Chapter 177 Battle of Liyang - Part 7 (2/2)
”Well, we can also have Dong Zhuo lead the march. We'll be the rearguards this time.” Huangfu Song gave out an idea with a smile.
”Nice idea, HAHAHA!”
…
The order arrived at Dong Zhuo's hands. Despite his unwillingness, Li Ru advised him.
”Let them have it. We shall lead the march.”
”Will it be dangerous? I doubt Zhang Tong will spare us since we haven't sent the reply letter to them yet.”
”I doubt he will prepare an ambush after the forest fire. If I were him, I would have set up barricades to delay our advancement instead of raiding us again. This is the only choice he can do if he wants to defeat our massive army.”
”But what can he do to defeat us? Delay us until we are out of provision? Does he forget about our supply line … Right, I forgot.”
Dong Zhuo recalled the plan. With the secret intelligence about Tong's other troops moving toward Henei using the secret passage, he connected this with Li Ru's advice.
If Tong delayed their march again, all three armies would get stuck in the wilderness as the winter hit them. Their oil and food consumption would be double, and the supply line would be cut off from Henei. All of them would be stranded without other external help, and their supplies would run out before the spring arrived.
Tong wanted to use the prolonged-war tactic on Huangfu Song and the rest of them.
”Gah! This is sick! Won't we be in trouble if this continues?” Dong Zhuo complained.
”Don't worry, my lord. I have prepared everything since we got stuck here because of the fire. We have secured extra provisions from both of those two's granaries, and we give the impression that we cannot withdraw from the army. They are the one that will be in trouble.”
…
In the end, Dong Zhuo played along with the two generals by leading the march with his own men. His 100,000 healthy men took the lead while Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's remaining troops acted as rearguards.
3 PM.
The march was smooth as Li Ru predicted. Tong did not ambush them along the way. But they encountered a surprise turn of events after they crossed the burnt forest.
A 50-meter-width river blocked their path. Beyond the river, mud wall with a height of three meters trekked from the southern Yellow River toward the north. On top of the wall, flags of ”Zhang” surname fluttered in the wind.
”I don't remember that there's a gate or a checkpoint in this area before.” Dong Zhuo muttered in awe.
”My lord, those should be Zhang Tong's men. As I thought, they have barricaded themselves.”
”What's next then?”
Li Ru looked at Dong Zhuo and smiled. ”Normally, I will send scouts to survey the river to the north to check if we can take a detour. However, this time, we do nothing!”
With Li Ru's suggestion, Dong Zhuo arranged his men to fortify a camp one kilometer away from the barricaded river. The rest of his troops caught up with the lead platoons and ended up helping the rest of the soldiers making a new camp.
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun also caught up. At first, they thought that Dong Zhuo was playing tricks on them and tried to delay the march. However, the sight of the wall and the new river shocked them.
”How in the Heaven!?”
”Since when!?”
They were flabbergasted by the sudden appearance of the unknown. From their memories and their direct experiences, there was neither any river crossing here nor a high mud wall.
If ones wanted to dig a river, it would have taken a thousand laborers and months of hard work. The same applied to the wall as well, which was harder to gather the materials and the construction workers.
Since the first scout group managed to reach Liyang City and obtained the information about the rebel's activities, the wall and the river should not have been here several days ago!
With them being here, it meant that everything had been constructed recently and they were finished in a few days when they got stuck by the forest fire!
”Inconceivable! Too despicable!” Zhu Jun could not explain this situation. He held his head with both hands in bafflement.
Huangfu Song also gritted his teeth in frustration. He knew exactly if they got trapped here for another week, the freezing wind from the north would reach here and the winter would hit Liyang County at full steam.
Once that happened, their food and oil supplies could face a crisis. Though they could get more if they sent messengers back to Henei to demand additional supply convoys, those were his last resort.
”Prepare to siege! We have to cross the river and the wall! As for the rest of the scouts, go and check to the north side. I want you to check how long this river is, and if there's a path toward the east!” Huangfu Song shouted.
The scout teams nodded and rushed to their perspective units. But a few soldiers behind Huangfu Song looked at their boss with reluctant.
”B-But sir, we have a problem…” His aide trembled as he spoke.
”What problem?”
”The forest was all burnt. We can't get more woods to construct siege weapons over here.”
The old general gulped and looked at his surroundings. Indeed, the forest was burnt into charcoal. None of them was useable as siege weapon materials.
”Sent messenger to our logistic troops on the back. Have them harvest any useable woods. Also, go and tell that useless fatty Dong Zhuo, tell him to use his men to dig up the soil in advance! I want all the stones and mud to bury the river and make a bridge!”
”Y-Yes, my lord!”
Meanwhile, Zhu Jun also did not stay idle for long. He also gave his subordinates orders.
”Have our men board the ships and sail across the southern river to the other side! If we can't pass through here, we can march on the other side of the river!”
Huangfu Song heard Zhu Jun's order. His eyes brightened up as he was enlightened.
”As expected of you, brother Zhu. I haven't thought of that.”
”Take it easy. Everything has a solution.” Zhu Jun laughed. He managed to keep his head cool and came up with this idea. ”How about this, both of our men will cross the river to the south. We will march along the river to bypass this obstacle to the south of Liyang. Then we will pick a landing point again once we are directly at the south of that city.”
”Brilliant! But what about Dong Zhuo?”
Zhu Jun smiled. ”It obvious that he's useless in this battle. We'll leave them here to keep those rebel's attention, so they can spread themselves too thin. When we attack the city, they will have less number.”
”Hahaha! Good! Very good! Let's proceed with haste!”