“Grand General.”

Gao Zhen returned from the front lines and clasped his hands: “The walls are solid, the mountain pass is treacherous, and the defending forces appear to be well supplied. Should we fall back and call up more troops?”

He looked at Tang Pidi and said: “We moved in too fast. The siege equipment is still in the rear column — it won’t be brought up for some time.”

Tang Pidi was surveying the mountain fort gate through his far-sight lens, and he had in fact been thinking about waiting for the siege equipment.

But in that very moment, he noticed the movement of troops on the wall.

And so the corner of the Grand Strategist’s mouth curved very slightly upward: “Order the army to pull back five li.”

Gao Zhen and Cheng Wujie exchanged a glance. Both assumed the Grand General intended a temporary withdrawal to wait for reinforcements.

The fort gate across the gorge was tall, solid, and fully equipped with defensive weapons. And though the gorge was not particularly narrow — allowing room to deploy forces — besieging an entire mountain range with only ten thousand men was genuinely thin.

Just then, they heard the enemy’s horn calls.

“Oh ho!”

Cheng Wujie let out a laugh right then and there.

“The enemy soldiers actually dare to come out and fight.”

Gao Zhen laughed: “They probably think their numbers give them the advantage — so they’re trying to break out while we’re still short of men.”

The two exchanged another look, and only then did it dawn on them why Tang Pidi had suddenly ordered the five-li withdrawal.

If the enemy wanted to come out and fight, then clear the ground for them. Let them come out.

“Terrain like this — the enemy won’t have many cavalry.”

Tang Pidi issued his instructions: “Divide into three formations. Deploy in a triangular arrangement.”

Cheng Wujie and Gao Zhen acknowledged at once, each leading their troops to separate left and right.

Atop the city walls, the Dachu general Zhang Yi — who had just arrived — looked out through his far-sight lens, growing more perplexed the longer he watched.

“Why would the Ning Army form up like this?”

The Ning Army was undermanned — only ten thousand men — while the terrain outside the Ring Peaks was open and suited to a large-scale mounted charge.

In that case, the Ning Army should have massed their forces into a tight defensive formation to withstand the Cao family soldiers’ assault.

Zhang Yi could see clearly that the Ning Army was well equipped. Ten thousand men in a defensive line against an assault of over twenty thousand — it was not without a chance of holding.

Yet now, he could not help but doubt Tang Pidi’s command ability.

They had barely more than ten thousand men to begin with, and he had divided them into three… scattering one’s strength like this was clearly against all sound principles.

Yes, a triangular formation could offer mutual support and flanking coverage — but that all depended on the circumstances.

If one of those three flanks were broken through, the other two would struggle to protect each other.

Starting with ten parts of strength but scattering it into just over three parts each — was this not a joke of a defense?

“Tang Pidi has never yet suffered a defeat in battle.”

Cao Ziluo said: “General Zhang, caution is still advisable. Even if I also think this man is being overconfident — an unbeaten reputation is not built from empty boasting.”

Zhang Yi gave a nod: “I understand.”

He looked to his left and right: “Four Deficient — lead your troops and attack the Ning Army’s left flank. Four Complete — lead your troops and attack the Ning Army’s right flank.”

He seized his iron spear, turned, and strode down from the walls in long, deliberate steps: “I will personally attack Tang Pidi’s center.”

When he was nearly at the descent ramp, Zhang Yi looked back and smiled at Cao Ziluo: “My lord, you might have someone prepare some food and warm a couple of jugs of wine. None of us in the center have eaten since midday. After we finish this engagement and wipe out the Ning Army, there will still be time to come back and have a proper meal before we leave.”

Cao Ziluo laughed heartily: “I will see to it exactly as the General says — I’ll go prepare myself, and bring out my finest wine, aged for many years. I’ll be waiting on the walls for the General’s return.”

Zhang Yi nodded: “I have been craving that fine wine of yours for quite some time.”

With that, he turned and descended the walls.

Cao Ziluo returned to the gatehouse tower and instructed his men to begin preparations.

He had a thorough understanding of Zhang Yi’s capabilities — he would not have gone to such lengths to petition Prince Wu to have the man transferred over otherwise.

Dealing with Prince Wu was no simple matter.

Prince Wu was not only the foremost military commander of the age — he was also the foremost loyalist.

