#485 - Scored twice
“Halt!!!”
The bright moon hung in the sky, and countless stars twinkled.
The blood-red warhorse suddenly reared up, its front hooves halting abruptly on the deserted official road, while Wei Changtian on its back wore a look of astonishment.
In his left hand, he held the still-warm mother-child jade, and in his right, a new codebook.
He abruptly turned his head to look at the darkness behind him, then turned back to look at the road ahead, his expression shifting between green and white.
Damn it!
The imperial army had been marching for four hours, yet Ning Yongnian suddenly ordered Han Zhao to change course to Jinyuan at this moment??
What was going on??
All of Han Zhao's decisions so far had been very conventional, with no flaws.
Furthermore, if Ning Yongnian truly suspected Han Zhao, he should have directly removed the latter from his position as commander.
So, was Ning Yongnian worried about potential problems along the Niutou Mountain line?
Damn! Was he that cautious?!
Wei Changtian's mouth widened slightly, and he immediately felt a headache coming on.
However, the reason behind Ning Yongnian's sudden decision was no longer important.
The most crucial thing was what he should do.
“Huff.”
Taking a deep breath, Wei Changtian dismounted and found a rock by the roadside to sit down on, forcing himself to calm down.
Han Zhao said that only he knew about this order.
That meant he still had a choice.
Simply put, there were roughly three options.
First, have Han Zhao block the news, even order an acceleration of the march, and send the imperial army into the "tiger's mouth" of Niutou Mountain before Ning Yongnian noticed.
Although this would inevitably expose Han Zhao, by then the main force of the imperial army would be destroyed, and his mission would be basically complete, so exposure wouldn't make much of a difference.
Hmm, it sounded pretty good at first glance, but Wei Changtian quickly rejected this option himself.
The reason was simple: it was impossible to achieve.
Of the army of over two hundred thousand, apart from Han Zhao, the commander, almost all the other high-ranking officers, including the supervisor You Wenzong, were Ning Yongnian's men.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Han Zhao to conceal the imperial decree for too long; an hour or two might be possible, but any longer and problems would arise.
If he really let Han Zhao block the news for a long time, he would probably be tied up by a group of deputy generals and escorted back to the capital for trial before tomorrow morning, and these two hundred thousand people would ultimately not enter Niutou Mountain.
Therefore, this was no different from letting Han Zhao "self-destruct."
Then what if he allowed the imperial army to change course to the Jinyuan line?
Jinyuan County was southeast of Guanghan County, with flat terrain, and there were no places to set up an ambush on the road to Shuzhou City.
Although it would take at least five extra days for the imperial army to reach Shuzhou City by taking the Jinyuan line, but...
But these extra days were meaningless to Wei Changtian.
Without terrain advantages, there was no way to set up an ambush; the only benefit of returning to Shuzhou City was probably being able to wait for all of Da Li's reinforcements to arrive.
And in this case, the war would evolve into a siege and defense battle around Shuzhou City.
The imperial army of over two hundred thousand would attack the city.
The more than thirty thousand Shu soldiers and one hundred thousand Li soldiers, a total of at most one hundred and fifty thousand, would defend the city.
With a difference of nearly one hundred thousand troops, this battle would undoubtedly be very difficult.
What's more, Da Li also had its own little plans, and it was uncertain whether they would go all out on the battlefield at that time...
This wouldn't work either, and that wouldn't work either.
Wei Changtian clenched his fists slightly, feeling as if he was in a situation where he could neither advance nor retreat.
The entire plan was centered around Niutou Mountain, which meant that if the imperial army did not enter this trap, everything done before would be meaningless.
The yet-to-appear Tiangou Army, the net of heaven and earth laid in Niutou Mountain through Shen Ran's hands, the hundred thousand demon beasts lurking in the Shiwan Mountains... All of these strategic arrangements would be greatly reduced in significance, or even cease to exist.
