Vol 8 Chapter 21 (2/2)

Though they berated me, they still made a path for me to pa.s.s through immediately.

“Let’s get moving then! To the south gate.” I swung my reins and rode off when I finsihed,

When I moved off, the entire contingent moved as well, making a thunderous pandemonium from foot falls from both humans and horses. This sort of noise was easy to take a liking to once you got used to it.

“Chen Gong, give me a brief report of the situation.”

“About 15 minutes ago, the 2 enemy generals brought their troops to the south gate and began yelling challenges. Huang Zu has brought some troops to the south hate already.”

“How many did Zhu Ran bring?”

“About 3,000.”

So they brought the bulk of the vanguard huh.

“They couldn’t be planning to lay siege on the city with just that amount of troops right? They should know that we have 5-6,000 troops on our side after all.” Chen Dao said beside me.

“A siege is impossible so they should be here only to provoke us.” Chen Gong said.

“If they are just here to provoke us, then there is no need for all of us to move out right?” Zhou Cang said.

But when Zhou Cang finished, I saw a stormy expression on Chen Gong, “What’s the matter, Chen Gong?”

“… I have an ominous premonition.” Chen Gong supported her chin with a finger as she said so, “If they came solely to provoke us, then there’s something I don’t get. Why did they choose today to do so specifically, and not the past few days?”

“Couldn’t they be resting and recuperating over the past few days? They did lose quite a lot of troops after all.”

“Un…” Chen Gong sank into thought once more.

But there wasn’t time for her, or us, to think any further. In the short timespan this conversation took place in, we’d reached the south gate already.

Speaking of which, why are there so many troops crowding about the gates? Shouldn’t they be up on the walls and the towers?

“My lord, look up ahead! It seems like some troops are leaving the city!”

Eh? They were getting ready to leave the city?!

“What!” Chen Gong yelled out and reacted before I could, and was practically standing atop of her horse as she looked out, and yelled out again, “Idiots!”

I was beginning to panic as well, and dismounted my horse. I ordered Chen Dao and Zhou Cang to bring the troops up the towers to prepare for battle and began to climb the towers as well with brisk steps.

Following me was Chen Gong.

I climbed the tower skipping 2-3 steps at a time, but Chen Gong could only climb up at a slow pace no matter how fast she tried to climb the steps because of her thick platform shoes.

“Wu…” Chen Gong moaned but didn’t slow down her pace and began to climb up more hastily.

“Here, Chen Gong.” I couldn’t watch this any further and leapt down to where Chen Gong was and bent down so that she could climb onto me.

“Imperial Uncle, what is this–”

“Come on up.” I didn’t let her continue and just bade her to climb onto my back.

Chen Gong wasn’t too heavy, and it seemed like a considerable amount of weight came from her shoes, so it wasn’t too difficult to climb the tower while I carried her. That said, I was still heaving when I got to the top.

Chen Gong was still complaining at the start but she slowly stopped speaking, and later hugged my shoulders tightly, making it easier for me to carry her up.

After about 5 minutes, we made it to the top. When we emerged from the steps, the first thing that greeted me was a fluttering white scarf.

“Gan Ning!” I hurriedly yelled out.

Gan Ning turned around, and hurriedly leapt over to me when she saw that it was me. Her expression didn’t seem very anxious but I could see some beads of sweat on her forehead.

“Imperial Uncle.” She bowed and saluted me when she came before me.

“Gan Ning, who was it who left the city to meet the other side in battle?” Before I could reply her, Chen Gong spoke up on my back.

I hurriedly let her down when I remembered that she was on my back.

The Administrator led the troops out of the city.”

Chen Ging sank into thought for a moment, and walked over to the walls wordlessly.

“Chen Gong, be careful of stray arrows.” I warned her as I followed behind her.

I looked down as I stood on the city walls, and saw Zhu Ran facing off against Huang Zu. Looks like they haven’t begun fighting.

“How many men did the Administrator bring?”

“1,000.”

She brought out only 1,000 again.

“Why did she leave to fight a battle outside the city instead of turtling?!” Chen Gong asked again.

Huang Zu leaving the city to do battle outside from before had a possibly logical reason behind it. But there aren’t any reinforcements for our side anymore and they know how strong our side is, so why did she choose to leave the city this time?

“…” Gan Ning remained silent for a moment, probably because the answer was difficult to say, but after a moment, she still spoke up, “Because the one called Zhu Ran insulted our lord Liu Biao.”

“What kind of s.h.i.+tty reason is that! Just because of something like that–”

“Chen Gong.” I called and stopped Chen Gong who was enraged and had a heap of complaints to deliver. She turned and looked at me angrily, but I only shook my head at her, hoping that she could restrain herself.

Huang Zu owes Liu Biao deeply so it’s understandable that this sort of situation has happened.

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