Chapter 681: Great Battle Approaching

As dawn broke, shrouded in mist, a group of people rode out from the South Gate of Hutou City and then went their separate ways.

Qifu Longguan changed into the armor and weaponry of a Beiliang light cavalryman. He also received a new household registration, and his name was changed to Qifu Longguan. From this day forward, he was a member of the Beiliang Border Army. As he left the city, the young man, who had defected from Beimang, repeatedly touched the Beiliang saber at his waist. Beiliang battle sabers, known as the "Grand Xu Style," were considered the benchmark for contemporary saber forging, with all others modeled after the Xu family's design. Qifu Longguan knew that if this saber were sold in the Royal Court, it would fetch no less than five hundred taels of silver, and even then, it was rarely available for purchase. Countless members of the royal family and prairie chieftains prided themselves on collecting a complete set of Xu-style Beiliang sabers. Accustomed to poverty, Qifu Longguan felt his back straighten a bit with such a saber. He suddenly felt like a wealthy man with vast fortunes! But a secret filled the young knight with even greater elation than the saber, the light crossbow, or his new identity: the Beiliang King had taught him an unnamed saber manual and a Wudang cultivation technique. At this moment, Qifu Longguan was full of heroic ambition and willing to fight to the death on the battlefield for the young new Beiliang King.

Following the Beiliang King's orders, he was to escort Princess Hongyan to Liuzhou. Once he dropped off this Yelü woman at the border, he would be free of responsibility. He could then directly join the Dragon Elephant Army. What happened to him afterward in the war between Liang and Mang, whether he lived or died, would depend on his own fate.

Yelü Hongcai hesitated, then reined in her horse and spurred it forward. She caught up with Xu Fengnian, stopped her horse, blocking his path, and said in a deep voice, "Are you just sending me back to Beimang like this?"

Xu Fengnian chuckled, "What else? Should I let the Commissioner of Yuchan Prefecture bring mountains of gold and silver to ransom you? Even if your father were willing to pay, you are destined not to return alive. The Yelü family would probably lose too much face if a legitimate princess like you were captured by Beiliang as a prisoner."

Yelü Hongcai looked as if she wanted to speak but stopped herself.

Xu Fengnian waved his hand and said, "Your life or death doesn't concern the overall situation, and you shouldn't take yourself too seriously."

Yelü Hongcai gave a playful smile and said, "I was going to reveal some movements of the Beimang army to you, but since you're not interested in my calculations and conjectures, then never mind."

Xu Fengnian remained completely uncurious, saying indifferently, "If you keep blocking the road, aren't you afraid I'll change my mind?"

The woman, with sable fur across her brow, narrowed her eyes, her face as serene as water. She sharply cracked her horsewhip and rode past the detestable man.

Xu Fengnian and Tantai Pingjing continued their journey to Huaiyang Pass. Noticing the qi cultivator grandmaster's questioning gaze, Xu Fengnian chuckled softly, "Given Yelü Hongcai's cunning and nature, we cannot expect her to speak the truth. She might even misreport military intelligence to trick me. Rather than being tormented by her words and becoming overly suspicious, it's better not to listen at all."

Tantai Pingjing smiled faintly, "My intuition tells me that if this woman spoke, it would be the truth."

Xu Fengnian self-mockingly muttered, "Sounds like a huge loss, doesn't it?" However, he did not call back Princess Hongyan, who might have, just for once, acted out of compassion. Tantai Pingjing merely smiled and said nothing more. She was tall, with the face of a child despite being a hundred years old, and clad in pure white robes. As she galloped on horseback, her sleeves fluttered, like a magnificent white lotus blooming in the desert. The scene was truly "awe-inspiring beyond human comprehension."

After a moment of silence, Tantai Pingjing suddenly asked, curious, "There's been a great debate in Beimang about whether to attack Beiliang on the western front or the Liyang Dynasty's eastern front. If not for the mysterious Imperial Tutor from the Chess, Sword, and Music Pavilion, and the newly appointed Great King of the Southern Court, Dong Zhuo, both insisting on conquering Beiliang first, perhaps Beiliang would now be watching Gu Jiantang's predicament as a joke. Furthermore, most of Beimang's great generals, commissioners, and the most powerful chieftains on the prairie believed attacking the eastern front would be more advantageous. After all, by breaking the Two Liao defenses, they could directly advance on Taian City, and even potentially echo the Western Chu's restoration in Guangling Dao, thereby exhausting the Liyang army, preventing them from supporting each other from front to back, and creating a waxing and waning dynamic between the two dynasties. Why did the Beimang Empress defy all dissenting opinions and agree with those two to fight Beiliang to the death? Didn't this play right into Emperor Zhao's strategy of 'driving a wolf to swallow a tiger'? Moreover, even if Beiliang were conquered, there would still be Chen Zhibao's Xishu as a buffer..."

