Chapter 1440: In War, Deception Is No Vice

It was no exaggeration to say the present situation was desperate. Gu Yuanda’s heart was full of bleakness.

Chang Linxian, Sect Leader of Lingxu Mansion; Zang Feng, Sect Leader of Shouzheng Pavilion; and Luo Yanzhen, Sect Leader of Dale Mountain accompanied him as he inspected the city walls. Looking at the earthen mound opposite, which already stood higher than the city wall, their hearts were equally filled with grief and anger.

It was easy to imagine what would happen. One more collapse from the top of that mound would basically fill the gap between the earthworks and the city wall, creating a slope steep enough for the Qi army to launch a full downhill charge.

They had never heard of a defensive battle being fought into such a state before, much less witnessed one.

Originally, they were the ones looking down on the enemy from high ground. Now the enemy was looking down on them instead. What sort of absurdity was this?

From what stood before them, the Qi army’s preparations had already reached the point where the final assault could begin at any time.

The three sect leaders felt the same despair. They hated Gao Pin’s despicable methods just as deeply. He had used them in precisely this fashion and left them trapped in a beleaguered city.

In war, deception is no vice!

They had finally learned what those words truly meant.

The battlefield commanders who laid plans in their tents and arranged one scheme after another had treated every army and every power on the entire battlefield like pieces on a board. Under schemes laid for the long term and played out across enormous distances, the three sects had been spun in circles and manipulated from beginning to end. Only at the very last moment had they finally understood the full design behind such a vast sequence of moves.

The three sect leaders felt like three-year-old children. They had been trapped this badly, and there was nothing their tempers could do about it.

What could they possibly do to Gao Pin?

This was not some feud between sects that could be resolved by fighting one another. Go ahead and try attacking him.

Unlike the sort of underhanded behavior condemned in ordinary sect disputes, cursing Gao Pin as shameless and despicable was meaningless here. Outsiders might even praise his ability. On the battlefield, such matters were decided only by victory and defeat. There was no tribunal where the three sects could go argue about fairness.

They had no recourse beyond sending a message to curse Gao Pin.

Gao Pin, however, showed no anger at all. He calmly claimed he had not expected the Qin army to withdraw in full as well. The battlefield situation had changed, he said, so naturally he had adjusted his strategy and tactics. Gao Pin expressed regret, but there was simply nothing to be done.

Of course, Gao Pin answered with complete assurance that Jin would never renege on the three prefectures promised to the three sects. The Jin court had announced the pledge to all beneath Heaven. Naturally, it would honor its word.

Gao Pin guaranteed it again and again. So long as the three sects could break out of the encirclement, Jin would absolutely keep its promise. If anyone dared go back on the agreement, Gao Pin declared that he himself would be the first to object!

He even kindly reminded them that after reducing Qi to its present state, killing the Emperor of Qi, and killing two of Huyan Wuhen’s sons, the three sects should be extremely careful when attempting to break through the encirclement.

What sort of kindly reminder was that?

It was plainly a warning: do not even think about becoming grass atop a wall, bending toward whichever side suited you. Either defend the city to the death or fight your way out.

The three sects nearly vomited blood from rage.

Defend?

Several million troops surrounded the city. With Huyan Wuhen carrying out the siege this way, could the fewer than three hundred thousand men they had left after all their casualties possibly hold?

Break out?

Even if they managed to force their way through an encirclement of several million troops, what would be left afterward?

The three sects had already suffered devastating losses during the Jin-Wei war. After another battle like this, how many people could possibly remain?

And if only a pitiful handful escaped, suppose Jin kept its promise and handed them those three prefectures. Would they dare accept them? Could they hold them?

Did they not understand the old saying that a common man is innocent, but the jade he carries becomes his crime? Once the other cultivation sects saw how weak they were, it would be strange if no one came to seize what they held. Accepting those territories would be seeking death.

Jin had promised to give them the land and had honored its word. If they themselves could not hold it, whom could they blame?

Naturally, if they chose not to accept it, then that would be even less anyone else’s responsibility.

