Chapter 157

Chapter 157

The words "total annihilation" hit hard, and the faces of every general in the Jiangcheng command tent went pale. A flicker passed through Ying Fusheng's eyes, but he quickly snapped out of it and sent for Weng Yanqing. "It probably isn't that bad. Any urgent word from the Ministry of War?"

"No, just an urgent report from Youzhou. You had Youzhou keeping an eye on the Northern Frontier, and the scout sent word right after the supply convoy was hit." Ye Xuanjiu continued, "This is from three days ago."

"To reinforce the battlefields and guard against a Northern Barbarian surprise attack, this time the court's supply convoy was heading northwest, which took it right through Youzhou." Ye Xuanjiu went on, "Just a few days after crossing from Youzhou into the Northern Frontier, all five thousand in the convoy—officials included—were wiped out. No survivors. Youzhou only caught on when the scout's daily reports stopped coming. The Northern Barbarian Army ambushed them."

The Qi family's falcon could relay messages from Western Shu in a flash. The acting civil official in Youzhou was Eastern Palace staff, and they traded daily updates with the convoy's scouts to keep tabs on things—Qi Hanzhou had ordered it so they could track the grain's movements and react fast if anything went wrong.

Weng Yanqing hurried over with a full rundown of the Youzhou intel, including the convoy's movements.

"We planned this so carefully—how did the Northern Barbarians know?"

"It must have been those bastards from the Secret Faction who tipped them off! Damn it, we should've sent men from Youzhou to shadow them."

The Northern Barbarians planned this attack. To cut off a grain convoy inside the Northern Frontier and leave no one alive, they had to have thrown in a serious number of troops. Even if Youzhou had sent troops, they couldn't have held against an enemy that ready.

"Our grain route is compromised," Ying Fusheng said.

The grain the court sent north came from the Southern Frontier, shipped up through the Ministry of War's southern grain route. That carefully mapped route had never failed, even when the Western Shu rebellion first broke out. The route was set up by the Ministry of War's Hu Buyu and Shen Changcun—with their track record, Ying Fusheng trusted them without question.

He didn't think the Ministry of War would screw up at such a critical moment. Even if they ran into the enemy mid-route, they could split off along pre-planned paths and still get most of the grain through.

Total annihilation meant only one thing: their escort route was blown.

Qi Hanzhou: "Who's the problem?"

"Not necessarily one of ours," Ying Fusheng said.

If it were any other of the Six Ministries, Ying Fusheng might've had his suspicions. But the grain transport was in the hands of his most trusted people. If those people were compromised, the Secret Faction wouldn't have had to run north in the first place.

The court's key moles had already been rooted out. Besides, only a handful of people knew the route this time—the key was the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works. Everyone at court knew those two ministries were tight with the Eastern Palace. Now that the convoy had been hit, once word got to court, it would stir up a storm and put the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works in the crosshairs.

"Then Minister Hu and Minister Liu are probably in for it..." Weng Yanqing frowned slightly. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works had been too clean at court, which really cramped the Secret Faction's style. This wasn't just aimed at the Northern Frontier—it was aimed at the Eastern Palace.

"The Ministry of War can't hand over control of grain transport," Qi Hanzhou said.

Wiping out one grain convoy was enough to make the court question the Eastern Palace's stability. Once a crack showed, the Secret Faction would have their opening. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works were clean, but if too many people started poking into the grain escorts, more would be exposed, and things would only get worse.

"You need to send the Brocade Guard back to get word to Ji Wuming," Ying Fusheng said.

At the mention of Ji Wuming, they both knew exactly what worried them most.

Qi Hanzhou saw how serious he was. "Xuan Qi's already on his way."

Back in the Jiangcheng command tent, the generals looked at each other. Court politics were murky and beyond the pay grade of military men, but the problems staring them in the face on the Northern Frontier were plain to see: "We don't get court politics, but from the Northern Frontier battle reports, the northwest's grain supply is cut off."

