When Tang Pidi had originally been deploying the encirclement of Mangdang Mountain, he had first posted Shen Shanhu — leading the Ning forces from Qingzhou — to guard one side of the valley.

But when he learned that Princess Wu was marching her army to rescue the Zuo Wu Wei, Tang Pidi reassigned Shen Shanhu to the northern bank of the Panxing River.

A woman’s way of thinking — only another woman can unravel it.

Princess Wu was not a conventional commander. Her way of leading troops, her strategies and tactics, could never be the same as a regular military general’s. Even if she had been heavily influenced by Prince Wu, she would still have her own way of thinking.

So when Princess Wu launched her attack on the Panxing River and found the Ning forces had withdrawn, she was completely stunned.

One woman’s reasoning: you think I can’t guess how you think — but wait until you come across and find out you can’t guess how I think either.

Even though an unguarded crossing was the best possible news for the Chu army, Princess Wu dared not believe it.

Her scouts reported: after crossing the Panxing River, no Ning resistance was encountered. Her two flanking forces had been rendered completely unnecessary.

The Ning army had retreated the moment the Chu army stirred. This made no sense at all.

“How can this be.”

Princess Wu frowned in deep thought.

Zhaoluan offered: “Could it be that the Ning forces here were too few in the first place — just a bluff — and when we moved, they had no choice but to pull back?”

Princess Wu shook her head. “The total Ning forces in this region number no fewer than five or six hundred thousand. With that kind of scale, pulling out a hundred thousand to block us from crossing poses no difficulty whatsoever.”

And even with twenty thousand Chu soldiers attacking, offense and defense were entirely different calculations. A hundred thousand defenders could hold a river crossing against twenty thousand assailants — it was by no means easy to push through.

The Ning army withdrawing without a fight was completely contrary to everything they were known for. The Ning army never retreated willingly. To take land from beneath their feet, you had to trade lives with them first. By reputation, the Ning forces would fight to the last for every inch of ground, even if blood covered the earth.

“Send more scouts ahead,” Princess Wu said, looking at Dou Yong.

Dou Yong immediately had it arranged, but his own heart was drumming with the same uncertainty — and something more: a strange, unsettled feeling, as though he had wound himself up and swung a full-force punch only for the opponent to vanish, and his fist had hit nothing but air.

“Map!”

Princess Wu called out.

Cainan quickly spread the map open on the ground.

Princess Wu bent over to study it. A short distance north of the Panxing River was Ting’an County. But Ting’an County was far too small to stop the Chu army’s advance. Abandoning the Panxing River to hold Ting’an County would be like abandoning a thick and towering city wall to go crouch behind a garden fence and wait for the fight.

The Ning army, however tactically foolish they might sometimes be — and they had never been foolish — would never do something like that.

“General Dou,” Princess Wu said, pointing at the map. “Can you see what the Ning army is trying to do?”

Dou Yong crouched down and studied the map carefully. North of the river, apart from the barely-usable Ting’an County, there was nothing defensible for any significant distance beyond…

“This makes no sense,” Dou Yong said, scratching his head.

Princess Wu said: “Never mind. Pass the order — the entire army must be across the Panxing River within half a day.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Her subordinate immediately responded, and General Wei turned to go urge the crossing forces onward.

The advance unit that had already crossed numbered around twenty thousand — Dou Yong’s command, the most capable fighters in this Chu force, the elite. Beyond them, Guo Songde was still in the process of crossing downstream with forty thousand troops as part of the planned flanking maneuver. And further still, Xu Junji’s cavalry were on the longest route, circling around to cross via the stone bridge upstream.

Princess Wu grew more and more uneasy. There was no good reason for the Ning army to have voluntarily stepped aside. All she could do was keep pushing the crossing — once all two hundred thousand soldiers were on the northern bank, whatever scheme the Ning army had prepared, she would not be afraid.

“My Lady.”

Cainan suddenly thought of something.

She looked at Princess Wu and said: “The Ning army didn’t defend — could it be because… they’re going to attack?”

Everyone in the tent froze for a moment.

They all looked at each other. In that instant, a shadow fell over every heart.

This was absolutely something the Ning army could and would do — the Ning forces always preferred to be on the offensive.

“Send the order again!” Princess Wu called out. “Tell the rear to speed up the crossing!”

“Wait.”

After a moment of silence, Princess Wu said: “General Dou — pick a group to serve as enforcement officers. Station them along the riverbank to oversee the crossing. Anyone caught delaying — execute them in front of the army on the spot.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Dou Yong turned and directed one of his subordinate generals to take two thousand soldiers and deploy them in a line along the river, driving the troops to cross as quickly as possible.

“Cainan’s words reminded me,” Princess Wu said. “Send word downstream — tell General Guo Songde’s force to also push the pace. Guard against the Ning army striking us mid-crossing.”

Cainan immediately called over several bodyguards, gave them instructions, and sent them galloping downstream to find Guo Songde.

“Wei—”

Princess Wu called out.

Wei Qingyi, who commanded all the archers, hurried forward. “Grand General. This subordinate is here.”

“How many of your archers have crossed the river?”

“Half of them, thus far.”

Princess Wu ordered: “Take your current force and immediately form a defensive arrow array to the north.”

Wei Qingyi wasted no time, leading the archers who had already crossed to rapidly reposition themselves on the north side in defensive formation.

“Cainan,” Princess Wu said. “Send someone upstream to find General Xu Junji. His force has been separated from us too far.”

