Chapter 263 Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

　　Taken aback, Jiang Wu replied, “Yes, Sir!”, before excusing himself quietly, as if nothing had happened.

　　With the letter sealed firmly, there was no way he dared peek at its contents. As he walked down the corridor, he wondered if there was any truth towards rumors that the royal family had intentions to form a union with Yan Bei through marriage. If it was true, would the future lineage of Song have the surname of Nalan or Yan? Was the assassination of the king of Taiping a success after all?

　　There was no point in guessing the thoughts of the upper brass. It wasn’t long before Jiang Wu was tempted by the fragrance coming out from the kitchen, deciding to skive off.

　　In the study, Xuan Mo leaned against a chair with dragon patterns engraved on it, shutting his eyes slowly. News of the agreement between Yan Bei and Song soon spread around West Meng. It was no surprise that in such troubled times, the two countries would form an alliance. It was not long before the Song navy occupied the Huangfu Sea, lurking over Xia, ready to commence military action alongside Yan Bei.

　　That night, a deafening silence enshrouded Baizhi Pass. Since its occupation by Yan Bei’s forces, the place had long lost its luster.

　　In the early hours of the night, a formation of troops wearing black with oil markings on their faces as camouflage approached the gate in the darkness. Chu Qiao stood in the middle of the formation, where she reiterated the rules of engagement for the upcoming operation.

　　“Firstly, do not hesitate to kill anyone that presents themselves as a potential threat or could warn the others about our presence.

　　“Secondly, team one shall cause as much chaos as possible inside the city. Team two will head northeast and rile up the pack of horses there, creating the illusion of an impending massive Xia attack to cause panic among the guards in the city.

　　“Thirdly, the others are to standby outside the city, ready to receive their comrades for a quick response, for everyone to pass through safely.”

　　The seconds ticked by. As soon as the drums to signal the 11th hour of the night were struck, the first group led by He Qi raced towards Baizhi Pass. Simultaneously, the second group began their journey towards the northeast where the pack of horses had already been prepared.

　　Leading some of his most elite troops, it did not take long for He Qi and his group to disappear into the darkness. Accompanied by a few of her personal guards, Chu Qiao stepped into the dense forest and sat quietly, going through her elaborate plans repeatedly in her head, looking for any possible shortfalls and weaknesses.

　　Once, twice, thrice.

　　“Alright, it should be fine.” She took a deep breath as she waited for the next signal silently.

　　It was an hour later when the deafening, thunderous sounds of horse steps, mixed with the cries of soldiers, reverberated through the air. The enormous amounts of dust, kicked up by the horses tied against the trees attempting to flee, soon blocked out the moonlight, giving the illusion that a massive army riding on horseback was approaching. The city of Baizhi Pass came to a standstill, their attention all focused towards the northeast.

　　It wasn’t long before the northeastern gates of the city opened. Two groups of scouts rushed out, only to be swiftly taken out by the elite soldiers of the Xiuli army that were waiting for them outside.

　　It only took another hour before flames engulfed the city. Chu Qiao stood up and ordered, “It’s time! Let’s go!”

　　Pre-positioned pontoons were pushed to the banks of the Chishui River, where Chu Qiao and her troops took off towards the direction of Tang.

　　The Yan Bei army was made up entirely of light cavalry troops and heavy armored units, with no naval or amphibious forces. As they had hastily taken over Baizhi Pass, it was impossible to fully control such a vast expanse of water. With enemies attacking from both inside and outside, the Chishui River represented the ideal passage towards Tang at this moment.

　　They had wandered for less than half an hour before they heard some noises ahead in the river. Picking up an arrow and unleashing it from her bow at maximum tension, a curdling scream in the darkness ensued. Almost immediately, the night sky was lit up by several hundred torches, revealing over 500 warships that were concealed in the darkness, from which dozens of long spears were aimed straight at them.

　　Standing on board the bow of the flagship, an official from Yan Bei raised his knife as he ordered, “Death to the traitors!” With their arrows locked onto the chambers of their crossbows, as the officer swung his sword, his soldiers pressed their triggers, unleashing a swarm of arrows towards Chu Qiao and her soldiers.

　　“Jump!” He Xiao suddenly exclaimed. In an instant, the soldiers of the Xiuli army jumped into the river, as thousands of arrows struck their pontoon without leaving a trace of blood in their wake.

　　“Commander, all of them jumped into the river!” a voice shouted out.

　　Almost immediately, another soldier frantically exclaimed, “General! Our ship is leaking!”

　　It was not long before many ships had their hull smashed, as the water poured in. In an instant, three warships had been sunk as their crew capsized into the river. The Yan Bei soldiers who were unable to swim frantically grabbed the floating debris; their curdling pleas for help echoed across the river, which further added to the chaos.

　　“They’re beneath us!”

　　The general, seething with rage, ordered at the top of his lungs, “Use the stone catapults! Use the spears! Crush them! Stab them to their deaths!”

　　“General! There are some of our soldiers in the river! We can’t do that!”

　　“Scram!”

　　Furious, the soldier thought of shouting back, only to pulled aside by his comrade. The soldier stated angrily, “But our orders from His Majesty were to capture the enemy alive!”

　　The others replied hurriedly, “Alive? We don’t even know if we can catch those dead, much less those alive!”

　　The stone boulders soon emerged, reflecting the light off the lit torches. Furious, the general ordered his troops to hurry up with the assembly of the stone catapults, Rows of soldiers armed with spears took their positions. The next second, boulders began landing into the water while spear after spear swarmed the skies, cutting into the water. The river water started to turn red.

　　After the endless waves of attacks, the river surface began to calm down, showing the complete destruction of the pontoons that Chu Qiao’s forces used. The debris of nearly 1,000 destroyed pontoons soon clustered around the Yan Bei warships, stacking up to form a bridge between the vessels.

