The personal guard halted his steps, turned back and asked, “Master, what other instructions do you have?”

Pei Song threw the battle report he had read onto the desk and asked, “The deputy general of Jinzhou was ambushed and killed a month ago—what exactly happened with this matter?”

Every day, the memorials requiring Pei Song’s attention were as numerous as cow hairs—matters such as deciding which county to attack, how to handle prisoners of war, where grain requisition was insufficient, whether to forcibly conscript or purchase from elsewhere… The purpose of subordinate generals submitting memorials about these tedious military affairs was mainly to inform Pei Song. After Pei Song’s side stamped the seal and sent the memorials back, it represented that he had reviewed and approved them.

But Pei Song often had times when he was too busy to spare attention, so some unimportant documents were handled by the personal guards after reading them. They would verbally report the general situation to him, and then the seal could be stamped and sent back.

The death of a deputy general from Jinzhou during a recruitment mission could not be considered urgent military business. Last time when a memorial came to report this matter, it happened to coincide with Pei Song being injured in his confrontation with Xiao Li and the fruitless citywide lockdown search, so Pei Song had no mind to handle these side matters and had the personal guards handle it on his behalf.

Now being asked about this matter, the personal guard truthfully replied, “The Thirteenth Commander sent a letter earlier saying that Jinzhou Deputy Commander Cui Hu was killed in an ambush on his way to Tongzhou to recruit surrender. He suspected it was the doing of several official counties within Tongzhou territory that were backed by Wei Qishan. To prevent morale from dropping due to the death of the deputy commander before the battle, and also to intimidate all counties within Tongzhou territory, the Thirteenth Commander decided to send troops to attack those several official counties—killing the chicken to warn the monkeys.”

Pei Song clearly did not care about the results of Pei Thirteen’s handling, but was more concerned with the many details of that day’s ambush. He unconsciously furrowed his brows and asked, “How many people were on the other side in the ambush?”

The personal guard said, “Over a thousand people.”

That day, Xiao Li had led Zhang Huai, A Niu and the others to tie rolling stones and battering logs with linked rope loops on the mountain early in the morning. When the Jinzhou Pei army passed by, they cut the ropes, creating the illusion of an ambush by about a hundred and ten people.

Who would have thought that after the death of the Jinzhou deputy general, the soldiers below dared not directly become deserters, and were also afraid of being punished after returning to the army. So the minor leaders instructed the soldiers below beforehand to unify their story upon return, falsely claiming they had suffered an ambush by over a thousand people.

Pei Thirteen and Han Qi, who was defending Jinzhou, thus concluded it was most likely the doing of several official counties within Tongzhou territory that were backed by Wei Qishan.

The two had long planned to eliminate those several official counties in Tongzhou before the southern border war officially began. After all, once they fell, only some bandit counties and uprising counties would remain within Tongzhou territory—short-sighted and unable to stir up any waves. Accepting surrender was only a matter of time.

But if they let those several official counties be, when Jinzhou engaged with the Liang, Chen, and Wei forces, they would inevitably become restless.

Therefore, sending the deputy general to recruit surrender was a move of courtesy before force.

If those several official counties were sensible and submitted to Pei Song, it would naturally be best. If they were ungrateful, then there was no need to keep them.

But the deputy general’s death exceeded everyone’s expectations.

The remnant soldiers who fled back to camp stirred up panic throughout the entire Jinzhou army. Jinzhou had now tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice.

Pei Thirteen and Han Qi determined it was those several official counties who had learned of their intentions and chose to strike first. At the same time as writing a memorial to report to Pei Song, they had already launched a surprise attack against those several official counties within Tongzhou that were acting as local tyrants with the Wei clan’s backing.

It was only when Pei Song saw the latest battle report from Jinzhou, which mentioned that after the deputy general’s death they had successfully captured several counties in Tongzhou, that he suddenly asked this question. He suspected the death of the Jinzhou deputy general might be related to Xiao Li.

After all, the time of the deputy general’s death was not long before Xiao Li appeared in Yongzhou.

But after hearing about this ambush’s numbers, Pei Song felt it couldn’t be Xiao Li. The scouts of Jinzhou weren’t deaf or blind—it was impossible for them to allow over a thousand Liang troops to enter their territory without any awareness.

Unless… Wei Qishan’s side had collaborated with Great Liang, openly stating that Tongzhou territory had their people, and only then did the Great Liang side dispatch Xiao Li to go there, borrowing the military forces of several Tongzhou counties to ambush Cui Hu.

Pei Song looked again at the memorial thrown on the table, his gaze dark and unclear. In the end, he only said to the personal guard, “I understand. You may withdraw.”

