Being rebuffed by Han Qian, Yao Xishui didn’t take it to heart, because the information Han Qian revealed was truly too shocking.

After Han Qian told her and Li Chong about this matter, he directly burned Zhu Yu’s portrait, seemingly having no intention of sending someone to inform the Defense Command. This made Yao Xishui and Li Chong both alarmed and suspicious, unable for the moment to discern Han Qian’s true intentions.

Was Han Qian hiding such critical information because he wanted to find an opportunity to lead the Left Bureau forces in retreat first?

But if Han Qian truly had such intentions, why tell them about it?

Yao Xishui’s beautiful eyes stared intently at Han Qian as she asked, “What exactly do you want to do? Surely you didn’t simply invite us over for a heart-to-heart chat? What connection does your detention of Yingzhou’s grain ships have with this matter?”

“Prince Yong Zhu Yu of Liang has indeed entered Wancheng without doubt. If we assume that the thirty thousand Liang troops currently advancing toward Wancheng from the Fangcheng direction are actually Black Armored Corps elites in disguise, tell me—how will the Liang army deploy their forces in the Deng-Xiang direction? And if you were Du Chongtao, how would you deploy forces for defense?” Han Qian pointed to the sand table in the center of the hall that roughly outlined the mountains and rivers of Xuzhou, inviting Li Chong and Yao Xishui to engage in theoretical warfare.

Although Li Chong had no direct experience leading troops in battle, he had been exposed to such matters since childhood. His analysis and judgment of military situations far exceeded what low-ranking military officers could achieve.

In fact, Yao Xishui had just blurted out the Liang army’s strategic intentions more thoroughly, clearly having received training in this area as well.

Although the Chu forces currently gathered near Xuzhou numbered around fifty thousand, facing sixty thousand Liang troops successively entering the Nanyang Basin, they had the advantages of terrain and defending cities. Normally there was no need to worry about the Liang army breaking through the Han River defense line—at most they would send small forces to raid into Suizhou and Yingzhou.

The Liang army was already more formidable than the Chu army. However, if half of the sixty thousand Liang troops were the Liang army’s most elite Black Armored Corps, the significance would be completely different.

The Liang state’s central army organization was largely similar to the Chu army, divided into Guard Personal Army and Forbidden Camp Army systems. However, the highest level of the Forbidden Camp Army was “army,” while the highest level of the eight Guard Personal Armies was “corps,” though their scale was equivalent to one army of Chu forces.

The Black Armored Corps had not initially been prominent among the eight corps of the Liang Emperor’s Guard Personal Army, with barely ten thousand men. In the early years of Tianyou, when the Liang Emperor handed the Black Armored Corps to his second son, Prince Yong Zhu Yu, who had just turned twenty, to command and garrison Luoyang, no one expected Prince Yong of Liang to have any outstanding performance.

However, from the early years of Tianyou, the Jin Emperor shifted his strategic focus against the Liang state from the eastern front to the western front, repeatedly dispatching heavy forces to attack the counties along the Yellow River north of Luoyang.

Prince Yong Zhu Yu not only brought great order to the Luoyang counties but led the Black Armored Corps in combat against the Jin army with increasing ferocity, forcing Jin to switch from offense to defense on the western front and fall into decline. The Black Armored Corps gradually expanded to around thirty thousand troops.

This was an elite force that was neither elite cavalry nor iron-armored infantry, but a mixed elite combat force of mounted and foot soldiers.

Against this Liang elite force, Du Chongtao’s Left Martial Guard Army elite of only fifteen thousand men dared not engage in field battle. Even if all sixty thousand Chu troops in the Deng-Xiang region swarmed out, their chances of defeating the Black Armored Corps in field battle could not exceed thirty percent.

Moreover, Prince Yong Zhu Yu was an extremely rare military genius of the current age.

Since taking command in Luoyang, he had led the Black Armored Corps in over thirty battles large and small against Jin elite forces north of Luoyang without a single defeat, not to mention how many large and small forces around Luoyang that had once been unwilling to submit to the Liang state had fallen into his hands.

