When Gao Chengyuan regained consciousness, the sounds of slaughter had not ceased. Opening his eyes, he saw tree branches crisscrossing around him and cliff faces rising steeply, not knowing how much time had passed or where he was. He only remembered that after being struck down from his horse, his chest was immediately trampled by enemy cavalry, and he had lost consciousness.

At this moment, his entire body was wracked with severe pain, as if every bone in his body had been ground to powder, but his heart was filled even more with profound regret.

The short halberd he had thrown before falling from his horse—he had clearly seen it was about to pierce Wen Ruilin’s face, but unexpectedly it was deflected by a Liang general. Missing by just a fraction, he had failed to personally slay this traitor to avenge the twenty thousand naval officers and men who had perished in Hongze Marsh.

If before, when Li Que shot and killed Gao Long, many things were still merely speculation, but when he saw Wen Ruilin’s figure wearing a long robe and sitting on horseback observing the battle after the third wave of armored cavalry, he instantly understood:

That fool Duke Changguo had failed to see through Wen Ruilin’s true face—the entire Chu navy had been ruined by his hand! Twenty-four thousand sons and brothers, dead so unjustly!

“Where am I?” Gao Chengyuan endured the severe pain of his shattered chest bones and asked with difficulty the subordinate officer supporting him. “Did Li Xiu, Li Que, and Chen Mingsheng manage to enter the mountains alive? Did the enemy troops pursue into the mountains?”

“The General charged at the enemy cavalry formation to kill Wen Ruilin but unfortunately fell from his horse and was trampled by enemy cavalry. Fortunately, the enemy formation was thrown into disarray by the General, allowing us to fight desperately to rescue you and flee toward Ya Mountain,” said the subordinate officer, who was also covered in wounds, his face crusted with terrible bloodstains. He sat down heavily on the rocky ground to speak with Gao Chengyuan, fearing that in the next moment Gao Chengyuan might truly close his eyes forever. “We were still some distance from Ya Mountain when we were unfortunately caught by enemy cavalry again…”

“And then?”

Although the enemy cavalry formation had been disrupted, once they regrouped, they were still faster than the naval remnants running on foot. Gao Chengyuan had not expected all three thousand naval remnants to escape into the mountains. He was more concerned with how many had entered the mountains and which officers were currently holding the mountain pass; more concerned with how many of the infantry Chen Mingsheng led in the rear guard had escaped; more concerned with whether Li Xiu and Li Que had broken through the encirclement. As for Li Chong and Xu Jing, Gao Chengyuan couldn’t even be bothered to think about them…

“The subordinate officers of the Marquis of Qianyang had hidden troops nearby. At the critical moment, they killed out from a side valley, shot down dozens of enemy cavalry, and scattered the enemy forces, allowing us to shake off their entanglement. In the end, about two thousand brothers withdrew into Ya Mountain. We are currently in a valley on the southern side of Ya Mountain—we don’t even know its name. We only know that walking ten or so li southeast would take us out of the mountain region, but enemy cavalry are already active there, so we can only continue climbing over mountains and ridges toward the southwest…” the subordinate officer explained.

The Five Peaks Mountain Range was located in the northern section of mountains between Mopan Valley and Longyou Lake. Although it had no towering peaks—most of its main ridges were only a hundred-odd zhang high—it stretched from southwest to northeast for over a hundred li, with a depth and width of thirty to forty li.

This provided ample maneuvering space for the remnant soldiers fleeing into the Five Peaks Mountain Range.

Even if the enemy was willing to pay an equal price to annihilate them, it couldn’t be accomplished in three to five days.

As long as the enemy couldn’t occupy the entire Huaixi region in a short time, they could cross Mopan Valley and walk southwest along the Five Peaks Mountain Range. At the southernmost end of Five Peaks Mountain, the gap to Green Cang Mountain on the north bank of the Yangtze River was only thirty-odd li—easy enough to break through.

“What about General Chen Mingsheng and the others?” Gao Chengyuan asked with extreme weakness.

