Chapter 1396: No Pardon for This Crime

Gu Yuanda turned to look at him. "Elder, calm your anger. This is no joke. Huyan Ding has separated himself from the main army and personally gone among the prefectures to requisition troops. Huyan Wuhen cannot possibly have ignored his safety. He must have a considerable number of experts protecting him. It looks easy to strike now, but in truth this is precisely when striking is most difficult. Right now, Huyan Ding's guards must be at their highest level of vigilance. If we make a move now and let him escape, trying to decapitate the command again later will be far harder. So for now, we must not move rashly. This is precisely the moment when people's hearts throughout Qi are unstable. Huyan Ding must also fear disloyalty among those around him. Otherwise, Huyan Wuhen would never have sent his own son to gather the troops personally. At this moment, Huyan Ding must be most wary of the forces belonging to the regional lords around him. By ordinary logic, just as Elder said, this is exactly when striking seems easiest. So if any of the men around him harbor treacherous intentions, this is when they would be expected to act. How could Huyan Ding fail to guard against that? Therefore, we must do the opposite of what ordinary logic suggests. Let him gather his army smoothly. Let the other side gradually relax its vigilance. Once Huyan Ding sees a great army in his hands and concludes the regional forces have shown no sign of rebellion, once the army around him seems secure and external enemies cannot easily approach him, the cultivators protecting him will naturally have to perform their duties as army supervisors as well. Some of them will inevitably spread out to monitor the troops under his command. Once his vigilance drops, the forces we have turned can make arrangements close to him without so easily arousing suspicion. That will be the best moment to strike. Lingxu Mansion, Shouzheng Pavilion, Dale Mountain—all the experts of the three sects must go in together, whether Sect Leaders, elders, or even their Supreme Elders. Every Heavenly Sword Talisman that can be used is to be used. Spare no cost. I want Huyan Ding taken down!"

The Qiyun Sect elder frowned and hesitated. "And if it fails?"

Gu Yuanda said, "That is another important reason I intend to wait until that moment! If we strike now, even if we kill Huyan Ding, Huyan Wuhen may still send someone else to command the troops Huyan Ding has gathered. But once the timing I described is ripe and we strike then, the effect will be completely different!"

...

"Supreme General, the Young General has finished assembling two hundred thousand troops!"

Inside the command tent, a general came to report the military situation.

Huyan Wuhen nodded.

The relevant officers immediately translated the intelligence onto the military map, marking the disposition of the suppression forces and the rebel army.

Standing beside the map, Huyan Wuhen studied it carefully.

A general nearby said, "Supreme General, judging from that dog traitor Gu Yuanda's formation, he seems to be preparing for a decisive battle against the Young General. Is he trying to bully the Young General because he has fewer troops? Does he not realize the Young General is only supposed to entangle him and has no intention of fighting a decisive battle at all?"

He did not notice that Huyan Wuhen's expression had already changed, his eyes flashing rapidly.

Having caught the scent of danger, Huyan Wuhen suddenly said heavily, "Not good! Send an urgent warning to Huyan Ding. There must be rebel agents among the forces around him. Quickly! Use three Goldenwings at once!"

An outstanding general was outstanding precisely because he possessed a keen instinct for danger on the battlefield.

At those words, the entire command tent instantly erupted into activity. Someone drafted the message at once, and three urgent dispatches were sent simultaneously.

Huyan Wuhen remained before the map, face dark, eyes locked onto it. His expression was extremely ugly.

The general who personally supervised the dispatches and confirmed they had gone out successfully returned to his side. "Supreme General, what makes you say that?"

Huyan Wuhen said, "How could Gu Yuanda not know Huyan Ding's gathered forces are only meant to entangle him? Gu Yuanda excels at surprise attacks. For him to openly array his forces as though preparing for a decisive battle serves no purpose, and there is no need for him to bluff like this. There is only one conclusion: something must be about to change around Huyan Ding! If something changes, it will almost certainly happen around dawn. They will use the darkness to launch a surprise strike, then begin a full assault once daylight comes. Otherwise, on these endless grasslands, men can flee in every direction and Gu Yuanda will fail to achieve the effect of crushing everything in one blow... I only hope there is still time!"

