The purple-robed man laughed heartily, shaking his head with great satisfaction as he said, “You don’t understand this! That Southeast Grand Marshal has entered the desert, hasn’t she? Those two women are natural born enemies!”
The eagle in the sky suddenly let out a shrill cry. The purple-robed man turned around, swaying unsteadily toward the carriage while humming a tune: “The ivory bed creaks with green silk curtains, jade arms and snow-white skin of a beautiful maiden, full breasts and plump hips like rouge-colored flesh, fragrant sweat dripping in a magnificent dream soup.”
The light-armored general stood in place, watching the purple-robed man’s retreating figure, his eyebrows gradually furrowing.
“Young General,” a subordinate stepped forward and said quietly, “The forward scouts have approached Loulan and are awaiting your next orders.”
The young general looked down at the desert map stained with countless blood, suddenly extending his pale finger to point hard at the ancient city of Loulan.
Just as Xichuan’s Young General Zhaonan and the newly self-proclaimed King of Xiling, Yan Hui, were conversing, in another corner of the desert a group of black-clad men were racing at full speed. Their hoofbeats shattered the desert’s desolation. After riding for half a day until the sun set in the west, they finally reached their destination. The tent flap was lifted, and Qi’an glanced at the arrivals, frowning slightly as he said in a deep voice, “What is it?”
“The Great Khan has sent a letter.”
Qi’an took the letter handed to him by that person, opened it and read it once, then said to the leader of the black-clad men, “Go back and tell your Great Khan that I agree and will do as he says.”
The group nodded, turned and walked out. Soon the thundering sound of departing hoofbeats could be heard.
A scholar in his thirties pondered for a long while before saying, “Crown Prince, can these Xiongnu people be trusted?”
Qi’an snorted lightly, and after a long time, said in a low voice, “They don’t need to be trustworthy—they just need to be stupid enough.”
Having said this, he quickly wrote a letter and handed it to the scholar, saying, “Find someone reliable to deliver this to Yan Hui. Tell him the Xiongnu are already furious. Although Guli A’shu has suspicions, in order to suppress the resentment of the various Xiongnu tribes he has no choice but to send troops to Loulan. The previous massacre in Loulan should also be blamed on Chu Li. When the time comes, we won’t fear the Xiongnu won’t see red. Our people are leading Chu Li toward Loulan—we want to make it seem ambiguous. Just because Guli A’shu has brains doesn’t mean the other Xiongnu do.”
After thinking, he added, “Zhuang Qingxia is deeply skilled in tracking. On the second day after entering the desert, our people were shaken off by her. Now we don’t know where she’s reached. We must be extremely careful not to let this woman ruin things again.”
The scholar solemnly agreed and continued asking, “Crown Prince, should we also go to Loulan?”
Qi’an smiled grimly, leaning back in his chair as he said slowly, “With such excitement, how can this Crown Prince not go? Chu Li’s death is near—as an old friend, I should properly see him off.”
Qing Xia had no way of knowing that during her rapid march, because of her familiarity with desert terrain and not encountering any battles to block her way, she had already gotten ahead of Chu Li, who had entered the desert before her, and reached Loulan City first. The Xichuan and North Qin allied massacre squad had just left when they arrived at this city used for framing and entrapment. Along this journey, at the closest point, she and Chu Li were separated by only two sand dunes.
This point was unexpected not only to Qing Xia, but even to Yan Hui, Qi’an and others.
Qi’an and the others’ scheme was simple but very effective. They captured large numbers of Han people locally, dressed them in South Chu military uniforms they had brought beforehand, creating the illusion that Chu Li’s forces had suffered heavy losses. This way, when the Xiongnu discovered their homeland destroyed, they would know that Chu forces had also suffered severe casualties, thus having more confidence to fight against Chu forces. This would allow them to reap the benefits while saving much trouble.
However, before the Xiongnu arrived, they had nearly caused the Chu army led by Qing Xia to mutiny through this scheme. Fortunately, a great sandstorm struck, blocking Qing Xia and others’ steps and forcing them to stay in Loulan City, thus allowing them to carefully examine those corpses and finally discover the improprieties.
After discovering all this, Qing Xia immediately vaguely sensed some clues. Her keen political instincts and war experience made her dimly realize that Loulan City might become the key location for the final battle. Even if it wasn’t as she suspected, the Xiongnu would definitely come to Loulan. As long as they followed these Xiongnu who were blinded by hatred yet deeply familiar with the desert, they would definitely be able to find Chu Li’s whereabouts.
Therefore, Qing Xia set up camp in the earthen hills behind Loulan. After hiding, they once again began doing everything they had done at the slaughter sites of various tribes—forging murder scenes, erasing all traces of Chu forces, and throwing dirty water on Xichuan and North Qin.