“General Chen Mingsheng led the rear army and tried to reach Longyou Lake but was unfortunately scattered by routed troops. There were also ambush forces on the southeast shore of Longyou Lake blocking the way for Li Chong, Xu Jing and the others. They also set fire to burn the reed grass on the eastern shore of Longyou Lake. In the end, we don’t know how many fled northeast. However, Generals Li Xiu and Li Que were truly formidable—they forcibly fought through the enemy encirclement from the southwest direction and have now withdrawn into Xiongyan Mountain to the west with fourteen to fifteen hundred men. They just sent someone to make contact…”

Li Xiu and Li Que had led over three thousand cavalry and bore the brunt of the main offensive launched by the Shouzhou cavalry from the western flank, yet they could still lead half their cavalry into the Five Peaks Mountain Range. Gao Chengyuan was secretly shocked, thinking that although this was related to the Shouzhou cavalry’s lack of fighting spirit, it was sufficient proof that the fame of the Prince of Zhedong’sMansion was not given in vain.

At this time, the sounds of fighting to the north gradually weakened. From the sounds, it was obvious that under their stubborn resistance, the enemy had temporarily stopped attacking and withdrawn from the valley.

After about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Kong Xirong and Guo Xiao brought over a dozen men through the mountain forest. Seeing that Gao Chengyuan had awakened, they clasped their hands and said: “Although we discovered last night that the Emperor of Liang’s personal cavalry were ambushed at the foot of Ya Mountain, my lord said that only if the Right Divine Martial Army decisively withdrew south would it be possible for more men to survive and return. That’s why we didn’t create any disturbance in the mountains. Please forgive us, General Gao…”

“No problem,” said Gao Chengyuan. Seeing Kong Xirong, he was also startled and struggled to sit up, but his chest felt as if it were being torn apart. The pain was so severe that even a man like him couldn’t help but groan twice, nearly fainting from the agony.

Kong Xirong didn’t know whether Gao Chengyuan could pull through, but it was obvious that in his current condition, he was no longer fit to participate in military decision-making. He could only first arrange for him to recuperate from his injuries. For what came next, consulting with Gao Chengyuan’s subordinate officers would serve just as well.

Taking advantage of the fact that attention from all sides was focused on the area between Zhongli and Chaozhou and on the panicked southern flight of the military and civilian population from Nanqiao, Yongyang, and Liyang cities—with Chao and Chu regions in complete chaos—Kong Xirong, Guo Xiao, Lin Jiang and others led over five hundred elite warriors they could currently gather and infiltrated the northern section of the Five Peaks Mountain Range in groups.

Kong Xirong’s arrival was not actually to respond to the Right Divine Martial Army’s breakout. After all, whether the Right Divine Martial Army would decisively choose to break out before the Liang infantry crossed the Huai River was something Han Qian couldn’t be certain of when he was still in Tangyi. Moreover, with the limited manpower he could deploy at the time, what qualification did he have to respond to a Right Divine Martial Army over two hundred li away, surrounded by twenty thousand Shouzhou cavalry and watched by the main Liang forces stationed in Xuzhou?

Han Qian had sent Kong Xirong mainly hoping that he would lead a small elite force to operate within the Five Peaks Mountain Range, drawing more enemy attention when necessary, so that more refugees east of the Five Peaks Mountain Range could flee south and gather in Tangyi.

Or perhaps neither the Liang army nor the Shouzhou forces had anticipated that a small elite Xuzhou force would infiltrate the northern section of Five Peaks Mountain Range at this time, allowing Kong Xirong to detect the heavy armored cavalry ambushed below Ya Mountain before last night.

Knowing the enemy’s arrangements, when the Right Divine Martial Army broke out at dawn, Kong Xirong led his troops through mountains and forests, heading straight for Ya Mountain. At the critical moment, he scattered the enemy cavalry’s formation and brought the remnants of Gao Chengyuan’s troops into Ya Mountain.

This was also largely related to Gao Chengyuan’s decision.

