As soon as Clerk Shen left Gou Xi’s sight, he quickened his pace, hurriedly leaving the military camp. He grabbed a horse and raced toward the city.

Gou Xi was in Shi Le’s main camp, but Shi Le himself was in the city.

Clerk Shen entered the city overnight to inform. He had only been running for a short while when Gou Xi’s personal guards wandered to the camp entrance and asked around: “Have you seen Clerk Shen? Our general just signed a document that has some problems and needs to be rewritten.”

The soldiers guarding the camp said: “Clerk Shen just left.”

The personal guard’s expression changed slightly as he asked: “It’s already dark—leaving camp at this hour?”

The soldier didn’t answer. Though the Grand General treated Gou Xi courteously, those below didn’t particularly respect him. They had already surrendered—he was clearly just a Left Commander, yet still calling himself General. Hmph, he was only relying on their Grand General’s courtesy toward the worthy.

The personal guard was anxious and started to leave: “He must have gone to deliver the document. That document has problems—I’ll go chase him back.”

The camp guards immediately extended their long spears to block him, their faces stern: “Without the General’s written order, no one may leave camp without authorization.”

The personal guard clenched his fist. After a moment, he forced out a smile, pulled some money from his pocket and slipped it to the other party, saying in a low voice: “Please be flexible, brother. You know our general just arrived not long ago. If there’s a problem with the official work, the higher-ups will blame us. We’re just going to chase back the document, fix it, and then have Clerk Shen deliver it again.”

“Besides, it’s already late at night. Even if Clerk Shen went, he can’t enter the city gates—he’ll have to rest at the post station outside the city for the night.”

The camp guard’s expression softened slightly, but he still wouldn’t let them leave: “You need the General’s written order. Go get the order and come back.”

This General didn’t refer to Gou Xi, but to General Kong Qiang.

This camp had sixty thousand troops under Kong Qiang’s unified command—a trusted confidant of Shi Le.

He disliked Gou Xi, and with Gou Xi being a recently captured prisoner, to prevent anyone from escaping or causing trouble, he managed them particularly strictly. Not only Gou Xi’s personal guards, but even Gou Xi himself faced heavy restrictions entering and leaving the camp.

The personal guard knew that by the time he found the Grand General and the Grand General went to Kong Qiang for a written order to leave camp and pursue, they might not make it in time.

But the personal guard had no choice and could only turn back to find Gou Xi.

Gou Xi had only felt uneasy in his heart, so after hesitating, he still couldn’t resist sending someone to find Clerk Shen to confirm.

Who knew he would receive such bad news? Gou Xi immediately summoned Gou Chun and instructed in a low voice: “Go find Zhengzhang and have him quickly gather the men, awaiting my orders.”

Gou Chun’s heart tightened as he asked: “Rise up tonight? Won’t that be too hasty?”

Gou Xi could be compared to the reincarnation of Bai Qi. Though his will had been corrupted, his judgment at critical moments remained. He said: “If Clerk Shen really heard something and went to inform, we can’t wait any longer.”

Gou Chun’s heart panicked slightly as he accepted the order to find Wang Zan.

Oh, Wang Zan’s courtesy name was Zhengzhang.

As soon as he left, Gou Xi took his personal guards to find Kong Qiang—first, to investigate the situation, and second… if there really was an emergency, he could immediately seize the person.

But when he arrived, he learned that Kong Qiang wasn’t in camp tonight. He had left camp to return to the city in the evening.

Gou Xi’s heart tightened. He confirmed that Clerk Shen had indeed gone to inform—no wonder he would leave overnight. It turned out Kong Qiang wasn’t there.

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief. With Kong Qiang absent, leaving would be much easier.

Gou Xi immediately returned to his main tent and told the arriving Wang Zan: “We leave now.”

Wang Zan was shocked: “Leave at this hour?”

It was the middle of the night, and they were in the main camp. Their original plan was to stage a military revolt during patrol when Shi Le went to Xiayi County.

Gou Xi said: “The secret has leaked—we can’t wait. Break through the camp and leave.”

In warfare, ten Wang Zans couldn’t match one Gou Xi, and he knew this himself. Thus, after slight hesitation, he agreed.

They divided into three routes: Gou Chun led men to seize horses, Wang Zan led men to seize provisions, and Gou Xi led men to clear the way.

Gou Xi instructed Gou Chun and Wang Zan: “Two riders per horse. Grab what you can and run. Cut the ropes on the remaining horses and set fire to the camp. Take as much grain as possible—burn the rest completely.”

Wang Zan said: “Burn it all? This… once we leave, won’t they be forced to requisition from the Yanzhou people?”

Gou Xi had no time to explain and said coldly: “This is a military order.”

Wang Zan could only accept the order.

Shi Le’s main camp was completely unprepared. It was already nighttime, and most soldiers had already gone to sleep. Most of those moving about in the camp were patrols.

Gou Xi led his men over, covering people’s mouths and noses with a swift motion, ending their lives.

But the horse and grain areas had guards. Though Gou Chun and Wang Zan moved quickly, they still made noise. Someone shouted loudly, and soldiers in the tents heard the sound and rushed out. Seeing it was the grain area, they were shocked and immediately called their comrades to grab weapons and investigate.

Gou Xi had already silently eliminated the patrolling soldiers and was now lying in ambush in the dark. Seeing such a large commotion at the grain area so quickly, he could only lead his men out to intercept the reinforcements.

Gou Chun seized the horses and led men to the grain area to support Wang Zan. The two of them charged together toward Gou Xi’s direction.

Gou Xi emerged covered in blood, standing on the reinforcements’ only path, blocking most of the reinforcements—truly displaying the stance of one man holding the pass against ten thousand.

As soon as Gou Chun and Wang Zan arrived, Gou Xi immediately mounted his horse and led his personal guards in the charge out.

These were all soldiers who had been captured together with them. Due to time constraints, they had currently only contacted just over three thousand men.

If their plan hadn’t gone wrong and they had waited until the day after tomorrow to act, they should have been able to contact over five thousand men. At that time, as long as they won the first battle, he was confident he could turn over twenty thousand men.

That was half of the Jin army captured during this period.

There was no time or opportunity for regret now. Gou Xi led his men in the charge, breaking through. Distant camps finally dispatched reinforcements, and assistant generals and colonels led men over. Seeing it was Gou Xi causing trouble, they became furious: “I urged the Commander to kill this fellow early on, but the Commander loved talent and couldn’t bear it. Now looking at it, he’s truly not a good person.”

“Enough idle talk—hurry and stop him!”

But Gou Xi had come prepared while Shi Le’s main camp was unprepared. Moreover, Gou Xi was brave and fierce. Even though his intelligence had been offline for the past period, his ability to organize combat at this moment of life and death still far exceeded that of the generals in Shi Le’s main camp.

Though losses were heavy, he still led his men to break through Shi Le’s main camp, then chose a direction and ran.

The assistant generals in Shi Le’s main camp quickly organized a large army to pursue, but they couldn’t catch up—the enemy left them far behind.

At this moment, Shi Le had already met with Clerk Shen and immediately believed him. Clerk Shen was a spy he had planted beside Gou Xi, specifically to watch him and see if he still had contact with the Jin state.

Hearing that Gou Xi wanted to rebel, he asked: “Why not report directly to Kong Qiang instead of going far to enter the city?”

A nearby advisor reminded: “Grand General, General Kong entered the city this afternoon to discuss matters concerning Yuzhou and hasn’t returned to camp.”

Shi Le’s expression turned ugly: “The meeting ended before dark—why didn’t he return?”