Chapter 144: A Disappointing Army
When a general designs a stratagem, they cannot make it too profound, unless they have subordinates whose intelligence and execution match their profound stratagem.
Unfortunately, this world has never lacked profound stratagems; it’s just that the people who can execute these stratagems are too difficult to find.
When the very first execution step goes wrong, the more profound the stratagem designed by the general, the more foolish it appears at that moment.
Zhuge Liang burned Bowang Slope, Zhuge Liang burned Xinye City, Zhuge Liang burned the rattan armor soldiers, Zhuge Liang used a grass boat to borrow arrows, Zhuge Liang played the zither to scare away Sima Yi… you see, wisdom and plans are that simple and unpretentious.
Even when told as a story in books, it can excite the Han people for many years.
It is clear that Grand Governor Zhao Shu does not possess the capabilities of Grand Governor Zhou Yu of Eastern Wu. This old man’s greatest wish right now is to lead his family back to Chang’an and enjoy the glory and wealth he should have long enjoyed.
To this end, he brought back sixteen Great Wall garrisons to return to Chang’an with him, meaning that at least sixteen passes on the Great Wall are now unguarded.
Many good stratagems that have been passed down originate from the desire to serve the country and its people. Now, Zhao Shu’s stratagem of deceiving the heavens is solely for his own benefit.
He can be called a true ignorant old man, a senile old villain.
Wu Tong’s message in the carrier pigeon to Zhang Min clearly stated that he hoped Zhang Min could persuade Yun Ce to continue going north of the Great Wall and that Yun Ce needed to start cultivating the land there as soon as possible. Because with Zhao Shu’s withdrawal, the situation at Iron Enclosure Pass would become even more difficult.
As for that scoundrel Zhao Shu, he will personally lop off that old dog’s head. For the sixteen unguarded passes on the Great Wall, he will find a way to transfer troops from elsewhere to defend them. He only hopes that Yun Ce can bravely advance, quickly move north beyond the Great Wall, and establish a foothold between Iron Enclosure Pass and the Great Wall.
“Does Wu Tong know that we are going to face a raid from three thousand Great Wall cavalry?” Yun Ce asked Zhang Min.
“He probably doesn’t know.”
“Does Wu Tong also not know that we have bombs?”
“No, I’ve never said anything.”
“You’ve dealt with the spies in the ranks, haven’t you?”
“I should have dealt with them. If there are still any, it’s because my ability isn’t enough, not that I didn’t try.”
Yun Ce nodded and said, “That’s good. We finally have the foundation for victory, to defeat the enemy and persevere in cultivating the land north of the Great Wall.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because the heads of the Great Han people are not as useful as this wildman’s head. You all seem to never distinguish between what is important and what is secondary, and most critically, you act so capriciously when you do things.”
A Grand Governor who guards an important pass that concerns all Han people abandons the pass and leads his soldiers back to Chang’an because he found a good opportunity to return to his comfortable home, disregarding the lives of his clan members.
Furthermore, a Grand Marshal, after being assassinated by a mysterious assassin, didn’t even figure out if the Emperor sent them, and before his wounds healed, he went to war with the Emperor.
Fine, go to war if you must, but when you’re doing such a major undertaking, can’t you first take care of priorities like the Great Wall?
Zhang Min lowered her head and whispered, “I thought great people should have broad minds.”
Yun Ce gave Zhang Min a look. Just as he was about to utter a sarcastic remark at the former Panxing Tower secret agent, he noticed the water in his bowl beginning to ripple.
This must be Zhao Shu’s cavalry arriving.
Yun Ce stood up and said to Zhang Min, “Let’s go. The two of us will ride out of the city and fight for a while to boost the courage of those slaves.”
Zhang Min frowned, “Just the two of us?”
Yun Ce glanced at her askance, “What, lost the courage to go into battle?”
Zhang Min gritted her teeth, “No, that’s not it.”
“Since it’s not, then let’s go. We must break through the enemy formation this time.”
The general entered the formation, and E Ji and other women helped the general put on his armor. The Yun Family had quite a bit of armor, with two sets being gifts from Peng Zeng. E Ji’s favorite set of armor was the one with two one-meter-long bird feathers on its head.
To be honest, armor with such a feather crown is only suitable for Lu Bu himself to wear. If anyone else wore it, they would look like a giant cockroach.
E Ji felt that this set was most suitable for her young master, so she, along with An Ji and the others, helped Yun Ce put it on.
Naturally, Zhang Min had no one to help her. She stripped herself completely naked in front of Yun Ce and changed into her underclothes, then put on her armor piece by piece.
By the time she had her armor on, Yun Ce’s process was not yet finished, mainly because he couldn’t get the armor straps tied properly.
Unable to bear it any longer, Zhang Min tugged hard at Yun Ce’s strap, and seeing that it cinched his waist, she finally tied the strap.
After E Ji and the women completed the farewell ceremony, Yun Ce, riding his red date horse and carrying his horse spear, walked towards the stockade gate with Zhang Min, who was also riding a Thunder Smoke Beast and carrying a horse spear.
The sound of hooves striking the ground was like a drumbeat.
Yun Ce turned and looked at Zhang Min, “They’ve been charging for about the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn, haven’t they?”
Zhang Min nodded, “This is to intimidate the enemy.”
Yun Ce said, “They can’t all be riding Thunder Smoke Beasts, can they?”
“How is that possible? The Great Wall garrison is not the Iron Enclosure Pass garrison. What right do they have to be equipped with Thunder Smoke Beasts on a large scale?”
