Xumo’er was able to sneak into the capital with, at most, two or three hundred people.
They couldn’t afford to bring too many people in; if they acted too brazenly, they risked exposure, so they always remained highly cautious.
Gao Yuexing estimated this number based on the assassins who attacked the Haitang Palace last time. They were likely outsiders who, upon passing by Haitang Palace and hearing that the Xiang Consort was residing there, decided to take the opportunity to deal with her.
Prince Xiang was well-versed in formations. When he built this Haitang Palace, it was during his younger, more playful days, so he designed many flashy traps and mechanisms. Xumo’er had obtained the blueprints from Fu Yun, broke through all the mechanisms and formations, and boldly made it to the outer area of her bedchamber.
As Gao Yuexing pondered, she made her decision.
This time, they would still pass through Lushu Mountain on their way to the capital and would once again catch a distant glimpse of her Haitang Palace. Gao Yuexing decided to lure them to this location to prevent them from entering the capital and slaughtering innocent civilians. Let the battlefield end here.
It was time for her to settle the score. The victor had yet to be determined, but her moment of vengeance had come.
Three days passed.
Prince Xin clamored for the emperor’s burial, saying that keeping the body in the imperial palace had made it so foul-smelling that no one could sleep. Prince Xin himself was a usurper and a traitor to the throne. While he had no shame, others still did.
Several senior ministers were so enraged they nearly bashed their heads against the palace gates, but Xi Heng led the Jinyiwei to subdue them one by one.
After usurping the throne, Prince Xin neither ascended the throne formally nor held court, nor did he make public appearances. The court officials, now working from home, wrote denunciatory letters every day. The harshest criticism was, of course, directed at Prince Xin and Kong Shishu, his accomplice, followed by Xi Heng, with terms like “ingrate” and “white-eyed wolf” being commonly used.
Xi Heng, however, was self-assured, pointing out that the founding emperor’s instructions were displayed in the Beizhen Fusi study: the Jinyiwei followed only the orders of the emperor, regardless of who that emperor was. As long as the imperial seal was in his hand, he was their undisputed master.
Prince Xin, unwilling to properly bury his father, simply wanted to have the stinking coffin dragged out to resolve the issue.
No one in the capital obeyed him.
So, he turned to the ever-obedient Jinyiwei.
To everyone’s secret delight, Kong Shishu sided with Prince Xin this time.
Kong Shishu had his own calculations; he was about to welcome Xumo’er’s prince into the capital, and having the imperial palace in such a sorry state was hardly appropriate.
Thus, against the opposition of the ministers, the emperor’s coffin was placed on a carriage. Escorted by the Jinyiwei, accompanied by a shabby ceremonial guard composed entirely of disgraced eunuchs and palace maids, it made a sorrowful departure from the capital, heading toward the imperial mausoleum.
Prince Xin, as the emperor’s son, not only failed to attend the burial but couldn’t even be bothered to see it off.
The clueless court officials burned incense and prayed fervently at home every day, begging for the return of Prince Xiang with troops to deal with this inhumane usurper.
—
Western Frontier.
Finally, Xumo’er made a move.
Just after midnight, the sound of battle erupted outside.
Li Fuxiang opened his eyes and swiftly donned his armor, grabbing his blade in one fluid motion. Calm and composed, he ascended the city walls, frowning as he surveyed the surroundings. Looking down, he saw nothing below.
When he looked further into the distance, he could faintly make out a rapidly retreating army.
The Zheng brothers hurried up behind him.
Zheng Yan, panting heavily, exclaimed, “It’s started! Finally, the battle has begun… Eh? Why is it quiet now? Where are they?” Staring at the empty space below the city, doubt flickered in his eyes. “Did I imagine it? Impossible! Brother, you heard it too, didn’t you? How can it just start and stop? Am I dreaming?”
Zheng Xiao pinched him hard.
Zheng Yan let out a yelp, clutching his arm as he hopped aside.
Zheng Xiao muttered with a frown, “What’s going on? Did they retreat?”
Li Fuxiang flicked the cloth tied around his Shenwu blade and said, “Go back and rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Zheng Xiao reached out to grab him. “Tomorrow? Come back here!”
