Li Dian POV

Un… It’s not like I am an unreasonable person. Since she is already on his horse, it would be unseemly for me to rip into her. We are approaching Xinye city anyway so it’s not too nice to have a disagreement now.

When we return to Fan city, I must send a letter to Lord Yuan Shao and implore her to deal with this.

Looking ahead, though Xinye city was not yet in sight, the dirt road was already beginning to widen. Xinye city is a city that serves as a connecting hub between the north and the south. If the road shows signs of widening, then it means that Xinye city is close.

“Alright, let me ask you both this.” Since there was nothing to do at the moment, I decided to ask them a question that was not too important but concerning nonetheless to ease the tension, “Who else is joining us in the southern expedition?”

“By that, you mean– Our people?” Lu Kuang asked softly.

“Ah, yes. That is what I mean.”

I was not able to express myself clearly enough that what I was asking was who amongst Yuan Shao’s retainers would be coming as it would not be too nice to ask questions that might seem divisive.

“Un… Lord Yan Liang, Lord Gao Lan…. And there’s also Han Qiong and Jiang Yiqu… Practically all warrior generals on our side will be joining the expedition.”

“Oh, oh.” I nodded. I know the first 2 names and I have personally crossed swords with Gao Lan before. I have to say that he is extremely skilled. As for the other 2, I am only slightly familiar with their names.

“As for the rest, I’m not sure if Lord Tian Feng and the rest have the spare capacity to come down as they seem to have a lot on their hands in Hebei.” Lu Xiang continued and said carefreely, “Xin Pi and Xin Ping might be able to make it though.”

“And Xun Chen as well.” Lu Kuang added.

“Xun Chen huh…”

Everyone else’s names were rather new but this one in particular was rather familiar to me as he is Xun Yu’s elder brother after all. I do not know what happened between them but it seems like they do not get along very well. They both work in Xuchang but I have never seen them meet.

That said, even for retainers like myself who have been with my lord for many years now, when we return to Xuchang, we hardly ever see Xun Yu. My lord always claims that Xun Yu sees us however.

Un? I s.h.i.+fted my gaze from the 2 and looked at our surroundings.

I found that there were many hills along the way to Xinye that were covered by dense forests. Leaving aside what my lord or what normal strategists would do, even I would exploit this terrain and set an ambush here. In particular, there were 2 small hills we just pa.s.sed which were perfect for hiding a significant number of troops.

But it has been perfectly calm the entire time. There was no ambush or any resistance whatsoever. I would have expected to be ambushed several times by now.

From how things look, the battle might actually take place right outside Xinye city. Un… For some reason, I cannot stay calm. Even if Liu Bei is no longer around, will they really not put up any resistance at all?

“Lord Li Dian, may I ask if there is anything wrong?”

“Un?” Seeing that Lu Kuang had detected my anxiety, I decided to share my thoughts with them, “Nothing much, I was just thinking that it was strange that we did not encounter any resistance along the way here.”

“Haha! They’re probably scared of us!”

“Is that really the case?” I immediately a

sked, “The strength of our punitive force is less than theirs as this is merely a probing attack. Therefore, they have a numerical advantage yet they are not attacking us at all.”

“That means that the leaderless horde is just waiting to surrender to us in the city.” Lu Xiang immediately answered confidently as she pointed her hands to the heavens. She is far too naive. She should be deducted marks for this baseless confidence.

Warriors ought to be more prudent and vigilant during these times, where or not they have an advantage. I do not know about the others, but I do know that there are certain individuals in Liu Bei’s faction who will definitely not surrender. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei’s sworn sisters, come to mind. The Xu state officials are also good examples.

“I think that little sister has not given enough thought to this.” Lu Kuang looked at his sister and then at me before giving his a.n.a.lysis, “But this situation is understandable. There could be a wide rift between 2 sides, one that wants to fight and one that wants to surrender, which would result in a delay in responding to our attack.”

