Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 258: Chapter 249: Escape by Shedding a Golden Cicada Skin

Camp of the Standard Regiment.

”Report, your Grace the Marquis, Hu Cavalry has left the North gate of Fushan City, and all three Hu Clan camps to the west side of Fushan City have Hu Cavalry heading north!”

The Scout came into the main tent to report.

The East Sea Hu Clan’s forces in Fushan City were not all located within the city walls. The troops inside the city were mainly composed of the Gorcin Clan, while the remaining three clans each established a camp to the west of the city.

Hearing the report, Liang Chu, who was reading a battle report from Chongshan Pass, suddenly lifted his head and asked, ”How many Hu Cavalry have left in total?”

”It should be between twenty to thirty thousand!” replied the Scout.

Liang Chu stood up and waved his hand to indicate that the Scout could leave.

As the Scout withdrew, he began to pace back and forth in the tent.

The Hu Clan dispatching a large number of Cavalry clearly indicated that a change had occurred in the North, and that change naturally involved Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan.

It was a pity that he was currently unable to get in touch with Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan, and had no clear understanding of the situation.

However, this did not prevent him from making some conjectures.

The Hu Clan had mobilized so many Cavalry, which meant that the achievements of Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan in the North must have been significant.

So did he now have an opportunity to counterattack?

Liang Chu weighed the military strength of both sides.

His forces consisted of thirty thousand soldiers from the Standard Regiment and five thousand from the Yunlong Dragon Guard, while the enemy, even if they had dispatched thirty thousand Cavalry, still possessed more than fifty thousand troops.

He was still outmatched in terms of military strength!

”Damn it!”

Thinking that he still couldn’t engage in battle, Liang Chu couldn’t help but curse out loud.

Although he had blocked Fushan City, making it difficult for them, he was also feeling constrained.

Having to hunker down in camp, not daring to go out to battle, was undoubtedly humiliating.

However, he had already endured this humiliation for a month, and by now, he and his soldiers had had enough.

What made it worse was that now Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan had created such a great opportunity for him, and he still couldn’t seize it, making him even more upset.

”Someone come, someone come!”

After swearing, Liang Chu shouted outside the tent.

Immediately, two trusted aides walked in, ”Your Grace!”

”Send orders to Liu Nanbo, Zhao Tianhai, and Zhou Yuchun, commanding them to lead their troops here to join forces within five days. If they are late, military law will be enforced!” Liang Chu said with a stern face.

Liu Nanbo, Assistant General of the Guangning Guard, North Chongshan Town.

Zhao Tianhai, Assistant General of the Dingliao Guard, South Chongshan Town.

Zhou Yuchun, Assistant General of the Jinzhou Guard, Central Chongshan Town.

Among the Six Assistant Generals, besides Zhou Lan and Wang Bin, there was also Ji Feiyu, the Vice General of Chongshan Town in charge of the West Road Yi State Guard.

However, Ji Feiyu had only recently found the banner land of the Wula Clan, which was the last of the seven major clans of the East Sea Hu Clan. The Wula Clan, unlike the other six large clans, was closer to the Wuliang Hu Clan; thus, their banner land had always been located near the territory of the Wuliang Hu Clan.

Since Ji Feiyu had found the banner land of the Wuliang Hu Clan, he naturally could not come to join forces with Liang Chu.

Messages from the other three Rescue Camps had arrived in the past few days, saying they had already started moving towards Fushan City, which was why Liang Chu asked them to hurry up and arrive within five days.

The two trusted aides acknowledged and immediately executed the order.

Liang Chu returned to his desk to sit down, furrowing his brows deep in thought, concerned about Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan.

...

Two days later, Yang Zhenshan also received news that a large army from Fushan City was pursuing them.

Liang Chu was unable to contact them, but they could position Scouts along the inevitable path Fushan City would have to take, who would notify them ahead of time if they saw any Hu Clan forces coming.

