Chapter 383: Safely Passing
Around dusk, when the setting sun is nearby.

Gan Ning opened his eyes after sleeping for a whole day, feeling tired and weak both physically and mentally.

He rubbed his dry eyes and tried to get up, but his back and waist were sore and his legs and feet didn't have much strength.

He had no choice but to turn around and support himself on the wooden bed with both hands, and then he managed to get up from the bed.

He wanted to bend down and put on leather boots, but stretching his muscles made his whole body sore and difficult to exert force, so he gave up wearing clogs and walked out of the barracks holding on to the wall.

Outside the barracks was the military training ground, where many soldiers were sitting in small groups, eating dinner.

Many people, like Gan Ning, either fought to exhaustion or ate goose meat rice balls after being seriously injured.

Gan Ning also knew that his body was just not adapting at the moment, but if he moved a little, he would have an endless supply of energy.

Some experienced veterans are also accustomed to this state, and even feel that after experiencing this state, their muscles and bones will become stronger and firmer, and their explosive power and endurance will also increase.

Seeing Gan Ning wake up, the officer on duty asked, "General, would you like some goose bone soup?"

"Ah."

Gan Ning responded briefly and asked, "Where is Huang Yuanji?"

This was his personal guard. The officer on duty replied, "Yuanji is seriously injured and has not yet woken up."

Gan Ning nodded, and saw several soldiers bringing him a low stool and a square table, so he sat down and closed his eyes to rest.

As long as I close my eyes, I will instinctively recall last night's battle experience, especially the maces, flails and maces that were used last night. These new armor-piercing weapons feel very powerful.

Even if the opponent is a heavily armored soldier like himself, it is so dark, and the flail and mace hit him on the head, even if Lu Bu is resurrected, he will vomit blood.

Last night, Cao's army was well prepared on the periphery and was able to break through quickly, defeat the enemy and cause large-scale chaos and rout, thanks to two points.

The first is that their own soldiers are well-armored and fearless of death; the second is that maces, flails and maces are extremely efficient in breaking armor and causing lethal attacks.

No matter how elite Cao's soldiers were, they would fall if hit, even if they successfully blocked the attack.

Gan Ning was in a semi-dizzy state and could not feel the passage of time. Almost at the moment when he closed his eyes, he heard the military officer say to him: "General, the soup pot is here."

Gan Ning opened his eyes and saw a black pottery casserole with a plate in front of him, steaming, and a plate of wheat cakes next to it.

He rubbed his hands, picked up the lid with chopsticks and put it aside. As he smelled the rich aroma of the soup, he felt his strength quickly recovering, and even the aches and pains in his muscles and bones were weakening and fading.

He picked up the soup spoon, scooped half a spoonful, blew on it first, and then put it into his mouth.

After swallowing it in one gulp, I immediately felt the aches and pains all over my body subside rapidly, and even my slightly drowsy mind became clear.

The right hand holding the spoon originally felt a little uncomfortable, but this discomfort soon subsided.

The whole person seemed to be refreshed, and Gan Ning drank another half spoonful of bone soup.

This is real bone soup. After the meat of the big white goose is removed, all the bones will be crushed into bone residue and mixed with various spices to make soup.

How to eat white goose has always been a relatively profound subject.

After drinking a few sips of soup, Gan Ning began to eat the tofu cubes, eggs, and beef slices in the black pottery casserole. After finishing the ingredients in the casserole, Gan Ning tore the wheat cake into pieces and put it in the casserole, then picked up the warm casserole and drank from it in big gulps.

After drinking the soup, he glanced at the fine layer of bone residue at the bottom of the pot, frowned and thought for a while, then decided to scrape it up with a wheat cake, roll it up, and swallow it in one gulp.

After burping, Gan Ning stroked his round belly and said, "Bring me my horse."

He also walked towards the training ground. Several old soldiers nearby stood up and asked, "General Qu, are we going to fight tonight?"

"No more fighting, take a good rest."

Gan Ning responded and walked quickly. Soon he appeared on the southern city wall on horseback.

He dismounted, put on wooden clogs and went up to the city wall to have a closer look.

Gan Ning was not surprised to see that Cao's camp was still standing.

A battalion commander rode his horse to the south city and quickly climbed up the city wall: "General."

Gan Ning glanced back and asked, "Yuan Sheng, has Cao's army made any unusual moves today?"

Cai Yuansheng took a few steps forward to take a look at the slightly dim scene outside the building, and said: "Two teams of Cao's army arrived today. Judging from their size, each team has about 2,000 to 3,000 people. Another 2,000 people retreated to the east, and they should be wounded soldiers."

He was a member of Gan Ning's army, and he happened to be the one who changed and gave names to his personal soldiers. Originally, he was called Cai Sheng, and he was given the character Yuan along with the first batch of personal soldiers of Hei Xiong. When the expedition to Hexi was launched, the original personal soldiers had been sent down to lead troops, and now the second batch of personal soldiers also changed their names and gave them characters, and this time they were collectively given the character Yi.

