Indееd, it wаs impossiblе tо соnсeal. Prеgnаnt women аre usuallу dеliсаtе, сonstantlу needing medicine and dосtors. Sо evеn thоugh thе Wеi armу hаd brоkеn сamр and some sаid thе cоmmander-in-chiеf hadn't movеd, as soоn аs Yе Yuqing lеаrnеd thаt the mediсinе pоts аnd dоctоrs had lеft tоgether, hе immеdiatеly sent pеople tо соntinue invеstigating.
The sсоut rеpоrtеd: "Аmоng thе tеn battаliоns heаding towаrd Wangu Gorgе, therе аrе indeеd trасеs of Empеror Wei Xiao."
Smiling slightlу, Ye Yuqing said, "Thеn let's follоw them. Таke it slоw, no rush."
"Yes!"
The Song army, having suffered repeated setbacks, was already somewhat exhausted. They had been driven out of Wangu Gorge by General Yin and his troops. Over the past six months, the Song Kingdom hadn't won a single battle, and morale had collapsed, leaving them barely holding on. Yin Yanzhong had already planned it out. North of Wangu Gorge, if he could push the Song army back twenty li in one fell swoop, the Song Kingdom would surely withdraw its troops. After all, the pressure of fighting three kingdoms simultaneously was too great.
However, just as he was preparing to attack under cover of darkness, a scout urgently reported: "General, a large force from the Wu Kingdom has been spotted in the rear, clashing with our reinforcements."
The Wu Kingdom clashing with them? Yin Yanzhong frowned. "How is the battle?"
"The Wu Kingdom attacked for an hour before retreating. Our reinforcements suffered heavy casualties."
His heart tightened, and a chill ran down Yin Yanzhong's spine. "Have you found out the reason for the conflict?"
"The Wu Kingdom sent someone to say it was a misunderstanding—they couldn't see clearly in the dark."
Would a misunderstanding last an hour? Yin Yanzhong didn't believe it, and neither did the Song commanders who received the news. At this critical moment, why would allies fight among themselves?
After some consideration, the heavily pressured Song army sent someone to the Wu Kingdom's camp under cover of darkness. They whispered for a long while before returning to the Song camp with news.
So the next day, when Yin Yanzhong launched his attack as planned, support from the Wu Kingdom's rear was delayed, while the Song army's morale inexplicably soared. The battle was bloody, with countless casualties.
"He actually dared to do this!" Hearing the casualty reports from the front lines, Feng Yue's eyes turned red. She stood up and roared, "Where's my sword? I'm going to cut down these bastards!"
They were supposed to be allies, yet at the critical moment of the final battle, they wanted to reap the benefits without lifting a finger!
He Chou, who had previously doubted their words, was also stunned beside her, her expression complicated as she twisted the handkerchief in her hands without speaking.
"Calm down," Yin Gezhi said calmly. "We anticipated this long ago."
Anticipating it was one thing, but hearing about so many deaths still infuriated Feng Yue. "Playing such games with lives on the battlefield—he doesn't deserve to command troops!"
There were Wu Kingdom soldiers at the front too, completely unaware that their own Crown Prince was waiting behind to collect their corpses. Reinforcements were stationed between Yushan Pass and Wangu Gorge, yet they didn't rush to support in time! Are others' lives not lives? Innocent soldiers fighting wholeheartedly for the Wu Kingdom deserve to be sacrificed?!
"Everyone has their own calculations," Yin Gezhi said, standing up and fastening a cloak around her. "He fears that if the three kingdoms win this battle, the Wu Kingdom won't have the strength to deal with Wei later. It's reasonable for him to think this way."
However, this time, Ye Yuqing still wouldn't win against him.
Reinforcements from Wei's ten battalions arrived, joining forces with the remnants of Qi and Wu to resist the enemy. The battle lasted three days, and in the end, the Song Kingdom was still defeated, retreating twenty li and closing their city gates to regroup.Just as the Song Kingdom sounded the retreat, Ye Yuqing arrived with reinforcements from the Wu Kingdom. Smiling, he looked at Yin Yanzhong and said, "General, you have worked hard."