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear a hundred battles. Gu Yuanda had once been a general under Huyan Wuhen. How could Huyan Wuhen fail to know his style of warfare?

The nearby general's expression changed as well. He understood the seriousness of the situation. "We only received the information now. Perhaps the Young General has already reacted on his own!"

...

"Report! Urgent dispatch from the Supreme General!"

The sky had only just begun to brighten when the communications officer, with no time for ceremony, barged directly into Huyan Ding's tent.

Huyan Ding had been lying fully dressed on his campaign cot. He jolted awake, snatched the urgent report, and read it.

His scalp went numb.

He shouted, "Guards!"

Boom!

The answer was a tremendous explosion sounding at precisely that moment.

Exactly as Huyan Wuhen had predicted, Gu Yuanda launched his surprise attack at dawn, just as the sky began to brighten.

The commander of Huyan Ding's right wing had already been turned by Jin.

Every top expert of Lingxu Mansion, Shouzheng Pavilion, and Dale Mountain came out in force. With the cooperation of the insiders, they changed into soldiers' uniforms and actually managed to approach the area around Huyan Ding's central command tent.

The defenses and warning lines around the command tent, both on the ground and in the air, became effectively useless.

The Qi cultivators, caught completely unprepared, scrambled to resist. Astral sword-shadows from Heavenly Sword Talismans erupted with deafening booms, bombarding the area again and again. Chaos exploded outward from the very center of the Qi army.

The moment the sounds of battle began, the rebel army three li away poured out in full force. Cavalry thundered forward at the front, arriving first to launch the attack.

Perhaps fortune truly had abandoned them, or perhaps Qi's allotted fate had genuinely run out.

Had Huyan Wuhen's urgent warning arrived only a little earlier, the outcome might have been completely different.

Under cover of darkness, the experts of Wei's former Three Great Sects successfully approached and launched their surprise strike.

The two armies plunged into slaughter.

Without effective unified command, the two hundred thousand assorted troops were smashed apart by the charge of Gu Yuanda's three hundred thousand rebels.

The defeated troops scattered and fled in every direction.

By then the sky was fully bright, and the routes taken by the fleeing soldiers were plainly visible.

The rebel army pursued everywhere without letting up. Whenever the cavalry caught the routed men, it became a slaughter like chopping melons and vegetables.

Gu Yuanda rode his horse onto a grassy rise and looked over the battlefield in every direction. Seeing the greater situation settled, he finally released a long breath.

This was exactly what he had wanted.

He wanted to crush the troops the regional lords had assembled in one blow.

He also wanted to intimidate those regional lords so the court could no longer easily gather an effective force to block him. Only then could he calmly advance on the capital.

He also needed a great victory to raise the morale of his own army.

Many of the men who had followed him into rebellion were sons of Qi. However they justified it, they still felt resistance—or fear—toward betraying their own country.

He wanted them to see that the court's armies were nothing special, that Qi's allotted fate had run out, and there was nothing to fear.

The accompanying Qiyun Sect elder laughed loudly. "Grand General, your command and calculations were brilliant! With merit this great, the court will certainly not treat you poorly. This old man will submit a memorial requesting reward for you at once!"

...

Several disciples of Qi's Three Great Sects arrived in miserable condition.

They had also brought back Huyan Ding's corpse.

The body had been hacked into two pieces and placed on the ground after being fitted roughly back together. The sight was ghastly.

The disciples of the Three Great Sects had risked their lives to recover it. Otherwise, if they abandoned the commanding general and fled, they would have no way to explain themselves afterward.

"The troops from Muzhou rebelled. They brought the enemy directly into the camp. We fought desperately, but the other side had too many experts. They were people from Lingxu Mansion, Shouzheng Pavilion, and Dale Mountain. Even the Sect Leaders and Supreme Elders of all three sects came out. Nearly every expert they had took part. They threw Heavenly Sword Talismans as though they cost nothing..."

An elder of Xuanbing Sect who had accompanied Huyan Ding's army complained bitterly.

Huyan Wuhen stared woodenly at the corpse on the ground.

There was no expression on his face.

