The streets were sparsely populated.

The Wuto people were waiting outside the city. The citizens inside couldn’t sleep at night, street vendors had already closed their shops, and the streets were desolately empty and pitifully bleak.

The rice shops had closed several months ago. On the roads, one could occasionally see women with children digging for wild vegetables in the dirt. Unfortunately, with people unable to leave or enter the city for months, everything edible had long been consumed, and no wild vegetables could be found. Even spotting a rat would bring joy, treated as a rare delicacy.

Although everyone worried about when the Wuto forces might breach the city walls, hunger had already spread to every corner within. When the last grain of rice was gone, even without the Wuto attack, major trouble would erupt in the city.

Along these desolate streets walked two people – a man and a woman, both exceptionally attractive. The man wore an indigo robe and possessed refined, handsome features, while the woman had striking eyes and captivating beauty.

Ying Xiang took out a piece of dried food from her bundle and handed it to Chu Zhao, saying, “Fourth Young Master, all the shops here are closed. Please eat some dried food to satisfy your hunger.”

This dried food was what the guards in the Liangzhou garrison ate during their travels. It had been kept in the bundle, dry and hard, but with no restaurants available now, they had to make do.

As Chu Zhao took it and was about to eat, his gaze fell upon a little girl standing under a tree. She appeared to be five or six years old, with a dirty face and tattered clothes, barefoot. Unknown whose child she was, her eyes fixed intently on the dried food in his hand, saying nothing.

Chu Zhao smiled, walked over, crouched down, and offered her the food.

The little girl froze momentarily, then glanced around, as if fearing he might change his mind. She quickly snatched the food, tucked it into her clothes, turned, and ran, soon disappearing into the empty street.

Chu Zhao stood up as Ying Xiang said, “Fourth Young Master…”

“It’s nothing,” he shook his head, “Run City won’t last much longer.”

Ying Xiang worried. After they left the Liangzhou garrison heading back to Shuo Capital, they had just reached Run City when the Wuto people arrived. City General Li Kuang ordered the gates sealed, leaving them neither able to enter nor leave, effectively trapped here.

“We must leave Run City quickly,” Ying Xiang said softly. “The Wuto forces have been testing the city’s defenses daily; the main assault will likely come in the next few days. Once the city falls… we’ll be in danger too.”

Those Wuto people were cunning and ruthless. Though Chu Zhao might have ways to escape unharmed, she was still a woman and a particularly beautiful one at that. Beautiful women in times of chaos often met especially tragic fates. Ying Xiang couldn’t help but shudder.

Chu Zhao seemed to understand her concerns and said, “We’ll leave tomorrow.”

Ying Xiang felt relieved and gratefully replied, “Thank you, Fourth Young Master.”

“Before that, we need to find City General Li Kuang first,” Chu Zhao smiled. “Without his help, we won’t be able to leave the city.”

Ying Xiang nodded. Although the city gates were sealed, she never doubted their ability to escape safely. Every city had secret passages through which officials’ families and important persons could be evacuated at crucial moments, preserving a chance of survival.

Li Kuang couldn’t possibly ignore Minister Xu’s influence.

…

“A sneak attack? Impossible, it’s too risky!”

“Exactly! Easy to say, but it’s suicide. Though we Run City people aren’t afraid to die, we won’t be targets for nothing!”

In the room, people spoke up after hearing He Yan’s words.

Li Kuang looked at He Yan. This young man spoke with confidence, clearly having some plan in mind. Various deputy commanders from the city guard and He Yan’s other brothers were all present in the room.

When the discussion quieted somewhat, He Yan spoke, “I know you don’t trust me right now. But I’ve already asked General Li – in the past ten days, the Wuto forces attempted night attacks on the city gates five times. Though they eventually withdrew, as if testing us, they’ve been quiet these past three days.”

“From my experience fighting the Wuto people, this silence isn’t good news. They’re likely planning their main assault. They’ve figured out the situation inside Run City, and our troops have been worn down over a long period. Our morale and strength aren’t what they used to be. When the Wuto forces launch their main attack, the city gates will certainly fall.”

“What makes you so sure? Aren’t you cursing us?” a hot-tempered deputy commander angrily asked.

“Is speaking the truth a curse? Can you only hear pleasant words?” Wang Ba immediately mocked, “Then I can tell you right now that Run City’s gates are as solid as iron and stone, that the city will never fall, not in this lifetime. Do you believe that? Go ask anyone on the street if they believe it!”

“I’ve never seen anything as ridiculous as Run City defending itself through self-deception!”

Having come to Run City with He Yan, ready to sacrifice their lives for a worthy cause, seeing their passionate dedication unappreciated, his passion turned to anger, leaving the man speechless.

