novelSusiti Chapter 136 Each with their own calculations
Chapter 136 Each with their own calculations
On the fourth day at dusk, the remnants of Lü Bu's army finally saw the outline of Xiaoguan Pass.
When they saw the city walls, sporadic cheers rang out from the ranks.
After so many days of living in fear and trepidation, now that we've reached Xiaoguan, can we finally get some rest?
There are flags on the city wall, but they are not clearly visible.
A group of people gathered in front of the gate, peering around curiously.
"It's enemy troops!"
Some soldiers cried out in alarm.
A commotion broke out in the crowd.
Wei Xu squinted, and as he got closer, he finally recognized the tattered but familiar flag and breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's our flag! Xiaoguan Pass is still standing!"
However, even with his own people, Wei Xu dared not let his guard down.
Who knows if those brats in Qingzhou are up to any tricks or schemes?
Thinking of this, he immediately gave the order:
"No civilians are allowed to approach! The army is on high alert! Where is the garrison commander, Wang Shi?"
The soldiers immediately drew their bows and aimed them at the people who were coming out of the pass.
The people of Xiaoguan who had been eager to try something just moments before quickly withdrew their feet upon seeing this.
After a long while, a woman stumbled out of the crowd, knelt down, and cried out:
"General! The general is finally back!"
Upon hearing the wailing, Wei Xu instinctively felt displeased, but seeing the other person's beauty, he patiently asked:
Who are you?
The visitor answered in a trembling voice:
"This humble concubine is Wang Xiangling, the wife of the garrison commander Wang Shi."
Wang Shi's wife?
You wouldn't guess he's so fat and has such a big head, but his wife is quite good-looking.
Wei Xu asked with great interest:
Where is Wang Shi?
Seeing that the general was relatively gentle, Wang Xiangling gradually stopped trembling and her speech became more fluent:
"General! The day before yesterday, a group of cavalry captured the city and abducted my husband! They left last night, and before they left... before they left, they poisoned the granary and destroyed all the grain! I have already sent someone to Xiapi to request reinforcements..."
Hope had just begun to rise when it was extinguished by a bucket of ice water.
Wei Xu's joy froze. The threat of the pursuers being eliminated was good news, but the granary was destroyed…
The advance team entered the city to search and confirmed that there were no ambushes.
Only then did the army gradually advance into Xiaoguan.
Inside the city garrison, the former garrison soldiers and officers, who had been given heavy drugs, lay sprawled out, snoring loudly, and could not be woken up no matter what they did.
The granary door was wide open, and the grain inside was blackened and emitted a foul odor.
Wei Xu ordered someone to catch a chicken and feed it some grain from the granary.
The chicken flapped its wings a few times and soon collapsed and died.
"Damn it!" Wei Xu kicked over a wooden bucket beside him, his face ashen. "Burn it! Burn it all! Don't leave a single grain!"
Flames erupted in the granary, sending plumes of black smoke soaring into the sky.
Wei Xu looked at the firelight and felt a chill in his heart.
We've arrived at Xiaoguan, but what use is this city if we have no food?
The Northern Expeditionary Army suffered a crushing defeat, its supply lines were cut off, and as the commander-in-chief, he had lost many soldiers and generals without achieving any merit. How could he explain this to Marquis Wen when he returned?
He glanced at Sun Ce out of the corner of his eye.
We must shift the blame...
Although Sun Ce has helped me a lot along the way, I have no choice but to make you suffer for the sake of my own happiness.
……
As dusk approached, the sound of horses' hooves echoed from beyond the pass.
Scouts reported that a Qingzhou army of several thousand men had appeared to the west, and the commander's banner was "Zang".
Zang Ba and Wu Dun reined in their horses outside the pass, looking at the "Lü" flag fluttering on the city wall and the indistinct figures.
"We're late."
Wu Dundao.
Zang Ba observed the marks on the ground in front of the pass, then looked at the quiet city wall:
"Lou Ban and his men should have already evacuated safely. Look, there are no signs of damage on the city walls, which means there was no siege. Lou Ban must have left before they arrived. Lu Bu's army has only just entered the city. Look, they show no intention of coming out to fight. They are probably exhausted, and something must have happened in the city."
"Then should we attack the city?"
Wu Dun asked.
Zang Ba shook his head:
"Our siege equipment is completely gone, and our soldiers are exhausted. Although Lü Bu's army is weakened, they are holding the pass and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. A direct assault would only increase casualties. Our mission was to pursue and harass them, and to cooperate with the guards to cut off their retreat. Now that Xiaoguan has fallen and the guards have retreated, there is no point in continuing the attack. Order a night retreat along the route we came from. Those traps will be perfect for Lü Bu's army if they come out of the pass to pursue us."
