mtl008 Chapter 361 My name is Zhuge Jin, the "Jin" in "cautious".
Chapter 361 My name is Zhuge Jin, the "Jin" in "cautious".
In war, speed is of the essence. On the battlefield, time is life. Arriving a minute earlier than the enemy can give you the upper hand and lead to victory, while missing the opportunity can result in defeat, death, and the end of your life.
Therefore, Guan Xing dared not delay. After leaving the camp, he led his troops forward at a rapid pace, while simultaneously sending out a large number of scouts to investigate Zhuge Jin's situation. To deal with Zhuge Jin, they first needed to know where Zhuge Jin was.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Keep your footsteps light and try not to make any noise. I know you're all tired, but this is our best chance to deal with Zhuge Jin. If we miss it, we'll miss it forever. So let's all put in a little more effort and hold on. Once we capture Zhuge Jin, I'll personally stew meat for you all."
Everyone is exhausted and is only keeping going with their willpower, so Guan Xing must constantly boost morale and not let this momentum falter.
The soldiers were indeed exhausted, but seeing Guan Xing running around doing everything, they didn't feel bad. General Guan was working alongside them, so what else was there to say? Let's fight!
With this in mind, the Han army marched at an unprecedented speed, covering a full two hours. At noon, a scout returned and reported, "General, good news! Our brothers who were lying in ambush on the official road have discovered Zhuge Jin's trail. He is currently less than forty li from Pan Zhang's camp and will arrive in two or three more hours."
The scouts weren't just wandering around aimlessly like headless flies. Instead, they were divided into two teams. One team lay in ambush on the official road from Yu Han to the main camp, waiting to see Zhuge Jin as soon as he came along. The other team moved towards Yu Han's direction, actively searching for Zhuge Jin's whereabouts, but they had to avoid Zhuge Jin's scouts. Their task was more demanding.
Guan Xing was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly asked, "How many men did Zhuge Jin bring? Did he notice anything amiss and turn back?"
The scout replied, "The troops are not many, it looks like there are only three or four thousand, about the same as ours. However, it is uncertain whether Zhuge Jin is personally leading the troops. In addition, Zhuge Jin has not shown any signs of retreating yet, so he probably has not received news of Pan Zhang's death. But it is undeniable that the closer Zhuge Jin is to Pan Zhang's camp, the greater the possibility that he will notice something amiss. So we don't have much time left."
Guan Xing immediately shouted, "The army shall stop and rest for half a quarter of an hour. Bring the map."
Deng Hong personally brought the map to Guan Xing and unfolded it. Guan Xing pointed to the map and confirmed Zhuge Jin's current location with the scout. After staring at the map for a moment, he said, "Zhuge Jin is only forty li away from Pan Zhang's camp. The straight-line distance between us and Pan Zhang's camp is no more than thirty li. We need to continue forward, then go south for ten li to ambush them in this village called Wangjiang."
The Han army traveled light without baggage and had already covered forty or fifty li (about 20-25 kilometers) since leaving the main camp. However, they had taken a roundabout route, and nearly half of that forty or fifty li was a detour. Therefore, they had not covered much of the straight-line distance to Yu Han. If their current position were to be moved to the same line as Zhuge Jin, they would still be ahead of Zhuge Jin at this moment.
But it doesn't matter. They head east while Zhuge Jin heads west, and they'll soon pass each other by, circling around behind Zhuge Jin.
The soldiers rested for a short while, drank some water, and continued their journey. They quickly traveled ten miles and received news from scouts that they had successfully passed Zhuge Jin and circled around to his back.
There was no need to continue running forward, so Guan Xing immediately ordered a turn south and to rush to Wangjiang Village to ambush them as quickly as possible.
At the same time, Zhuge Jin was also running wildly on the official road, preparing to reach Pan Zhang's camp as quickly as possible to attack Guan Xing from both sides.
Guan Xing's recent record is so terrifying that everyone, including Lu Xun, no longer dares to treat Guan Xing as a junior, but as a formidable opponent that must be fought with all their might.