Xu Fengnian chuckled, interrupting Tantai Pingjing, "It's simple. Beimang can attack Beiliang with full force, but they absolutely dare not throw their entire army at Liyang's eastern front. Because they wouldn't dare expose their rear to Beiliang's 300,000 border troops. The battle-hardened Beiliang cavalry not only possess unparalleled mobility but also have an intimate knowledge of desert terrain and long-distance raids. Beimang might dare to engage Gu Jiantang with 200,000 troops in a protracted struggle, but if it were Beiliang, they would have been devoured long ago, leaving not even bones, and then the Beiliang army would stride in unhindered, causing havoc throughout the Southern Dynasty. It's not that the Peace Commissioner and Fat Dong don't know Liyang court's little schemes; rather, they have no choice. If they don't finish off Beiliang in one go and instead attack the eastern front—which seems simple but has been successively managed by Zhang Julu, Gu Jiantang, and Chen Zhibao—then Beimang would essentially be depleting its national strength against Liyang, and most critically..."

Tantai Pingjing nodded, enlightened, and interjected, "I understand. As long as the Beiliang Iron Cavalry remains in the northwest, it means that even if the Liyang Dynasty loses the eastern front, or even if Taian City is besieged, they still hold the initiative to change the stalemate. But if Beimang successfully crushes Beiliang in one swift blow, the initiative will shift to the Beimang Empress. Especially if the Beiliang Iron Cavalry, renowned as the strongest under heaven, is annihilated, then no matter how much the people of the Central Plains resent the Xu family of Beiliang, half of their spirit will be lost. If even Beiliang cannot stop Beimang's southward advance, then who can?"

Xu Fengnian sighed, "Since Zhang Julu took power, he hasn't been overly supportive of military affairs on the northwest border, yet he has never overly constrained them either. This is the brilliance of the Grand Secretary. It might seem like quiet inaction, giving the impression of allowing Beiliang to become a threat, but in reality, he was helping the Zhao Imperial Family of Liyang gain the advantage of watching tigers fight from afar."

Tantai Pingjing looked towards Taian City in the east and murmured, "The Zhao Emperor has made his choice between family and nation. Liyang is slaughtering its own deer."

Xu Fengnian sneered, "So the court has awaited the opening of the grand play, but the greatest mastermind behind it won't live to see this day. Isn't it because they fear the new emperor won't be able to control the old Grand Secretary, and too many poor scholars will have leaped over the dragon gate? Once these 'wild carp' enter the court and gradually form factions, they'll be like shoeless men who fear no one, not even those with shoes. Death means nothing to them, as they have nothing to lose, unlike sons of powerful aristocratic families who must consider the interests of their vast families. Even if more than half of these poor scholars become enamored with the comfort of wearing shoes and the feeling of wealth, as long as two or three refuse to be controlled, dare to openly defy the emperor, and constantly speak up for the common people, that would be enough to cause great trouble for the Zhao emperor, who rules by family legacy. The next to sit on the dragon throne, Zhao Zhuan, has neither the military achievements of the late emperor who unified the Central Plains nor the current emperor's twenty years of experience in checking and suppressing officials like Xu Xiao, Zhang Julu, and Gu Jiantang, both civil and military. How could Zhao Zhuan's father confidently entrust the entire realm to him without doing something before closing his eyes in death? So, he painstakingly invited Qi Yanglong, who was already half in his grave, to be the Imperial Tutor. By the time the old man stabilizes the court, he'll likely be dead of old age, and by then, Zhao Zhuan will have come into his own, and the feudal princes and generals will have had their military power stripped. With assistance from ministers like Yin Maochun, who lack deep foundations, and then by massively promoting grandsons of powerful aristocratic families to counterbalance the former, he won't even need to be as diligent as the current emperor; he can just comfortably recline and be emperor. Sometimes, thinking of that green-eyed man, I truly feel it's not worth it for him."

Tantai Pingjing sighed.

Xu Fengnian self-mockingly said, "I just wonder if the Grand Secretary will feel it wasn't worth it for Beiliang?"

Tantai Pingjing smiled and asked, "Are you resentful?"

Xu Fengnian exhaled deeply and said in a low voice, "My resentment is immense!"

Tantai Pingjing said, "It just so happens that Beimang has run straight onto Beiliang's saber tip."

Xu Fengnian glanced at the sky. Perhaps this year's heavy snow wouldn't be able to cover the blood.

Inside Huaiyang Pass, the Beiliang Protectorate General's manor remained incredibly crude. This made Huang Laifu, the Huaiyang Commandant, quite uneasy. Though it didn't keep him awake at night, every time he went to the Protector-General's office for military affairs, he felt something was off. Some of his closest general friends would always find an excuse to tease him about this shabby situation. They'd say that Huang Laifu was now finally holding his head high, living in a place grander than Protector-General Chu's, but it was a pity the prince hadn't made him a general; otherwise, he'd be a truly prominent figure. Huang Laifu didn't even get a chance to retort; he could only accept his fate. Over time, he became the biggest joke on the northern border of Liangzhou. However, as the atmosphere of impending war intensified along the border, these harmless jests quickly faded. Today, Huang Laifu made his routine visit to the Protectorate General's manor. Several Grand Commanders were currently there, pooling their wisdom to discuss Beimang's troop deployment and primary attack direction. Huang Laifu was a capable fighter but a blunt man unskilled in rhetoric, so he couldn't contribute much to the discussion. But listening to the arguments among the old generals and commanders, he felt a sense of comfort. He felt that as long as they were stationed at the border, commanding and deploying, even if the Beiliang border army, currently strong, well-equipped, and unharmed, somehow lost Hutou City, he, Huang Laifu, would reclaim it without a second thought.

