Chapter 81 Unexpected

  In the dark of night, a fleet of over 600 grain carts made its way northwest along the official road, with a total of 1,500 Jingzhou soldiers guarding the grain cart team in all directions.

  Leading the way for the first dozen cavalrymen, they cautiously looked around, and from time to time, scouts rode back on horseback to report on the road conditions ahead.

  Liu Jiong was at the rear of the troops, riding his horse slowly. Next to him, on a hay cart, Wei Yan lay leaning against a stack of hay. Although he hadn't suffered any broken bones or sprains, after being beaten with thirty military rods, he was still battered and bruised, unable to walk. He didn't want to stay in the camp either, so he could only lie down on the grain cart.

  "Is Wei Ba Chang's injury a little better?" Liu Xuan asked with a smile, his tone full of concern.

  "Report back to General Huo, it's just a superficial wound, rest for a few days and he'll be fine."

  Wei Yan has been out on his mission as the Earl of Zhong for nearly two hours now, and he has gotten used to his current identity. He can finally calm down and think about some issues.

  He had poor interpersonal relationships in the army, especially with his superiors, and was notorious for being a troublemaker. The root cause of this was that he was arrogant and looked down on these low-ranking officers and soldiers, and did not deign to associate with them.

  Wei Yan's martial arts skills were exceptionally strong, and he was rich in strategy. Unfortunately, he did not live up to the times and could not get the opportunity to stand out. He was like a phoenix hiding among a flock of wild chickens, with dull feathers, losing the majesty of the king of all birds.

  But today he was rescued by Liu Xuan by mistake and became a Beichang under Liu Xuan.

  Although his official position was downgraded by one rank, Wei Yan saw hope in this. The military marquis he followed was no longer an insignificant person, but rather the nephew of Liu Biao.

  Wei Yan had also heard of Liu Xuan, including his extremely disliked superior, who would sometimes chat about him, and even they acknowledged that Liu Xuan was the most intelligent among Liu Biao's sons and nephews.

  Then Wei Yan followed Liu Xuan, would he change his fate from then on? The more he thought about it, the brighter Wei Yan's heart became, and his heart was filled with expectations for the future.

  Liu Jing's sons are all incompetent, it's possible that Crown Prince will take their place one day. Wei Yan thought to himself.

  At this time, a cavalryman rushed over and bowed his head to Liu Xuan, saying: "General Jun, General Deng has an invitation!"

  Liu Zhong nodded and smiled at Wei Yan: "Make a speedy recovery, don't miss this opportunity for the great war."

  "Thank you for your concern, General."

  Liu Jue spurred his warhorse forward, galloping towards the front of the troops. Wei Yan watched him disappear into the distance, letting out a low sigh. He needed to recover from his injuries as soon as possible, not wanting to become a burden, but it was coming too slowly.

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  Before long, Liu Jue caught up with the vanguard general Deng Wu. Deng Wu was a young general of about twenty-seven or eight years old, from the prominent Deng family of XinYe, of medium build and average martial arts skills, but quick-witted, clever and capable, and one of Wen Ping's most trusted lieutenants.

  "General Deng, is there something you want from me?" Liu Xuan asked, reining in his warhorse.

  Deng Wuma pointed his whip at the distant dark mountain range and said with a smile, "We're about to enter the hilly area ahead. The trees on both sides are dense and it's easy to be ambushed, so I'm reminding you to be careful."

  Liu Cong glanced at the distant mountains and immediately turned back to order: "Cover all vehicles with tarpaulins."

  They covered the carts with oilcloth mainly to prevent enemy troops from attacking the grain carts with fire arrows, especially those loaded with dry hay. To guard against this, the soldiers were busy covering the large carts tightly with thick oilcloth.

  After a busy moment, it became quiet again. Deng Wu smiled and pointed to the southwest direction of the county town behind him: "That is Xinye County, my home is in the county town."

