Chapter 140: Slaying Zao Zhi, Returning to Xuchang, Awe-Inspiring the Guandong Region!

When the whistle blew, it was as if a tranquil night had been suddenly startled awake. Instantly, the wilderness echoed with a continuous chorus of whistles.

All the military agricultural colonists immediately dropped the farming tools in their hands, running in panic toward the city or the surrounding estate manors of the agricultural colonists, while the agricultural-defense troops hurriedly began to muster.

"What is happening?"

Inside Yingyin City, Zuo Zhi, who had been appointed as the Agricultural-Defense Colonel by Cao Cao, was busy tallying some data.

He and Han Hao had previously submitted proposals to Cao Cao regarding military agricultural colonies, leading Cao Cao to appoint Ren Jun as the Agricultural-Defense Central General and Zuo Zhi as his deputy, placing them in charge of all agricultural colony affairs.

Suddenly, Zuo Zhi heard whistles blaring intensely both inside and outside the city. Without even having time to don his armor, he rushed anxiously out of his residence.

Someone came forward to report, "Reporting, enemies are approaching from the west!"

"How many men?"

"Five hundred."

"Only five hundred men?"

Zuo Zhi immediately ordered for horses to be brought over and hastily ascended the city walls to observe.

Indeed, outside the city, there were only five hundred enemy troops. At that moment, after driving away the agricultural-defense troops in the western part of the city, they had begun to destroy the farmland.

"Damnable!"

Seeing this scene, Zuo Zhi's eyes turned red with fury.

Lord Cao was currently stationed at Guandu, where grain was already in severe shortage. They were counting entirely on the harvest of the summer millet in September to be transported to the front lines. Now, the enemy had actually launched a raid on their rear and was destroying their farmland. How could Zuo Zhi swallow this insult?

"General, beware of a trap," advisors on either side cautioned. "What if they have an ambush waiting outside the city?"

An ambush?

Zuo Zhi instantly regained his composure and said, "We must find out where this enemy force came from."

Someone suggested, "General, this must surely be that diversionary force from Kunyang that made a feint against Yangzhai."

"Oh?" Zuo Zhi asked. "Explain your reasoning."

That person analyzed, "Think about it, General: the latest intelligence we received was that Shen Chen from Kunyang dispatched troops northward to feint an attack on Yangzhai, while their main force actually headed south to Dingying. There, together with Liu Bei, they killed the Administrator of Runan, defeated the Commandant of Yang'an, and are currently at Zhaoling. Therefore, they are presently engaging General Xiahou in Weiqiang and could not possibly have reached Yingyin. Only the diversionary flank from Kunyang could possibly have come here."

Recently, the news that Shen Chen had once again employed the tactic of making a feint to the east while attacking the west—using a flank to lure Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian while leading his main force south to join Liu Bei in slaying Man Chong and defeating Li Tong—had long since spread throughout Xuchang. For this reason, Xiahou Yuan, Li Dian, Cai Yang, and others had led their main forces south to Weiqiang to confront Liu Bei's main army.

Zhaoling lay directly south of Xuchang, whereas Yingyin lay directly west. They had only received word that morning that Liu Bei had arrived at Zhaoling the day before yesterday and was currently locked in a standoff with Xiahou Yuan and his men. Thus, it was impossible for them to appear here today.

Consequently, that person naturally assumed this was the diversionary force from Kunyang that had feinted against Yangzhai, having bypassed them from the Jiaxian and Yingyin regions while the northern area of Xuchang was lightly defended.

This deduction was actually quite logical. After all, the distance from Dingying to Yingyin was much greater than the distance from Kunyang to Yingyin. The former was over one hundred and twenty kilometers, while the latter was only eighty kilometers.

Moreover, the intelligence they received that morning was delayed. They only knew Liu Bei's army had arrived at Zhaoling the day before yesterday. According to normal rest periods, they should have rested for a day or two before setting out. Who could have anticipated that the iron-soled troops of Shen Chen's army, after marching from Dingying to Zhaoling, would cover another eighty-odd kilometers in just two days to arrive outside the walls of Yingyin City?

Therefore, upon hearing this well-reasoned analysis, Zuo Zhi nodded and said, "You are right. Since there are ambushes outside the city, there shouldn't be too many of them. Very well, assemble the men and immediately sally forth to wipe out this enemy force."

"Understood!"

The attendants received their orders and immediately acted in accordance with Zuo Zhi's instructions.