More fatally still, Misty Pavilion had confiscated every flying mount.

That meant even the senior leadership of the three sects had only one way to escape:

Cut a path out through blood.

Forcing their way through the middle of several million soldiers, while so many cultivators also tried to intercept and kill them—the mere thought sent chills through their hearts.

...

A group arrived outside the central army tent. The man who entered at the front was Hao Zhen, Emperor of Qi.

Huyan Wuhen immediately strode out from behind his table and cupped his hands. “Your Majesty!” Then he also saluted Yuwen Yan, Bei Xuan, and San Qianli, the three sect leaders accompanying the emperor.

Hao Zhen reached out to stop Huyan Wuhen from standing on ceremony. Then he paced in front of him, looking as though he wanted to speak but was hesitating.

He held Huyan Wuhen in great respect.

First, the present situation required Huyan Wuhen to steady the army. With matters having fallen this far, only Huyan Wuhen’s prestige could keep military morale from collapsing and hold the last remnants of order together. Otherwise, everything would already have dissolved into chaos and each faction would have gone its own way.

Without Huyan Wuhen now, Qi would collapse immediately.

Beyond that, Hao Zhen was genuinely deeply grateful to him.

Among the princes who had fled for their lives, it was because of one sentence from Huyan Wuhen that Hao Zhen had ascended the throne.

Without Huyan Wuhen’s support, he could never have become emperor. At a time like this, whoever the man holding military power supported was the one who could take the throne. His word was even more useful than that of the Three Great Sects. At the very least, the Three Great Sects did not dare oppose Huyan Wuhen now.

Ascending the throne under present conditions might not actually be a good thing, but at least in a situation where princes were worth less than dogs, Hao Zhen’s entire household was much better off.

Look at what the rest of the imperial clan was doing now. Every one of them had to work honestly.

If they still tried to put on imperial airs, what would the soldiers struggling through hardship think?

At this moment, the principle truly was that when a prince broke the law, he was punished like a commoner.

As a warning, Hao Zhen had already executed two members of the imperial clan who had loudly demanded special treatment.

The ship was about to capsize. At a time when everyone aboard had to work together, there was no room for idlers.

Even the noblewomen of the imperial clan had begun doing miscellaneous labor. At minimum they had to take care of themselves, washing clothes and handling ordinary chores. They ate whatever the soldiers ate. One pair of delicate hands after another had rubbed raw and blistered, and every one of them suffered bitterly.

As emperor, Hao Zhen’s own family naturally lived somewhat better than the others. At least they did not have to worry that their heads might fall at any moment.

Even so, Shao Liuer understood propriety. She abandoned her splendid clothing and jewelry, voluntarily took Hao Zhen’s two elder sons to work, and ate and used the same things as the soldiers.

Whenever she had time, she treated Huyan Wei and Hao Qingqing’s daughter as though she were her own, lavishing affection on the child. Even if her own sons had to go without, she made sure Huyan Wuhen’s grandchild was cared for first.

She understood perfectly that at this moment her entire household needed Huyan Wuhen’s support.

With a different frame of mind from the rest of the imperial clan, hardship no longer felt quite the same.

Ever since Shao Liuer had married into Hao Zhen’s princely household, she had always satisfied him. She was a woman who understood priorities and knew what mattered. Especially now, Hao Zhen found great comfort in her behavior.

She too had been born a cherished daughter of a great household, yet she lacked the vanity, arrogance, and extravagant habits shown by so many of the other noblewomen here.

Hao Zhen himself now had gray at both temples. In only a short period, he had aged considerably.

There was no helping it.

Qi’s present situation had truly wrung him dry. He could not sleep at night and often woke from nightmares, spending every day and night laboring and worrying.

Across Qi, many places had already become almost empty cities. Under the strategic pressure imposed by Gao Pin, vast numbers of Qi’s common people had become refugees, continuously fleeing toward the former territory of Wei.

