Chapter 1 News for the Court

After relaying the message to the imperial court, Cao Shengyu waited several days, both gaining and losing, before finally being summoned privately again by Fan Zong.

This time, Fan Zong's attitude was much warmer, and he invited Cao Sheng to take a seat.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he got to the point, speaking solemnly:

"That Chen traitor is gathering people to plot rebellion. I was merely coerced and have no intention of treason. I have long wanted to abandon darkness and seek the light. Now, thanks to the court's recognition, I am willing to be recruited and act as an internal应 (ying) – mole for the government troops."

Cao Sheng was overjoyed upon hearing this: "That Chen traitor has raised the flag of rebellion and is acting against the natural order. He is doomed to fail sooner or later. Brother Fan, this is a wise choice!"

Fan Zong waved his hand to interrupt and continued:

"However, that Chen traitor is currently very powerful, and I cannot contend with him. This task of being an internal contact is not easy. If word leaks out, I will surely die without a burial ground. I can only open the gates of this pass for the government soldiers. Once the court takes this place and advances rapidly, I can no longer return to Dragon King Fort. I must retreat to the rear and not fight on the front lines."

"I cannot make a decision on this matter; I must report it to the court."

Cao Sheng quickly replied; he was not afraid to bargain, as he was not the one to make the final decision anyway.

Fan Zong nodded and said in a deep voice:

"Although the old saying goes, 'A wise man submits to circumstances,' that Chen traitor is fiercely powerful. If I betray him, I will surely incur his revenge. But even though I am a bandit of the Green Forest, I have a heart of loyalty to the country and want to serve the emperor and support the nation. My passion has not cooled... I will never coexist with the rebels!"

"Excellent! Brother, you are loyal to the country, distinguish right from wrong, and are truly a first-class hero!"

Cao Sheng flattered him, offering praise.

The two chatted for a while longer before Cao Sheng left excitedly.

Not many days later, Fan Zong received a reply from the government soldiers, stating that they accepted his conditions. The letter was signed by Cheng Liqing, the commander of the government troops on this route.

Next, Fan Zong and Cheng Liqing, through Cao Sheng as an intermediary, constantly exchanged letters, secretly plotting to cooperate internally and externally to capture this pass.

To avoid arousing suspicion, the government troops on this route occasionally feigned attacks on the pass, creating a stalemate.

Days passed, and finally, the day of the secret agreement arrived.

According to the agreement, Fan Zong needed to send his subordinates to open the pass gates widely that night, control the entrances, and welcome the government soldiers in to occupy the pass.

The plan went smoothly. Under the cover of night, the government soldiers quietly approached. Upon receiving the signal, Fan Zong launched an attack from within, seized the pass, opened the gates to welcome the government soldiers, and the pass quickly fell, causing great chaos.

When Cheng Liqing led his troops into the pass, he saw that the battle was already over, and the government soldiers had completely controlled the pass.

He was quite pleased with himself, feeling very proud of his strategy.

"This general used a little trick to take this place without bloodshed. Hehe, in my opinion, only the Chen traitor is someone of importance among the bandits of Dragon King Fort. The rest are just a bunch of mud-legged peasants, useless trash, with low intelligence, crude and clumsy."

Cheng Liqing said to his deputy with a smile.

As a鎮撫使 (zhenfu shi) – pacification commissioner dispatched by the imperial court, he looked down on these outlaws from the bottom of his heart, believing himself to be knowledgeable in military strategy, brave and good at fighting, and well-educated. How could a group of unlearned bandits compare to him?

At this moment, Fan Zong hurried over to report an urgent situation:

"General Cheng, a small accident has occurred. The chief general of this pass, Fang Zhen, seeing the situation was unfavorable, has already abandoned the pass and fled with a group of leaders and personal soldiers. We failed to capture him."

Cheng Liqing frowned: "This man is quick to react."

Fan Zong suggested: "General, this Fang Zhen is the sixth leader of the mountain stronghold, with considerable skills. He is also a sworn brother of that Chen traitor. If we capture this man, we can certainly threaten Chen traitor. We cannot let him escape like this."

"Hmm, that makes sense. I suppose this bandit can't run too far. We should pursue him while we have the momentum... Quickly gather the troops, leave a large force here to guard the pass, and the rest will follow me to pursue the bandit leaders!"

Cheng Liqing agreed and immediately gave the order.

Soon, he led several thousand soldiers out of the pass, following the scattered footprints on the road, chasing after the enemy troops who had abandoned the pass and fled.

The group chased all the way under the moonlight, following the footprints onto a rugged path, and finally discovered a group of routed bandits in front of a forest.

"Ha, bandits, don't run!"

Cheng Liqing was overjoyed and ordered his troops to attack.

The faces of the bandits changed drastically, and they plunged into the forest, fleeing in panic.

Seeing this scene, Cheng Liqing didn't bother with the saying "never enter a forest," and ordered his troops to enter the forest and pursue them, single-mindedly wanting to capture the bandit leaders.

