Tang Dynasty Swordsman

Page 173

Xing Caojun hesitated for a long time before finally clasping his hands in a gesture of respect and asking, "May I ask, were the words that Commander Li used to reprimand the disgraced general in the morning truly from his heart?"

Li Ji smiled wryly: "Naturally, every word is true, and there is absolutely no falsehood or embellishment."

Xing Caojun said, “If the commander lacks ambition, then having already defeated my Tianxiong Army, driven out Commander Tian, ​​and recaptured Hengshui, he can withdraw his troops now. The spoils of war in the prefecture, along with the imperial gifts of a million coins and grain, will all go to Weibo. Weibo will then become the leader of Hebei, and even Chengde and Zhaoyi will not dare to look at it directly. As for Commander Tian, ​​after this defeat, he will surely destroy the shrine of An Lushan and his son, and submit a petition to the court to apologize. I believe the court will still be willing to show leniency…”

"But if what I say is true, then what plans do you have for me?"

Chapter Thirty-One, Evil Extends to All His Dependents

Li Ji said that everything I said on the battlefield was true. I was not just following the imperial orders to make a name for myself, but I hoped to solve the problem of the overbearing warlords in Hebei, so that the court would no longer have to worry about internal strife and could concentrate most of its manpower and resources to revitalize the country and defend against the Western Barbarians.

So Xing Caojun said, "If what Commander Li said is true, then we absolutely cannot return to the town. We should immediately send troops and generals to continue north, so that Commander Tian cannot establish himself in Xiabo and will have no choice but to flee back to Wuqiang. Although Wuqiang's defenses are strong, seven or eight out of ten of its troops have been wiped out, and morale is extremely low. It will certainly not be able to hold out, and Commander Tian will have no choice but to surrender. Then Commander Li can escort him to Chang'an, and the entire Tianxiong army can be returned to the imperial court."

Tian Qianzhen, standing nearby, offered a different opinion. Of course, his true intention was to have the Weibo army reach the walls of Wuqiang City, so that Tian Chengsi would either commit suicide or be captured and taken to Chang'an, giving him the opportunity to succeed as the military governor of Tianxiong Army. If the campaign ended there, and Tian Chengsi were to submit a letter of apology, destroy the ancestral hall of An Lushan and his son, reduce his troops and cede territory, yet still remain a military governor, what would be left for him? Hadn't his trip to Hebei been a waste?

However, he still raised his concerns: "Our army is exhausted from continuous battles, and news from Xindu has not yet arrived. If our supply lines are blocked, and we are forced to advance and halt our troops under the fortified walls of Wuqiang, wouldn't that be extremely dangerous? Chengde Town is currently gathering troops in Anping. What if they take the opportunity to raid our rear?"

Xing Caojun shook his head and said, "Back then, before the Zhaoyi Army arrived, Weibo and Wushun had only 20,000 men. They did not retreat to Zhangnan, but instead fiercely resisted the Tianxiong Army here. They were not afraid of Chengde's intervention. Now that we have won the battle, would we still be afraid of them? I believe that Chengde knows the outcome of the battle and will not dare to act rashly. As for the obstructed supply lines, we now have enough grain from both camps and Hengshui to last for more than three months. Can't we still conquer Wuqiang, whose soldiers are exhausted and whose generals are cowardly?"

Lei Wanchun was the first to express his approval and requested the order: "This humble general requests the order to go first, to take Xiaobo, and head straight for Wuqiang!"

Li Ji pondered for a moment, then smiled slightly: "The provisions are really insufficient... Xing Junyun was able to supply them for three months, could it be that he has forgotten about the Tianxiong Army?"

Last night's battle saw the Tianxiong army, numbering tens of thousands, collapse in an instant. Xing Caojun managed to gather over ten thousand men, only to have them all handed over to Weibo as prisoners in the blink of an eye. Li Ji's concern was that these ten thousand prisoners also needed food; should he simply starve them or slaughter them all? If chaos were to escalate further, would he dare continue his advance northeastward?