Unease was rising rapidly in Princess Wu’s chest.

The thought occurred to her: what if Shen Shanhu had been waiting all along for her to split her forces while crossing, planning to destroy them one by one? What could she do?

Shen Shanhu was a renowned general. She had taken both Yanzhou and Qingzhou for King Ning Li Chi. She had routed the Bohai forces in Yanzhou.

A woman like that — how could she have retreated without reason, without even attempting a fight?

The more she thought about it, the more alarmed she became. Perhaps Shen Shanhu had already anticipated every move she had made.

All the Chu cavalry had been sent upstream. If the Ning army had laid a large ambush up there, those horsemen were in grave danger.

Zhaoluan, who had been quietly saying nothing, now carefully recalled something. When she and Cainan had crossed the river, they had passed directly through the Ning army’s camp.

The two of them had personally seen enormous quantities of supply wagons. They had even seen large numbers of cattle, sheep, and pigs.

But they had not seen the cavalry camp.

The cavalry camp had only been described to them by that man called Yu Jiuling — he had told them about it without ever actually showing it to them. He had said there were tens of thousands of cavalry and a hundred thousand war horses. But from beginning to end, they had never actually laid eyes on those horsemen.

When they had returned and reported everything faithfully, they had described the Ning army having tens of thousands of cavalry on the northern bank.

And that was why Princess Wu had sent all her cavalry upstream.

“My Lady.”

Zhaoluan’s face had gone slightly pale. “General Xu Junji upstream — he may truly be in real trouble.”

She laid out her concern. Princess Wu’s expression changed as well.

Yu Jiuling had said those things deliberately. He had deliberately kept them waiting. So it wasn’t just about wasting their time…

“Dou Yong!”

Princess Wu called out sharply.

Dou Yong came running. “Grand General — what are your orders?”

“Go see how many cavalry you can scrape together. Take them yourself and go check on the situation upstream.”

Dou Yong, seeing how urgent Princess Wu was, called out immediately.

But when they gathered what they could — only the personal guards and mounts of various unit commanders — they could barely assemble around three thousand. He led them and immediately pushed upstream at full speed.

—

At this very moment, Xu Junji had already arrived at the stone bridge with twenty-eight thousand Chu cavalry.

Xu Junji was a veteran of the Liangzhou forces. Though he had no great fame to his name, he had led troops for most of his life and was by no means without talent.

Before crossing the stone bridge, he had specifically sent men to check whether there were any Ning soldiers hiding in ambush in the small village on the opposite bank. The answer came back: not a single soul in the village.

The only place on the northern bank where an ambush could be hidden was that one decrepit village. If no one was there, and the land beyond it was flat and open as far as the eye could see — any movement would be visible. There was nothing to worry about.

So Xu Junji ordered the army to cross the bridge at full speed.

Nearly thirty thousand horsemen advanced as fast as they could. When roughly half had made it across, the southern bank suddenly erupted into chaos.

Xu Junji was on the northern bank. The sound of turmoil from the south reached him — horn calls breaking apart in ragged, wailing confusion — and his heart seized with dread.

He quickly found high ground and raised his telescope toward the southern bank — and there, behind his own rear column, a vast tide of Ning soldiers was rolling toward them across the ground.

“Damn it all!”

The color drained from Xu Junji’s face.

He had sent people to check every place on the northern bank where an ambush could be hidden. There had been nothing.

It had never once crossed his mind that the Ning army would lay their forces in ambush on the *south* side of the Panxing River.

And the most terrifying part: the incoming Ning force was entirely cavalry.

Fierce red battle banners streamed in the wind, perfectly matched against black iron armor. The most magnificent colors in the world.

How could the Chu army ever have anticipated Ning soldiers on the southern bank? The Ning forces were supposed to be on the northern bank, defending against them.

Half the Chu cavalry was already on the northern bank. The stone bridge was not broad enough for them to double back quickly and reinforce.

The Ning cavalry numbered roughly twenty thousand — fewer than the Chu forces — and their commander was a general serving under Shen Shanhu named Tan Xiaoqui.

Days earlier, Shen Shanhu had ordered Tan Xiaoqui to move all the cavalry and conceal them south of the stone bridge. The standing order: when you see Chu cavalry crossing the bridge, let half of them through, then strike.

“The Grand General said: they want to cross the river? Then let them cross.”

Tan Xiaoqui drew her saber and pointed forward: “Kill!”

The Ning cavalry crashed into the Chu rear.

The Chu rear column was still bunched and pressing against the south side of the stone bridge — no formation to speak of, and their commander was on the northern bank, unable to direct them.

The Chu rear instantly collapsed into chaos, torn apart by twenty thousand Ning cavalry.

The Chu horsemen on the bridge pushed forward; the rear kept jamming up behind them. The northern Chu cavalry had no way to come back and help.

Tan Xiaoqui led her force back and forth in repeated slashing passes, cutting the Chu army to pieces.

Yet despite this overwhelming victory — despite killing seven or eight thousand in the rear column — the Ning cavalry did not pursue.

Instead they stopped south of the stone bridge and sealed it shut.

On the northern bank, the unease in Xu Junji’s chest grew more intense with every passing moment.

—

At the same time. The Ning army camp.

Shen Shanhu stood at a high point, looking south, a faint smile at the corner of her lips.

The Chu army wanted to cross?

Then come across.

Who said that river was there to stop them from coming over?

It was there to stop them from going back.

—