In Feng Prefecture, Yue Qiong led his army into the city. Early the next morning, he received reports from northern scouts and was immediately stunned!
“You’re saying… the barbarians attacked Cang Prefecture?!”
The scout below was covered in sweat, “Yes, Lord Marquis! We met many refugees fleeing from Cang Prefecture’s direction. They all said Cang Prefecture had fallen. Somehow the barbarians gathered several hundred thousand troops this time. Cang Prefecture fell within an hour. Those people were like bloodthirsty beasts – they slaughtered all civilians in the city. The ten thousand Northern Garrison troops Zhao You left behind have all been killed!”
Yan Qi was also dumbfounded, “Barbarians?! How could there be barbarians?! No wonder the deposed Empress suddenly withdrew her troops! So this was the reason!”
Thinking further, Yan Qi’s face showed hatred, “So now, we’re meant to wait here for the barbarians to attack? What a vicious plot! Lord Marquis, what do you think? The deposed Empress has taken her troops to Chong Prefecture. In my opinion, we should pursue her directly. We’re only one day behind – there’s still time!”
Yue Qiong’s brows furrowed deeply, “Your Highness Prince Cheng! Did you not hear?! The barbarians have invaded and massacred Cang Prefecture! If we leave Feng Prefecture, it will be next to be slaughtered. How can you say such things?!”
Yan Qi’s face showed shock, but he was unwilling to bow his head before Yue Qiong, “We came to fight the Northern Garrison Army! Not the barbarians. Lord Marquis, don’t confuse priorities. Just leave some troops to guard Feng Prefecture…”
Yue Qiong looked at Yan Qi as if he were a fool, “Leave some troops? Did you not hear they have several hundred thousand troops?! Never mind leaving only part of our forces – even with all our current troops, we might not be able to hold Feng Prefecture!”
Yan Qi’s eyes widened, “The barbarians… are they really that formidable?”
Yue Qiong gave a cold laugh. Having seen through Yan Qi as all show and no substance, he didn’t waste more words!
“Someone come, quickly write to the capital. This… this may be a catastrophe for Great Zhou!”
Seeing Yue Qiong’s gravity, Yan Qi wanted to speak but held back. Looking around, he saw that while the young officers seemed fine, all the veteran commanders had pale faces, some with cold sweat streaming down their foreheads!
Following Yue Qiong’s orders, the military report to the capital was quickly written and dispatched. Yue Qiong immediately ordered Feng Prefecture to be placed under martial law, preparing military supplies and repairing city defenses, not daring to give the barbarians any opportunity. By evening, another scout report arrived!
“Lord Marquis, our men have reached south of Cang Prefecture. The city has been reduced to ruins. Outside the city, the barbarians are dividing their plunder, with many captured women. Regarding numbers, our scouts made a rough count – the barbarian forces should number around two hundred thousand.”
Two hundred thousand!
Although previous reports had mentioned several hundred thousand, those were accounts from fleeing civilians and couldn’t be fully trusted. Common people unaccustomed to seeing such large numbers might easily misestimate. But now, this was intelligence from their scouts!
Everyone in the command tent drew in sharp breaths!
This northern campaign had brought a hundred thousand troops total, with twenty thousand reinforcing Chong Prefecture. Now Feng Prefecture had only eighty thousand troops. The barbarians were fierce warriors, far superior to ordinary Zhou soldiers. Unless one had overwhelming numbers and a strategic advantage over the barbarians, victory would be difficult even with similar numbers. Let alone now, when the enemy had twice their numbers—
“Lord Marquis! How can we defend against this?! During the previous Cang Prefecture catastrophe, only fifty thousand barbarians crossed Mount Canglong, and Cang Prefecture had fifty thousand defenders holding the city. Not only did they lose, but the city was massacred with only a handful escaping. Now, with two hundred thousand enemies, how can we fight?!”
“Lord Marquis, are we going to defend Feng Prefecture? We only have eighty thousand men!”
“Lord Marquis, why don’t we retreat further south? We can evacuate Feng Prefecture’s civilians southward, buying time until reinforcements arrive from the capital before engaging!”
Hearing these words, Yan Qi finally understood the barbarians’ formidability. Cold sweat broke out on his back as fear crept into his heart.