Xing Caojun said, "Commander Li is benevolent. I, your humble general, am willing to fight for Commander Li."

Tian Qianzhen, Lei Wanchun, and the others standing nearby all curled their lips in disapproval, as if to say: How could we possibly trust you? And even if Commander Li trusted you alone, he couldn't possibly trust all the prisoners.

As expected, Li Ji waved his hand and said, "Let them all go."

He ordered Xing Caojun to select 300 honest and trustworthy prisoners to serve as guides for each army. The rest were to be given three dou of grain and three hundred coins and silk, and ordered to return to their hometowns. If they were seen on the battlefield again, they were to be executed without mercy!

He knew the origins of the Tianxiong Army, which were similar to those of the Weibo Army—in fact, the same in all the towns—the vast majority were local people, making them prone to desertion—because they were familiar with the geography and had places to escape and hide—but also easy to regroup. At least those elite troops that Tian Chengsi had carefully cultivated and trained, like the Weibo garrison, were professional soldiers unaccustomed to farming; even if they scattered temporarily, they would eventually return to eat and serve. If he were to withdraw his troops now, as long as Tian Chengsi had enough food, he could raise his banner again and within months still have tens of thousands of troops…

Therefore, we must capture Tian Chengsi or force him to commit suicide!

However, keeping tens of thousands of Tianxiong Army prisoners would surely cause trouble. We dared not use them, nor did we have enough manpower to guard them. Rather than harboring this worry, it would be better to let them return home, and provide them with ample travel expenses.

Li Ji did this for two reasons: First, people are all made of flesh and blood. If I show such kindness, even if the people of Jizhou do not welcome the king's army with food and drink, they should not be so bound to Tian Chengsi anymore. Second, if the prisoners have food and supplies, they may stay in the countryside for a while longer and not be willing to run out immediately to seek demobilization.

Secondly, the three bushels of grain and three hundred coins and silk were not a large amount, barely enough for a family of three to five for ten days, which Li Ji could barely afford. But the problem was that the weight was considerable—those who were slightly weaker would probably have to drag it along—so would the prisoners, carrying the grain and money, be willing to abandon them halfway and pick up their weapons again to harass their own transport route? There might be some stubborn fools like that, but they would certainly not be many.

He then ordered Lei Wanchun to lead troops ahead to capture Xiabo, while Li Ji rested his soldiers in Hengshui City, planning to continue marching north the next morning.

However, he was still worried about Xindu. Fortunately, at dusk, a scout from Xindu finally found out the situation in Zhangbei and came into the city to ask for an audience. He not only told them about the Tianxiong Army that had attacked him on the way, but also informed them of Nie Feng's capture of Qin Rui.

According to the scouts, Fu Lin's 4,000-strong Tianxiong Army had indeed not been traveling day and night, and it was estimated that it would take some time before they reached the walls of Xindu. As for whether Yang Shigu's cavalry could catch up ahead of time, and whether the enemy would be willing to retreat after seeing Xing Caojun's letter, it was difficult to predict. However, it was clear that Nie Feng had not abandoned the city and intended to defend Xindu, which put Li Ji somewhat at ease.

Even Tian Qianzhen said, "Nie Feng is indeed a loyal and brave general. The commander-in-chief's judgment of people is not bad."

But Nie Feng actually detained Qin Rui, which greatly surprised Li Ji. He couldn't help but frown and ponder – wasn't this throwing a hot potato at me? After all, that guy was an ally, not my subordinate. Even if he was defeated and fled first, even if he almost killed me, in principle, I only had the right to impeach him, not the right to punish him.

Let alone Qin Rui, even though Xue Song didn't come, only ordering his chief clerk Xue E to lead the troops, if Xue E disobeyed orders, Li Ji couldn't just arrest him directly. You, Nie Feng, have some nerve! A mere military governor, you arrest him without a second thought…

What should I do? I can't just chop Qin Rui up with one blow. But I've already captured him, and it would be a pity to release him... This would be creating an enemy, and letting an enemy go for even a day will cause trouble for generations!

