The protracted nature of this battle — before it ever began — was something only the Black Wu had completely failed to anticipate.

The plan Chizhu Liuli had originally drawn up was to take North Mountain Pass within ten days, capture all of Jizhou within a year, and seize the entire Central Plains within three.

Now more than six months had passed, and they were still stopped outside North Mountain Pass — it would not be an exaggeration to say they had not advanced a single step.

From spring to autumn, the weather had already turned cold. The Ning Army soldiers, having changed into their winter gear, still felt the chill at night.

One could only imagine what the Black Wu soldiers — who had arrived with no winter clothing — were enduring, still encamped in the open wilderness.

Li Chi had therefore predicted that the Black Wu’s final assault would come soon. After expending their last full effort, they would make their choice.

Meanwhile, through two months of continuous improvement by Li Chi and Gao Xining, they had built five catapults.

The name given to these catapults was “Thunder Divine Vehicles” — christened by Gao Xining.

It was not the most dazzling of names, but it was unquestionably the most sensible one among all the names anyone had come up with.

Xiahou Zuo and Yu Jiuling were beyond consideration — at this point, Xiahou Zuo had become increasingly infected with Little-Ninth-ness, and was looking more and more out of his right mind.

When commanding troops he was fine — a commanding, stern general, with no sign of his peculiarities on display.

But the moment he was with Li Chi and the others, Xiahou Zuo transformed into a man capable of unleashing full Little-Ninth energy.

So what kind of name could those two possibly produce…

Then there was Li Chi — his proposed name wasn’t much better either. Drawing inspiration from Yu Jiuling, he had suggested naming the catapult “Here Comes Your Father.”

In this group’s estimation, “catapult” wasn’t a name — it was a literal description of the object itself. So calling it a catapult was about as uninspired as it gets.

On the city wall, Li Chi and the others sat in a row, their legs dangling over the outer edge.

By this point in the battle, the pressure had actually shifted away from the Ning Army.

Both sides knew the war would end sometime that year — and the ending would be one the Black Wu could not accept.

But the Ning Army was different. They had held out for half a year, keeping a Black Wu force of nearly a million men outside the gates of the nation. The war’s end was something to celebrate.

“Their winter supplies are insufficient.”

Xiahou Zuo gestured toward the Black Wu camp: “Even if Southern Camp sends supply convoys, the journey is long. And requisitioning large quantities of supplies requires approval from the Black Wu capital — by the time messages travel there and back, a great deal more time will have passed.”

“They never planned to bring their own winter clothing.”

Yu Jiuling swung his legs as he spoke: “These little turds thought they’d come to Jizhou and steal the winter coats off our backs and the grain out of our bowls… They really should have done their research first. We’re the ones who’ve always taken things from others. No one has ever taken anything from us.”

Li Chi smiled. That morale had not flagged after half a year of resistance — this was what gratified him most.

“Report!”

Just then, a personal guard came running from a distance, holding a military dispatch.

“My lord!”

The guard reached him and said: “An urgent military dispatch from Jizhou.”

Li Chi’s heart tightened involuntarily upon hearing those words… An urgent dispatch from Jizhou at a time like this could only mean one thing — the enemy forces had already pushed to the walls of Jizhou City.

He opened the dispatch. It was a letter in Master Yan’s own hand.

The letter said that the enemy forces coming from Qingzhou numbered approximately three hundred thousand. They had made no stops along the way, bypassed every city en route, and made straight for the walls of Jizhou.

But when they were still less than two hundred li from Jizhou City, the men Xu Ji had arranged arrived.

Fifteen thousand civilian laborers, marching in a vast column disguised as fifteen thousand Ning Army combat soldiers, entered Jizhou City.

With this, the Qingzhou enemy forces did not dare launch a reckless assault. Instead, they made camp roughly thirty li from Jizhou City and dug in.

Li Chi finished reading and slowly let out a long breath.

There was no denying it — Xu Ji’s bluffing maneuver was a masterstroke, one that might deter the Qingzhou enemy forces without expending a single soldier.

Fifteen thousand combat soldiers entering a major city like Jizhou — even if the Qingzhou enemy forces outnumbered the Ning Army by more than two to one, they would not dare attempt a reckless assault.

The ratio of casualties between attacker and defender in a siege was not necessarily going to hold at two to one.

And beyond that, the Ning Army’s reputation for ferocity had long since spread far and wide. The Qingzhou enemy forces had come looking to catch an undefended house, not to fight a head-on battle.

“Xu Ji truly has talent.”

Li Chi’s mood lightened considerably.

He passed the letter to Xiahou Zuo and the others to read in turn. When everyone had finished, they all exhaled with relief.

When the Ning Army’s strength reached even ten thousand, no enemy dared to take them lightly — even if their own numbers were several times greater.

When the Ning Army’s strength reached fifteen thousand in scale… consider this: when Tang Pidi had swept south, he had brought fewer than ten thousand men, and still rolled through the entirety of Yuzhou without resistance.

“Jizhou is safe for now.”

Li Chi smiled: “When we return, I’ll make sure Xu Ji receives a major commendation.”

Gao Xining gave a quiet sound of agreement: “His bluffing strategy should give the Qingzhou enemy forces plenty to think about. And winter is nearly here — Jizhou is somewhat warmer, but in another month the ground will freeze over. Unless the Qingzhou enemy forces are confident they can take Jizhou City within a month, they’ll have to hesitate.”

Yu Jiuling laughed: “Even if every single one of those Qingzhou enemy soldiers has a mad dog for a brain, they couldn’t be crazy enough to think they could take Jizhou City in a month. Even Chizhu Liuli planned to spend a full year taking Jizhou.”

