Chapter 164

Chapter 164

Outside the Northern Wild Goose Pass, while the Northern Barbarian Army was caught off guard by the western attack, they were forced to temporarily shift troops from the east. But just as they moved elite troops east to counter the Shayan Army's assault, the Qi Family Army on the eastern front—which had been advancing cautiously all along—suddenly changed their tune.

"Sir, bad news! The Qi Family Army is attacking!"

The Qi Family Army had always been sharp and quick on the uptake. After years on the northern frontier, they knew better than anyone how to seize the moment. The shift in the west, the Barbarians' troop movements—the Qi generals saw a golden opportunity.

The two fronts had never coordinated, but when the moment came, they moved as one. The Northern Barbarians, who had massed their heavy forces east of Northern Wild Goose Pass, finally realized the truth: they were caught in a pincer move by the Northern Frontier Army.

"We outnumber them by a lot—hold the line! Qi Hanzhou brought no grain supplies; he can't keep up the siege for more than two days!" The Barbarian general's eyes gleamed with cruelty. He refused to believe that, with nearly twenty thousand more men, the Northern Frontier Army could break through here.

The Shayan Army fought with fierce spirit, but half a day had already passed since the assault began.

No matter how fierce their morale, they'd eventually run out of steam.

This Barbarian campaign was an all-out offensive, burning through nearly a decade's worth of their nation's resources. They'd intercepted Dayuan's grain shipments and mapped out the supply routes inside Dayuan's borders... The Northern Frontier Army was nothing but a spent arrow. Rumor had it the imperial capital was in chaos—soon the Northern Frontier Army would risk running out of supplies. This attack now was just a show of bravado.

Their king had decreed: this offensive had to succeed!

"Report—movement at the Qi family's main camp!"

"Sir, you gotta see this! It's Qi Shen!"

The Barbarian general froze and turned to look. There, on the eastern front, a fresh force of Northern Frontier soldiers had appeared.

In front of the Qi family's command banner stood the General of the Northern Garrison—the man whose name alone had once made the Barbarians tremble.

Thousands upon thousands of troops packed the battlefield, banners sweeping by, war horns carrying a morale the Qi Family Army had never felt before. The veteran Qi generals on the eastern front looked west toward Northern Wild Goose Pass. Beyond the yellow dust that blotted out the sky, they knew another army was waiting.

When Marshal Qi charged at the head of his men, the eastern Qi Family Army formed into a new spear.

The moves of both eastern and western forces defied all logic—ignoring grain and supplies, they threw everything into taking Northern Wild Goose Pass. If Qi Hanzhou's appearance had shattered the Barbarians' careful plans and reignited the battlefield's fighting spirit, then Qi Shen's arrival was the final bugle call that sent both eastern and western forces charging.

Within half a day, the Barbarians' eastern defense line was shattered, forcing them to rob the west to patch the east.

"Hold the eastern front against Qi Shen with the main force! The west will run out of steam soon—and when it does—"

Standing in the thick of battle, the Barbarian Garrison General's words died in his throat as a sharp glint flashed before his eyes.

When Qi Hanzhou appeared before the western garrison commander, the Barbarian general hadn't even fully processed what was happening. He raised his arm to block the Pei Family Spear, and in that instant felt a weight like a thousand jun crushing down on him. As the webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open from the impact, he met a pair of icy, piercing eyes.

In that single moment, he knew he was outmatched by this young man.

The spear tip slashed across his throat—a thin line of blood arced through the air.

The Barbarian garrison commander's eyes bulged as his body toppled uncontrollably from his horse, vanishing into the dust kicked up by the warhorses.

The Barbarian banner snapped and fell. Warhorses trampled it as they pressed toward Northern Wild Goose Pass.

The battle at Northern Wild Goose Pass raged for a full day and night. By the time dusk gave way to dawn and a sliver of light touched the horizon, the smoke of war had finally cleared.

The Barbarians had lost two generals in a row, with over half of their tens of thousands of troops dead. They fled in chaos from outside Northern Wild Goose Pass.

A resounding victory at Northern Wild Goose Pass.

On the battlefield, the Northern Frontier soldiers were dead tired, yet their faces brimmed with an indescribable joy. Since the Barbarian invasion began, they'd fought countless defensive battles to protect Dayuan and hold the northern frontier. The battle at Northern Wild Goose Pass, though fought to retake the pass, was the first offensive the Northern Frontier Army had launched in months.

When the eastern and western forces of the Northern Frontier Army re-entered Northern Wild Goose Pass and met up, neither side said much.

A temporary command tent was set up inside the pass—the heart of the northern frontier. After taking the pass came the endless work of holding it and fixing the supply routes. When Qi Shen dismounted, he saw from a distance the son he hadn't laid eyes on in years.