He was unconsciously tapping the table with his fingers, frowning in thought. Beside him, Gao Ying crossed his arms and said in a low voice, "In my humble opinion, if Commander Qin does not enter Xindu, then so be it. But since he has entered, he must be captured. What Nie Feng did has truly removed a great scourge from our Weibo!"

"What do you mean by that, Gong Chu?"

Gao Ying replied, “Now, half of my supply route is in Beizhou. If Commander Qin does not return to his post, the people will not be united, and no one will dare to offend him lightly. But if Commander Qin returns to his post and harbors rebellious intentions, cuts off my retreat, or even takes advantage of the situation to invade my Weizhou, then all of your plans will surely fail, and the imperial order to quell the rebellion will be in vain!”

The officers and generals in the Weibo army generally distrusted Qin Rui and Wu Shun's army. In particular, Gao Ying, who was clean and had never been tainted by the An Lushan Rebellion, felt that all those surrendered generals were a menace. In theory, Qin Rui and Tian Chengsi were no different, except that one of them was more aggressive, so the court issued an order to conquer him first.

Li Ji then asked, "What does Gongchu think is the best course of action against Qin Rui?"

Gao Ying looked around and saw that Tian Qianzhen was out organizing his troops and not by his side. He then spoke frankly: "I know that the General originally intended to wipe out the Tianxiong Army and hand over the four prefectures to the Emperor. However, the court sent Deputy General Tian instead, which seems to be the intention to replace Tian Chengsi. Therefore, the Tianxiong Army cannot be withdrawn. At most, one or two prefectures will be ceded to the court, either to Weibo or to be directly under the control of the court."

"Now that Heaven has granted us a golden opportunity, although we cannot disband the Tianxiong Army, we can hope to disband the Wushun Army! The General can escort Qin Rui to Chang'an and hand him over to the court for judgment, and submit a memorial requesting the recapture of Bei and De prefectures. Now that your elder brother, Mr. Changyuan, is the prime minister, he will surely grant the General's request."

Li Ji thought to himself that Li Mi and he might not actually be on the same page when it came to suppressing the Hebei warlords. The old man was ultimately too cautious... However, Gao Ying's words also made sense. After finally capturing Qin Rui, would the court really let that guy come back to continue leading the Wushun Army? Even if the military governorships were still retained, replacing them with a more trustworthy minister would surely improve the situation in Hebei to a considerable extent.

He nodded and said, “What Gongchu said is true. Please write a memorial for me. I will order Nie Feng and Yang Shigu to escort Qin Rui into the pass after the Tianxiong Army has been defeated, and hand him over to the court for punishment.”

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Yang Shigu was unable to catch up with Fu Lin in time. At noon that day, Fu Lin led four thousand Tianxiong soldiers to the outside of Xindu City. He then set up camp and sent someone to shoot an arrow into the city, ordering the defending general to open the city gates and surrender.

—Although Li Ji had defeated the main force of Tianxiong Army and driven out Tian Chengsi more than half a day ago, not many defeated soldiers had fled directly to Zhangnan because the pontoon bridge had been burned. In addition, although Fu Lin did not travel day and night, his marching speed was not slow, so he had not yet received the news.

Upon receiving the report, Nie Feng naturally dispatched soldiers to the city walls to strengthen the defenses. At the same time, he ordered Hu E to issue a document in the name of the governor to recruit able-bodied men to assist in the defense within the city. For safety reasons, he dared not release Hu E directly.

Xindu was, after all, part of Jizhou. It had only been in the hands of Weibo for a little over half a month, and its control was not yet perfect. Knowing that the Tianxiong Army had arrived at the city, panic and rumors spread throughout the city... Jingjing'er had finally waited for this great opportunity.

