The spy returned.
It was early the next morning.
He was covered in dew and mud, with a thin cut on his face—probably scraped while climbing over the palisades of the Northern Yan camp.
“The letter has been delivered.”
He stood at the entrance of the central command tent and spoke only those five words.
Li An nearly sprang from his chair in excitement.
“Delivered? How did you manage it?”
“The details are unnecessary, my lord.”
The spy wiped the blood from his cheek.
“You only need to know that Yelü Xiong has read the letter. And he believed it.”
“How are you sure he believed it?”
“Because after reading it, he stripped Murong Ke of his rear army command overnight.”
A faint smile curled at the spy’s lips.
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
“How did you get in last night?”
The spy glanced at him.
“Killed three guards. Climbed two fences. Hid in a pile of horse dung for half an hour.”
Li An fell silent. No matter the era, spies were never ordinary men.
As expected of the field agent selected by Great Qi—he had executed the mission with astonishing efficiency.
And sure enough—
Over the next two days, clear abnormalities appeared in the Northern Yan camp.
First: frequent troop movements.
Scouts reported that the rear army had suddenly changed commanders. The 30,000 cavalry originally stationed in the rear were broken up and reassigned to the left and right wings.
Yelü Xiong was dividing power.
He was removing Murong Ke’s loyalists from the core positions.
Second: internal conflict.
Qi agents inside Northern Yan reported a fierce argument inside the central command tent. Yelü Xiong publicly rebuked Murong Ke, accusing him of “overstepping authority and interfering with military affairs.”
Murong Ke immediately turned hostile and said:
“What the Grand Marshal does, His Majesty will judge.”
Then he stormed out.
That sentence tore open the rift between Yelü Xiong and the Northern Yan emperor.
Enraged, Yelü Xiong placed Murong Ke under house arrest.
At the same time, he ordered all communication with the rear forbidden.
In an instant, cracks appeared in the command structure of Northern Yan’s 200,000-strong army. The left wing ignored central command dispatches. The rear army grew uneasy.
Ding!
【Discord Strategy Effective! Northern Yan internal division intensifies.】
【Enemy morale -20%】
【Enemy coordination greatly reduced】
【National Fortune +3,000. Current National Fortune: 195,871】
Three thousand points gained.
The battle hadn’t even begun, and a single forged letter had earned him three thousand.
Li An looked at the system panel and grinned inwardly.
War was a business after all.
Information was far sharper than blades.
Third Day
The 50,000 reinforcements from Hedong finally arrived.
Great Qi’s forces increased from 80,000 to 130,000.
Still fewer than Northern Yan’s 200,000, but the gap was now manageable.
And—
“My lord! The repeating crossbows are fully assembled!”
Zhang Tiezhu rushed in excitedly.
“Thirty-two sets, fully calibrated! Lined up, they can cover a two-hundred-pace range!”
“Good.”
Li An circled a spot on the map.
“Tonight at midnight, the whole army moves.”
Jin Daya leapt up.
“Let’s beat the hell out of them!”
Zhao Ling’er sat in the commander’s seat, watching Li An.
“You’re certain?”
“Certain.”
Li An pointed at the eastern wing of the Northern Yan camp.
“Yelü Xiong moved Murong Ke’s men from the rear to the wings. The left wing is full of Murong Ke’s old troops—they’re practically strangers to central command now. The eastern wing’s granary has the weakest defenses… because Murong Ke’s men originally guarded it. They’ve been reassigned, and the replacements are still adjusting.”
“So tonight we strike the granary.”
Zhao Ling’er was silent for two seconds.
“Who leads?”
Jin Daya slapped his thigh.
“Me!”
Li An glanced at him.
“You take 3,000 disciplinary troops through the eastern valley. Circle behind the granary. When you get there, do one thing… set it on fire.”
“Set it on fire?”
“Yes. Fire. The biggest business you ever ran was smashing establishments, wasn’t it? Burning Northern Yan’s granary—how’s that different from smashing those gambling dens in the capital?”
Jin Daya’s eyes lit up.
“Same thing! Just burning stuff!”