The Northern Frontier's Mobei region sat in the northwest, where Shayan Pass—their biggest worry—was.

If the northwest fell, the Secret Faction and the Northern Barbarians could roll right in and retake Western Shu and the north.

An army without food was a huge problem.

"The Northern Frontier grain route is done. Until we figure out who's compromised at court, we swap in new people." Ying Fusheng made the call on the spot. He ordered Weng Yanqing to draft a secret letter to be sent with the Brocade Guard to the emperor in the capital. "The grain won't pass through the capital—have the Southern Frontier forces deliver it."

If the capital route was unusable, then have those outside this situation deliver it.

The mastermind's chessboard in the Southern Frontier was completely ruined. He could intercept the Ministry of War's route in the north, but he couldn't reach into the Southern Frontier.

A general was startled: "Will that work?"

Of course it would. Those who could traverse the Northern Frontier route weren't limited to the Ministry of War.

The Chen Family Army of Jiangnan—they were the garrison forces originally transferred from the Northern Frontier to guard the Southern Frontier. Under Old General Chen, which of those generals couldn't serve as grain transport officers? The grain route in the Southern Frontier was already mature, and most of the trustworthy Ministry of War officials were still in the south, having not yet returned—perfect timing to coordinate with Old General Chen.

Weng Yanqing said, "His Highness previously instructed that Youzhou City has grain stockpiled. We can ride fast to Youzhou without needing supply trains en route."

"This time there are no rebels within Western Shu—we can travel unimpeded."

The soldiers were slightly astonished—the Crown Prince had indeed prepared a contingency plan in advance.

"The Chen Family Army can deliver grain to the eastern Northern Frontier, but for the northwest..." Ying Fusheng turned to look at Qi Hanzhou, whose gaze was heavy on the Northern Frontier map. Neither spoke, but both understood the true intent. Delivering grain was one thing—what they feared was what the Secret Faction truly planned behind the grain shipments.

Qi Hanzhou looked at him upon hearing this. Some things needed no words. From Youzhou City back then to now, the Northern Frontier weighed heavily on both their hearts. Even without the court's troop deployment order, without the Ministry of War's military command, Ying Fusheng dared to stake the Crown Prince's seal on this matter.

"I need to return to the Northern Frontier," Qi Hanzhou said.

At his words, everyone in the tent turned to look at him.

Qi Hanzhou took the military oath, his gaze falling on the man before him. "The Jiangcheng army will deliver grain to the northwest."

"And this journey is about more than just delivering grain."

The vast Northern Frontier, the return to Mobei.

Neither of them would allow the Secret Faction's hand to touch that homeland again.

-*

Urgent dispatches from Jiangcheng—the Qi family's falcon and scouts raced at eight hundred li per day toward the Southern Frontier and the capital.

When the Jiangnan Chen Family Army received the news, Prince Jin and Old General Chen were seated together. He knew upon seeing it that his eyelids had been twitching these past days for a reason: "Zhang Wuyong is guarding against that. Jiangnan had a bountiful harvest this year, and when sending grain to the capital, he kept a trick up his sleeve. Yingtian Prefecture can use the waterways to ship to Northern Frontier ports, reducing overland travel, then hand it over to your Chen Family Army."

One couldn't blame Zhang Wuyong for being cautious—with the volatile situation these days, having extra precautions was always wise.

Old General Chen frowned slightly and immediately summoned Chen Shoude. He had to remain stationed in Jiangnan—stability in the Southern Frontier didn't mean nothing would happen later. For the grain delivery, he could only find suitable people: "We're borrowing Wang Guanzhi, and I need one more person from you."

Prince Jin: "Who?"

"The son of the Vice Minister of War—Shen Yunfei," Old General Chen said.

When delivering grain from the Southern Frontier, speed was paramount. Not taking the Ministry of War's capital route, and not delaying military operations, they had to race against time. The fastest person in Jiangnan was Wang Guanzhi, and for the Northern Frontier, the Chen Family Army—but they still needed someone familiar with the Ministry of War and the capital's road network. The son of Vice Minister Shen was the most suitable.

