jdhmnovel Chapter 191 Chen Jun invades!
Chapter 191 Chen Jun invades!
In the afternoon, everyone gathered in the meeting room again. Tang Ling placed all their belongings from Xu Zheng's room on the table and briefly explained the situation, except for the few letters from Xu Zheng that Tang Ling had "secretly kept."
Those letters were secret correspondence between Xu Zheng, Prince Duan of Qi, and the Office of the Divine Officials. While they were of little use in the conquest of Bashan, they were highly effective in disrupting the Qi court. However, with both the Xingluo Guard and the Xuanji Camp in the meeting hall, both sides could exploit these letters, though their methods and objectives might not be the same. Tang Ling and Qi Xiao had the same idea: to keep it secret for the time being and make long-term plans.
On the other side, Bai Xiqiao and Lu Xiulin also found some useful things in Chen He's study.
There was nothing particularly important in Chen He's study. He did have the defense map of Xingtian Pass, but they no longer needed it. Chen He was not qualified to have the defense map of Bashan. However, there were some letters about military deployment in the study, some between Chen He and Han Chaosheng, and some between Chen He and several other northern generals.
One of the letters was particularly important, from Han Chaosheng to Chen He. The first page was filled with New Year's greetings. The two of them had been with Xu Zheng for nearly twenty years, like close brothers, and even during the Lunar New Year, they couldn't help but exchange greetings. Lu Xiulin glanced at it and put it down. It was only when Bai Xiqiao skimmed through the rest of the page that he realized they'd discussed other matters.
Han Chaosheng and Chen He discussed drafting a joint memorial to Shuoliang and submitting it to the Qi Emperor, hoping to exploit the opportunity presented by the Emperor in Shuoliang to secure more military pay for the northern border. Han Chaosheng desperately needed the money. Bashan, while seemingly impregnable, was in fact water-scarce. Hundreds of years ago, when the Bashan Pass was first constructed, there was an underground river beneath the mountain, and a few wells could have been dug. However, over the centuries, most of those wells had dried up. Therefore, after the founding of Qi, the sealed secret passage leading to the Bashan Pass was opened, diverting water from the stream into Bashan, providing drinking water for tens of thousands of people within the pass.
However, with the drought and lack of rain in recent years, the stream no longer flows abundantly, and even freezes over in winter. This winter, Bashan has been particularly hard hit, with a severe water shortage. Only two wells within the borders can still produce any water. In the spring, Han Chaosheng had to dispatch people to search for the underground riverbed, dig wells, and build canals—all extremely time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive tasks.
Bashan is short of water, and the creek is frozen. These are two pieces of good news.
When they learned that the creek could allow them to sneak into Bashan, everyone was excited because it was their best chance. But that didn't mean the road wasn't dangerous.
It was just after the Lunar New Year, and while Qi's northern border wasn't as freezing as Fenglin Mountain, it was still quite cold. They had no idea how deep the stream was when they waded into Bashan, and drowning or freezing to death was a real possibility. Furthermore, the stream was guarded by soldiers, and getting wet would definitely leave marks, significantly slowing their movements. In the freezing winter, wet clothes would stick to the body, and even top-tier martial arts masters like Qi Xiao and Chi Yue would be unable to withstand it.
If the streams and canals are frozen, it means that God is helping them.
***
The fourth day of the first lunar month is Jingzhe.
Han Chaosheng felt anxious and his eyelids were twitching the whole day, and he couldn't sleep well at night.
Han Chaosheng sat up from the bed and rubbed his forehead.
"master?"
"It's okay, just keep sleeping."
"Can my master make me some soothing tea?"
"No, I'm going out for a walk."
Han Chaosheng put on his clothes, wrapped himself in a cloak, and walked out of the room.
The servant serving in the courtyard couldn't stand the cold at night, so he quietly hid in the ear room and warmed up a pot of rice wine. At this moment, he was half drunk and didn't even know that the master had left the courtyard.
Han Chaosheng strolled around his backyard and looked up at the dark and gloomy sky, feeling even more uneasy.
Han Chaosheng strode out of the backyard, took two followers with him, led a horse and headed towards the city gate.
"The general is here."
"General!"
