Great Tang Idyll - Volume 4 Chapter 227

Guo Tu and the others could not sleep, so they gathered together to discuss the next marching plan. Whether they returned directly or circled around to return, without anyone from Pengzhou receiving them, it would be difficult either way.

They believed the Zhang family was formidable, and even the two children they casually sent out were formidable—yet they still did not know what kind of people the Zhang family had sent this time. These two were the children of the Zhang and Wang families. They even wanted to find the same teacher to learn from.

Just as dawn approached, Wang Juan ordered the troops to set out. She could not wait until daylight—being discovered would be too easy.

She did not plan to immediately win another victory. If she deliberately took risks for the sake of victory, the troops could run into unforeseen danger. She simply needed to lower her mindset a bit.

What she wanted to do was completely different from Guo Tu and the others’ guesses. Their greatest desire was to return safely. If they could bring back more than ten thousand men alive and had killed so many Tubo soldiers, that would already count as victory.

How could Wang Juan accept that? It had been hard enough to get a chance to command; if she did not enjoy it properly, she felt she would be letting herself down. 

Commanding more than ten thousand men was not few. In past red–blue exercises, she had only ever commanded up to five thousand—and back then those five thousand were harder to command than these ten thousand. Those opponents were not someone like Tata Neitu. With satellite signals, true experts could fully utilize each soldier marked as a glowing point on the screen.

At school she could rank among the top few, but when confronting truly skilled instructors, she was nothing. No matter how people praised her as a genius, she understood: genius was useless. In war, would the enemy send you a twenty-year-old opponent just because you were twenty?

Now it was good—she could finally merge what she once learned with what she understood now and see what she could accomplish with ten thousand men.

Wang Juan’s troops carried the wounded and continued marching hard. She needed to catch up with the two thousand men ahead and coordinate with the Logistics Battalion before she could proceed with further plans. Otherwise, she absolutely would not dare to confront Tata Neitu’s ten-plus-thousand troops head-on. Even if she could withstand it, she would not do so. That was “kill one thousand but lose eight hundred” territory. Every life was precious.

Tata Neitu woke after a night’s sleep. Before sleeping he had thought endlessly about what the Tang army intended and where they would go next, thinking until he fell asleep without finding an answer. He even dreamt at night that his troops were surrounded layer upon layer by the Tang army. The commander was an old man whose smile looked kind, yet he slaughtered his own men without mercy. The nightmare startled him awake.

Still half dazed, he opened his eyes and saw daylight. Only then did he exhale, no longer as afraid. His clothes were soaked with cold sweat from the night—very uncomfortable.

After hastily eating something, he suddenly felt very relaxed. Six thousand of his men were gone; even if he returned, he should not be punished. The enemy was indeed formidable—far beyond what someone like him could match.

“General, what are we going to do now?” the messenger who had served him food asked cautiously. He too wanted to know what would come next.

Tata Neitu frowned. He did not know what to do. Clearly the Tang main force was no longer here. Should he lead his men to chase the two thousand Tang soldiers? Even if he caught them—which was unlikely—they had already rested, while his own men were exhausted. Even if he managed to kill all two thousand, he would lose at least four thousand.

He could not figure out what the Tang army’s thousand-li-eyes were, but they seemed able to detect his side early and set up accordingly. They had interrogated soldiers captured from the grain escort earlier—the general had killed himself—but they extracted one piece of information: every Tang officer of battalion-rank and above carried something called a “thousand-li-eyes.”

What was this? From the broken device found at a Tang battalion commander’s feet, it certainly existed, but how it could see far distances was unclear. Even if he wanted to buy one, where would he find it? Items used by a military—how could they be sold to foreigners?

That device was also made by the Zhang family. The Zhang family, the Zhang family—damned—why did the Zhang family of Sanshui County always cause trouble?

“General? General!?” The messenger saw he was silent and asked again.

Tata Neitu jolted from his thoughts, considered for a while, and said, “Let the troops continue forward. No need to hurry. Send out scouts—yes, scouts. We can only avoid the Tang main force’s ambushes by sacrificing them. Tell the scouts to go as far as possible from now on. They must return every hour. If not, they were ambushed. Go quickly. Ai… using scouts like this will cause great losses. If they encounter Tang forces, they will be noticed and killed. By the time our troops arrive, the Tang army will already be gone. Let’s see first before deciding.”

Tata Neitu was deeply conflicted. Scouts sent out for an hour could travel far. Even going out and back, half an hour could cover ten li. If they were discovered and killed early and he reacted later, the Tang army would be long gone.

He could not stop, and he could not return. He could only follow the traces left by the two thousand fleeing Tang soldiers little by little. At least he could claim he was chasing them.

