Battle Royale of the Sinners

Dong Zhuo clicked his tongue. 'This old fox was sharp. He already knew my plans already?'

Li Ru, who was observing the men by the side, stepped into the conversation.

"We have been preparing an alternative way to transport our supplies. Since we have occupied Liyang Port on our way here, we could use the Yellow River water channel for our logistic route. Ships travel faster than carriages, so it will be more efficient if we use the water route instead."

Huangfu Song glanced at both of them in suspicion. He suspected that Dong Zhuo was plotting something sinister behind their back because he never consulted this plan with them. Furthermore, he did not trust this ugly fat man as they had not settled the issues during Dong Zhuo's sudden invasion of the Capital just yet.

"Since you have been preparing the ships, I have another idea. How about we use our Prime Minister's ships to transport our troops along the river, so we can bypass the forest fire?" Huangfu Song suggested.

"Oh! That's right! Sir Prime Minister, can we borrow your boats? Since the forest is on fire, we can't procure woods at the moment. We will have to ask you for this favor!" Zhu Jun played along. He also suspected that Dong Zhuo was up to something.

"Of course, we will gladly help you." Li Ru bowed and spoke in the place of Dong Zhuo. He winked to his boss, so this fat warlord could play along with him as well.

Dong Zhuo caught the sign. Although he did not like it, he followed through with Li Ru's gesture.

"Fine! Have it your way!"

...

After the meeting, Dong Zhuo left the tent with an ugly expression. It was not a pleasant feeling being extorted by the two generals. The moment he reached his private resting tent, he looked back at Li Ru, who was following after him, with a fierce glare.

"EXPLAIN!" Roared Dong Zhuo.

"My lord, I haven't told you yet. Lord Hua Xiong has returned and informed me about the changes. He has found the main force."

Li Ru put a map on the table and pointed at the mountain, northwest of Liyang.

"They are currently disguising themselves as Bao Xin's light cavalry unit, and they are heading toward Henei City as I have predicted. Their target is to isolate both imperial troops of Liu Ping and our three armies."

Dong Zhuo did not speak and allowed Li Ru to continue explaining.

"Once Henei City falls, both Huangfu Song and his men will lose their logistic supply line. This is where we will work with Zhang Tong and his men."

"At first, I wanted us to withdraw by crossing the river through our boats. But since our plan is exposed, we can use the plan B. We will allow Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to transport their men using our boats. However, we will not be going with them!"

"Instead, we will reveal our intel about Zhang Tong's movement after the majority of their men have been transported to the other side. Then, we will use the intelligence to give us the excuse to retreat back to Henei!"

The fat tyrant squinted his eyes and frowned. It sounded good, but one factor was not right.

"We retreat to Henei. Then, won't we run into Zhang Tong's main force at Henei?"

Li Ru nodded. "Yes, we will. My lord, you don't have to worry about this. We will not fight with Zhang Tong at Henei. As the matter of fact, they will be the one that avoids fighting with us! They will let us bypass the city territory in peace."

"How do you know?"

"They only have 10,000 men, my lord. Will a sane commander pick a fight with an army of 100,000 men with 10,000 troops?"

…

…

October 5th, 11 AM.

The scout team of Liyang stopped their horses in front of the forest fire. They were two kilometers away from the great firewall, but the horses refused to proceed further.

"It's alright. We're moving south toward the Yellow River. Move out!"

Tong ordered the five thousand horsemen behind him. This time, Tong took all of his cavalries along since this was a daytime sortie.

Two hours later, Tong and his men arrived at the river bank, southwestern of Liyang City. The iconic grand Yellow River was before Tong's eyes for the first time in his two lives.

The size of this river was massive. Had it not for the drought and famine this year, the water level would have been higher and the width of the river nearby Liyang would have been over a kilometer!

However, the current water level was low to the point that the width of the river was only 500 meters, but it was still a significant size.

The soldiers looked at Tong and waited for his order. They were confused about what they were doing over here instead of scouting the enemies.

Tong checked the wind and the current forest fire again. They were still heading southwest, which this place was safe from the fire.

"Start constructing ballistae and catapults here! I want them to aim at the river."

"Sir?" The soldiers still confused. Constructing anything on this plain was like suicide to them as this zone had a high risk of flash flood.

"The Imperial Army will be moving through here with their ships. We will ambush their troops here!"

The soldiers looked at Tong in awe and doubt. Tong rarely deployed scout teams to gather information. They were wondering how he got this intelligence.

Contrary to their suspicion, they complied with the order and started cutting woods and gathering materials from nearby areas.