The atmosphere grew tense.

Huang Xiong looked at Li Kuang: “General Li, my brother He here is quite extraordinary, highly skilled in military strategy. In Liangzhou garrison, apart from Commander Xiao, he’s the most capable.” He enthusiastically praised He Yan, “Since he says we can launch a sneak attack, he must have his methods. Why don’t we all listen to his plan before dismissing it? It would be better to discuss this amicably.”

Though his words were very pleasant and mature, he kept stroking the intimidating sword at his waist while speaking, making people shudder.

Someone gathered the courage to say, “Lord He, it’s not that we’re unwilling to attempt a sneak attack. But our forces are already few, and if we lose more men in an attack with no return, we’ll have even fewer soldiers to defend the city. Moreover, the Wuto forces are watching the city gates closely. We’d likely be shot full of arrows before even leaving the city. How could we possibly sneak into their camp at night?”

“Arrows?” He Yan paused, looking at the person who had just spoken. “Do the Wuto forces have many arrows?”

“Many,” the man answered grimly. “When the Wuto forces first arrived, we fought them from the city gates. But now we’re running low on arrows while they still have plenty. Earlier, some planned to ambush and assassinate their commander, but before they could even infiltrate past the city gates, they were pierced by countless arrows. Those Wuto people cut off his head and hung it on a tree branch outside the city to mock us.” At this point, everyone present showed expressions of fury.

Such provocation was truly unbearable.

“You’re saying we have few arrows, but they have many?” He Yan asked.

The other person nodded.

He Yan looked at Li Kuang again, “If we lure the Wuto forces toward the city gates during our sneak attack, how many could our archers in ambush on the tower kill?”

“Between several thousand and ten thousand,” Li Kuang answered, “but we don’t have that many arrows.”

“We do.”

Everyone was stunned.

“Let those Wuto people forge arrows for us.” The young man smiled, his eyes startlingly bright. For a moment, it reminded Li Kuang of another person. Though he hadn’t seen the face behind the mask back then, he remembered those eyes, just like those before him now – confident and calm, capable of creating miracles even in the most chaotic and adverse situations.

With him present, military morale would remain stable, never giving up.

“What do you plan to do?” he came back to his senses and asked.

“I need to gather all the city’s craftsmen and women to make straw men for me.”

…

Night fell deep, and on the plains outside the city gates, thousands upon thousands of tents stood silently. From afar, the plains seemed to have transformed into endless rolling hills, an impressive sight.

Patrol soldiers moved about nearby.

Huliyate – the Wuto leader commanding this attack on Run City – was pouring wine from a jar into a bowl. The wine’s fragrance was rich; after downing a bowl, he patted his belly and smacked his lips, saying, “So this is the grape wine made by Run City people? How is it any different from sweet water? It’s just something women fancy. All these Great Wei people love drinking this, no wonder they’re so weak and cowardly, shattering with a single strike!”

His confidant fawned, “Yes, yes, yes, Great Wei’s wine can’t compare to the strong, mellow wine of Wuto!”

Huliyate laughed heartily, then said, “Go to the captives and bring some women over!”

Though Run City had sealed its gates now, when they were first stationed here, there were still many people lingering outside the city. Including nearby farms, the Wuto soldiers had swept through these homesteads completely, keeping the women and killing everyone else, not sparing even children. This grape wine too was plundered from the farms. Those civilians were completely defenseless; it was as easy as cutting melons and vegetables to wipe out entire homesteads.

The Wuto people both envied and looked down upon the Great Wei people. They envied Great Wei’s elegant silk, fine porcelain, vast territory and population, and beautiful, grand houses. While they lived in the desert and on the edges of grasslands, with only the howling wind, having nothing.

They looked down on the Great Wei people for being soft and cowardly, incapable of even protecting themselves. Clinging to so-called “benevolent governance,” waiting for others to invade. An unguarded piece of fat meat would always attract various gazes. The Wuto people had remained quiet for many years but finally couldn’t resist anymore.

“We’ve been waiting here for a month now,” a trusted advisor nearby said, “He Rufei still hasn’t come. As our King said, He Rufei won’t come anymore.”

Huliyate laughed, “That would be wonderful!”

Great Wei valued civil affairs over military matters. Over many years, though they produced many military generals, among those remaining today, only Flying Swan General and Seal Cloud General were truly feared. That fool Maka, relying on being the King’s cousin, volunteered to capture Ji Yang, who would have thought he’d run into Xiao Huaixin. Though it was his misfortune, it was regrettable that fifteen thousand troops were destroyed in Wuto, severely weakening Wuto’s strength.

