Chapter 691: Unintentional Details

The day after Xu You severed Chen Xi’s supply line, Zhuge Liang went to report his recent work to Chen Xi. Over the past few days, apart from constructing fortifications, there had been no significant events. Chen Xi had no intention of engaging Xu You in open field battles; his goal was simply to stall the enemy.

As for how Chen Xi knew the opposing strategist was Xu You, it was something he deduced from various pieces of intelligence. Although he was concerned about Xu You’s sudden disappearance, it didn’t affect his own plans. Whether Xu You showed up or not didn’t concern him in the slightest; his main objective was to establish Linyi.

At this point, Chen Xi had already given up on bringing his wife to Linyi. With full-scale war underway, he couldn’t guarantee her safety. Therefore, he quickly dismissed the idea of bringing Chen Lan to Linyi. His current focus was on wrapping up the war by June and then returning home to await the birth of his child.

“Is there anything else, Kongming?” After listening to the report, Chen Xi continued reviewing military affairs but noticed that Zhuge Liang hadn’t left yet. Confused, he looked up and asked.

"Our army receives a supply convoy every three days, but today’s supply convoy arrived without the scouts from the following day’s convoy," Zhuge Liang hesitated before speaking.

"Oh, the supplies arrived, but there were no scouts from the next convoy?" Chen Xi’s expression became serious as he looked up.

“Did this convoy bring any messages for the next one?” Chen Xi recalled a similar situation from the past, his expression relaxing a bit as he asked.

“No, they didn’t,” Zhuge Liang shook his head. Last time this happened, Chen Xi had demoted a commander and sent a stern warning to the officers in charge of transporting supplies. No one would dare act recklessly after that.

“Oh, how many days of supplies do we have left?” Chen Xi asked.

“We originally had forty-five days of supplies. This convoy brought an additional three days’ worth, totaling forty-eight days,” Zhuge Liang replied with a slight frown. He found Chen Xi’s strict instructions on the supply deliveries rather unreliable—who only transports three days’ worth of supplies at a time?

“Send out scouts along the main road, three at a time, and dispatch one group every half hour. If after ten groups there is still no response, prepare for the possibility that someone has come from behind us. Also, send someone along the Jishui River to Licheng,” Chen Xi ordered.

“Is it that serious?” Zhuge Liang asked, finding it hard to believe.

“Better to be safe than sorry. Besides, Licheng is my backup supply route. As for how serious it is... well, if ten groups of scouts don’t return, we can be fairly certain that there’s trouble behind us,” Chen Xi replied nonchalantly. If something went wrong in the rear, it wasn’t his responsibility; as long as he was safe, others would take care of the problem.

Seeing Zhuge Liang’s continued confusion, Chen Xi sighed, “Kongming, think about how many days it takes for supplies to arrive from Feicheng to here.”

Zhuge Liang paused and then quickly realized, “So, if all ten groups fail to return, the enemy is likely no more than a day’s march away from us.”

“A day? That’s impossible. If they’ve caught up with our supply convoy, they’re likely all cavalry, and considering the time lost in sending out scouts, they’re probably no more than three hours away from us,” Chen Xi shrugged.

“It seems you’ve been distracted by Miss Huang recently. You’ve been a bit muddled,” Chen Xi remarked with a helpless smile. Incidentally, Huang Yueying had requested to stay behind to conduct research, and seeing Zhuge Liang’s reaction, Chen Xi had agreed.

Of course, the task of protecting Huang Yueying was handed to Zhuge Liang, under the pretext of “strengthening their relationship.” In reality, Chen Xi was more interested in Huang Yueying’s extraordinary engineering skills. She had managed to replicate a repeating crossbow that the Qu family had struggled with, just by dismantling a few models.

Although there were still issues with accuracy and range, there was no denying that Huang Yueying was a genius. Her mechanical aptitude had surpassed the imagination of ordinary people. As for material strength, Chen Xi had already assigned a dozen soldiers with internal energy to assist in tempering the materials.

Zhuge Liang grimaced slightly. He had indeed been somewhat distracted, but it was mainly due to his lack of experience with this type of strategizing.

It was similar to how Guo Jia strategically positioned scouts at specific intervals. Chen Xi had issued strict orders regarding the timing of supply deliveries. In reality, Chen Xi’s camp wasn’t particularly short on supplies; they received enough food at the beginning of each month to last forty-five days, with quarterly checks.

The purpose of the tri-daily supply convoys was merely a precaution against someone cutting off their supply line.

It took three days for a well-equipped cavalry unit to travel from Feicheng to Chen Xi’s camp, while a supply convoy would take five days. Chen Xi had instructed the supply officers at Feicheng to dispatch supplies every three days and to send out a scout from the next convoy each day.

If someone were to intercept the supply line, Chen Xi would be forewarned. Scouts moved quickly, while convoys were slow, so the first convoy would almost reach Chen Xi’s camp when the first scout from the second convoy caught up.

If the first convoy arrived and the scouts didn’t, it meant either the scouts or the convoy had been lost. And on a major road, if something disappeared without explanation, it could only mean one thing—prepare for battle.

After Zhuge Liang understood the reasoning behind this arrangement, he realized that Chen Xi’s method of sending just three days’ worth of supplies at a time was indeed a game. No wonder he often found odd items among the supplies—transporting the goods on time was more important than the goods themselves.

“But are we just going to let them move freely behind us and only defend the camp?” Zhuge Liang suggested to Chen Xi. After all, he was still young and lacked battlefield experience.

“We don’t know their strength. Besides, half of Dongping doesn’t belong to us. As for the rear, Wenhe and Wenruo have been preparing for so long; do you really think they’ve been idle? So just stay put. Our main task is to hold this position,” Chen Xi replied indifferently. The enemy could only use their tricks if they were able to.

“I don’t doubt your preparations, but I’m concerned about the Yellow River and the Jishui River. If they control those two locations, we might be pinned down here,” Zhuge Liang pointed to Chiping and the Jishui crossing.

“I stationed two battalions in Chiping. As for the Jishui crossing, I didn’t station troops there, but there are river pirates on the Jishui. It’s my hidden supply route, so we can play along with Yuan Shao. Go fetch Fazheng for me,” Chen Xi nodded, ready to respond to any potential flanking maneuvers.

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