The Road to Glory

Chapter 128

"You still refuse to accept this, don't you?!"...

The arrow tied to the cloth had not yet been removed. Li Xun took it, untied the rope, and unfolded the blood-stained letter. His face turned pale with shock.

As if to confirm something, he asked the messenger who had delivered it: "Has Yuan Fang's Wei army returned to camp?"

The messenger replied: "There's no sign of the Wei army. After Chen Jun's forces returned to camp, no one came to report either."

According to the military regulations established by Fan Yuan for their three allied forces, any troops returning to camp after deployment must immediately send word.

Now, Chen's troops had returned to their station, yet no one had come to report. It was only through their own scouts observing movements in Chen's camp that they learned of their return. A chill shot through Li Xun's heart. He immediately ordered his subordinates: "Send word to Commander Fan at once! Inform him of this and have him withdraw his troops back to camp immediately!"

The messenger accepted the order and rushed out of the command tent.

Li Xun then instructed another messenger: "Keep a close watch on Chen's camp. Report any unusual activity immediately!"

After the second messenger hurried out, the advisors, seeing Li Xun's grave expression, crowded around to ask: "Lord Li, what has happened?"

Li Xun handed them the blood-stained letter to pass around. He took a step back, bracing himself against the table to steady his trembling form. Southern Chen had committed this grave military taboo—regardless of their private relations with Northern Wei, their alliance had reached its end.

The twenty thousand soldiers who had been betrayed must receive justice!

Forcing his mind to remain clear, Li Xun desperately pieced together the information from the blood-stained letter: The Pei Army forces sent to Guanmen Gorge to pursue the grain supplies numbered fifty thousand!

Twenty thousand troops had appeared out of nowhere. And the initial intelligence about the grain supplies had been discovered by scouts from Chen's camp.

Before formulating the plan to intercept the supplies, both Liang Camp and Wei Camp had sent scouts to verify the intelligence. But given the current situation, even if they couldn't confirm whether Chen Camp and Pei Camp had conspired to set a trap, Chen Camp was definitely not innocent.

The more Li Xun thought about it, the more his heart tightened with dread. To be safe, he immediately issued another order: "Everyone, evacuate the camp with me now! We'll hold Dou Jianliang accountable after Commander Fan returns!"

After reading Yuan Fang's blood-stained letter, the advisors' faces also turned ashen. At Li Xun's words, they immediately realized: What if Southern Chen, fearing Fan Yuan's reprisal, became desperate and took them hostage to threaten Fan Yuan?

After all, once they controlled the frontline Liang troops, they could freely extort money and supplies from Chen Wei, who managed the rear!

Cold sweat broke out on the advisors' foreheads. Without hesitation, they abandoned their belongings and followed Li Xun, escorted by two thousand camp guards, secretly leaving the camp.

When Dou Jianliang led his troops to attack, he found Liang Camp's defenses unusually weak and sensed something was wrong. Storming the command tent only to find it empty enraged him further.

Grabbing a junior Liang Camp officer by the collar, he snarled coldly: "Where are Li Xun and the other Liang officials?"

Yu Wenjing's letter had demanded he cooperate from within to cripple the Liang army—otherwise, Yu would reveal "evidence" to Fan Yuan proving Dou's prior collusion with the Pei Camp.

With concrete proof of the Wei army's betrayal and Yu Wenjing as a witness, even if Dou's original intention hadn't been to conspire with the Pei clan, he would never be able to clear his name.Not to mention that Fan Yuan would never spare him, even the Southern Chen side would likely not tolerate him. To save his own skin, Dou Jianliang had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow this dark path to the end.

The young officer guarding the camp, however, was a man of spirit. He spat directly into Dou Jianliang’s face and cursed, "You treacherous slave! I spit on you!"

"Seeking death!" Dou Jianliang’s face twisted into a savage snarl. He shoved the young officer aside, drew his blade, and struck—blood splattered across half the tent wall.