Furthermore, Qin Rui was imprisoned in the dungeon of the government office. A dignified military governor, he was forced to sit cross-legged on a rotten straw mat, his hands and feet shackled. Although his meals weren't meager, even the finest delicacies would be impossible to eat in such an environment and smell. This fueled his deep hatred for Nie Feng, and he cursed him incessantly day and night.

"If your military governor returns, I will surely exterminate the entire Nie family, leaving not a single chicken or dog alive!"

Despite his threats, Qin Rui knew that even if Li Ji returned and was willing to forgive him, or even apologize in person, he would never severely punish Nie Feng. Unless Nie Feng abandoned the city upon hearing the news of the defeat in Zhangbei yesterday, his courage in defending the city was a great achievement regardless of the final outcome. Why would Li Ji punish him under such circumstances? At most, he would reprimand him and order Nie Feng to apologize, and that would be the end of it.

If Li Ji were to severely punish Nie Feng because of him, he would surely lose the hearts of his officers and soldiers—if it were him, he would never do that either.

Moreover, if we were in each other's shoes, perhaps Li Ji would turn around and reward Nie Feng handsomely, and from then on rely on him even more...

The saying goes, "Love me, love my dog; hate me, love my servants." Qin Rui took his anger out on Li Ji and cursed the boy countless times—"Look at the soldiers you've brought out, you've got some nerve!" But he only dared to curse Nie Feng, not Li Ji, lest Li Ji return and go all the way to the end, truly making him his mortal enemy.

He figured that as long as he didn't show any hatred towards Li Ji, the kid wouldn't dare to kill him. In the end, this campaign against Tianxiong Army had failed, and even if the Weibo soldiers were very capable, they would suffer heavy losses. For a considerable period of time afterward, Weibo and Wushun would have to stick together and fight against Tian Chengsi.

However, human nature is the most unpredictable thing. Li Ji has always been willful and reckless. If he suddenly becomes murderous without considering the gains and losses... I'm afraid I won't be able to get out of this prison!

What should I do? I need someone to help me think of a solution... If I can write to Cui Qi and ask Li Ji to intercede for me, perhaps I can still live.

That evening, he was sitting in the dark, and after cursing for a while, he picked up his bowl to drink some water. Suddenly, he heard a soft sound from above, followed by a person calling out in a low voice, "General Qin, don't panic, I'm here to rescue you."

Upon hearing this, Qin Rui's hand trembled involuntarily, spilling the entire bowl of water. He then lowered his voice and called out, "Jingjing? The defenses here are very tight, please be careful... I'm shackled now, how are you going to get me out?"

Jingjing said, "It's alright, I'm quite good at picking locks." Then, with a "whoosh," a dark figure leaped down from the beam... followed by a clear "clang" of a bell!

Jingjing'er was as thin as a feather. She leaped down, but as soon as her toes touched the ground, she felt her footing suddenly give way. Knowing something was wrong, she hurriedly tried to stand up and gather her breath, but then a bell rang from beneath her...

He couldn't help but curse inwardly: "That Nie Feng, he actually set a trap to try and capture me!"

Before yesterday, Qin Rui had never met Nie Feng, nor had he ever heard of him. But Nie Feng had long heard of him – after all, Nie Feng was also a former general who had surrendered from An Lushan. He was in Weizhou, which was not far from Beizhou. So how Qin Rui had gathered Zhou Zhi’s old troops and then coerced Shi Chaoyi to rise through the ranks and become a military governor of a town was already a well-known story.

The key point is that Zhou Zhi once served as the prime minister of the puppet Yan state. After Yan Zhuang surrendered to the Tang dynasty and Gao Shang was killed, he became the most prominent civil official in the country. His "Divine Machine Guard" consisted of many individuals with supernatural abilities, monitoring both inside and outside the capital. To be honest, his reputation in the puppet Yan state was no less than that of Li Fuguo's "Inspectorate"... both were equally infamous. Therefore, after his death, many of his subordinates fell to Qin Rui. Surely, Qin Rui also had quite a few petty thieves and scoundrels under his command?