Inside the pass, Wei Xu also received an urgent report from scouts that an enemy force of about four or five thousand had appeared outside the pass.
"Zang Ba?" A fierce glint flashed in Wei Xu's eyes. "He actually dared to chase us here! Issue the order to muster the troops and march out of the pass to attack him!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Ce nearly kicked the man off the city wall.
Finally, they had a brief respite.
Rushing out now would be asking for a beating, wouldn't it?
"No."
Sun Ce spoke up to stop him.
Wei Xu turned his head abruptly: "Why?"
Sun Ce calmly said:
"First, our troops are newly arrived, exhausted, and in dire need of rest. Second, it is already dark, and night fighting is disadvantageous for us, making us vulnerable to ambushes. Third, the enemy has been able to pursue us all the way, so they must have made preparations along the way; rashly leaving the pass risks falling into their trap. Fourth, and most importantly, our troops are out of food; the soldiers are hungry, how can we have the fighting strength to pursue them?"
He paused, then raised his voice so that all the officers and soldiers around him could hear:
"The best course of action now is to keep the gates tightly shut, hold the line, and await reinforcements. The reinforcements from Xiapi will arrive soon, and only then, with their combined attack from within and without, can we defeat the enemy. If we engage in battle now and suffer further losses, our morale will completely collapse, and Xiaoguan will also fall, leaving our army utterly defeated!"
His words were clear and logical, and the officers around him nodded in agreement.
Wei Xu opened his mouth, but found he couldn't refute it, and a feeling of frustration stuck in his chest.
It's Sun Ce again!
He always seems to be the wiser one than I am!
But right now, he seems to be right.
"...That's enough! Guard the four gates firmly, send out more scouts, and closely monitor the enemy's movements outside the pass!"
Wei Xu flicked his sleeve and said resentfully.
That night, Zang Bajun quietly withdrew, men gagged and horses hoofed, quickly moving away from Xiaoguan along the route they had scouted on the way there.
Lu Bu's army inside the pass remained on guard all night. At dawn, scouts reported that the enemy forces outside the pass had disappeared.
Zang Ba safely returned to the meeting point agreed upon with Zhao Yun.
Inside Xiaoguan Pass, Wei Xu learned that the enemy had retreated, but he did not feel relieved.
Looking at the soldiers inside the pass, their eyes green with hunger, at the empty granaries, and at the deserted post road to the west towards Xiapi, a deep sense of powerlessness washed over him.
Enough! Let's go back to Xiapi first.
……
Xiapi, the residence of Marquis Wen.
Wei Xu and Sun Ce knelt below the hall, still in their armor and covered in dust.
Lü Bu sat in the main seat.
Chen Gong, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and others stood on either side, their eyes fixed on their noses, their noses reflecting their inner thoughts.
"A hundred thousand troops marched north, full of vigor and high spirits."
Lu Bu spoke, his voice sharp.
"How many have returned? Where are the supplies? What are the results of the battle?"
Wei Xu bowed low, his voice trembling with tears:
"Brother-in-law...Lord Wen! This humble servant deserves to die! This humble servant is utterly incompetent!"
He suddenly slammed his head into the ground, making a loud thud.
"It is truly that Song Xian, with his wolfish ambitions and incompetent nature, who has ruined the country!"
Lu Bu raised his eyelids slightly:
"Song Xian?"
"Exactly!"
Wei Xu seemed to have grasped at a straw, and his tone became agitated.
"In the Battle of Langya, I originally intended to fight a cautious and steady battle, but Song Xian underestimated the enemy and advanced recklessly, resulting in the burning of our supplies! Later, I ordered him to cover the rear and defend Dancheng, but he actually... surrendered without a fight, handing over the city and supplies to the enemy! This cut off our retreat route, leaving us without food and reinforcements! This villain has ruined me and my brothers in the army!"
He broke down in tears and recounted the details of the defeat at Langya, but made no mention of his own command errors, nor of Sun Ce's advice and decision to cover the retreat.
Sun Ce knelt to one side, his back straight, still silent.
Lu Bu's gaze swept over Sun Ce:
"Bo Fu, you've been with Wei Xu the whole time. Is what he said true?"
Sun Ce looked up, met Lü Bu's gaze, and slowly clasped his hands in a fist salute:
"What General Wei said... the battle situation is generally correct. It is true that General Song Xian failed to defend the city effectively. This humble general... also bears responsibility for oversight."
He did not offer any explanation; if he were in that situation, he certainly would not have punished Wei Xu too harshly either.
