Chapter 28: The Hook and the Bait

Seeing a large group of "cavalry" approaching, accompanied by a mounted commander shouting orders for a desperate stand, the enemy retreated quickly.

Liu Bei continued forward, circling half a lap to arrive at the position where the enemy had previously gathered. This was to ensure his men, who were hiding in the nearby houses, knew he had arrived. Hearing Liu Bei call for a fight to the death, several of his men emerged from the houses, mounted the empty horses behind Liu Bei, and began to shout, "The Master is mighty!"

However, of the eight men he had, only six remained. The other two had already died at their sentry posts. But six were enough; the initial bluff now carried a semblance of genuine force. Two of the bandits, who were skilled riders, even charged forward on bareback horses, feigning a pursuit. The county troops retreated even faster.

"The Master is mighty!"

The men shouted with great spirit. It seemed they felt they had won yet again. Despite the somber shadow cast by the loss of two brothers, they no longer boasted.

To be honest, Liu Bei possessed no real combat strength at this moment. He was completely unaccustomed to riding without stirrups or a saddle, and holding that broken wooden shield had left his hands and legs aching intensely. Conversely, these former bandits among his men did not care at all about the lack of saddles. When stealing or seizing horses, they often had to flee at high speeds on bareback mounts, and they had long since developed a specialized gait—bowed legs.

"Master, shall we continue the pursuit?" a reckless bandit asked.

"Pursue, my foot! Get out of here quickly..." Liu Bei retorted, arranging his men. "I have no intention of actually fighting to the death with anyone!"

Naturally, they had to leave immediately. Liu Bei was essentially certain that the enemy had been targeting Gongsun Zan. If they had been after him, they would have concentrated their fire and rained arrows down the moment he announced his name and shouted for a fight to the death.

The enemy had been able to silence the night sentries and infiltrate the middle of the camp; this meant they had certainly seen Gongsun Zan's entourage and banners and had surely recognized them. Having seen the banners yet still cautiously searching the houses—this was done to kill Gongsun Zan.

Thinking it over, Liu Bei gave a bitter smile. This was likely the bitter fruit of his own actions.

This was the territory of Zhang Chun, the Chancellor of Zhongshan. The horses that Zhang Shiping was transporting belonged to Zhang Chun, and Zhang Shiping must have believed that Gongsun Zan was plotting to seize the Zhang family's horses; he would certainly have reported this to Zhang Chun with all possible speed. Meanwhile, Gongsun Zan was transporting white horses to Luoyang as tribute, ostentatiously parading his entourage through the territory.

Zhang Chun had to deal with him!

But since Gongsun Zan traveled with an official entourage, a direct interception was impossible. Thus, Zhang Chun had dispatched an elite force to infiltrate the camp and carry out a decapitation strike. They simply did not know that Gongsun Zan was not in the camp. That small unit was well-trained; they were, in all likelihood, Zhang Chun’s private soldiers.

Wait...

That was not right! Wuji County was less than thirty miles away, yet Gongsun Zan had been gone for an entire day and night, and no news had arrived since. Could it be... that Gongsun Zan was deliberately waiting for Zhang Chun to come and kill him?

Liu Bei thought for a moment and ordered, "Bring the musicians, and take the heads of our two brothers. We shall go to the sunken ship upstream and see if the Magistrate's men are there... or rather, whether they have repaired the sunken ship at all!"

...

The sunken ship remained in the river bend upstream, but there was not a soul to be seen. Gongsun Zan's men were not here, or rather, they had never been here at all—there was not even a campfire in the vicinity.

Liu Bei stood by the river, staring blankly at two small mounds of earth. Buried within were the heads of the two men who had been responsible for the night watch. These were his first true subordinates, yet they had died silently in a place like this. Perhaps they had made a sound before they died, otherwise, Liu Bei would not have woken up.

Several musicians acted as ceremonial players, performing a dirge, which served as a high-status farewell for the two heads. Liu Bei bowed to the two mounds, then turned away expressionless, instructing his men and the musicians, "You should all return to Zhuo County."

"If we go back, what about you, Master?" The men were at a loss.

