Chapter 391


    Chapter 391 – Cao Ren’s Miscalction


    Cao Ren hesitated if he should march out to meet Kong Rong on an open field .


    If they stayed in-door and waited for their arrival, Cao Ren could save his men’s strength . The resource consumption would also be lower than marching out . However, they would be at a disadvantage had Kong Rong brought cannons with him .


    Currently, all Cao Cao’s officers knew about the potential of this siege weapon as cannons were most destructive if they were used against buildings, city walls, orrge weaponry, such as siege towers, watchtowers, or trebuchets .


    The only way to counter cannons were directbat .


    The number of Tong’s cannons was still limited, ording to Cao Cao’s intelligence agencies . Furthermore, cannonballs could only kill a few dozen men per shot . Compared to repeating crossbows, this type of cannons was weaker when they were fighting against an army on a field battle . A loose formation could counter a round of cannon barrage with ease!


    Judging the pros and cons, Cao Ren made up his mind .


    "Gather our men! We’ll meet them on the battlefield!"


    Yue Jin, Cao Ren’s aide, was dumbfounded by the illogical deployment order .


    "Boss, it will be winter soon! We can wait for them inside the city and wait for them to freeze to death outside!"


    "That’s not going to happen! All of Zhang Tong’s men are elites and experienced in warfare . If they’reing here, then there is a purpose! They aren’ting here tomit suicide for sure!"


    "Come here with a purpose?"


    Yue Jin stopped to think .


    In reality, Cao Ren got tunnel vision, believing that Tong wanted to upy Langye or destroy Cao Cao’s forces . He hinted at his aide that Tong might have plotted a move that could catch Cao Ren off-guard and destroy his army with his cannons .


    However, Yue Jin misunderstood Cao Ren’s intention, thinking that Cao Ren wanted him to look at the big picture .


    Pondering for a while, Yue Jin thought of the ambush ordered by their lord .


    "Is this connected to the ambush n? The one that we’re supposed to kill Sun Jian and Tong’s envoy?"


    Cao Ren widened his eyes, "What are you talking about?"


    "You’re not talking about the recent order?"


    "I’m talking about the invasion!"


    "What about the order? Don’t you think it’s connected?"


    "What does this have to do with Sun Jian and the eunuch?"


    "Well, are they trying to rescue these people?"


    Cao Ren’s jaw dropped, "Is it?"


    "I think Kong Rong’s mobilization is a bait to draw us out of our territory so that Sun Jian and the envoy can slip through our . Since they areing toward Langye, their next destination will be Kong Rong’s city . "


    "I see! So Kong Rong is trying to help them!"


    Cao Ren got goosebumps . Had Yue Jin had not warned him about Sun Jian, he would have neglected the ambush order .


    "Which one should we prioritize, boss?"


    Cao Ren groaned . Pondering for another minute, he made his decision .


    "The city’s safetyes first! We’ll concentrate on the invaders!"


    "Shouldn’t we split our force and use a few thousand men to ambush Sun Jian?"


    Cao Ren scratched his head, "I’m not a strategist! How should I know!?"


    Without a choice, Cao Ren asked for Cao Cao and others in the n chat . Opposite of Cao Ren’s initial opinion, Cheng Yu, Pu Jing, and Cao Cao had the same thought .


    Cao Cao: "Ignore the invaders . Use all your troops to kill Sun Jian . "


    Cheng Yu: "Sun Jian and the envoy’s bodyguards killed Zhang Kai and his team . Using this as a measure of their skills, I don’t think a few thousand men can kill everyone . "


    Pu Jing: "When a lion hunts a hare, he goes all out . Sun Jian and his men are no hare, so you’d better not looking down on them . Use everything you have to kill them even if you have to sacrifice Langye Commandery!"


    Cao Ren received his order . He passed it to Yue Jin .


    "Our lord and our strategists told us to ignore the invaders . We’ll go after Sun Jian . "


    .


    .


    .


    Meanwhile, Sun Jian, Wei You, Taishi Ci, and others arrived at the border of Langye . Because of several check-points and inspections by Cao Ren’s men, their journey was dyed by many days .


    Fortunately, Sun Jian and his subordinates were cool-headed enough to maintain theirposure under pressure . Nobody suspected that they were the fugitives .


    Still, everybody was on edge as it was apparent that Cao Ren knew about their arrival .


    Taishi Ci reported their location to Tong in the n chat .


    Taishi Ci: "We’re at Langye border, half a day away from the city . "


    Kong Rong: "Our troops are at Gaomi County . Should we move further south? We haven’t detected Cao Ren’s movement . "


    Tong: "Kong Rong, move south to Dongwu County . If Cao Ren still refuses to move, mobilize to Langye and demand to enter the city . "


    Kong Rong: "I thought we won’t really attack them . Are we attacking Xu Province?"


    Tong: "Not really . Do not forget that we still have that agreement with Cao Cao . We have full authority to enter their territory since we have a master-servant rtionship . In the papers, Cao Cao is my underling, so he has to open his gates to wee us!"


    Kong Rong: "OH! I get it!"


    Tong: "Taishi Ci, keep pretending to be merchants and enter the city using the main road . Don’t try to sneak around, or everyone will get caught . "


    Taishi Ci: "Yes, my lord!"