  The county town of XinYe is not far away, about three or four miles apart. The long city wall looks exceptionally clear under the moonlight. Liu Xuan gazed for a moment and asked: "I heard that General Deng is a member of the Deng clan from XinYe?"

  Also cannot be called Xin Ye Deng Shi.

  Deng Wu smiled and said, "Our Deng family is very large, scattered throughout Nanyang County, with the ancestral hall in Wan City. The Xinye Dengs are just one branch, with about a dozen or so households, but they are still considered to be part of the main lineage. The head of the Wan City Deng clan is my great-grandfather, and there's also Deng Yi, the governor of Jingzhou, who is also our clansman."

  At this time, Liu Jiong suddenly remembered one person and smiled and asked: "Is there a person named Deng Ai in the Deng family?"

  Deng Wu was taken aback and turned his head in surprise towards Liu Jing, "Which Deng Ai?"

  "He's just a bit of a stutterer and his articulation isn't very clear, he should still be a kid."

  Deng Wu burst out laughing, "How would Master Jing know about Dogzi?"

  Liu Xuan was stunned, it turned out that Deng Wu was actually Deng Ai's father, unexpected! But this... how could he explain himself, how did he know Deng Ai.

  Liu Xuan's thoughts turned extremely quickly, and he smiled: "I heard from General Zhang Fei during a casual conversation that your son is naturally intelligent, able to memorize books at a glance, and was praised as a prodigy in XinYe."

  It's a pleasure for anyone to hear others praise their son. Deng Wu was indeed proud of his son, Deng Ai, who although had unclear speech, was intelligent and had a photographic memory, able to recite books after just one glance, and from the age of three was hailed as a child prodigy. Now eight years old, he was quite famous in Nanyang County. If Zhao Yun told Liu Xun, it would also be reasonable.

  "Gongzi is overpraising, my son is just a little clever, I hope he will be both civil and martial when he grows up and become a pillar of society."

  As they spoke, the convoy slowly entered the valley, with low hills on both sides. The mountains were no more than a dozen or so zhang high, and the terrain was gentle and round, with dense forests. It was indeed an easy place to be ambushed.

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  The Jinzhou soldiers were all on high alert, holding shields and watching the mountain road on both sides. Liu Xuan's 500 troops were responsible for the rear section, stretching about one mile, guarding 200 grain carts.

  Inside the chariot, Wei Yan furrowed his brow. With his rich experience, he also felt that the terrain was unfavorable, as it was too easy to be ambushed in this kind of terrain.

  "General Liu!"

  He called out in a low voice to Liu Hu, who was his superior officer and the garrison commander. At this moment, Liu Hu was no longer riding his horse but following the troops on foot, holding his mountain-cleaving knife in one hand and a shield in the other, intently staring at the forest on the mountain without hearing Wei Yan's call to him.

  "General Liu!"

  Wei Yan shouted again, and Liu Hu only then heard him, turned his head and glared at Wei Yan, "You calling me?"

  He was biased against Wei Yan, always thinking he was a troublemaker, but Liu Xuan wouldn't let him treat Wei Yan badly. Liu Hu could only express his dislike for Wei Yan in his own way, which was not allowing him to call himself "Old Tiger".

  Young soldiers in the army called him Brother Tiger, while older soldiers called him Old Tiger. He liked it very much and generally disliked others calling him Liu Tunzhang or General Liu, only those he didn't like would call him that way.

  "What's going on?" Liu Hu asked loudly again.

  "General Liu, I suggest that the soldiers should stand on both sides of the livestock. The carts are covered with oilcloth and are not afraid of fire arrows, but the livestock has no protection and was shot by cold arrows, which would be terrible."

  Liu Hu thought for a moment, and this was indeed the case. If the draft animals were shot dead, the grain carts would also be unable to move. This was a very good suggestion. His impression of Wei Yan immediately improved several points, and he gave a thumbs up in praise: "Your suggestion is not bad!"