Even if it was as he thought, Pei Thirteen had already securely destroyed those several official counties that relied on Wei Qishan. Regardless of what conspiracy Great Liang’s Hanyang intended to use, for the time being it was already impossible to have any impact on the Jinzhou battle situation.

And as long as he rooted out the hidden nail lurking within Yongzhou territory, making Hanyang blind and deaf on his side, there would be plenty of opportunities later to deal with the fugitives Xiao and Zhou.

The personal guard naturally could not fathom Pei Song’s thoughts. Receiving these words, he also sensibly did not ask more and bowed his head to withdraw again.

—

Eight hundred li away in the Great Liang military camp at Jinzhou, Li Xun, who had gone to the frontlines to supervise the battle alongside Fan Yuan, held a letter in his hand, reading while gulping down large mouthfuls of cold tea.

The weather was sweltering hot. The oilcloth top of the tent couldn’t withstand the vicious sun’s scorching rays. Inside it was as hot as a steamer. Even though they had raised the tent flap to let in air, the breeze brushing their faces was still scalding.

Li Xun had sat in the tent all morning, and his back had long been soaked through with hot sweat. Fan Yuan came in from outside, standing at the doorway letting his personal soldiers help him remove his armor. As soon as the arm guards came off, the sweat accumulated inside flowed directly onto the ground. He took the cloth handed to him by a personal soldier and carelessly wiped it across his face. His entire face down to his neck was sunburned a cooked red. He cursed, “This damn heat—if you buried sweet potatoes in the sandy ground under the sun, you could eat roasted sweet potatoes directly!”

“That would save firewood…” Li Xun picked up the thread. Halfway through his words, he suddenly became so excited he knocked over the tea bowl in his hand.

The tea soaked a pile of official documents on the desk. He hurriedly picked up the documents to shake off the water stains while a nearby attendant quickly brought a cloth over to wipe.

Fan Yuan had just picked up a bowl of cold tea from the table but hadn’t drunk it yet. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

Li Xun picked up the letter in his hand and carefully examined it again to confirm, then said with undisguised excitement, “Zhou… Zhou Sui has sent a letter…”

Fan Yuan saw his appearance didn’t seem panicked, so he drank his tea while asking in confusion, “If a letter came, then a letter came. Why are you acting like this?”

Halfway through his words, Fan Yuan suddenly froze completely. He hurriedly put down his tea bowl and asked, “Could it be that Brother Xiao’s mother has news?”

Li Xun shook his head. Fan Yuan’s spirits immediately dropped by half. He picked up his tea bowl again and said, “Then what else could happen within Yongzhou territory?”

Li Xun’s breathing finally eased as he said, “He says Xiao Li is still alive!”

“Pfft—”

Fan Yuan became so excited he directly choked and sprayed out a mouthful of tea. After coughing twice, he still doubted his ears had problems: “What?”

Li Xun repeated, “Xiao Li is still alive!”

Fan Yuan said incredulously, “Is this true?”

Li Xun showed him Zhou Sui’s letter: “Zhou Sui said so in the letter—would I lie to you?”

Fan Yuan hurriedly snatched the letter to examine it carefully. When Zhou Sui was in Yongzhou, he often secretly transmitted messages to Pingzhou. Now that the old subordinates within Yongzhou territory had been eliminated, the informants outside Yongzhou still remained, and after making contact, letters could still be delivered to Pingzhou.

Wen Yu had given Li Xun and Chen Wei joint regency authority. When encountering major matters difficult to decide, they needed to further consult Li Yao. After Li Xun went to the Jinzhou frontlines, secret letters sent back from Great Liang’s heartland Yongzhou and the northern border were first delivered to his hands at the earliest time, so he could respond promptly.

After Fan Yuan finished reading the letter, his heart could be described as filled with mixed feelings. He sighed, “I knew that someone like Brother Xiao must have heaven’s protection in the mysterious beyond.”

After Li Xun’s joy receded, he began to worry again: “That arrow from Commander Ling probably created a barrier in General Xiao’s heart. Looking at what Zhou Sui says in his letter, he apparently no longer wishes to return to the southern border Liang territory.”

Fan Yuan was a military man, and as a fellow military general with Xiao Li, he could better understand Xiao Li’s state of mind after suffering such undeserved injustice. After thinking, he said, “Brother Xiao was wronged, plus he lost his dear mother. Even if he were a clay figure, he couldn’t just let this pass.”

Li Xun naturally understood they needed to hurriedly send a letter to explain clearly to Xiao Li, but he was afraid Xiao Li’s heart had already been hurt enough in Pingzhou. If the other party refused no matter what to serve Great Liang again, the fault lay with them in Great Liang, and naturally they had no face to keep bothering him.

It was just that losing such talented general would be deeply regrettable even to Li Xun.