Had Gao Chengyuan panicked and made the wrong decision when he saw Li Chong and Xu Jing fleeing toward the southeast gap, Kong Xirong would at most have led his troops to respond to Li Xiu and Li Que’s breakout. With just over four hundred men, he would never venture out of the mountain region to the open plains to fight desperately against so many enemies…

…

…

After escaping with his life from that halberd strike by Gao Chengyuan, it took Wen Ruilin quite a while to recover his composure.

By this time, the sun was slanting west. Wen Ruilin rode his horse alongside Pang Xiong, a general of the personal guard cavalry, heading toward Zhongli City. From a distance, he saw the former Zhongli commander Zhao Mingting standing with a group of officers and soldiers in front of the south city gate.

Zhao Mingting had already led his troops to take over Zhongli City and was deploying men for a more thorough search of the entire city to ensure no Southern Chu soldiers remained hidden within.

Wen Ruilin knew that Zhao Mingting had originally been a principal officer in the Bureau of Operations of the Southern Chu Privy Council, deeply trusted by Empress Dowager Xu and Niu Gengru and others, and was most skilled at such tasks.

However, during the Jinling Incident, in his confrontation with Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan, Zhao Mingting had shown himself to be a formidable commander when he first led troops. Later, after the Marquis of Zhenyuan was assassinated, he had come forward to lead the remnants of the Tower Ship Army.

The Tower Ship Army remnants were forced to withdraw into Hongze Marsh, using Zhongli City as their base, and Zhao Mingting also assumed command of Zhongli City’s defense.

In the Battle of Hongze Marsh, Zhao Mingting was mainly responsible for dealing with the Left Five Fangs Naval Division under Gao Chengyuan.

Even though the Southern Chu navy’s entry into the trap had predetermined their disastrous annihilation, Zhao Mingting had achieved victory against superior numbers with fewer casualties than the Xuzhou navy responsible for encircling the Right Five Fangs Naval Division to the north—quite an impressive feat.

After the Hongze Marsh naval battle, considering that Hongze Marsh might freeze over at any time, Zhao Mingting led the Tower Ship Army remnants to withdraw to Shouzhou. At this time, their warships were all frozen in at the naval camp in Shouzhou, and the troops were resting and reorganizing. However, Zhao Mingting and his officers were most familiar with the sand embankments and island shoals within Hongze Marsh. To deal with the Right Divine Martial Army, someone needed to set ambushes on the sand embankments and island shoals within Hongze Marsh and in the region east of Longyou Lake, in case the Right Divine Martial Army crossed the ice. However, cavalry couldn’t conveniently pursue en masse onto the lake ice, so Xu Mingzhen ordered Zhao Mingting and his officers to lead infantry troops to participate in the battle.

Zhao Mingting had also fought this battle quite brilliantly.

Wen Ruilin heard that Chen Mingsheng, Wei Huang, and many other generals of the Right Divine Martial Army had been killed by Zhao Mingting’s subordinates.

With Great Liang lacking generals skilled in naval warfare, even though Zhao Mingting was a surrendered Southern Chu general, Wen Ruilin guessed he should be qualified to enter His Majesty’s notice, right?

“General Zhao…” Wen Ruilin dismounted and bowed to Zhao Mingting in greeting.

Zhao Mingting was at least a high-ranking general with the rank of Regional Commander. Seeing Wen Ruilin bow with his body straight, he knew the man was still relying on his extraordinary achievement. He smiled inwardly and politely returned the greeting to Wen Ruilin and Pang Xiong: “Marquis Xu, Minister Niu, and Minister Wen will arrive shortly. Mingting will wait here for a moment. Please, General Pang and Mister Wen, enter the city first to rest…”

No matter how arrogant Wen Ruilin might be about his achievements, he would not dare show any negligence toward Xu Mingzhen, whom His Majesty was determined to deliberately cultivate. He said to Pang Xiong: “It’s fine. Let’s wait here with General Zhao for Marquis Xu and the ministers to arrive.”

After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Shouzhou Military Commissioner Xu Mingzhen, along with Niu Gengru and Wen Muqiao—who had been “distinguished ministers” of Southern Chu—and others, surrounded by over a thousand guards, also converged with Wen Ruilin, Pang Xiong, Zhao Mingting and the others at the city gate.

