Chapter 537
Chapter 537
The Yangzhou Army’s vanguard quickly arrived at Yuzhou’s territory. Several hundred thousand provisions were taken out by Liu Mang for the sake of this victory.
“Milord is too fast!” Zhang Liao was the Yangzhou Army’s vanguard but no matter how quickly he charged forward, he was unable to catch up with Lu Bu who was already ahead. After the Yuzhou Navy was defeated by Gan Ning at Anfeng some time ago, Guan Yu had established another three thousand soldiers to put up a front. However, these soldiers became Lu Bu’s appetizer.
Zhang Hu looked at the burning Anfeng, noticing how merciless Lu Bu was. All three thousand soldiers stationed in Anfeng were wiped out and Anfeng itself was burned down.
“Milord must have serious grievances.” Zhang Liao laughed bitterly. Anfeng being burned down was not an issue. When two forces clashed, it was not impossible for an army to be completely wiped out. However, this was just the first battle and Anfeng was already devoid of people by this point. This showed how much resentment Lu Bu had. He needed to take revenge for being toyed by Liu Bei.
All this time, Lu Bu had restrained himself as he listened to Liu Mang and Chen Gong’s advice. If it was not for them, he would have already charged to Yuzhou a long time ago. This was the perfect chance to vent his resentments.
Lu Bu destroying Anfeng was intimidating towards the enemy but it also caused them to start struggling desperately since they did not want to share the same fate as those from Anfeng.
“Let’s go! To Yingshang!” Zhang Liao ordered. As Lu Bu had already left for Ruyin, Zhang Liao and the others needed to quicken their pace.
“Yes!” The five thousand Xiliang Cavalry responded as they rode towards Yingshang. Along the way, they came across a few counties that have surrendered. They also met a few scouts that were left behind by the Formation Breaker. Lu Bu did not dispatch troops to guard these county towns.
“Yingshang is just ahead!” The Xiliang Cavalry pressed on abandoning those county towns. This is because the infantries behind them would soon take over. There was no need for them.
When Zhang Liao arrived outside Yingshang, the camp had already been made.
“Old Gao?” Zhang Liao said as he looked at the flags through the telescope. The flags told him that the army ahead of him was the Formation Breaker. He felt happy the moment he saw this.
“General Gao Shun’s Formation Breaker?” Zhang Hu and Ge Jun inquired. They had heard of the Formation Breaker’s reputation. Eight hundred of them could hold back an army of five thousand. As the current Formation Breaker has five thousand men, their strength should be several times stronger.
“Let us go greet our allies!” Zhang Liao said happily. It has been a long time since he had met with Gao Shun.
Before Zhang Liao could see Gao Shun, a group of scouts had been dispatched from the Formation Breaker’s camp. They ordered the Xiliang Cavalry to stop approaching them.
“Isn’t this Gao Shun too arrogant? He only dispatched a few people and even wants to stop us?” Some of the Xiliang Cavalry soldiers asked angrily. If allied forces appeared, they should be greeted by a general. Why would they dispatch only a few scouts and even stop the allies from approaching?
Even Zhang Hu and Ge Jun felt indignant at this. However, Zhang Liao simply laughed. “This Gao Shun is still as unreasonable as usual!”
“I am General Zhang Liao Zhang Wenyuan!” Zhang Liao shouted towards the Formation Breaker’s scouts.
“Your words alone are not proof! Please show your proof!” The scout replied. Zhang Liao thought that he would be recognized by the Formation Breaker’s men. Unfortunately, these were new recruits. On top of that, Zhang Liao never shaved so he was hard to recognize from afar.
“Are you calling our general a fake?” Zhang Hu immediately shouted in anger. “Quickly tell General Gao to come out and greet our general! Otherwise you will have to answer for it if military matters get delayed!”
Zhang Liao had higher rank than Gao Shun and also a stronger army. If Lu Bu was not around, Zhang Liao was the one with the ability to allocate the troops.
“If you want to speak to our General Gao Shun, you must first show proof that you are General Zhang Liao!” The captain of the Formation Breaker scout said again.
“You!” Zhang Hu wanted to grab the scout. Even if Gao Shun finds out about this, he would not say anything.
“You want to break into the camp? You can try!” The captain of the scouts raised his hand. Soon someone took out a horn and blew it. The Formation Breaker from inside the camp started to move. They even took out bows.
“Xiliang Cavalry! Get ready!” Ge Jun shouted and the Xiliang Cavalry also prepared themselves for battle. The opposing side had even took out bows. This was plain provocation. It would be humiliating if they were to simply accept this. Zhang Hu waited for Zhang Liao’s order. Although they weren’t allowed to charge into the camp, they could still deal with these few soldiers.
“Zhang Hu! Withdraw!” Zhang Liao shouted.
“General?” Zhang Hu could not understand nor did he need to. Zhang Liao then rode towards the scout alone.
“General! It is dangerous!” One of Zhang Liao’s bodyguards wanted to go after him but Zhang Liao made him stay in his position with a single glance.
“Look at this! This is the tiger amulet that the Little Lord, His Highness the King of Shu handed over to me.” Zhang Liao said as he threw a tiger amulet towards the scout.
“How daring!” The scout captain praised. Zhang Liao was alone, by their side and within range of their arrows. If the Formation Breaker wanted to kill him, he would not be able to escape.
He then looked at the tiger amulet for a while. As counterfeits of such objects were hard to make, he eventually became respectful towards Zhang Liao.
“General Zhang Liao Zhang Wenyuan! We apologize for the disrespect!” The Formation Breaker cupped his fist.
“It is good to be careful when going to war.” Zhang Liao did not mind as he had been working with Gao Shun for a long time. “Where is your general?”
“Our general is resting at camp.” The scout awkwardly replied.
“Resting? Did he not know that we would arrive today?”
“This…” The scout did not know how to reply. Even though the Formation Breaker did not station any troops along the way, they still left behind some people to keep contact with the others. At the same time, if he were to say that they knew about the Xiliang Cavalry’s arrival then it would be disrespectful Zhang Liao since their general dared to sleep despite knowing that Zhang Liao would arrive.
“This Silent Gao!” Zhang Liao grumbled to himself. Silent Gao was what Liu Mang called Gao Shun. This is because Gao Shun only said three things. “Oh”. “Mm.” and “No.” He doesn’t seem to care about human relations at all. He was just awkwardly silent no matter where he is. It was also because of this that Lu Bu and Liu Mang both trust Gao Shun.
Zhang Liao did not get annoyed at this. “Since Gao Shun is not coming out to see me, then I can only go and see him!”
First, Zhang Liao turned back to his troops. He then had Ge Jun stay behind to make camp while Zhang Hu accompany him.
“General. Why do you treat Gao Shun this way? If you ask me, he should be the one coming out to greet you!” Zhang Hu was still a bit displeased.
“Haha. You simply don’t know Gao Shun. You will understand once you meet him!” Zhang Liao laughed as he took Zhang Hu with him. When they returned to their army, Ge Jun became confused as to why the chatterbox Zhang Hu had suddenly turned silent.
Ge Jun would later find out the reason half a month later. When Zhang Hu met with Gao Shun, he criticized Gao Shun saying that Gao Shun should have come out to greet Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao did not stop Zhang Hu from saying all that. However, Gao Shun only replied with “Oh.” “Mm” and “No.” Zhang Hu could only feel frustrated.