The Helian King’s yurt camp was pitched on a high plateau.
The camp stretched for dozens of li, with felt tents scattered like stars, shielding against the bone-chilling wind of the frontier.
Inside the main tent, five massive brass braziers blazed fiercely.
Sheep fat was added generously, the flames leaping high and blackening the tent’s peak with soot.
The Helian King, Ashina Gudu, sat at the head of the tent upon a tiger-skin throne of gold-inlaid wood, studying a sheepskin military dispatch.
This dispatch had been rushed from the central route. The ink was penned in the personal hand of the army’s strategist, Chen Changfeng.
Every word struck like a knife: The White Sound Pasture had been attacked; the grain stores and gunpowder were utterly destroyed. The central army had lost its supply line and retreated thirty li. The Northern Gate Fort remained under siege, unconquered.
For any ordinary commander, learning that the rear camp had been sacked and a hundred-thousand-strong army had no provisions would have driven him to draw his blade and spill blood.
But Ashina Gudu did not rage.
He folded the sheepskin dispatch with deliberate calm and tossed it to the counselor standing below the dais.
“This Xu Qinghuan does have some tricks up her sleeve,” he said, his tone steady and assured, betraying no trace of panicked fury.
The counselor caught the dispatch in both hands and scanned it quickly.
The thin sheepskin felt as heavy as a thousand pounds in his hands; cold sweat already beaded on his brow.
Unable to contain himself, the Thousand-Man Commander Batur stepped closer and saw the words on the dispatch. His face instantly changed color.
“Great King!” The Thousand-Man Commander dropped to one knee, his voice rising with poorly concealed alarm. “Has Xu Qinghuan truly raised a wolf right under our very noses? The lifeline of our central army’s logistics has been gutted! Without grain or fodder, how can we continue fighting? If the warriors of the tribes go hungry, they will mutiny within three days!”
Ashina Gudu raised his right hand and pressed it gently downward in the air.
The noise within the tent ceased at once.
“Panic is pointless,” he said.
“I already have a plan for this. Does Xu Qinghuan think that by burning the White Sound Pasture, she can sever the Helian army’s escape route?”
She does not understand the rules of these grasslands,” he continued, his gaze falling to the commander on the ground. “The spies I have planted on the steppe are far more numerous than she imagines.”
The counselor, keen to show his tact, tucked the sheepskin dispatch neatly into his sleeve and stepped forward with a bow to flatter the king.
“Your Majesty is wise! Though Xu Qinghuan may have a few petty cleverness, she has violated a cardinal rule of warfare: her front lines are stretched too thin.”
The counselor began to pace before the brazier, dissecting the remnants of the Great Qian’s situation.
“In the capital, she must aid the Xu family in their struggles with those shrewd old aristocratic houses on the Great Qian court.”
“On the northern border, she must help Tie Lanshan hold fast to the walls of the Northern Gate Fort.”
“And now, she even dares to use those insignificant, broken tribes on our steppe to stir up trouble. The energy of a mortal has limits. By spreading herself so thin, she can only look after one side while neglecting the other.”
Upon hearing this, the fierce-faced Thousand-Man Commander’s fear faded considerably, replaced by rising delight.
“The Great King’s plan is divine! The petty scheming of the southerners cannot hope to break Your Majesty’s grand strategy!”
Ashina Gudu rose to his feet, his body blocking most of firelight.
“Xu Qinghuan’s move here is not bad. Use a borrowed knife to kill, and cut down the source. But she has forgotten one thing,” he said.
Stepping down from his throne, he continued, “On the grasslands, the rule since ancient times is that wolves eat wolves. Does she think she can simply toss out a few bones, promise a few pastures, and prop up an old tribe to stab me in the back?”
He turned to face the barren sky and earth beyond the tent.
“I want to see who is fiercer: the wolf she has raised, or the wolf I keep hungry. Once those remnants have devoured all of Great Qian’s weapons and salt, the spies I’ve planted beside them will gouge out their hearts and livers, with interest.”
