Bai Qingyan was resourceful and cunning. Li Zhijie didn’t want to give Bai Qingyan too much time to catch her breath and prepare. He needed to strike while the iron was hot—he would immediately take these still-warm corpses to Youhua Road to demand an explanation from the Jin Crown Prince!
He was determined to see whether Jin truly lived up to what Bai Qingyan claimed—that loyal subjects trust their lords without suspicion!
Bai Qingyan ordered all remaining Dong family death warriors to follow Shen Qingzhu to Shaoyang Prefecture, while she led the remaining Tiger Eagle Battalion back to Youhua Road.
On the way, she gave detailed instructions to all the Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers. Once they returned to Youhua Road, they were to claim externally that Bai Jinzhi and Shen Liangyu had been sent by her to secretly inspect Qiushan Pass for any anomalies. As a result, when Bai Jinzhi and Shen Liangyu saw people dressed in Jin clothing going in and out of an inn within Qiushan Pass city, they became suspicious and went to investigate.
Who knew those people would be discovered? When they fought with those people, those people brazenly set fire to the inn, attracting the attention of the Western Liang soldiers guarding Qiushan Pass. The Western Liang soldiers then joined with those people to massacre them, but fortunately, Bai Qingyan arrived in time with reinforcements to rescue them.
Regarding the Dong family death warriors, Bai Qingyun, Xiao Ruohai, and Shen Qingzhu—not a single word was to be mentioned about them.
This time, Bai Qingyan and her group hadn’t been able to clean up the battlefield in time. The corpses of the Dong family’s death warriors and the Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers couldn’t be retrieved. Since this was the case, they would report the matter half-truthfully to the Crown Prince, counting the Dong family death warriors as Li Zhijie’s Western Liang people. Only this way could they prevent Li Zhijie from using the corpses of the Dong family death warriors and the Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers to make an issue.
As dawn was about to break, the guards at the Youhua Road camp were shocked to see Bai Qingyan returning with wounded Tiger Eagle Battalion elite soldiers. They hurriedly opened the main gates wide to let them in.
Xiao Ruojiang, who had been slashed in the back while protecting Bai Jinzhi, had an ashen complexion. He had forced himself to ride back, but once his warhorse entered the military camp, he could no longer support himself and fell from his horse.
“Summon the military physician! Quickly!” the Jin soldiers shouted.
“Xiao Ruojiang!” Bai Qingyan dismounted and ordered people to carry Xiao Ruojiang immediately to the military physician’s tent for treatment.
She watched Xiao Ruojiang’s blood-soaked figure and gritted her teeth. Then she said to Bai Jinzhi and the Tiger Eagle Battalion soldiers, “You all go treat your wounds first. I’ll go see His Highness the Crown Prince!”
Bai Jinzhi nodded. She was worried about Xiao Ruojiang and immediately followed.
Shen Liangyu, who was also wounded, stepped forward and said, “This subordinate’s injuries are not serious for now. I’ll accompany Little Commander Bai to see the Crown Prince! This subordinate was the first to arrive at Qiushan Pass, so only this subordinate can clearly explain the Qiushan Pass situation to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Bai Qingyan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and walked with Shen Liangyu toward the Crown Prince’s main tent.
The Crown Prince had already gone to sleep. When Quan Yu saw Bai Qingyan in blood-stained armor and the wounded Shen Liangyu from the Tiger Eagle Battalion arriving urgently, he hurried out to meet them: “General Bai, what happened to you…?”
“I have urgent business to see His Highness the Crown Prince! There’s a situation at Qiushan Pass!” Bai Qingyan cupped her fists to Quan Yu.
Quan Yu was startled and quickly turned back into the tent to wake the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince was groggily awakened. When Quan Yu told him that Bai Qingyan and Shen Liangyu had returned with blood-stained armor, claiming there was an anomaly at Qiushan Pass, he immediately became alert.
The Crown Prince put on a cloak, had lights lit, and ordered Bai Qingyan and Shen Liangyu to be brought in.
Bai Qingyan and Shen Liangyu entered the tent with a chill about them, their silver armor stained with blood, startling the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness! There’s an anomaly at Qiushan Pass!” Bai Qingyan knelt on one knee.