Standing before the sand table, Yao Xishui secretly felt that if she were Prince Yong, she would bypass the heavily defended fortified cities and directly thrust through the gaps to capture Yingzhou City, cutting off the Han River passage. Then, whether from upstream or downstream, she could calmly cross the Han River to attack Xuzhou City, which Du Chongtao personally defended.

By then, even more troops would pile up beneath Xuzhou City.

If so, the Chu state would find it very difficult to crack the Liang army’s strategy. After all, they couldn’t expect Tanzhou forces to swarm out—the nearest reinforcements to Xuzhou City could only be assembled and dispatched from Jinling.

From transmitting the message to assembling reinforcements to march west and arrive beneath Yingzhou City would probably take three months.

Could Xuzhou City hold for three months?

If Xuzhou City fell, the offensive and defensive positions of the Liang army in the Deng-Xiang region would be completely reversed.

Yao Xishui’s delicate brows furrowed tightly. She discovered that no matter how the Chu army struggled in the short term, they could hardly crack the Liang army’s strategy of feinting east to attack west this time. Perhaps the best method was for the Dragon Sparrow Army to decisively abandon the Dan River line, retreat into Xuzhou City, and hold Xuzhou City with Du Chongtao while awaiting Jinling reinforcements!

“You’re telling us this because you’re unwilling to have the Dragon Sparrow Army retreat into Xuzhou City, aren’t you?” Yao Xishui stared into Han Qian’s eyes and asked.

“Clever!” Han Qian couldn’t help snapping his fingers in praise of Yao Xishui, saying, “Miss Yao has truly been studying diligently these days. My previous painstaking efforts were not in vain!”

Yao Xishui’s pretty face turned slightly cold as she said, “What exactly are your intentions?”

“If we retreat into Xuzhou City, we’re essentially handing the Dan River waterway over to the Liang army on a silver platter. Once the Liang army opens the passage to Guanzhong, they can gain the capability for prolonged combat in the Deng-Xiang region and dare to send in even more troops. Their will to intercept Jinling reinforcements at Yingzhou will become even more resolute. If the Shu state ultimately fears Liang and dares not enter the war, Xuzhou City will probably still be difficult to hold in the end,” Han Qian said. “But with just Commander Li’s and my prestige, in such a dire situation, we are far from sufficient to independently hold the Dan River…”

“You want us to help you bring the Third Prince under duress to Canglang City?” Yao Xishui stared at Han Qian in shock. In her entire life, she had never seen someone so shameless and without conscience.

After all, not long ago, it was this very person before her who had convinced Li Zhigao to launch a military intervention together and seize the Third Prince from their control.

Only now did Li Chong understand Han Qian’s intentions, and he too was extremely shocked.

“Why must you be so astonished? And why does it need to reach the level of ‘duress’?” Han Qian sat behind the long table, staring at Yao Xishui and Li Chong’s faces, saying, “I merely want you to join me in persuading Gentleman Shen Yang.”

The true crux of the Liang army’s strategy of feinting east to attack west this time lay in the Dan River.

If the Liang army couldn’t control the Dan River waterway and couldn’t continuously transport provisions and troops from Guanzhong through Wuguan Pass and the Dan River, the troops they could ultimately send into the Deng-Xiang region for combat would be limited, and time would be difficult to sustain.

After all, the routes from the Fangcheng gap were all overland, with their flanks still threatened by the Shouzhou army.

If within three months the Liang army couldn’t capture Xuzhou City, when Jinling reinforcements pressed in, they would be trapped by lack of provisions and forced to retreat.

For the Chu army to bankrupt the Liang army’s scheme this time, besides Xuzhou City having to hold firm, the control of the Dan River waterway was equally important.

But how to defend the Dan River waterway!

This was the most troubling problem for Han Qian after confirming that the Liang Emperor’s second son, Prince Yong Zhu Yu of Liang, had secretly arrived in Wancheng.

The forces on the western front were too complex—over five thousand Dragon Sparrow Army troops, over fifteen hundred mountain village recruits, over fifteen hundred Xuzhou troops, over three thousand reinforcements from Yingzhou and Huangzhou—adding up to nearly twelve thousand men. The troop strength was barely sufficient.