Zha Hu's cheeks were taut, both fists clenched.

The accompanying elders of the Three Great Sects wore grave expressions. From time to time they looked at Huyan Wuhen, unable to imagine the grief inside this old general's heart.

His eldest son had died in battle.

Now his second son had died in battle as well.

Of his three sons, only that useless fellow in the capital remained.

"Supreme General, restrain your grief," the Tianhuo Sect elder said heavily.

At last Huyan Wuhen spoke. "Before he left, I warned him that Gu Yuanda had been entrusted with guarding the interior because he was no ordinary man. I warned him again and again to be cautious. Yet he still made a mistake. If he failed to see through the opponent's move, that would merely mean he himself lacked ability. But to let a large group of unexplained men approach without detecting them—what kind of defenses did he arrange? That was neglect of military duty. That was dereliction of duty! If he had not died this time, even if he returned alive, I would have executed him without pardon for ruining a vital military matter!"

A general beside him said, "This cannot all be blamed on the Young General. The troops nearest him belonged to the regional lords. Naturally, they were difficult to command as though they were his own limbs."

Huyan Wuhen roared, "If it were not difficult, why would I have sent him personally?"

Then, with his face drawn tight, he said, "After joining the army, he had still seen too few wars. He lacked tempering. He was not as good as his elder brother, nor as seasoned as Gu Yuanda. Sending him to command the suppression campaign was my fault. I should petition the court for punishment. My crime admits no pardon!"

He then gave an order.

There would be no grand burial.

The body was not to be sent back to the capital.

Huyan Ding's corpse was to be burned where it lay, and the matter ended without ceremony.

...

At the Huyan family residence, news of his second brother's death reached Huyan Wei.

He was completely stunned.

His eldest brother's death in battle had already shaken him deeply.

Now his second brother had died in battle as well.

He desperately wanted to know what was happening to his family.

The entire Huyan residence sank into grief.

The atmosphere was deathly.

But in the Qi capital, what truly shocked the court was not Huyan Ding's death.

It was his defeat.

Two hundred thousand troops had been smashed apart by Gu Yuanda in a single battle.

That meant no one now stood between the rebels and the capital.

The rebels were already heading straight for the city.

The principal estates and families of the court officials were all in the capital. How could they not panic?

What had happened to Wei's officials after Wei fell remained fresh in everyone's memory.

The two reinforcement armies would need at least another ten days to arrive.

Could the capital's one hundred thousand defenders hold for ten days?

While panic spread throughout Qi, while many people began planning roads of retreat and secretly contacting Jin's agents, another shocking development arrived.

Huyan Wuhen submitted a memorial confessing guilt.

The court consoled him.

Huyan Wuhen said his crime admitted no pardon.

The court told him to redeem his crime through meritorious service.

Then Huyan Wuhen made an enormous move.

Without the court's permission and without requesting an imperial decree, he left only a small force behind as a rearguard and ordered all three million troops to withdraw.

If Jin wanted to attack, it could attack however it pleased.

Huyan Wuhen no longer cared.

The cry of the three-million-man withdrawal shook the heavens:

"Exterminate Gu Yuanda's rebel army! Kill every rebel without mercy! Leave no survivors!"

The slogan terrified the rebels.

Even Gu Yuanda became nervous.

Huyan Wuhen was personally leading three million troops back to encircle and suppress him.

That was no joke.

However Gu Yuanda looked at it, three million men could close around him from every direction.

He would die.

The even greater deterrent effect fell upon those who had begun harboring disloyal thoughts.

Huyan Wuhen himself was bringing three million troops back.

Who still dared move recklessly?

Before the army had even returned, killing had already begun along its route.

Passing through one prefecture, Huyan Wuhen seized a trusted man of Qi's Chancellor and, on the charge of neglecting military affairs, exterminated the entire household of the prefectural Inspector, old and young alike. More than ten subordinate officials belonging to that faction were slaughtered together with their families.

Huyan Wuhen bypassed the court entirely and sent direct military orders to the officials of every prefecture near the capital.

Mobilize every available force to block the rebels.

Anyone who neglected the order would be killed without mercy.

[End of Chapter 1396]