And today, they had just attacked a small settlement belonging to the Gorcin Clan.

This small settlement, with less than five thousand inhabitants, was situated on the outskirts of the Haciwen Mountain Range, subsisting on hunting and animal husbandry.

The Haciwen Mountain Range is a chain stretching thousands of miles in the lands of the plains, extending northwest from the coast of the East Sea deep into the plains, but Yang Zhenshan did not know how far exactly; Da Rong’s exploration of the North only reached the outer edges of the plains.

At this moment, the soldiers were resting, and five Scouts dashed from the South.

”General, a large army from Fushan City has already crossed the Yangyun River!”

They came before Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan to report.

”How many?” asked Zhou Lan.

”The exact number is unknown, but definitely more than twenty thousand!” replied the Scout.

Zhou Lan, Wang Bin, and Yang Zhenshan glanced at each other; more than twenty thousand was certainly not a force they could confront directly.

”You all go down and rest first!”

Zhou Lan instructed the Scouts to withdraw, then the three of them gathered together to discuss.

”What should we do next?” Wang Bin looked towards Yang Zhenshan.

They had, without realizing, come to regard Yang Zhenshan as the main pillar of their group.

Well, saying ”main pillar” isn’t quite accurate; describing him as a military strategist would be more fitting.

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard, lost in thought. He first looked up at the sky, then took out a map to study carefully.

”Hiding is definitely not an option!”

They had five thousand troops; hiding their trail and finding a place to conceal themselves was simply impossible.

The numerous hoof prints could not be covered up; the enemy would only need to follow their tracks to find them.

”To evade, yes, we can’t keep evading forever!” Yang Zhenshan thought of a plan.

Perhaps it’s because he wrote ”The Thirty-Six Stratagems,” many of his thoughts would involuntarily lean towards it.

He looked up at Wang Bin, ”General, I have a plan, but it might require you to take a risk!”

”What plan? Just tell me! As for taking risks, heh, do I seem like the kind of person who’s afraid of death?” Wang Bin laughed.

Yang Zhenshan paused, ”Slough-Off the Cicada’s Golden Shell!”

”What does that mean?”

”You will draw their attention and flee northwest, while General Zhou and I head to Fushan City to coordinate with the Marquis to take down Fushan City!” Yang Zhenshan explained.

Right now, under Wang Bin’s command, there were only a thousand or so cavalrymen. Asking him to lead those soldiers to attract the attention of over twenty thousand Northern barbarian cavalry was undoubtedly a very risky plan.

”How long do I need to hold them off?”

Wang Bin did not consider the plan too risky, as the outcome would be the same whether he led his troops on a wild chase or they all fled together, if they were caught.

However, this did entail a sort of self-sacrifice.

He was not resentful of this, as he believed that Yang Zhenshan and Zhou Lan were not trying to abandon them.

”There’s no need to hold them off, just fleeing will do!”

Yang Zhenshan pointed at the map and continued, ”Escape from here, then head south along the way we came, making a round to meet up with us at Fushan City!”

Simply put, what was required of Wang Bin was to lead the pursuers on a long detour.

Making such a big loop would take at least six or seven days.

”While we will head eastwards, go down the coast all the way south until we reach to the east of Fushan City.”

Yang Zhenshan kept explaining his plan, ”Next, we’ll need the Marquis to coordinate with us for a diversionary tactic, a feint to the east but attacking the west, to lure the snake out of its hole.”

”The Art of War by Sun Tzu” states ’Engage with the orthodox, succeed with the unorthodox.’

Yang Zhenshan’s understanding of this was that the orthodox means direct, open battle, while the unorthodox means surprising and attacking the unprepared.

Whether orthodox or unorthodox, Yang Zhenshan paid more attention to the word ’rhythm.’

What is rhythm?

It means making the enemy act according to one’s own plan, letting the enemy follow your moves, rather than you reacting to theirs.

