Chapter 107: The Forced March of a Thousand Li

Guangling?

I never said I was going to Guangling, did I?

Mo Xiaobai took the silk cloth Guo Jia tossed at him, raised an eyebrow, and watched Guo Jia burying his head over a desk to make calculations, so he shook his head and smiled sadly.

That’s right!

The man in front of him was Guo Jia.

How could such a small plan of his possibly escape Guo Jia’s eyes?

He bowed deeply to the back of Guo Jia, then turned and walked out of the unremarkable small tent. He returned to the main tent’s exterior to wait. Within less than four or five breaths, Wang Zhong also emerged.

Wang Zhong said nothing more after coming out. He waved his right hand and said, “Follow me back to the camp to gather our troops and ride to Pengcheng to provide support!”

“Yes!”

The group of three returned to the Rear Camp. Ignoring the fact that many new recruits were already asleep late at night, they immediately issued the order to assemble. Quickly, one batch after another of yawning new recruits from the Rear Camp’s soldier tents walked out.

Half an hour later, the entire Rear Camp was fully prepared. Thanks to the nearly twenty thousand units of military grain Mo Xiaobai contributed during his daytime mission, Cao Cao at least did not let these new recruits go to battle on an empty stomach. Han Hao personally escorted a shipment of grain over. Although the amount was not huge, it was enough if they ate carefully on the road.

“Move out!”

Wang Zhong gave the command, and his troops and horses immediately marched out of the camp from the southern gate. Mo Xiaobai followed at Wang Zhong’s side, while naturally Li Guang and Li Ji were by his side.

Just as Mo Xiaobai rode his horse out of the camp, a notification from the Intellect Brain rang in his ears:

“Ding~ Guo Jia, the Military Advisor of the Cao Cao Faction, has released the Guandu Instance sub-quest ‘Sanfu Horse Delivery’. Any players who enter the main battlefield of the Battle of Guandu may go to accept this sub-quest.”

“Battle of Guandu Sub-quest: Sanfu Horse Delivery!”

“Quest Introduction: Due to a shortage of Cavalry in the Cao Cao Faction, the general mobility of its Soldiers is lower than that of the Yuan Shao Camp. Guo Jia has sent a letter to Zhong Yao far away in Chang’an, asking him to prepare 5,000 Xiliang horses.”

“Quest Goal: Ask players to go to Chang’an to collect the horses and deliver them to the Cao Cao Front Camp at Guandu.”

“Quest Acceptance: Guo Jia (Central Army Camp at Guandu), Zhong Yao (Chang’an)”

“Quest Completion: Xu Huang (Front Camp at Guandu), Zhang Liao (Front Camp at Guandu)”

“Quest Reward: 5 Merit Value per horse!”

“Failure Penalty: 10 Merit Value per horse!”

A new quest.

A quest released by the Great God Guo Fengxiao!

At this very moment, Players who were sleeping in the camp were all startled awake by the quest notification.

“Wow, what a grand gesture! Giving a horse grants 5 Merit!”

“This is much better than transporting grain.”

“How magnificent is my Guo Fengxiao! He is truly a big tycoon, much more generous than the Intellect Brain.”

“Don’t you guys look at the failure penalty? Transporting grain has no extra penalty other than death.”

“Sigh~ So does this mean if we receive the horses but don’t bring them back, we will lose Merit?”

“May I ask a weak question: Why are we always given delivery quests? Aren’t we here to go to war?”

“Just being given a quest is good enough. Don’t pick and choose. Whether there is a penalty or not, go accept the quest first.”

“I have a feeling that Guo Jia is up to something.”

Because of this Instance Quest, the Players in the Cao Camp began to make a noise. At this moment, Mo Xiaobai, sitting on his horse, smiled with understanding. He knew what Guo Jia was planning.

To launch a surprise attack on Wuchao, it is indeed necessary to start with horse preparation.

From this moment on, the trend of the entire Battle of Guandu had already become completely different from his past life.

