Upon reaching the other side, some soldiers were fighting the fire. Without water available, they could only dig dirt to extinguish the flames, throwing handfuls of earth into the fire. Unfortunately, the weather was dry at this time, and the wind was fanning the flames. Just as they managed to put out some parts, the fire would leap high again on the other side, rendering their efforts completely useless.

Li Shimin summoned Zhao Jin, a close bodyguard who was fighting the fire, and asked, “What happened here? Who caused this fire?”

Zhao Jin’s face was covered in ash as he replied, “Your subordinate is also unclear about this. I was just patrolling when I suddenly heard someone shouting about a fire, so I quickly brought people over to extinguish it. I also asked several people who were nearby at the time, and they all said they didn’t know what happened—it suddenly caught fire.”

“This fire couldn’t have started without reason. Someone must have carelessly dropped a spark here.”

Carelessly… Li Shimin’s heart stirred, and he urgently asked, “When you arrived, who was here?”

Zhao Jin thought for a moment and reported several names one by one. With each name he mentioned, Li Shimin’s heart sank deeper, until finally it felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, cold enough to freeze into ice.

Seeing his strange expression, Yunyi asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Shimin didn’t respond to her, only saying to Zhao Jin, “Immediately arrest those people. Also, stop fighting the fire and let’s go quickly!”

Zhao Jin was completely confused by his words. “Second Young Master, why should we arrest them for no reason, and why should we leave?”

“Don’t ask so many questions, just follow my orders.” As he spoke, Li Shimin pulled Yunyi and left quickly. The latter guessed part of the situation and tentatively asked, “Those people—are they also the Crown Prince’s men?”

Li Shimin painfully replied, “That’s right. Like Liu Wen, they are all trusted confidants that elder brother assigned to me. This fire… should have been deliberately set by them to tip off Liu Wen. I’m sure Liu Wen has already seen it, so we can’t stay here any longer.”

Li Shimin’s guess was correct. This fire not only saved Liu Wen’s life when he had a blade at his throat, but also let him know Li Shimin and the others’ hiding place. After much persuasion and guaranteeing with his life, he finally convinced Yuwen Zhiji to lead the soldiers who had taken a great detour up the mountain.

While Li Shimin was reorganizing his troops, Zhao Jin also brought over several arrested men—precisely those people who had been seen at the fire site, namely Li Jiancheng’s trusted confidants.

Li Shimin had no time to interrogate them now, only instructing Zhao Jin and Duan Zhihong to keep them under strict guard, not letting a single one escape. He then led his reorganized army deeper into the mountain forest. He knew clearly that from the previous night until now, his soldiers had not rested properly, and their numbers were severely fewer than Yuwen Zhiji’s forces. Even if he had exceptional military command abilities, he couldn’t defeat Yuwen Zhiji. Right now, the only way out was to hide in the deep mountains. Yuwen Zhiji had come in hasty pursuit and surely hadn’t prepared sufficient provisions. After searching for a long time without results, he would naturally withdraw.

Almost as soon as Li Shimin and his men had withdrawn, Yuwen Zhiji arrived with his troops. Seeing that he had come up empty again, his anger flared up, and he grabbed Liu Wen by the collar, saying viciously, “You little bastard, you’re really bold, daring to deceive this general again and again. Do you believe this general will skin you alive?!”

“General, please calm your anger. How would your subordinate dare deceive the general? This sudden fire must have been set by my people to inform me through the flames that Li Shimin was hiding here. Li Shimin must have seen me with the general just now and realized that I had betrayed him, so he fled into the deep mountains. If we just go in and search, we can definitely find him. If… if we still can’t find Li Shimin, you can just chop off my head!”

Yuwen Zhiji snorted coldly and released him, saying, “Do you think that head belongs to you?” Despite his anger, having come this far, he really couldn’t bear to return empty-handed. Moreover, the still blazing fire indeed didn’t seem to have started without cause. Perhaps Li Shimin really was in the deep mountains. With this thought, he ordered, “Pass down the order: search the mountains. Whoever finds Li Shimin will be rewarded with a hundred strings of cash and twenty bolts of cloth!”

For soldiers whose wages didn’t even amount to one string of cash, this was undoubtedly a great fortune. Despite their exhaustion from the night’s work, the soldiers still competed to rush into the forest, afraid that being a step late would cost them the merit of capturing Li Shimin.

In just one hour, Li Shimin’s group had already killed several soldiers who had found them. Fortunately, they struck quickly and didn’t give them a chance to call out, otherwise their whereabouts would have been exposed.

Du Ruhui supported Yunyi, who had stumbled over tree branches on the ground, asking, “Can you still hold on?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Despite her words, Yunyi’s hands were trembling slightly, clearly indicating that her strength had reached its limit. This was understandable—she had previously struggled with Cui Ji, then fled all the way here, and had barely slept. If not for her willpower supporting her, she would have collapsed long ago.

While supporting her, Du Ruhui said, “This can’t go on like this.”

Yunyi replied helplessly, “The Second Young Master knows this as well, but we’re no match for Yuwen Zhiji. Apart from hiding, we have no other option.”

Du Ruhui was silent for a moment, then said quietly, “Actually… there is another way, but I don’t know if the Second Young Master would be willing to take this risk.”

Hearing this, Yunyi’s eyes lit up, and she urgently said, “What method? Tell me quickly!”

After Du Ruhui explained his idea, Yunyi said with a grave expression, “If Yuwen Zhiji believes it, that would naturally be good, but if he doesn’t… we could be completely annihilated.”

Du Ruhui looked at Li Shimin walking ahead and said, “It’s precisely because of this concern that I haven’t spoken to the Second Young Master. I wanted to discuss it with you first to see if it could work.”

“This…” Yunyi hesitated without speaking. Both methods had their advantages and disadvantages, making it difficult to choose. “According to the current situation, even if we’re discovered by Yuwen Zhiji, we can still hide using the complex terrain of the mountains, and casualties wouldn’t be too severe. But your method is like putting all our eggs in one basket—winning or losing depends entirely on luck.”

“No.” Du Ruhui denied this. “Although this method has risks, the odds of winning are relatively higher.”

Yunyi asked, “How so?”

“When I served in court, I occasionally had contact with Yuwen Zhiji. This person has an arrogant and volatile temperament, and he does have some talent for commanding troops, but he has one major weakness: he’s obstinate and self-willed. As long as we control the rhythm properly, we can certainly make him believe it’s true.”

Yunyi bit her lip and said, “What you say does make some sense, but ultimately it depends on the Second Young Master’s decision. Why don’t you go speak with him about it?”

Du Ruhui nodded and quickened his pace to reach Li Shimin’s side. After hearing his whispered words, Li Shimin’s face became grave. Du Ruhui continued, “I know this plan is somewhat risky for the Second Young Master, but if we want to completely shake off Yuwen Zhiji’s pursuing army, this is the best method.”