But Yue Qiong’s brows furrowed tightly, “Retreat? Retreat further south, giving more territory to the barbarians? The battle line would stretch longer. Then the barbarians wouldn’t need to attack cities – they could freely massacre throughout Zhou territory. Places with garrisons might fare better, but prefectures and counties without troops would suffer catastrophe. Besides, barbarians are naturally more skilled at guerrilla warfare than us. If we don’t stop them at the northern border, what reason do we have to hand over Feng Prefecture?”
Seeing the grim expressions below, Yue Qiong had to say, “Don’t lose your fighting spirit! Though the barbarians are formidable, they caught Cang Prefecture completely off guard. Feng Prefecture’s walls are far stronger than Cang Prefecture’s. If we retreat, all northern civilians will suffer. You enjoy the court’s salary, paid from civilian taxes. If you retreat now, won’t your conscience trouble you?!”
Yue Qiong’s stern words cowed the others into silence. Though still afraid, his determination gave them some peace of mind.
“Lord Marquis, what should we do then? Should we hold fast? Should we recall the troops from Chong Prefecture?!”
Yue Qiong took a deep breath, unable to answer immediately. With the enemy having two hundred thousand troops, they couldn’t just consider Feng Prefecture alone. But he only had eighty thousand men!
Walking to the map, Yue Qiong pointed and said, “Cang Prefecture is Great Zhou’s northernmost point. Moving south from there directly is Feng Prefecture, southwest is Wu Prefecture, and southeast is Chong Prefecture. The barbarians’ two hundred thousand troops must be riding high on morale and will naturally come to the nearest target, Feng Prefecture. We’ll hold fast and might last a few days, but there’s no guarantee the barbarians won’t split their forces toward Wu and Chong Prefectures. We only have just over eighty thousand troops – we can’t spare any for Wu Prefecture, or we’ll lose both…”
After a moment’s thought, Yue Qiong continued, “Do this: immediately send word to Wu Prefecture, inform them of the situation, tell them to close their gates at once, and prepare defenses. Wu Prefecture should have over ten thousand garrison troops. Have them prepare defenses while requesting reinforcements from Meng Prefecture. This way, they might gather over twenty thousand men. If the barbarians attack there, they can at least hold for two days. The more time we can buy, the better the chance of imperial reinforcements arriving. Otherwise, all our positions will share Cang Prefecture’s fate!”
A young officer said, “Lord Marquis speaks wisely! Now we can only hold fast with such methods! I’ll go give the orders!”
Yue Qiong nodded and added, “Make the orders crystal clear – any commander who abandons their city and flees, abandoning civilians, commits a capital offense!”
The young officer agreed and immediately left to relay orders. Yue Qiong then turned his attention to Chong Prefecture.
“Chong Prefecture originally had ten thousand garrison troops. We reinforced them with twenty thousand, so now they have thirty thousand. The deposed Empress taking troops there means to capture Chong Prefecture. They have large numbers, so Chong Prefecture holding fast doesn’t matter, but…” Yue Qiong narrowed his eyes, “we can’t let them be comfortable either. Immediately ordered Chong Prefecture to withdraw from the city, and camp south of it, leaving the Northern Garrison Army inside to block their southern route. Make them join us in resisting the barbarians!”
Some below applauded the idea, and Yan Qi also said, “Excellent, excellent! Lord Marquis’s brilliant plan! They wanted to go to Chong Prefecture while we blocked here, probably planning to move south. Since that’s the case, we won’t let them go south! They must help resist the barbarians.”
Yan Qi spoke with satisfaction, merely regaining face after being trapped by the Empress, not understanding Yue Qiong’s deeper concerns.
“It’s not about revenge for their abandonment. With the barbarians’ vast numbers, even if the capital can quickly send reinforcements, they likely won’t be able to send many. If the Northern Garrison Army causes trouble in the south, Great Zhou will completely fall apart!”
Hearing this, Yan Qi finally understood Yue Qiong’s meaning and said helplessly, “But will the deposed Empress help us resist the barbarians?”
Yue Qiong gave a cold laugh, “The Empress has boundless ambition, but Zhao You still has some integrity, or he wouldn’t have guarded the northern border for years. If the barbarians attack Chong Prefecture, the Empress will have to fight. We don’t expect them to take the initiative, but at least they’ll divert some attention, preventing the barbarians from easily taking Chong Prefecture.”
As someone wrote the military orders, Yue Qiong added, “The forces at Chong Prefecture are only to prevent the Empress from moving south. They must not actively engage her. If our two sides fight first, we’ll create an opportunity for the barbarians!”