Names with three characters are not common in the first place. Now, most of the middle and low-level military officers under the Grand Marshal's office have names with three characters. Those with the character "Yuan" are demoted personal soldiers, while those with other two characters are mostly of low birth and changed their names when they were awarded official positions for meritorious service.

Gan Ning frowned and thought for a moment, then asked, "How is the passage to Shan County now?"

"The enemy has blocked the road as before, cut down trees to block the road, and set up ambushes to kill us. However, the north bank of the river is open. Captain Zhang has gathered 3,000 infantry and cavalry on the north bank, ready to cross the river to reinforce at any time."

"I don't need his reinforcements. Send a message to the north bank and let him enter Shaanxi and Tianjin as planned. If Shaanxi and Tianjin are stable, then Guanzhong will be stable; if Guanzhong is stable, then the plan of Xichui will not be affected."

As Gan Ning spoke, he took out the leather bag with the silver seal of the Hongnong County Magistrate from his waist and threw it to Cai Yuansheng. Cai Yuansheng caught it with both hands, turned around to write the military order, and stamped it directly.

Afterwards, Cai Yuansheng brought the seal bag and official documents to see Gan Ning. Gan Ning saw that the content was correct and unambiguous, and did not care about Cai Yuansheng's poor wording and barely legible text, so he took the pen and signed his name and anti-counterfeiting seal on the silk book.

After rehanging the seal bag, the county chief of Mianchi, wearing sleeveless leather armor, came up and asked, "Sir, today the county's militia has volunteered to increase to more than 500 people. There are also 700 volunteers and remnants outside the county. I dare not allow them into the city, and have ordered them to retreat to Shan County."

"Well, the night curfew on the streets and city walls will be handled by the volunteers in the city, and the soldiers in the camp will patrol. Cao Cao will be the one giving the curfew order."

"Cao Cao?"

The county magistrate asked back, also like a whisper, and cupped his hands: "Yes."

Seeing that Gan Ning had no other arrangements, the county magistrate stepped back and left.

At this time, only half of the setting sun was left hanging on the top of the Xichui Mountain. Gan Ning opened his eyes, looked at the setting sun, then looked at the Cao army camp opposite, turned around and left without any expression.

If the city had not been short of white geese, he would have dared to attack tonight.

At this moment in Cao's army camp, Han Hao came to ask for instructions on the curfew.

Cao Cao was playing with a pointed hammer he had picked up while cleaning the camp. He saw a silver-plated lightning pattern on it and thought about the password for tonight, so he said, "Dong Lei, which means thunder in winter."

"Yes."

Han Hao agreed. When he retreated, he saw Cao Cao was calm and composed, so he advised him, "Mingsir, today the camp is strengthened and the soldiers are stable. Please go to bed early."

"Don't worry, Yuan Si. I'm not worried about the bandits coming. How can there be such a thing as continuous raids on camps in this world?"

Cao Cao laughed as he spoke, and Han Hao also forced a smile, then stepped back and left the tent.

After he left, Cao Cao turned his head and looked northeast.

At this moment, inside the old pass of Hangu Pass, Cao Ren was lying on his back, eating the minced meat porridge fed by Cao Chun.

Cao Chun looked guilty, kept his head down, and had an uncontrollable feeling of resentment.

Cao Ren reluctantly ate a bowl of rice and said, "The changing situation is beyond the control of you and me, brothers."

Cao Chun nodded reluctantly. He was no longer the commander of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and Cao Ren had also lost his vanguard army.

Only more than a thousand loyal soldiers withdrew with a tough attitude, along with more than a thousand wounded soldiers.

After losing the two states of Yan and Yu and retreating to the Heluo area, there was no need for Cao Ren to unite and win over other peripheral military officials and forces.

If it was just about defending and managing Heluo, Cao Cao would be able to do it with ease.

With so few resources, it would be more worthwhile to cultivate people like Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen.

Otherwise, without the resources for these people to grow, is it really necessary for Cao Ren to inherit everything in the future?
At this moment, the two brothers each had their own ideas, but due to Cao Ren's injuries, it was difficult to communicate in depth.

With something on his mind, Cao Chun returned to his room to rest.

He tossed and turned, always feeling that Cao Cao had no good intentions when he asked him to lead his troops to besiege the imperial palace.

So there is no need for me to be grateful.

But the Cao family and Hebei have a blood feud, and it is even more difficult for Guanzhong to look down on a defeated general like his own brother.

If he went to surrender to the new emperor of Huainan, the other party would certainly be wary of him and would implicate Cao Ren.

Cao Chun thought about it over and over again but had no clue.

(End of this chapter)