However, after chasing for a while in the forest, the government soldiers were always lagging behind, and gradually became scattered. Cheng Liqing realized that something was wrong.

"Something's not right; I'm afraid it's a trap!"

Cheng Liqing's eyelids twitched violently, and he suddenly woke up, wanting to order the entire army to gather and retreat.

But at this moment, a chorus of shouts suddenly erupted in the forest, one after another.

"Charge!"

Large numbers of bandits emerged from the ground, surrounding and attacking from all directions, immediately catching the government soldiers off guard.

"Hahaha, the government soldiers have been ambushed! My brothers, follow me and kill!"

Fang Zhen burst out of the ground, laughing incessantly, holding a copper-headed cudgel and charging into the government soldiers, smashing down several enemy soldiers with each blow.

After two years of practicing profound martial arts, his martial skills had also made considerable progress, increasing from about 88 to around 93, according to a hundred-point scale, and he had also initially entered the ranks of top experts.

"Not good, we've been tricked!"

Cheng Liqing was terrified and quickly led his personal soldiers to turn back, and after a bloody battle, he finally broke through the encirclement and fled.

It was not easy for him to escape from the forest, and only two or three hundred of his original several thousand men remained by his side, the rest were all trapped in the ambush.

Cheng Liqing didn't care about anything else and led the remaining soldiers to flee madly, returning to the pass along the same route, wanting to return to the main force.

However, when they approached the pass, they were shocked to find that the pass was ablaze with fire, screams were incessant, and a burnt smell drifted out.

And the government soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the pass were all nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, something has happened in the pass, our retreat is cut off!"

Cheng Liqing was horrified.

Before he could react, shouts suddenly erupted on both sides of the road.

"Kill!"

It turned out that mountain stronghold thugs had been lying in ambush here, their numbers far outnumbering this remaining force, and they directly swarmed up.

Cheng Liqing was filled with shock and anger, wielding an iron-spined spear and desperately killing several thugs, but he was ultimately overwhelmed and pinned to the ground, tied up.

The fire inside the pass burned for an entire night, nearly destroying the place completely.

The bodies of the government soldiers were piled on top of each other, stuck together. Most of them were burned to death or suffocated. The main force of the government soldiers occupying the pass was almost completely wiped out by a fire.

However, since this was a military fortress, there were no residences nearby, so it did not affect the villagers.

Only then did the mountain stronghold troops hiding in all directions return to the pass to clean up the battlefield.

On the other side, the thugs押 (ya) – escorted Cheng Liqing, who was disheveled, into a temporary tent.

Entering the military tent, Cheng Liqing looked up and saw that Fang Zhen, Fan Zong, and others, the defending generals of this pass, were all present. His eyes immediately turned red, and he knew that he had been tricked.

"Fan Zong! You son of a bitch, you were feigning surrender!"

Cheng Liqing roared in disbelief, struggling desperately. If he hadn't been tightly bound, he would have rushed up to fight.

Fan Zong laughed upon hearing this.

"All warfare is based on deception. Your skills are inferior to mine, what's there to say? I have been in the Green Forest for decades. How could I surrender to the imperial court with just a few words from you? You fell for this trick, who else can you blame? Chief Chen is a celestial being, I would be crazy to rely on the imperial court!"

At that time, when Fan Zong received the imperial court's message to persuade him to surrender and be recruited, he had already made a plan, which was to use the plan against itself.

In fact, under normal circumstances, Fan Zong was not opposed to being recruited.

However, in the current war situation, the imperial court was clearly at a disadvantage, and was being beaten out of breath by his own chief. Moreover, Chen Feng's courage was shocking and awe-inspiring, his power overwhelming, and he was truly an unparalleled hero. Betraying this person would leave him with no way to go to heaven or earth.

With these two factors, would he still "abandon darkness and seek the light?" Wouldn't that be like an old man eating arsenic?

Although Fan Zong was not very successful in Dragon King Fort, he did not plan to seek death. It would be better to take this opportunity to perform meritorious service and express his loyalty.

So he had long decided how to choose.

However, Fan Zong only reported the situation. The specific plan was not formulated by him, nor was it thought up by Fang Zhen, this reckless man.

After the matter was reported, the third leader, Duan Yunfeng, came to secretly support him.

Based on the letters Fan Zong showed him, Duan Yunfeng roughly judged the enemy general's personality and specially formulated a plan.

Lure the enemy into a trap and use a fire attack!

Feigning defeat and opening the city, using this place as bait to lure the government troops in, while the bandits would be ambushing in the tunnels, setting up机关 (ji guan) – mechanisms to close the doors and set fire to the camp, annihilating the enemy as much as possible, leaving no one alive.

Setting up such a vicious plan to burn tens of thousands of government soldiers to death, Duan Yunfeng didn't even bat an eye.