…

The forced march of a thousand Li, traveling from Guandu all the way to Pengcheng.

Even though Mo Xiaobai had experienced a forced march in his past life, experiencing it again in this life left him exhausted, gasping for air.

In just eight short days, besides the three watches for eating and sleeping each day, the rest of the time was used for traveling.

Even though the official roads were clear and they only entered the mountains once or twice, after riding for two days, Mo Xiaobai no longer wanted to ride.

His bottom really could not take the pain!

Fortunately, after completing the thousand-li journey, everyone finally entered the territory of Pengcheng.

Over two thousand troops were hiding in a remote wasteland mountain. Mo Xiaobai had rested on his saddle for less than half an hour when Li Guang suddenly appeared from somewhere: “My Lord, bandits are plundering a village six Li ahead.”

Since Mo Xiaobai currently held the Official Position of Colonel, and almost no one was available under Wang Zhong, Mo Xiaobai had split the two thousand men in half to command during the journey.

Mo Xiaobai acted without hesitation, directly appointing Li Ji and Li Guang as Commandants, each leading five hundred Soldiers.

Li Guang and Li Ji were not as bad as Mo Xiaobai; both were experts capable of traveling ten thousand Li. While traveling themselves, they kept their soldiers marching in good order.

Especially Li Guang. When leading troops to set up camp or take a break, Li Guang did not like to keep the formation at high alert. As long as he himself did not leave the camp, he would scatter small units to scout the surrounding area, then sleep with the rest of the men.

Li Ji kept shaking his head at Li Guang’s lax military governance.

Seeing him appear out of nowhere now, it was naturally because a Scout who had gone out had brought back news.

Although he really wanted to rest a little longer, since Li Guang said so, Mo Xiaobai could only pat his butt and stand up: “Are the Flying General’s intentions to investigate?”

“My Lord speaks correctly. If we see with our own eyes, we will understand how the opponent truly is.”

Mo Xiaobai had no objection to this. Nodding, he said, “Then let us go take a look together. Bring only three to five people, no more. Maogong, stay behind and prepare some food.”

“Yes.”

Li Guang and Li Ji nodded together. One went to arrange the evening meal, while the other called for five or six Soldiers to accompany them.

A distance of six or seven Li, although nothing compared to a thousand Li, felt exhausting to Mo Xiaobai at that moment; he would find even one extra Li tiring. Following the winding path of the Scouts, they finally reached a thirty-meter-high earthen mound right before their breaking point.

Standing on the mound and looking down, they could see a manor currently suffering an attack.

“My Lord, that is where the bandits are.”

Li Guang pointed downwards and spoke. Mo Xiaobai could not help but roll his eyes.

Do I look like an idiot?

Such an obvious robbery, could I not see it?

Mo Xiaobai not only saw that a group of bandits was plundering below, but he also recognized that the bandits actually belonged to two factions.

One group consisted of professional mountain bandits with high skill levels. They were not many, but each was a master of murder and arson. The other group consisted of about over a hundred Players who were joining in to plunder. Once they got hold of the loot, they would push and shove, argue, and curse over the unequal distribution of spoils.

Although Li Guang’s military governance was lax, he never tolerated his men burning, killing, robbing, and plundering. Seeing those bandits bullying good and innocent villagers, he became quite indignant: “My Lord, these are just a motley crowd. Shall I go to rescue them?”

“What rescue? They are all dead already!” Mo Xiaobai shook his head and rejected Li Guang’s request.

“But can we just ignore the bandits in front of us?”

“Let them keep their heads on their necks for now. In three days, I will definitely avenge the entire family of this manor.” Mo Xiaobai knew Li Guang was about to attack again, so he used this method to restrain him.

As for the reason he did not act, it was actually very simple.

Killing Players was equivalent to exposing himself.

Mo Xiaobai did not want to satisfy his momentary desire for quick justice and let the battle for Pengcheng continue to stagnate.

He wanted to settle the fate of Pengcheng in a single battle!