Chapter 1130: Finally Found
Could they have encountered small roving contingents of the Jin Army and lost their entire force?
Right now, the Duke has no time to ponder this issue, You Er is about to run out of grain!
He immediately instructed his men to pack the grain and fodder overnight and set off again.
This unit had only been on the road for a day when they ran into the second batch of scouts sent out by Jiang Che.
The grain delivery officer this time was a personal soldier of the Duke, and upon hearing that Jiang Che had already captured He City, he immediately turned back with the grain and soldiers.
Upon receiving the news, the Duke was overjoyed, although You Er’s siege was somewhat risky, fortunately it was successful.
He dispatched scouts to relay orders to You Er, instructing the next course of action, while sending out more scouts to locate the grain delivery unit.
Even if this unit did encounter the Jin Army and got completely destroyed, there should be traces—corpses, grain, carts, horses—these cannot just disappear into thin air.
More than ten experienced scouts expanded their search area and after several days, one scout finally discovered the grain delivery unit.
This unit was not completely annihilated as they had imagined, rather, it was lost.
The territory of Jin Country is vast and sparsely populated, unlike Great Chu, where there are official roads between the cities, allowing easy passage through the open wilderness.
This unit was traversing the countryside, relying solely on a simple map and a compass held by Rong Ding.
But Rong Ding did not know how to read a map.
In the group of five hundred people led by Rong Ding, a few Centurions could read simple maps and identify basic directions, but they hadn’t had the chance to consult the map.
It was unknown who gave Rong Ding the confidence, perhaps eager to make a contribution, he glanced at the map, guessed, and confirmed the location of He City, then proceeded in the direction he thought was right with the compass.
During the journey, several Centurions expressed their concerns that the direction was wrong, but Rong Ding did not listen to them at all.
In his view, these were just a few ignorant brutes, and he had utter disdain for them.
Rong Ding was the superior officer, and the Centurions had to follow his orders; under his stubborn insistence, they moved further away from He City.
After five or six days passed without even a glimpse of He City, Rong Ding finally panicked and asked the Centurions for suggestions.
At this point, the Centurions had no solutions either.
The key was that they didn’t know their location.
In the vast emptiness of Jin Country, without cities or identifiable landmarks, nobody knew where they were.
Furthermore, in this forsaken place, not even a passerby could be found, making it impossible to even ask for directions.
Without knowing their location, it was impossible to determine which direction to take to reach He City, so after discussions, the Centurions decided to temporarily halt their advance, lest they stray further from their destination.
Anyway, they were not short of grain and fodder, and even staying for several months was no concern.
In these days, the Centurions studied the map daily, hoping for a passerby to come by and reveal their position.
Eventually, the scouts found them.
The unit followed the scouts back to the camp.
Back in the camp, the Duke figured out the circumstances and ordered Rong Ding to be tied up.
Rong Ding struggled desperately, "Why bind me? I merely lost my way, I didn’t do it intentionally!"
The Duke said lightly, "If you were intentional, your head would have fallen by now."
Fortunately, You Er made a decisive decision, preventing severe consequences, hence the Duke’s anger was not as intense.
Otherwise, regardless of intention, or status as the brother of the Imperial Concubine, the Duke would have certainly had him executed.
Now the Duke found it beneath him to deal with him, personally wrote a memorial, and had Rong Ding escorted back to the capital.