Qing Xia’s rapid march, superior anti-reconnaissance and tracking abilities, and understanding of the desert all far exceeded the expectations of Qi’an, Yan Hui and others. In their imagination, Qing Xia should still be circling around the Dragon Tooth Desert, intercepted by the horse bandit Hua Rongyue, and after a great battle, fallen into Lu Huayang’s encirclement. Instead, she had reached Loulan first and repeatedly disrupted their framing plans, causing the number of tribes who believed Chu forces had killed their people and sent troops to Loulan to be greatly reduced—less than twenty thousand gathered in the end. Meanwhile, the Xiongnu demanding that Guli A’shu attack Xichuan numbered a full hundred thousand or more.
When Yan Hui received this news, his first reaction wasn’t that Zhuang Qingxia had arrived, but rather that Qi’an was causing trouble in between, with Qin Zhixiang’s tacit consent. After all, Xichuan was still an ally of the Xiongnu. For the Xiongnu who valued trust, being betrayed by allies would obviously trigger even more severe consequences and hatred. So he very resolutely stopped the most recent batch of message and letter exchanges with Qi’an and North Qin, reservedly slowing his pace while quietly awaiting changes in the situation.
Conversely, Qi’an thought the same way. In his mind, Xichuan and North Qin were framing each other, thus ruining the grand plan.
Meanwhile, North Qin remained completely silent, just as their initial attitude had been—mild as water, revealing no edge, only continuing to lurk motionless according to their previous plan.
All message transmissions fell into deadlock, and Chu forces completely lost their trail. Without the cooperation of most Xiongnu, the Great Emperor of South Chu seemed to have completely vanished in the desert, with no one knowing his whereabouts anymore. Thus, everyone’s attention had to refocus on Loulan, quietly waiting to see what tricks that dead city would produce.
In the wind-swept desert, apart from the Xiongnu fighting internally, the other factions all seemed to fall into hibernation, not daring to make the slightest move.
This was a brutal psychological war. Although the various forces had never met face to face, their tactics, wisdom, patience and analytical abilities were clashing on different levels—the battle situation was intense. And Qing Xia, this 21st-century super agent, relying on her tenacious mind, solid professional qualities, and tactical applications beyond this era, had gained a slight upper hand.
Everyone was slowly probing, quietly approaching. The ancient Loulan City, with its thick bloody smell, was a meeting place of wind and clouds, with mists churning.
Five days later, on the Red Water Embankment outside Loulan, the distinctive horn sounds of Xichuan slowly rang out. Qi’an knew, Guli A’shu knew, and Qing Xia also knew—this sound represented that the most cautious Yan the Fox had also arrived.
The Red Water Embankment had unique terrain, similar to the Loess Plateau. After being washed by river water for hundreds of years, it gradually resembled a huge platform standing high above the desert. Below were crisscrossing ravines, and because of water sources, small oases formed. Thus, even though all sides clearly knew other forces were hidden below the embankment, they dared not rashly go investigate, only carefully lurking and waiting for the first person who couldn’t hold their composure.
After two days of quiet waiting, everyone tacitly made no moves, because they all knew with understanding that the most important person had yet to set foot on this muddy yellow land.
White egrets fly over sandbanks, green robes with bamboo hats. At sunset in the west, with red clouds everywhere, a pure white two-humped camel with golden bells around its neck came jingling slowly forward. Seated on it was a young gentleman in blue robes, with clear features and carefree bearing, led by a white-haired old man, gradually walking into that dead ancient city under the scorching blazing sun.
Everyone’s eyes fixed on this outsider, yet not one person came forward to block him.
The current situation was like a thin sheet of ice, with turbulent undercurrents already surging beneath—all that was needed was the stone that would shatter the ice layer.
When Qing Xia saw that blue-robed man, she almost thought she was seeing Qin Zhiyan. She stood before the great camp, looking at the man standing on the empty street. Wind carrying yellow sand blew through his long hair, scattering and swaying in the dry air. The man looked still quite young, yet those eyes seemed to have penetrated through thousands of years, hiding too much vicissitude and hardship. Fine crow’s feet smoothly traced around his eyes, yet didn’t diminish his elegance in the slightest. The man also saw Qing Xia, his eyes gradually curving as he lifted the corners of his mouth, then smiled warmly, saying in a mellow voice, “Excuse me, young lady, are there any inns here for lodging?”
Time flew past—whose heart twitched slightly, quietly dripping blood?
No normal person would walk into such an empty city and dare so calmly ask a military person in full armor where the inns were. Moreover, with Qing Xia’s disguise, even her most familiar trusted aides couldn’t easily recognize her. Apart from her former military academy instructors, this person was the first outsider to recognize at a glance that she was a woman disguised as a man.
That night, Loulan City was completely quiet, but this was only a surface phenomenon. After all, with great battle imminent, everyone was secretly sharpening their weapons, waiting for that fight to the death.
Qing Xia sat at her writing desk, watching the blue-robed man elegantly drink a cup of flower tea. Her expression remained unchanged, but her palms were slightly damp with threads of cold sweat.