And now, Fushan City was gradually falling into their rhythm, with troops sent out to chase after them, effectively weakening the enemy forces by a quarter for Liang Chu.

Next, Yang Zhenshan would continue to set the rhythm, ensuring that Fushan City would fall under his command.

Of course, his plan required the recognition and cooperation of Liang Chu, who after all, was the main force.

After the three agreed, they immediately organized the soldiers to start moving.

If Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan needed to slough off the cicada’s golden shell, then they had to conceal any traces they left behind. With too many hoofprints, someone would need to cover them up afterwards.

To make covering their tracks easier, they chose a wide river. After Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan crossed, Wang Bin and his thousand or so soldiers deliberately lingered for a while before galloping northwest along the riverbank.

As Yang Zhenshan had predicted, when the Northern barbarian cavalry caught up, they only checked the traces on the riverbank and chased after the hoofprints left by Wang Bin’s force, not bothering to check across the river.

Wang Bin was truly fleeing for his life, leading his soldiers at top speed northwest.

Meanwhile, Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan were also racing towards Fushan City along the coastline at their fastest speed.

They chose to follow the coastline because it was all saline-alkali land where no grass grew, and naturally, the Hu Clan would not establish settlements on such land.

By following the coastline, they could avoid being discovered by the Hu Clan.

However, the day before they were about to reach Fushan City, Yang Zhenshan led his Personal Followers away from the main force to arrive at Liang Chu’s camp first.

At this time in the camp, Liu Nanbo and Zhao Tianhai were paying their respects to Liang Chu.

They had just arrived today to join Liang Chu, with their ten thousand or so soldiers already setting up camp to the south of the Camp.

While paying respects, it was actually to receive a scolding from Liang Chu.

Liang Chu was normally even-tempered and rarely angry, but this time he was genuinely frustrated.

In the past few days, he had felt as if each day was a year long, almost wishing he could drag those underachievers over here and give them a good beating.

”You have had it easy, having campaigned for so long but only managing to wipe out a few medium and small-sized tribes!”

”How should I even address you?”

”I think you all should stop being Assistant Generals and go guard some city gates instead!”

”Look at your war achievements, they’re not even comparable to a garrison!”

”The garrison under the command of the An Yuan City only had over a thousand soldiers, yet they have continuously conquered more than a dozen Hu Zei tribes. What about you?”

”Can’t you show some backbone? It’s fine if you can’t measure up to Zhou Lan, but you can at least compete with Wang Bin, can’t you?”

Liang Chu, pointing at their noses, ridiculed the two, leaving them flushed and inwardly grumbling.

’We’re not worse than Wang Bin, he’s just lucky to have a killing god like Yang Zhenshan under his command! If Yang Zhenshan were under our command, we’d definitely be stronger than Wang Bin!’

They dared not compare themselves to Zhou Lan, but they were willing to compete with Wang Bin.

In terms of troop strength, they were not fewer than Wang Bin, and in combat power, they were not worse than Wang Bin.

The only thing they lacked compared to Wang Bin was a Yang Zhenshan.

As for not matching up to Yang Zhenshan, well, they had to admit it whether they wanted to or not.

The results were there for all to see. What could they say?

Just then, someone outside the tent reported, ”Reporting to the Marquis, the garrison commander of An Yuan City, Yang Zhenshan, requests an audience outside the camp gate!”

Liang Chu was first taken aback, then said in surprise, ”Why has he come here?”

Zhao Tianhai and Liu Nanbo looked at each other; the legendary killing god had arrived!

They had never seen Yang Zhenshan, but during this period, Yang Zhenshan’s name had been heard so much that it almost made their ears form calluses.

Despite being on campaign, they maintained regular communication with Chongshan Pass, sending battle reports, transporting supplies and war spoils, and always brought back some news from Chongshan Town.

They had heard plenty of rumors about Yang Zhenshan, just that the news was a little delayed compared to others.