The envoy from Guandu Camp had barely set out on his return journey when Bai Xiaowen urged Jiao Chu and Zhang Nan to lead their troops into battle.
An Awakened's time was precious. He had none to waste.
At Bai Xiaowen's urging, the two generals had already made some preparations. Without Yuan Shao's orders, however, they could not march out on their own authority.
Bai Xiaowen had wanted them to take more soldiers, but his father Yuan Shao had specified the number in his orders. To avoid disobeying him, Jiao Chu and Zhang Nan could only lead five thousand cavalry and infantry to Great Snow Valley to wipe out the Yellow Turbans.
Yuan Shao's move had shades of Generalissimo Chiang: he had ignored conditions at the front and given orders over his commanders' heads.
Bai Xiaowen did not try to persuade them otherwise. Nor did he reveal that the Yellow Turban Army's leader might be Zhang Jiao.
On the sixth day.
Jiao Chu and Zhang Nan arrived near Great Snow Valley with their five thousand troops.
The scouts reported no Yellow Turban bandits in the valley, though they had found an abandoned camp and the ashes of campfires.
"Looks like the Yellow Turban bandits learned they'd been discovered and fled early," Jiao Chu said.
"If we'd marched out as soon as the bandits were spotted, we wouldn't have missed our chance. We waited four whole days for the great general's orders. Even the most poorly informed Yellow Turbans would have heard the news and escaped by then," Zhang Nan sighed.
"Watch what you say," Jiao Chu said. "Send out more scouts in every direction and find the trail the Yellow Turbans left. The campfire ashes are still there, so they can't have gone far."
The two generals were not