Lu Kuang’s explanation was a lot more plausible than Lu Xiang’s. But in the end, this was merely a possibility and we still need to be careful as we chose to attack far too early.

What Lu Kuang said is actually probable, that the group of leaderless dragons would eventually splinter into at least 2 factions, making them easy targets. But the issue here is that it has only been 20 odd days since Liu Bei has gone missing. Even if there is a rift amongst them, it should not be so significant. In fact, launching an offensive at this time so soon might actually help to unite them.

I really do not understand my lord. We did not bother invading back when they were mired in Jiangxia and chose to wait instead. At this point, we could have chosen to wait further anyway for Liu Bei’s forces to splinter and for their ties with Liu Biao and Jing state to worsen before beginning our expedition.

Hai… Perhaps our lord was far too impatient and desired more talented retainers. All of Liu Bei’s retainers are heroic and wise and one of our primary objectives are to capture some of them after all.

But there is also the possibility that– No, my lord ought to be a highly rational person… In the end, it’s just impatience huh?

“Looks like Xinye city is up ahead.” Lu Xiang said excitedly as she looked into the distance.

I looked ahead and saw a small city peek out from the dirt road in a naked wasteland. The walls were not high and the city seemed to be merely slightly larger than a county city.

There were also clear signs that there were troops camped out here recently as the wild gra.s.s near the vicinity of the city was cleared but not out here. Yet there is no encampment in sight, which means they are probably on the opposite side of the city. Why? There is no reason to hide.

“They’re here.” Lu Kuang said as he tightened his grip on his spear. Before he could finish, heavy footsteps, the clinking of armour, and the pounding of horse hooves could be heard.

When I looked over, I saw the gates of Xinye city opening up slowly and troops pouring out. But because of the dust cloud, I could not get a good glimpse of how many there were. What surprised me however, was that the stream of people and horses lasted less than a minute before the gates shut tight.

Ah… I really did not expect to reach the city so easily. And based on the time that elapsed, there cannot have been too many troops. Could they have disbanded a majority of their troops? Or do they think that this much is enough? Or…

Eh! This is all because we did not perform reconnaissance on them beforehand. If they really still have 30,000 strong, then we must not attack the city. But if they have disbanded a majority of their troops, then we could have just attacked them head on with full force.

This is a strategic mistake of mine. I can only give myself 70 points for my preparation work. This is a bit of self-praise but I think my march was pretty well done.

“3,000-man generals! Relay the order to have the troops leave their marching equipment here. Make preparations to set up camp but do not do so.” I said to the 3 3,000-man generals behind the Lu siblings, “Then have them equip their heavy plat armour. Tell the combat engineers to also ready the siege weapons.”

“Yes!” They heard the order, acceded and quickly turned to relay it to the troops.

“Have we decided to attack the city now?”

“I’m just making the preparations for doing so.” I answered as I stared ahead and estimated the enemy’s numbers.

“Lu Xiang, how is your eyesight?”

“Very good!”

“Estimate the enemy’s numbers for me.”

Though the dust has largely settled, there is still a thin layer of dust in the air that is obscuring my vision and making it difficult for me to make out their numbers.

“Un… Looks like… Probably 5-6,000 or so.” Lu Xiang quickly gave an estimation.

*Tatatata*

“Report for Lord Li Dian! All personnel are ready to advance.”

Good, I thought as I pulled down my hat and raised my reins–

“Advance.” I softly said as I began riding towards Xinye city.

The thunderous sounds of armour, horse hooves and men filled my ears. Just 10,000 strong is like this huh? I have never actually led such a large contingent personally before as a commanding officer so I am feeling a lot of pressure on my back.

However, it’s fine even if we do not win. We just need to do our best. I do not know for sure what the enemy numbers are like yet but just this many coming out to respond to our incursion implies that there are some issues in their faction. I do not know what it is yet but for now, the aim is to lower their morale.

“Lord Li Dian! Let me take them on a 1-on-1 duel later!”