Chapter 661: Feigning Defeat All the Way

Inside the brightly lit Provincial Inspector Residence of Beizhou, Shao Dengyun personally placed markers on a map, laying out the current state of Yan's rebellion-suppression campaign.

Yang Shuang hurried in with a report. "My lord, bad news. We just received word that the imperial court has arrested Commandery Prince Yongping."

"What?" Shao Dengyun spun around so sharply that the small marker flag in his hand fell to the floor. He snatched the intelligence report and began reading. The farther he read, the angrier he became, until at last he cursed aloud. "A pack of fools! Changing commanders before battle is one of the great taboos of warfare. Don't they even know that?"

"Why is Lord Shao so angry?" Peng Youzai's voice came from outside.

The two men looked over and saw Peng Youzai strolling into the room.

Shao Dengyun's anger had not subsided. He thrust the report toward him. "See for yourself."

Peng Youzai came forward, took it, and read. Then he hesitated. "I just received the same news. I came precisely to discuss with Brother Shao what effect this may have."

"What effect?" Shao Dengyun laughed from sheer fury. "Foreign enemies are watching like tigers, while the rebellion at home has not even been pacified. At a time like this, they actually move against the commander suppressing the rebellion. Do they not know Shang Chaozong still has hundreds of thousands of troops under him? Are they trying to drive Nanzhou into rebellion now?"

Peng Youzai sighed as well. "I cannot understand it either. Why be so impatient? How could the imperial court do something this muddleheaded at a time like this?"

Shao Dengyun pointed in the direction of the capital. "What's there not to understand? Do those people even require understanding? The self-important three major sects think they can hold Yan firmly in their palms and regard everyone beneath them as ants. An ant dared kill one of their Elders. How could they tolerate that?"

"Add a pack of treacherous ministers at court who spend all day pandering to a muddleheaded ruler, and the two sides immediately find common cause. What wouldn't they do together? How many foolish things have they done already? Is one more supposed to surprise us?"

"If not for them, how could Yan have declined to this point?"

"Shang Yongzhong's talent for fawning and currying favor makes him suitable for muddling around at court. Since when was that useful for moving armies and deploying generals? Yet at a time like this, they actually put a useless fool like Shang Yongzhong in command of the army!"

"And look at the corrupt officials the imperial court sent into my Beizhou. See what they have done to a perfectly good province. This is how a state is destroyed!"

"Ah! What we feared has come after all." Peng Youzai looked helpless as well. He waved a hand. "Brother Shao, enough of that. There is too much beyond our control. We should first concern ourselves with our own position."

"Given the current situation, if Yan cannot be preserved, how are we to survive? Does Brother Shao have some sound strategy we can discuss together?"

A trace of expectation showed in his eyes.

"A sound strategy?" Shao Dengyun raised his face and let out a long sigh. "The court is full of treacherous men. Though we have the heart to kill the traitors, we lack the strength to turn back Heaven. What sound strategy could there be? If Yan falls, we can only wait for Han's army to invade!"

Peng Youzai said, "Surely we cannot simply sit here and wait for death?"

Shao Dengyun spread both hands. "Then what would you have us do? Beizhou no longer holds only my forces. The imperial court has also concentrated heavy troops here, pinning us so tightly we can barely move."

"Are we supposed to betray Yan and submit to Han a second time? Beizhou has already switched sides once. Han was humiliated and enraged by it. Even if we went over sincerely now, we would certainly be called to account afterward!"

Peng Youzai clasped his hands behind his back and paced the room. His thoughts were in utter turmoil, and inwardly he too cursed the people of the three major sects.

The rebellion-suppression campaign had finally gathered tremendous momentum, yet halfway through they had somehow managed to do something like this.

What kind of people were they?

Yang Shuang remained silent nearby, his gaze flickering.

What he was secretly considering was Shao Pingbo's earlier proposal: if disaster truly came, arrangements would have to be made to evacuate Shao Dengyun urgently to Jin.

...

"Can't contact him? What do you mean, can't contact him?"

Long Xiu erupted first thing in the morning, directing his anger at his final disciple.

Yi Shu felt deeply wronged. "We truly cannot contact him. The messenger birds we used to reach Niu Youdao before can no longer find a direction. After circling for a while, they simply return. The other side must have deliberately cut off contact."