Xu Mingzhen’s expression was grim, somewhat troubled by the Shouzhou cavalry’s poor performance. Lei Jiuyuan at his side was quite considerate in consoling him:

“Marquis Xu serves our Emperor as a pillar of Great Liang, but previously not the slightest news had leaked out. When the Shouzhou officers and men suddenly heard of this matter, their shock and mental disturbance were truly unavoidable. This battle has annihilated the main force of the Right Divine Martial Army—it’s already a complete victory. Jiuyuan has no regrets, and Marquis Xu need not be too harsh. His Majesty has also said that excessively demanding perfect success while causing heavy casualties among one’s own officers and men is not the conduct of a famous general…”

“Li Pu has no great ability, yet he fathered a son who is matchless against ten thousand—truly enviable,” said Wen Ruilin as he and Pang Xiong and Zhao Mingting approached to pay their respects to Xu Mingzhen and Lei Jiuyuan, speaking with a smile.

He didn’t care much about the three thousand-odd remnant soldiers escaping into Five Peaks Mountain.

The most spectacular opening of the entire war had only just begun, and by now they had nearly completely annihilated the Chu navy and nearly completely annihilated one of Chu’s three most elite forbidden armies—the results could already be called brilliant.

Moreover, how fast could three thousand-odd remnant soldiers run in Five Peaks Mountain? They could assemble twenty thousand cavalry at any time to circle around to the eastern flank of the Five Peaks Mountain Range, thrust directly toward Yongyang, Chuzhou, Liyang and other cities, and water their horses at the river’s edge. How could they fear these three thousand-odd remnants escaping to heaven?

“Li Yu is called Southern Chu’s foremost famous general—the name is not undeserved. Though he’s been dead for over a year, the foundation of the Prince of Zhedong’sMansion cannot be taken lightly,” said Lei Jiuyuan.

His point differed from Wen Ruilin’s emphasis, but he wasn’t trying to argue right or wrong with Wen Ruilin—there was still an element of reminding him.

Wen Ruilin might now only be subconsciously emphasizing Li Que’s martial valor and military achievements, but he was also unconsciously wanting to highlight his own extraordinary achievement in strategic planning. Coming up ahead of Zhao Mingting to speak was somewhat lacking in propriety.

That’s why Lei Jiuyuan reminded Wen Ruilin not to forget that Li Que could hold out from beginning to end—more crucially because there was a large group of officers from the Prince of Zhedong’sMansion leading troops in brave and skillful fighting and desperate struggles on all sides. Otherwise, Li Que would have been killed and turned into human slag long ago.

Wen Ruilin bowed with a gentle expression: “Lord Jiuyuan speaks correctly!”

Seeing Wen Ruilin’s triumphant satisfaction, Lei Jiuyuan thought to himself that perhaps a bit of pride in young people wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Moreover, with Xu Mingzhen and others present, he didn’t say anything too severe.

…

…

After a full day of fierce battle, most of the officers and men who had taken turns fighting needed to withdraw, either to camp or enter Zhongli City to rest and reorganize. As for the remnant soldiers who had fled into the Five Peaks Mountain Range, for now they only assigned three thousand cavalry to watch them from both flanks. They had more important matters to handle subsequently.

As long as these remnants didn’t come out of the mountains, their movement speed would be slow. Once the cavalry had rested and reorganized, they could circle around to intercept at any time.

The day’s battle more or less came to an end at this point.

Before noon the next day, over a thousand cavalry crossed the Huai River from the north. Upon receiving the news, Wen Ruilin hurried to the county office’s main hall to accompany Xu Mingzhen, Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao, Lei Jiuyuan and others for a short while. Then he saw Shen Peng and Zhongli commander Zhao Mingting leading several generals inside.

Wen Ruilin had been ordered to infiltrate Tanzhou in his early years. Great Liang had also undergone tremendous changes in recent years—many things and people had changed—and it was only with Lei Jiuyuan’s reminder that he learned the man opposite was Chen Kun, Left Regional Commander of the Personal Guard Cavalry, who along with Han Yuanqi, Jing Zhen, Jing Hao and others was among His Majesty’s most trusted and directly subordinate generals.

