Indeed, it was impossible to hide – pregnant women were generally delicate, needing constant access to medicine and doctors. So even though the Wei army broke camp, and some said the commander hadn’t moved, when Ye Yuqing inquired and learned that the medicine pots and doctors had all moved together, he immediately sent people to continue investigating.
The scouts reported: “Among the ten camps heading toward Wangu Gorge, Emperor Xiao of Wei’s whereabouts have indeed been detected.”
Smiling slightly, Ye Yuqing said: “Then let’s follow them, move slowly, no rush.”
“Yes!”
The repeatedly defeated Song army had grown weary, driven from Wangu Gorge by General Yin’s forces. In the past half year, Song hadn’t won a single battle, their morale was crumbling, barely holding on. Yin Yanzhong had already calculated – north of Wangu Gorge if they could drive back the Song army twenty li in one strike, Song would definitely withdraw their troops. Fighting three countries simultaneously was indeed too much pressure.
However, just as he was preparing to attack under cover of night, a scout suddenly came to report urgently: “General, large Wu forces have been discovered in the rear, and there’s been friction with our reinforcements.”
Friction with Wu? Yin Yanzhong frowned: “How’s the battle situation?”
“Wu attacked for an hour before retreating, our reinforcements suffered heavy casualties.”
His heart tightened, and Yin Yanzhong felt a chill down his spine: “Have you discovered the reason for the engagement?”
“Wu sent someone saying they couldn’t see clearly in the dark, accidental harm.”
Would accidental harm last an hour? Yin Yanzhong didn’t believe it, and neither did the Song commanders who received the news. What did it mean for allies to fight each other at this crucial moment?
After some thought, the heavily pressured Song army sent people to Wu’s camp under cover of darkness, whispered for quite a while, and returned to the Song camp with news.
So the next day, when Yin Yanzhong sent troops according to plan, Wu’s rear support was mysteriously delayed, while the Song army’s morale inexplicably soared. This battle turned into a bloodbath with countless casualties.
“He dared to do this!” Hearing about the casualties from the frontline commanders, Fengyue’s eyes turned red, standing up and shouting: “Where’s my sword? I want to go hack these bastards to pieces!”
They were allies, yet at this crucial moment of the final battle, they wanted to profit from others’ losses!
He Chou, who previously didn’t believe their words, stood beside her dumbfounded, her expression complex, twisting the handkerchief in her hands without speaking.
“Calm down,” Yin Gezhi said flatly: “We anticipated this from the start.”
Anticipated or not, when hearing about so many deaths, Fengyue still felt angry: “Playing such games with people’s lives on the battlefield, he doesn’t deserve to command troops!”
There were Wu’s people at the front too, completely unaware their prince was waiting behind to collect their corpses. The reinforcements were between Yushan Pass and Wangu Gorge, yet didn’t rush to provide support in time! Weren’t other people’s lives worth anything? The innocent soldiers fighting wholeheartedly for Wu, did they deserve to be sacrificed?!
“Everyone has their calculations,” Yin Gezhi rose, fastening the cape around her, saying calmly: “He fears that if all three countries win this battle, Wu won’t have the strength left to deal with Wei. Such calculations are understandable.”
However, this time, Ye Yuqing still wouldn’t win against him.
Wei’s ten camps of reinforcements arrived, joining with Qi and Wu’s remaining forces to resist the enemy together. This battle lasted three days, and finally, Song couldn’t withstand it, retreating twenty li, closing the fortress gates, and withdrawing their troops.
Just as Song sounded the gong to retreat, Ye Yuqing arrived with Wu’s reinforcements. Smiling at Yin Yanzhong, he said: “The General has worked hard.”
Blood still unstained on his face, Yin Yanzhong looked at him deeply and said: “General Guan once said, those who bleed on the battlefield deserve respect.”
He didn’t say the latter half, but everyone could hear it – those who didn’t bleed on the battlefield but came to claim credit at the end didn’t deserve respect.
The unworthy Prince Ye laughed lightly, saying carelessly: “Song has withdrawn their troops. Everyone has worked hard, let’s go write battle reports first. This prince will take his men to make camp. If there’s time tonight, I request Wei’s ruler come out for a drink.”
“Your Highness, wait,” In front of Qi’s Marshal, Yin Yanzhong stepped forward to stop him, his gaze sharp: “There’s something Your Highness hasn’t explained – why did you actively attack our Wei reinforcements earlier, and why did you secretly correspond with Song?!”
His steps halted. Ye Yuqing looked up at him: “What does the General mean? As far as this prince knows, the previous chaos was because we couldn’t see clearly in the dark and mistook Wei forces for enemies. But saying this prince secretly corresponded with Song, where does this come from?”
Speaking of correspondence, Yin Yanzhong straightened his back even more, reaching out to produce several letters, and placing them in Qi Marshal Huo’s hands.
Huo Nan was a famous Qi general and a person of considerable power, who often exchanged letters with Ye Yuqing. So when he opened the letters and saw the seal on them, his face sank, frowning as he looked at Ye Yuqing.
Ye Yuqing reached out to snatch the letters: “Impossible, these must be forged.”
“How could they be forged?” Huo Nan pulled back his hand: “This humble one still recognizes Your Highness’s seal.”
Ye Yuqing pressed his lips together: “But this prince didn’t write such letters.”
Even if he had written them, they absolutely couldn’t have fallen into Wei’s hands.
However, such defenses seemed very pale in the face of black words on white paper with red seals. Huo Nan smiled without speaking. Yin Yanzhong said angrily: “Wu is strong, relying on military might to speak, we naturally can’t contest anything. But Your Highness, this resistance against Song was initiated by Wu requesting an alliance with our two countries, and both Wei and Qi have contributed significantly. It would be better if Your Highness did fewer things like burning bridges after crossing them.”
Ye Yuqing fell silent, watching these two people leave, gripping the reins with a deep gaze.
Ask him not to burn bridges. How could that be possible? Everything was prepared. He didn’t need to attack Wei – just killing Yin Gezhi would let him rest easy. Right now Yin Gezhi is in the military camp. The three countries’ camps weren’t far apart – taking advantage of the chaos to succeed, then claiming it was accidental harm, with Wei’s current military strength, they definitely wouldn’t actively attack Wu, they could only swallow this silent loss.
Such a good opportunity – if he didn’t seize it, he wouldn’t be Ye Yuqing.
Returning to camp, first writing to appease Huo Nan, Ye Yuqing picked up his brush and sent another invitation to Yin Gezhi.
Not long after the invitation was sent, someone brought back Yin Gezhi’s letter: “The bones of the fallen soldiers are not yet cold, so we won’t drink. I hope Your Highness takes care of yourself.”
The anger could be seen between the lines. Ye Yuqing smiled, tapping the letter paper with his fingertip, sighing: “In days past, this prince also sent invitations to him repeatedly, all rejected. Now unexpectedly, we meet such a situation again. Very well, this battle will be fought no matter what is said.”
Wei’s military camp was completely quiet, the soldiers ate their cooked meals and then disappeared, seeming to have gone to bed early to preserve their strength. A doctor had sent a bowl of pregnancy-stabilizing medicine into the commander’s tent, appearing as if Wei’s emperor was completely focused on his empress.
So when the hour of Zi arrived, Wu’s feathered arrows wrapped in oiled cloth were lit aflame, raining down into Wei’s military camp like rain.