124 Chunyu Qiong Intends to Defect to Cao

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Chunyu Qiong had only about five hundred men at most, while Su Ming and his forces numbered more than eight hundred.

With superior numbers and the advantage of an ambush, Su Ming’s men caught Chunyu Qiong’s forces completely off guard.

The first volley of hidden arrows alone killed well over a hundred of Chunyu Qiong’s men.

After the events of Burning Raven’s Nest the previous night, Chunyu Qiong’s soldiers had long since become like frightened birds startled by the twang of a bow.

When the rain of arrows ended and they saw their comrades collapse in heaps, like dumplings dropping into a pot, Chunyu Qiong’s men panicked.

“Kill them!”

“Kill them! Kill them!”

At that moment, the troops Su Ming had concealed ahead of Chunyu Qiong also charged down upon them. In an instant, Chunyu Qiong’s men were fleeing in all directions, scattering wherever they could.

“Don’t run!”

“Don’t run! Take the wagons! Hurry the wagons away!” Chunyu Qiong shouted, grabbing a junior officer who was trying to escape.

Chunyu Qiong had lost Raven’s Nest. That was a capital offense.

If he wanted to stay alive, he needed someone to plead for him.

But in this world, there was no such thing as a free meal. Who would plead for him without compensation?

The gold, silver, and treasures loaded onto those wagons were Chunyu Qiong’s ransom for his life!

If he abandoned that wealth, how could he bribe the important ministers around Yuan Shao to speak on his behalf?

“General!”

“Forget about those things! Run while you still can!”

“If you don’t leave now, you’ll lose your head here today. We can worry about what comes later when the time comes!” the junior officer urged him.

Take the wagons and run?

How could that be possible? The wagons moved slowly on the mountain road, and turning them around was difficult enough.

If he stopped to worry about them, he would be trapped here as well.

Chunyu Qiong thought it over. He could still escape.

If he did not run now, he would die now. If he abandoned the treasure, at worst he would die later.

Between dying now and dying later, Chunyu Qiong could still tell which was preferable.

Once he had made up his mind, Chunyu Qiong turned and ran.

Chunyu Qiong and the Yuan soldiers fled, but Su Ming did not order his men to pursue them.

Chasing them would waste too much time. Besides, Su Ming’s original aim had merely been to stop them from fleeing toward Ye City.

After intercepting Chunyu Qiong’s convoy, Su Ming was positively delighted.

It really was true: when a man grows sleepy, someone comes along with a pillow.

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Just when they had been worrying that no wagons or horses would arrive, Chunyu Qiong had delivered them straight into their hands.

“My lord, the wagons are filled with gold, silver, and precious treasures!”

“What should we do with all this wealth?” Taishi Ci asked Su Ming.

This was not a few dozen wagons of grain. These were dozens of wagons loaded with gold, silver, and treasure!

It would be painful to abandon them, but taking them along would delay their journey.

After considering the matter for a moment, Su Ming immediately ordered, “Find a concealed place, dig a pit, and bury all this treasure.”

“Once we have captured Raven’s Nest, we can send people back for it.”

Su Ming’s solution could be called the best of both worlds.

It would neither delay their journey nor cost them the treasure.

After Taishi Ci personally led men to bury the wealth in a hidden location, Su Ming and the others continued on their way.

Now that they had wagons and horses, they could leave the mountain road and take the main highway, greatly increasing their speed.

With Xu Qian, the Second Master of the Xu family, traveling with them, they met no obstacles anywhere in Hebei.

At present, Yuan Shao likely still knew nothing of Xu You’s defection to Cao Cao.

By the time Yuan Shao learned of it, Yuan’s army would already have suffered a crushing defeat.

For the time being, news of Xu You’s defection could not possibly reach the rear.

Speed—that was precisely what Su Ming and his men needed.

They needed to exploit the gap in information and use Xu Qian’s identity to infiltrate Ye City before news of Xu You’s defection reached it.

Thus, Su Ming and the others pressed on without pause, traveling day and night and never resting for even a moment.

Meanwhile, the unlucky Chunyu Qiong fled in panic after being ambushed.

He ran all the way toward Guandu, for several hours, before finally daring to stop.

Even after stopping, Chunyu Qiong looked around for a long while. Only after making certain there was no ambush did he dare sit down and rest.

Once seated, Chunyu Qiong counted the men around him and nearly burst into tears.

Back at Raven’s Nest, Chunyu Qiong had been a figure of tremendous authority.

He had commanded more than twenty thousand grain-escort soldiers and guarded the fortress of Raven’s Nest, whose storehouses were crammed full of provisions.

Not only had he possessed great power, he had also profited handsomely.

After Raven’s Nest was burned, Chunyu Qiong had escaped with about five hundred men and several dozen wagons of gold, silver, and precious treasures.

Who could have imagined that they would be ambushed again halfway there?

But look at Chunyu Qiong now. He was covered in dust, disheveled and utterly miserable.

At most, only a few dozen men remained beside him, and they looked even more wretched than he did.

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Some soldiers had lost their helmets, some had lost the armor covering their torsos, some had lost their skirts of armor, and some had even run out of their boots.

Put it this way: if you gathered three soldiers together, you still could not piece together one complete suit of armor.

It was easy to imagine how miserable they looked!

A junior officer used his helmet to scoop up some water from a stream. Just as he was about to drink, he noticed Chunyu Qiong sitting nearby in a daze.

He walked over to Chunyu Qiong and said, “General, you drink first.”

People were most vulnerable to sudden kindness.

Especially when they were down on their luck.

Chunyu Qiong felt a warmth spread through his heart. Then, with a loud sob, he burst into tears.

The junior officer froze, completely bewildered.

He thought, I only offered you some water. What are you crying for?

“General, victory and defeat are ordinary matters in war. Why are you crying?”

“There has never been a general in this world who wins every battle!” the junior officer said, trying to console him.

“Ah!” Chunyu Qiong let out a heavy sigh and said to him, “I’m not crying because I lost the battle. I’m crying because all the grain at Raven’s Nest has been burned. How am I supposed to explain this to my lord?”

The junior officer glanced around, then leaned close to Chunyu Qiong’s ear and whispered, “General, now that Raven’s Nest is lost and the front line has no grain, our lord is certain to suffer a crushing defeat.”

“If things go badly, the four provinces of Ji, Qing, You, and Bing may all fall to Prime Minister Cao.”

“A tree dies when it remains rooted, but a man can live if he moves. In my opinion, you might as well seek refuge with Prime Minister Cao.”

“Think about it. You lost Raven’s Nest, and when you return, our lord will certainly take your life. But if you defect to Prime Minister Cao, then losing Raven’s Nest will become a great achievement instead!”

“By then, Prime Minister Cao will surely give you an important position!”

Losing Raven’s Nest was a grave offense in Yuan Shao’s camp.

But in Cao Cao’s camp, it would be a great merit.

Once Chunyu Qiong understood the crucial difference, his eyes immediately lit up.

After grasping the implications, Chunyu Qiong wanted only to say to the junior officer, “You certainly know how to move a tree.”

“Good!” Chunyu Qiong gritted his teeth, slapped his thigh, and declared, “We’re going to defect to Prime Minister Cao.”

End of Chapter