Chapter 389 Ambush (1/2)
Chapter 389 – Ambush
While Sun Jian was working inside the government building, he texted everyone with the clan chat, copying every word and every sentence from the edict to show everybody.
Sun Jian: ”Zhang Tong has forgiven our crime. It's a piece of good news!”
Wu Guotai: ”Congratulations, husband!”
Huang Gai: ”Awesome! This Zhang Tong is a good emperor. I like him!”
Cheng Pu: ”Congratulations, my lord.”
Han Dang: ”Congratulations!”
Sun Ce: ”Wow! I misunderstood the emperor. His tolerance is something else. I respect him now.”
.
In Xuchang City, inside Sun Fang's resident, the otherworlder sat cross-legs, meditating to heal his soul injuries.
Sun Fang noticed all the commotion in the clan chat, yet did not comment anything. Instead, he had a bad omen about his father's promotion.
”Somebody, come and help me something.”
Sun Fang's guard rushed into his room, thinking that Sun Fang's illness acted up again.
”Sir! Is there something wrong!?”
”Go fetch me a scroll and ink. I need to write a letter.”
”Yes, sir!”
The servant rushed out with haste.
Meanwhile, Sun Fang's eyes gleamed.
'This is Zhang Tong's ploy. He wants to sow discord between our clan and Cao Cao.'
Sun Fang sighed in regret as he watched the name of his father.
'Soon, Cao Cao will probably kill you, father. But I'm sorry. For the sake of my survival, I can't let you join Zhang Tong. You have to die.'
.
The eunuch and his bodyguards remained in Xiapi for a day before they departed.
Sun Jian and his officers went out to send them off with gratitude.
”Thank you for your trouble, Lao Gonggong.”
”Don't be. I'm just doing my job.”
”Please take care of yourself,” Sun Jian and others cupped their fist and bowed.
The eunuch revealed a bright smile. He walked closer to Sun Jian and whispered, ”His majesty told me to pass this to you in secret.”
A folded piece of cloth was shoved into Sun Jian's robe.
Sun Jian's face changed. He finally realized that this visit was fishy since Tong sent him a secret message.
The eunuch and his caravan left Xiapi and headed north, heading toward Langye. Once they reached there, they would head to Beihei of Kong Rong next.
While everyone was looking at the departing group, Sun Jian took out the eunuch's handkerchief.
On the piece of cloth, there were written characters.
[Cao Cao will kill you soon. Take all your men and escape, now!]
Sun Jian's face paled. He turned to the eunuch, who had already left. Wanting to confirm this message, Sun Jian turned to Huang Gai, ”Get me a horse, quick!”
Despite being shocked and confused by their lord's action, the three generals rushed to the city stable and brought horses with them. Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu rode and chased after the eunuch together.
Unfortunately, by the time that they got the horses, it had been already thirty minutes after the eunuch departed.
Following the traces of wagons and horse tracks, the four galloped at full speed. While they were at it, Sun Jian bellowed, telling the content of the handkerchief to his subordinates.
”THE EUNUCH TOLD ME THAT CAO CAO WILL KILL ME!”
”WHAT!?”
Huang Gai and others could not believe their ears. Since none of them were stupid, they connected the imperial decree and the hidden message from the eunuch.
Cheng Pu shouted, ”HAS ZHANG TONG SET US UP!?”
”NO! IF HE WANTS US DEAD, HE WOULDN'T HAVE DELIVERED THIS MESSAGE!”
”THEN, WHY!?”
”ZHANG TONG AND CAO CAO ARE PROBABLY NOT ALLIES! BOTH OF THEM ARE PLAYING A GAME, AND WE ARE THEIR CHESS PIECES!”
”IMPOSSIBLE!”
”YES, IT IS POSSIBLE! THE GAME IS ONGOING NOW, AND OUR LIFE IS AT RISK!”
As their horses were galloping toward the north, Sun Jian recalled the imperial decree. His brain also functioned, analyzing all past events at full speed.
From the decree, Tong wanted Cao Cao to concede Xiapi, Xiaopei, Langye, and Pengcheng to Sun Jian. Cao Cao would also have no right to interfere with this region's affair.
Secondly, the promotion order that made him the Marquis of Xu automatically dismissed Sun Jian from Cao Cao's ranks, which also disallowed him to serve Cao Cao again. As someone on the same rank, Sun Jian could not bow to Cao Cao anymore.
From the two orders, Sun Jian had to separate from Cao Cao and claim Xu Province as his own.
The Marquis of Wei had sacrificed his men, assets, and supplies to obtain the entire Xu Province, yet he had to give it away to Sun Jian, who was just a lowly general, because of a single imperial decree.
It was like a slap to Cao Cao's face.
Had the hidden message handkerchief not appeared, Sun Jian would have still been clueless about their status quo, thinking that both Cao Cao and he were serving the same emperor as loyal vessels.
However, the eunuch's hint changed everything.
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A few kilometers north of Xiapi, Cao Cao's 500 elites and Zhang Kai hid in a forest on a side road. All of them wore old yellow turban uniforms, pretending to be the remnants of yellow turban imposters.
Yesterday, Cao Cao dispatched this unit to hide on the roadside, waiting to ambush the eunuch and faking it as a random bandit assault.
As Zhang Kai surrendered together with the soldiers and Xiahou Yuan, he was reassigned to do mundane tasks. This ambush job, too, was something that Cao Cao rigged for Zhang Kai.