Chapter 19 - Father
Original by Bro Got a Gun, Translated by James
“Heeyah! Heeyah!” On Xu Province, a giant black dragon was zigzagging around. With extreme speed, the dragon was rapidly passing through mountain ridges.
The whole earth trembled!
At the head of the dragon, a general wearing commander armor suddenly waved his hand and the whole dragon suddenly came to a stop.
This huge dragon was the Ferocious Cavalry, the most elite of the Cao army calvaries. The Ferocious Cavalry numbered only three thousand, each of them an elite before joining the Ferocious Cavalry! Even when attacking Lu Bu, old Cao have brought only fifteen hundred Ferocious Cavalry riders with him.
The remaining fifteen hundred was left in Yan Province. Only with them there could Cao Cao have a peace of mind!
“There’s something ahead!” Cao Chun, as the commander of the Ferocious Cavalry, had set his awareness to the maximum allowing him to sense when to engage the enemies, where they have ambush and what are the weakness of the enemies!
Thus, although he cannot see what has happened in the front of him, Cao Chun still stopped the Ferocious Cavalry!
Xu Province was known as the granary of the world due to its suitability for growing food. Also due to its suitability was an abundance of weeds and woods.
For cavalries, their biggest nemesis are the weeds and woods! Once cavalries enter a location full of weeds and woods, the ambushers only need to set fire to both their front and back and, hehe, those cavalries would be met with a tragic end!
There’s people in the forest ahead. The birds are suspending in the sky, refusing to set. With the wind blowing by, this whole forest seemed eerie.
“Send in a group of men to scout the area!” Cao Chun was Cao Cao’s younger cousin, thus, it could be said that he too inherited the heart of suspicion like Cao Cao!
However, to be careful in the battlefield is a good thing!
A group of soldiers quickly separated themselves from the main cavalries and started advancing toward the forest.
Soon, someone came back.
“What’s the situation inside?!” Seeing this subordinate of his coming back so soon, Cao Chun frowned. Did they not carefully explore the forest?!
“Reporting to the general, there is indeed something inside!” The soldier as he rode his horse back.
“Oh?!” He found people so fast.
“However?!” The soldier said awkwardly “they’re not enemies! Instead, instead, they’re our army!”
“Our army?!” Cao Chun was confused. The lord have only sent my fifteen hundred Ferocious Cavalry soldiers to chase after Lu Bu, how could there possibly be friendly forces here?!
“It’s the Chen Deng, Chen Yuanlong, of Guangling!” a young military officer came over to Cao Chun and said.
“Chen Yuanlong?!” Having conquered Xiapi, Cao Cao still did not have enough time to award his subordinates for their merits. Thus, Chen Deng is currently without an official position.
“Chen Deng, Chen Yuanlong?” From Guangling to Langye was certainly closer than chasing from Xiapi! And ahead was Lu Bu’s route to Langye! Perhaps Chen Yuanlong have captured Lu Bu?!
As Cao Chun was pondering, Chen Deng have brought his subordinates, the three thousand wounded remnants, and appeared in front of Cao Chun.
“General Cao Chun!” Chen Deng held his fist for a greeting.
“For Mister Chen Deng to appear here, perhaps you have already met the Lu Bu army?!” Seeing the wounded soldiers without any hint of morale, Cao Chun knew that they must’ve met Lu Bu!
Hearing Cao Chun’s inquiry, Chen Deng’s face reddened. An army fifteen thousand strong against two thousand remnants. The result? Complete annihilation! Had Lu Bu not set him free, then he likely could not have escaped death!
“Deng, Deng knew only of the papers and was useless in actual battle, Lu Bu, that man servant, have escaped from our enclosure!”
“Ah?!” The Chen family of Guangling was both prestigious and powerful with over ten thousand personal soldiers! For Chen Deng to come out this time, he couldn't have brought with him fewer than ten thousand men!
For an army of over ten thousand to lose, perhaps there was more Lu Bu remnants than expected?!
“Mister Chen, may I ask how many soldiers the Lu Bu remnants have?!” Cao Chun never fight a battle without preparation. He would never engage his enemies before he could figure them out!
“This!” Chen Deng doesn’t know what to say. He couldn’t possibly tell Cao Chun that Lu Bu originally only had two thousand soldiers but he later gave Lu Bu another seven thousand soldiers making the total amount to be nearly ten thousand!
Should he say that, then Chen Deng would be forever known to be incompetent!
