Liu Cheng left Liu Huzi, Jiang Gan, and Fu Jian in Qiao Commandery to handle the aftermath-burying the bodies, transporting the warhorses, scheduling the return to defensive positions, helping Ding Kuang rebuild his force, and so on. Whether to continue maintaining defenses in Zan County was also left to those three to decide.
As for General Liu of the Vanguard Army himself, he immediately set off back at speed with a sack of salted ears, the two finest Liaodong horses he had previously fed by hand, and Murong De's seal and banners as Duke of Liang.
This time, he truly moved at speed. The Guo River had risen, and he traveled downstream from tributary to main channel, reaching its mouth in a single day and night. He then landed at Matou City and traveled overland toward the upper reaches. In just another day, he reached Xiquyang, the city at the end of Hanshan Road, but simply stopped there. He neither returned to Shouchun nor summoned Wang Guannu. Instead, he personally took up his brush and wrote a confession of wrongdoing in his signature scrawl.
Of course he had to confess.
How could he release an enemy chieftain on his own authority without confessing?
He specifically used paper with one corner soaked in rainwater, recounting the course of the battle in detail where detail was called for and vaguely where vagueness was called for. Once he had set out a suitable account, he asked the court to punish him, appoint Ding Kuang, confer posthumous honors on Ding Zhun, and so forth. He also included the likelihood that Zhuge You had already suffered a crushing defeat at the front and completely withdrawn from Yan Province, writing it all down in one go.
He had originally intended to replace the salt in the