    With Tong’s confirmation, everyone proceeded to Langye, bracing the dangers .


    .


    Taishi Ci and others arrived at the south gate of Langye City . As they had expected, Cao Ren set up another check-point .


    As soon as they arrived, they found themselves at the back of a long line of merchant wagons and caravans . Taishi Ci and hispany were not the only ones who had nned to enter the city .


    "How long are they going to take!? It’s been days!"


    "Can somebody tell the soldiers to hurry up? We’ll get caught by the winter at this rate!"


    Hearing theints of the merchants, Wei You pretended to act as an errand maid . He approached a nearby merchant and asked, "What happens to the front? Why are we getting stuck here?"


    The merchant grumbled, "The city protector ordered the gatekeepers not to allow anyone inside . This is stupid, you know? I’ve been here in the long line for three days now, and nobody can get inside! They’re trying to freeze us to death this winter!"


    "Then, why don’t you go back to your previous city or county? It takes only a few weeks . "


    "Do you see several guards around here?"


    The merchants pointed at patrol guards in the area, who was ring at them .


    "These men told us that we can’t travel anywhere, or they will kill every single of us! Can you believe it?"


    "Why are they doing that? Won’t they hurt their city and its people?"


    "They’re looking for a group of fugitives . Unless they caught them, they wouldn’t allow anyone inside the city . "


    "..."


    Wei You returned with the piece of bad news . Sun Jian, Taishi Ci, and everybody listened to him in solemn .


    Huang Gai and Cheng Pu grumbled, "What’s next? Are we waiting here as well? Our ration is almost out . "


    Taishi Ci appeased them, "We have to wait . Let’s wait until our reinforcement arrives . They should be here in a week or so . "


    Sun Jian was surprised, "I didn’t see you sending any messenger . How did you know that there will be a reinforcement?"


    "n chat . Eh, I think you might not know this since you haven’t been invited to a n . We’ll tell you once we arrived at Ye City . "


    "..."


    Sun Jian was astonished . Taishi Ci was still young, but Tong had bestowed him the n chat ability, which was the same as Sun Fang’s .


    A weird thought came to Sun Jian’s mind, ’Can we join more than one n at the same time?’


    Sun Jian also asked Sun Fang in the n chat .


    Sun Jian: "Is it possible to join two immortal ns? I’m afraid that his majesty might invite us into his n . "


    Sun Fang: "I doubt it . The system said that we can only join one . "


    Sun Jian had worries . This might spark a misunderstanding between Tong and himself since he did not want to rebel against the Han Dynasty .


    Sun Jian: "Can you dissolve our n, so we can join his majesty?"


    Sun Fang: "The only way that I can disband this n is my death . "


    This confirmation hammered the final nail in the coffin . Between Sun Jian’s family and his ideal, he weighed the former more than thetter .


    Sun Jian: "Gongfu, Demou, Yigong, we willy low and try not to get involved in Zhang Tong’s affair . "


    Seeing the n message, Huang Gai and the others frowned . They nced at their liege without rming Wei You and Taishi Ci .


    Huang Gai: "We’re not joining Zhang Tong, now?"


    Cheng Pu: "So, we areying low while we’re avoiding getting recruited into another n?"


    Han Dang: "Is it possible to mediate this issue?"


    Sun Jian: "I don’t know . I’ll be trying to solve the feud between Fang’er and Zhang Tong . If he insists on killing Fang’er, then we’ll retire from his ranks . "


    Cheng Pu: "Won’t he try to kill us like Cao Cao?"


    Sun Jian: "I have no idea . Since he’s doing his best to get us out of here, let’s be on friendly terms with Zhang Tong for now . Once we can escape from Ye and regroup with Bofu and Fang’er, we will do so . "


    A back-up n had emerged during the escape . If Tong insisted on killing Sun Fang or harm the Sun n, Sun Jian schemed that they would desert from Tong’s ranks and flee to Lujiang, regrouping with Sun Ce and Sun Fang .


    For now, Sun Jian wished to negotiate with Tong first .


    .


    Later that day, Cao Ren deployed all of his troops to search for Sun Jian . Because of Cao Ren and Yue Jin’s cautious, all scout teams consisted of 2,000 soldiers .


    As a consequence of suchrge armies, their mobilization terrified the local poption .


    As Cao Ren and Yue Jin left the city, their subordinates who had surrendered to Cao Ren, Chen Gui, became the new prefect of this Langye .


    He and his n member, Chen Deng, continued Cao Ren’s policies, barricading all merchants and travelers from entering or leaving the city .


    However, Cao Ren took away most of their local troops and their private soldiers . Only less than 2,000 garrison soldiers maintained the order here . With fewer troops, guards who oversaw the people outside the gates had a hard time suppressing the merchants .


    The merchants outside the wall kept demanding and shouting at the guards . They gathered their private troops, bodyguards, and mercenaries to form an army, threatening to siege the city had Chen Gui not opened the gates .


    In the end, Chen Gui and Chen Deng agreed to their terms and opened the gates, allowing them toe inside .


    Sun Jian, Taishi Ci, and others received the boons from the uproar . All fugitives entered the city without a strict inspection .