　　As the chaos ceased, the Yan Bei soldiers looked at each other in confusion as they asked, “Aren’t they all dead? Why aren’t their bodies floating to the surface?”

　　“Look!”

　　Everyone turned around in the direction of the voice, only to see countless heads popping out from the river behind them. As soon as they were on the surface, they all took off their shirts and bunched together, using the rapid river currents to swiftly travel downstream.

　　Stunned yet still furious, the general asked, “What is that?”

　　A veteran replied with a hint of doubt in his voice, “It appears to be pontoons made up of sheep’s skin.”

　　“After them!”

　　“General, the debris is too thick for us to move. We will be stuck here for a while.”

　　The general stood rooted to the spot, stunned. Despite his side’s advantage, the enemy had somehow escaped from his clutches. Almost 60,000 Yan Bei soldiers on the ships watched on in a daze as the figures in the river slowly disappeared into the darkness.

　　After joining up with He Qi and his forces, Chu Qiao immediately began a head count of her remaining forces, where she learned that over 3,000 soldiers had perished in the battle, of which 2,000 were killed by the boulders and spears used by the Yan Bei soldiers.

　　Yet, this was a small price to pay as a majority of her entourage had managed to pass through Baizhi Pass, which was by itself a huge accomplishment. Though they had moved on from Baizhi Pass, the battle was far from over. For one, they had caught the attention of the entire Yan Bei military, and the huge swath of land behind Baizhi Pass was still under the control of Yan Bei’s army.

　　Decisively, Chu Qiao led her troops into the forest, where they fought their first battle with the enemy two days later. The two sides would fight over 20 battles in the next three days afterward, most of the victories claimed by Chu Qiao’s Xiuli army. After all, they were more adept at close combat and guerrilla warfare, whereas Yan Bei’s army was more proficient in cavalry battles. Under her leadership, Chu Qiao and her forces fought while racing towards the region under the control of Tang’s royal family.

　　Yet, as they were about to exit the forest to enter the Hanshui border, Yan Bei unexpectedly set it on fire. The fire would blaze on for four continuous days, engulfing the entire mountain ranges of Qiutang, killing and injuring scores of civilians who were trapped in the area.

　　Helpless, Chu Qiao was forced to bring her army out of the mountains in advance. As the fire had caused them to lose their sense of direction, they deviated from their original path by 150 kilometers. Even with the guidance of the veterans of the Wolf Army who were familiar with the terrain, they were still engaged by the Yan Bei army the very next morning.

　　Both sides would suffer heavy casualties in the battle at Likang Plains. Chu Qiao led a force of 3,000 elite soldiers to infiltrate the enemy’s base as the general of the enemy forces was severely wounded by a stray arrow. Yet, Yan Bei’s forces remained calm and organized, putting up stiff resistance, for they were not an army that would capitulate without their highest ranking general.

　　The poor mobility and little flexibility as a combined force, along with a large number of horses captured in battle, led Chu Qiao to devise a new field tactic after the battle at Likang Plains. She reorganized the army into ten smaller groups with 4,000 soldiers each. Each group was stationed less than a kilometer apart from each other as they converged towards Hanshui Pass in the shape of a fan.

　　Yet, as they entered Nanli County, Chu Qiao was suddenly taken sick. She had been feeling physical discomfort in the past five days when a sharp pain ripped through her abdomen. She felt dizzy and weak in her limbs, as she ran a fever. It was in the heat and urgency of battle that she pushed on with pure perseverance and sheer willpower. Presently, with the respite from conflict against Yan Bei, her body had begun to buckle, deteriorating both physically and mentally. Despite her objections, He Xiao stationed troops outside the gates of Nanli City, as they ventured inside for her to recuperate. There, despite the civil chaos across Tang and Yan Bei’s past presence, the damage and devastation in the city were nowhere close to what was in Xia. Most cities managed to maintain their vibrancy, the only effect of conflict being the inflation of some products.

　　As He Xiao sent his people to look for a physician, the originally sleepy and exhausted Chu Qiao found herself unable to fall asleep. She laid back on a clean bed and stared aimlessly towards the sky, as she felt her focus drifting away like the clouds above.

　　When Yan Bei’s forces were pursuing them, they had repeatedly branded them as traitors. This meant that her identity was known towards the soldiers. Evidently, with his intellect, Yan Xun had guessed that she was the only person capable of launching such an audacious rescue operation to breach Baizhi Pass.

　　It also meant that Yan Xun was out to kill her.

　　It did make sense after all. Yan Xun and Princess Jingan had formed an alliance, while her aim was to help out Li Xiuyi. As the leader of Baizhi Pass, it was only reasonable that he helped out his ally to prevent her from breaching Baizhi Pass. There was no such thing as family ties on the battlefield, much less their relationship.

　　She understood all this.

　　Yan Xun was no longer the child that used to huddle timidly in a corner of Sheng Jin Palace. No longer having to suffer under the hands of others, he became more daring and ruthless in his decisions as he consolidated his position of power.

　　It wasn’t long before the physician arrived and checked her pulse, with He Xiao anxiously watching from behind. The old, white-bearded physician remained silent for a long while before he smiled and said to He Xiao, “Congratulations, your wife is pregnant.”

　　He Xiao was flustered as he hurriedly corrected the physician, “Nonsense. I’m not her spouse, I’m just one of her bodyguards.”

　　Hearing this, the physician apologized repeatedly and sought forgiveness from He Xiao, explaining that he had mistaken him to be the father of the child because he had seen his state of nervousness.

　　The conversation continued between He Xiao and the old doctor, while Chu Qiao was rendered speechless with her mouth slightly open.

　　What did he say? Congratulations? I’m pregnant?