Yuan Zhen’s gaze rested on the carriage, and Han Feibao immediately understood his meaning.

In truth, Yuan Zhen had already raised with Han Feibao how this particular battle would need to be fought.

The reason a Chu Emperor who appeared entirely useless had been brought along was, of course, because he *was* useful.

Han Feibao said, “Li Chi’s detached force can’t be too large. If we handle this battle well — we could actually try making a decisive stand here…”

He hadn’t finished the sentence before Yuan Zhen was already shaking his head.

“General Han, if you proceed as I’ve already outlined, I can guarantee you at minimum half the realm. Push beyond that on impulse, and there’s nothing more I can do for you.”

Han Feibao was silent for a moment, then yielded. “As Master Yuan says.”

Yuan Zhen gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment, then lowered his voice and spoke to Han Feibao at length.

“In this battle — we can only lose. We must not win.”

Han Feibao said, “I will follow the plan. I only hope all of it falls within your calculations.”

Yuan Zhen said, “I’ve already sent men back to the Tiehu Tribe. When the time comes, the Tiehu’s hundreds of thousands of cavalry will ride south to support you. You can set your mind at ease.”

Han Feibao cupped his fist. “Good. If I gain half the northern borderlands, I will maintain the warmest relations with the Tiehu Tribe.”

Yuan Zhen made a sound of acknowledgment, glanced once more toward the carriage, then turned and left.

The last part of their conversation had been too quiet — Yang Jing, seated inside, had caught nothing.

Only the earliest remark — *there would be a battle here* — had reached him. Those few words alone were enough to set him on edge.

Han Feibao raised a hand and beckoned his senior general Kuobieulie over, gave quiet instructions. Kuobieulie turned at once to make arrangements.

This was the northern part of Jing Zhou — separated from Yu Zhou by only a single river, with Jing Zhou just to the east. Han Feibao’s route of march traced a strange and seemingly self-destructive arc — to any casual observer, it looked like walking straight into a trap, pressing deeper and deeper into the heartland of the Central Plains.

Several days later, Li Chi received confirmation: Han Feibao’s main force had not crossed north of the river. They were marching steadily east along the Nanping’s bank.

Zhuang Wudi heard the news and looked to Li Chi. “Is he planning to circle around and strike at Da Xing City?”

Li Chi shook his head. “Doesn’t feel right.”

Han Feibao had hundreds of thousands under his command — but Jing Zhou today was not what it once was. The Ning army’s grip on Jing Zhou was far tighter and more thorough than the Chu army’s had ever been.

To strike at Jing Zhou under these conditions would be to walk into a genuine trap.

Tang Pidi would need only leave a few tens of thousands to watch over Shu Zhou’s grain and supplies while he temporarily suspended the Shu campaign — then march his Ning main force back north, and Han Feibao would be sealed inside Jing Zhou with nowhere to go.

And only a little over a year ago, Han Feibao had just been chased ragged by Tang Pidi. Tens of thousands had been wiped out. Would he dare risk a repeat?

If he tried again, he might not even escape once more from Tang Pidi’s hands.

The Ning main force had been redeployed, true — but given half a year, those garrison forces from across the provinces could be recalled.

Han Feibao would have to have the courage of a lion and the boldness of a madman to strike at Da Xing City.

Zhuang Wudi let out a breath. “He’s lost his mind.”

Everyone within earshot instinctively nodded.

If Han Feibao hadn’t lost his mind, this bizarre route of march, this bizarre style of warfare — none of it made any sense.

“Follow him and see.”

Li Chi said, “Han Feibao is hauling enormous supplies — he can’t move fast. We have more cavalry. We can shadow and harass.”

He ordered Boertiechina to take the forty thousand cavalry and ride ahead, while he followed with the forty thousand infantry.

They caught the Yong Zhou rear guard near Fanxian County in Jing Zhou.

The Yong Zhou rear column was mostly cart and horse, lightly defended. Boertiechina judged the numbers thin and ordered an immediate charge.

