Chapter 68: Chapter 67: A Defeated Army Collapses Like a Toppling Mountain Chapter 68: Chapter 67: A Defeated Army Collapses Like a Toppling Mountain “What happened?” Yang Zhenshan stepped forward and demanded.
Those soldiers were suddenly frightened upon seeing Yang Zhenshan.
At that moment, Yang Zhenshan was clad in cloth armor; although it wasn’t as splendid as Zhou Lan’s gold lacquered armor with embossed patterns, his arrival on horseback accompanied by more than a dozen cavalrymen made it clear he was an official.
“Your Excellency~ We are not deserters!” a soldier stammered.
“What has happened to the main camp?” Yang Zhenshan asked again with a stern voice.
He didn’t care if these were deserters or not; he simply wanted to know what had occurred in the main camp.
“We—we’re not sure, suddenly many Northern cavalry charged into the main camp, and then we just…”
Although the soldier didn’t make it clear, Yang Zhenshan could guess the gist of it.
The main camp had suffered a surprise attack and, caught off guard, descended into chaos, which had led these soldiers to flee.
Defeat was like a collapsing mountain!
In the past half month, the army had failed to breach the city, and coupled with the shortage of military provisions, the morale of the soldiers had sunk to rock bottom.
The entire camp was like a tightly wound string, tense and heavy with atmosphere; now that string had been cut, leading to complete collapse.
Still, Yang Zhenshan found it hard to believe.
He was unaware of the high command’s resolution, nor understood what considerations they had, but he did know that the army under Zhang Shouwang’s command was the cream of Chongshan Camp, with the Five Camps among them; they should not have succumbed so quickly.
The Five Camps!
No, that’s not right!
The Left and Right Camps were not in the army’s fortifications.
Currently, Zhou Lan was leading the soldiers of the Left Camp to eradicate the Northern barbarian harassing their supply routes.
However, these barbarian cavalry had instead launched an attack on the main camp!
Was this a tactic to lure the tiger away from the mountain?
No, that’s not right, even without the Left and Right Camps, the main camp should not have been defeated so swiftly.
The East Sea Hu Clan did not have substantial forces; at most, they had seventy or eighty thousand cavalry, and that number included those dispersed among various tribes. If we consider only the Northern cavalry near Fushan City, at best they would number one or two thousand.
How come there were suddenly so many more?
Yang Zhenshan’s brain was working frantically.
Had the East Sea Hu Clan summoned all of their cavalry in advance?
What was the army led by the Western route under the Vice General Ji Feiyu doing? Weren’t they clearing out those tribes?
Yang Zhenshan felt his brain wasn’t quite up to the task.
There were many things he didn’t understand.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart enough; rather, he was sorely lacking substantial intelligence information.
He was just a supply officer, without any access to high-level intelligence.
How the high command decided, what movements either side had, he wasn’t very clear on any of that. He only knew that the army was short of supplies and that he was continuously transporting provisions.
Beyond that, he had no accurate information.
Watching troops flee in disarray, two or three here, a pair there, a shadow of gloom passed over Yang Zhenshan’s eyes.
Regardless of the reason, one thing was certain—the main camp had fallen!
At a single glance, at least a thousand soldiers were fleeing in haste, with even more behind them.
“Go back!”
Yang Zhenshan could afford no other thought.
He had no authority to rally these fleeing soldiers; his rank was too low, being merely a deputy Bazong of the Left Camp.
Besides, even if he did manage to gather these fleeing troops, it would be in vain.
Did he expect to lead these deserters to defeat the Northern cavalry?
What a joke!
Probably, before he even encountered the Northern cavalry, he would be overturned by these fleeing soldiers.
Certainly, among these fleeing soldiers, there were those with higher ranks than his.
Yang Zhenshan, riding back at full speed, stood in front of the grain convoy, looking around.
Now they definitely couldn’t continue moving forward, but retreating didn’t seem to work either. He needed to find Zhou Lan first; however, before finding Zhou Lan, he had to make sure that the grain convoy was properly arranged.
The grain convoy had already stopped, and news of the main camp being breached had spread among the troops.
The soldiers and civilian workers appeared very panicked.
Fortunately, during this time Yang Zhenshan had established his authority within the team, and although they were panicked, they had not done anything irrational.
