Chapter 1090: Full Attack (2)

Ogedei sat quietly on the chair. After a while, he ordered, “Invite the Military Advisor over.”

“Khan, the Military Advisor led his men out of the camp early in the morning, saying that he was going to investigate the terrain.”

A cold light flashed in Ogedei’s eyes as he said angrily, “Get someone to chase after him. We must get him back!”

Li Zhang knew all his military arrangements. If he betrayed him, he would definitely suffer heavy losses.

“Khan, should we go and stop the Qi army?”

Ogedei gritted his teeth and said hatefully, “Push south and occupy the Central Capital before the Qi army. Block them south of the Central Capital.”

The Central Capital was now Great Jin’s capital. Ogedei’s action meant that the peace talks with Great Jin had broken down and he wanted to destroy Great Jin before Great Qi did.

When his subordinates heard this, they went to prepare.

At this moment, Qi Haoran was also seizing time to attack the cities. Sometimes, Mu Yangling would act as a general and fight in the war. After two or three exchanges, the Zhending garrison lost two generals and the remaining generals would not leave the city.

General Shang and General Qin were already immune to the Princess Consort’s bravery. When they saw her enter solemnly in her military attire, they knew that she didn’t manage to open the city gate.

General Qin looked at Qi Haoran and said, “Your Highness, we’ve already surrounded Zhending for eight days. I heard that General Mu has already rushed to Datong Prefecture. We have to hurry up, else General Mu might be put in danger.”

Qi Haoran ordered solemnly, “Bury a pot to make rice. Everyone, have a good meal tonight.”

General Qin and General Shang looked at each other. Knowing that Qi Haoran was going to attack the city overnight, they advised, “General, the fog is heavy at night. Should we…”

Qi Haoran said, “It’s the same for the enemy. Don’t worry, I have my own countermeasures.”

General Qin tugged at General Shang. After they left the tent, General Shang said, “Why did you tug at me? I do want to attack the city, but shouldn’t we do it during the day? The fog is so thick at night. How can we attack the city if we can’t even see the road?”

“Let me ask you, where is the young Prince who always follows the General around?”

“How would I know…” General Shang was stunned. “You mean…”

“His Highness has always made plans before taking action. Previously, we basically pleaded with him to start a war and it was useless. Why did he agree to it this time? I thought about it carefully just now. The young Prince hasn’t been by His Highness’ side for at least two days. I don’t know where he is now.”

General Shang scratched his head. “Doesn’t His Highness worry? That’s his eldest son. If anything happens on the way…”

“Shut your jinxed mouth. My younger brother is also missing with the young Prince.”

At this moment, Little Bear, who was being missed by General Qin and the others, was standing on the post with his men and looking down. Qin Ming looked along the road and asked, “Can we really stop them?”

“Let’s give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll forge documents and wear the uniform of the Jin soldiers to sneak into the city.”

Qin Ming did not know where Qi Wenjin got so many ideas from. He sat cross-legged on the ground and said, “Shouldn’t we fight openly? How did you come up with so many tricks?”

Naturally, Little Bear wouldn’t say that he had heard it from his mother’s stories. He said, “This is one way of fighting a war. If they can’t tell that we’re fakes, it simply means they’re not capable enough.”

“They’re here…” Before Little Bear could finish speaking, a soldier sneaked up and pointed at the person riding over from afar. “Your Highness, look, that team over there consists of Great Jin’s messengers. There are five people in each team. Eh, that’s not right. Why is there one extra person?”

“That man is tied up. He must be a good person.”

“Bullsh*t. If someone is tied up, it means they’re a good person?”

“Alright.” Little Bear threw away the weeds in his hand and said, “Whether he’s good or bad, we’ll find out once we catch them and question them. Let’s go.”

The group slowly slid down the hill and hid on both sides of the road. Qin Ming had already prepared the heel rope.

The messengers who were in a hurry did not notice at all. When the heel rope rose, the messengers fell from their horses and rolled on the ground. After getting back on their feet, they split up and ran in three directions without even looking.

Qi Wenjin secretly praised their speed. He flew out like lightning and grabbed them one by one. After knocking them out, he threw them on the ground. Qin Ming and the other soldiers had already chased after the other two teams.

Qi Wenjin went to grab the person who had fallen to the ground. “Hey, how did you get captured by the Jin soldiers?”

That person looked up at Little Bear. Seeing that he was wearing the clothes of the Jin soldiers, he closed his eyes and ignored him.

Qi Wenjin pursed his lips and said, “If you don’t tell me, I’ll cut off your limbs and use them as sticks. Are you afraid?”

That person still had his eyes closed and did not speak. Qi Wenjin was about to threaten him again when Qin Ming came back with the captives and threw the other three to the ground. Panting, he said, “They ran quite quickly. If not for the fact that there were people lying in ambush behind us, they would definitely have run away. These are not ordinary messengers.”

Qi Wenjin went to frisk them. “What urgent news does one need such powerful messengers for?”

The three of them who were still conscious glared at Qi Wenjin and shouted angrily in Jin language, “Stop. Who are you? How dare you be so rude to the commander? Let us go right away!”

Qi Wenjin found them too noisy so he knocked them out. He found a letter tube on their bodies and was about to open it when the person on the ground said calmly in Mandarin, “There’s something in the letter tube. Once you open it, it’ll catch fire and the message will burn.”

Qi Wenjin paused and looked at him. After sizing him up, he asked, “Are you Han?”

The man made no comment.

Qi Wenjin thought for a moment and cut the rope on his hand with a knife. He handed the letter to him. “You know how to handle this?”

“Your Highness!” Qin Ming wanted to stop him.

Qi Wenjin waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. He won’t be able to escape.”

That person looked up and took a closer look at Qi Wenjin. Then, he lowered his eyes and took off his clothes. He placed the letter tube in the dark and wet his hands with water. With a clever technique, he slowly opened the letter tube and quickly pulled the letter out of it. He unfolded it in the dark under his clothes for Qi Wenjin to see.

Qi Wenjin’s expression changed when he saw the contents of the letter. He took the letter and brought it under the sun. Immediately, the letter caught fire.

Qi Wenjin watched as the letter was burned. Then, he looked at Qin Ming and said, “Send the signal. We must take down Zhending tonight. I have something important to report to Father King.”

Qi Wenjin pointed at the six people on the ground and said, “Lock them up separately. We’ll talk after we take down Zhending.”

Qin Ming couldn’t help but ask in private, “What exactly happened?”

“Great Jin has ceded cities to West Xia and allied with them. In a few days, West Xia will send troops to assist them. My maternal grandfather will bear the brunt of the attack on the West Road. Moreover, most of the troops Great Jin has saved will be used to reinforce Zhending, so we have to attack the city quickly. Otherwise, when Great Jin’s reinforcements arrive, it will be even harder to attack the city.”

That night, Qi Wenjin and the others pretended to be messengers and knocked on Zhending’s gate and showed a forged document. They used this opportunity to sneak into the camp and set fire everywhere late at night, causing Zhending City to descend in chaos.

The Qi army took advantage of this opportunity to attack the city and attack Zhending Prefecture at sunrise. At this point, the battlefront of Great Qi’s northward advance had been pushed to the Zhending-Hejian area. Most of the lost territory occupied by Great Jin had been recovered, leaving only the Central Capital-Datong area that had not been recovered.