Yingyin indeed housed over a thousand agricultural-defense soldiers. If slightly organized, they could even muster a force of tens of thousands of agricultural colonists. However, firstly, they lacked weapons and equipment; secondly, they lacked training. A mob of undisciplined peasants would be of little use, so Zuo Zhi chose not to mobilize the agricultural colonists.

By the afternoon, Gan Ning and his soldiers had already destroyed several hundred mu of farmland. Calculating at a yield of about three dan per mu, this caused a loss of over a thousand dan of grain and fodder, which caused Zuo Zhi immense distress and prompted him to repeatedly urge his soldiers to attack.

Meanwhile, seeing that the enemy had indeed sallied forth from the city, Gan Ning let out a sharp whistle, ordering his men to blow their bone whistles. The soldiers who had been destroying the farmland immediately began to assemble along the post road.

"Form ranks!"

Gan Ning sat astride his horse, holding his broadsword high.

If they simply retreated directly toward the dense forest where Shen Chen's army lay in ambush, the enemy would certainly smell a trap. Therefore, they had to fight a preliminary engagement first, feigning defeat to successfully lure the enemy deep into the trap.

Here, Zuo Zhi led his army out of the city. His agricultural-defense troops outnumbered the enemy two to one, so they formed up their ranks and pressed forward.

Yet, as the two forces drew close, Gan Ning's army immediately ordered a volley of arrows.

Their formation differed from Zuo Zhi's. Zuo Zhi deployed spearmen in the front, whereas Gan Ning employed sword-and-shield infantry, with archers and crossbowmen concealed behind the shield-bearers. When the order to loose arrows was given, the shield-bearers crouched down, exposing the seventy or eighty archers and crossbowmen behind them.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Dozen of bows and crossbows fired in unison, striking Zuo Zhi's foremost spearmen and instantly throwing them into disarray.

"Hmm?"

Seeing this, though puzzled as to why the enemy possessed no shields or ranged weapons, Gan Ning seized the fleeting opportunity and shouted, "Charge!"

"Charge!"

Five hundred soldiers surged forward. The distance between the two sides was no more than thirty or forty paces; they closed the gap in an instant and plunged into fierce combat.

Zuo Zhi desperately ordered his officers and men to hold their ground, but alas, the preceding volleys of arrows had thrown the vanguard into chaos. As the soldiers dodged the rain of arrows, their formation scattered completely, rendering them unresponsive to commands.

Gan Ning's army pressed the advantage and charged into the fray. Gan Ning himself spurred his horse directly toward the enemy's banner bearing the character "Zuo". With the assistance of his personal guards, he carved out a bloody path and arrived right before Zuo Zhi. After a mere exchange of a few blows, he struck Zuo Zhi down from his horse.

The chief commander having been slain, the agricultural-defense soldiers instantly lost all composure, and the entire battlefield tilted toward a one-sided rout.

Soon enough, victory was secured.

In the distance, seeing that the two sides had already engaged in combat—originally intending to set an ambush only when Gan Ning retreated, but unexpectedly finding that they seemed to have won—Shen Chen hurriedly dispatched troops to charge out.

Instantly, the entire battlefield dissolved into chaos. Over a thousand men were either slain, put to flight, or forced to their knees in surrender.

Within half a quarter of an hour, the situation stabilized.

Gan Ning beheaded Zuo Zhi with a single stroke of his blade, snapped the banner bearing the character "Zuo", and turning back to see Shen Chen's army arriving, he hauled the standard with a smile and said, "I never expected the garrison of Yingyin to be so weak. They were crushed at the very first charge."

Shen Chen glanced around, observing the equipment of the Yingyin garrison, and remarked, "This is because Cao's army has transported nearly all supplies to Guandu, and the meager supplies left in the south are all with Xiahou Yuan and Li Dian. Thus, they lack crossbows and shields. However, this was a battle fought outside the city walls; if we had to storm a fortified city, it certainly wouldn't be this easy."

"That is true."

Gan Ning nodded and asked, "A-Chen, what should we do now?"

Shen Chen gazed into the distance, pointing toward Yingyin City, and said, "There is no time to lose. First, have our troops move into Yingyin to garrison the city. Everyone has marched a long distance and fought a fierce battle, leaving them utterly exhausted. Let them rest in the city for half an hour, then leave behind a company of troops while the rest of us march to attack Xuchang before sunset."

