Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 45 Catch the thief!

The sixth year of Jianxing.

March 7th.

Chenshi.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty once again passed through the plank road and returned to his loyal Xieshui camp.

Recalling the uneasy feeling of risking everything and making a desperate attempt when he was plotting with Zhao Yun by the sloping water, Liu Chan felt as if he were in another world and was not real as he was walking slowly along the sloping water.

From time to time, a few corpses were stranded on the riverbed.

There are both Wei people and Han people.

Of course, there are far more Wei people than Han people.

"Order people to collect all the bodies stranded on the riverbed and cremate them together." Liu Chan ordered Zhao Guang who was standing beside him.

"Otherwise, there will be a plague."

"Yes!" Zhao Guang nodded and ordered people to do it.

Not far away, a young general in a green robe walked quickly towards the group of more than 200 people leaning against the sloping water.

"Your Majesty, why are you here?!"

Guan Xing was obviously not mentally prepared for the emperor's sudden arrival.

After all, more than a mile of the plank road was demolished.

To get here from the Xiegu Valley, you first have to go down the ladder into the water, then take a boat for a mile, and finally climb up the ladder again.

This kind of activity is obviously not suitable for the emperor.

——It undermines the emperor’s dignity.

"Minister Dong advised me to return to Chengdu.

"But I think, if I go back now, wouldn't that mean I'm giving up halfway?

"So I came.

"As long as I don't capture Longyou, I won't return to Chengdu."

Liu Chan's voice was a little indifferent.

However, the brothers Guan Xing and Tong Guang were slightly stunned by the determination in the emperor's calm words.

"Your Majesty, I, Guan Xing, will die for you!"

"Your Majesty, your servant Zhao Tong is willing to die for you!"

"Your Majesty, your servant Zhao Guang dares to die for you!"

The four people, including Liu Chan, were all in their early twenties at the moment. They looked quite young and had youthful voices.

So although this scene was passionate, for a moment Liu Chan felt like a group of children pretending to be adults.

But then I thought about it.

The ancients seemed to be precocious.

Being in your teens and twenties is the best age to kill someone for the first time.

So, I'm the only one pretending to be an adult?
"Your Majesty, the fifty Tiger Guards wearing the armor of Wei soldiers have captured two post stations sixty miles east of Chencang last night." Guan Xing raised his head, but looked a little depressed.

Liu Chan nodded: "Didn't you get any information?"

Guan Xing shook his head:

"They had no horses and had to hide from the Wei army. By the time they reached the post station, it was already night. Perhaps the news of Cao Zhen's defeat had already been delivered."

"It's okay. If Zhang He doesn't come down, we can go up. How much food is left in the two camps?" Liu Chan asked the question that had been bothering him all night.

"Your Majesty, it hasn't been counted out yet." Guan Xing said this, his expression slightly excited.

"However, thanks to His Majesty's alertness, most of the food was saved!

"When General Zhao led his troops here, Wei Ni had already ordered his men to burn the granaries and sink the grain.

“If we had come an hour later, we would have lost most of our money!

"Moreover, they seem to be deliberately leaving these laborers to us, hoping that these 10,000 to 20,000 laborers will consume our food."

When Liu Chan heard this, the stone in his heart finally fell, and he felt a sense of luck.

He went to bed straight after the military meeting yesterday afternoon, but he suddenly woke up after just two minutes.

He thought that someone in the Wei army might be able to guess that he would launch a night attack, and might directly burn the granaries and sink the grain because he could not take the grain away.

So he quickly stood up and told Guan Xing to quickly send the five hundred Tiger Guards who had already reached the other end of the plank road to guard the entrance of the plank road.

Don't give the Wei people the opportunity to delay time by dismantling the plank road and burning the granaries and sinking the grain.

This was indeed something that no one had thought of during the military meeting.

After all, giving up tens of thousands of shi of grain is a huge expense.

Not everyone can make up their mind so easily.

Liu Chan was suddenly startled and looked towards Meiwu: "Could it be that Cao Rui has come to Meiwu?"

"What?" Guan Xing was stunned.

"Tens of thousands of dan of grain can be abandoned at will, tens of thousands of civilians can be abandoned at will!
"Except for Cao Rui, I can't think of anyone else who can be so decisive in such a short time!"

When Liu Chan said this, he felt a sense of shock.

If this were true, and he went directly to Meiwu to capture Cao Rui, wouldn't the Wei Kingdom collapse?
There is such a surprise?!
"Follow me!" At this moment, Liu Chan was already overwhelmed by fantasy.

"Where is your Majesty going?!" Zhao Guang was a little confused looking at the emperor's back.

"Capture the thief!" Liu Chan didn't care about the majesty of the emperor at all. He gathered his robes and ran towards the Han army camp like the wind!

A moment.

