Bamber and Nakdo had originally thought this would definitely lead them straight to White Deer Plains to participate in the grand hunting conference with the other four nations. Who would have known it would play right into Qing Xia’s expectations—the newly conscripted soldiers were divided into dozens of small teams to help escort grain supplies being transported to White Deer Plains.
That night, Qing Xia was idly tying rope knots in the military tent when suddenly Nakdo strode in with heavy steps and slammed his helmet to the ground with a bang, saying angrily, “I originally thought we’d get to go into battle and kill enemies, but who knew we’d end up as laborers instead—this is infuriating!”
Bamber also walked in, followed by six young soldiers, all members of Qing Xia’s group. After she had given those several big men a thorough beating that day, those people, fearing Qing Xia’s retaliation, spent a fortune bribing the squad leader and finally managed to switch teams after much pleading. Qing Xia had never liked them to begin with, so she was even more relaxed when they left. These few youngsters were all newly conscripted soldiers who, being young, were always bullied in other teams. Whether the squad leader was following those people’s instructions or not, all the newly transferred soldiers were young—not from military households, green recruits who had never fought in battle.
“Exactly!” A group of fifteen and sixteen-year-old boys all spoke up at once, talking over each other loudly, filled with righteous indignation and great annoyance. Qing Xia paid them no mind, just continued weaving various Chinese knots by herself. Those red threads moved up and down in her hands as if they were alive, nimble and magical.
“Xia Qing,” Bamber couldn’t help but say loudly, “didn’t you say that day that escorting grain supplies was an important matter, that enemies would come to raid? But it’s been so long—how come there’s been no sign of anything?”
Qing Xia slightly raised her eyebrows, looking at him and saying, “You fellow, you’re actually hoping for people to come raid the grain supplies. If the higher-ups knew about this, they’d definitely charge you with disloyalty to the ruler and country.”
“Ah!” Nakdo groaned, “This is suffocating! How long do we have to live like this?”
Qing Xia smiled and said, “Right now it’s neither two nations at war nor traveling beyond the frontier, so naturally there are no enemies coming to raid.”
“Ah?” A young soldier surnamed Zhang called out, “Then won’t we just have to keep being laborers escorting grain supplies like this?”
Qing Xia shook her head and said, “Not necessarily.” She knelt up, spread out a map, and pointing to the map on the small table said, “For three hundred years, the four nations’ hunting conference held every five years has never been interrupted, not even during the four-nation civil war period one hundred and thirty years ago. The main point is, this is an opportunity for negotiations, and also an excellent chance to probe each other’s true strength. Over all these years, none of the nations have ever given up their desire to restore the original situation when Great Qin unified the world with all under heaven as one—the only question is who gets to be emperor. This White Deer Plains hunt should have been held last year according to schedule, but it was delayed because of the Northern Xiongnu invasion. So this year’s hunt is definitely not just a simple, pure hunting celebration—otherwise they wouldn’t have us transporting grain supplies to White Deer Plains like this.”
A clever Han youth named Li Xian, after hearing Qing Xia’s words, quickly asked, “Brother Xia, are you saying this White Deer Plains hunt might involve fighting?”
“Which year’s hunt didn’t involve fighting? It’s just that we outsiders can’t see it.” Qing Xia smiled faintly, pointing to White Deer Plains located in Ningxia territory and saying, “White Deer Plains has unique terrain. Although it’s within Xichuan’s jurisdiction, it belongs to a hollow territory, like the Western Black Wasteland—a masterless region. This is also why the other three nations dare to come. Moreover, the target set by all nations this time isn’t hunting beasts and wild animals, but attacking White Deer Fort on White Deer Plains. White Deer Fort has a history spanning over a thousand years and is one of the few armed organizations on the continent that exists independently of any nation. Since it exists, there must be a reason for its existence. You should know about the dismal outcome when the four nations hunted on White Deer Plains and attacked White Deer Fort fifty years ago.”
Everyone quickly nodded upon hearing this. This matter was known throughout the continent. Fifty years ago, the four nations jointly sent troops to besiege White Deer Fort, but unfortunately returned empty-handed. White Deer Fort also became famous because of this, leaping to become the highest-priced mercenary organization on the continent. In Qing Xia’s view, the previous failure couldn’t be entirely attributed to how powerful White Deer Fort’s military strength was—the main reason should be that the four nations couldn’t work together wholeheartedly, being mutually defensive and even secretly sabotaging each other, which benefited that small military fortress.
Qing Xia pointed to the map and said, “In war between two armies, stillness is better than movement. Speaking purely in terms of money, grain consumption, and national strength consumption, attack costs far more than defense. For the attacking side, the farther the journey, the more disadvantageous it is for them. Therefore, Southern Chu, Eastern Qi, and Northern Qin, coming from afar, will definitely bring out large numbers of soldiers. But carrying grain into battle has been the most foolish method since ancient times. The most wonderful approach is using the enemy’s grain supplies to feed oneself, capturing the opponent’s cities to obtain provisions. This creates a situation where one side declines while the other grows—when the defending side can’t keep up with grain supplies while the attacking side’s morale soars, then the battle can continue.”
Nakdo shouted, “Right! Such a simple principle—how could the general not think of it? Why does he still have us carrying grain supplies and moving slowly?”
Qing Xia turned her head to look at Bamber and asked, “What do you think?”
Bamber pondered for a while and said, “If I were the defending side, I would certainly employ scorched earth tactics, leaving no grain supplies for the enemy.”