Gan Ning scratched his head and said, "When we came here, A-Chen, you kept stressing that speed is the essence of war. How is it that now we are right outside Xuchang, you want to rest first instead?"

Shen Chen smiled bitterly and replied, "There is no help for it. From the day before yesterday until now, we have been marching for two days straight without a proper rest. Those suffering from foot ailments alone number over two hundred. Right now, our soldiers' legs must be sore and aching. Even though Yingyin is just a stone's throw from Xuchang, men are not made of iron."

This was an undeniable truth.

They had arrived outside Yingyin City at midday, rested for less than half an hour before launching an assault on the city, and it was now roughly two o'clock in the afternoon. They had spent the previous night sleeping in the open wilderness south of Yingyang.

Then, they had marched the entire morning, passing through Yingyang and striking toward Yingyin. Although it was only a distance of twenty-odd kilometers, it still placed a heavy burden on the infantry.

While the soldiers of Shen Chen's own army could barely hold on, Gan Ning's two thousand men had indeed suffered greatly. After all, they had received no prior formal training, nor did they enjoy the luxury of eating meat at every meal to replenish their protein like Shen Chen's men. Many of them were thin and frail, and holding out until now was already commendable.

Without further ado, the main army entered the city to rest for half an hour. Afterward, they selected a company of men who could no longer endure the march and left them behind to garrison Yingyin City. At around three o'clock in the afternoon, Shen Chen and Gan Ning set out once more.

The distance from Yingyin to Xuchang was remarkably short, for the Yingyin County of the Han Dynasty corresponded to the city center of modern-day Xuchang City. The Xuchang of the Han Dynasty was located just over ten kilometers east of Yingyin—a journey that could be completed almost in the blink of an eye.

The open wilderness east of the city was densely populated with agricultural colonies. By this time, news of Yingyin had spread in all directions, and Xuchang had received the intelligence at the earliest possible moment.

The Residence of the Prefect of the Masters of Writing in the Outer City.

At the hour of early afternoon, thirty-seven-year-old Xun Yu, draped in a silk robe, sat kneeling beside a desk, processing official documents.

Recently, he had not been working at the Masters of Writing Secretariat in the Inner City's Chengguang Hall. Because Cao Cao had placed Liu Xie under much stricter surveillance, Xun Yu conducted his daily official business from his own residence.

Incense burned upon the desk, filling the room with a delicate fragrance.

Xun Yu was exceedingly fond of this scent. Not only did he burn incense while reviewing documents, but his garments were also washed and scented with aromatics.

Consequently, the bamboo mats he sat upon frequently retained a lingering fragrance, giving rise to the idiom "Xun Ling Leaves a Fragrance."

At this moment, the incense burner appeared to have burned out. A nearby servant hurriedly used a bamboo rod to stir the remaining ash inside the burner, causing a few feeble sparks to flicker before extinguishing entirely.

Helplessly, the servant cast a glance at Xun Yu. Seeing that the summer breeze blowing through the window was dispersing what little fragrance remained, Xun Yu sighed and waved his hand.

The servant hastily fetched a handful of fresh incense, dropped it into the burner, ignited it with charcoal, and prostrated himself on the floor, blowing furiously.

The Han Dynasty lacked advanced incense-manufacturing techniques; according historical records, the stick-shaped incense only became popular during the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Thus, prior to the Tang and Song dynasties, people burned incense by simply tossing raw aromatics directly into a burner, making it a terribly wasteful practice.

Presently, court supplies were in extreme scarcity, and aromatic spices were exceedingly rare; Xun Yu had reduced his consumption of late.

Yet, just as modern people often like to light a lonely cigarette while pondering problems, the absence of fragrance made it difficult for Xun Yu to concentrate on the complex issues before him. Once the ambient scent in the room diminished, it was all too easy for his mind to become cluttered and restless.

Therefore, regardless of circumstances, he still had to use a little.

After a moment, as the fresh incense flared up once more, the fragrance in the room rose slightly. Xun Yu rubbed his hands, reached out to take another scroll of documents, and deftly untied the silk cord binding it.

At that very moment, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. The sound originated from the front hall and grew closer by the second; the runner appeared to be sprinting at full throttle within the confines of the estate.

This caused Xun Yu to frown. He detested nothing more than people rushing about in a flurry; matters should be handled with deliberation rather than haste, for panicked actions readily led to mistakes.

Sure enough, because there was a threshold at the entrance of the reception hall, the runner tripped over it as he rushed into the hall, plunging heavily onto the floor below Xun Yu's seat, his wooden clogs flying off his feet.