Nie Feng was quite meticulous, especially recalling the day he handed his biological daughter over to the female Taoist priest to take away... He asked the female Taoist priest that day, "Although I am a martial artist, even if I were to follow in my father's footsteps, it wouldn't be my daughter's turn. So why did you take my daughter away, Taoist priest? What skills are you going to teach her?"

The female Taoist smiled and replied, "What I teach you, young lady, is not the skill of using spears and halberds on the battlefield, but the agility and leaping techniques of the martial world. Not to mention that the world is not yet settled and each prefecture and county has its own troops, even in times of peace and prosperity, women are weak and vulnerable and cannot avoid unexpected dangers. If you learn my technique, you can live in peace—and it may even be of help to the general in the future."

Nie Feng had never heard of Jingjing'er, but he instinctively sensed that Qin Rui's superhumans would come to break him out of prison, so he set a trap in advance...

Dreaming and Recommendations

My usual routine is to do chores and research during the day, and only start writing formally late at night after my child has gone to bed. This not only results in me going to bed very late, but even when I lie down, my mind is hard to clear; the plot of the book keeps replaying in my mind, and I unconsciously start brainstorming the next stage of the story… So my sleep quality is very poor, and I always have vivid dreams. But there's nothing I can do; the habit is already formed. During the day, amidst all the noise, it's impossible to write anything. Even if I force myself to type, I'm definitely not satisfied with what I write afterward.

A friend of mine has a habit of carrying his laptop during the day and choosing a corner of a coffee shop to sit in, secretly observing the flow of people while immersing himself in the hustle and bustle of the city. It is said that this is when his thoughts flow freely – I really envy him.

As the saying goes, what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Since my mind was full of novels before bed, it was inevitable that they would enter my dreams after I fell asleep. Speaking of which, I had a really strange dream last night. I dreamt that Li Ji, wielding a long sword, leaped into a train from the back and charged straight at the front.

The enemies he killed were, of course, Tibetan soldiers. However, he hadn't time-traveled again, because the train belonged to... the Uyghurs! In the latter part of the dream, perhaps as I was about to wake up and my mind began to regain some self-awareness, I wondered if this writing style was too absurd and difficult for readers to accept. Or perhaps I should insert a plot earlier, saying that Li Ji first "invented" the train, which was later stolen and copied by the Uyghurs.

Not good either, it's still a bit ahead of its time. Thinking this, my gaze seemed to move quickly, sweeping all the way to the front of the train—but there was no front train, only four fine horses pulling the carriages along the tracks.

Hmm, that seems to make sense now... Then I finally woke up, and couldn't help but curse inwardly: This is totally illogical!

That's how dreams are. When you're immersed in them, your brain often gets the illusion that you've come up with a great idea, only to find out when you wake up that it's useless—what happened to Mendeleev discovering the periodic table in his dream? Am I just not trying hard enough?

This book is almost 1.5 million words long, and I will continue to work hard. I sincerely ask readers to subscribe, comment, vote, and help promote it. Many readers have offered valuable suggestions in the comments and feedback, but unfortunately, replying on the app is difficult, so I can only appreciate many of them. Regarding typos and misspellings, I will correct them if pointed out, but I may not be able to reply to everyone individually in the future. Please understand.

By the way, I've recently been reading *The Fiery Era* by Fuchun Mountain Residence on this site, and it's truly a wonderful book. Although the beginning is a bit long and slow-paced, the pace gradually picks up after the protagonist returns to China. Coincidentally, Fuchun Mountain Residence also recommended *Time Traveler 4251*, so I clicked to check it out. It's incredibly rare for a work of this genre not to be censored (404), so it's highly recommended and deserves protection!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Willing to Be an Inside Agent

To be honest, the martial arts world in those days wasn't exciting enough. It lacked the folk tradition of martial arts societies and martial arts practice found in later generations, and it couldn't compare to the wildly imaginative world of novelists. In Nie Feng's mind, so-called extraordinary figures in the martial arts world were simply adept at using their location to commit petty theft and thievery.