“The front will be led by Zhou Yong with 30,000 Imperial Guards crossing the river in a feint attack to draw Yelü Xiong’s attention.”
“Zhang Tiezhu’s crossbow formations will be positioned on the northern high ground to provide suppressing fire.”
“Zhao Dadan…”
Li An paused.
“You take the Ministry of Agriculture men and dig trenches. Half-man-deep horse traps along the southern riverbank.”
Zhao Dadan raised his hoe.
“That’s our specialty! We’ve farmed all our lives—digging pits is faster than planting sweet potatoes!”
Li An looked around the tent.
Jin Daya—a former crime boss.
Zhang Tiezhu—a master craftsman.
Zhao Dadan—a gambling house operator.
Zhou Yong—an Imperial Guard commander who hadn’t fought in ten years.
And himself… a transmigrator, a Northern Yan spy, and Great Qi’s military strategist.
Improvised troupe level: off the charts.
But to be fair, improvisation had its advantages.
Regular armies followed conventional tactics—and Northern Yan would respond conventionally.
This improvised troupe had no conventional tactics… because they didn’t know any.
Yelü Xiong had fought all his life and seen every famous general’s strategy.
But he had definitely never seen a coordinated assault by a fire-setting squad, a repeating-crossbow squad, and a pit-digging squad.
“It’s settled.”
Li An slapped the table.
“Prepare yourselves. Tonight, we’ll show Northern Yan what Great Qi-style warfare art looks like.”
Midnight
Moonless and windy.
Jin Daya led 3,000 disciplinary troops through the eastern valley under cover of darkness.
They weren’t regular soldiers, but they had one skill unmatched by any army—
Sneaking.
After years prowling the capital’s streets and alleys, stealth, wall-scaling, and working in the dark were second nature to them.
Three thousand men approached the Northern Yan granary silently.
As expected, the guards were lax. They never imagined Great Qi would dare to launch a night raid.
The newly assigned sentries were even dozing.
At Jin Daya’s command—
“Move!”
Three thousand torches flew into the granary.
Boom!
Dry grain ignited instantly. Flames shot skyward, lighting half the Northern Yan camp.
Chaos erupted.
“Enemy attack! The granary’s on fire!”
Horns blared. Horses neighed. Shouts filled the air.
Instead of retreating, Jin Daya’s men grabbed tent stakes as weapons and brawled with the soldiers rushing to put out the fire.
Standing atop a grain cart, Jin Daya swung his spiked club.
“Brothers! Fight! Treat it like smashing a gambling house!”
The rear of the Northern Yan camp descended into bedlam.
Meanwhile—
At the front, Zhou Yong led 30,000 Imperial Guards across the river.
This time, they did not charge recklessly.
On the high ground, Zhang Tiezhu’s thirty-two repeating crossbows lined up.
Click-click-click.
The first volley unleashed.
Eight bolts per set—thirty-two sets firing simultaneously—two hundred fifty-six arrows in the first round.
Northern Yan cavalry rushing from their tents were caught completely off guard.
Their new iron armor was tough.
But Zhang Tiezhu had forged the bolts from refined steel—far superior in armor-piercing capability.
Clang after clang rang out.
Some arrows bounced off.
But many slipped through armor gaps and pierced flesh.
For the first time on the battlefield, Northern Yan cavalry suffered.
The young emperor Zhao Ling’er personally climbed the wall, armored, beating the war drum.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The thunderous drumbeats shook every Great Qi soldier’s heart.
“Kill—!”
Qi infantry flanked from both sides during the crossbow suppression.
Zhao Dadan’s farmer troops’ horse traps also proved effective—several Northern Yan horses stumbled into pits in the darkness, throwing their riders.
Amid flames and arrow rain, the Northern Yan army descended into chaos.
And at this critical moment, Yelü Xiong discovered his orders weren’t being executed—the left wing, Murong Ke’s former troops, simply wouldn’t respond.
It wasn’t refusal.
They didn’t know whose orders to follow.
Murong Ke was under house arrest. The new commander lacked authority.