Forty thousand battle-hardened steppe cavalry swept in from the Yong Zhou rear. Harrying and wearing down — this was a mode of battle that steppe cavalry knew better than anyone.

A single charge threw the Yong Zhou rear into chaos, but they quickly regrouped — locking their carts and horses into a great ring as a wall against the cavalry. Boertiechina had no intention of pressing a frontal assault. His purpose was to pin them down and wait for Li Chi’s infantry to arrive.

So the cavalry clung to the rear of the Yong Zhou column, jabbing and harassing, until Li Chi’s foot soldiers came up.

Standing on a high ridge, Li Chi raised his spyglass toward the Yong Zhou position.

The rear guard had formed into a great circular formation, carts and horses along the outer rim.

Their archers were numerous, and their arrow reserves appeared substantial.

A direct assault would cost the Ning forces heavily. And operating with only a fraction of the enemy’s numbers — if the attack faltered, the Ning forces could find themselves surrounded and swallowed in a counterattack.

“Send word to Boertiechina — take the cavalry wide, one sweep around the flanks.”

At Li Chi’s command, the courier galloped out.

Within the hour, Boertiechina’s cavalry began peeling away from the flanks, circling left and right toward the Yong Zhou vanguard on both sides.

Two hours later, Boertiechina sent back word: the vanguard and rear guard of the Yong Zhou column had become somewhat separated.

He asked Li Chi’s permission to cut between them — isolate and devour the rear guard.

Li Chi considered for a moment, then sent back his answer: no hard assault. Have the cavalry sweep back and forth laterally, blocking the vanguard in place. If the Yong Zhou forces turned ferocious, pull back immediately.

Then Li Chi looked to Zhuang Wudi. “Take one regiment. Make a probing attack.”

Zhuang Wudi accepted the order and moved his regiment forward.

The fighting began in the afternoon. By nightfall, the Ning probing attacks had not inflicted significant losses on the Yong Zhou rear guard.

With darkness, Li Chi committed two more of his remaining three regiments in a hard assault, holding only one in reserve.

The attack ran through the night. By dawn, the Ning forces had broken through the Yong Zhou defensive ring and fought into the formation itself.

Only then did they discover: the rear guard had been held by very few troops — barely over ten thousand.

And the carts that had looked loaded with grain and supplies — filled with nothing but dirt and dry straw.

Han Feibao had cut off his own tail. He abandoned ten thousand men and all the wagons, leaving the main body free to press northeast at full speed.

The Ning forces cleared the battlefield. Before long, a prisoner was brought before Li Chi.

When Li Chi looked at the prisoner, one eyebrow rose involuntarily.

The prisoner was the Chu Emperor, Yang Jing.

“You walked into a trap.”

When Yang Jing looked at Li Chi, there was surprisingly little fear in his face — a man who appeared to have made his peace, or given up on himself entirely. In truth, what he was doing was ensuring he looked cooperative.

Without waiting to be questioned, he told Li Chi everything he knew.

“The Yong Zhou forces that crossed the river earlier — they went without carts, but they did take more than half the grain and supplies.”

Hearing this, Li Chi felt a quiet tightening inside his chest.

“Your every judgment was anticipated by Han Feibao.”

Yang Jing continued, “When they crossed, they used sheepskin rafts. Several tens of thousands — perhaps as many as a hundred thousand — crossed. That force is heading directly back northwest to Yong Zhou.”

Li Chi said, “And then Han Feibao used the carts loaded with earth to lure me into pursuit — led me all the way here, deliberately lost a battle…”

He looked at Yang Jing. “Then why did he abandon you? He went to all that trouble to bring you out of Shu Zhou, and it wasn’t supposed to end with you left behind here.”

Yang Jing shook his head. “Han Feibao sent me to the rear guard to have a look around. I went. Then your forces arrived. The rear guard was cut off — and I was left here. It seems it was all exactly as Han Feibao expected. He sent me to the rear, and that was because he wanted me to fall into your hands.”

Li Chi asked, “Did he ever tell you what he actually intends to do?”