Tong had this information from his radar map again. Inside his enemy camp, there was an activity at the south of the camp near the Yellow River. With the current forest fire obstructed their path toward Liyang City, they were likely to use the water path to avoid the firewall.

Once he knew their next plan, he made his move and led his fast unit to secure this location first.

In addition to the order of making the weaponry, Tong sent a messenger back to Liyang City. He wanted all of his infantries to station in this area temporary as there would be combat once Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.

Not all these ballista arrows and catapult stones could sink all of their ships. There would be survivors from the barrages and managed to land.

'Those weapons won't be enough. I need something else.'

'What to use?'

While he was thinking, he gazed toward the river by instinct. Tong sat down by the river and touched the surface of the water. He frowned for a minute before he smirked.

'This skill is too useful in warfare like this. I can even use it this way. I hope I won't get another nerf.'

Tong was enlightened as he activated his skill, [Inventory].

"MEN! A CHANGE OF PLAN!"

"WE WILL CONSTRUCT THE WEAPONS FURTHER BACK!"

…

…

October 10th.

9 AM.

The preparation of the boats took longer than they had thought because of the lack of resources. The winter was near, so all villagers refused to sell the army logs and woods as they needed it for their firewood.

Secondly, the majority of the forest was on fire. None of the soldiers dared to approach the forest since the temperature was high and they were downwind. All workers were afraid of dying from breathing in the smokes or getting caught in the fire.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun had no choice but to buy fishing boats from the locals at Liyang Port.

After three days of hard work, they managed to secure five hundred small boats to transport their men. Each boat was as small as a civilian fishing boat. It could only carry 10 to 15 men at the maximum. Higher than that, the boat would sink from the overweight.

Dong Zhuo's ships, which were seized by the two generals, hardly could be called a ship. They were similar to a giant raft as they were roughly built for the sake of transporting troops. Each raft could carry a hundred men, and there were only five rafts built. Shipbuilding took times after all.

"This should be enough for our scouts. The forest fire should end within this week since most of the forest in his area are already gone." Huangfu Song analyzed the geographic and their plans. "Send the first batch of men with the boats. Have them establish a camp on the other side of the forest!"

"Shouldn't we send a few boats to scout the other side first?" Zhu Jun refrained Huangfu Song. He had met Tong and had seen his tactics before. Because of such ploys Tong used, Zhu Jun saw Tong as a capable general in his peers. He would not let down his guard against this youngster.

"You're right. That was a bit rash. Men, ignore the previous order! Send five boats to the other side of the forest!"

The lieutenants took the order and relayed it to their platoons.

Beside the river bank, while a squad was boarding the small ships, one of the soldiers noticed something.

"Hey, don't you think the water level is lower than yesterday?"

"Huh? Isn't it the same? Aren't you imagine it?"

"No, I'm serious. I have the impression that the water level is unusually low this year, so I kind of remember a few landmark stones at the edge of the river. But today's water edge is getting further away from the stones I marked. I think it's 2 or 3 cuns (10 centimeters) further."

"You are probably overthinking. It's a natural occurrence I say. Well, if it gets lower by that amount, a flash flood is imminent. But this is October! Flash flood usually appears in other seasons but winter! You don't have to worry about it."

The worrying soldier shut his mouth, but he could not get rid of his bad premonition.

…

2 PM.

The scout boats sailed toward the east and bypassed the sea of fire. The soldiers on the ships stared at the forest fire with awe and fear.

"Damn! The rebels are savage! They resorted burning the entire forest to hinder our march! I bet they are scared of us."

"Damn right, they should fear us! Those rebels are nothing but a mob of thieves anyway."

The previous paranoid soldier looked at the water current in fear. None of them realized it yet, the water current was getting faster as they sailed forward. The Yellow River tended to be slow and calm all year long. A rapid current was something unusual.

"Guys, I think we should turn back and report this to our superior…"

"STFU! You've been talking nonsense since you're boarding the ship! If you are that scaredy-cat, jump into the river and swim back by yourself!"

The guy shrank back in fear. He turned around and looked left and right, looking at the river bank on both sides. He gulped before he unequipped his armors and his clothes, leaving him naked.

Then, he jumped into the river for real!

"Hahaha! That guy really jumps into the river!"

"Is he nuts!? Can he even swim?"

"Who knows? But since he's deserting, shouldn't we kill him?"

"Bah, leave him! He will die in this river anyway. Look at the current! With this water current, he won't make it to the shore!"

After one of the laughing soldiers mentioned the current, everyone started to notice the anomaly.

"Wait, does this river this fast before?"

"The fishermen from the port said it was still river?"

It did not take long for them to notice another anomaly.