After Wen Ruilin followed Lei Jiuyuan, Xu Mingzhen and others in greeting Chen Kun, he heard Xu Mingzhen ask: “When will His Majesty’s imperial carriage arrive at Zhongli?”

Wen Ruilin was also extremely concerned about this question these past two days.

Xuzhou was over three hundred li from Zhongli City. The north bank of the Huai River had seen rain and snow in recent days, making travel difficult, but it had already been six days since he escaped from the Chaozhou camp, and four days since he sent someone to report to Xuzhou!

No matter what, Wen Ruilin felt that while the infantry assembled in Xuzhou City might advance relatively slowly, a cavalry vanguard of over ten thousand should have crossed the Huai River and reached the Zhongli line today.

But what about now?

Apart from the thousand-odd armored cavalry under Pang Xiong who had crossed the Huai early, and the three hundred-odd reconnaissance cavalry under Shen Peng of the Bureau of Heavenly Works, only Chen Kun had led over a thousand cavalry across the Huai River today. They hadn’t heard from reconnaissance cavalry that more troops were approaching from north of the Huai River.

Seeing that Lei Jiuyuan, Xu Mingzhen and others were all concerned about His Majesty’s whereabouts, Chen Kun removed his cold-weather cloak, handed it to the guard behind him, and said to everyone: “His Majesty personally led the cavalry to Suyu…”

“What? His Majesty isn’t coming to Zhongli?” Wen Ruilin had wanted to keep as low a profile as possible behind Lei Jiuyuan and Xu Mingzhen after Lei Jiuyuan’s admonishment yesterday, but at this moment he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Suyu belonged to Sizhou and was located east of Hongze Marsh. To the south of Suyu, across the Huai River, was the major Huaidong stronghold of Chuzhou, personally garrisoned by Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan with heavy forces.

Wen Ruilin never would have imagined that instead of coming to Zhongli City to personally supervise the battle as originally planned, His Majesty had gone to Suyu.

Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao and these other surrendered Southern Chu ministers had eagerly followed Xu Mingzhen to this ruined city of Zhongli—wasn’t it precisely because the plan was to remain in Zhongli to await the imperial carriage?

Wasn’t the plan that after the imperial carriage arrived at Zhongli, Empress Dowager Xu would also arrive somewhat later leading the family members of the Xu clan to have an audience? After presenting over a hundred sons and younger brothers of the Yang imperial clan, she would then lead the Xu clan family members to depart for Kaifeng to settle—essentially serving as hostages?

Last night Wen Ruilin hadn’t slept soundly at all, his mind full of thoughts about what His Majesty might ask during the audience and how he should answer gracefully. He’d been thinking about how to assist Lei Jiuyuan in arranging His Majesty’s traveling palace during these days in Zhongli City. He never expected His Majesty to suddenly change his mind.

Lei Jiuyuan glanced at the overreacting Wen Ruilin and looked toward Chen Kun to ask: “Had His Majesty already confirmed that Han Qian was in Jinling all along?”

“His Majesty initially only guessed this possibility. Two days ago when you sent word that there were signs of refugees gathering in Tangyi, His Majesty confirmed it should be so. Yesterday at dawn he sent someone to catch up and directly reassigned the ten thousand cavalry under my command who had almost reached the north bank of the Huai River, transferring them to Suyu instead. He ordered me to come here first to join you. Subsequently there will still be twenty thousand infantry following the western route south to meet us here, but even with just these forces, their speed will be several days slower. All other forces are to follow His Majesty to the eastern front!”

Although they had previously speculated that the Xuzhou naval camp might advance east at any time, Wen Ruilin still hadn’t expected Han Qian to be in Jinling at this very moment.

However, apart from Lei Jiuyuan, seeing that Niu Gengru, Wen Muqiao, and Xu Mingzhen all seemed to have an “it should be so” expression, Wen Ruilin suddenly realized that these past two days he had been overly intoxicated with the glory of successfully presenting strategy, actually missing some extremely important subtle details he hadn’t noticed.