"Father." Qi Hanzhou addressed him.

Qi Shen stopped in his tracks. The boy who'd still been a youth when he left the capital years ago had, in the blink of an eye, grown into everything he'd hoped for.

"You did well."

Father and son reunited—years of unspoken words condensed into a single sentence.

Qi Shen didn't fault him for abandoning defense to attack, because the Northern Frontier Army needed this chance, and Qi Hanzhou had seen it. He reached out and patted Qi Hanzhou's shoulder, the words on his lips going unsaid. Both knew this wasn't the time for father-son reminiscing.

Inside Northern Wild Goose Pass, the news of victory lingered only briefly. The soldiers of this frontier army, who'd held the border for years, all knew this was just a temporary repulse of the Barbarians. Taking the pass with relatively light losses was good news, but it also brought new headaches. Northern Wild Goose Pass needed defending, Shayan Pass needed defending, and the eastern frontier needed shoring up.

The Barbarians had lost half their forces at Northern Wild Goose Pass, but if they regrouped and threw their remaining numbers at any one spot, it would be a huge threat. The Northern Frontier Army couldn't concentrate its strength in one place—they had to split into three forces and use the northern defense line to respond fast.

"After tonight's rest, you need to head back and defend immediately. Leave the rest at Northern Wild Goose Pass to us—Shayan absolutely can't fall." Qi Shen said as he walked. "Once you're back at Shayan, send troops to clear the supply road. We can't let the Barbarians get back into northern territory."

Shayan had grain coming from Western Shu, and every single ration in the north now had to be stretched thin across multiple fronts.

Qi Hanzhou looked at Qi Shen, who'd aged visibly from years of guarding the border. "I don't need to go back."

Qi Shen turned, frowning sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Father, someone has taken over Shayan." Qi Hanzhou told him.

The faces of the generals in the command tent changed. What did that mean?

Outside Shayan Pass in the northern frontier, an army had quietly left Youzhou and arrived at the outskirts of Shayan Pass at dawn. The commotion alerted the garrison, and the watchman on the lookout tower jolted awake, then ran inside.

"Third Prince!" The garrison commander scrambled frantically toward the command tent.

The Third Prince frowned and stepped out, instantly on alert. When Qi Hanzhou had led the army to attack Northern Wild Goose Pass, he hadn't gone along, choosing instead to stay at Shayan—the pass needed someone to hold it. "Alert the entire army, light the beacon fires! Qi Hanzhou will see it and turn back right away!"

"No! Your Highness, it's not the enemy—it's backup!"

The Shayan garrison commander said: "The Lu Family Army! The Lu Family Army is here!"

The Third Prince froze at the name. He hurried to the outer edge of Shayan Pass, and amid the sea of people, he spotted familiar Lu family faces. Impossible—the Lu Family Army was supposed to be guarding Western Shu. From the Western Shu Defense Force that had arrived earlier, he'd learned that the vast majority of the Lu Family Army was in Western Shu. How could they be here, in the north, right now?

In the crowd, he spotted General Lu, who'd previously put down the rebellion in Western Shu: "Uncle?!"

The Lu Family Army, which should've been in Western Shu, had shown up and thrown the plans of Shayan's generals into chaos.

General Lu looked out beyond Shayan Pass, letting himself relax for a rare moment: "After all these years, I find myself back in the northern frontier."

The Third Prince had no time to wonder why the Lu Family Army was here. When he learned they were reinforcements sent by the Crown Prince, his shock gave way to a troubled look. But General Lu saw right through the hesitation in the Third Prince's eyes: "Don't worry. If I've reached Shayan, then Chen Shoude should've reached the eastern frontier by now."

In the eastern part of the northern frontier, grain from the southern regions had crossed most of Dayuan's territory to reach the northern border held by the Qi family. When the Qi garrison looked out, they saw supply wagons—with no Qi escort—skirting the desolate northern roads, dodging the Barbarian scouts, arriving three days early, silently, at the northern frontier.

Chen Shoude faced the Gobi wasteland of the north, muttering a couple of complaints as he dismounted: "Spent so long in Jiangnan, and now this wind—I've got to say, it stings the face a bit."

Wang Guanzhi didn't even acknowledge him, instead burying his head in mapping the route. The northern territory was unfamiliar to him, but with the instincts of a lifelong craftsman, his constant task along the way had been scouting the terrain. The road the Jiangnan grain escort had taken this time couldn't be used again. He needed to find a way to scout out a new route for His Highness, so they wouldn't get ambushed by those gutter rats again.

The Chen Family Army turned to see their old comrades from years back.