Therefore, Zhuge Jin, who had made an agreement with Pan Zhang and successfully returned to Yu Han, dared not delay. He immediately mustered four thousand elite troops and charged towards Pan Zhang's camp, attempting to arrive before Pan Zhang was annihilated and form a pincer attack with him, thereby crippling Guan Xing.
Zhuge Jin was 60% confident of winning this battle. Although he looked down on Pan Zhang's character, he recognized Pan Zhang's abilities and believed that with Pan Zhang's talent and the strong defenses of the camp, they could hold off Guan Xing for three days.
In addition, it would also take time for Guan Xing and Peng Qi to surround Pan Zhang, which means that Pan Zhang did not need to hold out against Guan Xing for three days; two days would have been enough.
If Pan Zhang can't even hold out for this short time, he might as well just die.
Given this, Zhuge Jin was not worried about Pan Zhang's safety and charged forward with confidence.
On the official road, Zhuge Jin ordered his army to speed up and speed up again. They were less than twenty miles from Pan Zhang's camp, but Zhuge Jin suddenly felt a pang of anxiety for no reason. He called his deputy general Liu Zan and asked, "Zhengming (Liu Zan's courtesy name), did you hear anything?"
Liu Zan shook his head, then turned to ask his personal guards again, saying, "No."
Zhuge Jin frowned and said, "That's not right. If Guan Xing really attacked General Pan, the battle must have been very intense, right? The shouts of tens of thousands of people should be faintly audible here. How could we not hear anything?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Zan realized something was amiss and tentatively asked, "The battle isn't over yet, and General Pan Zhang has been defeated, is it?"
He was startled by these words, but the silence ahead made him wonder if Pan Zhang had already been defeated.
He never expected Pan Zhang to defeat Guan Xing so quickly. First of all, Pan Zhang didn't have the ability; he was facing the combined forces of Guan Xing and Peng Qi, not Peng Qi's bandit army. Secondly, if Pan Zhang had truly won, he would have sent messengers to report the victory. The fact that they hadn't seen any of Pan Zhang's messengers or scouts even when they were only a dozen miles away from him was enough to explain the situation.
After a moment's thought, Zhuge Jin gritted his teeth and decisively said, "Forget about Pan Zhang, order the army to turn back to Yuhan immediately."
Liu Zan exclaimed, "This won't do! We should try to probe a few more miles ahead, or send scouts to the camp to find out what's going on. Otherwise, if Pan Zhang is fighting Guan Xing to the death and we retreat, wouldn't that be betraying Pan Zhang? The consequences of betraying a colleague are very serious."
Zhuge Jin sternly refused, saying, "No, none of the scouts we sent to Pan Zhang's camp have returned. It's obvious that something has happened. Since that's the case, we can't proceed according to the original plan. We must make contingency plans."
"Moreover, Guan Xing is a treacherous and extremely greedy scoundrel. He is insatiable and will likely circle around to block our retreat after defeating Pan Zhang. If we continue to advance, we will be in danger."
"Moreover, Yu Han is more important than Pan Zhang. Pan Zhang can die, but Yu Han must not be lost. Order the army to retreat immediately. If Pan Zhang is defeated because of our retreat, I will bear all the consequences. Hurry up."
“Yes…” Liu Zan dared not delay and immediately ran to relay the order.
Then Zhuge Jin remembered something and shouted at his back, "Our retreat route is very likely blocked by Guan Xing, so we can't go back the way we came. Order the army to head south and detour back to Yuhan."
Liu Zan asked in surprise, "Isn't that necessary?"
Zhuge Jin insisted, "Better safe than sorry. It's always good to be cautious. While we take the detour, we'll send scouts back along the original route to scout thirty miles in the direction of Yu Han. Even if Guan Xing defeated Pan Zhang and set off to infiltrate at dawn, he can't have gone very far by now. If he is really lying in ambush in the rear, the distance between us is definitely no more than thirty miles."
Seeing that Zhuge Jin's words sounded very serious, Liu Zan dared not delay and hurriedly ran to relay the order.
Soon, Zhuge Jin's army turned around on the spot and retreated southwards instead of returning by the same route.