Wei Yan rode out lightly and swiftly to welcome them. When he saw Deng Ai again, he could not put his excitement into words.
Deng Ai immediately ordered the settlers to push their carts onward. Once they reached Wei Yan's camp, they set up cooking pots and began preparing food. Smelling the long-missed fragrance of rice, the soldiers were nearly moved to tears.
When the meal was served, officers and soldiers from every camp sat directly on the ground. Wei Yan, Deng Ai, Wang Ping, and Ma Dai each held a bowl as they gathered around the fire for warmth and dinner.
At Wei Yan's prompting, Wang Ping asked Deng Ai how he had made his way out. Sitting there, Deng Ai concealed nothing, explaining the astronomy and geography he had learned, as well as the settlers who had guided the way.
Wei Yan was thoroughly convinced after hearing this. He and Wang Ping had traveled light when they set out, yet even they had taken wrong turns several times amid the mountains of Ziwu Ridge. Deng Ai, however, had not gone wrong even once. Aside from the farmer who had passed through the route over twenty years ago leading the way, the main reason was Deng Ai's terrifying mastery of astronomy and geography.
"When we march through the mountains, we rely entirely on experience. I'm truly curious what sort of man General Lan is, to have taught a military genius like General Deng. No wonder the Third General can't stop thinking of you. Has General Deng learned eighty percent of General Lan's skills?"
After Wang Ping surrendered to Liu Bei, he had remained under Wei Yan in Hanzhong and had never had a chance to meet Lan Tian. Through Deng Ai, he had developed an intense curiosity about Lan