Chapter 241 Encounter in a Fores (2/2)

Unlike the time when Tong forced-march to Ye, Tong Army took their time, slowly moving toward north while they were clearing the pathway.

Marching into the dense forest had a high risk of contracting unknown diseases, but Tong was undaunted. Water and food supplies were not their issues, and each soldier also carried anti-biotic medicines from Hua Shi with them, so they had necessary protection.

'Living without the system HUD map is inconvenient, but I have to overcome this. Bear with it for one more year, and I'll get them all back in a year or two.'

…

February 17th, 183 A.D.

The slow journey continued.

Despite the fact that the distance between cities were 150 to 160 kilometers, which could have taken them two days to travel on a clear road, Tong Army traveled only four to five kilometer a day as his men built several camps along the way, creating many check-points.

Today, the scouts finally detected Liu Yan Army.

”Report! We found Liu Yan camps 6 li north of here. They are cutting the forest to make a path toward us. Their number is roughly 20,000 men!”

Tong chuckled when he heard the report.

”Thank you. You can leave.”

”Yes, sir!”

Tong had always faced overwhelming numbered enemies, but this time, they were fighting a force with the roughly same number. In addition, Liu Yan had no other promising general except Zou Jing, so the next fight would be a lot easier than the past.

Laughing in his heart for a minute, Tong reeled in his excitement as he remembered a troubling thing he might encounter in this force.

Liu Bei

Zhang Fei

Guan Yu

The three sworn brothers!

'I shouldn't look down on Liu Yan. The three troublemakers probably appear here earlier than the recorded history, so I have to prepare to face these three in the next battles.'

'There's also the missing number of Liu Yan troops. The previous Jia Xu's reports said that they have at least 50,000 men, but only 20,000 shows up here. An ambush or a trap is also possible.'

'Well, I won't underestimate them. I'll be careful.'

Tong turned to the boxes behind his back. Inside, handgun bullets were stored there. After the battle at Liyang and the accumulated bullets Tong had created each day, 150 bullets remained. The other 300 rounds had been stored in his [Inventory], but because Lilim disabled the skill, he could not use them.

'Ten magazines, that's not enough for sure. But I have [Homing Arrow], so I can do the hit-and-run by myself.'

'Welp! Assassin mode, here I go again.'

…

Nightfall.

Tong dressed in a black cloth and left the camp by himself. He carried a standard bow, quivers of arrows, his handgun, and a steel blade, but he only wore leather armor as he wanted mobility over the protection.

It was half-moon and cloudless sky that night, which the moonlight was enough for Tong to travel in this dark forest.

Moreover, Tong's demonic instinct heightened at night. He could faintly feel the surrounding while he was running northward. His red eyes glowed, and his vision had a tinge of green color which he could see clearer in the dark.

One hour later, Tong reached Liu Yan army campsite. As soon as he had reached the camp, he had to crouch down and hid behind a bush to observe the fortified camp.

As Tong had expected, the fortification of this camp was thorough. Three long lines of trenches had been dug, and a double-line of wooden fences covered the entire camps. Watchtowers had been built close to each other that there was a tower every ten meters.

Patrolling sentries were also plenty. A team of ten men with torches walked around the edge of the camp, and their eyes kept glancing at the darkness of the forest.

Tong peeked inside the trenches. Sure enough, there were several groups of soldiers sitting inside them.

'Are they copying my trench tactic from Anping?'

Tong pondered. It appeared that Liu Yan Army also used a similar strategy as Tong by digging through the forest while fortifying their camps. Furthermore, they should have detected Tong Army from the south as well. Had not they discovered Tong, they would not have been on a full-alert like this.

'This is Zou Jing's works. He is wary of me.'

'Ha! But if that's all he can do, then he'll fail miserably!'

Tong crawled back and kept the distance from the camp. He took the bow from his back and nocked an arrow, aiming at a guard on a watchtower.

*WOOSH*

*POEK*

An arrow penetrated the guard's forehead, and he collapsed without making a sound.

Tong did not use the magic arrow as the light arrow was too flashy. With his [Bow Mastery] and his hellish training experience with Medusa, he had no problem sniping someone with a normal bow.