Understanding Yue Qiong’s careful planning, everyone saw how Wu, Feng, and Chong Prefectures formed a line – the last defense against the barbarians’ southward advance. If the barbarians broke through anywhere, there would be second and third Cang Prefectures. With Great Zhou already torn by internal strife, forget about the Empress and Crown Prince fighting for the throne – Great Zhou would fall to foreign barbarians first! If that happened, Yue Qiong could never rest in peace!
After sending orders east and west, Yue Qiong sent more scouts, desperately needing to know when the barbarians would reach Feng Prefecture. Meanwhile, he began to wonder how the barbarians had gathered such a large force. It was now late night, but the command tent remained brightly lit. Yue Qiong looked at his officers, “You should know that the barbarians, like the Rong people, have tribal populations of only a few hundred thousand, with armies of at most a hundred thousand. Yet now, suddenly twenty thousand troops appear. Why is this?”
As the Northern Campaign Commander and the most battle-experienced leader who best understood Great Zhou’s powerful enemies, if Yue Qiong didn’t know, the others naturally had no idea. Seeing their inability to explain, and having not yet engaged the barbarians himself, he remained deeply puzzled.
Though questions troubled his mind, Yue Qiong could only set them aside. Soon, several more scout reports arrived about barbarian movements, but they were moving slower than Yue Qiong expected. The scouts couldn’t explain clearly, only saying it seemed internal disagreements had arisen among the barbarians, causing arguments on the road.
This naturally pleased Yue Qiong, who ordered the continued strengthening of city defenses, completing all preparations before the barbarians’ arrival. He even began discussing with trusted advisors whether to launch an ambush outside the city. After discussing through the night, by morning everyone was exhausted, and Yue Qiong finally dismissed them.
In the two nights since entering the city, Yue Qiong had barely closed his eyes. Now, watching dawn break, he could barely hold on. At the age of forty, he couldn’t endure such strain. Just as he planned to rest, a trusted guard approached and whispered in his ear.
Hearing this, Yue Qiong raised an eyebrow, “How can this be?”
The guard explained, “I didn’t expect it either. He gave my name, claiming to be my relative. When I went to meet him, he insisted on seeing you personally, Lord Marquis. I asked his identity, but he wouldn’t say, only pointing west. Seeing his dignified bearing and upright appearance, I decided to report to you.”
Hearing the description, something stirred in Yue Qiong’s mind, “Where is he? Take me to him quickly!”
“In the sentry tent by the western camp gate. All the men there are our trusted soldiers – I didn’t dare bring him inside.”
Yue Qiong nodded, “Well done!” Then he strode toward the western gate.
Arriving, he found a young man in his twenties wearing a blue-gray robe standing in the tent. The visitor was slim but dignified in appearance no common swindler, and his steady breathing marked him as a martial arts master. Seeing Yue Qiong, he bowed respectfully and wordlessly presented a letter.
“My master instructed this letter must reach Lord Marquis’s hands. Though others could have delivered it, its contents are too important – it had to be delivered personally.”
After speaking, the young man stood respectfully. Yue Qiong looked him over briefly before hurriedly reading the letter. Halfway through, his eyes showed shock and understanding. After finishing, he was so stunned he held his breath. After a while, he held the letter to a still-burning lamp, watching it turn to ash. Only then did he turn back, “You’re quite bold, daring to deliver a letter here. Your master is now a rebel against the court – how dare you enter my camp so boldly?”
The young man smiled calmly, “If Lord Marquis wishes to arrest me, I have no complaint. It would only be a shame to waste my master’s trust and effort.”
Yue Qiong’s eyes narrowed, “Your master, does he plan…”
“I only deliver letters. I know nothing of my master’s intentions. Lord Marquis has read the letter, so I’ll take my leave.”
With these words, the young man bowed and walked toward the exit. Though blocked by Yue Qiong’s guards at the door, he remained unruffled, simply smiling and standing still. Yue Qiong sighed, “Thank you. You may go.”
Only then did the guards let him pass. The young man left the camp and soon disappeared.
In the tent, Yue Qiong stared at the ashes on the ground, his eyes deep in thought.
He never expected that the reason for the two hundred thousand troops was the Rong people.
He was even more surprised that Yan Chi was the one sending him this news.
For this very reason, he wanted to question the messenger, but unfortunately, Yan Chi’s status as a rebel was known throughout the world. Given his position, his stance, and his circumstances, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to march north against the Rong and barbarians.