Zhao Hanzhang also had anger in her chest, but this anger had long since settled. At this moment, she could think quite calmly.

Because the distance to the Xiongnu encampment wasn’t very far, everyone dared not light fires, fearing they would attract Xiongnu scouts. So she blew on her fire starter and carefully confirmed the map with Fu Tinghan. “Five thousand men—I want to keep them all here.”

Fu Tinghan asked, “Seize the camp?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “Yes. Bring all the people inside out. Unfortunately, this area is mostly wilderness—even if we rescue them, they’re not easy to settle. So I’ve decided to take them to Guan City.”

“Speed is the essence of war, and we’re light cavalry. If we bring them along, I’m afraid we’ll quickly be caught by Xiongnu reinforcements.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s mouth curved slightly. “So I’m going to keep most of them here and not let them seek reinforcements to the west. I plan to disguise ourselves as Xiongnu troops to approach the Xiongnu at Guan City.”

Fu Tinghan was only briefly surprised before accepting this. “Right now Beigong Chun is trapped in Guan City and can’t get out. Outside are all Xiongnu troops. Disguising ourselves as them is indeed feasible, but they have considerable numbers while we only have two thousand men. Have you figured out how to fight?”

“Once we engage, they’ll immediately counterattack. Are you confident you can escape from among fifty thousand men?”

That’s right—according to intelligence, the Xiongnu currently surrounding Guan City numbered fifty thousand troops, led by Liu Yuan’s subordinate general Qiao Xi. However, this man was far inferior to Beigong Chun.

Beigong Chun had only five thousand troops yet managed to defend Guan City until now despite being isolated and without aid. Meanwhile, Qiao Xi, who claimed to have eighty thousand troops, now had only fifty thousand left.

Zhao Hanzhang mentally planned what to do next. In the dim light of the fire starter, she hastily wrote a letter to Beigong Chun and handed it to two scouts. “Find a way to deliver this letter into Guan City before noon tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

The scouts accepted the order and departed.

Only then did Zhao Hanzhang close the fire starter. She blinked her somewhat sore eyes and rotated her neck. “Let’s go. Time to sleep.”

The soldiers slept in their clothes. In less than two hours, they opened their eyes, then everyone quietly lit torches. The mosquitoes that had been buzzing around them fluttered away in a rush. Everyone drank some water, gnawed on a piece of dry rations, then took up their weapons and mounted their horses.

Throughout the process, little sound was made. Everyone’s bright eyes watched the figure at the very front seated on horseback.

Zhao Hanzhang sat on her horse gripping her long spear, completely ignoring the mosquitoes circling her. She lifted her chin slightly. “I know that these past two days, everyone has accumulated a bellyful of anger. Our Zhao Family Army fights not only for ourselves but also for the common people, especially the common people of our Yuzhou!”

“Right now they’re being plundered and killed. Tonight is when we settle accounts,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Everyone, release that anger built up in your chests. Kill into the camp and rescue the brothers and sisters trapped inside. Will you fight or not?”

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Good! Now, depart!”

Everyone silently followed Zhao Hanzhang as she kicked her horse’s belly and swiftly advanced toward the Xiongnu encampment.

This time they didn’t stop along the way but charged to the tents in one breath. Zhao Hanzhang took the lead, directly killing her way in.

Fu Tinghan followed at her side, also killing his way in. By this point, he had become a military advisor capable of fighting on horseback.

The Xiongnu camp fell into chaos.

In this area, aside from Guan City, all other cities had been taken by the Xiongnu. Beigong Chun could barely defend himself and had difficulty even holding the city, let alone coming out to launch surprise attacks. So the Xiongnu forces were very relaxed.

Zhao Hanzhang killed straight into the camp. When they emerged from their tents, their faces were all blank, then they fell with that bewildered expression.

But they had, after all, been through many battles. The men inside quickly reacted, grabbing their weapons and rushing out. However, without armor and unable to immediately get their warhorses, the Zhao Family Army had long been holding in their anger. Now with morale soaring, they immediately routed them.

The leading Hu general ran out disheveled, his collar open and trousers on backwards. He shouted loudly, “Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Quickly bring my horse…”

Zhao Hanzhang yanked the reins and flew over, thrusting with her spear. Before the man could finish speaking, he fell with wide-open eyes.

With the main general dead, the Xiongnu forces had no command. The camp became even more chaotic, and some began fleeing outward. What followed was almost a one-sided slaughter by the Zhao Family Army.

In the end, Zhao Hanzhang no longer wished to kill. The anger in the soldiers’ chests had also gradually dissipated. Under Zhao Hanzhang’s command, they drove all the Xiongnu troops toward the center, then used their horses to encircle them in the middle of the camp.

Zhao Hanzhang rode forward, her armor covered in blood. She advanced with her spear, lightly pointing it forward and lifting her chin slightly. “Surrender and you won’t be killed!”

Upon these words, they immediately dropped the swords and spears in their hands, kneeling and lowering their heads in surrender.

Zhao Hanzhang turned her head and nodded slightly at Qiu Wu. “Collect all weapons and warhorses, and count the surrendered troops.”

“Yes!”

Qiu Wu immediately led men forward, collecting all weapons and warhorses and tying up the surrendered men with rope.

Zhao Erlang rode over at a trot, excitedly pointing in a direction. “Elder Sister, there are many people over there. One person says he’s a relative of our family.”

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Fu Tinghan before immediately following to look.

It was an open area surrounded by over a dozen tents with about a thousand people crowded inside—old people, children, women, and young men all present.

Each person looked haggard. Some were already lying on the ground barely breathing, their bodies emanating an unpleasant smell of blood and decay.

Zhao Hanzhang dismounted and strode forward. The elderly man at the front immediately came forward with a middle-aged man and a young man, stumbling and stopping three steps from Zhao Hanzhang. His eyes filled with tears. “Are you Sanniang of the Xiping Zhao clan?”

Being elderly, Zhao Hanzhang bowed respectfully, half-bending at the waist. “I am indeed Sanniang. May I ask who you are, sir?”

The other party immediately stumbled forward, half-kneeling before Zhao Hanzhang. “Cousin, I am Li Hou from Guan City, a man of Qi!”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes flashed with confusion, but this didn’t prevent her from using both hands to help the man up. “I don’t know which branch of my family has ties with cousin?”

With so many clan relatives, and even more relatives of clan relatives, she couldn’t immediately recall who had ties with the Li family of Guan City.

Li Hou was also quite embarrassed. In the darkness, his face flushed slightly, but at this moment of life and death, he couldn’t worry about such things. He said, “It’s ties with your branch, cousin.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought of her mother, mentally flipping through information. The young girl had memorized her family’s genealogy, and her maternal grandfather’s relatives mostly weren’t in this region. So was it her grandmother?

Still thinking, Li Hou had already said, “Our late great-aunt by marriage was Lord Zhao’s maternal aunt.”

Zhao Hanzhang: …Oh, so it was indeed her branch.

Currently, those with blood ties to Xiahou Xuan, aside from descendants of the Xiahou family, were probably just her branch.

Besides her and Zhao Erlang, there were also Zhao Ji and the others in Luoyang.

Although this “cousin” relationship was quite distant, Zhao Hanzhang still warmly grasped this elderly cousin’s hand, helped him sit to the side, and asked, “When did Cousin Li arrive here? Is everyone in the family well?”