Following the old strategy of preventing surprise attacks on the battlefield, several shallow ditches were dug outside Qin Rui's prison room beforehand, lined with firewood, and ropes were strung in the ditches with bells hanging from them...

Jingjing came to rescue Qin Rui at night. Originally, she climbed the walls and scaled the walls to avoid the guards and sneak into the dungeon like a gecko. But when she saw Qin Rui, she naturally had to jump down so that it would be easier to slip through the door and pick the lock. As a result, she stepped into a trap. It was because the dungeon was dark and there were no lights in it. Otherwise, with her experience in the martial arts world, she would not have fallen into the trap so quickly.

The shallow trench was no problem for Jingjing'er; at most, she would just stumble. What was dangerous were the ropes and bells... As soon as the bells rang, the area outside the prison erupted in a commotion, with guards grabbing their weapons and rushing in to search and kill.

Jingjing'er was dumbfounded, but Qin Rui reacted quickly and said, "It's all over now, you must go quickly! And remember to send a letter to Li Ji's wife for me. I have some past acquaintance with her. If she can plead for me, I can eventually get out of prison!"

Jingjing agreed and quickly leaped up the wall again—the prison was narrow, and if a dozen or twenty soldiers rushed in, even with his excellent lightness skills, he would have little chance of escaping.

Even though he was quick to react and managed to escape in time, he was still forced to throw darts, injuring several people, and he himself was shot in the shoulder by an arrow. He barely managed to escape with his injuries.

Meanwhile, the rescue of Guo Mo went extremely smoothly.

Jingjing'er was not the only one with supernatural abilities under Qin Rui's command. Relying on his lightness skills and ability to infiltrate, he came alone to rescue Qin Rui, but ordered another team to rescue Guo Mo at the same time. Although Guo Mo said that you should rescue Qin Shuai first and then rescue me, it is conceivable that if Qin Rui could be rescued from prison, the security in the yamen would be even more stringent. Would there still be a chance to rescue Guo Mo?

Nie Feng didn't think much of Guo Mo and his men—primarily because he didn't know Guo was the former commander of the "Shenji Battalion"—treating him only as a weak and incompetent civil official, thus his guard was relatively lax, and Guo was easily rescued by his subordinates. After the two sides reunited, Guo Mo was forced to consider his next move—he had only considered that Qin Rui would escape while he himself would not, failing to foresee that the actual situation would be exactly the opposite—and couldn't help but stamp his foot and say, "If we can't rescue Commander Qin, what should we do?"

Jingjing said, "Qin Shuaiyun, you can write to the wife of Wei Bo Li Shuai. She used to have some friendship with Qin Shuai, and she may be able to help you smooth things over and ask Li Shuai to forgive you."

Guo Mo sighed, “Now it’s not Li Shuai’s problem… As you said, the Tianxiong Army has reached outside the city. I’m afraid Xindu will be difficult to defend. Once the city falls, Qin Shuai will fall into Tian Chengsi’s hands, which will be very dangerous.”

Jingjing smiled instead: "I actually look forward to the Tianxiong Army breaking through the city. When that happens, will there still be so many guards in the government office? We can then lie in ambush and seize the opportunity to kidnap Commander Li and hide temporarily. I have already arranged a secret place in the city. Unless the Tianxiong Army massacres the city and searches every household, it will not fall."

However, to their surprise, the Tianxiong Army withdrew early the next morning... Yang Shigu rushed to the city of Xindu, explained the battle situation in Zhangbei, and presented Xing Caojun's letter. Fu Lin was forced to lead his troops eastward and temporarily settle in Wuyi County.

To stabilize the situation within the city, after meeting with Yang Shigu, Nie Feng posted notices along the main streets and had soldiers loudly proclaim how the Weibo army, under Commander Li's leadership, had fought fiercely in Zhangbei, ultimately defeating the enemy and driving away Tian Chengsi. Upon hearing the news, Guo Mo, Jingjing'er, and the others were all dumbfounded, exchanging bewildered glances.