The entire left wing was leaderless.
Inside the central tent, Yelü Xiong smashed a teacup.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
He knew he had been tricked.
That letter… must have been forged by Great Qi.
But it was too late.
The crack had become a chasm.
He ordered the central and right wings to pull back and reform defensive lines.
Too late.
Crossbow volleys continued at the front. The granary blazed at the rear. The left wing collapsed.
In a single night, a 200,000-strong army was shattered by an improvised troupe.
By dawn, the battle was decided.
Northern Yan had suffered devastating losses—
the granary burned, the vanguard suppressed by repeating crossbows, the left wing routed.
Yelü Xiong assessed the damage: over ten thousand casualties in the vanguard, and at least thirty percent of supplies destroyed.
“Withdraw the entire army thirty li!”
The horns sounded, and the Northern Yan forces retreated like a receding tide.
The soldiers of Great Qi erupted in thunderous cheers.
“We won…! We won…!”
Men embraced each other—some laughing, some crying.
An old veteran crouched on the ground, clutching the helmet of a fallen comrade, sobbing.
“Old Hei! Do you hear that? We won!!”
Zhang Tiezhu was surrounded by soldiers, all reaching to touch the arms of the repeating crossbows.
“What kind of divine weapon is this? Eight arrows in one volley?”
“Ministry of Works production! Crafted personally by Lord Zhang!”
Jin Daya swaggered back with his disciplinary squad, covered in soot and grease, reeking terribly—
—but grinning brighter than his gold tooth.
“My lord! The granary burned clean! At least thirty percent of their rations are gone!”
He pulled out a Northern Yan battle flag from his chest.
“Even grabbed a flag on the way back! Souvenir!”
Zhao Dadan came over, hoe slung on his shoulder.
“The pits we dug tripped at least thirty horses! Does that count as military merit?”
Ding!
【Great Victory Over Northern Yan! Improvised troupe credited!】
【Enemy lost approx. 30% of supplies, over 10,000 casualties in vanguard】
【Great Qi morale surges!】
【National Fortune +15,000! Current National Fortune: 210,871!】
Fifteen thousand in one surge.
Over 210,000.
But—
Just as everyone was immersed in victory—
Yelü Xiong did something even more ruthless.
He rode alone to the front line between the two armies.
Only a dozen personal guards accompanied him.
Across a hundred paces, he stared up at the soldiers atop the wall.
Then he spoke.
His voice echoed across the silent battlefield, dripping with malice.
“Soldiers of Great Qi…”
“Do you know the true identity of your Lord Li An?”
Silence fell over the wall.
The young emperor Zhao Ling’er stood at the very front, confusion flickering across her face.
Behind her, Li An felt a chill run down his spine.
“Li An is one of us—Northern Yan’s man! A spy planted in your Great Qi.”
Yelü Xiong shouted each word clearly:
“His codename is Lone Wolf! A top-tier secret agent of the Blackwater Platform!”
“Our weapon technologies… were delivered to Northern Yan by his own hands!”
“He is not your loyal minister! He is our undercover agent!”
Dead silence.
Hundreds of thousands of eyes turned to Li An at once.
Generals stared at him.
Soldiers stared at him.
Jin Daya’s grin froze.
Zhang Tiezhu’s hand halted midair.
Zhao Dadan’s hoe clattered to the ground.
Li An’s heart pounded wildly.
Cold sweat dampened his palms.
Even his legs trembled.
His identity had been exposed.
The one thing he most feared, happening at the worst possible moment.
But just when he thought everything was over—
Zhao Ling’er stepped forward.
She moved to the very front of the wall, golden armor gleaming in the morning light.
Her back stood squarely between Li An and the battlefield.
Then she looked down at Yelü Xiong with utter disdain and shouted:
“Do not fall for it! This is Northern Yan’s counter-espionage trick!”
“If Li Aiqing were your man—why would he lead our forces to defeat you? Would you be so kind as to expose a spy you painstakingly planted?”
Yelü Xiong’s expression stiffened.