Qing Xia nodded and said, “That you can think of this is already not easy. Our general must also be thinking along these lines, which is why he’s recruiting civilian soldiers on a large scale to transport grain and supplies. However, we might as well give the enemy more credit and guess what moves they’ll make.” Qing Xia suddenly turned to look at that refined Han youth and asked, “Li Xian, what are your thoughts?”
Li Xian said, “I think the best method would be to cut off the enemy’s grain supplies, occupy advantageous terrain ourselves, and force the enemy to retreat.”
Qing Xia smiled and said, “Li Xian is right. Rather than defending to the death in the fort, it’s better to take the initiative and attack with elite cavalry guerrilla forces behind enemy lines, cutting off their grain supplies—this would be the supreme strategy.”
Nakdo thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed loudly, “Brother Xia, after all your talking, aren’t you just trying to tell us that someone will come to raid the grain supplies and we should be careful?”
Qing Xia glanced at him and said, “I don’t know whether the enemy commander has this courage, but if I were fighting this battle, I would definitely use surprise troops to strike, guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, destroying their grain supplies. As long as I destroyed two thousand-man grain transport teams every day, within three months I guarantee the four-nation allied army would be wailing everywhere, with no rice to cook in the military and no soldiers capable of fighting on the battlefield.”
A northerner named Meng Xun wiped his sweat and sighed, “Brother Xia, fortunately you’re not the enemy commander, otherwise we’d suffer greatly.”
Li Xian flattered, “Brother Xia is truly brilliant. I think even the generals of the Shi family can’t match you.”
Qing Xia smiled and said, “A true great general isn’t a brave warrior. No matter how brave a warrior is, can he defeat ten people? A hundred people? Can he defeat thousands or tens of thousands? So if you want to become a general, you can’t rely on brute force—you need to use your brain. You all want to achieve merit and bring glory to your families, so you should study more military strategy. Since there’s nothing to do on the road anyway, I’ll teach you some formations, siege tactics, and military strategies.”
Everyone was delighted to hear this and crowded forward. Bamber even quickly ran to the entrance to tightly close the curtains, as if afraid outsiders might overhear.
And so, the group continued transporting grain this way—traveling by day and listening to Qing Xia explain military strategy at night. What Qing Xia possessed in her chest was knowledge encompassing all the famous battles from China’s five thousand years of history, plus the accumulated essence from thorough analysis by modern warfare experts. How could the military strategies and tactics of this era compare? Fortunately, this group of rough men were all uncultured and didn’t know the difference between what Qing Xia taught and those military texts revered as sacred classics outside. But Xi Lin Chen came from a wealthy noble family, and though he secretly memorized what Qing Xia said and was inwardly shocked, he was deep by nature and didn’t show it even when surprised.
In a flash, half a month had passed, and the grain transport convoy moved extremely slowly. The Shi family’s three armies assembled once, then separated again. Shi Xing was assigned to manage new recruits and escort grain supplies, which made him quite depressed. He spent his days in the carriage fooling around with several dancing girls he had brought, and whenever he came out to face everyone, he would bark orders, frequently beating and scolding. Since the grain transport teams were divided into over a hundred groups, Qing Xia’s team was assigned to bring up the rear with Shi Xing. Combined with the fact that their group was secretly called the “child soldiers” by others, they were greatly ostracized.
Yesterday Nakdo had refused to submit and argued with Shi Xing for a few sentences, receiving twenty military lashes and suffering pain all night. Everyone was furious and clamored angrily. Who would have known that the next morning, Qing Xia would act completely out of character, greeting Shi Xing with a smiling face, with flattering words flowing endlessly. She and Xi Lin Chen surrounded Shi Xing, helping him mount and dismount his horse, completely obedient. Everyone was secretly angry. But who would have known that before afternoon came, Shi Xing’s expression had changed, looking as if great disaster was imminent. He no longer put on his young master airs, following behind Qing Xia and Xi Lin Chen, nodding and bowing, even wanting to give his carriage to Qing Xia.
Everyone was greatly surprised and pressed Xi Lin Chen for answers. The youth smiled faintly and said, “Xia Qing had me find an opportunity to give him two needle treatments. He’s now vomiting and having diarrhea, with headaches and fever. The thing is, whenever I treat him, he can hold up for a while. He thinks he has some terminal illness, and I’m the only one who can treat his condition, so naturally he has to be polite to us.”
Everyone saw Qing Xia give Shi Xing a few perfunctory shouts, and immediately someone came to forcibly pull Nakdo onto Shi Xing’s carriage, even assigning Shi Xing’s most beloved dancing girl to personally serve him. They all sighed greatly, secretly thinking that in life, one must have a skill to rely on.
This day the troops marched to Yao Pass. Qing Xia was accompanying Xi Lin Chen in the carriage, giving Shi Xing acupuncture treatment. Shi Xing felt his days were numbered and that his small life entirely depended on Xi Lin Chen. Seeing how respectfully Xi Lin Chen treated Qing Xia, he focused all his attention on Qing Xia, serving tea and water, asking after her warmth and comfort, being extremely attentive. Qing Xia kept a stern face, responding indifferently, leaning against the soft cushions and enjoying the service of two dancing girls without changing expression. Though she was young and had deliberately darkened her face, she still carried a somewhat gentle, scholarly temperament. When the two dancing girls saw that even Shi Xing was so respectful to her, how could they dare to be negligent? Each one used all her skills to curry favor with Qing Xia. Qing Xia half-closed her eyes with a slightly rakish look at the corners, truly resembling a veteran of pleasure quarters.