After all, compared to Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, Wei Xu was Lü Bu's core support.
He could also see that Lü Bu's dispatch of 100,000 troops to conquer Langya was merely a test of Qingzhou's strength.
If it's easy to attack, then the main army can follow.
If the attack fails, it will deplete Yuan Tan's strength.
It also alleviated internal conflicts.
After all, Xuzhou had been levying exorbitant taxes for so long that it no longer had the funds to support so many soldiers.
Soldiers not only don't get paid, but they also don't get a meal.
That will definitely lead to infighting.
Now that tens of thousands of people have been removed from the population register, it has relieved some of the burden on Xuzhou.
Therefore, arguing at this moment is pointless and will only make it more difficult for Lü Bu to step down and worsen Lü Bu's situation.
Wei Xu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then seized the opportunity to say:
"Lord Wen, that's not all! Later, when our army retreated to the vicinity of Xiaoguan, we could have quickly won a decisive battle and broken through the blockade. However, General Sun insisted on holding the position and waiting for reinforcements, and dissuaded us from attacking. This caused us to miss the opportunity and be trapped in the city in distress. In the end... we had no choice but to abandon the pass and flee, suffering heavy losses..."
His words were vague, subtly shifting the blame for abandoning the pass to the suggestion of "holding out and waiting for reinforcements."
Even if Lü Bu wasn't a master of impartiality, after being in a position of power for so many years, how could he not hear the tactlessness and scapegoating in Wei Xu's words?
His gaze shifted between Wei Xu and Sun Ce.
Although Wei Xu was incompetent, he was his brother-in-law and someone he had in his pocket. As the commander-in-chief, he was just a pawn to monitor Sun Ce.
Sun Ce was talented, but he was not a direct descendant of Sun Ce, and his intentions were difficult to fathom.
Now that we've suffered such a crushing defeat, someone has to take responsibility.
Song Xian had already "surrendered to the enemy," making him a ready-made scapegoat.
Sun Ce...
"Hmph!" Lü Bu snorted coldly, his voice shaking the roof tiles. "Song Xian betrayed his lord and defected to the enemy, a crime deserving of death! Issue the order to arrest his family and imprison them to await trial! As for you two..."
He stared at Wei Xu and Sun Ce.
Wei Xu lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to get up.
Sun Ce remained kneeling upright.
"As the commander-in-chief, Wei Xu failed to manage his subordinates properly and mismanaged the army, leading to a crushing defeat and heavy losses. His guilt is undeniable! However, considering his years of service and his remorse, his military command is temporarily revoked, and he is to be confined to his residence for reflection. His salary is also suspended for one year, pending further observation."
"Sun Ce," Lü Bu turned his gaze to him, "As the deputy commander and advisor on military strategy, you failed to exert yourself to rectify the situation, and thus you have neglected your duties. Considering your hard work in battle, I hereby strip you of your vanguard seal, but you will still lead your own troops, and your salary will be suspended for six months. I hope you will atone for your mistakes by rendering meritorious service, and not be negligent again!"
"This humble general thanks Marquis Wen for his magnanimity!" the two replied simultaneously.
Wei Xu breathed a genuine sigh of relief. Although he had been stripped of his military power, his life was spared, and his position remained entirely in his brother-in-law's hands. Sun Ce felt a chill in his heart, but his face remained expressionless; he simply clasped his hands in a fist salute once more.
"This subordinate accepts the punishment."
"Get out of here!" Lu Bu waved his hand impatiently.
The two left the lobby.
Reaching a secluded spot, Wei Xu wiped the cold sweat from his brow, glanced at the expressionless Sun Ce beside him, and seemed about to say something, but ultimately just gave a dry laugh and quickly left.
Sun Ce stood there, watching Wei Xu's back, then looked back at the imposing Wenhou Mansion, his gaze deep.
He remembered the humiliation he suffered today.
Inside the hall, Lü Bu rubbed his temples. Chen Gong stepped forward and whispered:
"Lord Wen, General Wei's words may contain inaccuracies. Sun Bofu, he..."
Lu Bu raised his hand to stop him:
"Gongtai, do I not know? However, we have just suffered a major defeat, and morale is wavering. Song Xian has already betrayed us, and if we punish Wei Xu severely, it may discourage the loyal troops of Xuzhou. Sun Ce... is not one of my direct subordinates, but he has great ambitions. It would be good to give him a warning. Right now, Yuan Tan, emboldened by our great victory, may attack us soon. Xiapi still needs to be defended."
Chen Gong remained silent and said no more.
He knew that his lord had his own calculations.
This calculation involves not only merits and demerits, but also the hearts and minds of people and the balance of power.