He wasn’t like Maka – choosing this Run City mission meant he must have absolute certainty.

“Great Wei has a saying that goes ‘Beyond the shore, red dust burns busy as fire; before the window, green mountains cold as ice.’ What we’re doing now is ‘watching the fire from across the shore.’ What of the Flying Swan General? If we can’t kill him through confrontation, he’ll have other weaknesses. Power, beautiful women – they all have their uses.”

“Sometimes I don’t understand Great Wei people,” genuine confusion spread across Huliyate’s face. “Why do they always like to kill each other? If we had people like Xiao Huaixin and He Rufei in Wuto, our King would certainly offer them the best treatment. They would become Wuto’s two sharpest swords, and with them, the world would be within our grasp. But Great Wei people can’t stand having such good generals – once someone rises, they must stamp them into the mud. However, this works in our favor. If Xiao Huaixin and He Rufei were truly invincible, it would spell great trouble for us Wuto.”

His confidant added, “Indeed, this is perfect. Thanks to our King’s years of planning, letting this fire grow ever larger, now we don’t even need to act – Great Wei people are helping Wuto fight their people.”

Raucous laughter filled the tent as the Wuto soldier who had left earlier returned with several Great Wei women. All were captives taken from nearby farms, still young and quite attractive, trembling as they entered.

Huliyate was brutal by nature, and no small number of women had died from his abuse.

He gave a vicious laugh and grabbed a woman beside him, but before he could act, suddenly heard horn signals from outside. Everyone was startled.

“What’s happening?”

“Someone’s coming out of the city!”

The camp instantly fell into chaos. Huliyate lost interest in continuing, shoved the woman away, and stood up to walk outside. A Wuto soldier hurriedly came to report: “General, people are coming down from the city tower!”

“What?” Huliyate was shocked.

Those Run City people were as timid as mice, only daring to hide inside the city without making a sound. Though they had attempted a sneak attack once before, that person was turned into a porcupine by Wuto arrows before even getting down. Yet now they dared to try again? This was somewhat unexpected for Huliyate. By reason, those Run City people shouldn’t be so bold.

Could they have reached such desperate straits that they decided to fight to the death? Huliyate strode toward the plains, “Come, let’s see!”

Outside the pitch-black city tower, several hundred ropes indeed hung down, with what appeared to be people descending one after another from the tower. From a distance, there seemed to be quite a few.

“Have these people gone mad?” a Wuto soldier said, “Isn’t this just coming to die?”

“In our Wuto lands there’s a kind of badger, timid as a mouse. They say when it meets hunters, not only does it not run, it panics and rushes toward the hunters’ arrows. I think these Run City people are just the same – they’re so scared they can’t tell east from west!”

“When prey delivers itself to your door, how can you not hunt it?” Huliyate also felt smug. Before the battle even began, these Run City people were already scared witless – clearly showing the might of his Wuto army. He immediately ordered, “Ready the archers! Perfect chance for target practice. Those who didn’t get enough last time can practice all they want – such good targets won’t come often!”

The Wuto archers quickly prepared.

Arrows flew toward the people on the ropes from the city tower. In mere moments, those people were turned into porcupines, each struck by countless arrows. The Run City people seemed to realize this, quickly pulling up those ropes and sending down new people.

Huliyate was amused: “I think they’ve truly gone mad.”

“This is what… what Great Wei people call ‘courage of a common man’!” his confidant wracked his brains to come up with the phrase.

“Not courage of a common man, but foolishness of a common man!” Huliyate laughed heartily and loudly ordered, “Next batch of archers, prepare!”

On the city tower, ropes kept being lowered, each rope carrying several “people.” These people were riddled with arrows front and back; when pulled up they hardly resembled humans anymore, looking exactly like archery targets, a chilling sight. But looking carefully, one would discover these were all straw men dressed in black clothes, appearing identical to real people on the night’s cover.

Xiao Mai excitedly said, “So many arrows, so many arrows! Brother He, we’ve struck it rich!”

“What rich?” Wang Ba said disinterestedly, “These aren’t silver, can’t eat them either.”

Nearby, Li Kuang watched with great excitement, almost moved to tears. They had no arrows and could only be suppressed by those Wuto people, not even daring to show their heads above the city wall during daylight. Those sentries patrolling the city wall would lose one or two men to arrows each day, while they lacked enough arrows to return fire.

But now they had them.

This batch of black-clothed straw men brought back countless arrows, and He Yan sent down another batch. Before the Wuto people discovered the truth, they could harvest quite a few. What a miracle! It was a business without investment!

