Lu Su, Sun Ce and the others went to Zhang Zhao's courtyard. There was a pond with a handle there. When the handle is pulled, it would reveal a hidden passage. This underground passage did not seem to be newly dug. It was sothing that had been prepared long ago.
“So it is true. A crafty rabbit has three burrows!” Sun Ce gnashed his teeth. Zhang Zhao had to be captured. He was the one who made him have a falling out with his little brother and even tried to assasinate him. All this aside, they even attacked Zhou Yu and tried to blackmail him with Zhou Yu. There was no way Sun Ce would not hate Zhang Zhao. He wished he could cut Zhang Zhao into a thousand pieces.
“All of you, go and chase them!” Sun Ce shouted.
“Understood!” Soon, the Jiangdong Army entered the hidden passage. It was long and winding passage that eventually leads back out to a village outside the South gate. If Zhang Zhao's ho was not searched, this place would not have been found.
“Chase from the South gate! Find Zhang Zhao for !” Sun Ce ordered his n to pursue on warhorses. Since they were escaping using the tunnel, they could not escape quickly. It was still possible to pursue with horses.
Everyone believed that Zhang Zhao would not be able to escape but Lu Su frowned. He stretched out his hand to touch the soil on the tunnel. The soil was dry. Even the tunnel was filled with dusty footprints. Lu Su then asked the soldier beside him.
“Fellow general.”
“I do not dare Minister Lu! I am Yu Cheng, a subordinate of Marquis Wu! I do not dare to be called a general!” The officer Yu Cheng quickly lowered his head. Lu Su was the Minister of Appointnts. Lu Su's rank was higher than their boss, Sun Ce. Now, such a bigshot respectfully addressed him as a general. It was like the CEO of a company being respectful to a small tir. How can it not be scary?
“Officer Yu. I want to ask, how did you find this tunnel?” Lu Su quickly changed the way he addressed the soldier. It was just a respectful way of addressing soone and he did not want to argue about it.
“We found it the mont we arrived at Zhang Zhao's residence.” Yu Cheng replied.
“You found it imdiately after you arrived?” Lu Su tried to confirm.
Yu Cheng nodded. When they arrived, they found the hidden passage already opened. Then they send people to investigate.
“Not good!” Lu Su suddenly jumped.
“What's wrong, brother?” Yang Chen asked.
“Quickly close the gates for the East and West gates! None of the common people are allowed to leave without permission!” Lu Su quickly ordered.
“Hm?” Yu Cheng was confused. Sun Ce had already pursued through the tunnel. Why do they need to close the East and West gates? Didn't Zhang Zhao leave towards the South?
The South and North gates were breached by Lu Su and Sun Ce respectively. As a result, both gates were heavily guarded. However, the East and West gates provided no resistence at all. As a result, there were few people guarding them. In order to prevent the newly recovered confidence of the Jiangdong people from being lost, they did not close the East and West gates. If there were people who wanted to flee and return ho, they would be allowed to.
****
Small batches of twos and threes left a ruined building in Huiji after it was dark.
“It is about ti. Let us leave now!” One person whispered.
One old man, one old woman, one young woman, one young man, and two middle aged n left the building and headed towards the West gate.
“Lord. Will this really work?” The old woman asked.
“I already said, just call husband! Don't call Lord!” The old man, Zhang Zhao commanded with authority. “If you keep talking, you don't have to leave!” He added coldly.
“I understand, husband.” The old woman quickly replied with fear.
“Quan'er. Co and support . Let us all leave this city and go ho.” Zhang Zhao said to the young man.
“Alright. I am coming.” The young man, Sun Quan, went to support Zhang Zhao who limped towards the West gate. Though they look like the old and disabled, if you were to actually look carefully. These people were moving faster compared to normal people.
“Milord. Please endure this for now. We can talk about the rest after getting out of the city.” Zhang Zhao whispered.
“Yes. Master Zhang, I know that much even without you telling .” Sun Quan's eyes were dim but he still nodded.
Unlike the Hao and the Cheng Family, Zhang Zhao valued his life more than material wealth. There were also too many people to leave together which is why they left in batches. That tunnel was just a cover rather than for escaping.
Though the escape route is said to be false, there are actually so of the Zhang Family who left through that tunnel. But they were just people with loose connections and servants.
Actually going through that tunnel was just courting death. There was no way they could outrun horses with their two legs. As long the the other party knows where the tunnel leads, escaping was impossible without going through forests and mountains. However, Zhang Zhao was too old to do such a thing.
Because of this, Zhang Zhao did not go through the tunnel and instead disguise himself as one of the civilians. He went to one of the houses to mix with the refugees and then left together with these people. This was the safest way. To be on the safe side, the left when it was dark.
“After leaving the city, we can just follow the road to the ships!” Zhang Zhao looked at the West gate with bright eyes. He then turned around and muttered. “Sun Ce? Liu Mang? I, Zhang Zhao will definitely return! You just wait!”
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