Chapter 248 Coming Out? (1/2)
Chapter 248 – Coming Out?
March 8th.
The south and the west gate could not be opened as the fire had yet to be extinguished. Black smoke rose from the direction of the two walls, which frightened the people inside the city.
Several nobles tried to visit Zou Jing in the government hall, but all of them was chased away by the guards.
After being harassed for half a week, they wanted to sortie and counter-attack the rebels, yet they could not because they did not have the authority to mobilize. The only one who could command the entire noble forces was Zou Jing.
”General, please command your troops!”
”We need you to kill the Yellow Turban!”
”Please come out!”
All of them was desperate. The nobles shouted with bellowed with every strength they had.
Alas, Zou Jing continued to ignore them, pretending that he did not hear their voice. He was sitting on the main seat of the governor and bit his fingernail again, which several of his fingers bled and rotted from the untreated infection.
”Sir, they need a commander right now. Please at least give a command token to them, or we will lose the city because of your inaction.”
Hearing the critic of his subordinate, Zou Jing glared at the speaking official. He wanted to kill this person, but the word ”We will lose the city” pulled him back to his sense.
'One more time … I'll try to face Zhang Tong again one more time.'
Zou Jing mustered his courage and walked out of the city hall. Seeing that their general finally decided to fight, every noble and official was delighted.
”Sir general! Please allow us to mobilize. We want to fight!”
”Please, sir!”
The pleas of the nobles resounded in front of the government district gate. It was not because of the guards, everyone would have surrounded Zou Jing or would have strangled him to death.
”You won't go out to fight alone. I'll go with all of you!” Zou Jing bellowed.
The morale of the volunteer forces skyrocketed as they got the permission. They dispersed and returned to their armies to deliver the news.
In contrast to the noblemen's cheerful mood, Zou Jing's face was still pale. His teeth clattered again when he thought about Tong and his light arrows.
'They will be the baits. Yes, they will be the baits! I'll use them as a shield while I'll strike Zhang Tong from behind.'
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The loud explosion woke Zou Jing from his fantasy. He looked at the direction of the sound, and black smoke could be seen from the north wall.
”They are setting the north wall on fire this time!”
”Damn it! We have to sortie. If we leave them be for another day, they will burn the east gate.”
A chill ran down Zou Jing's spine as he imagined how it would feel like to be trapped inside the city while all gate had to be closed forever. They would be starved to death by the bandits outside.
”Go! Mobilize the men. I want everyone outside of the city and crush the rebels!”
.
Meanwhile, Tong and his army withdrew from the north side of Ji City and marched toward the east. Unlike the other walls that they had attacked, they had only launched four sets of the attack at the middle section of the wall before they moved away.
The reason for the haste was the concerning news from the east gate.
There were several groups of volunteer forces, deserters, and civilians, leaving the city from that gate yesterday!
Tong was afraid that Zou Jing might be within the groups, so he wanted to get rid of the isolated volunteer forces first.
The Yellow Turban force on the north gate had regrouped with the scout parties, which their number returned to 3,900 men. Only the scout team at the east gate was still in hiding, watching the situation around the east gate with patience.
Two hours later as they were detouring and pushing the trebuchets toward the east, one of the scout horsemen galloped to them with a pale face.
”Report! We've spotted the garrison force marching out of the city! Their general appeared within the leading units!”
”Is he Zou Jing?”
Joy could be seen on Tong's face as he grinned from ear to ear.
”Where are they now?”
”They are forming ranks at the eastern wall. From the preparation they are making, we think that they will head to this side soon.”
”Good! All units, move out!”
.
Liu Bei and company regrouped with the dispatching forces of Zou Jing and the volunteers. Because of the chaotic scenes and unorganized mobs of various troops, none of them noticed that Liu Bei had deserted the city before.
All 20,000 able men managed to form formations of a thousand man for each unit. They raised the flags of their surnames or clans to make themselves noticeable.
The cavalry units, which consisted of 5,000 men, detoured the wall and rushed toward the north gate with haste, leaving the other 15,000 men behind. They wanted to kill all the bandits before everyone else could get the achievement.
Zhang Fei and Guan Yu watched the departing horsemen with envy. Their eyes did not hide the yearning and the ambition, hoping that one day they could lead a group of elite horsemen as well.
Jiang Man could read their thought, so he told them, ”For now, let's borrow a few horses from the main army. I think it's the right time to extort some supplies and horses from the general.”
Liu Bei's eyes brightened and nodded, ”Little Jiang is right! Let's go asking for horses so we can look like proper leaders of our army.”
The four men visited the main army and asked for a few horses as planned. Surprisingly, the captain who was in charge of the army supplies gave them four horses, which was enough for them.
They returned to their men in glee as they looked more respectable with horses and their banner now.
”What's next? Little Jiang.”
Liu Bei asked Jiang Man for his advice.
”We'll follow Zou Jing from behind. This bandit group cannot be underestimated since they defeated Zou Jing's 20,000 men and appeared here with only 4,000 men. Something is going on without our knowledge.”
Liu Bei gulped and nodded. The insight of the war was something that the three sworn brothers were lacking. As a result, they had to rely on the words of their youngest brother.