Yun Ce sighed, “See, this is why Zhao Shu became so degenerate. No one cared about him, making him feel that defending the Great Wall defense line was meaningless.”
Zhang Min said, “The soldiers of Iron Enclosure Pass have been fighting the Gui Fang people for decades without complaint. The Great Wall garrison reaped military merit behind the Iron Enclosure Pass soldiers for nothing. What more could they be dissatisfied with?”
Yun Ce nodded, “Now, I kind of understand Zhao Shu.”
“Does that mean abandoning sixteen defense passes is justified?”
“How many years has Zhao Shu been guarding the Great Wall?”
“I heard it was thirty-six years.”
The cavalry’s charge continued. Outside Cao Wo Post Station, dust flew, and hooves pounded. Yun Ce had Feng An open the stockade gate, and he and Zhang Min rode out.
After leaving the stockade gate, Yun Ce had Feng An and the others close it again. He looked at the cavalry circling Cao Wo Post Station and asked Zhang Min in confusion.
“What are they doing?”
“Intimidating the enemy.”
“I’ve already come out, who are they still intimidating?”
“Your subordinates.”
Yun Ce looked up at the stockade wall and saw that his slaves were all pale-faced and trembling. If they hadn’t been holding bombs, they probably would have already fled in fear.
“They’re about to start shooting arrows,” Zhang Min said, taking a cavalry shield from behind her horse’s rear and preparing to meet the enemy.
“Follow behind me.”
Yun Ce told Zhang Min, then urged his red date horse forward to charge at the cavalry who liked to gallop around others.
Yun Ce always felt these people were riding some kind of big-horned sheep, not horses. However, they all called these big-horned sheep horses, so there was nothing he could do.
The red date horse showed no fear of these livestock that were only half its size. It even deliberately lowered its head, as if preparing for a collision with those big-horned horses.
The big-horned horse dodged. The spearhead from its rider naturally went wide. The red date horse moved in a straight line, so Yun Ce’s horse spear pierced the opponent’s chest. Yun Ce dragged the enemy for a while, and when the horse spear had completely pierced his body, he pulled it out from the enemy’s back and continued to stab the next one.
The red date horse exerted natural pressure on the big-horned horses. Even though many cavalrymen had attached two knives to the horns of the big-horned horses, the big-horned horses did not dare to approach when they saw the red date horse.
Seeing this, the red date horse became even more triumphant, carrying Yun Ce specifically to charge into areas with the most big-horned horses.
With a horse spear in his right hand and a saber in his left, Yun Ce unleashed slaughter on the path cleared by the red date horse. Both his horse spear and saber, driven by his immense strength, were unmatched.
The red date horse was extremely proud. It neighed and let out a string of wet farts. Yun Ce clearly saw that any big-horned horse that was hit by the red date horse’s farts had its legs go limp and it fell to the ground. Yun Ce’s horse spear pierced someone’s chest bone, and when he tried to pull it out, it got stuck on the bone. He lifted the enemy with one arm, shook the horse spear, and the sharp spearhead cut through the enemy’s body, scattering blood everywhere.
The space in front of him suddenly became empty, with no enemies left. Yun Ce turned his horse’s head and found Zhang Min locked in a fierce battle, surrounded by four big-horned horse riders who were taking turns attacking her in a dizzying fashion.
Earlier, Yun Ce had seen the red date horse display its might and thought Zhang Min’s Thunder Smoke Beast would be similar. Now, he realized that while the big-horned horses feared the red date horse, they showed no fear of Zhang Min’s Thunder Smoke Beast. Those big-horned horses with blades attached to their horns even occasionally attacked the Thunder Smoke Beast with their horns.
The cavalry attacking Yun Ce and Zhang Min numbered less than a hundred. The remaining cavalry had already begun to attack the stockade in an orderly manner.
As Zhang Min had said, some cavalry fired crossbow bolts at the stockade, while others threw grappling hooks onto the wooden structures, preparing to pull them apart.
A wave of bombs was thrown haphazardly from the stockade. After several violent explosions, the cavalry who had thrown grappling hooks at close range were blown to pieces and hastily dropped their hooks, retreating.
Seeing that the bombs were still effective against cavalry, the slaves on the city wall were suddenly greatly encouraged, forgetting about the crossbow bolts. As they cheered, they were shot down in large numbers.
Yun Ce glanced at the battle. Since there was no immediate danger of the stockade being breached, he urged his red date horse forward, preparing to rescue that foolish woman from the fierce battle.
The cavalry seemed to have understood Yun Ce’s intention. A squadron of cavalry desperately blocked Yun Ce’s path. At the moment Yun Ce’s horse spear was thrusting towards him, the bearded cavalry leader actually met it with his body. After the horse spear pierced his body, he tightly clasped the horse spear with both hands, and no matter how Yun Ce shook it, he couldn’t break free.
Four crossbow bolts silently shot out from behind him, aiming for Yun Ce’s chest and abdomen. The arrowheads gleamed, and they were likely armor-piercing cones specifically designed to break armor.
With his horse spear held by the enemy with their life, Yun Ce simply discarded it. He swept his left-hand saber out, and a head flew off, spinning as it landed on the grass.
Four nearly invisible silver threads gently deflected the armor-piercing cones, causing them to fly past Yun Ce’s body to the rear. Yun Ce’s saber had already descended like a torrent. The cavalryman holding the crossbow looked in despair at the saber and met it with his crossbow.
