Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Youzhou Reports Victory! The urgent message about the four prefectures of Western Shu mobilizing civilians to protect grain and using the people to relieve the disaster had just arrived, yet the victory report from the heartland of Western Shu came so swiftly! The officials in the court exchanged glances. Just a few days ago, they were troubled by sending reinforcements to respond to the disaster, but now not only had the relief efforts found a solution, but a victory report had also come from Western Shu!

"Prince of Qin's army is not small in number—how could a thousand men open a path?!" an astonished civil official exclaimed.

"The Lu Family Army has so much military equipment, they simply can't move quickly!" A military official's expression shifted slightly. "Are they abandoning their baggage?!"

"Are they insane? If they abandon their supplies now, once Prince of Qin's Army cuts off their retreat, the Lu Family Army will lose all support!"

A thousand elite soldiers opening the path—everyone thought it impossible.

Even Hu Buyu frowned slightly, as he hadn't expected this. Regarding the Lu Family Army in Western Shu, Ying Fusheng never interfered, letting the Lu Family Army handle everything on their own. The only exceptions were the grain and military supplies handled by the six ministries, which were prepared by the Eastern Palace...

Wait—grain and military supplies!

Hu Buyu realized something.

Ying Fusheng listened to the officials' discussions without saying a word.

The court had to appear anxious and flustered, so the enemy agents couldn't discern their true intentions.

Indeed, for the Lu Family Army carrying supplies into battle, the baggage train was their greatest threat, especially in the mountainous terrain of Western Shu, where official roads and waterways were impassable. In such terrain, the Lu Family Army was at a disadvantage... but Qi Hanzhou had already realized this before heading to Western Shu.

The young general of the Qi family had fought in even tougher battles and had seen through the schemes of those behind the scenes.

That day in the Eastern Palace, the map of Western Shu was clearly imprinted in Ying Fusheng's mind.

Supplies were a threat, but what if there were no supplies at all?

Jiangnan was his gamble.

And wasn't Western Shu Qi Hanzhou's gamble?

Even though Qi Hanzhou had left the battlefield for seven years, he had spent those seven years in the Imperial Guard.

How could someone who found Prince of Qin's multiple troop hideouts in Western Shu after leaving Jiangnan have only intelligence as his specialty?

...

Within Western Shu, Prince of Qin's army marched north from Liangzhou City and encountered the Lu Family Army head-on. A few days earlier, as the Lu Family Army withdrew from the heartland of Western Shu, Prince of Qin's Army intercepted them. Familiar with the terrain, Prince of Qin's Army outflanked them, cutting off their retreat.

"They won't reach Youzhou so easily. Cut off their retreat and defeat them one by one," the Prince of Qin's general said knowingly, aware that the Lu Family Army had lost all options since entering Western Shu with so much grain. "Where are the scouts? What's the situation with the Lu Family Army?"

"We encountered a small squad of the Lu Family Army blocking us outside Youzhou."

"Bad news, General! General Lu has split his forces and retreated. Our estimates were wrong—they're marching very fast!"

On the battlefield, cutting off the retreat was usually a fatal blow to the Lu Family Army, but oddly, when it happened, they did not fall into a hopeless situation.

Prince of Qin's generals were astonished. How was this possible? These were mountain roads!

Deep in the Western Shu mountains, the Lu Family Army was moving quickly.

When Qi Hanzhou said he would open the path with a thousand elite soldiers, the Lu Family Army hadn't held out much hope.

They knew that carrying a large amount of supplies was their biggest challenge, which meant their march speed would be far slower than Prince of Qin's Army. Worse, these supplies would expose their plans. Even if Qi Hanzhou could find a path, their slow speed would alert Prince of Qin's Army long before they arrived!

But they never expected Qi Hanzhou to tell them to abandon the supplies!

"The young general made arrangements ahead of time. The supplies the Lu Family Army carried were indeed wartime necessities, but some items were secretly swapped with stones when passing through Western Shu's postal stations," Ye Xuanjiu reported on orders, feeling murderous glares from all around as he spoke. He steeled himself and continued, "By abandoning these stones, we can increase our march speed by at least three days."

The Lu Family Army had been outmaneuvered by the Eastern Palace time and again.

Days ago, they were told they carried war supplies; now, days later, they learned that some had been secretly replaced with stones hidden in the stations along the way. The Lu Family Army was carrying so much grain that it was hard to inspect everything carefully—especially the deliberately disguised carts. When they finally checked, the old generals of the Lu family could only laugh bitterly.

They had actually been carrying grain mixed with stones all the way into the heart of Western Shu.

"Your young general is truly mad. If these things had actually been transported into Western Shu's heartland, the rumors spread by Prince of Qin's Army would have become fact!" the Lu family soldiers said, finding it absurd.