Although Chen Deng wasn’t skilled in the arts of lying, he still erased the part of him giving Lu Bu seven thousand soldiers. “In the battle against Lu Bu, Deng have lost! Lu Bu was also left with less than ten thousand soldiers, all infantry!” Chen Deng lied like a master. Lu Bu was ‘also’ left with...
One cannot find a hint of fault in Chen Deng’s speech. It was true that Lu Bu currently have less than ten thousand soldiers! Chen Deng losing was also the truth! Although more than half of Lu Bu’s ten thousand was given by Chen Deng but if you don’t ask, why would he tell you that?! Like this, Chen Deng showed that he fought a fierce battle against someone much better than himself!
“With less than ten thousand? And all infantry?!” A flash crossed Cao Chun’s eyes. In the era of melee weapons, the cavalry is the nemesis of the infantry!
A thousand cavalries could fight against ten thousand infantries! Hell, they could even wipe out the ten thousand infantries!
Although it was rumored that the best infantry, the Formation Breaker, was amongst the Lu Bu remnants, one must not forget that the Ferocious Cavalry are not originary cavalry either. They’re heavy cavalry! With their impact, any infantry, Formation Breaker or not, would be crushed to powder! Their armor was also not something that’s cheap! Three thousand Ferocious Cavalry soldiers was as expensive as fifty thousand regular Cao soldiers!
It was precisely because of how expensive those armor are that the whole Cao army only had three thousand cavalry!
“Mister Chen Deng, how long has it been since the Lu Bu army left?!” asked Cao Chun.
“It have already been half a day!” replied Chen Deng. From the battlefield to the forest was a few hour long travel.
“Good. In that case, we shall proceed! Mister Chen Deng, we shall meet again in Xiapi!” Cao Chun kick his horse and was about leave. An army that have just been in a battle, an army that is full of hungry infantries, in the eyes of Cao Chun, it’s free merits!
In the plains of Xu Province, with a single charge from the cavalries, the infantries will be meeting their end!
“Please wait!” Chen Deng suddenly stopped Cao Chun and asked. “Did general Cao came from Xiapi?!”
“That’s right!” Cao Chun was sent from Xiapi by Cao Cao.
“In that case, Deng wanted to ask if general Cao knowst of news of my old father!” With a face full of expectancy, Chen Deng was looking at Cao Chun hoping to attain news of his father from him.
“Eh?!” Cao Chun was suddenly brought to a standstill by Chen Deng. How must be respond?! Lu Bu in his breakthrough decided to attack the White Gate Tower. He almost killed Cao Cao and many generals and scholars died in the scene and Chen Deng’s father was one of the casualties!
“Mister Chen, Chun came in a hurry. I have been chasing after Lu Bu right after my lord gave the command. Thus, I do not know of news regarding the elder Mister Chen! Please forgive me!” Cao Chun could only beat around the bush, Chen Deng could see it for himself after he arrive in Xiapi!
“Is that so?!” Chen Deng’s heart sank deeper. His Chen family of Guangling could be regarded as displaying the most accomplishment in helping Cao Cao obtain the Xu Province. Thus, Cao Cao will certainly not neglect them and his father will certainly be on the sides of Cao Cao.
In such a prominent position, for Cao Chun to say that he didn’t know!
Remembering Lu Bu’s words, Chen Deng had a bad feeling! Repressing his anger, Chen Deng forced a smile. “Then Deng will wait for General Cao’s triumphant return!”
“In that case, farewell!” Under the leadership of Cao Chun, the Ferocious Cavalry gradually disappeared.
Chen Deng had a sullen face. His heart completely gloomy.
“Master, where are we to go now? Are we to return to Guangling?!” Chen Deng’s remaining generals asked.
“Guangling?!” Chen Deng sneered. “No, we are not going to Guangling. We will be going to Xiapi!”
“Going to Xiapi?!” The generals were confused. They are currently remnants, wounded and without morale. For what reasons would they be going to Xiapi now?! Shouldn’t they go back home and recover first?!
“Right, Xiapi will be our destination! Do you men not want to see the old master?!” replied Chen Deng.
“We do! We do!” The generals knew that Chen Deng was in a bad mood and decided not to ask. The three thousand strong troops started marching toward Xiapi.
“Father oh father, please be safe and sound!” Biting his lips and clenching his fist. Chen Deng’s nails pierced through his hands. However, he does not notice it.