This time they really had to thank them for giving them the opportunity. Prince Zhennan squatted by the lakeside, cupped a handful of water to drink, and laughed with high spirits: “I wonder if Prince Gong had a sudden attack of conscience to actually be able to do such a good deed.”

Han Yang had a piece of grass in his mouth, humming a tune—clearly in an excellent mood. Hearing Prince Zhennan say this, he also laughed along: “Isn’t that so? Though it’s also possible he’s gone mad. I heard that in Taiyuan and other places, deserters and refugees have started appearing. They all say Prince Gong has gone mad.”

This battle couldn’t continue any longer—the sooner it ended, the better. The Xibei had already been riddled with holes and utterly devastated by the Tatars, Han Zhengqing, and Prince Gong. Marquis Dingyuan sighed, and seeing Prince Zhennan also sigh along, said: “Set up camp here. We’ll continue our journey tomorrow. This time we have equipment, so we can’t move fast!”

The equipment he spoke of had been casually plundered from Changning—the same things as what the Divine Engine Battalion had. What was rare was that there was even some gunpowder. With these things, although they moved somewhat slower, there were great benefits, so moving slowly was tolerable.

Over there, Han Zhengqing was nearly driven mad with rage. He was truly so angry at that fool Prince Gong that his stomach hurt. Hearing that even Guangping Prefecture had been lost, a cold laugh simply overflowed from his throat—he found that fool Prince Gong utterly laughable.

In the eyes of everyone in the world, he was already a disloyal, unfilial traitor. He fundamentally had no way back. But this fool himself couldn’t see this point clearly. Not only couldn’t he see it clearly, he had also offended him, his ally.

His trusted aide approached, also completely unable to understand: “Has he been cursed or what? Has Prince Gong gone mad!”

These past few days, the word they used most when discussing Prince Gong was “gone mad.” If he hadn’t gone mad, they didn’t know how Prince Gong could do such things. Vice General Chen had also been killed—truly infuriating.

Outside, the sky had already darkened. Han Zhengqing had no appetite for dinner. Sitting alone in the military tent, both angry and feeling humiliated, he didn’t know why Prince Gong had suddenly become like this.

The people he had sent were all dead. Even if he wanted to ask for the truth, he couldn’t find it out.

Just as he was greatly vexed, someone shouted outside the tent. Soon his trusted aide lifted the tent flap and entered. His mouth opened and closed, unable to speak. He opened and closed it again before finally spitting out the words in one breath: “Something’s happened.”

While they had been quarreling with Prince Gong, while they had been scheming back and forth with the Tatars, Cui Shaoting had not been idle.

He had always been someone who knew how to seize opportunities. Prince Gong had suddenly withdrawn troops—regardless of the reason, he had withdrawn troops nonetheless. And in battle, nothing was more taboo than changing orders from morning to evening. Prince Gong himself also didn’t win people’s hearts, so he keenly perceived that an opportunity had come.

Previously, when Han Zhengqing, Prince Gong, and Yezhā had joined forces to attack him, he had nearly been caught completely off guard. If Prince Gong hadn’t withdrawn troops, even if he had heaven-reaching abilities, he probably could only have traded his life. With fire smoldering in his heart that he couldn’t swallow no matter what, he sent out two to three hundred men as a vanguard battalion. Though called a vanguard battalion, most actually did scouts’ work, gathering information everywhere.

Fortunately, Prince Gong’s, Han Zhengqing’s, and the Tatars’ sides were all stirring each other into complete chaos, so his information gathering was actually remarkably effective. For instance, he knew that Han Zhengqing’s envoys had been killed by Prince Gong—and not just one batch had been killed.

What kind of person was Han Zhengqing? Prince Gong killing two batches of his men in succession was equivalent to harshly slapping him twice across the face. And this kind of person could least endure losing face. He laughed several times, and after laughing, held council meetings through the night, considering every aspect. He listened to those below argue heatedly until their faces turned red, and finally settled on a plan that satisfied everyone.

They absolutely had to take down Qingzhou Prefecture first. With Yezhā and his people occupying Qingzhou Prefecture, Suzhou wasn’t safe. Once Yezhā truly became desperate and attacked from inside and outside with Han Zhengqing, it would be very strenuous for him. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity to capture Qingzhou Prefecture, Yezhā would only be forced to hurry north to rendezvous with Yetan and the others. By that time, Han Zhengqing’s external support would be cut off.

Although everyone worried that driving Yezhā out would be like releasing a tiger back to the mountain, at this point, it was a solution born of having no solution. If there were still other methods, he wouldn’t be this worried either.

Although the Tatars were fierce and brave, they lacked strategy. If Han Zhengqing hadn’t given them advice and yielded Datong to them, even if given another three years, they couldn’t have entered the Xibei. Cui Shaoting was determined to conserve troops and use strategy to win.

Fortunately, Yezhā truly wasn’t clever. When Cui Shaoting led men to challenge them to battle, they released troops wanting to swallow them up. The stratagem had been set long before. Cui Shaoting fought for a while, then feigned defeat and fled.

Yezhā had a breath of anger stuck in his chest. Han Zhengqing’s threats made him uncomfortable all over. Now seeing Cui Shaoting suffer defeat, he wanted to show Han Zhengqing the iron cavalry of the Tatars. In one vigorous effort, he pursued.

Cui Shaoting fought while retreating, pretending even more convincingly. Yezhā, encouraged, pursued even more urgently, until entering a narrow mountain valley, when he vaguely sensed something was wrong.

But realizing something was wrong came too late. The mountains everywhere were filled with people standing. They all stood up together, surging forth with tremendous cheering sounds. Soon rocks were rolling down everywhere. Massive stones mixed with billowing dust flying toward them smashed Yezhā’s idea of capturing Cui Shaoting alive to dust.

Even though the Tatars later resisted desperately, of the four thousand-plus men Yezhā had brought out of the city, more than half were lost. In the end, only some defeated remnants protected Yezhā as he fled in panic.

Cui Shaoting ordered men to give chase and instructed them to sweep the battlefield and capture prisoners. He stripped these Tatars of their clothes and weapons. They had been besieged for a long time—these things were urgently needed for replenishment. The court was probably also in difficulty now. Even if not in difficulty, they couldn’t send supplies in, so these things were all extremely valuable.

Yezhā was chased until even his neatly braided hair came undone and his hat was lost. The whole person was in utter disarray. Entering the city and looking at these defeated remnants around him, the fury in his heart was simply beyond words.

What’s more, Cui Shaoting fundamentally didn’t give people even a chance to catch their breath, repeatedly challenging them to battle. Most infuriating was that he actually brought those prisoners to the city gates. When they cowered inside without coming out, Cui Shaoting ordered the prisoners killed.

This tactic had previously been used by them against Zhou troops—driving those old, weak, sick, and disabled like driving two-legged sheep to beneath the Zhou troops’ city gates. If the Zhou troops didn’t open the gates, they would kill them. They had always directly chopped at the necks—heads would roll all over the ground with a rumble.

This time, Cui Shaoting gave them a taste of their own medicine without any discount, even more vicious than them. Bows drawn with arrows nocked, those in front had nearly run to beneath the city gates. Seeing the people inside firmly holding their ground and not coming out, Cui Shaoting unhesitatingly ordered arrows released straight at their hearts.

Blood sprayed all over the ground. Those Tatars in tattered clothing didn’t close their eyes even in death, staring at the city walls with faces full of terror.