Xun Yu's expression darkened. The *Book of Rites* states: "When high officials and scholars enter or leave the lord's gates, they shall not tread upon the threshold."

This meant that when passing through main gates, one must never step on the threshold.

Yet his servant had tripped over the threshold—a deeply discourteous act that made the protocol-observant Xun Yu feel even more displeased.

However, the newcomer seemed entirely unconcerned. Crawling and stumbling into the hall, he shouted aloud, "Master, disaster has struck! A messenger has arrived reporting that just after the hour of early afternoon, an enemy force struck outside the walls of Yingyin City!"

"What?"

Xun Yu abruptly rose from behind his desk. He had originally intended to reprimand his household servant for disobeying his past teachings by sprinting through the estate, but upon hearing this critical development, he cast all else aside and commanded, "Let the messenger enter."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The servant scrambled back to his feet without bothering to retrieve his discarded clogs, and fled hastily.

"How could this be? How could this be?"

Xun Yu paced anxiously back and forth within the room. Yingyin was right on the doorstep of Xuchang; for the enemy to have struck Yingyin caused even the usually level-headed Xun Yu to feel a surge of anxious panic, desperate to learn the true state of affairs.

Soon enough, the messenger was brought in. He had been dispatched by Zuo Zhi. At the time, Zuo Zhi had only just received the news and immediately sent someone to report to Xuchang.

Therefore, the information this messenger possessed was merely that five hundred enemy troops had suddenly appeared outside Yingyin City destroying farmland, and that Zuo Zhi was preparing to lead his troops out of the city to engage them in order to protect the crops. As for the subsequent situation on Zuo Zhi's end, the messenger knew nothing.

"Alas, Yingyin must have fallen."

Upon learning that Zuo Zhi had already sallied forth to battle, Xun Yu's face turned slightly pale.

The messenger hurriedly chimed in, "General Zuo had not yet left the city at the time, and besides, it was a force of a thousand men against five hundred."

"Return to Yingyin and investigate further."

Xun Yu did not answer the messenger's remark, merely ordering him back to scout out the situation. After pondering deeply for a long time, Xun Yu strode out of his residence and headed straight for the camp of Ren Jun's agricultural-defense forces outside the city.

Meanwhile, after defeating Zuo Zhi, Shen Chen's army rested for an hour before setting out once more.

Zuo Zhi's messenger had ridden to Xuchang on horseback. Over a distance of twenty kilometers, a fast rider could cover it in an hour, which was why by the time Xun Yu received the news, Shen Chen's force had only just departed.

Though his infantry had not set out long ago, his vanguard of scouts had already scattered far and wide, galloping across the surrounding countryside of Xuchang.

When the scouts clad in the crimson military uniforms of the Great Han appeared in the vicinity of Xuchang—mirroring the exact scene from early April of this year—the major aristocratic families, possessing the swiftest intelligence networks, received word one after another that Shen Chen's army had reappeared outside Xuchang.

Xuchang was exceptionally devoid of defense at this moment. Its garrison strength consisted solely of Ren Jun's few thousand agricultural-defense troops, a detachment of palace guards, and a small number of private retainers belonging to the noble clans.

However, the private forces of the noble clans typically numbered only a few hundred men. Families capable of mustering tens of thousands of troops like Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu were rare exceptions. Even the Hongnong Yang clan, despite Yang Shui being subjected to such brutal interrogation by Man Chong, lacked the military strength to resist—showing that the private armed forces of aristocratic families were not overwhelmingly powerful.

Of course, this did not mean they possessed zero strength.

It was simply that while they resided in Xuchang, the vast majority of their land, wealth, talent, and prestige were not located in Yingchuan.

The noble clans of Yingchuan, such as the Xun clan, the Guo clan, and the Chen clan, were supporters of Cao Cao.

The lands, properties, and retainers of other aristocratic families were stationed elsewhere; only a handful of families—such as those of Han Hao, Ren Jun, Li典, and Xu Chu—had brought along hundreds or thousands of their clan retainers to join Cao Cao's army.

Consequently, the private armed forces of these great clans within Xuchang City were actually very sparse, and the forces they could muster were quite limited.

Thus, to a certain degree, the city of Xuchang at this very moment truly faced the peril of destruction.

For a time, Shen Chen's second coming to Xuchang shook the entire region east of the Hangu Pass!