Vol 9 Chapter 66 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 66: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE BATTLE OUTSIDE XINYE CITY (1)

Li Dian POV

Un… It’s not like I am an unreasonable person. Since she is already on his horse, it would be unseemly for me to rip into her. We are approaching Xinye city anyway so it’s not too nice to have a disagreement now.

When we return to Fan city, I must send a letter to Lord Yuan Shao and implore her to deal with this.

Looking ahead, though Xinye city was not yet in sight, the dirt road was already beginning to widen. Xinye city is a city that serves as a connecting hub between the north and the south. If the road shows signs of widening, then it means that Xinye city is close.

“Alright, let me ask you both this.” Since there was nothing to do at the moment, I decided to ask them a question that was not too important but concerning nonetheless to ease the tension, “Who else is joining us in the southern expedition?”

“By that, you mean– Our people?” Lu Kuang asked softly.

“Ah, yes. That is what I mean.”

I was not able to express myself clearly enough that what I was asking was who amongst Yuan Shao’s retainers would be coming as it would not be too nice to ask questions that might seem divisive.

“Un… Lord Yan Liang, Lord Gao Lan…. And there’s also Han Qiong and Jiang Yiqu… Practically all warrior generals on our side will be joining the expedition.”

“Oh, oh.” I nodded. I know the first 2 names and I have personally crossed swords with Gao Lan before. I have to say that he is extremely skilled. As for the other 2, I am only slightly familiar with their names.

“As for the rest, I’m not sure if Lord Tian Feng and the rest have the spare capacity to come down as they seem to have a lot on their hands in Hebei.” Lu Xiang continued and said carefreely, “Xin Pi and Xin Ping might be able to make it though.”

“And Xun Chen as well.” Lu Kuang added.

“Xun Chen huh…”

Everyone else’s names were rather new but this one in particular was rather familiar to me as he is Xun Yu’s elder brother after all. I do not know what happened between them but it seems like they do not get along very well. They both work in Xuchang but I have never seen them meet.

That said, even for retainers like myself who have been with my lord for many years now, when we return to Xuchang, we hardly ever see Xun Yu. My lord always claims that Xun Yu sees us however.

Un? I s.h.i.+fted my gaze from the 2 and looked at our surroundings.

I found that there were many hills along the way to Xinye that were covered by dense forests. Leaving aside what my lord or what normal strategists would do, even I would exploit this terrain and set an ambush here. In particular, there were 2 small hills we just pa.s.sed which were perfect for hiding a significant number of troops.

But it has been perfectly calm the entire time. There was no ambush or any resistance whatsoever. I would have expected to be ambushed several times by now.

From how things look, the battle might actually take place right outside Xinye city. Un… For some reason, I cannot stay calm. Even if Liu Bei is no longer around, will they really not put up any resistance at all?

“Lord Li Dian, may I ask if there is anything wrong?”

“Un?” Seeing that Lu Kuang had detected my anxiety, I decided to share my thoughts with them, “Nothing much, I was just thinking that it was strange that we did not encounter any resistance along the way here.”

“Haha! They’re probably scared of us!”

“Is that really the case?” I immediately a

sked, “The strength of our punitive force is less than theirs as this is merely a probing attack. Therefore, they have a numerical advantage yet they are not attacking us at all.”

“That means that the leaderless horde is just waiting to surrender to us in the city.” Lu Xiang immediately answered confidently as she pointed her hands to the heavens. She is far too naive. She should be deducted marks for this baseless confidence.

Warriors ought to be more prudent and vigilant during these times, where or not they have an advantage. I do not know about the others, but I do know that there are certain individuals in Liu Bei’s faction who will definitely not surrender. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei’s sworn sisters, come to mind. The Xu state officials are also good examples.

“I think that little sister has not given enough thought to this.” Lu Kuang looked at his sister and then at me before giving his a.n.a.lysis, “But this situation is understandable. There could be a wide rift between 2 sides, one that wants to fight and one that wants to surrender, which would result in a delay in responding to our attack.”

Lu Kuang’s explanation was a lot more plausible than Lu Xiang’s. But in the end, this was merely a possibility and we still need to be careful as we chose to attack far too early.