Zhao Yun, Guan Xing, Zhao Tong, Zhao Guang, and Liu Chan led over a hundred fully armed cavalrymen out of the Han army camp, away from the Wei River and out of sight of Meiwu.

Wu Gong rushed towards the downstream of Meiwu.

No one knows whether Cao Rui really came.

No one knows how many people Cao Rui brought with him.

No one knows whether Cao Rui left or not.

If they leave, where will they go and how many people will leave?
No one thinks about this.

Just take a gamble.

What if?
What if he comes?

What if he only brought dozens of riders?

What if he is currently retreating to Chang'an with dozens of cavalrymen?!
Although the bridge in Meiwu is gone, there is still a bridge in Wugong, forty or fifty miles east of Meiwu!
If we can reach Wugong Bridge before Cao Rui, and he happens to be outnumbered, we can block him and drive him back to Meiwu!

If you don't see any trace, keep heading east! Towards Chang'an!

Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, you should still give it a try!

All the way.

at the same time.

On the Xieshui plank road, several people with extremely fast steps were running towards Xiegu to deploy troops.

On the bank of the sloping water, more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians started preparing the materials needed to build a pontoon bridge.

...

...

Meiwu.

After having breakfast, Cao Rui, dressed in black, looked at the plain on the south bank of the Wei River from the heights of Meiwu.

Not noticing any unusual movement on the other side of the river, he finally left Meiwu with more than a hundred cavalrymen led by General Jiang Ji of the Eastern Palace and Palace Attendant Chen Tai.

Head east along the Wei River.

From time to time, you can see a few swollen corpses stranded on the banks of the Wei River.

Occasionally a jackdaw would peck at the food.

The war horses galloped eastward at a moderate pace.

"Your Majesty, we have to hurry. Wugong is ten miles ahead." Jiang Ji looked at the plain on the south bank of the Wei River from time to time. Although there was nothing there, he felt inexplicably panicked.

How can I not panic?

The emperor of the great Wei led more than a hundred cavalrymen to march on the front line, which would make anyone shudder.

But who would have thought?

It turned out that the front line was clearly at the entrance of Xiegu Valley, and there were tens of thousands of troops under the protection of General Cao Zhen, and the Wei River in front, so Meiwu could be said to be very safe.

As a result, Meiwu has now become the front line.

Suddenly, Cao Rui stopped his horse.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Jiang Ji was extremely anxious. He had just asked you to hurry up, so why weren't you leaving yet?

Cao Rui seemed to be lost in thought. After a moment, he called the Minister of the Central Secretariat: "Sun Zi!"

Sun Zi understood what he meant when he heard the voice, and quickly got off the horse and took out his writing brush, ink and silk.

"Issue orders to Zhang He and Guo Huai, telling them that I have returned east to Luoyang to mobilize troops and command them not to leave Longshan under any circumstances.

"Even if Guanzhong is lost, it has nothing to do with them!
"Their mission is to protect Longyou for me!"

The Minister of the Central Secretariat, Sun Zi, had already leaned the silk against his warhorse, and quickly translated the emperor's spoken words into rigorous text in his mind. He wrote furiously with his hands, and finished in a moment. Finally, he handed it to Cao Rui for review.

Cao Rui agreed and said, "Order the messenger not to use the post stations along the way."

Meiwu became the front line, and the postal service was no longer safe.

Sun Zi quickly stamped and sealed the silk letter, handed it to a rider, and ordered him to deliver it to Longyou via a small road.

Cao Rui continued to march eastward.

In fact, after waking up in the middle of the night and learning that the Shu invaders had recaptured two camps and food supplies, he had already sent an edict to Zhang He and Guo Huai overnight.

However, the edict only informed the two that General Cao Zhen had been defeated and died, and ordered the two not to leave Longshan under any circumstances, but it did not say that he had left Chang'an and returned to Luoyang in the east.

Now that the Shu invaders have food and grass to replenish, it is inevitable that they will lead a large army out of Xiegu.

If the traffic is cut off again, it will be difficult for Zhang He and Guo Huai to receive news from Chang'an.

By then, the two of them would not know the true strength of Guanzhong. Even if there was an imperial edict in advance, there was a high possibility that they would go down Longshan to Chang'an to rescue the emperor.

Walk east for a few miles.

Martial arts are ahead.

Suddenly one of the riders shouted in fear.

"Your Majesty! Not good!"

Everyone was stunned when they heard the sound.

Everyone who followed his gaze felt a chill down their spines.

But they saw at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, almost at the end of their sight, dozens or hundreds of cavalrymen were almost parallel to them, but galloping towards Chang'an at a speed faster than them.

"Oh no! The Shu invaders are trying to intercept us in front. Your Majesty, run!" Jiang Ji was panicked upon seeing this.

Cao Rui's hair stood on end.

A moment later, he rode his horse and fled eastward!
　Hey everyone, the final chapter of the Year of the Dragon! Happy New Year everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)