He had worried about being ambushed again. After following the tracks for two days, he discovered more traces—at least fifteen thousand people.

That alarmed him. Judging by the direction, the Tang forces seemed to be heading north. Northward was the desert. What were they planning to do there? He had thirteen thousand men. Fifteen thousand versus thirteen thousand—he absolutely could not charge alone.

He sent word to the other divisions below, asking them to go test the situation. After waiting three more days, with cavalry scouting repeatedly, they still found no sign of the Tang army. The other divisions told Tata Neitu to return to the mountain—they suspected the Tang had gone back into the mountains.

Helpless, Tata Neitu sought help, borrowed five thousand men, and assembled eighteen thousand before daring to go up the mountain again.

Five days was enough for many things to happen. Wang Juan’s forces had already reunited with the Logistics Battalion and the two thousand who had gone ahead. She made a slight adjustment to direction but still continued north—toward the desert.

Wang Juan intended to lure the Tubo forces there. She had already made preparations—actually, Xiaobao had made them. Zhang Xiaobao could not command large-scale warfare, but he knew what was needed when armies employed deception. To support Wang Juan, he had sought out everything.

Wang Juan very much wanted to set a trap and drag Tata Neitu’s forces into it. But she also feared Tubo cavalry reacted too quickly, so she endured and watched for opportunities.

During these five days, Tang intelligence agents also gathered much information and delivered it to Pengzhou. What delighted them was that Guo Tu’s main force had joined with the Yizhou Logistics Battalion, and from enemy accounts they learned that command of the Tang army now belonged to the Logistics Battalion.

The officials of Pengzhou were shocked. The intelligence had been written from the Tubo perspective, describing how the Tang forces had laid out their plans and how they had destroyed one enemy detachment after another.

Tubo still suspected that Tang had dispatched a hidden main force—one of considerable size—which slipped past scouts and reached the area.

But the officials of Pengzhou knew very well: only sixteen thousand Tang soldiers had gone out in total. How could they have annihilated thirteen thousand Tubo troops—especially after their vanguard’s grain had been cut off and three thousand escorting soldiers had been captured, killed, or scattered?

The officials of Pengzhou understood. 

The servants left behind by the Zhang and Wang families in the inner courtyard immediately sent the message back to Yizhou.

Zhang Zhong had already achieved excellent results. With the people’s cooperation and the support of Bi Guo and the others, as long as he stayed a few more months, he could transform Yizhou completely.

In his happiness, Zhang Zhong could not help worrying about his son and daughter-in-law. Blades and spears had no eyes—losing even one of them would be a burden no mortal heart could bear.

Old Man Bi and the others were just as anxious. Last night, an urgent eight-hundred-li dispatch had arrived from the capital, ordering them to ensure Xiaobao and Juanjuan returned safely no matter what.

Yes—the edict literally referred to “Xiaobao” and “Juanjuan,” affectionate wording, written in Gao Lishi’s hand with the emperor’s seal. One could see what attitude the court had toward the two children.

Old Man Bi and the others were worried and distressed. Where had they gone? Why no letters? Had the entire army perished? If the two children were gone, how would life continue?

Just as everyone worried, the message from Pengzhou arrived. The handwriting was very poor—clearly written in haste. 

After carefully deciphering it, Zhang Zhong’s lips curved into a faint smile, and he returned to his work. He was relieved.

His son and daughter-in-law were indeed outstanding. Of course—immortals were immortals. Dealing with mortals was easy. What were fifteen thousand enemy soldiers? What was a defeated army? Once an immortal intervened, everything changed. Killing thirteen thousand Tubo warriors was nothing—removing more would also be acceptable.

Old Man Bi and the other two did not understand anything about immortals. 

They read through the message from Pengzhou from beginning to end, widened their eyes, then read it twice more. Once they confirmed they had not misread, the three elders stared at each other, speechless.

“The Yizhou Logistics Battalion is famous now. But isn’t it only Xiaobao and Juanjuan over there? Judging from Zhang Zhong’s actions, the Zhang family’s expert must be in Yizhou. After all, the economic development here is tightly interlinked. Could it really be Xiaobao and Juanjuan commanding the army?” Old Zhang pinched himself. When he felt pain and realized he was not dreaming, he looked at Old Man Bi and Old Yao and spoke.

Old Man Bi nodded. “The Logistics Battalion rushed in to support them, and then the Tang army’s tactics changed. With a remnant force they repeatedly ambushed and annihilated thirteen thousand Tubo troops. How did they fight this battle?”

“If that is really the case—if Xiaobao and Juanjuan commanded the front—then they must be regarded differently. Does Zhang family’s expert even teach warfare? Did he teach the two children as well?” Old Yao touched his face, which had gone slightly numb from excitement, and spoke.