Ashina Dubi sat astride his pure-blooded Ferghana horse.
He wore no heavy armor, only the wolf-pelt cloak that symbolized his royal authority.
The warhorse stamped its hooves restlessly, and Ashina Dubi tugged at the reins, eyes half-closed, a smile playing across his face as he gazed toward Zhenbei City.
There, at the northern side gate, the cries of battle drifted over on the wind.
That was a feint.
The real killing blow was at this very moment hidden beneath the ground of the mule-and-horse market outside Zhenbei Pass.
Once they burst up from below and cut through the General's Estate from behind, Zhenbei Pass would be like a turtle with its shell smashed open, ripe for the taking.
Ashina Dubi could already picture in his mind the panic-tinged scent of blood that would rise from the southerners once the city fell.
At the thought, he could not help but smile.
And then, at that very moment, the sound of clattering hooves came from the front of the camp.
Three warhorses burst out of the night from the north.
Froth coated their mouths, and their legs trembled so badly they could barely stand.
The riders were even more bedraggled—the leading chiliarch of the scouting cavalry threw himself from his horse before it had even stopped moving.
His fine leather armor had been scorched away almost entirely, his face was covered in black soot and blisters, and his hair was singed and curling, giving off the stench of burnt flesh.
Ignoring the searing pain all over his body, the chiliarch scrambled and crawled toward the central army formation, collapsing at the hooves of Ashina Dubi's horse.
"Report to the Gully King! Defeated! Everything is lost!"
Ashina Dubi's brows drew together. He pointed his whip at the man, his voice cold and hard as iron: "Speak the whole truth."
The chiliarch trembled uncontrollably. He lifted his face, barely recognizable, and said:
"The mule-and-horse market… at the Tunnels of the mule-and-horse market, Hunchback Zhang's men were never there to meet us! The Left Wanfu Commander pushed open the exit, and what he ran headlong into was the repeating crossbow formation of the Great Qian Imperial Guard!"
The chiliarch swallowed a mouthful of bloody spit, as if recalling something truly horrible, his voice turning shrill and raw:
"The southerners had set an ambush long ago! All twelve exits had been stocked with special oil and dry firewood."
"One spark went all the way through, and poisonous smoke poured straight down into the tunnels."
"Three thousand of our finest elite—less than a thousand made it out! The rest were trapped inside and burned alive!"
The moment these words fell, the camp erupted like boiling oil splashed with water.
The dozen or so tribal chieftains and chiliarchs gathered at the central formation all wore looks of sheer horror.
"Impossible! That tunnel was secret beyond measure—how could the southerners have known?" one chiliarch bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"My king! Give me ten thousand men, and I'll smash open the north gate and get Zuo Bamu back!"
A hot-tempered chieftain drew his curved saber on the spot and begged for the order.
Those three thousand men under Zuo Bamu were the most elite infantry of the Helian Left Tribe. If they were all lost, it would be as if a knife had been driven into the heart of the great Helian army.
"What are we afraid of? Those southern softies who only know how to farm—how dare they block our horses' path?" The general of the Zhishi tribe slammed his fist on the felt-covered table, splattering milk wine everywhere. "Give me ten thousand elite cavalry, and within three days I'll take their border forts, steal all their grain and their people!"
"Is your brain full of horse shit!" an old chieftain shouted, pointing at him. "The great white blizzard is about to fall! Send an isolated force deep into enemy territory, and once their retreat is cut off, you want the warriors of all tribes to chew on ice to survive?"
"If we don't go out and raid, are we supposed to huddle in our tents like marmots and wait to die?" another scar-faced general grabbed his sword hilt and roared.
From the corner, someone added snidely: "Whether we fight or not, what about the sheltered pastureland you promised us last month? If we don't get the pasture, why should my tribe be the first to charge in and serve as bait!"
"Greedy pigs! Enemy at the gates, and you still think about dividing the spoils?"
"Who are you calling a pig? Then draw your blade if you've got the guts, and I'll rip your guts out and feed them to the eagles!"
In an instant, the great tent had become a den of starving wolves.
Yet amid this chaos of tempers flaring and near-drawn blades, Ashina Dubi was unusually calm.
He sat on his horse, his posture seemingly as solid as a mountain, but his eyes were dark and terrifying.
Zhenbei City actually knew about the tunnel—such a closely guarded secret!
How was that possible?!
Ashina Dubi's mind churned, considering everything Chen Changfeng had said.
Hunchback Zhang was a deep-planted asset at the very bottom, and even in the central army, only Du and a few trusted generals knew about this card.
That stubborn fool Tie Lanshan, whose head was filled with nothing but bricks and siege logs, could not possibly have calculated this so precisely—even having the oil prepared in advance.
