Lu Ping raised his hand to gently caress the brocade box, deeply concealing the hatred in his eyes, maintaining a stern expression as he spoke unhurriedly: “Your old General Zhao used this method but never obtained a single piece of information from our Fifth Master’s mouth! It was only because our Bai family army brothers truly couldn’t endure any longer that they let slip some intelligence. Later, they sought death to atone for their crimes, unwilling to live shamefully in the world. Only one was saved by our Young Master! Today, I very much want to see whether your Zhao family army’s bones… are truly harder than those of our Bai family army!”
Bai Qingyan had not come down from the city wall. She noticed that the number of Zhao family army elite who had entered the city earlier was wrong, suspecting there were still people left outside the city to keep watch. If these infiltrating Zhao family army elite failed to exit the city at the agreed time, the lookouts would return to the Liang camp to report.
Shen Qingzhu had arrived at Chun Mushan earlier and had already thoroughly investigated the behavioral patterns of most Liang army generals. Leading the Zhao family army this time, besides Zhao Tong, there was also Zhao Sheng.
Zhao Sheng was a meticulous thinker who wouldn’t be stupid enough to send everyone into the city at once without leaving even one person to relay messages.
General Wang Xiping quickly ran up the city wall and cupped his fists toward Bai Qingyan, who was hidden in the darkness: “General Bai, Lu Ping has already extracted the location of the Liang army granary. Their granary is surprisingly not within their military camp, but hidden in a mountain hollow between Puwen City and their main army camp, less than two li from their camp. The men I selected are ready and can leave the city at any time. This general suspects there are Liang army lookouts outside the city. To avoid alerting them, I specifically chose men who can swim. But this channel from inside to outside the city is too long, and we Jin people aren’t skilled in water – it’s quite risky. This general plans to have them exit from the east or west gate and take a longer route.”
General Xun Tianzhang was indeed cautious.
“Open the city gates – exit from the north gate! Have someone bring hunting dogs to follow closely behind and exit the city to search the surroundings. If you see lookouts trying to return to the Liang camp to report, kill them!” Bai Qingyan turned to look at Wang Xiping. “Tell those going to burn the grain supplies that after finding and igniting the granary, on their return journey, they should try to capture a few more tongues to interrogate about where Princess Gaoyi is trapped!”
It wasn’t that Bai Qingyan didn’t trust Lu Ping’s ability to extract information from those Zhao family army members. After all, Zhao Tong’s grandfather, Zhao Yi, was known as a living King of Hell for his interrogation methods back then. She didn’t believe that all eleven captured Zhao family army members were iron-boned.
Having Wang Xiping’s men capture tongues to question again was simply to confirm the accuracy and authenticity of the information.
Wang Xiping cupped his fists: “Yes!”
Bai Qingyan drew a feathered arrow and nocked it on the Sun-Shooting Bow. Though it was a dark and windy night, she had been watching that patch of darkness for a long time, and her eyes had gradually adapted. As long as anything moved in the darkness, she would certainly detect it.
Soon the city gates opened and the drawbridge was slowly lowered. Led by Du Sanbao, twenty black-clad cavalry warriors charged out from within the city, having removed their armor for light travel, carrying only fire-starting materials as they raced swiftly toward the Liang camp.
A Zhao family army member hidden in the shadows saw this and lay prone on the ground, uneasily pressing his hand to the sword at his waist, his entire body on alert.
Not until the galloping horses flew past him did this Zhao family army soldier slowly lift his head, gazing deeply toward Longyang City. Seeing that Longyang City’s drawbridge had not been raised and the city gates remained open, his heart rose with unease.
Before long, barking sounds suddenly came from within the city gates. He planted one foot on the ground and arched his waist to support himself, assuming a posture ready to retreat at any moment.
Seeing Jin soldiers holding high torches and leading nine howling hunting dogs emerge from the city, he gripped his sword tightly and slowly moved backward.
Bai Qingyan’s gaze swept back and forth through the darkness. In the gloom, she vaguely saw a dark silhouette that seemed to be moving backward. She suddenly drew the bow to full extension, the sharp arrowhead gleaming coldly as it aimed directly at that slowly moving black shadow.
The archers standing alongside Bai Qingyan atop the city wall all nocked their bows, pointing toward the direction of Bai Qingyan’s arrow.
“Release!”
At Bai Qingyan’s command, countless arrows whistled through the darkness in an interwoven pattern, like a swarm of leeches diving straight toward that Zhao family army soldier.
The slowly moving Zhao family army member heard the sound of arrows cutting through the air and looked up… a cold-gleaming feathered arrow struck directly into his pupil, which was showing terror.
A piercing scream cut through the night sky. The Jin troops who had emerged from the drawbridge released the hunting dogs, and nine hounds bared their teeth and rushed toward the source of the sound, with Jin soldiers following close behind in a mad dash.
Soon, the Zhao family army member who had been shot full of arrows like a porcupine and had already died was dragged into the city.
Even the horses the Zhao family army had ridden were found by the hunting dogs and led back by the Jin troops.
“What a harvest indeed!” Wang Xiping couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at the Zhao family army member before him and the fourteen fine horses.
Bai Qingyan’s gaze fell upon the fourteen jet-black horses with muscular lines before her. She approached one of them and gently stroked the horse’s mane, suddenly understanding.
No wonder Xiao Rongyan had spoken with such certainty that Great Liang would wage war against the Jin Kingdom.
It seemed that Great Yan had agreed to send troops to assist Beirong, requiring Beirong to provide strong horses to Great Liang, giving Great Liang the confidence to dare wage war against Jin Kingdom.
Beirong wanted Great Yan’s assistance, but Great Yan feared the Jin Kingdom would stab them in the back. So… dragging Jin Kingdom into warfare was the best choice, and Beirong would naturally agree.
As for Great Liang, with strong troops and now obtaining good horses, plus Duke Zhenguo Bai Weiting’s entire male lineage having perished in Nan Jiang, the Rong and Di embroiled in civil war, and Great Yan sending troops to assist the Rong – recovering lost territory could be said to have the right time, place, and people. How could they resist acting?
Xiao Rongyan had calculated everything.
“Has everywhere been searched? Just this one lookout?” Bai Qingyan asked, looking at the Zhao family army member bristling with arrows.
“We have carefully searched everywhere and even carefully examined the hoof prints. Only fourteen horses came, and they’re all here!” one of Wang Xiping’s subordinates replied respectfully.
Bai Qingyan nodded: “Everyone has worked hard tonight! Go rest early!”
Seeing that Bai Qingyan mounted her horse but wasn’t heading toward the military camp, Wang Xiping stepped forward two paces and asked: “General Bai, aren’t you returning to camp?”
“I’m going to the great prison to take a look.” Bai Qingyan raised her hand to take the black gold horse whip handed to her by a Jin soldier.
“General Bai, you should also go rest quickly! From arriving at Longyang City until now, you haven’t stopped for even a moment. This won’t do!” Wang Xiping advised.
“No matter! I know my limits!”
Before Bai Qingyan could raise her whip to depart, she saw one of Wang Xiping’s subordinates riding quickly to report.
“Report! General Bai! General Wang! Commander Liu Hong has entered the north gate carrying an imperial edict, urgently summoning all generals within Longyang City to the drill ground to receive orders!”
This time, the Emperor had appointed General Liu Hong as commander. Before the army departed, the Emperor had specifically summoned Liu Hong into the palace to instruct him that in this battle against Great Liang, if possible, don’t use Bai Qingyan, and he should suppress Bai Qingyan.
Firstly, they couldn’t let other nations think that the Jin Kingdom’s men were useless and had to rely on a woman to achieve victory.