The first thing Guo Mo said was, "The Qin general is in grave danger!"

If Weibo were to also lose, even if the defeat is not too severe, it would still have to rely on Wushun and Zhaoyi to jointly resist the northern invasion. Li Ji would not dare to do anything to Qin Rui, and no matter how long he was imprisoned, he would eventually be released. But now that the Weibo army has won instead of being defeated, and Li Ji is in the midst of his triumph, would he still care about Qin Rui's life?

Guo Mo judged: "If I were Commander Li, I would take advantage of the victory and return in triumph. Once I reach Xindu, I will know that Commander Qin is already a prisoner. I will seize the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, bypass the main city, and take over my two prefectures of Bei and De!"

Jingjing'er was a little confused: "Since Weibo has won and driven out Tian Chengsi, shouldn't it continue to advance and sweep away the enemy's territories? Why is it that they want to retreat instead?"

Guo Mo shook his head and said, “You do not understand military affairs. Although Weibo has won, it still only has more than 10,000 troops. The Hedong army cannot come, and the Zhaoyi army and my Wushun army have already been defeated. If they become arrogant because of their victory and advance deep into enemy territory alone, they will surely suffer a defeat. The Tianxiong army may still have the strength to fight again, and since Youzhou has already sent troops, who knows if they will not send reinforcements? Chengde is in the north, and his allegiance is unclear. This is a superfluous act, which a wise person would not do.”

Jingjing'er was still somewhat unconvinced and muttered, "Sir, you said Weibo would definitely lose, but it won; now you say it won't continue its advance, so it's not as you predicted..."

Guo Mo ignored him, stroking his beard and muttering to himself, "I must immediately write to Madam Li and ask her to put in a good word for me, perhaps she will be willing to release Commander Qin... However, Commander Qin's claim of an old acquaintance is unclear. I wonder how deep that relationship is. Is it that he has done him a favor, or that he has done Commander Qin a favor? I have no idea, and it's difficult to predict the outcome..."

After much deliberation, he finally stamped his foot angrily: "We cannot place the life of Commander Qin on the shoulders of a mere woman!"

Jingjing asked, "Sir, do you have a brilliant plan?"

Guo Mo said, “We should hurry back to Qinghe, gather our troops, and block the passes to prevent Weibo from taking advantage of the situation. Now that Weibo has retreated, the people are eager to return home. If we block the roads for them, the morale of the army will surely be thrown into chaos. Perhaps we can use this as an exchange with Commander Li to ask him to release Commander Qin and allow him to return to his post…”

So he seized an opportunity to sneak out of Xindu and hurried back. During a rest, Guo Mo wrote a heartfelt letter, earnestly pleading with Cui to lend a helping hand and save Qin Rui—of course, since he didn't know the true nature of their relationship, the letter was full of empty words, with almost no concrete details. He originally intended to send Jingjing'er to deliver the letter, but Jingjing'er smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, I'm also an old acquaintance of Madam Li, and we're rather...unhappy. If I go to deliver the letter, it might only anger that woman." Guo Mo had no choice but to send someone else.

When they finally managed to return to Beizhou, the defeated soldiers had already fled back, and everyone in the prefecture knew that the royal army had been defeated in Zhangbei, causing widespread panic. Fortunately, Guo Mo, as Qin Rui's chief advisor, still had some prestige. He entered Qinghe City in time, stabilized the situation, and then ordered the blockade of the north-south roads and the Yongji Canal waterway to cut off the flow of people and information.

However, the defeated troops could not be regrouped immediately—after all, they had not been defeated on their own territory, and the journey from Zhangbei back to Beizhou was nearly two hundred li. The scattered soldiers had no food, so how could they easily escape back? And the troops left to garrison the prefecture numbered less than three thousand. Helpless, Guo Mo had no choice but to temporarily abandon Dezhou—ordering all the troops left to garrison Dezhou to head west and assemble in Qinghe County.