Sensing the timing was right, the counselor drew another urgent dispatch sealed with wax from his pocket and presented it with both hands.
“Great King, a victory report has arrived from the Western Route prefecture. The trebuchets we purchased at great cost from the Western Regions have been bombarding the walls day and night for three days and three nights,” he declared, his tone rising with excitement as he described the brutal situation.
“Massive stone boulders streak through the air, unstoppable.”
“The old walls of the Western Route prefecture cannot withstand such siege weapons. The southern rampart has been smashed open in three gaps, each several zhang wide.”
“The Great Qian’s suicide squads charge in only to die in waves. The entire city is soaked in flesh and blood.”
“The wells within have been polluted by corpses; the Qian soldiers cannot even get a mouthful of clean water, and the city’s grain stores are nearly exhausted. At this rate, within a few more days, the gates of the Western Route prefecture are sure to fall into Your Majesty’s hands.”
Ashina Gudu nodded slightly as he walked to the northern terrain map hanging on a wooden frame.
“Very good. Once the western route is broken, our army can drive straight through and sever the Northern Gate Fort’s retreat route from the flank,” he said.
He jabbed his index finger emphatically at the location of the Western Route prefecture.
“By then, even if Xu Qinghuan possessed three heads and six arms, she could only hole up helplessly in that isolated city and await death.”
The Thousand-Man Commander rose and walked to the terrain map, pointing at the position of the White Wolf River on the central route.
“Great King, regarding the Left Luli King on the central route, should we dispatch troops from the royal camp to reinforce him? With his supplies in crisis and morale damaged, if we don’t send more men, the Great Qian garrison might exploit the opening and attack. The Left Luli King could suffer losses.”
Ashina Gudu refused outright.
“There is no need for an urgent assault on the central route,” he decreed.
He issued his resolute command: “Order the Left Luli King to only feign attacks. Tell Ashina Dubi that even if he has to slaughter his own horses to feed his men, he must pin down the main force of the Northern Gate Fort at all costs.”
“Spare no expense to fix all of Xu Qinghuan’s gaze on the north side.”
Ashina Gudu’s finger traced an arc on the map from the western route straight to the rear of the Northern Gate Fort.
“The Northern Gate Fort is a tough nut to crack. Tie Lanshan has been managing it for five years; the newly built walls are impenetrable to swords and spears,” he explained.
“I never intended to batter my head against the central route from the start.”
“By now, Xu Qinghuan must have packed all her elite forces into the central route’s defenses.”
“The more she values the center, the less force she can spare for the western route. Once the gates of the Western Route prefecture are flung open, I will personally lead fifty thousand royal camp troops to outflank and attack from the rear.”
“The Northern Gate Fort will become a dead prison from which there is no escape.”
The counselor stroked his beard, adding the final spark to the fire.
“Your Majesty’s strategy is masterful. Considering the timeline, the messenger riders from Great Qian should have already delivered the urgent military report regarding the Western Route prefecture to the capital,” he said.
Pointing south toward the location of the Great Qian capital, he continued:
“Your Majesty is clear-sighted! The Xu family in the capital has long offended all the aristocratic clans in the court.”
“Once news of a major crack in the border defense spreads, those idle civil officials who simply draw salaries will surely cannibalize each other in the court to shift blame. As long as we tear open a bloody wound on the frontier, those aristocratic families in the capital who want the Xu family wiped out will become our most vicious dagger.”
The counselor’s tone dripped with the malice of deep stratagem: “At that moment, even if Xu Qinghuan wears herself out on the front lines, she will have to deal with the arrows shot from the court behind her. Between this internal strife and external invasion—this deadly gambit—what can she possibly use to turn the tables?”
Ashina Gudu cast a sideways at this counselor from Great Qian, a enigmatic smile curling his lips as he said sardonically:
“Is your master getting impatient, then?”
He then shook his head and mused to himself, “You people of Great Qian truly do love to fight amongst yourselves!”
"However, it cannot be said so lightly."
"After all, your master's identity is indeed quite special. So special, in fact, that even I would have to tread carefully and consider my actions..."