After some contemplation, he said, “Like this—I’ll first send people to find Zhou Sui and see if we can contact General Xiao. If we can make contact, I’ll first go apologize to him on behalf of Commander Ling. We must also hurriedly send a letter to the Princess’s side. The Princess has been blaming herself endlessly for mistakenly attempting to kill General Xiao, and this created a rift with Commander Ling as well. Since General Xiao is still alive, then everything still has room for redemption.”

Fan Yuan also felt this method was feasible and nodded in approval.

Li Xun immediately hurriedly went out wanting to summon someone. Halfway there, he suddenly hurried back: “Look at me, I’m truly muddled from being busy. The Zhou family was raided and escaped using Xu family cargo ships. The Princess instructed long ago that if such a day came, we must hurriedly lay bait and redirect the calamity. If we can’t hide it from Pei Song, we still need to have the Xu family abandon their properties within Yongzhou territory and prepare to cut off the tail to survive.”

He returned to the desk to grind ink and take up his brush, deploying arrangements one by one.

After learning Xiao Li was still alive, Fan Yuan was already in high spirits. Even though he was still sweating profusely from the heat on his forehead, his heart was no longer as irritable as before. He said, “Good. I’ll leave these matters to you. I’ll send more scouts to investigate toward Tongzhou. A few days ago, Jinzhou suddenly sent troops to attack several counties in Tongzhou that had close dealings with Wei Qishan, saying they had ambushed and killed Deputy General Cui Hu who went to persuade surrender. The Northern Wei side used this to claim merit and cry poverty, dragging their feet about organizing vanguard battalions and dispatching troops. I’ve always felt something was strange about this matter. Our battle tactics for Jinzhou were jointly formulated by all three sides. They Northern Wei have contact with those several counties in Tongzhou but didn’t inform us beforehand. Now they’re asking us for military merit but won’t send people—what kind of dog shit logic is that?”

The more Li Xun listened, the more he felt something was off. He said, “This matter is indeed strange. The Jinzhou side must have been watching Tongzhou early on. Before engaging us in battle, eliminating those several counties close to Wei Qishan over there was inevitable. Wei Qishan guards the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and has fought wars for how many years—would he not understand this advantage and disadvantage?”

Li Xun pointed his finger at the seventeen counties of Tongzhou on the map and continued, “These county magistrates aren’t fools either. They all know Pei Song’s reputation stinks. Initially being able to rely on Wei Qishan, naturally they wouldn’t refuse this olive branch. Now Pei Song is seriously going to attack them, and Wei Qishan’s forces in the south and north are both far from Tongzhou—aid is impossible. As long as Pei Song gives enough conditions, how could they not surrender?”

He paused, using an almost certain tone: “The Northern Wei side knew from the start these several counties were fence-sitters and never truly planned to use them. It’s just that Jinzhou sending troops gave the Northern Wei side a reason to clamor as well.”

Fan Yuan heard this and made a “tsk” sound. “According to what you’re saying, after Pei Song decided to take down those several counties, Northern Wei and those several counties should have had no contact. Then who ambushed Jinzhou’s troops going to persuade surrender and even killed Cui Hu?”

Li Xun pondered for a moment and said, “Perhaps it’s a good show they in Jinzhou staged themselves, or perhaps, it’s also a move to redirect calamity?”

Fan Yuan heard that Li Xun’s words contained hidden meaning and asked, “What do you mean?”

Li Xun took up his brush and wrote a large character “struggle” on the paper.

Fan Yuan quickly understood: “You mean… internal strife among those counties within Tongzhou territory?”

Li Xun nodded, speaking cryptically, “Although it’s always been big fish eating small fish, aren’t those big fish also grown from small fish? With these several big fish dead, fattening up the small fish in Tongzhou territory—they should be able to fatten up all at once. I just don’t know which small fish set up this scheme.”

Fan Yuan laughed heartily and said, “With such talent and wisdom, I imagine when we’ve leveled Jinzhou, we’ll soon be able to meet them in Tongzhou. Such a capable person—Brother Li must recruit them under the Princess’s command.”

Li Xun only smiled without responding, appearing somewhat preoccupied.

—

Tongzhou, Pingdeng County.

Xiao Li sat on a high slope watching the sunset. The mountain terrain here was high, allowing him to see the official road to the south where the great army marched north, and also the mountains further south.

Zhang Huai walked over stepping on the yellowed and browning wild grass, cupping his hands toward Xiao Li and saying, “Huai congratulates benefactor on achieving the first step of your great enterprise.”

Xiao Li withdrew his far-gazing sight and glanced at Zhang Huai, saying, “I’ve already told you, there’s no need to keep calling me benefactor.”

Zhang Huai insisted, “Huai will follow benefactor to jointly plan great enterprise. Propriety absolutely cannot be abandoned.”