After the envoy entered the prefecture, he changed to a fast horse and galloped south to Yuancheng. He delivered the letter to the rear office of the Weibo military governor and handed it to Cui Cuo. Upon receiving the letter, Cui Cuo was filled with anxiety and paced around the room for a long time before finally ordering someone to "go and invite Judge Du here."

Du Huangshang was somewhat puzzled by Madam Cui's invitation, but he dared not be disrespectful. He hurriedly tidied his clothes and went to pay his respects. The key was that he knew that this Madam Cui was the daughter of the late Duke of Ye, Cui Guangyuan. She was a lady from a prestigious family and should be sensible and knowledgeable about etiquette. She would not easily meet with outsiders unless it was urgent.

However, upon reaching the door, Du Huangshang refused to enter. Instead, he sat on the corridor behind the curtain and asked what important matter the lady had summoned him for. Cui Cuo replied, "My lord often says that Judge Du is wise and resourceful, and can be entrusted with important matters. I have received a letter that I would like to ask Judge Du to read." He then ordered someone to hand Guo Mo's letter to Du Huangshang.

Du Huangshang was somewhat flustered when he opened the letter.

In fact, neither he nor Cui Cuo cared about the main content of the letter—whether Qin Rui was detained or in danger of losing his life was none of their business. In particular, Li Ji had never mentioned to Cui Cuo that Qin Shuai of Wushun Army was the former Zhen Sui. Cui Cuo was puzzled, saying, "I have a past with Qin Shuai, but I don't remember him."

Of course, even if she knew that Qin Rui was Zhen Sui, she probably wouldn't be willing to lend a helping hand—it would be good enough if she didn't kick him when he was down!

The two men only focused on the opening few sentences, which said that Zhangbei had been defeated, and both Wushun and Zhaoyi's armies had gone north, leaving Weibo as an isolated force... Of course, Guo Mo did not want to mention that Weibo had crushed Tianxiong's army that night and that Li Ji was about to lead his troops back—you should know that Li Ji was unharmed and was about to return, and might even send troops to support him, which would be perfect for attacking Beizhou from both sides—this was why he promptly ordered people to block the communication between the north and south.

Seeing that Du Huangshang had finished reading the letter, Cui Cuo ordered the curtain to be rolled up—"Judge Du, please come closer and speak with me."

Du Huangshang then apologized, rose, and went inside. He knelt down five steps away from Cui Cuo. He thought to himself that this Cui lady was indeed from a prestigious family and possessed great wisdom. She knew that such matters should not be easily publicized, lest it disturb the peace of the people in the prefecture… He needed to discuss how to deal with it first.

"Please advise, Madam, how much of what you wrote in the letter is true?"

Cui Cuo shook his head: "I don't know either... As for what you say about my past relationship with Commander Qin, I don't know where to begin. If it were a former general in the court, that would be fine, or he might know my father, but as far as I know, Commander Qin was originally a general who surrendered from An Lushan."

Du Huangshang nodded: "That's right." After a pause, he added: "This matter cannot be hidden from Commander Yan."

Cui Cuo hurriedly said, "Since Judge Du is a confidant of the young master, we invited Judge Du to discuss this first, and will then inform Commander Yan. If what is said in the letter is true, what should we do?"

Du Huangshang thought for a moment and replied, "I will send someone north as soon as possible to investigate the truth... especially the movements of Wu Shun's army. If what he said is true, then Commander Li and our main force in Weibo are now isolated and it will be difficult to hold out for long. However, the situation at the front is unclear, and the pontoon bridge on the Zhang River has been captured by the enemy. I fear that it will not be easy for Commander Li to return quickly..."

"Should we send troops to rescue them?"

Du Huangshang smiled bitterly, "There are only some auxiliary troops and garrison soldiers in the prefecture now, and no great generals, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to provide assistance." He paused, then added, "We can only hope that Heaven will protect us and that Commander Li will be able to escape danger... But I fear that what is said in this letter may not be true!"