Where there was a first batch, there would be a second. Cui Shaoting never showed mercy, treating their people as less than human. By the time the killing reached its end, some defenders on the city wall became so enraged they lunged out from the crenellations to shout curses—but before they could even open their mouths, arrows had already pierced their throats.

Under such immense pressure, the soldiers guarding the city gates could no longer endure it. They were men accustomed to witnessing death, and what soldier didn’t kill? They had taken lives with relish before. But watching brothers and comrades die right before their eyes was an entirely different feeling from watching the two-legged sheep perish. They couldn’t hold on anymore.

Yecha was also trembling with fury at Cui Shaoting’s madness. Counting it up, the prisoners in Cui Shaoting’s hands had all died—every single one had perished at the base of Qingzhou Prefecture’s city gates.

Cui Shaoting had declared that all those who had set foot in the Xibei would leave their lives here. Even Yecha felt a chill run down his spine hearing this. Though he knew these were meant to intimidate, coming from Cui Shaoting’s mouth, the impact was far too great.

On the day the last prisoner was killed, something unprecedented happened inside Qingzhou Prefecture—over a dozen soldiers attempted to slip out of the city.

This was the first time in the half year since they’d invaded the Xibei. Yecha was furious and, after capturing them, had their heads chopped off without hesitation. Enough people had already died; he didn’t want more deaths. But this was the nature of commanding troops—soft-heartedness meant certain doom. Desertion was no small matter anywhere, and if he let it pass lightly, there would only be more deserters in the future.

But this time he had miscalculated the situation. After executing these deserters, rumors gradually began to spread, saying that Qingzhou Prefecture simply couldn’t be held, and that was why the Grand Preceptor was putting on a fierce front while being weak inside, stubbornly defending the city gates without sallying forth, instead turning his blade on his own people.

Rumors spread quickly, and with repetition, they became distorted beyond recognition. Soon there were even claims that Han Zhengqing and Prince Gong had actually defected to the court, that they had all fallen into the Zhou people’s trap, and so on.

These rumors grew rampant. Yecha was so anxious his mouth developed sores and blisters. He had several people seized and executed overnight to stop it, but unexpectedly, this only led to more deserters. Even many of those standing guard wanted to flee.

Behind them lay the territory they had conquered on their way in—all the towns and villages along the route were now theirs. There was absolutely no possibility of escaping backward. Ahead, if they could just kill Cui Shaoting, they could reunite with Han Zhengqing.

Yecha couldn’t sleep for several nights. He waited and waited, but the messengers sent to Han Zhengqing never returned. Not until Cui Shaoting shot one of those messages with an arrow onto the wall did he finally realize that this time Cui Shaoting meant business. Gritting his teeth, he ordered preparations for battle.

But Cui Shaoting was particularly cunning. He never picked a specific time, paid no attention to day or night, and came with no pattern whatsoever. Sometimes it was deep in the night, sometimes right after a meal, sometimes without even eating first. He’d set a fire at the east gate, kill someone at the west gate, call out at the north gate. Nearly every time Yecha went out, he found nothing.

For a time, many Tatars were driven to the point where they barely dared sleep. At the slightest rustle they thought Cui Shaoting was attacking.

The Guyuan Commander-in-Chief’s confidence soared. He also found it quite amusing to terrorize these brutal Tatars. Just as he was about to ask Cui Shaoting whether they should continue this strategy of hammering here and clubbing there to flatten them, Cui Shaoting ordered a full assault on the city.

But perhaps because there had been too many false alarms, this time Yecha actually didn’t react. Therefore, the Guyuan Commander-in-Chief took the west gate with almost absurd ease.

The speed and efficiency were so quick he could hardly believe it himself. He stood dazed for quite a while before hastily sending someone to report.

But Cui Shaoting had long been prepared. He had already ordered someone to lead over six thousand men directly to the west gate.

Yecha felt his teeth ache, but opportunities in battle were fleeting. By the time he organized a defense, it was already too late.

What was even more infuriating was that the two-legged sheep of Qingzhou Prefecture had spontaneously taken up hoes and clubs from their homes to help Cui Shaoting’s forces viciously beat them like drowning dogs. They retreated in complete disarray to the Prefectural Magistrate’s office. Just as they were thinking of drawing reinforcements from the north gate, the magistrate’s office caught fire.

The fire was set on Cui Shaoting’s orders. Not only did he order it set, he also requisitioned tung oil from everywhere. In no time the flames reached straight to the heavens.

Yecha was nearly burned to death. An uncle who had followed him for many years perished in this great fire. Leading the remaining remnants of his defeated army, relying on desperate recklessness, he finally managed to break out of the magistrate’s office.

Who would have known that Cui Shaoting had long been prepared, blocking all three city gates with men specifically to trap him.

But the north gate was farthest from the magistrate’s office. That area had more open space, and most of his men were stationed there. For a time he had nowhere to flee, and could only demean himself by mixing into the fleeing crowd of refugees, following his personal guards as they ran east and west without rest.

Cui Shaoting spent six days taking the north gate as well, and only then began counting numbers, cleaning up the battlefield, and pacifying the people’s hearts.

With Qingzhou Prefecture taken, their pressure suddenly lightened by an immeasurable degree. Regardless of anything else, this was at least the first major victory, and that alone was enough to boost morale tremendously.

But Han Zhengqing on the other end didn’t find this morale-boosting in the slightest. Vexed to the point of nearly tearing out a handful of his own hair, he gnashed his teeth and cursed for a while.

A trusted aide came up to ask him what to do. He sneered and swept a glance over: “What to do?! Tell Yetan and his bunch to intensify their assault on Zijing Pass! Stop going to other places first. Xuanfu and Jizhou have fierce defenders—tell him to go to Zijing Pass! If he doesn’t go soon, Yecha will die!”

The trusted aide hastily acknowledged and hurried to send the message, but his heart felt weighed down by an enormous stone.

But when he returned from running this errand, he heard even worse news. Earlier he had only been carrying a stone in his heart; this time he felt his heart had stopped beating entirely. Staggering along for a stretch, supporting himself against a tent to finally stand steady, it took him a long while before, dizzy and disoriented, he entered Han Zhengqing’s command tent.

By the time he stood before Han Zhengqing, he was no longer quite so dizzy. His two eyes stared at Han Zhengqing with vacant emptiness, mechanically informing him: “Marquis Dingyuan and Prince Zhennan, leading over ten thousand troops, have already reached Guyuan.”

They’d reached Guyuan! They had reached Guyuan! And after passing through so many checkpoints, they still had over ten thousand men!

Han Zhengqing looked at his trusted aide in disbelief. Seeing that he truly didn’t seem to be lying, he couldn’t speak a word for a long time.

The trusted aide continued speaking on his own: “After passing Changning they traveled extremely smoothly. They even have firearms and artillery in their hands—all obtained from Changning. I heard they arrived at Guyuan the day before yesterday.”

They had already arrived at Guyuan the day before yesterday!

They were now caught between enemies on both sides! Hearing that Changning had voluntarily let them through, Han Zhengqing was so furious smoke practically came from all seven orifices. To encounter an ally and master like Prince Gong who dragged everyone down was simply the result of not cultivating virtue in his previous life.

He had been clever all his life, had thought of everything and planned everything, yet he might actually die at the hands of this madman!