toward Ye County.

Gan Ning pursued them relentlessly, chasing them for more than twenty kilometers from morning until noon and killing or scattering nearly two thousand of Cao Hong’s soldiers.

After a desperate flight, Cao Hong finally reached the outskirts of Ye County. Since they had been certain that Shen Chen intended to make a direct attack on Xu Du, no troops had been left behind in the city.

At that moment, a shower of arrows suddenly erupted from the city walls.

Gan Ning’s deputy commander, Lou Fa, shouted, “Lou Fa is here! Cao Hong, prepare to die!”

“What?”

Cao Hong’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. He had never imagined that Ye County had already been seized.

What he did not know was that Shen Chen had brought ten thousand soldiers on this expedition. He himself had led three thousand northward, Gan Ning had taken six thousand to lay the ambush, and another thousand had been left at Duyang.

As soon as Cao Hong’s force had departed that morning, Lou Fa had seized Ye County with the thousand men at Duyang, cutting off their retreat.

With wolves before him and tigers behind, Cao Hong had no choice but to fight to the death.

Meanwhile, as Cao Hong was trapped in a desperate situation, the exhausted soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion finally reached Xiangcheng around noon.

They had begun dismantling their camp during the day and set out at approximately six in the evening. By then, the soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion had been marching for eighteen hours.

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The road from Ye County to Xiangcheng was eighty kilometers long. It ran across flat plains, with almost no obstacles, and they had averaged 4.4 kilometers per hour.

Even so, the soldiers were utterly exhausted. If they had not trained like this every day in the past, they would have collapsed long ago.

Shen Chen himself had feet of iron. Though only fifteen years old, he continued marching without pause. The officers and soldiers, seeing him persist, gritted their teeth and carried on.

Walking depended on physical strength, but conviction mattered just as much.

In later ages, there would be hikers and race walkers capable of covering more than a hundred kilometers in a single day. Compared with the hardships endured by the army during the historic Long March, and with the countless young boys even younger than him who had still managed to keep up with the main force, this was hardly an insurmountable challenge.

Only in the afternoon, when he finally saw Xiangcheng in the distance, did Shen Chen let out a long breath. Turning to Shen Zhen beside him, he said, “Father, tell the soldiers that Xiangcheng is just ahead.”

“Xiangcheng is just ahead! Put in a little more effort, everyone. We’ll be able to enter the city and rest very soon!”

Shen Zhen immediately turned around and shouted.

“Xiangcheng is just ahead! Put in a little more effort, everyone. We’ll be able to enter the city and rest very soon!”

“Xiangcheng is just ahead! Put in a little more effort, everyone. We’ll be able to enter the city and rest very soon!”

“Xiangcheng is just ahead! Put in a little more effort, everyone. We’ll be able to enter the city and rest very soon!”

The soldiers relayed the message backward. Before long, all three thousand men had heard it. Their morale soared. Their aching legs seemed to recover all at once, their exhaustion vanished, and their pace quickened considerably.

At that time, Xiangcheng’s gates were still standing wide open as usual. The guards, only a dozen or so bailiffs responsible for suppressing banditry, suddenly saw an army approaching along the distant highway.

They were utterly bewildered and could only stare.

Cao Cao had now moved his main forces north to confront Yuan Shao in a decisive battle, leaving the rear truly vulnerable. The southern gateway to Nanyang—Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang—contained only eight or nine thousand soldiers in total, while Xu Du had roughly ten thousand.

As a result, many cities in Yingchuan were left undefended. The only troops present were several dozen county-office soldiers responsible for maintaining order and suppressing banditry—in other words, constables and bailiffs.

These men possessed no real fighting ability. They did not even know whose army was approaching.

Only when the force drew near did they realize that it was an enemy army from Nanyang. By then, of course, it was already too late. Even if they had been prepared and managed to close all four city gates, it would have made no difference.

Shen Chen soon occupied Xiangcheng. He dispatched men to reassure the populace, seized the county office, and ordered the soldiers to rest as quickly as possible.

At the same time, the messenger Cao Hong had sent to Xu Du at full speed finally arrived.

Because of the delay in transmitting information, the men stationed in Xu Du at that moment were Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian, and Xun Yu. Xun Yu was overseeing the Secretariat, so the report reached him first.

The message he received stated that Shen Chen’s army had bypassed Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang and was heading straight for Xu Du.

Upon hearing this, he immediately summoned Xiahou Yuan to discuss the matter.

“Lord Ling, what has happened?” Xiahou Yuan asked as he hurried in.

Xun Yu was the first man to hold the office of Secretariat Director, and was therefore addressed as Lord Ling.

Because he administered the Secretariat with such order and efficiency, he was deeply respected, and everyone called him Lord Ling.

The Secretariat was located in the Chengguang Hall of the inner city. The old inner city had been demolished, and several palace buildings had since been constructed there.

When Xiahou Yuan entered, he saw Xun Yu with a grave expression, carefully studying an official bamboo document in his hands.

Hearing Xiahou Yuan’s voice, Xun Yu said in a low tone, “Colonel of the Army, matters are dire. Shen Chen of Nanyang has brought ten thousand men and bypassed Ye County, Kunyang, and Wuyang, heading straight for Xu Du.”