“To plunder Ji Zhou’s grain.”

Yang Jing answered quickly — not like a prisoner at all. More like an intelligence agent planted inside the Yong Zhou army.

Perhaps this very eagerness was his deliberate strategy — cooperative compliance, to earn himself another chance at survival.

“Everything — this entire plan — was directed at Ji Zhou’s grain.”

Yang Jing said, “He never explained the full plan to me. But I overheard fragments of discussions between him and his strategist surnamed Yuan.”

“They lured you to follow. The true purpose was to cover for the force that had already crossed the river.”

“The defenses that force set up on the north bank of the Nanping were false — almost no real soldiers, only straw dummies. The real troops marched northwest at top speed, carrying the supplies they had already secured.”

“Han Feibao will cross the river up ahead. Your Highness came through Yu Zhou into Jing Zhou and knows the terrain — the route from Yu Zhou to Ji Zhou is considerably shorter.”

He looked at Li Chi. “His ultimate destination is still Yong Zhou…”

Yang Jing paused, then added: “I don’t know how much of this is true. But it is everything I know.”

Li Chi gestured for his men to take Yang Jing away. He found a clear patch of ground and sat down to think.

Something still wasn’t right.

Yang Jing had been abandoned just like that?

Everything Yang Jing had just said was, without question, precisely what Han Feibao wanted him to say.

Yang Jing said the Yong Zhou main force would push through Yu Zhou into Ji Zhou. That had a certain logic — but the more Li Chi turned it over, the more wrong it felt.

Han Feibao had every capability to shake the Ning pursuit. Why go to such lengths to draw them into following? Truly just to cover the river-crossing force?

At that moment, Boertiechina returned from the front and reported on the Yong Zhou vanguard.

“Your Highness, Han Feibao’s main body did not turn back to relieve the rear guard. It kept moving east.”

Boertiechina said, “He must have deliberately cut the rear guard loose to free his main body.”

Li Chi shook his head. “He commands hundreds of thousands. He has no reason to keep running like this.”

Boertiechina said, “Then let me take the cavalry and keep chasing — see what trick he’s really playing.”

Li Chi said, “Don’t go yourself. Detach ten thousand cavalry to shadow Han Feibao’s rear. Track where he’s really headed.”

Boertiechina accepted the order and assigned a pursuit unit.

What preoccupied Li Chi now was not how to fight the battle — but whether continuing the pursuit would make fighting impossible at all.

They had come light and fast, carrying little. Push further, and they could face a supply crisis.

Li Chi had also realized: Han Feibao’s unprecedented strangeness on this campaign meant he must have a brilliant mind at his side.

That person was almost certainly the strategist surnamed Yuan that Yang Jing had mentioned. But where had this figure come from?

Whoever they were, their thinking leapt in ways that no opponent Li Chi had faced before had shown. A completely different kind of adversary.

Two days later, the forward cavalry sent back word: the Yong Zhou forces were still marching steadily east. No sign of halting.

Li Chi had no choice but to dispatch messengers to all surrounding areas, calling for grain convoys and reinforcements.

“If we continue the pursuit, we’ll have to mobilize Yu Zhou’s forces.”

Zhuang Wudi said, “With what we have, we can’t intercept that many men.”

Li Chi heard this and something suddenly clicked.

“That… is probably exactly what they want us to do. Mobilize Yu Zhou.”

He looked north.

The force that had crossed the river first — Yang Jing said it was heading directly northwest to retreat to Yong Zhou, carrying the supplies.

But Han Feibao’s real target wasn’t Ji Zhou. It was Yu Zhou. Even Yang Jing had been deceived. That crossing force hadn’t taken the supplies with it at all.

If Li Chi stripped Yu Zhou of its soldiers to encircle Han Feibao, that detached Yong Zhou force — a few tens of thousands strong — would exploit the void and drive straight into Yu Zhou.

The realization hit him. Li Chi let out a long, forceful breath.

This strategist named Yuan — their use of troops was unpredictable, strange, almost impossible to pin down. A truly difficult adversary.

—