"The people sent to Maolu Villa have also reported back. Everyone from Maolu Villa has disappeared. Only Yucang's sister-in-law and her son, along with a few scattered people, remain to watch the place."

Long Xiu snapped, "Send the order down. Find anyone who still has a way to contact Niu Youdao. Whatever it takes, drag Niu Youdao out!"

How could he not be angry?

The grave consequences of arresting Shang Chaozong had already begun to appear.

The military grain had been intercepted again.

Meng Shanming's one hundred thousand iron cavalry had happened to block a shipment of grain being sent to the rebellion-suppression army.

They did not even call it robbery. They simply said so many people needed to eat and requisitioned the grain directly.

Hundreds of thousands of captives became laborers. Under military escort, they pushed the seized grain carts toward Nanzhou.

With grain in hand and no fear of hunger, the massive procession traveled without haste. They troubled no one, and expected no one to trouble them.

Yet the imperial court did not dare mobilize local forces against them.

If it attacked Nanzhou's troops again at a moment like this, it would truly be forcing Nanzhou into open rebellion.

Besides, the imperial court might not even have had the strength to do it.

The various regional lords were suppressing the rebellion. Large numbers of cultivators from the prefectures and provinces had been transferred to the borders. Even the three major sects found it difficult to spare manpower.

Meanwhile, reports from Nanzhou said that Shang Chaozong's arrest had thrown the entire province into an uproar. Troops were being moved urgently, and trouble could break out at any moment.

Xue Xiao in Dingzhou was beginning to panic and had already sent an alarm to the imperial court.

Outside, Meng Xuan and Gong Lince arrived together. Neither man's expression looked good.

Gong Lince tossed over a report. "Take a look. This came from Star-Plucking City. Rumors are spreading that the three major sects and the imperial court have joined hands to murder Shang Chaozong and Niu Youdao."

Long Xiu took the report and read it. His face darkened.

Meng Xuan asked heavily, "Have you found Niu Youdao?"

Gong Lince snorted coldly. "Rumors are already saying we're going to kill him, and Shang Chaozong has actually been arrested. Do you think he'll still dare meet us?"

Meng Xuan said, "These rumors came at far too convenient a time. Either Niu Youdao is behind them himself, or someone with designs is exploiting the situation."

"Either Niu Youdao wants to force us to release Shang Chaozong, or someone wants Yan to fall into chaos from within."

Gong Lince sighed. "Long Xiu, I told you from the beginning that this was not the time to move against Shang Chaozong. Settle the rebellion first, then deal with him. You insisted on acting now."

"You said that once Shang Chaozong was in our hands, we'd be able to force Niu Youdao to appear. That bastard is craftier than a monkey. From beginning to end, he never showed himself in the army. No one knows where he's hiding. He left himself a road of retreat the whole time."

"Now listen to these rumors. Come out, my ass! Whether or not Niu Youdao is behind them, he's ignoring Shang Chaozong's fate and hiding without showing himself. I'd like to see what you do now!"

His words carried open anger.

How could he not be angry?

This was no longer Xiaoyao Palace's problem alone. All three sects were in the same boat.

Long Xiu's face was cold. "I refuse to believe he can hide forever."

Niu Youdao had indeed been one of the main reasons he had moved against Shang Chaozong now.

It was still that same concern: if he waited until the end, who knew what tricks Niu Youdao might produce to protect Shang Chaozong?

That was why Long Xiu had struck decisively.

Gong Lince clasped his hands behind his back. "Yes, sooner or later he'll appear, and sooner or later we'll find him. But can the present situation wait that long? Where are we supposed to find enough manpower to search for him now?"

"Ah!" Meng Xuan sighed.

Long Xiu's reasoning had not been difficult to understand at the time. Otherwise, the other two sects would never have agreed to the move.

Within Yan, plenty of people paid lip service to the three major sects while secretly doing as they pleased.

But there had never been anyone who truly dared stand openly against the three sects.

Even if Niu Youdao had a hundred times the courage, surely he would not dare.

Once the deed was done and could not be reversed, they had assumed that if they pressed him hard enough, Niu Youdao would have no choice but to yield.

No one had expected things to develop this way.

Niu Youdao had simply played dead and refused to appear.