When Huang Laifu entered the Protectorate General's hall today, which was covered with maps of various sizes, he distinctly noticed something unusual. In the center of the hall stood a massive six-zhang-long huanghuali wood table, and on either side of the table were many new faces. Yan Wenluan, the commander of the infantry and a veteran general from the Spring and Autumn period, was likely visiting Huaiyang Pass for the first time. Yuan Zuozong, the cavalry commander, had also arrived. Furthermore, Gu Dazu, Zhou Kang, He Zhonghu, and Chen Yunchui, the four deputy commanders, both old and new, were all present—an unprecedented gathering. Qi Dangguo, one of the Grand General's adopted sons and the newly appointed commander of the White Feather Cavalry, also stood to one side. Hu Kui, the Governor of Youzhou, and Huangfu Ping, the General of Youzhou, stood side by side in a slightly less prominent position. Meanwhile, Wang Peifang, the Governor of Liangzhou, who had just been promoted half a rank from Youzhou Governor, stood trembling and solitary in the most secluded corner. This scholar from Beiliang, who could be said to have achieved success and fame, was clearly out of place. In such a setting, it was clear that any armored general's utterance, however trivial, held more sway than this civil official's impassioned shouting.

But the person who shocked Huang Laifu the most was the Second Princess, Xu Weixiong!

She sat in a wheelchair, her fingers interlocked, intently staring at the border situation map on the table.

The Beiliang Protector-General held an inkstone in one hand and a brush in the other, the ink a vibrant crimson. Chu Lushan stood beside Xu Weixiong, bending over the map, drawing red lines and continuously speaking in a low voice.

Huang Laifu tiptoed closer, finding a small space among the two dozen or so people already standing on either side of the table. He happened to overhear Chu Lushan whispering, "Previously, a unit of our scout archers infiltrated Gusai Prefecture's heartland and discovered that Liu Gui's army had already set off. It's now confirmed they are heading for Liuzhou. Besides Liu Gui's 30,000 elite troops, four military garrisons, including the Wazhu Gentleman's Manor in the south, have also mobilized completely. Several long-established noble families of Longguan have also emptied their coffers, producing 30,000 infantrymen. Additionally, the 8,000 elite Qiang cavalry of the Gusai Prefecture Commissioner should be noted. In total, these 100,000 troops are all rushing towards Qingcang City, the current provincial capital of Liuzhou."

Chu Lushan used a vermilion brush to mark a spot north of Qingcang City on the map, saying, "The 30,000 infantry from the Longguan noble families will clearly be used as the main force for the siege."

Then he lightly drew a line between Qingcang City and Linyao military garrison. "Without a doubt, those 8,000 Qiang cavalry will be stationed here, lying in ambush to tie down any relief forces from Liuzhou's western front. If they can win, they fight; if not, they flee. The Qiang cavalry has no other special skills, but their ability to escape is first-rate. I learned that lesson over a decade ago."

The generals in the room exchanged knowing smiles. During the first great war between Liyang and Beimang years ago, everyone knew that Chu Lushan, who had shone brilliantly amidst the conflict, had two regrets: one was not killing Dong Zhuo, who was also a fat man, and the other was failing to pursue and annihilate that fleeing Qiang cavalry unit.

Chu Lushan shifted his brush, drawing a thick line between Liangzhou and Qingcang City in Liuzhou. "Liu Gui's main army, as the primary force, should infiltrate to this point..."

Xu Weixiong frowned, and upon hearing this, directly interrupted Chu Lushan, "Are we simply going to retreat and allow Liu Gui to infiltrate Liuzhou? Even if Liuzhou only has 30,000 Dragon Elephant troops, there's no need to be so passive."

Gu Dazu, with his hands clasped behind his back, bent over the map and slowly said, "While the borders of Liangzhou and Youzhou can afford to wait, Liuzhou certainly cannot. As long as the 30,000 Dragon Elephant troops find the main force of Liu Gui's army and decisively defeat it, the remaining scattered troops will not be a threat. Beiliang has the capability to fight beyond the national gates."

He Zhonghu, the Deputy Commander of the Cavalry, spoke up, "Don't be fooled by Liu Gui's numerical advantage; that small force isn't even enough to fill a gap between teeth. Even if Dong Zhuo has a backup plan, according to their current deployment, a two-day ride for warhorses means they wouldn't even have time to collect the bodies."

Chu Lushan extended two fingers, pinching the crimson brush tip, ignoring them. He merely gazed at his ink-stained fingers and calmly said, "The bait is too small; it won't catch a big fish."

Chu Lushan suddenly burst into laughter, the sound strikingly prominent in the otherwise silent room.

The Protector-General was heard pressing his thumb and forefinger together, then raising his hand with a chuckle. "Our Beiliang Iron Cavalry is too powerful; we always need to give our opponents just a little bit of hope, don't we?"