During the day, He Yan had Li Kuang gather all the city’s craftsmen and women to make straw men. When the civilians heard it was to deal with the Wuto people, even children joined in, and in just one day, they made quite a few. He Yan then had Li Kuang borrow many common black clothes to dress the straw men properly.

When this plan was first proposed, Li Kuang was skeptical – would the Wuto people really be so foolish? Would they obediently deliver arrows?

The scene before him had confirmed his doubts – the Wuto people were that foolish.

He looked at the young man standing on the city tower, feeling admiration rise in his heart. Regardless of Run City’s prospects, at least tonight’s borrowing arrows with straw men could help Run City hold out for some time longer. Li Kuang walked to He Yan’s side and said, “Brother He’s brilliant strategies put me to shame.”

He Yan turned his head to glance at him, the wind blowing the loose hair by his ears. He smiled casually, “It’s just luck. These Wuto people are proud because of their numbers, certain of taking Run City. Seeing people, they won’t think of deeper meanings.”

“The Wuto people think we have nothing – no outside help, no weapons, no troops. So we’ll turn nothing into something, catch them by surprise.”

“What if we fail?”

The young man said, “Then we’ll think of other ways. In this world, there’s never just one path.”

Li Kuang was speechless. He always felt this young man gave him a familiar feeling. He shook his head, dismissing the absurd thought in his mind, telling himself these thoughts only arose because the current situation was particularly similar to back then, even more difficult.

Tonight was just the beginning.

He Yan gazed below the city tower, where faint points of light could be seen in the distant plains – the Wuto army’s encampment.

Show something from nothing – this is deception. Deception cannot last long and is easily discovered, so nothingness cannot remain forever anything. Creating something from nothing transforms deception into truth, and emptiness into substance. Nothingness can defeat the enemy; once created, there is a means to defeat the enemy.

When reading this passage in the military manual back then, He Yan was quite puzzled. He took the book to Liu Buwang, who only said: “‘Nothing’ is false, meant to conceal the ‘true.’ If you want to successfully create something from nothing, you must grasp the enemy’s psychology – this is the highest realm of strategic contest between commanders.”

He Yan had faced the Wuto people three times, and every Wuto commander was contemptuous of all others, extremely proud and arrogant at heart. Perhaps it was related to their country’s worship of military might, believing that having troops meant having everything, forgetting that pride leads to defeat.

She watched the endless stream of incoming arrows, a smile appearing on her lips: “Send down the next batch.”

…

Arrows flew toward Run City’s gates with fierce momentum.

“What’s wrong with these Run City people, aren’t they afraid? How many people have they sent down?” a Wuto soldier asked.

Huliyate was also suspicious – these Run City people… seemed to be endlessly coming to die. Several hours had passed; were they planning to sacrifice all of Run City’s troops here?

Dawn was breaking; they had been shooting arrows all night.

A bird flew across the sky, landing on a tree branch, its chirping breaking the surrounding silence. At this moment, Huliyate suddenly thought of something and asked, “You’ve been shooting arrows all night – have you heard any screams from those people?”

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

It was quiet, too quiet. They had shot so many arrows, those Run City people died tragically, yet hadn’t made any sounds? Why was this? Were they afraid their screams would cause panic among the civilians inside the city, or worried about affecting morale? If so, that would be fine, but if there was another reason… a trace of unease flitted through his heart.

“Stop!” Huliyate shouted, “Cease firing immediately!”

The Wuto people stopped, waiting for Huliyate’s next order.

The arrows stopped at the same time. He Yan, sitting on the city tower, yawned and shook his head with some regret: “Ah, we’ve been discovered.”

Li Kuang was already very satisfied – in one night, they had collected at least a hundred thousand arrows. This was faster and easier than having craftsmen forge them. A soldier on the city wall pulled up the last arrow-filled straw man, rubbed his sore wrists, and turned to ask He Yan: “My lord, should we lower more straw men?”

“Yes.” He Yan said, “Send down a clean one, let them see clearly.”

Li Kuang was startled: “Brother He, wouldn’t this reveal our method to the Wuto people? It will be hard to trick them for arrows in the future.”

He Yan smiled: “General Li, I made the straw men not just to borrow arrows. After this night, the Wuto people have already noticed something amiss – we can’t hide it anymore.”

“They’ve bullied us for so long; now, let’s make them furious!”

The first ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, shining onto the plains, and illuminating Run City’s vermillion tower.

Outside the city gate, a figure hung silently, swaying in mid-air, at first blurry, then gradually becoming clear in the sunlight to the distant Wuto people’s eyes.

A… straw man dressed in black.

“Damn!” Huliyate flew into a rage.