Chapter 45: Sinister Scheming

  Wang Duo's first siege action ended in defeat, with heavy casualties and loss of generals.

  Returning to the big account, Wang sat on the commander's chair with a thud, and slammed his helmet to the ground with a "clang", scaring his subordinates into shrinking their necks, fearing a scolding.

  But Wang didn't scold his subordinates, instead he closed his eyes and leaned back in his commander's chair. As a seasoned general, Wang had already sensed that something was off, and he foresaw that Guangwu County might not be taken after all.

  It's okay if Guangwu County can't be taken down, but the problem is how to withdraw troops. It's easy to advance but difficult to retreat, and it would be strange if the troops inside Guangwu County didn't pursue afterwards.

  Don't just look at the books that often write about leaving a crack troop to ambush and kill the pursuing enemy, then the main force returns to its own territory with ease.

  In fact, such situations are rare. If the number of people left behind is small, it's easy for the army to be annihilated by pursuit. If the remaining troops are also annihilated, that would be the most feared tactic in the art of war - adding fuel to the fire.

  If the remaining troops were left behind, the pursuing enemy army could treat the broken army as the main force and focus on eating away the ambush, also suffering heavy losses.

  So it can be said that withdrawing troops is the best way to reflect a commander's military demeanor.

  Unfortunately, Wang Dang is not a famous general. He can't even be considered a first-rate commander. Now he's racking his brains over how to withdraw the troops.

  Compared to Wang Dang, Li Chong is now in high spirits. After warning them to be careful of the enemy's surprise attack, he returned to the county government office to rest.

  After dinner, Li Zhong was about to go on patrol on the city wall when someone reported that Zhang Cai had requested an audience.

  Now both sides are working closely together. Li Chong hastily invited Zhang Cai into the county government office, but saw that Zhang Cai had a smile all over his face and congratulated him as soon as he entered the door.

  Li Chong hastily spoke a few humble words and asked: "I don't know what Mr. Zhang has come to instruct me about."

  Zhang Cai smiled and said: "This time I came to discuss a business deal with you, sir."

  "Oh!" Li Chong was stunned. He's now penniless, how could he afford to do any business? So he looked at Zhang Cai in confusion.

  Zhang Cai thought he knew what Li Chong meant, and began to explain: "It's like this, our Guangwu family has thousands of acres of land, but we're short-handed and can't cultivate it all, so most of it is abandoned. I was thinking of buying some slaves from you, sir, do you think that would be possible?"

  Li Chong thought for a moment and suddenly understood that Zhang Cai had decided to surrender.

  The problem is that Zhang Cai's captive is still in the military camp outside the city! The merchant's foresight is really strong, and Li Chong can only sigh like this.

  Li Chong smiled and said: "I don't know how many servants Mr. Zhang needs?"

  Zhang Cai stretched out his palm and said: "Five hundred, okay?"

  Li Zhong thought for a moment and replied: "Let's see how things go, I've taken note of this matter."

  "Thank you, sir!" Zhang Cai bowed and bid farewell.

  Li Chong arrived at the city wall, Guan Hai still had not removed his armor and was directing soldiers to light torches, trying to prevent Wang from taking advantage of the night to launch a surprise attack.

  The officer and soldiers went away with a jar of rice wine, Li Chong pulled Gan Hai to sit on the city wall and talk.

  Li Chong poured a cup of wine for Guan Hai and said with some sighs: "Bo Wen, we haven't had a good talk in quite some days."

  "Hehe......" said Guan Hai with a smile: "Master, you're now a busy person, how can you have time to bother with us idle people."

  Li Chong's old face turned red, these days he was idle and had nothing to do, putting all his thoughts into seducing Cai Yan, where did he have time to chat with Guan Hai?

  Li Chong smiled dryly and said, "Bo Wen, how are you feeling now?"

  He blinked his eyes and didn't understand what Li Chong meant, so he could only answer vaguely: "I'm doing very well now, I have food and drink."

  "I'm saying... " Li Chong looked at Guan Hai and said word by word: "I'm saying, how do you feel about coordinating with Zi Yi? Do you feel resentful?"

  Li Chong's words are not groundless, to know that the backbone of Li Chong's troops is actually under Guan Hai's command. It can be said that these people have always been loyal to Guan Hai, but now, Taishi Ci's status has risen sharply and surpassed Guan Hai. Li Chong doesn't know what Guan Hai thinks about this.

  Guan Hai sank into thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "Zi Yi's martial arts are extraordinary, leading the cavalry is quite suitable."

  "Haha......" Li Chong smiled, he also figured it out, Guan Yu still had some jealousy towards Taishi Ci.

  It's normal to know that among the nearly thousand soldiers under Li Chong, the elite were selected by Taishi Ci to form a cavalry, and if there weren't enough horses, Taishi Ci would have even more cavalry.

  Li Chong said: "Bo Wen, I have an idea, listen to it."

  Li Zhong's first thought was that the soldiers brought by Guan Hai would not move, and still let Guan Hai lead them himself, as if they were Guan Hai's personal soldiers. In this way, Guan Hai would be like a general leading troops, and how many troops he could lead would depend on his personal ability.

  When he eventually fell under someone else's command, he didn't have any complaints either.

  The second idea is to let Guan Yu be a drill instructor, and all new recruits will train under his command. In this way, although Guan Yu does not lead troops in battle, his status is absolutely not low.

  Li Chong did not originally have these thoughts, but today Zhang Cai came to visit and proposed buying some servants. When Li Chong was calculating the number of people, he suddenly thought of a problem, that is, he could not sell too many people to Zhang Cai, lest Zhang Cai's strength threaten himself.

  At the same time, Li Zhong also remembered the mutual restraint between Taishi Ci and Guan Yu. Although Taishi Ci's martial arts and military strategy were above Guan Yu's, Li Zhong could not help but consider Guan Yu's feelings.

  Internal strife is what Li Chong fears most.

  Guan Hai was shocked by Li Chong's meticulous thinking, and now he really hadn't thought of this problem. But after Li Chong's reminder, Guan Hai also realized that even if he himself didn't have a jealous heart, it was hard to guarantee that his subordinates wouldn't have one. These days, he had already heard his subordinates complain more than once.

  Taishi Ci's cavalry often plundered the borders, and his soldiers naturally had a lot to gain from it. It was only normal that some people were envious of him.

  After some thought, Guan Yu felt it would be best to keep these arrogant generals under his own control. So he said in a deep voice: "My lord, I think I should lead an army on my own."

  "All right! After we've rested for a while, let's take down Shenchi and have Bo Wen guard it. How does that sound?" Li nodded in emphasis.

  "Thank you, my lord!" said Guan Hai with reddened eyes, turning away, his voice filled with gratitude. Even if Li Zhong could conquer the Divine Pool, the territory he could control would be no more than two counties. Letting Guan Hai guard one county was equivalent to giving him a kingdom.

  Li Chong patted the shoulder of Guan Hai and said slowly, "It's not difficult to take down Shen Chi, but we must make a name for ourselves. My plan is to force Wang Dang towards Shen Chi, where he will be caught between the tiger and the wolf. Wang Dang is half-official and half-bandit, and doesn't care about making a name for himself. In desperation, he will definitely occupy Shen Chi, which will give us an opportunity."