Vol 5 Chapter 10 (1/2)

WRITTEN BY XAPHHJULY 8, 2016

VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 10: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE BATTLE OF GUANDU (4)

Meng De POV

“Meng De, we managed to grab 4 supply caravans this time! This should be more than enough to last us for 3 months!”

I was now sitting in my tent which I had been living in for a long while now and sipping tea as I listened to Yuan Rang’s excited voice. Though the tea was brought from Xuchang, it didn’t taste as good as when I drank it in Xuchang.

“One-eyed girl, that may be so, but if we keep this up, we’ll be on the losing end.” This wasn’t me, but Feng Xiao who called Yuan Rang by her nickname, and covered her mouth as she continued, “We may have the supplies, but we don’t have the troops. The best way forward is to burn down their main supply cache and force them to retreat. If we stay hot on their heels, we should be able to eke out a win.”

“But the righteous side is us, why should we fear Yuan Shao?” Xu Huang said with a ferocious look in her eyes. Just her bloodl.u.s.t alone was enough to make Yue Jin who sat beside her lean onto Li Dian.

“Xu, Xu Huang, those words of yours are only worth 50 marks.” Though she was visibly shaken, Yue Jin still gave her opinion, “Even if righteousness is not on our side, we will still attain victory. Right, Man Cheng?”

Yue Jin asked Li Dian, hoping to get a supportive opinion but Li Dian only stood there in a daze with a book in her hands for a long while before she replied, “Wen Qian, I think that before we are generals, we are warriors. So instead of thinking about such things, we should probably think about how we can improve our martial arts. We were both beaten black and blue by Gao Lan and Zhang He the last time after all.”

“That is… Another matter altogether.” Yue Jin blushed in embarra.s.sment as Li Dian touched on her pain point and turned her face away.

Seeing that they had stopped talking, I felt that I should say something.

And so, I set down my tea cup.

“Alright alright. We are at a steep disadvantage and so any amount of small schemes won’t help. As Feng Xiao said, we must force Yuan Shao to retreat.” I looked at Feng Xiao, and saw that she had a look of irritation, probably because she could guess what I was about to say next. I laughed inside and continued, “That said, the Yuan army camps are over 1,000 and there are dozens alone just nearby Guandu even if we discount Liyang. Some are obvious, some are hidden, and so it will be difficult to find the supply cache, so that cannot be our main plan–”

“Oh? Then the Imperial Chancellor must have come up with something else then?” Before I could finish, Feng Xiao spoke up, probably displeased with what I said.

“Un, that huh~” I closed my eyes before opening them again and sweeping through everyone’s faces, “Not really~”

“Hey! Meng De! How can you still be in the mood to joke with us huh~”

“I just wanted to let everyone relax, Yuan Rang.” I looked over at Feng Xiao as I said so and when our eyes met, she turned away.

I’d thought she wouldn’t speak but she did so after sighing, “I believe the Imperial Chancellor has some business to attend to. Why don’t you go and deal with that instead of wasting time here?”

“Geh…”

“Un? The Imperial Chancellor has business to attend to?”

“Ah, un. Yes…” I said, trying my best to hide my emotions.

I looked at Feng Xiao again and found that she wasn’t even looking at me anymore. That fellow, how much does she actually know. It feels like nothing I do escapes her…

I involuntarily shuddered and escaped the tent as I mounted a fast horse and left the encampment.

I started cultivating an interest of riding and camping in the mountains several years back. Even now, when I no longer have the time to camp, I still like to ride up the mountains and see the ravines, rivers and waterfalls.