If not for his intervention and his efforts to prop up the situation against all odds, the Dachu dynasty might long since have crumbled like a collapsed building, past all hope of saving.

To have a man like Prince Wu, Yang Jiju, holding the Dachu line together — this was the fortune of the dynasty, and the fortune of the imperial family.

But it was precisely because Prince Wu conducted himself with such iron dominance, and with such inflexible principle, that persuading him was no easy task.

Fortunately, Prince Wu was not entirely without a weak point.

Prince Wu’s son Yang Zhenting currently served under Prince Wu’s command. Yang Zhenting’s wife was also from the Cao family.

She had borne him two sons and a daughter, and had always lived in Yuzhou — never in the capital.

Prince Wu was well aware of how many enemies wanted him dead. Those who could not harm him directly would turn to harming his family and heirs.

In this present Central Plains, there were far too many men who wanted to seize the throne — yet none of them dared face the Left Martial Guard under Prince Wu head-on.

Especially now, Li Xionghu, the great southern warlord who had no choice but to contend with Prince Wu — he would have given anything to find a way to eliminate Prince Wu outright, or at the very least to tie him down so he could not lead his troops.

Prince Wu had only one son. That son had three children.

Those three children were Prince Wu’s single greatest vulnerability.

If those three children were to come to harm, this branch of his line would end.

It was exactly this reasoning that Cao Ziluo had used to persuade Prince Wu: he offered to bring the three children to Yuzhou and keep them under secret protection.

This way, those who sought to use the children as leverage against Prince Wu would have no means to act.

In the years prior when they had been in the capital, every year someone would infiltrate the city attempting to abduct the three children.

Cao Ziluo told Prince Wu that while the children would be in the safest of hands in Yuzhou, precautions still needed to be considered — and so it would be best if the Cao family were permitted to train a private army.

No matter how much Cao Ziluo elaborated, he dared not breathe a word to Prince Wu about the Mountain-River Seal.

Given that old man’s iron resolve and overbearing nature — if Prince Wu were ever to discover that the Mountain-River Seal had manipulated the court and had even assassinated members of the imperial family on more than one occasion, Prince Wu’s fury would drive him to raze the Cao family to the ground.

He would ride down to trample the rubble, leaving nothing behind.

Prince Wu perhaps only assumed that Cao Ziluo, being a merchant, could have no grander ambitions. Merchants were merchants — they saw only petty short-term gain. And so over all these years, Cao Ziluo had been operating under Prince Wu’s very nose, doing far too many things, while Prince Wu remained entirely oblivious.

Even Zhang Yi and the others did not know that the Cao family in truth controlled a colossal entity like the Mountain-River Seal.

They had always believed they had come here solely to train private troops for the Cao family.

And that the purpose of training those private troops was to protect Prince Wu’s line and heirs.

They all owed Prince Wu a debt of deep loyalty, so although they were reluctant, they carried out their duties wholeheartedly.

These twenty-four thousand Cao family private soldiers were in every respect equivalent to regular Dachu standing army troops.

And they might well be stronger than ordinary standing army soldiers — because the men who trained them had come from the Left Martial Guard.

Even if not quite up to Left Martial Guard standards, the difference would surely be small.

It was precisely because of his confidence in Zhang Yi that Cao Ziluo felt there was not much suspense about this battle.

No matter how formidable Tang Pidi might be — his numbers were limited.

In terms of both strategy and martial skill, Zhang Yi was absolutely no inferior to Tang Pidi, and he had the advantage of numbers as well — at least double the Ning Army’s strength. How could he possibly lose?

He sat in his chair and had someone brew tea, and waited for news.

The cooks went to work, preparing refined dishes even in this moment.

Someone went over to the fortress and brought back cellared wine.

Everything was prepared and ready. All that remained was to wait for Zhang Yi’s return.

“Report!”

A trusted aide came running in, face somewhat pale: “An unexpected development on the battlefield.”

Cao Ziluo had been resting with his tea cup in hand. He sprang to his feet at those words: “What has happened?”

“General Zhang… miscalculated.”

The aide replied: “General Zhang had assumed the Ning Army’s split formation was a triangular defense — but after he led his forces out of the fort, the Ning Army suddenly attacked.”

“Attacked?!”

Cao Ziluo’s expression shifted at once. He rushed outside to the walls and looked out.

One glance was enough to make his expression worsen considerably further.

This made no sense.

The Ning Army had only ten thousand men, divided into three columns.