In the end, this plan was successful and effective, with less than one in ten government soldiers surviving.

The threat from this route of government troops had been lifted in one battle, and there was no need to worry about anyone endangering the rear of Dragon King Fort.

At this time, Duan Yunfeng was sitting in the main seat of the military tent, staring coldly at Cheng Liqing, and slowly opened his mouth:

"A defeated general still dares to make noise? Take him out and behead him, hang his head on the flag. There's no need to leave him a complete corpse."

As soon as the words fell, the personal soldiers immediately pushed Cheng Liqing out.

Soon, a short scream rang out outside, stopping abruptly.

Fang Zhen withdrew his gaze and smiled: "Brother Duan is truly both civil and military, with one plan succeeding. This battle deserves the first merit."

"A mere trick, it's nothing."

Duan Yunfeng waved his hand, not taking credit.

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and said:

"This battle has been won, which can be regarded as relieving the rear danger of the mountain stronghold. Now the chief is wandering outside with his troops, harassing the government soldiers, making the enemy stretched. But we can't rely on the chief alone to independently support the war..."

"Brother Fang, you captured thousands of government soldiers alive last night. I have a plan. Select a group of mountain stronghold elites to put on government soldier uniforms and trick open the nearby government fortresses. That Cheng has buried the main force in this direction, it is the time to expand our results."

Fang Zhen's eyes lit up: "I think it's good, let's do it!"

He was not a brainy man who liked to use his brain. However, Duan Yunfeng was a ruthless and alert man. He did not mind listening to the other party's command.

The imperial court's army attacked Dragon King Fort in several routes. Under Duan Yunfeng's plan, the army in one of the directions was greatly injured and could no longer maintain its strategic role. It quickly collapsed and retreated.

The battle situation affected the whole body with one move. With one less route of encirclement, the pressure on Dragon King Fort was greatly reduced, and the situation became better and better, gaining the upper hand with the momentum of a snowball.

Ma Zhen received the battle report and拔劍斬案 (ba jian zhan an) – drew his sword and chopped the table in anger.

He was a supreme commander, but the efficiency of information transmission was limited. Most of the time, he had to rely on the commanders of the other routes to perform on their own, and he could not micromanage the front line at any time... Although he wanted to do so.

"Cheng Liqing! You are incompetent and reckless, you have ruined my overall plan!"

Ma Zhen was annoyed.

Yuwen Yan frowned: "Commander, calm down. Since the matter is a foregone conclusion, we can only think of a way to remedy it."

At this time, only Ma Zhen, Huang Ping, and Yuwen Yan, the three highest decision-makers, were in the tent. It was a private small meeting.

Ma Zhen took a breath, slowed down his mentality, sat down again, and said in a deep voice:

"The situation is unfavorable to us. Dragon King Fort has solved one side's encirclement, making it difficult to continue the blockade. That Chen traitor is harassing us outside, and the imperial court's army has already shown its decline. If we want to survive this winter, I am afraid we will have to pay a terrible price, and its effect will not be great."

"What does commander mean..." Yuwen Yan probed.

A cold light flashed in Ma Zhen's eyes:

"Continuing the long war will only increase casualties, and the chances of winning are quite small. I say to drag it on, there will be no small benefits in private. But the imperial court sent us to conquer, if the casualties are too great, it will not be easy to explain... Since this battle is not possible, it is better to preserve the vitality for the imperial court."

He and Pang Hong were still somewhat different. As the descendant of Yiguo Gong (a noble title), if the country was unstable, the family would suffer even more, so there were inevitably more considerations.

After speaking, Ma Zhen turned his head to look at Huang Ping, and said coldly:

"Since we are going to withdraw our troops, we naturally cannot return empty-handed. We must give Chen a big gift. The so-called 绝户计 (juehu ji) – extermination plan that was said at the beginning will be carried out by your department. If it is successful, even if Chen wins this battle, he will not be able to recover his breath for several years, which means slowing down the brain of this group of rebels who are rising and causing chaos, allowing the imperial court a few years of respite. After returning to the capital, it will still be a great achievement!"

Hearing this, Yuwen Yan felt a little unbearable in his heart.

It seems that the commander has made up his mind, and in the end, he still has to use the plan of bursting the dike to inundate, turning Huyang into a thousand miles of泽国 (ze guo) – swamp.

This plan is equivalent to treating the entire Huyang as a pawn, disregarding the common people, just to severely damage Chen Feng's gang.

But then again... The rebels want to overthrow my Great Xia country. They are mortal enemies. The imperial court is fighting back, and there is nothing wrong with doing everything possible.

As long as the final result is effective, then for the emperor and the civil and military officials of the dynasty, in order to maintain the stability of the country, paying such a price is acceptable.

After all... If there is no country, what is the use of the common people?

Yuwen Yan sighed secretly.

Although he still had a little conscience left, as a member of the vested interest, the noble class, he would naturally not oppose this decision, and slowly nodded in agreement.