But Li Fuxiang didn’t give him the chance to speak. With a quick pivot, he darted a few steps away and, without looking back, said, “Save your energy. I estimate they’ll pull this kind of stunt every night for the next few days.”
The tactic of “wearing us out” was infuriating to no end.
—
The next day, the military camp spent an entire day “studying tactics,” but in reality, it was just a chaotic mess of arguments. By evening, everyone was exhausted from the bickering and went back to rest with throbbing headaches. Li Fuxiang personally carried a chair up to the city wall, sat down, and waited.
As he expected, just after midnight, Xumo’er’s “monkeys” sneaked up again.
They had wrapped cotton around their horses’ hooves, making their movements nearly silent. Only when they were close could they be detected.
But now the one guarding Xiang City was Li Fuxiang.
At the boundary where the vast yellow sands met the night, the moment the suspicious figures appeared, Li Fuxiang’s sharp eyes locked onto them.
The sentry soldiers on the city wall hadn’t noticed a thing yet.
Li Fuxiang had already identified that the leader was a woman.
Xumo’er’s tribe was severely lacking in manpower; when they went to war, women fought just like men.
As their assault began with intensity, the defenders on the city wall beat the war drums. Yet Li Fuxiang remained motionless, sitting steadily in his chair, drawing the sidelong glances of the soldiers.
—
At the same time.
All the formations and mechanisms in the Haitang Palace on the outskirts of the capital activated in a single night, following the blueprints left by Li Fuxiang.
In the main hall, Gao Yuexing placed a butterfly chair, rare in its intricate beauty. She had carefully adorned herself and slowly took her seat.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
Gao Yuexing lifted her head, gazing at the eaves that had left the deepest impression on her and the bright moon hanging high above. She closed her eyes, a faint scent of blood lingering in her mind. It was as if, in the next moment, a poisoned arrow would slice through the wind and pierce her abdomen.
Beside her, Zhao Tongsheng, clad in freshly polished armor and holding a blade, hesitated before advising, “Consort, perhaps you should head inside. We’re here; you can rest assured.”
Gao Yuexing, seated in her chair, replied, “No, I’ll stay right here. I want to watch with my own eyes.”
Seeing that he couldn’t convince her, Zhao Tongsheng said gravely, “Regardless, Consort, you must take care of yourself.”
Gao Yuexing closed her eyes and didn’t respond. She sat quietly in front of the hall, facing the naturally frigid lake water that had been there since the mansion’s inception. In her daze, she seemed to see the figure of Li Fuxiang galloping toward her on horseback once more.
Gao Yuexing clung to that dreamlike illusion, unwilling to open her eyes.
He is always by my side.
Gao Yuexing softly whispered, “We will always be together.”
—
The brief skirmish at Xiang City ended the same way as the night before. Before there was even a chance to counterattack, the Xumo’er forces retreated.
A group of men on the city wall stomped and cursed in frustration.
Li Fuxiang said nothing as he went back to his quarters and fell asleep immediately.
The next morning, he assembled a thousand elite soldiers from the Xiaoqi Battalion, preparing to lead them out of the city.
Zheng Xiao blocked his path. “Tell me your plan.”
Li Fuxiang rolled up a map of Hucha Sea, stuffed it into his chest, and said, “Xumo’er has no capable generals. I’ll go out, deal with them, and be back in three days at the latest. Then we’ll pull back the western forces and return to reinforce the capital.”
Zheng Xiao frowned. “Reinforce… reinforce? Reinforce the capital? What do you mean!?”
Li Fuxiang replied, “It’s a long story.”
Zheng Xiao pressed him. “Then make it short.”
Li Fuxiang said, “Even if I shorten it, I don’t have time to explain. Just remember this: no matter what news comes from the capital, you must steady the troops and wait for my return.”
With that, a thousand soldiers of the Xiaoqi Battalion followed Li Fuxiang out of the city, galloping straight toward Hucha Sea.
Zheng Xiao’s right eye twitched the entire day. That night, unable to sleep, he ordered the entire army to remain on high alert. He positioned archers and firestones all over the city walls, determined to teach Xumo’er a lesson.
But Xumo’er wasn’t foolish.