Xiao Li turned back to look at the newly constructed training ground below the mountain and the properly erected camp behind him, saying, “I’m not pursuing any great enterprise, only hoping that this group of brothers following me can stand upright without bending the knee in this chaotic world.”

Zhang Huai followed his gaze toward the camp below, smiling and saying, “Forget this chaotic world—even in times of peace and prosperity, wanting to stand upright without bending the knee is as difficult as climbing to heaven.”

He said with unclear meaning, “Benefactor’s ambition, in Huai’s view, is not small at all.”

Xiao Li glanced at him. Zhang Huai smiled and changed the topic: “The effect of benefactor’s stratagem far exceeded Huai’s expectations. Although those county magistrates hadn’t committed evil to the degree of making common people rise up in rebellion, they also weren’t any kind of benevolent sort. It’s just that in counties already overthrown by the common people, the county magistrates no longer deign to put on that hypocritical face of working for the people’s benefit. Those several county magistrates were still willing to put on a show to fool the common people.”

“Benefactor used Pei Song’s hand to eliminate harm for the people. However, given Pei Song’s reputation for capturing refugees everywhere to build defensive works, the local common people naturally won’t have any good face for the Pei army that took over the counties. The counties that submitted to Pei Song out of fear only brought over a title. The county soldiers and common people all fear being taken to repair the old Great Wall and have long fled to other counties. This is precisely a good opportunity for us counties claiming to be uprising armies to grow stronger. However, several bandit counties have been extremely arrogant recently. What does benefactor intend to do?”

Xiao Li said, “Let’s leave them for now. The Pei army in Jinzhou may not have completely given up. Having someone provide cover for our actions isn’t a bad thing.”

Zhang Huai heard this and smiled while cupping his hands: “Huai understands. Huai will give the orders immediately.”

As he walked down the slope, he happened to meet Zheng Hu coming to find Xiao Li. A Niu was racing with him, mustering all his energy to charge forward. Zheng Hu originally had no intention of competing with such a foolish young fellow, but seeing his energy truly like a calf, he also got the notion to compete. The two rushed up all the way, both covered in sweat.

Seeing Zhang Huai, the two panted while greeting him. Zhang Huai smiled and asked, “Looking for benefactor?”

Zheng Hu leaned on his knees, nodding while gasping for breath. A Niu leaned back against a large tree, no better off.

Zhang Huai pointed them in a direction. The two exhausted to half-death unexpectedly rushed forward again like two fighting bulls. Zheng Hu ran while gasping and complaining: “Second Brother really—why does he run to this godforsaken barren slope every time to watch the southern three-party alliance army’s movements…”

A Niu panted in refutation: “Not true at all, he’s looking at the big sister in the south…”

Zheng Hu ran and ran when his brain stalled for a moment. He called out to A Niu and asked, “Wait, what big sister?”

A Niu thought he wanted to win against him and wouldn’t wait for him, so he used even more strength to charge forward: “Big sister is big sister!”

Zhang Huai had not intended to listen to the two’s bickering, but A Niu’s words suddenly made him become somewhat thoughtful.

—

After nightfall on the Gobi Desert, it was as cold as the northern border in deep autumn.

The soldiers receiving and escorting the bride had already arranged their tents in a circular formation. Wen Yu’s tent was surrounded at the very center, with the Qingyun Guard tents tightly arranged on the outer perimeter.

Zhao Bai led people to build a bonfire outside the tent to ward off the cold and cook night meals. Wen Yu changed into a set of light, ordinary clothing and sat by the bonfire, accompanied by Tongque and a female Qingyun Guard. She rested her chin on her arm and stared blankly at the firelight not far away.

She was usually so dignified that people dared not approach, but at times like this, that layer of hard armor on her body seemed to melt away, flowing out a softness in the moonlight that unconsciously made people yearn.

Tongque brought over the cooked night meal and called for Wen Yu to eat. She didn’t know what she was thinking about in her daze. Tongque called her twice before she finally responded with an “mm” and lifted her head.

Tongque handed over the bowl, smiling and saying, “Princess, time for your meal.”

After Wen Yu took the porcelain bowl, Tongque looked at the carp wood carving she had been holding in her hand all along. Sitting down beside her, she asked, “This wood carving must have been given to the Princess by someone very important to you, right? This servant noticed that when we were in Yongzhou, you were already carrying it with you all the time.”

She saw the wood carving had no lacquer color and didn’t look like any precious item, but for Wen Yu to treasure it so preciously and bring it all the way beyond the pass, the person who gave this wood carving must be extraordinary.

Wen Yu was using a spoon to stir the thick congee in the bowl. Hearing this, her movement paused for an instant. After a while, she said, “Mm, it was given by an old friend who can never return again.”