Years ago, the Chen Family Army had also spilled blood on the northern frontier.

"Chen Shoude, you old dog!"

"The grain from the southern frontier has arrived!"

The shout echoed through Camp Qi. Chen Shoude saw the generals approaching and instinctively removed his helmet. "By imperial decree, I have escorted the grain supplies here." He took a deep breath, then added, "Gentlemen, my apologies for the wait."

A signal flare from Dayuan shot into the sky, snapping the generals in the command tent at the northern pass back to attention.

"Commander! The grain has arrived—right outside the northern pass!"

Qi Shen turned, looking at Qi Hanzhou in surprise, while the generals around him had already rushed out, spotting the grain convoy racing toward the pass from beyond the fortifications. Leading the convoy was an unfamiliar young man, followed by the Chen Family Army and other troops—an escort of fewer than four thousand men that had crossed the northern frontier and reached the front lines.

Shen Yunfei's horse galloped across the northern desert. The Shen family's riding skills had been forged in mountains and forests, but this was his first time setting foot on the vast northern frontier. Earlier, General Chen Shoude had ordered him to split his forces and lead troops toward the northern pass. When he encountered scouts on the road, the Chen family scouts served as his guides; he rode faster than the others and could detect enemy movements more quickly.

Having defended Jiangling alongside Chen Shoude for many days, he had forged a new bond with the Chen Family Army. When he saw the Dayuan banners flying from the fortifications of the northern pass in the distance, he knew he had arrived just in time.

As the northern pass gates swung open and generals approached, he dismounted and reported: "I report to General Qi! General Chen Shoude has escorted grain supplies to the eastern camp of the northern frontier. This humble officer leads four thousand elite troops escorting grain to the front lines—please verify the count!"

Qi Shen looked at this earnest young man. "What's your name?"

"Shen Yunfei, former commander of the Third Battalion of the Capital Guard, currently deputy commander of the Northern Grain Escort." Shen Yunfei declared in a clear voice.

The grain brought by these four thousand elite troops saved transport time and arrived at exactly the right moment to aid the northern pass after the great battle. Qi Shen turned to find Qi Hanzhou waiting nearby. "You knew all along."

"The Crown Prince is aware that you and the Emperor have a secret support channel. When the Emperor mobilized military supplies to the eastern frontier, he did not conceal it from Minister Hu." Qi Hanzhou also knew that his father's desperate hold on the northern frontier was because his father knew the capital was in crisis.

When the Secret Faction plotted against the court, Qi Shen knew, but he could not march to the capital's aid.

The Emperor would resolve the court's crisis, and for that to happen, the Qi family army had to hold out until that moment to truly receive aid.

But now, everything had arrived faster than he had anticipated.

It had only been days since they lost contact with the court, and in the blink of an eye, reinforcements from the rear lines had all arrived.

Qi Shen asked, "Who is reinforcing Shayan?"

Qi Hanzhou replied, "The Lu Family Army from western Shu."

The army's grievances against the court were completely dispelled at this moment—nothing was more persuasive than seeing timely reinforcements, and this was not just grain and equipment, but also troops.

The Lu Family Army from western Shu filling the gap at Shayan meant Qi Hanzhou's Vanguard Battalion could now reinforce the Northern Frontier Army's front lines. Not only that, but the Jiangnan Chen Family Army and the imperial guards—most of the grain escort were soldiers—meant this was equivalent to deploying troops to aid the northern frontier.

The Emperor hadn't mentioned any of this in his letters, which meant it was all orchestrated by the Crown Prince.

At the sand table, Qi Hanzhou pointed out several key strategic points, just as he had done when he left the capital, planning the western Shu campaign with Ying Fusheng. Every critical region of the northern frontier was under their watch.

Qi Shen looked at Qi Hanzhou as a line gradually took shape on the sand table. In that moment, he saw the Crown Prince's overarching strategy and finally understood that Qi Hanzhou's attack on the northern pass wasn't merely for morale.

Qi Hanzhou was a living chess piece on Ying Fusheng's board.

...

At the Eastern Palace in the capital, officials came and went—the entire Eastern Palace had been transformed since the Crown Prince began overseeing state affairs.

While Xiao Yan coordinated with the Imperial Guard to deal with the rebels, the court's six ministries moved at remarkable speed. From the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of Works, then to the Ministry of War, support for the northern front never once paused.

Within the Eastern Palace, a new supply route was drawn on the large map of Dayuan's territory. Similar to the Qi Family Army's routes in the north, it did not lie within the northern frontier but stretched across central Dayuan, establishing a new support line.

When the Crown Prince's inner circle gathered and heard that Qi Hanzhou had moved toward the northern pass while General Lu, originally in western Shu, had headed to Shayan, everyone's eyes immediately went to the troop deployment line spanning Dayuan's interior on the map.