Someone must have leaked the information, handed the southerners a blade before the battle even began.
Could it be…
Chen Changfeng?!
Could it be that Chen Changfeng deliberately concealed the fact that Zhenbei Pass was already aware of the plan?
This Han came to the grasslands to scheme, claiming it was all for the greater cause, but who could guarantee that underneath that refined scholar's mask, there wasn't a heart that sided with Great Qian?
Using the pretext of breaching the city to set a trap and slaughter three thousand Helian elites—a classic inside-out game.
Ashina Dubi's hand tightened inch by inch on the whip.
His gaze weighed heavily on Chen Changfeng, who stood not far away, studying him.
He tried to find a single trace of guilt or panic on that bland, placid face.
If Chen Changfeng showed even the slightest sign of something amiss, Ashina Dubi would not hesitate to draw his saber on the spot and cut down this Han's head as a sacrificial banner.
But Chen Changfeng showed no reaction at all.
He met Ashina Dubi's murderous glare without even a blink of his eyes, his posture as straight and unbending as a pine.
The warhorse, sensing its master's agitation, snorted and stamped anxiously.
Ashina Dubi tightened the reins again, and the fire in his mind slowly cooled.
He suppressed the thought.
It couldn't be Chen Changfeng!
If Chen Changfeng truly meant to protect Great Qian, protect Zhenbei Pass, he could simply have said nothing about the tunnel.
That tunnel had been stagnant water before; had Chen Changfeng not spoken up on his own, Du could never have gotten a hand into the heart of Zhenbei Pass.
Since he had already handed Du the knife, there was no reason for him to turn the blade around and point it back.
That would bring him no benefit at all.
As for Zhenbei Pass—Tie Lanshan now had that person named Xu Qinghuan by his side.
The southern court was filled with old foxes who feasted on flesh and spat out bones without a second thought. They must have found some trace of the scheme somehow.
Though the siege had eased somewhat for now, and the trebuchets were suppressing the walls, their advance into Zhenbei Pass still depended on Chen Changfeng's wits.
If Du were to strike now…
With all these tribal chieftains watching, they would surely think the commander had lost his composure. With morale shattered, the battle would be over before it ever truly began.
Having thought through all the angles, Ashina Dubi let out a long breath and swept every trace of doubt and killing intent from his heart.
He loosened his grip on the whip, and the dark cloud over his face vanished, replaced by a look of reliance and trust.
He urged his horse two steps forward, pushing past the generals blocking his way.
"Chen daren."
The words were spoken plainly—no condescending pressure, no accusation, just something closer to a genuine plea for guidance.
"What are we to do about this?"
The wind howled, and the question landed clearly on everyone's ears.
Those Hu generals, who had been shouting moments before, quieted down as their king set the tone, their eyes all turning to the young scholar in green robes.
Chen Changfeng turned to face them.
He showed not the slightest hint of panic at the loss of his army, merely raising a hand in a slow, deliberate motion to flick a speck of ash from his sleeve.
He stood face-to-face with the Left Luli King, a man who held absolute power over life and death.
“The King need not be hasty.” Chen Changfeng folded his hands and tucked them into his sleeves. “This Zhenbei is indeed treacherous and cunning, but I have my ways.”
He turned his head, his gaze passing over the dark, oppressive mass of soldiers, and looked far off toward the horse-and-mule market outside Zhenbei Pass.
There, the flames had burned half the night sky to a bloody red.
Chen Changfeng looked at that crimson glow, his heart as still and calm as an ancient well.
Of course he knew Xu Qinghuan had laid a death trap in the market. He had seen through this trick of luring the tiger from the mountain long ago.
But he had deliberately not warned Zuo Bamu.
Those three thousand men—they were the chips he had calculated from the start.
To break through Zhenbei Pass, blood had to be spilled. There was no way around it.
Zuo Bamu’s men—arrogant soldiers, prideful commanders who looked down on everyone—believed that with a curved blade in hand, they could slaughter the southerners like cattle and sheep.
Chen Changfeng knew full well that only by letting these elite warriors of Zuo Bamu charge into that fire pit with complete confidence, heedless of the consequences, and fight to the death—
Only if they struck hard enough, died bloody enough, spilled enough blood to fill every trench to the brim, would the commotion reach its greatest height.
As long as those three thousand lives were consumed in that pit, that old fox Tie Lanshan would surely believe that the Heilian tribe’s last hidden card was gone for good.
“I report to the King,” Chen Changfeng said, “I have a scheme—one that is ruthless, cruel, and defies heaven itself. The question is whether the King has the stomach to use it.”