Gao Pin held the strategic initiative. Rather than meeting the Qi army in a direct battlefield confrontation, he used one method after another to compress its strategic space, continuously hollowing out the ground on which the Qi army depended for survival, all so the final blow would become inevitable when the time was ripe.

Faced with such a situation, everyone was afraid.

No matter how diligently Hao Zhen governed, he could not turn back hearts already flowing away like water.

Fine words were useless when people could see no hope. They could only run toward whatever hope they believed remained. Nothing mattered more than filling one’s stomach and staying alive.

No matter how beautifully a painted cake looked, it could not fill an empty belly, and no one believed in it.

“Does Your Majesty have some decree?” Huyan Wuhen finally broke the silence.

Hao Zhen stared at him. “We just received word that Supreme General ordered the Office of Investigation to contact its hidden people inside the city and secretly approach Gu Yuanda, offering to accept his surrender?”

Huyan Wuhen nodded. “That is correct.”

When he admitted it, Yuwen Yan spoke. “Supreme General, victory is already in our grasp and the capital is within reach. Is there really any need to do this now?”

Hao Zhen sighed. “Exactly. Supreme General, Gu Yuanda is a rebel general. He cannot escape responsibility for Qi’s sudden collapse into this state. He brought about Father Emperor’s death, looted the capital, and caused both of Supreme General’s sons to die as well. His crimes are so grave that ten thousand deaths would not absolve him. How can we let him off lightly?”

Huyan Wuhen had known this matter could not be hidden from the emperor.

The Office of Investigation was controlled by Hao Zhen. The moment Huyan Wuhen asked the office to handle something like this, he knew the emperor might come over. The emperor had probably already ordered the Office of Investigation to suspend the operation temporarily.

Huyan Wuhen turned toward the three sect leaders. “Sect Leaders, if the cultivators inside the city make every effort to protect Gu Yuanda and break him out, can the three of you guarantee without fail that he will not escape?”

The three exchanged looks.

Bei Xuan said, “If they attempt a desperate breakout, there is always some possibility of the unexpected. For Supreme General to ask us for an absolute guarantee is rather difficult. Naturally, we will do everything possible, but accidents can always happen.”

In a great battle between armies, retainer cultivators risking their lives to help a commander escape was perfectly normal and bound to happen. How could they possibly guarantee beyond all doubt that nothing would go wrong?

The people on the other side were built on the foundations of Wei’s former Three Great Sects. They were hardly weak.

If the three sect leaders made an absolute guarantee now and an accident later occurred, everyone would lose face.

Huyan Wuhen nodded, then raised a hand and pointed outside the tent toward the towering earthen mound visible in the distance. “Our preparations are complete. One final push is enough. Do the three Sect Leaders know why I did not contact Gu Yuanda earlier, but chose precisely this moment?”

Hao Zhen immediately asked, “Is there some deeper purpose behind Supreme General’s action?”

“Naturally. The point is to make certain he cannot escape.”

“It is both to ensure there are no mishaps and to let our army retake the capital with the smallest possible losses. The rebels know they have no road left alive. If we force the final battle now, they will fight like cornered dogs and resist to the death. There is no need, at this stage, to let them inflict heavy casualties on us. We must also guard against the rebels setting fire to the city.”

“That scoundrel’s crimes cannot be absolved by ten thousand deaths. How could I possibly agree to accept his surrender?”

“Your Majesty can rest assured. I will not spare him, and I will not let him escape! If this traitor is not killed, Heaven’s justice will not tolerate it, and it will not be enough to intimidate the regional lords!”

He turned back to Hao Zhen and cupped his hands. “But I still need the Office of Investigation to have one of its smooth-tongued men inside the city cooperate with everything he has!”

...

Gu Yuanda was deeply surprised.

Looking at the secret envoy before him, uncertainty and suspicion filled both his expression and his heart.

Huyan Wuhen was actually willing to let him live?

He was actually willing to accept Gu Yuanda’s surrender?

That was completely beyond anything Gu Yuanda had imagined.

How could it possibly be true?

He found it impossible to believe.

And yet he did not dare dismiss it.

[End of Chapter 1440]