Old General Chen looked northward. "I just hope Old Brother Qi can hold out until reinforcements arrive."

Outside Shayan Pass, yellow sand flew into the sky. Looking north stretched an endless desert—what the Northern Frontier people called Mobei.

At that moment, outside Shayan Pass, weapons clashed, iron cavalry heavily trampled the loess. The Dayuan military banners waved among them as the Northern Barbarians' attempted invasion faltered, repelled by the Dayuan army's solid formations. Dust obscured the sky's light, the clanging of battle rang out continuously, iron hooves pounded into the earth, and blood and flesh splattered upon contact.

After the Third Prince returned to camp and dismounted, the generals behind him followed. In recent days, the Northern Barbarians had accelerated their invasions—three sudden attacks in just two days, each with different troop strength than before. The soldiers defending Shayan Pass were already exhausted, barely able to keep their eyes open.

"How much longer can we hold?" he asked.

"Word from the court says the Western Shu rebels have moved north, conspiring with the Northern Barbarians."

The garrison general of Shayan Pass said, "They've likely brought considerable intelligence with them. Several of our defensive positions have already been breached. It's hard to say."

The Northern Barbarians' new general operated differently from the tribes they'd faced before—there was more Central Plains cunning to his approach. His sweeping, large-scale attacks had shifted to probing and surprise raids, which was unfavorable for the Shayan defenders.

Shayan Pass was difficult to defend. The surrounding terrain was open—if it were a frontal confrontation, that would be manageable. But with these probing surprise attacks, the defensive perimeter they had to cover expanded, making troop allocation a major problem.

Shayan Pass had thirty thousand troops stationed there, and for the past month, the defenses had held up without a problem.

But now things were different. The enemy had clearly brought in more troops, and their own grain supply had been cut off.

Shayan was in a unique spot—it couldn't grow its own grain. In past years, it relied on Western Shu, but after Western Shu's crops failed, the court took over supplying it.

The grain the court had promised still hadn't shown up. The troops at Shayan Pass had been scraping by for days, waiting for word that never came.

After Western Shu fell into chaos, Shayan Pass had to stretch its grain even further. Finally, word came that the court had plenty of grain to send, but after days of waiting, nothing arrived—even the messenger hawks got no response.

The Third Prince glanced at the old general beside him, worry written all over his face. "How much longer can the grain hold out?"

"If we stretch it, maybe six or seven more days," the old general said. "We sent for help from the main camp days ago. General Qi needs time to get the grain here, but these northern roads..."

The Northern Desert was just too vast, with huge gaps between cities. In wartime, you couldn't fully guard against Northern Barbarian raids slipping into Dayuan territory.

The Qi family's main camp was holding off the Northern Barbarian army, but one arm couldn't cover the whole northern line. The Northern Barbarians' mobile tribes could always find a way to slip through. As long as they didn't break through Dayuan's key passes, the people on the northern border were safe. Right now, all the key passes had troops stationed—General of the Northern Garrison Qi Shen had planned for this long ago—but grain was the weak spot.

If they had to move grain from the Qi family's main camp, they'd have to split their forces to guard the supply train. It would be slow and risky as hell. The best route was through the Central Plains, but the grain from there never showed...

"Men can go hungry, but horses can't," the Third Prince said, looking at the horses in the stables. In the north, cavalry was everything. If the horses didn't eat, they'd lose their edge. "At this rate, we've got three days, tops."

The old general said, "We can make it work."

The Third Prince went quiet. Back in the capital, he'd only seen the capital's horses and generals. It wasn't until he came to the northern frontier that he truly understood what the Qi Family Army had done all these years.

When his father the Emperor had led that campaign, the Northern Frontier Army's grain stores were completely drained, which later sparked the military pay scandal.

