In Love With My Fierce Farming Wife!
Chapter 711 - 710: Series of Stratagems! (Part 5) _1

Chapter 711: Chapter 710: Series of Stratagems! (Part 5) _1

Zhou Zhenchao’s side has fallen into disarray.

Leading his remaining troops, he runs frantically in no specific direction! Yet, they are continuously met with relentless hunting from the Qin army.

The Qin soldiers seem to be playing a cruel game of cat-and-mouse with him, constantly chasing him one moment and disappearing the next. As soon as he manages to halt for a rest and regroup, before a single hot meal can reach his lips, those Qin soldiers would burst out from some unknown corner and another round of attrition battle would commence.

After days of relentless pursuit, Zhou’s Army is already like a dog who lost his home, utterly exhausted.

Surrounded by mountains and disoriented by the lack of landmarks, the group quickly lost their way in the mountains.

Zhou Zhenchao, riding his horse, brutally lashes with his whip against the horse’s hindquarters; however, the horse only neighs weakly and refuses to move any further.

Upon seeing this, Teacher Song quickly steps in and pleads, "My Lord, this horse is severely exhausted, famished, and thirsty. It lacks the strength to move on. Why don’t we temporarily rest here? This will allow the horse to graze for some time too."

Zhou Zhenchao’s throat was so dry that it felt like it was on fire. Involuntarily he felt for his water bag strapped to his waist and wanted to drink, but he upended it for a long time and not a single drop of water fell out.

He cursed his ill luck, and immediately dismounted his horse, dealt a kick to the animal, and allowed it to graze on its own. "Do as Teacher Song suggests! Relay the orders, let everyone rest here, start an immediate fire, and prepare food. We will resume our journey in one hour!"

The messenger paused hesitantly, "Our food and fodder has been exhausted long ago..."

"Just deliver the messages as I say!"

Zhou Zhenchao was in an extraordinarily bad mood! He shouted at the stammering messenger, "We are out of supplies, can’t we plunder them? You expect me, your Great General, to instruct you on how to do this? Get moving now!

Scolded by Zhou Zhenchao, the messenger did not dare argue back but hastily went off to deliver the orders.

"By the order of the Great General! Everyone rest where you are, start an immediate fire, and prepare food. We will leave in an hour!"

The messenger repeated every single word of Zhou Zhenchao’s orders, his loud voice reverberating through the surroundings. Soon, they saw a group of soldiers charging towards the few houses at the foot of the mountain. It was pandemonium when the soldiers began to loot for food and started cooking.

Watching this spectacle, Teacher Song sighed quietly in his heart.

The Lord’s courage is just for show and he lacks any real strategy. He might have been sufficiently competent when he was a city guard in his fiefdom, but now, he is required to seize cities, and his present predicament was not surprising.

The current situation was dire - the string has been drawn and the arrow has to be shot.

"My Lord, as of now, we still have tens of thousands of troops. Although we have suffered two defeats, such successes and losses are common in wars. As long as we stabilize the morale of the troops and wait for the right opportunity to retaliate, we can surely achieve a great victory again! My Lord, do you have a plan now?" Finally getting to the point after his long preamble.

Zhou Zhenchao was already extremely exhausted at that moment!

Ignoring the muddy ground, he slouched on the ground without any dignity.

Upon hearing Teacher Song, he languidly replied: "Does Teacher Song perhaps have a good strategy?"

"I dare not say that I have a foolproof plan."

Teacher Song knew Zhou Zhenchao was unhappy, he nevertheless gritted his teeth and recommended, "For now, why don’t we send some scouts first, and capture a prisoner or two for interrogation so we can figure out where we are?"

Zhou Zhenchao naturally had no objections to this, and quickly summoned some scouts and instructed them to do as suggested.

About six miles behind them, Qin Yi was personally stationed with his troops.

"Report!—" The messenger loudly reported: "My Great General, the Zhou Army has dispatched scouts for reconnaissance, our soldiers have successfully sent out the misleading information."

"Good!"

Unable to contain himself, Qin Yi exclaimed.

Seeing this, Master Uncle Cheng heaved a sigh of relief and praised Qin Yi: "The Great General’s plans are truly ingenious! Zhou Zhenchao is walking right into the trap we set. We can move onto the next step of our plan!"

The deputy generals were nodding in agreement, clearly pleased with the situation. Yet, one of them seemed confused.

"However, how can the Great General be so certain that after hearing the scouts’ report, Zhou Zhenchao will abandon the easy route westward and instead head south?"

"If it were another person, they would certainly continue heading west. However, because he is Zhou Zhenchao, and precisely because we have been hunting him relentlessly, this time, I am confident that with his personality, he will certainly disobey his subordinates’ advice, refuse to walk right into our trap again, and finally choose to head west!"

Qin Yi said confidently, "Of course, we would also need to employ some strategies to ensure the success of this operation!"

"How can we ensure this?"

Everyone eagerly asked, by now they have become accustomed to Qin Yi’s collected and leisurely commands.

They have complete faith in his words. As long as Qin Yi issues an order, they would carry it out meticulously!

"Naturally...."

Qin Yi murmured under his breath. His eyes flashed, and a rare smile spread across his face.

"However, we can’t relax just yet! We must be cautious not to let all our earlier efforts go to waste, and not end up with an empty result! Relay my order, keep a close watch on the Zhou Army’s route of march! Report immediately if there is any news!"

Zhou Zhenchao, who had suffered a huge loss to the Qin Army, wished nothing more than to hurry back to Shengjing. Only after the captured enemies revealed, did they find out that they were in a place called Wuyue. To the east of Wuyue, lay Jiangzhong which is under Qin Hong’s jurisdiction. But traveling westward for three days would take them to Zhenjiang.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhenchao felt energized!

"Are you sure about the way to Zhenjiang?"

The messenger quickly replied, "Yes, my Lord, there are two routes to Zhenjiang. One route pulls westward for three days and we directly reach Zhenjiang. The second route is to head south for four days, detouring through a canyon and the Taohua ferry terminal nearby allows you to reach Zhenjiang directly by boat."

Zhou Zhenchao was overjoyed, "Do we even need to consider this? Break camp immediately, let us hurry to Zhenjiang, and return to Shengjing as quickly as possible!"

However, Teacher Song on the side quickly tried to intervene, "My Lord, we should discuss this patiently. There could be a trap!"

"Teacher Song, you shouldn’t dampen one’s spirits and dampen your own prestige! What could Qin Yi possibly have done? Could there be a trap here? What an absolute joke! Relay my orders, break camp with utmost urgency!"

Zhou Zhenchao did not listen to his advice at all and ordered to break camp and head west hastily.

Teacher Song could only sigh and follow him, along with the deputy generals.

The troops hurried throughout the night, and after only ten or so miles, they indeed entered a canyon.

Upon seeing the steep rock walls, tall mountains, and dense forests of the canyon, Zhou Zhenchao couldn’t help but laugh heartily: "Teacher Song, didn’t you claim that Qin Yi had divine powers? Why didn’t he ambush us here? Wouldn’t this terrain have caused significant damage to our troops?"

Having been put on the spot, Teacher Song could only mutter, "I am truly useless..."

His words provoked a hearty laugh from Zhou Zhenchao.

But before the laughter could subside, the mountains and the valley shook tremendously. An earth-shattering battle cry soon ensued from either side of the mountain valley!