“My lord, my family’s lord is still in the main camp!”
Before Yang Zhenshan could figure out what to do next, Zhao Desheng ran up to him in tears.
Zhao Yuan!
Yang Zhenshan felt an even bigger headache.
Zhao Yuan was not only his immediate superior but also could be considered his friend.
He had gotten along well with Zhao Yuan lately, and although Zhao Yuan exhibited some of the bad habits of noble descendants, he had never troubled or slighted Yang Zhenshan.
He didn’t want to abandon Zhao Yuan, but it looked like he couldn’t find Zhao Yuan right now.
“Let’s wait and talk later!” Yang Zhenshan stopped Zhao Desheng’s pleading and turned to say to Yang Mingwu and Yang Mingzhi, “You two, lead the men across the river!”
The former Songyuan River could not be traversed, but the Songyuan River now was quite shallow, and in some places, even carts could pass through.
On the western bank of the river, they were definitely going to encounter more routed soldiers, whereas on the eastern bank, they should be able to avoid a lot of trouble.
“Yes!”
After Yang Mingwu and Yang Mingzhi acknowledged his command, they immediately led the people to find a shallow place to cross the river.
They crossed the river quickly, but the tide of routed soldiers arrived even more quickly.
They had just crossed the Songyuan River when tens of thousands of routed soldiers came flooding in.
Such a situation once again confirmed that the main camp had been completely crushed; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many routed soldiers.
Yang Zhenshan ignored those fleeing soldiers and gave orders to Yang Chengze, Yang Qinwu, and others: “The three of you go along the river to check the front, remember not to engage in conversation with anyone. If someone tries to take the horses, return immediately!”
“The three of you, go downstream to find Zhou Lan; she should not be far from us!”
“The rest, follow me and guard the grain convoy!”
Yang Zhenshan instructed one by one.
Right now, their first priority was to ensure the safety of the grains, and then to understand the specific situation.
If the Northern barbarian cavalry were to pursue the victory, they might have to abandon the grain and save their lives first; however, if the Northern barbarian cavalry did not pursue, he would wait for Zhou Lan to come over.
Yang Chengze and the others rode away, and Yang Zhenshan immediately had the grain convoy encamp on the spot, placing the supply carts on the perimeter. This time, he did not order the disassembly of the carts, ready to leave at any moment.
However, just as Yang Zhenshan had just arranged the round formation, a squad of cavalry came galloping towards them.
The horses’ hooves trampled directly over the shallow water of the river and came to a hasty stop in front of the grain convoy’s formation.
The leader, a bearded Hu man wearing waist-length armor, sat on horseback, his body straight as a pencil, and he called out loudly, “Which Camp do you belong to?”
Yang Zhenshan, who was calming Zhao Desheng, followed the voice and his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
What was expected had still come!
“Deputy Bazong of the left Camp’s supply team, Yang Zhenshan at your service. May I ask which Camp’s Lord you are?”
Given his attire, he surely wasn’t a common soldier, and behind him followed hundreds of cavalry who, despite looking somewhat disheveled, were clearly a well-equipped force.
To equip such a cadre of a hundred cavalry in Chongshan Town, one must at least be a thousand commander.
“I am Cao Han, the garrison of An Yuan State City. From now on, I order you to follow my commands!” Cao Han looked at Yang Zhenshan with a piercing gaze.
A thought crossed Yang Zhenshan’s mind.
An Yuan State City was located to the east of Chongshan Pass City, falling under the jurisdiction of the East Road Songzhou Guard of Chongshan Town. It was an important pass city in the eastern part of Chongshan Town.
A garrison was a military officer position of the Standard Fifth Rank, mainly in charge of the general affairs, pay, and grain supplies of the military. He was essentially the chief military officer of a garrison or a region.
His position naturally ranked above Yang Zhenshan, but you, a garrison of An Yuan State City, cannot command over our Camp.
“This subordinate pays his respects to Lord Cao!”
“But I beg Lord Cao’s pardon, as I am currently executing a task and cannot obey Lord Cao’s orders!”
Yang Zhenshan refused outright without a second thought.
He knew that such things would happen since he was transporting grains, which could bring attention from any of the routed soldiers with the slightest intention.