The Chen Army officers who had been searching the other tents returned just then. Seeing the young officer lying dead in the tent, their expressions shifted uneasily. As Dou Jianliang turned around, they reported, "General! There’s no one anywhere—the entire Liang Camp is empty!"

At that moment, Dou Jianliang was seething with a mix of fury and hatred. The empty Liang Camp meant they had received advance warning. He felt as though his own head was hanging by a thread.

Ever since escaping from the Pei Army, he had rushed back to the garrison without a moment’s rest. Who could have tipped off the Liang Camp?

Dou Jianliang’s thoughts returned to the mountain fire in the forest, and his heart sank even deeper.

This whole affair was truly bizarre!

Did Yuan Fang have accomplices, or was this a contingency plan he had left behind?

Seeing Dou Jianliang’s grim expression and prolonged silence, a junior officer cautiously asked, "General, what should we do now?"

Snapping back to reality, Dou Jianliang slapped the officer across the face and roared furiously, "What should we do? We hunt down that Fan bastard! If they won’t give me a way out, I’ll carve one myself!"

On a ridge several li away from the garrison, Li Xun narrowed his eyes as he watched the beacon fire rising from the camp. His expression grew increasingly grim. "That scoundrel Dou Jianliang has truly been driven to desperation—he’s attacked our camp!"

Before Li Xun fled with his advisors, he had instructed the young officer left to guard the camp to light the beacon fire if Dou Jianliang launched an assault. Now that the beacon was lit, it could only mean Dou Jianliang had struck.

The advisors behind him grew panicked at his words, whispering among themselves, "What are we to do now?"

Li Xun summoned a messenger and ordered, "Send another message to Marshal Fan. Tell him Dou Jianliang has rebelled and he must be extremely cautious!"

The messenger hurried off. Only then did Li Xun allow his guards to help him sit down. He gazed anxiously toward the direction of the rising sun.

Though midday in autumn could still be sweltering, the early morning forest carried a bone-chilling cold. For a moment, Li Xun’s figure seemed to stoop. Thinking of how their once-promising situation had devolved into this mess, he was overcome with sorrow, nearly brought to tears.

An officer stepped forward to console him: "My lord, there’s no need to worry excessively. That Chen Kingdom traitor dared to betray us so faithlessly. Once Marshal Fan returns and captures him, he will not be spared!"

Wiping his tears in anguish, Li Xun lamented, "I fear I will have no face to see the Princess hereafter! It was she who personally brokered the three-way alliance to campaign against Pei before departing for Southern Chen. Now that the Wei Army at the Southern Border has been trapped and slaughtered, we are bound to have incurred the enmity of Wei Qishan. If Dou Jianliang fights Marshal Fan, it will be our Liang Army’s strength that suffers the greatest blow. By then, the Pei Camp…"

At this point, Li Xun suddenly froze.

Yes! No matter how one looked at it, the Pei Camp stood to gain the most from this!

Whatever reason Dou Jianliang had for turning against them, the Pei Army would only be too happy to reap the rewards in the end!

The thought that Fan Yuan’s forces would most likely be devoured by both the Pei and Chen armies struck Li Xun with such horror that he nearly leaped to his feet. Smacking his fist into his palm, he cried out, "We’ve been tricked!"He quickly assigned more men and pointed at the young officer, saying, "Ride swiftly to Mount Wangliang and report this to the Lord Chancellor, then send word to Pingzhou as well!"

Turning to the civil officials, he commanded, "You all stay here in hiding and await orders. I will lead troops to rescue Marshal Fan!"

—

Mount Wangliang.

A yellow leaf drifted leisurely onto the chessboard. Li Yao, who was playing a game with his old friend, let out a puzzled "Hmm?" and looked up at the sky, remarking, "Autumn arrives quite early in these mountains this year."

His elderly friend seated opposite merely smiled, placing a piece on the board as he said, "The rhythm of the seasons remains unchanged year after year—spring ploughing, summer weeding, autumn harvest, winter storage. Having retired for decades, I've grown accustomed to this tranquil rural life and have no desire for further turmoil. Your journey here, old friend, seems in vain—perhaps just for this game of chess."

