Xun Xiu and Mi Ce, as commanding generals, had both been kept behind, though their deputies had taken portions of their forces back to Chen County.

Zhao Hanzhang’s orders weren’t issued all at once centrally but given separately to individuals, so they didn’t know she’d actually sent away so many people.

By the time they learned of it, battle was approaching.

Even internally it was like this—outsiders knew even less.

Zhao Hanzhang was particularly crafty. When having them start cooking fires, she required that for every actual pot, they build two additional fire platforms nearby. No need to waste much firewood—just place two burning wet logs there. Thick smoke would billow, making it appear from a distance as if they were cooking.

More than half their tents had emptied, but combined with Zhao Hanzhang’s earlier comments when leaving the riverside, the Yanzhou scouts monitoring them continued believing many people were crowding into single tents. Seeing the daily cooking smoke hadn’t diminished much, they harbored no suspicions.

News reported back to Gou Xi, who studied several sheets of intelligence and frowned. They mentioned that several routes showed traces suggesting large troop movements.

But they appeared to have been swept clean.

As long as people passed through, traces remained. Zhao Hanzhang knew this too and hadn’t tried to completely erase all tracks, only thinking that fewer traces meant less information revealed—perhaps some wouldn’t even notice.

Initially, scouts and Gou Xi indeed hadn’t noticed, but examining the returned intelligence, Gou Xi felt Zhao Hanzhang was both overly cautious and insufficiently so.

Overly cautious because while guarding against the Prince of Donghai’s scouts, she also guarded against his, refusing to let his people get too close and several times capturing or driving away his men.

Insufficiently cautious because, clearly employing a feint strategy against the Prince of Donghai, she seemed certain he wouldn’t investigate this area, leaving the camp standing unchanged without rotating it.

Zhao Hanzhang thought: …Of course I’m not changing it. I have fewer than fifty thousand men here. Expecting me to daily rearrange tents for a hundred and sixty thousand—how idle would I need to be?

I could use that time for other things, couldn’t I?

Like meeting with officials in Xuchang and evaluating them—replacing those who needed replacing.

Unlike before in Xiping when even appointing a county magistrate required reporting to the court for approval, now Zhao Hanzhang decided herself on replacing commandery administrators and magistrates, let alone county magistrates.

However, she wouldn’t casually replace officials, especially county magistrates as direct administrators.

She still had too few capable people, so as long as officials didn’t cross her bottom lines, she felt she could negotiate and tolerate.

Moreover, undeniably, county magistrates were quite flexible, adjusting their working methods according to their superiors’ preferences.

Look at Magistrate Chai—this time Zhao Hanzhang even had Zhao Kuan take back a commendation for him. In this war to defend Yuzhou, Magistrate Chai had done reasonably well with logistics, largely completing his grain quota while not starving his people to death. This was progress.

Progress deserved reward.

Winter was coming. Refugees created by war needed settling, and the people’s wounds needed healing. She had much to do.

Fu Tinghan also began getting busy, organizing data continuously submitted from various locations. “In Yuzhou territory north of Chen County, barely one in ten remains, and those who do have fled into the mountains and won’t come out. Vast stretches of wasteland. You’ll have much work ahead to stabilize Yuzhou.”

Zhao Hanzhang had foreseen this and wasn’t particularly surprised. “The immediate priority is truly stabilizing Yuzhou. Both the Prince of Donghai’s and Gou Xi’s forces must leave.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked up to ask Fan Ying, “Still no news from General Gou?”

“General Gou says we must wait a bit longer,” Fan Ying paused before adding, “But strangely, Master Ji says recently the Yanzhou forces have been sending out many people, not all monitoring our side—some are probing toward Runan and Yuyin. Master Ji sent people to intercept them, but can’t rule out some slipping through.”

Zhao Hanzhang chuckled and told Fu Tinghan, “Gou Xi suspects me.”

Fu Tinghan asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Zhao Hanzhang considered briefly, “Though I sent people back, it wasn’t to break our agreement. Tomorrow we’ll secretly return to the riverside to wait, demonstrating my sincerity.”

Five thousand people—she was confident in evading the Prince of Donghai’s eyes.

Fu Tinghan nodded in agreement.

The scouts Ji Yuan had trained weren’t much inferior to Gou Xi’s.

At least within his sphere of influence, he could maximize information control. So when the Prince of Donghai’s scout delivered the letter to Magistrate Zhang’s attendant, he was immediately spotted by scouts monitoring the riverbank.

Because their actions were so secretive, the scouts didn’t even report it but directly seized the attendant and took the letter.

Matters should be handled by those skilled at them to achieve optimal results with minimal effort. So Zhao Hanzhang directly gave this matter to Ji Yuan, “Gou Xi clearly suspects me. I don’t wish to antagonize him. Tomorrow I’ll lead troops to the riverside. Master, find a way to convey my intentions—tell him I’ll spare no effort to defeat the Prince of Donghai.”

Ji Yuan corrected her, “Help him defeat the Prince of Donghai.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled cheerfully, “Same thing, same thing. Anyway, he and I are on the same side.”

Ji Yuan didn’t object. He glanced outside and happened to see Lu Xiyuan passing the tent. He said, “My lady might bring Lu Xiyuan. He’s cautious and careful, perfect to assist you.”

“You act too recklessly. Young Master Fu is excellent in all respects, except he listens to everything you say. His boldness matches yours. You still need someone cautious nearby to advise you.” He continued, “Since you’ve tricked him into coming, you should make full use of him.”

Zhao Hanzhang protested, “How is it tricking? We clearly each took what we needed. He’s willing to follow me to fulfill his ambitions, and I need him to understand Yuyin Jun.”

Ji Yuan waved dismissively, unwilling to debate this minor point with her. He just told her to bring Lu Xiyuan.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t object. The next day she led five thousand troops away.

They quietly returned to the riverside via another route, quite distant from where the Prince of Donghai’s forces were stationed across the river, far enough to cross undetected.

Gou Xi received this information. After a moment of silence, he decided not to investigate those suspicious traces further. He ordered Gou Chun, “Immediately muster ten thousand men and also go wait at the riverside to cross.”

Gou Chun was displeased and asked, “Brother, what about these traces? Are other forces moving about, or has Zhao Hanzhang violated our agreement by secretly withdrawing troops?”

Having insight into human nature, after Zhao Hanzhang deployed her forces, Gou Xi was certain: “Secretly withdrawing troops is true; honoring our agreement is also true.”

He said, “She hasn’t violated our pact, merely made the decision most beneficial to Yuzhou. As long as she’s willing to deploy forces to join you in striking the Prince of Donghai’s camp, we can overlook this matter without mention.”