Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 492 486. Greed for Success and Reckless Advance
Zhang Hu and Le Chen were very happy to have a battle to fight now. Since they came to Huainan, except for occasionally clearing out bandits, they actually had no experience in battle.

This was the first time that the two of them had the opportunity to officially compete, so they couldn't help but feel a little excited, just like middle school students going on a picnic the next day.

Following Cao Xiu's orders, the two men assembled 10,000 troops and set out from Shouchun to Hefei for support.

The situation is different now, and the mood of the two young generals is also different. They feel that the scenery that seemed the same in the past during the march is now different.

Shouchun is not far from Hefei, and it only takes two days to reach the destination, which is more than 200 miles. The two men entered Hefei city in high spirits and met the garrison commander of Hefei, Chang Diao.

"General Chang, this is it... That's why the Grand Marshal ordered the two of us to come and support him."

Le Chen stepped forward and told Chang Diao about Cao Xiu's arrangements. Chang Diao nodded, touched his beard, and pondered for a moment.

"Thank you for your hard work, young generals. I also know about the Han army's crossing north, and I have sent scouts to investigate. They are probably on their way back with results. The front line is dangerous, and the two young generals have no experience in leading troops. It would be better for you to rest in Hefei and make a decision after the intelligence from the front line is clear."

Chang Diao's words sounded reasonable and fit the current situation, but Zhang Hu felt something was not right and stepped forward to argue, but Le Chen next to him stopped him, so Zhang Hu had to give up and did not say anything.

"General Chang is now the commander-in-chief of Hefei. Since General Chang has made arrangements, we two should follow them. If there are any other arrangements in the future, please inform us at any time."

Le Chen's words sounded very comfortable, and brought a little more smile to Chang Diao's face.

"Of course. If there is a vanguard position, I will definitely think of the two young generals. Now the two young generals have traveled hard and must be exhausted. I have already arranged an inn. The two young generals should go and rest."

The three of them pretended for a while, and finally Le Chen took Zhang Hu and left.

"Lao Le, this General Chang obviously wants to suppress us, why didn't you argue with him just now?"

The two of them walked in silence until they returned to the inn, closed the door, and only after making sure that there were no outsiders did Zhang Hu begin to complain to Le Chen.

It is interesting to say that Zhang Liao and Le Jin are both among the Five Elite Generals, and Zhang Liao is even slightly stronger than Le Jin. However, in the second generation, Zhang Hu is far behind Le Chen.

In the original timeline, Zhang Hu and Le Chen disappeared after resisting Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and there are few more records of their military achievements. However, Le Chen rose to prominence, and later followed Sima Shi to attack Guanqiu Jian, and was promoted to the governor of Yangzhou, and finally died in Zhuge Dan's rebellion.

Let’s not talk about Le Chen’s military talents, but he must have a lot of talent in political acumen and official interpersonal relationships, which is why he acted the way he did.

"Brother Zhang, think about it. We are living under someone else's roof now. When we are away from home, we are not subject to orders from our sovereign, let alone the orders from the Grand Marshal. General Chang Diao is now the chief officer of Hefei. Since we are in Hefei, we cannot disobey him.

If we send out troops on our own to investigate the movements of the Han army, if we get any results and win, that would be good, but Chang Diao Fengrun would still take a lot of the credit, and it would just be a happy ending for everyone.

But what if we lose soldiers and generals, and something unexpected happens? Wouldn't it be that we didn't obey orders and sent troops on our own, and Chang Diao would just put all the responsibility on us? Now that we are here, we should make the best of it and listen to Chang Diao's orders. We are here under the order of the Grand Marshal, and the credit should be ours, so he dare not embezzle it. "Le Chen explained the twists and turns to Zhang Hu, and Zhang Hu shook his head. He was full of enthusiasm, but he didn't expect to be poured cold water on by the dirty officialdom as soon as he arrived in Hefei.

Not to mention the two people staying in Hefei, the scouts sent by Chang Diao were in a miserable situation. The Han army's bows and crossbows were sophisticated, and the production method had long entered the waterwheel forging stage, which was much faster than pure handmade production. In addition, Feng Xi proposed standardization and batch production, and many parts were manufactured almost one by one.

Even though the Yangzhou Army cannot use all the new bows and crossbows as widely as the Jingzhou Army, the coverage rate is still not low, and ordinary crossbows are almost free.

More than a hundred scouts were sent out with heavy casualties, but a dozen of them managed to escape and informed Chang Diao of the general situation of the Han army.

This time, more than 12,000 Han troops, assisted by the navy, headed straight for the north bank. They were led by former Wu generals Ding Feng and Zhu Yi, as well as the Han general Hu Ji.

In the original timeline, Hu Ji was the chief clerk in the Prime Minister's Office. After Wang Ping died of illness in the late Han Dynasty, he took over as the Governor of Hanzhong and the General of Zhenxi. Zhuge Liang had a high opinion of him. However, because Hu Ji agreed with Jiang Wei to attack Shanggui together during the Northern Expedition, Hu Ji did not come, which led to Jiang Wei's disastrous defeat. This is considered a dark history.

The three generals were all that was needed to test Huainan this time. If Cao Wei really did not respond, then the test could turn into a real Northern Expedition at any time.

"Ha, the Han army actually sent tens of thousands of people to die. This is really ridiculous."

Chang Diao sneered. The entire Huainan area had 60,000 troops. There were nearly 10,000 troops in Hefei, and Zhang Hu and Le Chen had 10,000 troops to support them, so the total force reached 20,000.

Moreover, Chang Diao's mindset had not yet changed. He thought that these Han troops invading from the north were no different from the previous Wu troops. After all, they were all soldiers of the Eastern Wu, and he thought that nothing would change.

"Call General Zhuge Qian over."

Just as Zhang Hu thought, Chang Diao indeed had no intention of giving any credit to Zhang Hu and Le Chen. Now, hearing that the Han army had only more than 10,000 people, Chang Diao began to have some ideas.

Chang Diao's plan was that he and his deputy Zhuge Qian would lead an army of 15,000 to wipe out these Han troops, so that the credit for this great achievement in fighting against the Han troops would fall on him.

If the famous generals of the Han army, such as Feng Xi, had come in person, Chang Diao would probably not have dared to act like this. But who are the three on the opposite side? Ding Feng is just a defeated general, not worth mentioning. Zhu Yi and Hu Ji are unknown people, not worth mentioning?
By then, I would be able to get promoted somewhat based on my merit in resisting the Han army.

"General Chang, what happened?"

Just when Chang Diao was still fantasizing about the days of promotion in the future, his deputy Zhuge Qian came. Chang Diao had a general named Wang Shuang under him before, but Cao Zhen liked Wang Shuang and took him to Guanzhong, so now there are no brave generals available in Hefei City or even the whole Huainan.

"General Zhuge, muster up the troops, including those of Zhang Hu and Le Chen, and leave only 5,000 men to guard the city. We will go and recapture the lost city ourselves."

Chang Diao spoke to Zhuge Qian with some confidence.

(End of this chapter)