Han Chaosheng looked north from the city gate. He could not see anything in the dark night, and there seemed to be something hidden in the darkness, like Han Chaosheng's nightmare, covering his eyes and his heart.
"Is there anything unusual about today's shift change?"
"General, there is nothing unusual."
"...Has there been any news from Xingtian Pass?"
"No letter has come yet."
Han Chaosheng was secretly surprised. The letter he sent to Chen He was sent to Xingtian Pass before the New Year, and a copy would be made on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month for the opening of court. His original intention was to send the memorial to Shuoliang before the fifteenth day to ask for money from the emperor. Why hasn't Chen He sent back a letter yet?
"Urgent! Urgent! Urgent! Open the city gates! Urgent! Open the city gates!"
There were shouts of despair in the darkness, but from the top of the city gate, only a little fire could be seen below the tower.
"what happened?"
"I don't know..."
"Go and see."
Han Chaosheng's foreboding grew stronger, and he quickly led his men down the city wall. He waited until the entire team had drawn their swords before opening the gate. He saw the flames approaching, and a moment later, two men holding torches finally emerged from the darkness, running toward the city gate.
"Urgent military intelligence! Quick! We want to see General Han! Urgent military intelligence!"
"Who is coming?!"
"The Chen State has invaded! Xingtian Pass has been breached! Quickly bring us to General Han!"
Han Chaosheng was shocked when he heard this: "Capture these two! Close the city gates immediately!"
"Quick! Take it down!"
"General Han! General Han!"
Han Chaosheng felt that the two people who came from Xingtian Pass looked familiar, but Han Chaosheng still tied them up before taking them into the hall. He also ordered the entire city to be under martial law and lock the city gates tightly. He then sent a team of people to Xingtian Pass overnight to investigate.
"what happened?!"
"General Han! The Chen army blew up the artillery depot, breached Xingtian Pass, killed General Chen and all the officers with rank, burned the granary and armory inside Xingtian Pass, and killed all the horses before leaving. Now they have reached Bashan!"
"What? What did you say?! Say it again?!"
"The Chen army is invading! They've reached Bashan! General Han!"
"Impossible!" Han Chaosheng suppressed his shock. "There was nothing unusual about the change of guard duty today, and everything is normal inside Bashan Pass! It's only spring now, and the snow on Fenglin Mountain hasn't melted yet. How could the Chen army have breached Jialin Pass and Xingtian Pass without a single sound and entered Bashan?!"
"General Han! I dare not lie to you, General. I will never lie to you!"
"Impossible!" Han Chaosheng raised his hand and slapped the man. "Who ordered you to come to Bashan late at night and deliver such a ridiculous military report?!"
Another man couldn't help but yell, "General Han! As soon as the Chen army left Xingtian Pass, we tried every possible way to break out. We ran all the way to Bashan without stopping for a moment! The two sentry posts between Xingtian Pass and Bashan have been destroyed. General, just send someone to take a look and you'll see!"
It would take three full days and three nights to walk from Xingtian Pass to Bashan. Even running would take at least two and a half days. If these two men were indeed the ones who reported the news from Xingtian Pass, and the Chen army had come to Bashan on horseback, they would have reached Bashan by now. However, today, the gates to the north and south of Bashan were intact, and no one had been seen heading towards Bashan, day or night.
If Chen Jun really sneaked into Bashan, there is only one way to go!
"Somebody come!"
"General."
"Take a team to patrol the creeks and canals."
"Yes, General!"
Han Chaosheng turned around and asked the two soldiers who had escaped from Xingtian Pass, "How many people are there in Chen's army?"
"That... I don't know. That night, they blew up the artillery depot and set fires everywhere in Xingtian Pass. We scattered and busied ourselves putting out the fires. Before we knew it, they had already hung General Chen's head on the city wall. The other generals were also killed. We were all imprisoned in dungeons, granaries, and other places. There's no way of knowing how many of them there were."
Han Chao was furious and raised his hand to slap them again, but he heard another man say urgently, "Less than 10,000! Less than 10,000! There aren't many horses inside Xingtian Pass, barely less than 10,000. Those Chen people stole the horses and slaughtered the rest... killed... killed a lot, so they definitely don't have 10,000!"
Less than 10,000 people dare to attack Bashan?!