General Gong, seated in the place of honor, heard these words and, seeing Chen Qingsheng’s appearance, roughly guessed that the Moon Among Clouds had been stolen. Thinking of the ancient musical score that Cui Fengnian had Chen Qingsheng deliver, he stood up and shouted: “Men! Surround this place! Don’t let even a fly escape!”

“Thank you, General!” Chen Qingsheng hurriedly bowed deeply to General Gong, then asked Guan Jiu with apparent concern: “Besides you, who else has touched this Moon Among Clouds?”

“Report…” A messenger rushed in quickly, gasping for breath as he knelt on one knee before General Gong, shouting: “General Gong, Great Zhou’s army is attacking the city!”

“What!” General Gong, half-drunk from wine, suddenly sobered up with a start. Wasn’t Great Zhou currently engaged in a national wager with Yan? How could they be fighting Dongyi?

Not only General Gong, but when the messenger shouted this news, all the military officers and dignitaries seated there stood up, their hearts filled with panic.

“They’re already attacking the city—those are the black sails and white python banners of Great Zhou’s Bai Family Army!” The messenger trembled at the mention of the black sails and white python banners. “The Bai Family Army is coming with great force. General Gong, you must quickly request reinforcements!”

The Bai Family Army’s reputation was such that even Great Liang’s generals feared them, let alone Dongyi, which was merely a vassal state of Great Liang.

Upon hearing this, General Gong’s gaze swept over the seated military officers as he shouted: “Great Zhou is attacking the city! All military officers depart immediately to defend against the enemy!”

Although the military officers present had been drinking, some with poor tolerance were still swaying when they stood up, but when General Gong gave the order, they still rose and chased after the rapidly departing General Gong…

“General Gong! General Gong!” Chen Qingsheng hurriedly chased after General Gong. “But the Moon Among Clouds hasn’t been found yet, and the people here… hey, hey, hey!”

Before Chen Qingsheng could finish speaking, he was pushed aside by a military officer beside General Gong, causing Chen Qingsheng to fall from the corridor into the courtyard. If not for his servants’ quick hands catching him, Chen Qingsheng would have fallen into the small stream.

“What can we do now! The Moon Among Clouds is lost—how can I face my master? The lives of my entire family added together couldn’t compensate for the Moon Among Clouds!” Chen Qingsheng could barely stand, collapsing on the ground and wailing at the top of his voice. “Heaven above, which damned soul stole the Moon Among Clouds!”

“Manager! Manager… don’t be too heartbroken now! While it’s still dark, we can send our people out to investigate! Something as big as the Moon Among Clouds can’t be easily hidden by ordinary people!” The servant holding Chen Qingsheng shouted. “You must calm down, or there really will be no way to face the master!”

“Right, right!” Under the gaze of the remaining nobles, Chen Qingsheng had the guards he’d brought to Dongyi immediately search the entire city, while the household servants would see off each guest one by one before closing the gates to search within the residence.

With fighting already started, these wealthy families of Gua Du City had no heart to watch the commotion here. They needed to hurry home and figure out whether to hide or take the opportunity to escape through the north gate.

Chen Qingsheng and his people all spoke in Great Zhou’s refined language, their speech both sorrowful and rapid, so that even those wealthy people who understood Great Zhou’s refined language could only catch the general meaning.

Chen Qingsheng pulled himself together and hurriedly chased after the departing dignitaries to apologize, speaking to them in his less-than-fluent Dongyi language, saying that since something had happened today, he would visit their homes another day to make amends…

These people left very quickly. Once the mansion gates were closed, Chen Qingsheng pretended to have people noisily gather the servants in the courtyard for body searches and search the grounds.

But those who assembled in the courtyard were all Bai Family guards in tight clothing and armed with sabers. These Bai Family guards were all veterans who had retired from the Bai Family Army, and they knew how important it was to have them coordinate from within the city during a siege.

Chen Qingsheng stood in the courtyard, holding a wine bowl in his hands, and declared loudly: “Everyone here is family of the Bai Family. Now the Seventh Young Master and Fourth Miss are leading troops to attack the city. What you need to do is open the city gates and reduce casualties among our Bai Family Army. You brothers are all heroes, and Chen Qingsheng admires you greatly! This time… though it may be a narrow escape from death, Chen Qingsheng still hopes you brothers will do your utmost to stay alive. We… will return home together!”

Having said this, Chen Qingsheng raised his wine bowl high and drank it all in one gulp.

The Bai Family guards standing in the courtyard with raised wine bowls tilted their heads back and drained their bowls. After their squad leader gave a command, they departed together.

Chen Qingsheng gritted his teeth. If not for his poor martial skills, and if his going wouldn’t expose “Cui Fengnian” and put the Third Miss in Yan in a difficult position, he too would want to go with these Bai Family guards and contribute to the Bai Family Army.

After the Bai Family guards left, Chen Qingsheng arranged for those posing as servants in the courtyard to immediately take people out under the pretext of searching the entire city for the servant who stole the Moon Among Clouds. If they could help those Bai Family Army soldiers who were risking their lives to open the city gates, they would find ways to assist.

Chen Qingsheng knew that any battle would inevitably have casualties, but if they could contribute even a little and pull back one more Bai Family Army brother from the gates of hell, they would do their utmost.

When General Gong reached the base of the city wall, the Bai Family Army had already begun climbing the city walls. General Gong was greatly alarmed and immediately ordered them to do everything possible to prevent the Bai Family Army from scaling the walls…

Previously, he had only heard of the Bai Family Army’s various battle achievements and knew they were almost invincible, but when they started fighting his Dongyi nation, General Gong finally understood their prowess.

Originally, Dongyi was just a small vassal state of Great Liang, and even the cities they built couldn’t match Great Liang’s specifications. Even their city walls were nearly half as short as Great Liang’s. For the Bai Family Army, attacking Dongyi was like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.

At this time, the fast horses sent to request aid from Liu Guan City, where troops were stationed, had already left the city and were racing straight toward Liu Guan…

Dongyi was called a tiny nation because its territory was truly small, and the distances between cities were not as far as those between Great Liang and Great Zhou.

Cheng Yuanzhi, who had long been lying in ambush on the necessary route, saw the Gua Du City guards riding fast horses to Liu Guan for reinforcements and immediately moved to Bai Qingyan’s side: “Young Bai Commander, the messenger has gone. You should go rest first. Leave this to Old Cheng—nothing will go wrong. Young Bai Commander, let Shen Liangyu and the Huying Army soldiers escort you back to the ship to rest. When we win in a bit, this subordinate will immediately send someone to report. There’s no need to use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.”

Bai Qingyan thought for a moment and nodded: “I’ll leave this to you. You absolutely must not let them pass through to Gua Du City!”

“Yes, Young Bai Commander, rest assured!” Cheng Yuanzhi responded. “Old Cheng will not let a single person through!”

After Bai Qingyan left with Shen Liangyu and two hundred men, Cheng Yuanzhi finally relaxed. However, he didn’t realize that Bai Qingyan wasn’t returning to the ship with her two hundred men, but was advancing a section toward Liu Guan City. She then sent people to watch Cheng Yuanzhi’s position, telling them to report the battle situation between the Dongyi army and Bai Family Army as soon as fighting began on that side.