At midnight, they came again, as expected, but this time they didn’t approach the city walls. Zheng Xiao stood guard personally and only heard the sound of arrows cutting through the air. Xumo’er’s arrows rained down, scattering pieces of paper all over the city wall.
Standing next to a blazing firepit, Zheng Xiao removed a piece of paper from an arrowhead.
A loud, confident shout rose from below: “Your emperor of the Great Xu Dynasty is dead!”
Zheng Xiao immediately grabbed a soldier’s bow and shot an arrow toward the voice. A scream of pain followed, and the troublemaking enemy soldier was killed on the spot.
But it was too late. Many soldiers had already read the message on the arrows.
None of them believed it.
Zheng Xiao didn’t believe it either.
But almost instantly, he recalled what Li Fuxiang had said to him before leaving that morning:
“No matter what news comes from the capital, you must steady the troops.”
Suddenly, Zheng Xiao wasn’t so certain anymore.
What had happened in the capital?
Why did they have to wait to reinforce it?
Xumo’er’s forces retreated into Hucha Sea, having lost only one loudmouthed soldier. The rest gathered around a woman at their center.
“Hahaha, that was satisfying! Princess, the city must be in chaos now,” one soldier said.
Xumo’er’s young princess sat proudly on horseback and replied, “Just ten more days, and we won’t have to suffer in Hucha Sea anymore. Once my brother secures his position in their capital, I want the defenders of Xiang City to open the gates and kneel to welcome us.”
Their arrogant laughter carried through the wind and sand of the night.
It wasn’t a good night. The sky was overcast, and the strong wind made it impossible to see the road clearly.
Li Fuxiang crouched behind a sand dune with Ji Wei and Zhan Ji by his side. Xumo’er’s mocking laughter reached their ears. Zhan Ji, grinding his teeth in fury, spat on the ground. “Dream on.”
Li Fuxiang, wrapped in a wolf pelt he had skinned himself, sat silently. Ji Wei touched the fur, weighing it in his hands. “You brought your bedding out here? Isn’t it heavy?”
Li Fuxiang smacked his hand away, tightened the wolf pelt around himself, and silently gestured for them to follow.
Xumo’er weren’t the only ones skilled at hiding and maneuvering in Hucha Sea.
Li Fuxiang was even more adept at this.
He had fought over a hundred battles, large and small, with bandits in Hucha Sea. He was well-versed in both chasing and escaping tactics.
Xumo’er had spent over a month exhausting his forces, clearly employing a luring the tiger from the mountain strategy. Li Fuxiang had no patience left to play along. Before pulling his troops back to the capital, he decided to leave Xumo’er’s general, stationed far away in the capital, a little “memento” of their homeland.
The imperial mausoleum was located in Rujiang Mountain. While the journey itself wasn’t far, the ceremonial entourage moved slowly, taking three to five days to complete the trip. Even with a forced march, it would still take two and a half days.
Hiding troops there had been an exceptionally clever move by General Zheng.
By now, it had been three days since the emperor’s coffin left the city.
Gao Yuexing calculated the timing. At the earliest, reinforcements would still need three more days to arrive.
And Xumo’er—where were they now?
While Haitang Palace was on high alert, a guest arrived outside, knocking on the door.
Zhao Tongsheng opened it and was momentarily startled.
He didn’t recognize the visitor, but he did recognize the uniforms they wore—terrifying *Feiyu Robes* that struck fear at first sight.
The two Jinyiwei didn’t mince words. Upon seeing Zhao Tongsheng, they handed him a letter and said, “We followed the imperial coffin out of the capital under the orders of our commander. This intelligence is to be delivered to the Xiang Consort.”
Zhao Tongsheng’s eyes lit up—it was intelligence! Without wasting a moment, he tucked the letter away and rushed straight to the main hall.
Gao Yuexing opened the letter and read it.
The Jinyiwei intelligence stated that Xumo’er had disguised themselves as six merchant caravans and were expected to reach the capital by tomorrow night. Their total numbers were 176 people.
Gao Yuexing folded the letter and said to Zhao Tongsheng, “Spread word in the towns along their route. Say that the Xiang Consort is gravely ill and unable to return to the capital, temporarily resting at Haitang Palace at the foot of Lushu Mountain.”