To say nothing else, that small-scale elite ambush force of unknown identity that suddenly emerged from Ya Mountain yesterday should have been Xuzhou elites, not elite reconnaissance forces sent by Li Zhigao or Huaidong.

And his identity was exposed for no other reason than because Han Qian was in Jinling!

This was also the only reasonable explanation.

After all, back in Wuling he had first fallen into Han Qian’s hands. When Han Qian refused to accept his strategy of persuading Gao Long to assist in attacking Tanzhou, Li Chong had immediately notified his father Li Pu to take him away overnight.

The details here—perhaps only a countable few people knew them clearly, but no one knew them more clearly than he did.

At that time he had still resented Han Qian for looking down on him. Afterward he had also guessed that Han Qian had previously received a reprimand from Emperor Tianyou and had become cautious and careful, not daring to overshadow his lord with great achievements.

Now it seemed he had thought of everything too simply. Had Han Qian already realized there was something wrong with him back then?!

At this moment, Wen Ruilin felt a chill that made his very soul tremble rising straight up from his tailbone. His neck went numb. He truly hadn’t expected that he’d unknowingly stepped back and forth through the gates of hell several times already.

Only—if Han Qian had long since seen through his identity, why had he always concealed it and never mentioned it?

And if Han Qian was now in Jinling, was it possible he had already been in Jinling when the Southern Chu navy deployed?

Perhaps he had already guessed the strategy he presented but hadn’t come forward to warn Emperor Yanyou and the various lords of the Southern Chu court?

At this thought, Wen Ruilin felt as if electric currents were surging into the top of his head, his scalp tingling. Suppressing his inner shock, he lowered his voice and asked Lei Jiuyuan: “Is it possible that Han Qian was actually in Jinling all along, just ruthlessly sitting by and watching the Southern Chu navy’s destruction?”

“…Perhaps?” said Lei Jiuyuan. “I only confirmed yesterday that Han Qian should be in Tangyi, but I hadn’t expected that when His Majesty previously received our intelligence on reconnaissance of Tangyi, he had already confirmed this point. However, whether Han Qian deliberately sat by and watched the Southern Chu navy’s destruction is still hard to say. In any case, we cannot rush to attack Tangyi, lest we repeat the old affairs of Xichuan…”

Unimaginable waves surged in Wen Ruilin’s heart. He of course knew that Han Qian’s true success began with the Battle of Xichuan. He thought to himself: if they hadn’t noticed and had directly pushed tens of thousands of troops to the foot of Tangyi City, and in the end under Han Qian’s command they still couldn’t take even a small city and ultimately had to withdraw in a dismal retreat—to what degree would Han Qian’s prestige and power in Southern Chu have increased?

Had His Majesty seen through Han Qian’s calculations, which is why he didn’t fall into the trap and instead turned directly from Xuzhou to launch an offensive against Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan in Huaidong?

Wen Ruilin’s heart couldn’t calm down for a long time. He fancied himself superior in strategy and schemes. Even after the campaign, he had at one point resented that the Ma clan lacked the insight to recognize his talent and thus brought about their own destruction. But now, thinking of the circumstances of his capture in Wuling County, thinking of how dismissively Han Qian had handed over the achievement of seizing Tanzhou to Li Pu, and thinking that Han Qian might have been lurking in Jinling all along—only now did he truly understand why Yang Yuanpu had been so suspicious of Han Qian despite his great service.

Anyone who had to deal with such an Imperial Tutor—who the hell could sleep at night?

At this moment someone ran over to report something into Zhao Mingting’s ear. Wen Ruilin heard a familiar name, his thoughts turned, and he whispered a few words to Lei Jiuyuan and Chen Kun.

Lei Jiuyuan showed an approving expression but looked somewhat hesitantly toward Chen Kun.

Chen Kun said: “His Majesty specifically stated that all schemes directly targeting the Marquis of Qianyang must first be secretly memorialized to him…”