"This was the young general's contingency plan. If General Lu had insisted on entering, we would have had to reveal the truth," Ye Xuanjiu said. "The heartland of Western Shu is a trap. No matter what, we could not enter."

Even the earlier act of the Lu Family Army insisting on entering Western Shu's heartland was a performance.

The reason for the secrecy was that there were always enemy scouts during the march. If the Lu Family Army didn't act convincingly, they couldn't fool Prince of Qin. Now that the four prefectures of Western Shu had achieved a great victory, there was no need to hide these things any longer—just as the Eastern Palace's strategy intended. From the start, the Lu Family Army was meant to fight, and the initial goal was to send them to the most suitable plains of Youzhou.

Qi Hanzhou and Ying Fusheng had suffered too many losses from hidden agents in the officialdom, and the Eastern Palace could not infiltrate the Lu Family Army. So they had to work in secret behind the scenes. The biggest problem during the march was supplies, especially in the Western Shu region. That was why when Ying Fusheng left ten thousand elite soldiers, most went to Jiangnan, but a small group remained in Western Shu under Qi Hanzhou's orders.

"At this speed, we can reach Youzhou in less than seven days."

General Lu pondered for a moment. "Is the path he opened reliable?"

"The young general said that as long as we maintain our speed, we can confuse the enemy's reconnaissance," Ye Xuanjiu said, recalling the Eastern Palace's lamps that had stayed lit for several nights. They had recognized the plot for Prince of Qin's rebellion as early as in Jiangnan, and precisely because they foresaw it, they could better guard against Prince of Qin's moves.

Qi Hanzhou used a thousand elite soldiers to open the path, including over a dozen Light Garment Guards.

In the north, the light infantry camp of the Qi Family Army was known for being lightly armed, each member capable of fighting ten men. Since the Light Garment Guards had become known in the capital, almost all of them, except for a few left behind in the Eastern Palace, had come to Western Shu for this campaign.

To guide the way, Qi Hanzhou led the elite soldiers in front, leaving one Light Garment Guard every ten li to show the way.

Fighting in snowy weather, the greatest fear was getting lost in the mountains. Too obvious markers could be discovered by the enemy, but inconspicuous signals would be buried under heavy snow. The Light Garment Guards' guidance was different—these dozen nimble guards disappeared into the mountains and only emerged to guide the Lu Family Army at specific points, greatly helping them avoid many difficulties.

When General Lu saw the path Qi Hanzhou had opened, setting aside the issue of supplies, he considered the march itself. This path could not have been opened in a short time. Qi Hanzhou must have spent a long time studying the routes of Western Shu—specifically, routes suitable for an army. Even Ji Wuming, the Chief of the Imperial Guard, could not have found a path so suitable for an army. What a single person could traverse was different from what an army could traverse.

Western Shu's most complex feature was its treacherous and deceptive terrain traps—problems the Lu Family Army had already memorized most of during their long march. From the capital to the heart of Western Shu, they had taken remote and winding roads. These paths were tricky and isolated, truly hard to travel, especially with heavy loads, which slowed them down. Yet this very difficulty also made the soldiers pay attention to the treacherous terrain of Western Shu.

The grain transport route given by the Eastern Palace back then was actually a pre-planned path.

As the emperor's personal guards, the Imperial Guard excelled at covert operations.

Using the Ministry of War's postal stations as bases, they bypassed the prefectures of Western Shu and set up secret relay points to transfer supplies. At the same time, they had long been planning a path to Youzhou.

The terrain they might encounter along the way, the nearest stations they could reach... Qi Hanzhou and the Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace had likely been planning this for a long time. They knew that if war broke out in Western Shu, the Lu Family Army would inevitably be mobilized. They knew how to lure the enemy and how to retreat. Those two had kept this thoroughly secret!

"He abandoned the supplies in zones. There's another purpose to this," General Lu understood Qi Hanzhou's thinking. "Prince of Qin's Army wants to drive us into a corner. So the abandonment of supplies needs to be done skillfully. If Young General Qi did this, the court should have the Crown Prince supporting him in response..."

That Qi family kid had truly left a vast battlefield for the Lu Family Army.

At Youzhou, Western Shu, the Lu Family Army arrived at the outskirts of Youzhou within seven days. General Lu's actions showed clear Lu family style. Once he understood Qi Hanzhou's intention, he quickly adapted. By the time the Lu Family Army reached the border of Youzhou, two detachments of Prince of Qin's Army had taken the bait and followed, only to be ambushed in turn.

In the heavy snow of the twelfth month, the battle between the Lu Family Army and Prince of Qin's Army erupted on the Youzhou plains.

