Xiong Bonan committed the matter to memory. The next day, he set off again and secretly crossed the river, passing from Eastern Commandery into Ji Commandery. The moment he reached the bank, he sensed the tension there.
As it turned out, after the battle that day, Qutu Da had once again absurdly missed the fighting. Faced with Xue Changxiong's complete withdrawal and the commandery governors scattering in all directions, he had found himself embarrassingly isolated... Thus, after learning that all of Bohai Commandery had been swept clean, with the waterways now open as well, he had no choice but to retreat, however bitterly unwilling he was.
Otherwise, who knew whether Zhang Xing would stage another Battle of Pingyuan?
Especially when Xu Shiying could now cross the river at leisure and attack him from both sides.
However, once his soldiers had retreated to Chanyuan, on the border between Ji and Wuyang Commanderies, establishing a safe distance, Qutu Da had stopped withdrawing and begun organizing defenses in Ji Commandery... With Chanyuan as one point, Neihuang to the north, Liyang to the west, and Bowang Mountain between the three, roughly fifteen thousand elite troops from the Eastern Capital, supplemented by several thousand Ji Commandery troops, formed a conspicuous, solid triangular zone of flexible defense.
Xiong Bonan needed no inquiries to understand why. A canal connecting the Qing Zhang and Qi Rivers ran through Ji Commandery, leaving those three cities isolated to its east, with an unobstructed route between them and the main Exorcising the Dragon Army. Yet Ji Commandery was precisely the final line the Eastern Capital had to hold when its strength fell short... Troops therefore had to be deployed as a necessary precaution.
Now, the Zhang River, and particularly the Qing Zhang River, was practically the natural artery through which the