  He immediately ordered the soldiers beside him, "Follow the cattle on both sides and block them with shields."

  A good plan spread quickly, and soon almost all the battalion commanders ordered soldiers to protect livestock. More than 600 cattle carts, 1,500 soldiers, although they could not completely cover the livestock, but with soldiers following behind the livestock, the protection of the livestock was greatly strengthened.

  "Old Wei!"

  Liu Hu changed his impression of Wei Yan, and he became very warm, although just a moment ago, he was still grumbling in his heart about how this Wei Yan had followed him, but now he forgot his dislike for Wei Yan and affectionately called him Old Wei.

  "You said if there's an ambush by Cao's army, would it be cavalry?"

  Wei Yan smiled slightly and said: "If it's cavalry, then there's no need to worry, because they absolutely won't exceed two hundred men."

  "Why?" Liu Hu asked in puzzlement.

  "Cavalry is not suitable for fighting on forest paths, they are more suitable for charging in the open wilderness. If there were over 300 cavalrymen, they would definitely attack us on the open plains, only small-scale patrol cavalry would be ambushed in the woods due to their limited numbers. Therefore, if there were any ambushes, it could only be infantry, with a small amount of cavalry at most."

  Liu Hu suddenly enlightened, these practical experiences he never understood before, now Wei Yan taught him, he sincerely praised, "Old Wei, you really have your skills."

  Wei Yan also burst out laughing, he found that this superior was very kind and lovely, without any cunning, while Liu Xuan made him feel a little afraid, following this old tiger was actually a pleasant thing, he started to like this Liu Hu somewhat.

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  This mountain valley road is about a dozen miles long, with dense tree shade covering the road, and a sense of danger shrouding the forest path. Although scouts did not find any ambushes by Cao's army, all soldiers felt a thread of unease, even the livestock became somewhat restless.

  At this time, there were cavalrymen in front shouting: "General, the road ahead is blocked by a large tree."

  Deng Wu and Liu Xuan exchanged a glance, and simultaneously shouted, "Not good!"

  There is a big tree blocking the way ahead, where did the scout go?

  Liu Cong hastily said: "I will go to the rear army!"

  Without waiting for Deng Wu's consent, he turned his horse around and galloped towards the rear of the troops, shouting loudly: "Halt the entire army, there are ambushers, be on guard!"

  The troops suddenly became extremely tense, with all the soldiers staring at both sides. At this moment, a carter let out a miserable cry, an arrow stuck in his neck, and fell from the ox cart. Immediately afterwards, cries of misery came one after another, all of them were carters, after a round of cold arrows, more than 30 carters were shot.

  At the same moment that the cold arrow was shot, hundreds of rockets shot out from the forest, like a dense fireworks blooming in the night sky, crossing the night sky and shooting straight at the cattle cart.

  But the ox cart was covered with a thick layer of oilcloth, which had been specially treated to be dense and watertight, as well as fireproof. When the rocket hit the cart, it failed to ignite the grain, and was immediately extinguished by soldiers using bamboo branches and brooms.

  But in the rear army, a cow cart loaded with fodder was set on fire, and soon flames rose to the sky. A frightened cow broke free from its yoke and ran wildly, causing some chaos in the troops.

  Just then, Liu Xuan galloped up on horseback, his long spear thrusting fiercely. The impact of the warhorse made the spear's power exceptionally strong, and its sharp tip pierced the bull's head, killing it instantly. Liu Xuan withdrew his spear and shouted loudly: "No one is allowed to be in disarray! Gather around me!"

  The confused soldiers calmed down slightly, and a dozen or so pushed over the burning carts, separating the unburned hay. The soldiers flocked to Liu Xiang, and the arrows suddenly stopped, becoming unusually quiet, like the moment before a storm arrives.

  Suddenly, a burst of shouting and killing sounds came from the woods on both sides. More than 1,000 Cao army soldiers hidden in the woods rushed out and attacked the grain convoy of Jingzhou army.