Unless he could find a way to "force" the imperial army into Niutou Mountain...
Yes, this was Wei Changtian's last option.
Although the probability of success was not high, although it was very dangerous, he had to try it at this moment.
“Damn it, let's do it!”
Suddenly standing up, Wei Changtian gritted his teeth and cursed.
He quickly sent a message to Han Zhao and Chu Xianping respectively through the hot mother-child jade, then turned over and mounted his horse, and whipped it hard.
“Snap!”
In the sound of the whip, the warhorse neighed in pain.
It suddenly turned its direction, raised its four hooves, and galloped back the way it came at the fastest speed.
Two hours later, at the Yin hour (3-5 AM).
“Panting, panting...”
Beside the official road covered with gravel, a blood-red horse was lying on the ground, its breathing heavy and mournful.
If a horse feeder saw this scene at this time, he should immediately be able to make a judgment—
This horse was dying, it was exhausted to death.
And not because it had been running continuously for too long, but because it had run too fast in a short period of time, overdrawing too much physical strength and dying.
Killing a horse alive by running it to death, the rider was obviously in a hurry to do something very important.
And now there was no one around the warhorse, it seemed that this person had been gone for a while...
At the same time, two hundred miles away.
“Please have Lord You come over!”
In the carriage traveling in the rear of the army, Han Zhao put away a piece of mother-child jade, then shouted outside the carriage.
“Yes!”
The personal soldier immediately responded, and soon galloped to another carriage further back, and soon invited You Wenzong to Han Zhao's carriage.
“General Han, why are you in such a hurry?”
Sitting down opposite Han Zhao, You Wenzong asked with a smile: “Is there any change in the situation on the rebel side?”
“That's not it.”
Shaking his head, Han Zhao said calmly: “Lord You, I just received a secret order from the capital, the Emperor wants the army to immediately change course to the Jinyuan line to Shuzhou City.”
“...”
Even though more than two hours had passed, he said that he had just received the order.
Although there would inevitably be delays in the transmission of military orders, such an error was too long.
However, Han Zhao had to wait for these two hours.
Fortunately, judging from You Wenzong's current expression, he should not have noticed anything unusual.
“Change course to Jinyuan?”
He asked with some surprise: “Is there a problem with the Niutou Mountain line?”
“The secret report did not say.”
Shaking his head, Han Zhao replied in a deep voice: “Presumably, His Majesty should have his own plans.”
“Hmm.”
Nodding noncommittally, You Wenzong pondered for a moment and didn't ask any more questions.
“General Han, I know about this.”
“Since the Emperor wants us to change course to Jinyuan, then we will act according to the order.”
“Okay, that's what I intend to do, I just wanted to tell you first.”
Han Zhao nodded slightly without changing his expression: “Then I will now call the generals of each battalion to arrange the turning.”
“Well, thank you, General.”
“...”
Soon, the short conversation between the two ended, and Han Zhao was about to call the messenger in.
However, at this moment, a loud muffled sound suddenly came from a distance.
“Rumbling!!!”
As if a huge rock had rolled down from the top of the mountain, the heavy sound roared like a wave.
You Wenzong's face suddenly changed, and he immediately lifted the curtain to look outside.
At this time, Han Zhao's face showed a complex look.
There seemed to be admiration, and there seemed to be shame.
The two of them watched the golden light that suddenly exploded not far away with different moods, until a deputy general hurriedly galloped to the carriage after a dozen breaths.
“General!”
“The central army is under attack!”
“What?!”
Han Zhao's face stiffened: “How many enemy troops are there? Where are they ambushing? Why didn't our scouts notice?!”
“This...”
Swallowing, the deputy general quickly replied: “Returning to the General, there is only one enemy soldier, who is ambushing by the roadside, so we did not notice.”
“One person?”
“Yes.”
The deputy general's expression suddenly became strange, as if somewhat helpless.
“General, Lord You, it's Wei Changtian again...”