“What?”

Xiahou Yuan, who had only that year been appointed by Cao Cao as a Marching Colonel and was overseeing grain transport in the rear alongside Xun Yu, was stunned.

“Is the report reliable?”

“It is difficult to say,” Xun Yu replied. “General Lifeng says he sent a thousand men to pursue them, but they encountered two thousand soldiers Shen Chen had left behind to cover the retreat. Liu Dai of Kunyang and Wang Zhong of Wuyang also saw several thousand torches heading north from Kunyang in the middle of the night.”

“Is that so?”

Xiahou Yuan frowned. “Judging by the timing, they should reach Xiangcheng tonight. We may receive a report from Xiangcheng tomorrow.”

Xun Yu said, “We absolutely cannot allow the enemy to reach Xu Du. Xu Du has no city walls, and there is no protection outside the city. Countless commoners, as well as the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers, live there—not to mention the Son of Heaven. Even if they fail to breach the inner city where the emperor resides, merely reaching the outer city would cause tremendous upheaval and might even affect Lord Cao.”

“What should we do?” Xiahou Yuan asked.

Xun Yu pondered. “If the report is accurate, they have marched at speed for an entire day and must be exhausted. You should immediately lead troops through the night to Xiangcheng. General Lifeng, Liu Dai, and Wang Zhong can pursue from behind. Then you can surround the enemy from both sides and trap them inside Xiangcheng, preventing them from threatening Xu Du’s safety. But I am afraid the report may not be accurate.”

“Do you mean…” Xiahou Yuan asked cautiously. “Should we send someone to verify it?”

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Xun Yu suddenly said, “We must. Xiangcheng is only one hundred and twenty li from Xu Du. Even if the horses die from exhaustion, you must find out whether the enemy has reached Xiangcheng.”

“Very well.”

Xiahou Yuan nodded. “I will send someone immediately.”

He selected a squad of mounted scouts, who galloped toward Xiangcheng at full speed.

A horse’s endurance was actually far inferior to a man’s. At full sprint, a horse could reach a speed of forty to sixty kilometers per hour, but it could not maintain that pace for more than a few minutes.

At a speed of twenty to thirty kilometers per hour, a horse could generally run for thirty minutes to an hour without resting.

That was why ancient governments established a relay station every thirty li. Each station kept horses. Riders would race at full speed to the next station, where they changed horses without changing riders. Only in this way could a message travel a thousand li in a single day and reach the central government.

Even so, horses were often run to death. Sending scouts fifty kilometers to Xiangcheng, with no relay station along the way, meant that the hundred-kilometer round trip would indeed exhaust their mounts to death.

Of course, it was not truly the case that a horse would die halfway and the rider would be forced to continue on foot. Between Xiangcheng and Xu Du lay the two cities of Yingyang and Yingyin, where the scouts could change horses and continue their investigation.

Unfortunately, Shen Chen had taken that possibility into account as well. That was why he had forced his army to march eighty kilometers, entering Xiangcheng at noon before immediately ordering the soldiers to rest, closing the city gates, and raising banners bearing the character “Shen.”

As a result, even if the scouts were exhausted to death, the only report they could ultimately obtain would be false information.

“Brother Shen!”

“Hmm.”

As Shen Changqing walked along the road, he exchanged greetings or nods with acquaintances he happened to meet.

But no matter who they were, none of them wore any unnecessary expression. They seemed indifferent to everything.

Shen Changqing had long since grown accustomed to it.

This was because he was in the Demon Suppression Bureau, an institution responsible for maintaining the stability of the Great Qin Empire. Its primary duty was to slay demons, monsters, and supernatural creatures, though it also had several other subsidiary functions.

It could be said that every person in the Demon Suppression Bureau had blood on their hands.

Once a person had grown accustomed to witnessing life and death, many things naturally began to seem insignificant.

When Shen Changqing had first arrived in this world, he had found it difficult to adapt. In time, however, he had become accustomed to it.

The Demon Suppression Bureau was enormous.

Everyone permitted to remain there was either a powerful expert or someone with the potential to become one.

Shen Changqing belonged to the latter group.

The Demon Suppression Bureau was divided into two professions: Guardians and Exorcists.

Anyone who entered the Demon Suppression Bureau began at the lowest level as an Exorcist.

From there, they advanced step by step, eventually gaining the possibility of becoming a Guardian.

Shen Changqing’s predecessor had been a probationary Exorcist in the Demon Suppression Bureau—the lowest rank among the Exorcists.

Having inherited his predecessor’s memories, he was thoroughly familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

It did not take long for Shen Changqing to stop before a certain pavilion.

Unlike the other places in the Demon Suppression Bureau, which were filled with an atmosphere of grim slaughter, this pavilion seemed to stand apart from its surroundings. In the midst of that bloodstained institution, it possessed a tranquil beauty of its own.

The pavilion’s main doors stood open, and people occasionally entered and left.

Shen Changqing hesitated only briefly before stepping inside.

The moment he entered the pavilion, the atmosphere changed completely.

The fragrance of ink, mingled with a faint smell of blood, rushed toward him. His brows instinctively drew together, but soon relaxed again.

The bloody scent clinging to everyone in the Demon Suppression Bureau was almost impossible to wash away.

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