“A mad dog for a brain…”

Xiahou Zuo glanced at Yu Jiuling: “How do you come up with these things.”

Yu Jiuling: “Ever since I met you…”

Before he could finish, Xiahou Zuo was already moving.

Yu Jiuling didn’t dare keep going, because where they were sitting was quite precarious — one wrong move and someone might well fall off the city wall.

So he had no choice but to let Xiahou Zuo grab him by the ear and shout directly into it…

This left Yu Jiuling’s head ringing as though three hundred thousand mad dogs were howling incessantly inside his skull, in search of whatever it was mad dogs had lost…

Yu Jiuling rubbed his ear, rubbing and muttering at the same time: “Since Xu Ji over there managed to find fifteen thousand civilians to impersonate our combat soldiers, we could also find a few tens of thousands of civilians…”

Before he could finish, the eyes of both Xiahou Zuo and Li Chi lit up simultaneously.

Xiahou Zuo said: “The Youzhou armory has ample reserves.”

Li Chi said: “Don’t bother looking toward Youzhou. Right now, inside North Mountain Pass, the civilians and wanderers from the jianghu who came to support us already number in the tens of thousands. Issue them Ning Army uniforms and send them back to Jizhou!”

Xiahou Zuo said: “That would truly give those Qingzhou enemy forces the fright of their lives.”

Li Chi said: “But we need someone steady and careful to lead this false army back.”

Everyone looked at one another. The expressions on their faces were remarkably similar — none of them felt the person next to them was sufficiently steady or careful.

“Commissioner Lian Xiwu would be up to the task.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Have him take two thousand real combat soldiers and four or five tens of thousands of fake ones. Once they arrive, they either enter Jizhou City or encamp outside it — forming a mutual support formation with the garrison inside. The Qingzhou enemy forces will be too wary to attempt anything rash.”

Li Chi nodded: “Commissioner Lian is indeed suited for this.”

Gao Xining leaned close to Li Chi and said quietly: “We should still be casting a wider net — bringing in more people of talent.”

Li Chi said: “You were too polite to say it outright — that we don’t have many steady, sensible people on our side, do we?”

Gao Xining smiled: “You could say not just few — rare.”

Yu Jiuling: “Sister-in-law, that word ‘rare’ is quite accurate.”

Li Chi turned from the battlement and dropped back down onto the walkway: “I’ll go speak with Commissioner Lian. If Youzhou can also recruit able-bodied volunteers, we could even make the whole show a good deal bigger.”

—

At that same moment. Jizhou City.

Yan Qingzhi stood on the city wall, watching the distant Qingzhou enemy camp through a spyglass. Though it was thirty li away, from the height of the wall, with the open terrain below and the spyglass in hand, the view was surprisingly clear.

He had been watching for some time. The Qingzhou enemy forces showed no signs of movement, and the corners of his mouth lifted almost involuntarily.

Xu Ji’s bluffing maneuver had indeed put the Qingzhou forces on edge.

Once these civilian volunteers arrived in their Ning Army armor, Master Yan immediately made a decision — raise each of their wages by another ten taels of silver.

There was no need for them to fight. Just wear the Ning Army battle armor and stand on the city walls to fill out the numbers. Seen from a distance, the enemy would look up at rows upon rows of armored men lining the walls, and their hearts would sink.

“Pass the word — not a single one of our brothers who’ve come from Yuzhou is to be treated with anything less than the fullest hospitality. Make sure they eat well and rest well.”

Yan Qingzhi lowered the spyglass and turned to give instructions: “We may not have many soldiers, but we have money.”

At the words “we have money,” his face took on a pride impossible to conceal.

Everyone around Li Chi was more or less the same, it seemed.

“Also.”

Yan Qingzhi continued: “Change the guard rotation every two hours, and make sure the Qingzhou enemy forces outside can see it clearly — let them see that we have troops to spare.”

All the officers broke into laughter.

At this very moment, not only were the Black Wu forces outside North Mountain Pass caught between advancing and retreating — these Qingzhou enemy forces who had traveled all this way to seize Jizhou were in exactly the same bind.

In the Qingzhou enemy camp, Gan Daode stood in an open area with a spyglass, studying the movement on Jizhou’s walls.

“Tang Pidi came back too fast. How did he get back so quickly…”

Gan Daode sighed: “If we had arrived a month earlier — even half a month — when Jizhou’s garrison was thin, we might have had a chance to take the city. But now…”

He let out a long sigh.

Leaving at this point would invite ridicule. Staying was not a viable option either — did his men have enough winter supplies?

The best solution now was to abandon the assault on Jizhou City and turn to attacking the smaller cities under Jizhou’s jurisdiction.

But all along the road here he had noticed — Jizhou seemed to have prepared in advance. Villagers had already relocated from their towns and villages into the larger cities to avoid the fighting.

And every one of those larger cities looked like it would not fall easily.

But if they did nothing, his army of three hundred thousand could rot away in Jizhou territory without a single battle fought — frozen and starved to death.

“My lord.”

A subordinate spoke quietly at his side: “Perhaps we could push toward Dragon Head Pass, join forces with Master Mu’s Yanzhou Army from the outside, and after breaking through Dragon Head Pass, reassess from there.”

At these words, Gan Daode’s eyes brightened: “That’s a sound idea…”

He considered for a moment, then said: “Jizhou City can no longer be taken. Let us move to join forces with Master Mu’s army, and once our combined strength is great enough, we’ll decide the next step.”

He turned and issued his order: “Pass the word — beginning tomorrow, pack everything up. We march straight for Dragon Head Pass!”

—