With blood still staining his face, Yin Yanzhong gave him a deep look and replied, "General Guan once said that those who shed blood on the battlefield deserve respect."
He didn’t speak the second half of the sentence aloud, but everyone could hear it—those who didn’t shed blood on the battlefield but came to claim credit afterward did not deserve respect.
The Crown Prince of Wu, who did not deserve respect, chuckled lightly and said carelessly, "The Song Kingdom has retreated. Everyone has worked hard; let’s return and write the battle reports first. This prince will also lead his men to set up camp. If you have time tonight, please invite the ruler of the Wei Kingdom out for a drink."
"Your Highness, please wait." In front of the Qi Kingdom’s marshal, Yin Yanzhong stepped forward to stop him, his gaze sharp as he said, "There is something Your Highness has yet to explain—why did you previously launch an attack on our Wei Kingdom’s reinforcements, and why did you secretly exchange letters with the Song Kingdom?"
Pausing in his steps, Ye Yuqing looked up at him and asked, "General, what do you mean by this? As far as this prince knows, the previous skirmish was due to the darkness, mistaking the Wei army for the enemy. But as for this prince secretly exchanging letters with the Song Kingdom, where did that come from?"
When it came to the letters, Yin Yanzhong straightened his back even more, reaching out to produce several letters and placing them in the hands of Marshal Huo of the Qi Kingdom.
Huo Nan was a renowned general of the Qi Kingdom and a man of considerable influence, who had often exchanged letters with Ye Yuqing in the past. As soon as he opened the letters and saw the seals on them, his expression darkened, and he frowned, glancing at Ye Yuqing.
Ye Yuqing immediately reached out to snatch the letters back. "Impossible, these must be forgeries."
"How could they be forged?" Huo Nan withdrew his hand. "This humble one still recognizes Your Highness’s seal."
Ye Yuqing pursed his lips. "But this prince did not write such letters."
Even if he had written them, they would absolutely never have fallen into the hands of the Wei Kingdom.
However, such denials seemed feeble in the face of the black ink, white paper, and red seals. Huo Nan merely smiled without speaking. Yin Yanzhong said angrily, "The Wu Kingdom is powerful and speaks with its military strength; naturally, we cannot contend with that. But Your Highness, in this campaign against the Song Kingdom, it was the Wu Kingdom that actively sought the alliance of our two kingdoms. Both the Wei Kingdom and the Qi Kingdom have contributed greatly. It would be best if Your Highness refrained from burning bridges after crossing the river."
Ye Yuqing fell silent, watching as the two men left, his grip on the reins tightening, his eyes deep and thoughtful.
To ask him not to burn bridges? How could that be possible? The men were already prepared. He didn’t need to attack the Wei Kingdom; he only needed to kill Yin Gezhi, and then he could rest easy. At this moment, Yin Gezhi was in the military camp, and the camps of the three kingdoms were not far apart. Amid the chaos, he could strike, then claim it was a mistake. Given the Wei Kingdom’s current military strength, they would not dare to attack the Wu Kingdom and would have no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.
If he didn’t seize such an opportunity, he wouldn’t be Ye Yuqing.
Returning to the military camp, he first wrote a letter to placate Huo Nan, then picked up his brush and sent an invitation to Yin Gezhi.
Not long after the invitation was sent out, someone returned with Yin Gezhi’s handwritten reply: "The bones of the fallen soldiers are not yet cold; I will not drink. I hope Your Highness will act with caution."The words on the page clearly revealed his anger. Ye Yuqing smiled, tapping the letter with her fingertip, and sighed, "In the past, I too sent him invitations time and again, only to be turned away at the door. Who would have thought I would encounter such a situation again now. Well, so be it. This battle must be fought, no matter what."
The camp of the Wei Kingdom was eerily silent. After cooking and eating their meals, the soldiers seemed to vanish without a trace, as if they had retired early to conserve their strength. The commander's tent even had a bowl of miscarriage-preventing medicine delivered by a physician, indicating that the Wei emperor's focus was entirely on the empress.
Thus, as the hour of midnight arrived, the Wu Kingdom's arrows, wrapped in oil-soaked cloth and set ablaze, rained down upon the Wei camp like a downpour.
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