After the war, his father went back to the capital and started digging into the rot at Dayuan's core. In wartime, the army fought; in peacetime, the Qi family had to support their own massive force. The military farms couldn't recover that fast, so soldiers had to be let go to farm, barely patching the holes. Meanwhile, the south had years of natural disasters, the court was torn by factionalism, and civil officials kept stepping on the military. Even so, the Qi Family Army never begged the court for help—they held off the Northern Barbarians and saved their strength.

The Qi family had held out this long, but this Northern Barbarian invasion was on a scale nobody had ever seen.

Over a hundred thousand troops had shown up out of nowhere, looking just like the invasion that brought down the last dynasty. The Qi family had already held for months, and military farms everywhere were running dry—this was exactly when they needed grain the most.

"Don't worry, the General will be ready. As long as—"

The old general's words were cut off by a loud horn blast from behind.

The horn snapped the weary generals to attention. They rushed to the walls to see what was going on and spotted a ton of Northern Barbarian Army banners to the north. The Northern Barbarians had just finished a raid less than an hour ago—how the hell were they back already?

The Third Prince frowned. "This doesn't add up."

"Saddle up! Get everyone ready! They're about to attack!"

No sooner had the words fallen than the distant Northern Barbarian army drew their bows, and a hail of arrows filled the sky toward the city walls. The Third Prince dodged repeatedly, grabbing an iron shield to reinforce the defenses, hearing the sharp clang of arrows striking metal.

At that moment, a wounded scout fell from his horse below the walls and shouted up frantically, "General! Sixty thousand Northern Barbarian troops are marching this way!"

Sixty thousand troops? Shayan Pass had at most thirty thousand defenders—how could they withstand an invasion of that scale?

"Impossible! With an army that large crossing the border, General Qi would definitely know," one soldier said.

"There's another force coming from a direction we couldn't guard against."

The defending general barked, "This is a joint attack by Western Shu rebels and the Northern Barbarians!"

The defending general immediately realized the problem—this army hadn't been assembled on a whim. The imperial grain hadn't arrived, and now the army was pressing in. Their target was Shayan!

It would take the Qi family's main camp four days to send troops here. If they couldn't take the pass, they'd be encircled by the Qi family.

So they cut off the grain first, because they knew that for the Qi Family Army, even a hard-to-hold position like Shayan could hold out until reinforcements arrived if they could endure... The Qi Family Army's weakness was grain.

They could only hold to the death!

"Hold the city with everything we have, and send troops to break out," the old general said. "Get to the nearest outpost as fast as possible and request aid. Inform General Qi of the enemy's scheme. If we can hold for four days, the General will come."

The Third Prince swept his gaze over the old general's weathered face. These veterans had been preparing to give their grain rations to the younger soldiers since rationing began. They had the experience to defend a city and were the bedrock of Dayuan's bulwark.

One look, and he knew what they were preparing to do.

The Third Prince surveyed the city's defenses. The days of continuous raids had left fatigue etched on the old general's face. He shielded the two generals as they withdrew to safety, his peripheral vision catching the distant army. Without hesitation, he spurred his horse forward.

The hawks might not make it out—they'd have to send scouts.

"Your Highness, no!"

Seeing the Third Prince mount his horse, the surrounding generals froze. The Third Prince had been in the northern frontier for years and had ridden into battle with the Qi Family Army many times, but this was different. The enemy had sixty thousand troops—they couldn't let His Highness take such a risk at the front.

Just then, a shout came from the city walls: "Troops approaching from the south!"

The soldiers tensed, and the old general's face turned ashen. "They have more forces?!"

The soldiers on the wall strained their eyes toward the distance, their pupils trembling as they caught sight of the banners. "No, no—it's the Dayuan banner!!"

The Third Prince spun around sharply and saw troops approaching from the direction of Western Shu.

No prior notice. No Ministry of War orders. This force had appeared out of nowhere just before the crisis struck.

It was reinforcements.