Li Yao, his wrinkled index and middle fingers holding a white piece, placed it on the board, cutting off a group of black stones' liberties, yet his words strayed from the game: "If you truly seek no turmoil, why did you venture beyond the frontier in recent years?"

The old friend chuckled while making his move: "Having grown weary of the famed mountains and great rivers of the Central Plains, isn't it refreshing to behold the landscapes beyond the frontier?"

Li Yao shook his head, placing another piece as he said, "You still harbor regrets!"

The old man's face maintained its smile, though now tinged with a trace of weariness. "What use are regrets? These old bones of mine can no longer contend with fate."

He gazed at Li Yao: "But you—you insisted on remaining by Mingcheng Emperor's side back then and witnessed the outcome. What drives you now?"

Li Yao folded his hands over his cane, his eyes fixed on some distant point. His gray beard and hair stirred in the mountain breeze. Though merely a gaunt old man, he momentarily seemed as imposing as a mountain: "The Great Liang's destiny is not yet exhausted. The Wen clan still possesses a wise ruler."

The old man clearly understood Li Yao's reference: "That girl from Changlian Wang's household?"

Before Li Yao could respond, he shook his head with a laugh, evidently unconvinced.

Li Yao looked earnestly at his friend: "I have taken her as my student."

This prompted a more serious expression from the old man, who asked in bewilderment, "You didn't even favor Heng, the widely praised heir of Changlian Wang back then. How come you now set your sights on this mere girl?"

Li Yao replied, "No mere girl could shoulder this fractured realm."

Meeting his friend's gaze, his tone carried unmistakable pride: "Why do you think the campaign against the Pei Army proceeded so smoothly? The tripartite alliance in the Southern Border was orchestrated by her before she departed for Southern Chen. Neither Empress Dowager Jiang of Southern Chen nor Wei Qishan of the Northern Border dare underestimate her."

"I am past seventy myself and had also wished to avoid further struggles. Yet for that child's sake, I am willing to challenge fate once more."

The old man stroked his long beard, pondered briefly, then broke into a smile: "Since you put it that way, I shall join you, old friend, in this final gamble!"

—

Jincheng.

Fan Yuan stood at the rear of the military formation, glanced at the sky, and estimated that within another hour, the Chen and Wei armies would return to camp with provisions. If they could launch a decisive assault and capture Jincheng then, it would be ideal.

If the attack failed, the Pei Army—having lost both supplies and troops—would inevitably suffer plummeting morale. After provisions ran out and they endured a day or two of hunger, storming the city would become as easy as toppling a rotten tower.He was shouting orders to the flag officers below, preparing to launch a new wave of attacks on the city walls, when a messenger came galloping urgently on horseback: "Marshal! Marshal! Lord Li Xun requests your immediate return to the camp! There's trouble in the army!"

Upon hearing this, Fan Yuan's expression shifted. He summoned the messenger to approach and asked, "What happened?"

After the messenger relayed the matter of the blood-stained letter, Fan Yuan's temples bulged with fury. He immediately issued a command in a low, stern voice: "Sound the retreat!"

The soldiers on the war chariots began clanging bronze bells, and the Liang army, spread out like black ants below the city walls, began to withdraw.

Pei Song, watching from the city walls, narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why has the Liang army retreated ahead of schedule?"

Han Qi, standing beside him, was also puzzled. According to their plan, the Liang army should have besieged them until the Chen and Wei armies returned with provisions, as their intention was to "intercept" any troops sent to reclaim the supplies.

He said, "Could it be that they already know Dou Jianliang has returned to camp?"

Yu Wenjing, who was also observing the battle, stated confidently, "If Dou Jianliang has read the letter I left, he would never allow any news to reach Fan Yuan's ears."

Unable to discern the reason for the moment, Pei Song did not press further. He simply said, "We can't let the hooked fish escape so easily. Open the city gates and engage them in battle."