Long Xiu's punch had truly landed on cotton.

Worse, they still did not know whether Niu Youdao was deliberately hiding or whether some other faction had spread the rumors and genuinely frightened him into concealment.

Either way, Niu Youdao had already prepared his excuse.

Even if they confronted him later, he could simply say the rumors had frightened him into hiding.

Long Xiu said heavily, "So long as Shang Chaozong remains in our hands, Nanzhou will not dare act recklessly unless they no longer care whether he lives."

"Also, so long as Dachan Mountain does not join the disorder, Nanzhou cannot make much trouble."

"Contact Dachan Mountain immediately. So long as they can stabilize the situation, there will be no shortage of benefits afterward. Cangzhou can be given to them."

Gong Lince instantly became unhappy. "Cangzhou has always been managed by my Zijin Cave's people. Why don't you give them Haozhou or Changzhou instead?"

Long Xiu said, "We're only promising them a benefit first to stabilize the situation. Once things return to normal, do you think they can simply seize it by force?"

"If we promise somewhere else, they won't believe us. Cangzhou happens to be ownerless now. Only by naming Cangzhou will Dachan Mountain believe the offer."

Gong Lince fell silent.

...

"The commander suppressing the rebellion has been replaced by Shang Yongzhong?"

Along the dusty road, Wu Gongling had stopped to rest. He was squatting beside a stream, scooping up water to wash his face.

At the news, he looked up in astonishment, his face dripping wet.

Shan Dongxing, Tongxian Pavilion's acting Sect Leader, crouched down and sat cross-legged beside him. "There is no mistake. It has already been confirmed. This happened because Shang Chaozong killed Shi Sheng, an Elder of Xiaoyao Palace."

Wu Gongling stared blankly for a while.

Then he threw back his head and laughed. "Hahaha! Heaven truly helps me! I was just getting sick to death of those people hounding me..."

He cut himself off halfway.

The very people who had been annoying him were coming again.

Quan Taifeng, Hui Qingping, and the other Han and Song cultivators approached with dark faces.

If Wu Gongling did not still have value to them, they would have killed him long ago.

Not only had he squandered five hundred thousand troops, but the six sects of the two states had also suffered severe losses among their cultivators in that battle.

All six sects already hated him bitterly.

"General Wu, is this what you call maneuvering?" Quan Taifeng ground out. "The more we watch, the more it looks like you're simply running away. We are supporting you with everything we have, not helping you flee!"

Wu Gongling rose and chuckled. "So you finally saw through it."

The moment he admitted it, Quan Taifeng erupted.

He grabbed Wu Gongling by the front of his robe and yanked him forward. "You dare play us? Are you tired of living?"

Wu Gongling looked contemptuous. "When it comes to warfare, you people know shit."

"Since you've seen through it, I won't hide it anymore. Today I'll teach you what it means that all warfare is based on deception, and I'll teach you what fighting a war really means!"

He turned and shouted, "Bring wine and the map!"

The Elders exchanged glances.

Someone gave Quan Taifeng a look, signaling him to restrain his temper and hear what this bastard had to say.

Quan Taifeng shoved Wu Gongling away.

Before long, a jar of wine and a map were brought over.

Wu Gongling cracked the mud seal from the wine jar, drank deeply, then signaled for soldiers to spread out the map.

Holding the wine in one hand, he pointed at the map with the other.

"Before this, several armies had me nearly surrounded. At first, the reason they could not beat us was not because they were weaker than us, but because each side had selfish thoughts about preserving itself. They could not work together with one heart against me."

"Then Nanzhou marched out and unified the command. The situation immediately became dangerous for us."

"We could never have defeated them head-on. Continuing to resist would only have meant waiting for death."

"The moment Shang Chaozong killed Shi Sheng, however, I saw my chance."

"I understand those people in the Yan court far too well."

"So I feigned defeat all the way, because I knew that once the Yan court came to believe suppressing the rebellion was no more than lifting a hand, certain people would never let Shang Chaozong off."

"And now the Yan court has indeed fallen into my trap. The unified command is broken!"

"Shang Yongzhong? He can flatter and kiss ass at court, but when it comes to war, he's a useless fool."

"With that man as commander, Yan is doomed!"

[End of Chapter 661]