Battle reports from the northern frontier took days to reach the capital, and the capital's orders took time to reach the north. This included grain, equipment, and everything else—none of which could be arranged in an instant.

All of this was the Crown Prince's contingency plan.

"Report from Youzhou—General Lu has arrived at Shayan. No cause for concern."

"Report from Jiangling—Old General Chen has established defenses in the southern regions of Jiangnan and western Shu. No cause for concern."

Messages from the Ministry of War's relay stations arrived and departed. Ying Fusheng sat with his eyes closed, resting. He knew his own health well and could not afford to overexert himself, so once the situation was under control, he had handed over his arrangements to his increasingly capable staff at the Eastern Palace.

Ying Fusheng was accustomed to preparing for the worst. When he entered the capital to deal with internal court crises, he had prepared for the possibility that the court could no longer aid the northern frontier. So when the Jiangnan grain convoy reached the Central Plains, he had already sent secret letters to western Shu and Jiangnan while handling the capital's internal crisis.

If the capital's problems could not be resolved quickly, then the troops that could be mobilized from outside the capital would have to come from the southern frontier.

Once Old General Chen had suppressed Marquis Cen'an, Jiangnan had no more rebels, and his defensive line could extend to Jiangling Pass. As long as Old General Chen could hold Dayuan's southern border, the Lu Family Army stationed in Liangzhou could move north to western Shu.

"I sent a letter to General Lu, telling him to keep troops at Youzhou and watch Shayan's movements. If Qi Hanzhou moved his forces from Shayan, he would need to lead the Lu Family Army north." Ying Fusheng said. "Qi Hanzhou understands the situation—he only moves when he's certain of his forces. By that time, western Shu would have no rebels either."

Reinforcing the northern frontier by sending troops from the capital was too slow. Qi Hanzhou was the variable in his entire strategy.

Ying Fusheng, in the capital, couldn't foresee everything—he could only place his faith in that variable: Qi Hanzhou.

Meng Jinyuan marveled at these arrangements. "Your Highness's calculations are flawless."

"Not at all." Ying Fusheng finished his medicine before answering. "It's simply that in the current situation, only by striking first can Dayuan avoid greater casualties."

Weng Yanqing walked in. "Your Highness, Minister Hu has sent word. Old General Lu has already led troops to Youzhou and will assume command of the Lu Family Army's defenses in western Shu."

Meng Jinyuan thought to himself—this was more than just striking first.

As long as the southern frontier was stable, there would be spare troops.

Likewise, once the capital was stable, the capital's troops could also be deployed. After Prince Yongjia surrendered, the Crown Prince had ordered the excavation of the weapons he had hidden for rebellion. Raising private soldiers and forging weapons—the only good thing Prince Yongjia had done for the court was providing that arsenal.

With the Crown Prince overseeing state affairs and the capital secure, Old General Lu led the troops remaining in the capital on campaign, heading to western Shu.

Eliminating the time needed to relay intelligence, they entrusted the judgment to the generals on the ground. Once Qi Hanzhou rushed to reinforce the northern pass, General Lu would hurry to Shayan to take over the city's defense. Meanwhile, Old General Lu departing from the capital would reach western Shu, filling the gap left by the Lu Family Army.

In minimal time, they had mobilized the entire southern frontier's forces and distributed the capital's surplus troops to where they were needed, forming a defensive line connecting the capital to the northern frontier.

Troops could be freely deployed by the generals at any moment. Equipment departed from the capital, grain from the southern frontier, all converging into this line. Even if there were hidden enemy forces in the north, every general in this chain could bear the weight of command.

From the moment the capital was stabilized, Dayuan's interior was virtually impenetrable.

Meng Jinyuan could see that the Crown Prince was waiting for something.

Until a falcon's cry sounded from outside the Eastern Palace—the falcon flapped its wings and flew in. Meng Jinyuan saw a flicker of what seemed like joy cross the Crown Prince's perpetually cold face.

The Crown Prince reached out, took the somewhat plump round falcon, and removed its message tube.

Qi Hanzhou's sharp handwriting leapt off the paper.

Four words—"Victory at the Northern Pass"—signified that everything had settled.

Ying Fusheng's brows lowered slightly. Just four words, yet he read them for a long time.

Finally, he smiled faintly and handed the letter to Meng Jinyuan.

The moment Meng Jinyuan saw it, his body trembled.

He immediately looked at the Crown Prince.

"Why should Dayuan merely defend?"

Ying Fusheng raised his eyes, sharp light blazing from them. "Those who covet Dayuan's rivers and mountains—of course, we'll slaughter them to the last man."