Chapter 48: General Cao, I Trust You Have Been Well?

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Though Cao Cao had appeared spirited and confident during the day, in truth, he knew his own situation better than anyone.

If he had not heard that Lu Chuan had held a presale auction and sold goods for the astonishing sum of three hundred million in cash, he would never have conceived of attacking Lu County.

The reason he dared to act now was that he believed Lu Chuan was merely a minor county magistrate. No matter how capable he might be, he could not possibly have experience commanding a large army in battle. As long as Cao Cao led ten thousand soldiers forward, even if they failed to breach the gates, their numerical advantage would be enough to throw Lu Chuan into disarray.

Besides, Cao Cao had fierce generals such as Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and Cao Ren under his command. If the three joined forces in an assault, surely they could break through Lu County.

Apart from Dian Wei, Lu County had no other formidable warriors.

Lu Chuan might be powerful, but how could one man possibly stand against Xiahou Dun and the other two?

Thus, from Cao Cao’s perspective, no matter how he calculated it, once he led an army of ten thousand to the walls of Lu County, Lu Chuan would have no chance to resist.

Yet an assumption was still only an assumption. Cao Cao had never dreamed that, after leading ten thousand troops here to establish a camp, someone would actually dare launch a night raid!

Who could possess such audacity?

Bandits from the surrounding area?

Whenever those bandits encountered Cao Cao, they would be too busy fleeing to think of attacking him. Besides, the bandits could never have possessed cavalry in any meaningful numbers.

Once every other possibility had been eliminated, only one answer remained: Lu Chuan had led cavalry to raid the camp!

Though Cao Cao was extremely unwilling to believe it, who besides Lu Chuan had the means to assemble cavalry on such a scale?

At the thought of Lu Chuan’s immense wealth, and the two thousand elite soldiers he had trained, Cao Cao felt a headache coming on.

This was no time to think about organizing an effective counterattack. They had better flee for their lives while they still could.

Six thousand recruits and four thousand soldiers who had never seen battle were facing a cavalry assault in the darkness, while men were setting fires everywhere. However one looked at it, they were doomed.

Unless the soldiers were seasoned elites, and unless they discovered the attack in advance, death was the only possible outcome.

Cao Cao understood this perfectly. After ordering the two soldiers outside his tent to spread the alarm and prepare for battle, he did not hesitate for a moment before running toward Xiahou Dun’s tent.

In such chaos, the most important thing for preserving one’s life was to find a powerful general capable of protecting him. In Cao Cao’s army, only Xiahou Dun could shoulder that responsibility.

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Cao Cao trusted Xiahou Dun most of all.

Xiahou Dun had heard the commotion as well and had immediately emerged to investigate. He discovered that the tents were already burning and was just about to order the men to put out the fire when he saw Cao Cao running toward him.

“Yuanrang! Yuanrang! Forget those soldiers. Quickly gather your veterans. Whether we escape will depend on them!”

After the defeat at Xingyang, only eight hundred or so soldiers had fled back with Cao Cao. Yet Cao Cao valued them immensely, granting them the best treatment and placing them under Xiahou Dun’s command. What he valued was that, even after suffering defeat, they had still been willing to follow him.

After several months of training, Cao Cao had increased their number to one thousand. They were the strongest fighting force under his command.

Of course, they were still no match for the two thousand soldiers led by Dian Wei. Lu Chuan had personally devoted tremendous effort to training those men, and they had been equipped with complete armor and weapons. In this era, it could be said that no soldiers more elite than those two thousand could be found anywhere.

Xiahou Dun still wanted to struggle for a moment, but when he saw fires blazing throughout the camp and felt the ground tremble beneath the thunder of hooves, the last of his hopes vanished.

There was cavalry. There was no point resisting.

Xiahou Dun sent out his personal guards and gave them fifteen minutes to gather the thousand veterans under his command.

This was no time for perfectionism. In fifteen minutes, they were to gather as many as they could, then break out.

While the veterans were being assembled, Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun were not idle. At top speed, they found Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren and ordered them to bring their personal guards and join the escape.

Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren each had several dozen guards. Together with the several hundred veterans gathered by Xiahou Dun, they gave Cao Cao at least a measure of security.

“From the looks of it, the cavalry came from the south. We’ll break out to the north. Remember, no one is to get entangled with the enemy. Escaping is what matters most!”

“Yes!”

Xiahou Dun did not dare delay. He led his personal guards in a charge at the front, while Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren remained beside Cao Cao to protect him.

The army had been attacked in the dead of night, and the entire camp had descended into chaos. Cao Cao and the others faced not only the possibility of being pursued by cavalry, but also the danger of being struck by fleeing soldiers.

If they encountered a large mass of routed troops and could not stop them, the veterans they had painstakingly gathered might be scattered once more, never to regroup. Cao Cao would then lose the means to escape.

For now, however, Cao Cao’s luck remained fairly good.

Xiahou Dun hacked his way forward, encountering only small groups of fleeing soldiers and suffering little pressure.

Behind Cao Cao, he could hear the clash and thunder of the cavalry’s attack. Yet those horsemen had not noticed what was happening on Cao Cao’s side. Otherwise, if even a hundred cavalrymen had formed a wedge and charged them, Cao Cao would have been finished.

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After considerable effort, the group finally broke out of the camp. Cao Cao glanced back, but all he could see was a sea of fire.

It was summer, and the weather was already scorching. There had been no rain for some time, and once a fire took hold, it was nearly impossible to extinguish.

Cao Ren also looked back, his face filled with regret.

They had struggled to recruit several thousand soldiers and build an army of more than ten thousand men. Yet in the space of a single night, it had all been reduced to ashes.

Some soldiers would return after dawn, but most would never come back.

If even thirty percent of the ten thousand returned, it would count as fortunate. The main reason was that these soldiers felt little loyalty to Cao Cao. Once they were routed, scarcely any of them would think of coming back.

Who would not be heartbroken after seeing such a hard-won advantage collapse in a single night?

Cao Cao was suffering as well, but he could not show it.

He was the soul of the entire army. If even he became despondent, what would happen to Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, and the others?

Thinking of his responsibility, Cao Cao suddenly threw back his head and laughed.

Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren were bewildered when they heard him.

“Mengde, you… why are you laughing?”

Cao Cao did not answer at once. Only after laughing to his heart’s content did he explain, “I’m laughing at Lu Chuan. He possesses a powerful cavalry force, yet has no idea how to use it!

“If I were Lu Chuan, I would certainly have ambushed us with a unit of cavalry north of the camp. A hundred men would have been more than enough. They could have attacked while we were relaxing after escaping. How could we possibly have gotten away?”

Before Cao Cao had finished speaking, however, a uniform rhythm of hoofbeats sounded nearby.

A horse and rider suddenly burst from the darkness. The rider leveled his spear and reined in his mount, amusement playing across his face.

It was Lu Chuan.

“General Cao, I trust you have been well?”