“Quan Yu, help General Bai up! Summon Generals Zhang Duanrui and the others!” Since the Crown Prince didn’t understand military affairs, and since there was an anomaly at Qiushan Pass, he had to call the generals together to listen. After thinking, the Crown Prince added, “Please invite Old Fang, Ren Shijie, and Qin Shangzhi as well!”
These three were the Crown Prince’s advisors.
Before the matter broke open, Bai Qingyan’s words would create a first impression, which was advantageous for her. She didn’t try to stop it.
Soon, General Zhang Duanrui and several other generals rushed over to hear Shen Liangyu’s account of the Qiushan Pass incident.
“Today, I received orders from Little Commander Bai to take Fourth Miss Bai and twenty men to explore the situation inside Qiushan Pass city. Who would have known that we saw a group of skilled fighters dressed in Jin clothing going in and out of an inn within Qiushan Pass city? Fourth Miss and I sensed something was wrong, so we quietly infiltrated with our men, wanting to find out what those people were doing. Unexpectedly… we were discovered as soon as we entered. Those people were extremely skilled and alert! We originally wanted to capture someone alive for interrogation, but who knew those people weren’t afraid at all of alerting the Qiushan Pass guards—they set fire inside the inn to attract the attention of the Qiushan Pass guards! And when those Qiushan Pass Western Liang guards arrived, they joined with those people dressed in Jin clothing to massacre us. More than twenty men were killed or wounded, and Fourth Miss and I nearly lost our lives at Qiushan Pass! If His Highness hadn’t sent Little Commander Bai to provide timely reinforcement, we would have had no return!”
Shen Liangyu’s claim that the Crown Prince had sent Bai Qingyan as reinforcement was very cleverly worded, subtly giving the generals present the impression that the Tiger Eagle Battalion’s Qiushan Pass mission had also been ordered by the Crown Prince.
Seeing blood dripping from Shen Liangyu’s clothing, Bai Qingyan said, “General Shen, quickly go bandage your wounds. I’ll explain the rest to His Highness and the generals!”
“Go ahead!” The Crown Prince nodded to Shen Liangyu.
Only then did Shen Liangyu cup his fists and leave the Crown Prince’s tent.
Bai Qingyan looked at the Crown Prince and said, “During the peace negotiations, Western Liang’s Flame King Li Zhijie made many excuses, even claiming that Your Highness had arranged for some maidservant to infiltrate the negotiation tent… trying to postpone future peace talks! Now in Qiushan Pass city, there are skilled fighters dressed in Jin clothing who joined with Western Liang’s Qiushan Pass guards to massacre Tiger Eagle Battalion members who went to investigate. There must be a problem here!”
Zhang Duanrui remembered that Li Zhijie had indeed repeatedly made excuses in the negotiation tent, saying he wanted to postpone the peace talks. Combined with the Qiushan Pass incident, alarm bells immediately rang in his heart.
“Damn it! I think this Western Liang dog hasn’t been beaten enough! Still wants to fight! Are we afraid of them? Beat the hell out of them!” Zhen Zeping angrily cursed.
Western Liang’s internal politics are currently unstable. I think if they wanted to fight… they wouldn’t need to come seeking peace!” Bai Qingyan pretended to lower her eyes in deep thought before saying, “I’m just afraid Western Liang has some conspiracy! But I can’t figure out what they’re planning by arranging a group of skilled fighters dressed in Jin clothing at Qiushan Pass!”
Old Fang, sitting to the side, stroked his goatee and said, “Since they’re dressed in Jin clothing, it naturally has to do with our Jin nation!”
Zhang Duanrui gritted his teeth: “But what does Western Liang want these people to do?”
Bai Qingyan shook her head: “General Shen and his men originally wanted to capture someone alive, but the Western Liang guards arrived too quickly. They could barely protect themselves… so they still haven’t figured it out.”
“It can’t be that they’re having those people come assassinate the Crown Prince, right?!” Shi Panshan raised his eyebrows. “Would Western Liang dare?!”
The Crown Prince’s mind was already in chaos.
Qin Shangzhi also couldn’t figure it out. Currently, Western Liang had frequent internal rebellions—peace negotiations would benefit them! Why would they pull such a stunt?
“Since we can’t figure out their intentions, we might as well take the initiative to attack!” Qin Shangzhi slowly spoke.