The problem was that when the situation wasn’t so dire, Han Qian and Li Zhigao could cooperate well to control the situation on the western front. But once Prince Yong of Liang raised his banner and the Black Armored Corps swept through the area from Zaoyang to Yingzhou in devastating defeat and pursuit, then turned back to attack Canglang City, Iron Alligator Ridge, and Xichuan City, Han Qian knew very clearly in his heart that his and Li Zhigao’s prestige would be far from sufficient.

Not to mention Xia Zhen with his record of misconduct, the mountain village mercenary army would inevitably become unreliable as well.

The mountain village mercenary army had no thoughts of loyalty to Great Chu. Their families were not hostages under control. They were willing to participate in battle now because Han Qian could bring them some benefits.

But once they judged that surrendering to the Liang army would bring them greater benefits, or that not surrendering might lead to their annihilation, what could be expected from them?

If the Third Prince personally came to the western front, the significance would be completely different.

The Third Prince’s arrival would first bring higher benefit expectations to village chiefs like Zhou Dan, and could directly intimidate commanders outside the Dragon Sparrow Army system like Xia Zhen, Zheng Hui, and Zhang Bao, thereby possibly coalescing the scattered sand of the western front into a unified force to firmly defend the Dan River line.

Han Qian didn’t think convincing the Third Prince to risk coming to the western front would be very difficult. Besides the fact that he and Li Zhigao had earned the Third Prince’s deep trust, in fact the Third Prince had always longed for an opportunity to personally command troops on the western front.

The key to the problem lay with Shen Yang.

Shen Yang’s loyalty was to Great Chu, not to the Third Prince. He had to consider how severely the blow to Great Chu and Emperor Tianyou would be if the Third Prince were captured or killed in battle.

If Han Qian truly told the whole truth, Shen Yang wouldn’t be too passive about abandoning the Dan River waterway, but he would more likely suggest to Du Chongtao that he send another sufficiently important general to Canglang City or Iron Alligator Ridge to preside over western front affairs. He would absolutely not agree to let the Third Prince take the risk.

Of course, Han Qian and the others also had no opportunity to withdraw to Xuzhou City.

What Han Qian needed to do now was bring the Third Prince to Canglang City.

However, even if he blocked the information now, he had no ability to convince Shen Yang to agree to the Third Prince coming to Canglang City. But if Li Chong, Zhang Ping, and Chai Jian stood together with them again, the matter would be different.

Honestly, Han Qian hadn’t anticipated the situation would deteriorate so suddenly and drastically, actually changing to this state in such a short time. Otherwise, he would have been slightly more polite to Li Chong and the others from the start.

Yao Xishui and Li Chong looked at each other in dismay. They never imagined Han Qian would discuss this matter with them so calmly. Did this bastard have no sense of guilt or embarrassment at all?

“If the situation develops according to the predicted circumstances, even if His Highness remains in Xuzhou City and ultimately helps Du Chongtao hold firm until the moment the Liang army withdraws, the world won’t think His Highness, at only fifteen years old, has any merit. But if His Highness comes to the western front and ultimately holds the Dan River, the significance will be completely different,” Han Qian stared at Li Chong and Yao Xishui, saying, “The heavy snow blocks the mountains, roads are muddy, the Liang army’s thirty thousand troops are still one or two days’ journey from Wancheng. The time left for us is also very limited. Miss Yao can now go see Master Chai and Master Zhang. Whatever conditions there are, we can lay them all out to discuss—let’s not think about you controlling me or me controlling you. Isn’t everyone too exhausted?”

Seeing Han Qian’s demeanor, Yao Xishui’s heart itched with hatred, but she also knew that whether or not to cooperate with Han Qian again—the decision lay with Chai Jian and Zhang Ping, not with her and Li Chong.

“Does Li Zhigao know about this matter?” Li Chong, still harboring resentment about Li Zhigao’s betrayal, asked aloud.

“There was no battle at Iron Alligator Ridge yesterday. Why would I work so hard to run over there?” Han Qian asked in return.