Zhang Shun led a convoy of grain transporting vehicles slowly crossing the desolate grassland.
The piercing cold wind blew so hard that one could barely open their eyes, but Zhang Shun didn't dare let down his guard for even a second, attentively keeping an eye on every rustle of the grass around them.
He didn't know if he would be that unlucky one to encounter an ambush by the barbarians, but as a veteran who had spilled blood on this very grassland before, he understood perfectly well the ferocity and horrors of the barbarians.
"Chief, it's getting dark. Should we set up camp?"
Zhang Shun looked up at the darkening sky and was about to nod in agreement when the ground beneath them began to rumble.
He immediately drew out his sword and stabbed it into the mud, then pressed his ear against the blade. Sure enough, he could hear the thunder of hooves getting closer.
"The barbarians are here!"
The two hundred Yi Prefecture soldiers that were traveling with him immediately formed a circle around Zhang Shun.
"How unlucky we are to run into them!"
"Chief, you haven't washed your face these days, have you? That's why we have such terrible luck!"
"You still have the mood to joke around?" Zhang Shun was quite impressed by his seasoned veterans to remain so carefree in this situation. "When the barbarians catch up to us, you won't even have time to cry!"
"Then what should we do now, chief?"
"What else can we do? Run!"
"The chief said to run! Let's get out of here!"
"Unhitch the oxen, leave the carts!"
"Hurry up, or the barbarians will invite you to a barbecue!"
...
Joking aside, when it came to fleeing for their lives, these veterans moved faster than anyone.
The ones on foot ran, the ones riding oxen rode, and in a flash everyone had cleared out cleanly.
Zhang Shun and the rear guard not only set fire to every cart, but had loaded them with useless hay instead of grain. It was a pity to lose the carts he had spent a fortune on.
By the time the barbarian troops arrived, Zhang Shun and his men had already fled far away. The barbarians had intended to burn the grain but found that it had already been reduced to ashes.
"Humph! Those damned Han people," the barbarian chief looked at the hundred burning carts, feeling it a great waste. "At least they were smart enough to burn everything instead of leaving us any."
"What does it matter?" A barbarian vice chief said. "With no grain, their main forces will retreat in days. We can ambush them then and catch them unprepared."
The barbarian chief gazed toward Yuhan Pass, a smirk on his lips. "Then we'll kill our way into Yuhan Pass!"
...
Grand Marshal Xu was chatting with Li Yao in his tent when Wang San hurried inside.
Seeing there was no one else present, he whispered, "The fish has taken the bait."
"Oh?" Grand Marshal Xu asked. "Which route was it?"
"The one with Wei Commander."
Grand Marshal Xu frowned, finding it rather strange.
The Commander monitored the army on behalf of the emperor, basically a spy for the throne to ensure the generals do not rebel or commit treason.
Why would someone as loyal to the emperor as a Commander turn traitor instead?
Regardless of whether it made sense, the facts were laid bare before him. Grand Marshal Xu said, "Take him into custody."
"You must not do that," Li Yao rushed to stop him.
"Why can't we arrest him?" Grand Marshal Xu asked, puzzled. "Though he is a Commander, I don't have the authority to dispose of him. But he has colluded with foreign parties, so I can escort him back to the capital for His Majesty to pass judgement."
"That would be letting him off too easily," Li Yao said. "He's not getting away anyway. Keep him for now so we can make better use of him."
"Does Madam Li have any wise suggestions?"
"The real grain transport hasn't arrived yet," said Li Yao. "Let's use the same trick, split them into two teams. One with the real grain, one with fake grain. Give Wei Commander the route for the fake grain to tell the barbarians to raid, so the real grain can arrive safely."
"You're right, why didn't I think of that? We'll do just that!"
It was merely the simplest tactic of suspicion and division.
Li Yao even wondered how someone like Grand Marshal Xu made it to Grand Marshal at all, though it was also possible he was just pretending to be dumb.
In any case, the plan worked perfectly. Hearing there was even more grain this time, guarded by elite soldiers at that, the barbarians concentrated almost all their forces infiltrated behind the Han army to launch a strike.
Yet when they arrived, they found only burning carts with nothing left, again.
To make the barbarians believe it was real grain, Zhang Shun deliberately left a few carts unburned, filled with actual food.
The barbarians thought they had achieved another tremendous victory, burning several hundred carts of Daling grain. Little did they know the real grain had already circumvented them and arrived safely at the Han army's station.
With so much grain now, Grand Marshal Xu was greatly relieved.
As for Zhang Shun and Liu Hu's two thousand Yi Prefecture soldiers, though they lacked horses, they were incorporated into the main forces for logistic duties and garrisoning the camps, more than sufficient.
When the grain arrived, Grand Marshal Xu had already arrested Wei Commander.
The old eunuch didn't even know how he was exposed. He stubbornly denied the allegations and clung to his status, refusing to yield. Finally Grand Marshal Xu laid out the entire scheme to make Wei Commander fall to his knees in despair.
"Grand Marshal, I had no choice! I was coerced!"
"Colluding with foreign parties, and you still claim you had no choice?" Grand Marshal Xu sneered. "Could the barbarians even reach your family within the capital to threaten them?"
"It wasn't the barbarians, it was...it was..."
"It was who?" Grand Marshal Xu demanded. "If you confess the whole truth, I may petition His Majesty to pardon your crimes and let you live out your remaining years in peace. But if not, consider your legs broken!"
After brief hesitation, Wei Commander caved and talked.
"It was on the orders of Right Chancellor Zhu Zilin that I acted."
"What did you say?" Grand Marshal Xu bolted up in rage. "Wei Commander, how dare you wantonly smear and slander? Do you really want me to break your legs right now?"
"I wouldn't dare lie! It really was the Right Chancellor's command! If not, even if I were bolder than the heavens I still wouldn't dare collude with the barbarians!"
Now Grand Marshal Xu was confused again.
Why would someone as powerful as the Right Chancellor, second only to the emperor himself, join forces with the barbarians?
Unable to make sense of it, Grand Marshal Xu decided to ask Li Yao.
Li Yao shook her head. "I doubt the Chancellor plans to rebel. He probably just wants to use the barbarians to bog Daling's army down here."
"How does that benefit him?"
"I presume some even higher power made the arrangements," Li Yao smiled. "Though who exactly, I do not have the contacts to know. Grand Marshal, you would be more familiar in that area."
The only ones higher than the Right Chancellor were the present emperor.
The emperor working with barbarians? That possibility could be dismissed without thinking.
No, wait!
A figure suddenly surfaced in Grand Marshal Xu's mind.
Higher than the Right Chancellor, aside from the present emperor, there was another——the future emperor——the Crown Prince!