He had only wanted to reveal Li An’s identity—a secret he had just recently confirmed through an embedded informant within Blackwater Platform.
But he hadn’t expected Great Qi’s young emperor to trust Li An so completely.
Zhao Ling’er gave him no chance to respond.
“Archers—”
“Shoot down this Northern Yan villain who dares slander my loyal minister!”
Arrows were instantly nocked.
Yelü Xiong’s face changed dramatically; he wheeled his horse and fled.
More than a dozen arrows whistled past his head.
He retreated in humiliation.
On the wall, morale soared even higher than after the victory.
Then—
“Long live His Majesty!”
“Long live the Emperor!”
The cheers shook the heavens.
“Lord Li is loyal!”
“Northern Yan spreads lies!”
Standing behind Zhao Ling’er, Li An felt deeply moved.
The young emperor still trusted him.
After all this cycle, he truly had been a loyal minister of Great Qi.
Jin Daya came over and smacked him hard on the back.
“My lord! That Northern Yan dog is shameless! Trying counter-espionage tricks! Don’t take it to heart!”
Zhang Tiezhu nodded vigorously.
“My lord, we defeated them with the weapons you built! How could you be their man? No one would believe that!”
Zhao Dadan scratched his head.
“What’s ‘Lone Wolf’? Is that an insult?”
Li An forced a smile.
He looked at these people—
People who had believed in him from start to finish.
They didn’t know the truth.
They would never know.
But their trust was real.
Ding!
【Great Victory! Military morale surges! Popular support consolidates!】
【Yelü Xiong’s spy revelation attempt fails, neutralized by Zhao Ling’er!】
【National Fortune +35,000!】
【Current National Fortune: 245,871!】
Thirty-five thousand.
A massive leap.
Li An stared at the rising numbers, emotions churning inside him.
He should be happy—this cycle’s alignment was “Loyal Minister of Great Qi.” Rising National Fortune benefited him.
But he couldn’t feel joy.
Because every word Yelü Xiong had spoken… was true.
He was Northern Yan’s man.
He was Lone Wolf.
He had indeed delivered the technology.
He lowered his head, looking at Zhao Ling’er’s back.
Sunlight struck her armor, making her seem radiant, majestic.
Damn it.
Was this the charisma of an emperor?
In that moment, he had only one thought.
I must never betray this trust.
And just as that thought formed—
A shrill cry cut across the battlefield.
“Your Majesty… watch out!”
It was Zhou Yong’s voice.
Li An jerked his head up.
An arrow—
From who knew where—
Shot in through the crenelation of the wall.
A cold arrow left behind during Northern Yan’s retreat.
Its target—
Was Zhao Ling’er.
“Your Majesty!”
Li An lunged forward.
Too late.
The arrow pierced through the gap in her left shoulder armor.
Blood instantly soaked her golden battle robe.
Her body swayed.
She looked down at the arrow trembling in her shoulder.
Then her legs gave out, and she slowly slid down from the wall.
Li An rushed forward and caught her tightly.
She leaned against him, face twitching faintly from the pain—
—but still forced out a weak smile.
“Li Aiqing… I’m fine…”
“You’ve been shot! How could you possibly be fine?!”
Li An forgot all decorum.
He carried her toward the command tent.
“Where’s the imperial physician?!”
Chaos erupted.
“The physician is in the rear camp! It’ll take at least half a day to arrive!”
Half a day?
Let the emperor bleed for half a day?
Li An gritted his teeth.
“I’ll do it. I know first aid. Everyone out.”
Zhao Ling’er was laid on the bed inside the command tent.
Li An knelt beside her and reached to undo the clasps of her shoulder armor.
Suddenly—
She grabbed his hand.
Her strength was weak, but resolute.
“Wait…”
There was an unusual tension in her voice.
“Li Aiqing… there is something I…”
But there was no time.
The wound was bleeding. Every second counted.
Without hesitation, Li An tore open the lining beneath the armor—
And—
His hand froze instantly.
Discussion
Comments
0 comments so far.
Sign in to join the conversation and keep your activity tied to this account.
No comments yet. Start the conversation.