Qi Hanzhou's secretly moving personal guards had also contacted the hidden outposts along the way. The real war supplies replaced from the Lu Family Army would soon reach the secret points in Youzhou. He changed into armor, a thin layer of snow already covering him. The cold was not as intense as the north, but there was a strange chill.

Qi Hanzhou looked down at Youzhou in the distance, watching the battle already raging on the plains. His mind turned to another person.

Far away in the capital, he did not know how that person fared. All their actions this time had been too conspicuous, but this was the method that would cause the least casualties in dealing with Western Shu.

The Light Garment Guard asked, "Junior General?"

Qi Hanzhou's hand holding the reins trembled faintly. He frowned and said, "It's going too smoothly."

...

In Liangzhou, West Shu, the Prince of Qin's Army, having failed repeatedly to ambush the Lu Family Army, grew furious. Inside the Prince of Qin's camp, all the military officers gathered. In terms of troop strength, they far outnumbered the Lu Family Army, but their goal was to defeat the Lu Family Army with minimal casualties, because the court still had the Qi Family Army in the Northern Frontier to contend with. If they took heavy losses at Youzhou and lost the people's support in West Shu, it would be very difficult for them to resist the Northern Frontier.

"What about Jiangnan? That useless Marquis Cen'an says he'll see how things go at a time like this. I think he wants to desert," the Prince of Qin said coldly. "As expected, the trash from Jiangnan can't be relied upon."

Fei Xun was also dressed down by the Prince of Qin. Soon after, he walked out of the tent and looked toward the distant Liangzhou Army.

When he came out, Zhou Qingyuan followed behind him.

Fei Xun said, "You mentioned the relay stations in front of the Prince of Qin, but you didn't tell him about the possible hidden moves of Qi Hanzhou and Prince Yan. You hid the possibility that supplies might be moved."

Zhou Qingyuan looked at him without changing his expression and said, "Doesn't this align with First Young Master Fei's intentions? You've used the Prince of Qin several times to incite the mob. As for my hiding the supplies matter, I think our goals are the same. That lord never intended for the Prince of Qin to win."

Fei Xun knew Zhou Qingyuan's cleverness. The Prince of Qin's rebellion was part of their plan. If the Prince of Qin hadn't been so eager to go after the Second Prince's Consort, their plan would indeed have been more prudent. But then Ying Fusheng appeared. "At least by using the Prince of Qin, we've uncovered Ying Fusheng's deployments in Jiangnan and West Shu."

"The Prince of Qin has always wanted to go along with public sentiment to conscript troops and gather a large army."

Fei Xun smiled faintly. "Isn't it good to have him draw out the elite of the Lu Family Army?"

Zhou Qingyuan said nothing.

"Do you know why that lord chose Liangzhou City?" Fei Xun asked.

Liangzhou City in West Shu was once a prosperous city. The veterans and old generals who fought against the late emperor were mostly settled here to open up wasteland, eventually forming Liangzhou City. These were all retired veterans and generals, who had deep feelings for Dayuan, and they were also targets that could be exploited.

"Say these people found out that the Prince of Qin has been using them all along—what would they think?" Fei Xun looked far into Liangzhou City. The Liangzhou insurgents wasn't that foolish. he said darkly—

"They would think this Dayuan is truly rotten to the core."

Capital, Eastern Palace.

"Has His Highness taken his medicine these past few days?"

"He has. His Highness is resting."

The empty medicine bowl sat before her. Chen Xuqiu finished acupuncture and came out, seeing Old Wu standing hesitantly at the door. She said, "There was a letter from Jiangnan recently. Your grandson has been settled. No need to worry."

Old Wu's grandson hadn't come to the capital; he was settled in Prince Jin's estate.

After the West Shu incident, Old Wu was seen hesitating often. The secret letters from Jiangnan had additional news about Doctor Chen and Old Wu's grandson, and they all knew His Highness had asked about them specifically, which was why they were mentioned.

"Is Song An inside?" Old Wu asked.

Before leaving the capital, Qi Hanzhou had instructed them to watch the Crown Prince's mental state. Someone had to remain outside the palace hall late at night, and Song An slept in the outer hall almost every night.

Chen Xuqiu nodded. Old Wu hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not go forward.

Inside the Eastern Palace, the court had been arguing over whether to send troops to the West Shu Youzhou battlefield, but it was all empty talk until the Emperor and Ying Fusheng nodded. The candles in the Eastern Palace had not been extinguished. Two months had passed since the troops left the capital for West Shu. Ying Fusheng sat before the desk in a fox-fur robe, with a sand table map of the West Shu battlefield beside him.

Ying Fusheng's gaze lingered toward Liangzhou City.

At that moment, he noticed a shadow outside the hall.

"Is that Old Wu outside? Please, ask him in."