"I am going to Luoyang alone... you cannot swim, so you cannot cross." Liu Bei’s eyes were somber, but his face remained calm. "If you encounter anyone blocking your path on the way, go into the Taihang Mountains and look for Jiu Chi."

With that, he picked up his sword alone, led his horse, and walked toward the riverbank.

Gongsun Zan’s personal guards were not at the site of the sunken ship, and no one was managing the wreckage. This meant Gongsun Zan was setting him up! Looking back, when they encountered refugees on the road, Gongsun Zan had appeared indifferent to the situation in Zhongshan, which suggested he understood Zhang Chun well. And knowing that those white horses were obtained from the Zhang clan of Yuyang, Gongsun Zan had still proceeded to Luoyang with great fanfare to present his gifts.

He had been deliberately baiting Zhang Chun into an ambush.

Those white horses, those musicians, Gongsun Zan's entourage and banners, and even he himself... were all bait! And this ferry, which had become a no-man's-land, was the perfect location for an attack, and the last such opportunity within the borders of Zhongshan.

Therefore, Gongsun Zan had not stayed in the camp—and he likely hadn't gone to Wuji either—but had waited elsewhere. Once he discovered signs that Zhang Chun was making a move, he had his guards return. And those guards, upon returning, had gone upstream "to repair the ship" overnight, leaving no one behind. Since this had been discussed between the guards and Liu Bei, he had sensed nothing amiss.

But now that he thought about it, those guards were not the type to be diligent about manual labor, and even if they were, they would not have left the camp entirely without a single person remaining. They had claimed to be "working through the night" just to ensure that all of Gongsun Zan's subordinates and servants were away. This left him as the only one guarding the camp.

This was using someone else's sword to kill, and shifting the disaster onto another...

The ship repair was merely a pretext the guards had seized upon; even without it, they would have likely left the camp under some other guise, such as, "The Magistrate hasn't returned, perhaps something has happened." This was Gongsun Zan’s way of avoiding losses among his own men, and also to facilitate the raid by Zhang Chun’s private soldiers.

Of course, Gongsun Zan could not have been certain that Zhang Chun would act; he was merely testing the waters and creating an opportunity—the location of the camp had likely been leaked to Zhang Chun by Gongsun Zan’s own men.

No wonder Gongsun Zan had suddenly decided to present the white horses, and no wonder he had insisted on traveling the same route!

Gongsun Zan himself had no intention of harming him, but he still intended to use him as cannon fodder. Or rather, everything else was the bait, and he, Liu Bei, had been used as the hook. The camp he occupied was specifically set up to wait for Zhang Chun to strike.

If he had died at the hands of Zhang Chun just after "rendering a great service," and if Zhang Chun had plundered the twenty white horses intended as tribute, Gongsun Zan would undoubtedly have returned to Zhuo Commandery immediately to demand that the Administrator of Zhuo, Liu Wei, and the Colonel who protects the Wuhuan, Zou Jing, raise an army to crusade against the rebel Zhang Chun!

Especially Zou Jing; Gongsun Zan knew that he had saved Zou Jing's life. If he died, Zou Jing would surely have to do something. Zou Jing had the authority to recruit Wuhuan cavalry... and his own life was the fuse Gongsun Zan was using to prompt Zou Jing to raise an army!

If he had failed to scare off the enemy and had died here, Zhang Chun’s killing of a hero and seizure of tribute would be acts of high treason. Even if Liu Wei and Zou Jing did not immediately march, they would at least have to mobilize for defense. Liu Wei was a scholar, and Zou Jing was wounded, so Gongsun Zan, the fierce general from Liaodong, would be the most suitable commander!

This was likely what Gongsun Zan meant by "making preparations in advance"...

If nothing went wrong, those guards and servants, including Gongsun Zan himself, had likely spent the night lying in ambush at the crossroads leading to Lunu—if Zhang Chun had acted, Gongsun Zan would surely have captured some of the county troops as ironclad evidence.

Yet, even though Liu Bei knew all this, there was nothing he could do. Because everything Gongsun Zan had done was beyond reproach.