The Prince of Donghai had sent them here for two purposes: first, to intercept Fu Zhi from supporting Yuzhou, forcing Gou Xi to commit more troops; second, to prevent him from bringing these forces to Luoyang to aid the Emperor.

Therefore, Ma Jiaen naturally refused to agree. He said firmly, “I must ask Director Fu not to put us in a difficult position. You should turn around and return to Chang’an immediately. That would be best for you, best for me, best for everyone!”

Zhao Hanzhang sneered coldly, “A mere Lieutenant-General like you dares to command the Director of the Imperial Secretariat? Stand aside and let Director Fu through!”

Ma Jiaen didn’t move. “I’m acting under the Prince’s orders—no one may take a single soldier from Chang’an to Yuzhou or Luoyang!”

Fu Zhi grew angry. “The Prince of Donghai’s actions are disrupting the state. Are you really going to obey him? Ma Jiaen, don’t forget—you are currently a Lieutenant-General of Dajin. You should be serving Dajin!”

Ma Jiaen said in a heavy voice, “How does Director Fu know I’m in the wrong? A body has two arms. If they cooperate and exert their strength in the same direction, naturally both arms can coexist. But if one arm wants to go east while the other insists on going west, the body will inevitably be torn apart.”

“Therefore, better to sever one arm now. Even if only one remains, with just one direction and one will, the body won’t go wrong.”

Fu Zhi’s heart kept sinking. Knowing he couldn’t persuade him, he turned to Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, saying, “Sanniang, Changrong, don’t worry about me. Return to Yuzhou as quickly as possible. The Prince of Donghai is making a move against Gou Xi. You must stop both of them—absolutely cannot let them fight again. This past year, because of their conflict, the people of the Central Plains haven’t been able to farm for a whole year. We can afford to wait, but the common people cannot!”

Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t mentioned that the Prince of Donghai and Gou Xi were about to clash, but with the Xiongnu already withdrawn and Ma Jiaen blocking them here, it was obvious what the Prince of Donghai’s next move would be.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t even flinch. She told him directly, “The Prince of Donghai has already deployed troops to Yuzhou and is currently in a standoff with Gou Xi. Whether they’ve started fighting yet, I don’t know.”

Fu Zhi’s heart sank even deeper.

Yet Zhao Hanzhang’s expression remained calm and composed, with leisure to play with the arrow feathers in her quiver. “General Ma, will you let us pass or not?”

Ma Jiaen said, “I will not!”

Zhao Hanzhang flashed him a bright smile, then turned to glance behind her. Seeing that her infantry had also caught up and were forming ranks behind them.

Only then did she turn back and gave him one final smile. At the same time, the bow she held lifted, and her right hand lightly drew out the arrow she’d been toying with, nocked it to the bowstring, pulled, and released—all in one fluid motion so fast that Ma Jiaen, who had been watching for any change in her expression, couldn’t react in time.

He instinctively shifted his body slightly, but the arrow still struck directly into his chest with such force that it knocked him from his horse.

Ma Jiaen’s army erupted in chaos and was about to attack when Zhao Hanzhang shouted loudly, “His Majesty’s decree is here! Director Fu is here! Who dares to move?”

Everyone was startled and hesitated, uncertain whether to advance.

Ma Jiaen’s deputy leapt from his horse and rushed straight to Ma Jiaen. Seeing the arrow in his chest, he was greatly alarmed. He raised his head and shouted, “Zhao Hanzhang, are you trying to rebel?”

Zhao Hanzhang had already taken advantage of their dismounting to kick her horse forward. Ting He threw her spear from behind, which Zhao Hanzhang caught in mid-air. She rode forward, and the long spear descended, coming to rest directly on the deputy’s neck…

Ma Jiaen’s soldiers retreated in fright.

Zhao Hanzhang slightly raised her chin and asked, “His Majesty’s decree orders Director Fu to lead troops to support Yuzhou. Who dares disobey?”

For a moment, everyone was cowed by her authority and dared not move.

Fu Tinghan waved from behind, directing the archers forward in an attack formation, while the cavalry also stared intently at Ma Jiaen’s army, their fighting spirit high.

The deputy immediately deflated, kneeling on the ground without speaking.

Satisfied, Zhao Hanzhang asked, “What is your name?”

The deputy glanced at Ma Jiaen lying unconscious in his arms, clearly not long for this world, and said reluctantly, “This lowly general is Peng Gong.”

“Stand up and summon all the company commanders to see me!”

Each company commander basically had a thousand men under him. Ma Jiaen had a total of nineteen company commanders. Aside from the two adjutants who were company commanders at his side, the other company commanders were distributed throughout the army. They could only watch the situation from afar, knowing only that their general had been speaking with someone when he was suddenly killed.

So when summoned forward, they were still somewhat dazed.

When Zhao Hanzhang saw them, she directly took them into custody. With the company commanders here and the army suddenly without leaders, Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand, and the soldiers behind her immediately moved forward to take control of these twenty thousand men.

They were quite practiced at this task—after all, during this period they had frequently received prisoners. Everyone counted the numbers and military equipment without bothering Zhao Hanzhang, reporting directly to Fu Tinghan instead.

Fu Tinghan not only had to record the numbers and equipment received, but also had to arrange them separately to prevent them from conspiring to cause trouble.

Fu Zhi watched in complete bewilderment. He looked down at Ma Jiaen lying on the ground, and after a long while finally found his voice. “You… how could you kill Ma Jiaen? He’s the Prince of Donghai’s Lieutenant-General.”

Zhao Hanzhang said unconcernedly, “I promised Gou Xi I would stand on his side. Since I’m already going to oppose the Prince of Donghai anyway, this makes no difference.”

Fu Zhi said, “…You, you’re going to get involved in their conflict?”

Zhao Hanzhang raised her head to look at Fu Zhi and said seriously, “Grandfather Fu, Ma Jiaen was actually right about one thing—a body’s two arms cannot have separate wills, or the body will be torn apart by them.”

“A body can only have one will. He just chose wrong. If one arm must be kept, then I choose a healthy, strong arm, not one that disregards the body and is old and sickly,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “The Prince of Donghai is already decrepit. He’s not fit to remain.”

Fu Zhi’s mouth fell open. He never imagined Zhao Hanzhang would have such thoughts. He was shocked beyond measure and didn’t recover for a long time.

By the time he came to his senses, Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan had already taken control of Ma Jiaen’s troops, and even Ma Jiaen’s body had been collected.

Though Zhao Hanzhang had killed him, she didn’t intend to leave his corpse exposed in the wilderness. She summoned his personal guards and asked them, “Are you willing to escort General Ma’s body back to Luoyang?”

The guards exchanged glances, then all shook their heads—they didn’t want to return.

They weren’t afraid of facing the Ma family; they feared facing the Prince of Donghai. Twenty thousand troops had set out, and only a few of them would return—the thought alone was terrifying.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t force them. Seeing their reluctance, she had people dig a pit nearby and buried him there.

Zhao Hanzhang asked Fu Zhi, “Grandfather Fu, the scouts say there’s another force of soldiers guarding behind you. With all this commotion here, aren’t they coming to check the situation?”

Only then did Fu Zhi snap back to attention. “Right, there’s also Chunyu Ding! He’s twenty li behind us. There’s a pass there that’s easy to defend but hard to attack. If he holds that position, we can’t even turn back and take another route. As soon as we try to leave, he’ll definitely know and will pursue us.”

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow. “So if we don’t leave, he won’t know?”