The Bai Family’s shadow guards dared not delay and quickly returned to the city to report this matter to Bai Qingyan.
Upon hearing this, Bai Qingyan set down the bamboo slip in her hand. She estimated that General Cui Shanzhong must have sent word of her being trapped in Jiangzi City toward Yecheng Pass. Now… either Yang Wuce had heard the news and dispatched troops to provide aid, or Yang Wuce, knowing that Jiangzi City had not lit the warning beacon fires and suspecting she had other arrangements, was still uneasy and frequently sending scouts to investigate Jiangzi City’s situation. So General Cui Shanzhong wanted to attack the city to force Yang Wuce to bring troops for rescue, planning to put on a show of attacking the city.
Bai Qingyan calculated the progress of Du Sanbao’s work. These past few days, she had been continuously adding manpower for Du Sanbao, so things should be about ready.
She stood up, found the secret letter she had already written from the desk, and handed it to the Bai Family guard: “Send someone with this letter to find Du Sanbao. Command Du Sanbao that no matter what, he must dig through today! After the person carrying the secret letter leaves, immediately go find General Yang Wuce’s scouts. If you can’t find them, don’t waste time—head straight for Yecheng Pass and personally deliver the secret letter to General Yang Wuce. Right now, Xiliang is desperately hoping for scouts from Yecheng Pass to return with information, so they absolutely won’t stop our messenger!”
“Send another Bai Family guard to leave the city through the secret passage and head straight north. You must reach Bailong City before dark today. Tell the defending general of Bailong City that upon receiving the message, he should make preparations with great fanfare, making sure to let Xiliang scouts think they’ll be sending grain to Jiangzi City the day after tomorrow. He must be careful of Xiliang’s army ambushes. I don’t care how the battle is fought, but he must win… not only must he win, but he must ensure that the Xiliang soldiers who go to ambush them and prepare to steal the grain never return!”
“Yes!” The Bai Family guard received the order, took the letter from Bai Qingyan’s hand, and went to carry out the task.
Bai Qingyan changed her clothes and, accompanied by Bai Family shadow guards, climbed up to carefully examine all four city gates.
She calculated the time—today, the wisps of cooking smoke from Xiliang rose straight up for much longer than in previous days…
Could it be… to prevent the cooking smoke from rising twice and alerting Great Zhou to be on guard, they were using today’s noon cooking time to prepare dry rations for tonight and tomorrow morning, so the soldiers could attack the city tomorrow?
Liu Pinggao followed closely behind Bai Qingyan. He couldn’t see what changes there were in the distant Xiliang military camp—it seemed the same as usual.
Bai Qingyan turned around and calculated the time from when she had met with General Cui Shanzhong on the day of the siege, refused peace negotiations, until now. If Yang Wuce had dispatched troops for rescue… they should have arrived long ago!
Liu Pinggao, listening to the hunting sound of flags flapping in the wind, stepped forward and said to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty need not worry too much. This general will hold Jiangzi City firmly!”
These past few days, Bai Qingyan had been exhausting herself with careful planning. Every day before Xiliang prepared their meals, His Majesty would climb the city walls to watch carefully. According to Eunuch Wei, after His Majesty came down from the city walls, he would stand before the military maps for hours at a time. His Majesty was, after all, someone carrying a child—how could he work so hard?
“I estimate that General Yang Wuce at Yecheng Pass should have already received news of Jiangzi City being besieged and has already sent scouts to investigate several times. But… because he’s worried that I have some arrangement here, and that rashly dispatching troops to rescue the emperor might ruin my strategic planning, he’s holding his forces back!” Bai Qingyan turned to look again at the distant Xiliang military camp. “General Cui will probably attack the city tomorrow, forcing General Yang Wuce to bring troops for imperial rescue, so they can set an ambush along the way!”
The Xiliang army wanted to retake Yecheng Pass and cut off the main Zhou forces’ supply lines.
Liu Pinggao looked toward the Xiliang military camp with considerable surprise: “Attack the city?”
“According to my previous speculation about why General Cui has been surrounded without attacking, it’s because General Cui is waiting for grain supplies being sent from Bailong City to Jiangzi City. General Cui originally… should have wanted to seize the grain supplies first, so that the Xiliang army would have provisions in hand, and then force the Yecheng Pass defenders to come for rescue, with Xiliang taking the opportunity to set an ambush.” Bai Qingyan spoke in measured tones.
Liu Pinggao nodded. This way, Xiliang could fight this battle actively.
“For such a cautious person as General Cui to order an attack on the city tomorrow, isn’t he afraid of alarming Bailong City so that the grain can’t be delivered? After all, Bailong City and Jiangzi City aren’t far apart…” Bai Qingyan pressed her lips together, thinking carefully. “Our advantage over General Cui is… knowing that the next grain delivery from Bailong City is approximately on the 11th or 12th of this month, while General Cui can only guess based on the intervals between previous grain deliveries from Bailong City.”
Liu Pinggao thought for a moment and then said, “But previously, the grain delivery intervals were short because Yecheng Pass needed to provide relief to Xiliang civilians. Now that Yecheng Pass has sufficient grain, our grain deliveries certainly won’t be as frequent as before.”
“Either General Cui has already intercepted military grain…” Bai Qingyan stared in the direction of the Xiliang military camp, her brows tightly furrowed.
“This general thinks that’s impossible! The Bailong City defending general is a very rule-abiding person. If Your Majesty hasn’t sent anyone to Bailong City ordering grain delivery, is he so well-fed and idle… having grain but not ordered to send it, would he still send it to Jiangzi City?” Liu Pinggao was familiar with the Bailong City defending general. “Besides, the Bailong City defending general, General Qi, has always resented the Xiliang people! Initially, he even wanted to submit a memorial to Your Majesty, saying he didn’t want to use Great Zhou’s grain to save Xiliang people. I barely managed to stop him!”
Such a person—how could he eagerly send grain to let the Great Zhou save the Xiliang people? It would be good enough if he didn’t drag his feet and refuse to send it.
“Then…” Bai Qingyan raised her head and gently exhaled. “General Cui has called for reinforcements, and General Cui will send reinforcements to ambush the supply route!”
This was the outcome Bai Qingyan least wanted to see.
“Where would Xiliang get reinforcements?” Liu Pinggao looked incredulous.
“There are still some cities that the Great Zhou and Yan haven’t reached. The reinforcements probably come from there. One city’s garrison isn’t many, but two cities… three cities… four, five? Added together, it’s quite a lot!”
Bai Qingyan’s words made Liu Pinggao’s spine suddenly tense: “Your Majesty, if the grain is seized by the Xiliang people, then we…”
Afraid of putting pressure on Liu Pinggao, Bai Qingyan turned to look at him: “However, it’s also possible I’m overthinking! Perhaps General Cui just wants to make a feint of attacking the city, putting on a show for General Yang Wuce. After all, this is all the assets Xiliang has left.”
Bai Qingyan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was very clear: “General Cui can’t bear to let Xiliang soldiers truly sacrifice their lives attacking the city.”
“Your Majesty, regardless of whether Xiliang is feigning an attack or attacking tomorrow, we must make arrangements in advance… striving to inflict as many casualties as possible on the Xiliang forces!” Liu Pinggao stood beside Bai Qingyan. “Even if they don’t attack the city tomorrow, we must prepare in advance. When they do attack the city, we’ll give them something to remember! Take a big bite of their fat meat!”