I Became a Sugar Mama to an Ancient General during a Famine! - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Armies of Chu and Yong Attack, All Forces on Alert

The armies of Chu and Yong circled around several mountains, advancing toward Zhen Guan. Song Duo lay in ambush not far from their encampment, but after half a day’s wait, he noticed something peculiar – no smoke rose from their cooking fires.

As a veteran who had served with the Zhan family army for over twenty years, Song Duo possessed more battle experience than Chen’s brothers, Wu Erlang, and Chen Junlin combined. His instincts told him something was wrong. Taking two seasoned soldiers with him, he infiltrated the Chu army camp under cover of darkness.

They discovered an abandoned camp – horses, weapons, and equipment all gone. Only empty mud-brick houses and a few dozen vacant tents remained standing. Song Duo cursed violently at the realization they’d been deceived.

“Damn it, they’ve played us for fools!” he spat.

“General Song, what are our orders now?” one of the old soldiers asked anxiously.

“Send a messenger pigeon to the General immediately! Tell him Chu’s forces are en route to Zhen Guan . All forces must be put on high alert!” Song Duo commanded, hoping the warning would reach them in time.

“Should we return to the city?”

“It’s too late for that now,” Song Duo replied grimly. Looking at the abandoned structures, he added, “Since we’re here, let’s at least take these tents. We can’t return empty-handed. We’ll need to predict their retreat path accurately and plant explosives along it.”

While ensuring the Chu army’s retreat wouldn’t be easy was important, it wasn’t the primary concern. This time, the Zhan family army faced not undisciplined barbarian troops, but a combined force of 350,000 well-trained soldiers from Chu and Yong. Even with their new recruits, Zhan’s forces barely numbered 50,000.

How could they possibly fight such odds?

How could the General achieve victory?

Song Duo split his fifty men into two groups – twenty-five to monitor the Chu border, twenty-five to watch Yong. They had no intelligence about troop movements from Yong’s direction.

Meanwhile, at the command center, a vase suddenly stopped flowing with water. The guards woke Tian Qin, who noticed a floating note beside it. He quickly gathered both the note and vase, bringing them to Zhan Chengyin’s tent.

The General had only managed two hours of rest, exhausted from preparing four mounted units that evening. Though typically a light sleeper, he’d fallen into a deep slumber, only stirring when Tian Qin entered. Still in his sleeping clothes, he lit the lamp and asked, “What news?”

Tian Qin presented the wet papers with both hands. As Zhan Chengyin read them, his face grew grave. The god had foreseen his death in a dream – a vision of Chu, Yong, and barbarian forces breaching Zhen Guan, of him falling alone amidst mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. The god’s previous warnings had all proven true; this dream was not just a mere dream.

It must be some kind of warning or premonition!

Zhan Chengyin turned to Tian Qin. “Any word from Song Duo?”

“None, General. Has something happened to him?”

Gripping the papers until his knuckles whitened, Zhan Chengyin pondered the situation. While the barbarians had been sufficiently cowed by their recent defeats to avoid immediate attack, fearing explosive traps, Chu and Yong harbored no such fears. Historical records predicted his death would come soon, and the appearance of a god wouldn’t deter these kingdoms from their decades-long plot to seize his lands. Even now, his recruitment notices hung openly in Chu’s streets, drawing desperate, starving civilians to his banner. If he were Chu’s ruler, such brazen poaching of his subjects would have already provoked military action.

“Summon all generals to the council hall immediately,” he ordered Tian Qin. “We must prepare our defenses.”

Mounting his horse, Zhan Chengyin rode through the night to the brightly lit council hall, where two solar-powered fans spun steadily. The veteran commanders arrived first – Bian Ziping, Li Yuanzhong, Lin Yijun, and He Hong – followed by Chen Kui, Chen Wu, Wu erlang, and Chen Junlin. Mo Fan stumbled in last, stifling yawns.

Standing before the sand table, Zhan Chengyin studied the enemy positions. He realized the two kingdoms had multiple potential attack routes to Zhen Guan, and with their combined strength, they needed no barbarian allies to overwhelm the city. Having abandoned their original path where Song Duo waited in ambush, their changed route suggested inside information – information that could only have come from someone of rank who knew of Song Duo’s secret passage.

Looking at his assembled officers, their eyes bloodshot but alert despite exhaustion, Zhan Chengyin felt torn. These men had shared his hardships, eating tree bark and grass roots when food ran scarce. Yet someone among their ranks was surely selling information to the enemy.

He called Chen Kui aside and whispered instructions. Chen Kui’s eyes widened in shock. “Is it certain?”

Zhan Chengyin showed him the god’s warning. “She wouldn’t send such dreams without cause. Take your men and move quickly.”

After dispatching Chen Wu with similar private orders, Zhan Chengyin turned to Mo Fan, who asked through another yawn, “More nighttime horse-rustling?”

When Zhan Chengyin whispered his instructions, Mo Fan’s drowsiness vanished instantly. “That’s all it takes?”

“Yes. Choose any horses you like.”

“The fine ones, then!” Mo Fan departed eagerly with Jiang Yuan and Zhuang Liang.

Addressing Wu erlang next, Zhan Chengyin ordered, “Clear the vacant houses tonight. Two hundred new recruits need quarters inside the city.”

The other officers protested immediately. “General, they’re Chu citizens! What if spies lurk among them?”

“Better to station them outside the walls as our first line of defense,” Wu erlang suggested.

But Zhan Chengyin shook his head. With spies already in both city and army, segregating the refugees served little purpose. “They’ve sworn allegiance and signed our documents. They’re our citizens now, though we’ll restrict their movements to designated areas.”

He assigned them tasks to prevent idleness: women would make cloth and clothing for monthly rations of four jin of rice and two jin of flour, while men would repair buildings, dig wells, and fix roads for five jin of rice and two jin of flour monthly. They would receive standard provisions of porridge and water, with fans and lighting installed as usual. New recruits would join Wu erlang’s unit for daily drilling and formation training.

Just then, Xu Ming arrived with a pigeon message confirming their fears: Song Duo’s ambush had failed. The Chu army had bypassed their position and marched straight for Zhen Guan. At their current pace, they would arrive before dawn.

“Sound the war drums,” Zhan Chengyin commanded. “All forces to battle stations.”

The drums’ deep rhythm shattered the night’s silence. Soldiers sprang from their beds, donning armor and seizing weapons, forming precise ranks. From the city walls, Zhan Chengyin surveyed his troops, his expression grave. “Chu and Yong approach. Stand ready.”

An hour later, his warning proved prophetic as Chu’s army deployed in battle formation thirty li from Zhen Guan, their weapons gleaming in the pre-dawn light.