Chapter 256: Cao Ji Escaped
It was just a matter of blowing up a round of gunpowder around the military camp, but no one expected that this single explosion would actually capture such a large naval camp!
Not only Cao Ji was surprised, even the Eldest Prince himself, who devised the plan, never anticipated it.
In the Eldest Prince’s plan, this explosion was only the first step to capture the camp.
This first step was rely to disturb the enemy’s morale, to make the more conscientious soldiers surrender voluntarily, avoiding further needless sacrifices!
It was just the appetizer, the first step—who would have thought it could scare the stationed soldiers so much that they would imdiately throw down their weapons, kneel, and cry out for divine punishnt?!
Moreover, when the Eldest Prince sent n directly into the camp shouting to arrest traitors and rebels, not only was there no resistance, but the enemy soldiers even cheered them on enthusiastically and pointed the way to the main quarters?!
Is this human behavior?
No matter how experienced the team leading this operation was, this was probably the first ti encountering such a situation, right?
The enemy did not resist but was even very proactive…
It was an unprecedented and extraordinary situation.
Although the Eldest Prince and his people felt the victory was sowhat unbelievable, even too smooth, in fact, for the soldiers remaining in the camp, this sudden “divine punishnt” was heaven expressing its displeasure toward them.
Cao Ji had fifty thousand troops under his command—these fifty thousand were naval troops, basically all well-versed in water warfare.
As a naval force, naturally, the troops most valued by General Cao were on the ships; the ones remaining in the camp were mostly old, weak, sick, or disabled, and generally neglected.
The soldiers left in the camp clearly understood their status in Cao Ji’s heart, so they never expected any special attention or dread of rising through the ranks soday.
As for the generals above them, many soldiers in the camp knew about the dirty deeds those generals did in private.
If those dirty deeds were not committed by their imdiate superiors, many would openly disdain them!
But unfortunately, they couldn’t.
The soldiers didn’t dare.
As soldiers who received favors from the higher-ups, no matter how much they disliked it, they had to endure.
What they were holding back was their conscience, their cowardice. Deep down, they knew the upper echelons were doing inhumane things, and perhaps soday they would face retribution. When that day unexpectedly arrived…
A trendous explosion shocked everyone.
Such a huge change didn’t happen anywhere else but precisely around the military camp!
In this situation, which ignorant, uneducated soldier wouldn’t say, “This is divine punishnt”?
Heaven finally couldn’t tolerate it and wanted to punish those beastly scoundrels!
In places where the imperial authority had not been thoroughly reinforced, no matter the occupation, compared to the Imperial Court, the common people trusted more in the gods.
Telling them that these were weapons made by the Imperial Court was not as convincing as saying that the gods stood on the Imperial Court’s side — the gods disapproved of Cao Ji and his ilk’s evil deeds, so they sent down divine punishnt.
The soldiers could fight n, but could they defy heaven?
It was better to just lie flat.
Surrender early—maybe heaven would forgive them for being so compliant.
–
About ten thousand soldiers remained in the camp.
All ten thousand were captured within one day.
Without any warning, it was so fast that Cao Ji didn’t even realize it!
He didn’t even know by what ans the Eldest Prince achieved this!
As for this news, Cao Ji only learned it through Cheng Yuan.
Everyone left in the camp was completely wiped out, so nobody could send him news imdiately, but Cheng Yuan’s side was different.
Soone did send ssages to Cheng Yuan!
Cao Ji wasn't a complete fool. Cheng Yuan stubbornly followed him, trying to sabotage his navy. Would Cao Ji not try to block Cheng Yuan?
Unable to place his own n, Cao Ji spent money bribing several ssengers!
Cao Ji was rich and generous; so people’s wills weren’t steadfast enough to refuse bribes.
So shortly after Cheng Yuan learned the camp was captured, just as the Eldest Prince was preparing a night operation to capture Cao Ji, the plan was already known to him.
Thus, Cao Ji fled.
Using a banquet hosted by the Cao family to delay Cheng Yuan, and leaving behind a dozen or so ships to confuse the watchers, Cao Ji took only his most beloved son and escaped!
Cao Ji’s shaless cruelty was beyond what Cheng Yuan expected.
He only took his most beloved son, not even his mother, wife, or daughters, and even left more than ten thousand troops at the harbor!
Abandoning family and subordinates solely to confuse the enemy and make them believe the commander hadn’t fled… Cheng Yuan had to admit, Cao Ji was a cautious and ruthless man.
Ruthless to the point that once things looked bad, he would imdiately cut his losses and run.
Once the man himself fled out of fear, what reason did Cheng Yuan have to spare the Cao family?
Of course, he arrested them directly!
They were all cut from the sa cloth, used to acting arrogantly in Donghai Commandery. Whether guilty or not, arrest them first and investigate later.
The Cao family was not very tough; once caught, they didn’t need much questioning. A little intimidation, and they spilled everything.
Only at this ti did Cheng Yuan realize sothing was wrong.
After all, he had been monitoring the harbor continuously. If anyone ca to deliver ssages to Cao Ji, surely he would know.
No one ca with ssages to Cao Ji, but Cao Ji sent people to notify the family to hold a banquet for him the sa day the Eldest Prince sent his ssage!
Such a coincidence—there must be so trick; Cheng Yuan wouldn’t believe otherwise.
So, he had a traitor among his n.
Cheng Yuan spent half a day checking for traitors.
He found three traitors. Without saying much, he dealt with all three according to military law.
Cao Ji’s escape also prompted the Eldest Prince to go straight from the capital city to the harbor.
Cao Ji fled by boat, taking the remaining more than twenty thousand troops.
Where would he run to? Cheng Yuan and the Eldest Prince didn’t have to think twice.
—An island where the Japanese pirates hid.
The sea was so vast, islands countless. Which island the Japanese pirates hid on, Cheng Yuan and the Eldest Prince chose to thoroughly search the entire Cao family holdings, looking for letters connecting Cao Ji to the Japanese pirates, and looking into Cao Ji’s trusted aides.
This process took a bit of ti, about a month.
The hardest point in Donghai Commandery was Cao Ji; without him, the others posed no real threat.
The only worry was that the fugitives would escape.
After all, hunting down criminals was not easy; before the news spread, Cheng Yuan could only act swiftly to capture the rest.
For a month, the entire Donghai Commandery was in turmoil.
However, compared to the upper class’s anxiousness, the countless common people at the bottom wept tears of joy.
They had waited years, thinking that the day of clear skies over the sea would never co.
But fortunately, that day finally arrived as they had hoped.
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