My Father in Law is Lu Bu

Chapter 750

Yue Peng led his suicide squad out to attack but only less than a thousand men came back. Zhangyi City soon fell due to low morale. They could only be bombarded on the city walls with no way to attack at all. To avoid complete annihilation, Mo Ran had to retreat from Zhangyi County.

Ling Cao was about to pursue Mo Ran but he was stopped by Yang Chen.

“General Ling Cao. Do you just want the merits of defeating Mo Ran’s army or do you want more merits?” Yang Chen asked Ling Cao.

“Of course we want more merits!” Ling Cao’s deputy general replied for him. Who would not want more merits?

“In that case, let Mo Ran leave.” Yang Chen said with a smile. If they wiped out Mo Ran’s army, then the whole of Liaodong would simply close their gates. When that happens, Ling Cao would have to attack every city along the way. As Yangzhou only brought a few thousand troops, he did not want to scare the enemy away.

As expected, word of Mo Ran’s defeat spread and Gongsun Kang became even more furious. Zhou Hai who commanded another elite unit of the Gongsun Army also headed towards Liaodong Port at this moment, ignoring Mo Ran’s kind advice and even mocked Mo Ran.

Mo Ran simply waved his hand. Since Zhou Hai refused to listen, he would be the one to pay the price.

“Report! The scouts have discovered a large number of cavalry approaching Zhangyi City!”

“A large number of cavalry?” Ling Cao smiled. He was in high spirits since he had cannons. “They actually dared to come. In that case, I will show him why flowers are red!”

Ling Cao was about to give the order for the cannons to attack Liaodong’s cavalry when Yang Chen stopped him and asked if the enemy was approaching cautiously.

The scout replied that the enemy was approaching without regards of anything.

Yang Chen laughed. This Liaodong commander was being too reckless. He was either unaware of the cannons or too proud to care. Otherwise, he would be advancing cautiously. Regardless, this was good news for the Yangzhou Army. The Liaodong Cavalry were being arrogant. If Ling Cao attacked them randomly, they would be caught off guard and suffer but would just run back home after. It was best to maximize benefits.

“Yangzhou troops on the city walls! Listen up! You have been surrounded by my Liaodong Army! If you are smart, you will leave the city and surrender! If you do, our General Zhou Hai will spare your life! Otherwise, you will be killed and be without a place of burial!” Liaodong’s troops shouted after a group of cavalry circled around to the road between Zhangyi City and Liaodong Port, cutting off retreat.

“Zhou Hai?” Yang Chen thought of the name.

“This Zhou Hai is originally called Tuoba Hai. He is not a Han but a Xianbei nomad. After his tribe was defeated by Gongsun Du, he surrendered to Gongsun Du and helped Gongsun Du train cavalry. He is a very arrogant person!” Dongfang Ming, now loyal to Yangzhou, explained.

“So he is at odds with the other Liaodong generals?” Yang Chen quickly grasped the important point.

Dongfang Ming nodded. Tuoba Hai was arrogant and looked down on everyone but he listened to Gongsun Du so he was trusted. Furthermore, he was unrivalled as a cavalry commander in Liaodong since he was a Xianbei nomad.

Yang Chen knew that Gongsun Du had bought thousands of weapons and armor from Yangzhou. Some of them were given to Cao Cao while the rest were probably in Mo Ran’s hands. A proud person like Tuoba Hai would not be unaware of the existence of these equipments. A proud person like Tuoba Hai would also definitely fight for possession of it. Yet, the equipment end up with Mo Ran.

Yang Chen did not believe that Tuoba Hai would be willing to accept this quietly. It is no wonder that Tuoba Hai rushed all the way here. Even if Mo Ran warned Tuoba Hai, that warning would be ignored.

“Haha! Heaven is helping me!” Yang Chen laughed. “General Ling Cao! You are allowed to fight but you are not allowed to win!”

“I will ob… huh?” Ling Cao who was about to send his troops to battle suddenly froze. Other people usually tell their troops that they were only allowed to win. Losers get beheaded. So why is Yang Chen doing the opposite?

“General Ling Cao. Do you not understand? You must be defeated!” Yang Chen repeated.

Ling Cao nodded and accepted the order despite the fact that he still did not understand anything. He then led his three thousand men out to fight against the Liaodong Army.

The Liaodong Army were all heavily armored and had fine horses. If Ling Cao fought head on without the help of the cannons, he would be victorious but also suffer heavy casualties. Yet now Ling Cao was being told to lose. He felt a sense of humiliation since Tuoba Hai was so arrogant despite being nothing special.

Ling Cao had many chances to take down Tuoba Hai during battle and was very tempted to do so. But he was always stopped by Yang Chen. Tuoba Hai himself was easy to deal with but once he is captured, the rest of Liaodong’s cavalry will scatter and Yangzhou didn’t have any horses to pursue them with. That was why Yang Chen preferred to capture Tuoba Hai rather than Mo Ran.

“Haha! Yangzhou’s troops are nothing special! That Ling Cao is a complete loser! They’ve been defeated again and again! Mo Ran, you really got defeated by such a loser? I want to see how you intend to explain yourself to Gongsun Du!” Tuoba Hai still had a grudge against Mo Ran for taking Yangzhou’s equipment. He had no idea that Gongsun Du intentionally sidelined him for not being a Han.

“Congratulations General! But don’t you think our victory came too easily?” Tuoba Hai’s deputy general suddenly said.

“What do you mean?”

“General. We defeated Ling Cao every time but there were no banners, armor or corpses left at the scene. They retreated too quickly!”

“Hm…” Tuoba Hai thought for a while and found that this is truly the case. He did attempt to pursue but the troops on the city walls would shoot arrows back. Tuoba Hai would not have suspected anything if it only happened once or twice but this already happened many times.

“Are you saying that they are pretending to lose?”

“That is for the General to decide.” The deputy general was unsure.

“Alright. Let us fight again tomorrow to test them.”

At the same time, Yang Chen spoke to Ling Cao again in Zhangyi City. “General Ling Cao. For the next battle, you will not only lose but also leave behind a few corpses.”

“Your Excellency! You want me to mess with my troops?” Ling Cao was furious. Losing deliberately aside, one cannot sacrifice the lives of their own men. Otherwise, no one would follow them in the future.

“General Ling Cao. Do not worry. I am not asking you to let them die. I just want you to do a little extra work.” Yang Chen smiled back. When capturing Zhangyi City, there were a lot of corpses left behind by Mo Ran’s army. Yang Chen planned to have these corpses wear Yangzhou’s equipment and then be left behind as corpses for the next battle.

“Understood.” Ling Cao replied gloomily. Although the corpses weren’t his men, he still felt uncomfortable for so many defeats.

“General Ling Cao. Do you have any complaints?” Yang Chen asked.

“This Ling Cao would not dare!” Ling Cao shook his head but everyone could see his resentment.

“Don’t worry. Victory will soon be yours. You only need to lose one more time then you can strike back. You can claim your profit and defeat Tuoba Hai.”

“Your Excellency. Are you telling the truth?”

“Of course.”