The Cao family’s forces — over twenty thousand — had moved out to attack the Ning Army. And then, without any warning, the Ning Army launched an assault.

A three-pronged simultaneous charge.

On the Ning Army’s left flank, Cheng Wujie led his troops in a thunderous rush forward, roaring with laughter.

The Grand General’s way of commanding troops — always like this, never by the book.

The Cao Army thought the Ning Army was defending. But not at all — instead, all three columns charged at once, and whatever else you could say about it, the opening move scared the hell out of them.

“Cut through the enemy formation — don’t let that Gao Zhen beat us to it!”

Cheng Wujie bellowed and surged forward.

On the other side, Gao Zhen urged his horse ahead, glanced to the side, and in the distance watched the three Ning Army columns thunder out, advancing abreast.

“Faster — don’t let that fat Cheng beat us!”

Gao Zhen shouted.

Cheng Wujie had been putting weight back on these past few days…

Riding a horse was a challenge for the horse as well.

Because of his size, Cheng Wujie rarely wore iron armor on campaign — he found it cumbersome.

A breastplate hung over his chest, which he considered sufficient protection.

Viewed from a distance, he looked like an oversized large child with a good-luck locket hanging around his neck.

On the walls, even Cao Ziluo — rarely shaken — grew tense.

As the Mountain-River Seal’s Sect Master, he had spent half his life wielding authority over the underworld, a master of its rise and fall. His composure was far beyond that of ordinary men.

Yet even so — what he was witnessing now made it impossible not to feel unsettled.

“This is bad!”

Someone shouted.

They raised a hand and pointed: “The troops led by the Four Deficient generals — they’ve been cut through!”

The Four Deficient had led seven thousand Cao soldiers against three thousand Ning Army troops in a head-on charge — and in a single exchange, the Ning Army had driven straight through the middle of their formation.

“Sect Master, look over there — the other side!”

His aide cried out in alarm: “The forces led by the Four Complete generals — they’ve been cut through by the Ning Army too!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!”

Cao Ziluo called out loudly: “In the center, both sides are evenly matched. General Zhang has the numbers, and it won’t be long before he destroys Tang Pidi. Besides, our two flanks have many troops — once they deploy and spread out, they’ll have a wider front but a thinner line, and being cut through from the center isn’t anything to be overly worried about. The Four Complete and Four Deficient can still regroup.”

About half an hour later, someone came sprinting up onto the wall, their voice trembling severely.

“Report… Sect Master, the Four Deficient generals… all of them… all have fallen in battle!”

“Report…”

Before this man had even finished speaking, another person came tearing up from below, running so fast that he stumbled and fell upon reaching the top of the wall.

He half-crawled, half-staggered to reach Cao Ziluo, dropped to both knees: “Sect Master… the Four Complete generals… every one of them is dead.”

Down below, on the battlefield.

Cheng Wujie looked around at the bodies strewn on all sides and laughed heartily: “Not bad — those four had something to them.”

The four subordinates Cao Ziluo had trusted as his battle commanders were put down in this fashion — beaten to death by the hammers in Cheng Wujie’s hands.

He weighed his twin hammers and looked at those four bodies: “Every one of them could take one blow from me. That one man even held out for two — gave me quite a start.”

Privately he thought: *I only have three moves. You survived the second hammer, and I was running rather low on techniques.*

What remained was, one could say, extremely limited.

*Put everything into the third hammer — if that doesn’t kill you, things were going to get awkward.*

On the other side.

Gao Zhen reined in his horse, looked back — the ground was carpeted in Cao Army bodies. Each of the four commanders who had led those forces had a spear wound piercing through their chest.

He had always favored the spear, and had received guidance from Luo Jing on top of his own dedicated practice and exceptional natural gifts. Gao Zhen’s spear technique was not to be underestimated.

“Turn back, flank the enemy from the side, and sound the horn to signal that large Cheng — let him attack from the other side.”

Gao Zhen gave the order, and the young general urged his horse forward.

Hearing the horn call in the distance, Cheng Wujie thought to himself: *that little wretch moved this fast too.*

He wheeled his horse around: “Move out — let’s go lend the Grand General some support!”

These two reckless brutes, each commanding three thousand troops, had each smashed through seven thousand Cao soldiers, and each had cut down countless enemy commanders.

But they both felt that — among those four men each faced — those four had… a certain something to them.

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