When Marquis Dingyuan arrived at Han Zhengqing’s main camp, the entire encampment was in complete chaos. People coming and going to fight the fires interspersed throughout, as if performing a scene from a theatrical play.
This play had been performed for quite a while now—so long that people were almost becoming impatient, no longer wanting to play the characters in the drama. Life and death, life and death—just give it a quick end. This kind of torment—when would it ever finish?
This feeling made Marquis Dingyuan somewhat disoriented. Fortunately, he was someone who had long experienced the battlefield. He very quickly extracted himself from this inexplicable low mood, striding with large steps as he led people straight toward Han Zhengqing’s main tent. Then he saw Han Zhengqing lying on the ground, his face basically slashed to ruin, mouth open like a dying fish, eyes wide open with rapid breathing yet also seeming unable to catch his breath.
This… Marquis Dingyuan was shocked into standing frozen on the spot. He didn’t know why, when they hadn’t even made any moves yet, Han Zhengqing had suddenly ended up in this state. Looking at his condition, he had clearly suffered extreme humiliation. But the key point was—they had clearly only just broken through here!
Unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. Although the injuries were extremely severe, they actually just looked frightening and weren’t life-threatening at all. Marquis Dingyuan ordered the accompanying physician to come in for treatment while he himself lifted the tent flap and went out.
Speaking of life, it was truly quite marvelous. Just a few months ago, he and the Prince of Zhennan were still fish on someone else’s chopping block, liable to die without intact corpses at any moment, living in terrible fear every day. But it had only been a few months, and the situation had instantly reversed. Now, they were the ones holding the blade, while those waiting to be dealt with had become the very instigators who had previously driven them into desperate straits.
The wind was strong, blowing until his head ached somewhat. Marquis Dingyuan shivered and came back to his senses, leading people hurriedly to find the Prince of Zhennan. After finishing a battle, there were always numerous matters to attend to—pacifying the city’s common people, confiscating weapons, verifying the population count. In short, each and every matter was troublesome. Cui Shaoting had always taken these matters very seriously, and he and the Prince of Zhennan had also long been influenced by Cui Shaoting, terrified of stumbling at this critical juncture. If that really happened, there wouldn’t even be a place to cry.
He went to find the Prince of Zhennan, but the Prince of Zhennan wasn’t there. Han Yang, who was with the Prince of Zhennan, stroked his horse and looked toward Marquis Dingyuan somewhat puzzled: “His Highness left the city, said he was going to chase someone…”
Chase someone? Who right now was more worth the Prince of Zhennan chasing than Han Zhengqing? Marquis Dingyuan was shocked and vaguely felt something was wrong. He seized Han Yang’s horse, asked about the Prince of Zhennan’s whereabouts, and like an arrow released from its string, rapidly disappeared from sight.
The Prince of Zhennan still didn’t know that Marquis Dingyuan thought he’d fallen into an ambush. He had seen Sun Ergou and also knew Sun Ergou couldn’t possibly be lying to him. If he really were lying, this falsehood would be far too convincing—even explaining in meticulous detail exactly how Han Zhi had sowed discord between Prince Gong and Han Zhengqing.
And since it was Song Chuyi’s instruction, he naturally had to help carry it out. Never mind anything else—if Han Zhi really ran back to Prince Gong and, relying on Prince Gong, stirred up more trouble, for instance colluding with the Tartars again, what then?
They definitely had to intercept Han Zhi. He rapidly spurred his horse into a gallop and finally, after chasing for over ten li, heard the sound of horse hooves.
When he actually got close, the Prince of Zhennan instead breathed a sigh of relief. Han Zhi seemed to be preparing to rest in place. That made sense—they’d been exhausted all night, and seeing it was now almost the third watch, even if he could endure it, his subordinates couldn’t. Moreover, there was also Sun Ergou there to help mediate.
The Prince of Zhennan waited with extreme patience, leading his people as they waited for Han Zhi and his group to dismount, then waited with extreme patience as Han Zhi and his people ate dry rations, drank their fill of water, and began to fall asleep. Finally, he curved the corners of his mouth upward and gave the order: “Make your move!”
Han Zhi hadn’t fallen into deep sleep. In fact, he had never had times of deep sleep. From the day he nearly burned to death on the ship, he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep. Even when he closed his eyes, his ears were always listening to the sounds around him. If there was even the slightest unusual sound, he could quickly be startled awake.
This time was the same. The moment the Prince of Zhennan’s people rushed to not far from them, he had already reacted swiftly. Without attending to the others first, he pushed Guan Shan and Sun Ergou in passing, giving a low instruction: “Don’t make noise, leave quickly!”
With one look at the approaching people, he knew this time there wasn’t the slightest chance of victory. The Prince of Zhennan had personally led people here. Although his own martial arts were decent and he was ruthless enough, before the Prince of Zhennan, these abilities really weren’t sufficient. He couldn’t win the fight—he could only run.
But he also had to be able to run. The Prince of Zhennan seemed to have come specifically for him. Even upon drawing near, he didn’t engage with the others, bypassing them and flying straight toward him.
Han Zhi hurriedly reached out to block. With this block, he was beaten back repeatedly, almost unable to stand steady. He retreated several steps before stopping, wiped the blood from his mouth, looked at the Prince of Zhennan, and didn’t move.
Having reached this moment, he no longer thought about running. Smiling, he looked at the Prince of Zhennan, then smiled as he looked at the people in front, asking with a smile: “Who told you?”
His whereabouts were absolutely secret. Apart from Guan Shan and Sun Ergou, no one knew. He clearly hadn’t delayed at all, yet the Prince of Zhennan seemed to have prepared long ago. Unless he had heaven’s eyes, there was simply no way to explain it.
Someone had definitely betrayed him. This person—Han Zhi thought it over and could only think of Colonel Wang. Guan Shan was impossible, and Sun Ergou was also utterly loyal to him. Apart from Colonel Wang…
The Prince of Zhennan didn’t waste words with him, didn’t even look at him much. He waved his hand, and many archers surged forward, forming a circle with their arrowheads uniformly aimed at Han Zhi and his group.
The Prince of Zhennan smiled slightly, answering irrelevantly: “Don’t waste your energy.”
Han Zhi was not the type to accept fate. He never had been. He made an “oh” sound, still smiling on his face, seeming unable to stand steady as he stumbled, then suddenly turned and swiftly lunged toward the person closest to him.
Even at this moment, still so unwilling to give up. The Prince of Zhennan’s gaze was complex, not knowing whether he felt more amusement or more disgust. He reached out and made a gesture.
Song Chuyi had said Han Zhengqing could be kept alive, but Han Zhi—if possible—should be eliminated on the spot.
This person was truly too terrifying. Even if his hands and feet were severed, as long as he had a breath left, he could generate countless troubles for you. This kind of person—dead was always more reassuring than alive.
Moreover, now he truly had no value left.
Sun Ergou cried out and fell to the side, rolling several times.
Just at this moment, the Prince of Zhennan had already spoken: “Release!”
Almost simultaneously with the Prince of Zhennan’s command, arrows released from their strings rapidly flew toward Han Zhi and Guan Shan.
Han Zhi’s good fortune had finally run out. With so many arrows, he dodged the first but couldn’t dodge the second. Finally struck, he bent at the waist, painfully curled his legs, and knelt on the ground.