It had been a splendid victory.
Yet Meng Yao was in no hurry to return to camp.
In her past life, after crushing the Wei Army, she had worried about her grandfather’s health and feared exposing her identity. Not daring to delay, she had ridden back to Changshan Military Camp through the night.
Back then, she had felt there was something suspicious about the Wei Army’s sudden raid, but she simply had lacked the time to dwell on it.
This time, however, was different. She had all the time in the world.
She had to uncover the truth—why had the Wei Army, which had remained quiet for over half a year, suddenly lost its senses and launched a reckless assault on Changshan Military Camp?
A Wei general, bound tightly with thick ropes, was thrown down before Meng Yao.
“Speak. Why the sudden raid?” Meng Yao looked down at him, her eyes narrowing.
The Wei general knelt disheveled on the ground. He tugged sullenly at the cords around his wrists, refusing to open his mouth.
Never in his life had he fought against a woman, let alone been captured alive by one.
Meng Yao crouched halfway down and gently tilted his chin up with her riding whip, forcing him to look directly into her eyes.
This provocative gesture inflamed the Wei general’s humiliation even further. His eyes turned bloodshot. “If you want to kill me, do it! Cut the nonsense!”
Meng Yao paid no mind to his outburst. After studying him closely for a moment, she suddenly spoke, “You aren’t from Luoyang Camp, are you?”
Luoyang Camp was the Wei military stronghold locked in a standoff against Changshan Military Camp.
The Wei general froze at her words. “You…”
“Wondering how I could tell?” Meng Yao chuckled, lowering her whip as she rose to her feet. “The sun and wind in this region are harsh, and the sandstorms are relentless. Most garrison soldiers have chapped, dry, reddened skin, and their officers are no exception. But look at you—you might look burly on the surface, but the skin on your face is delicate and fair. One glance is enough to tell you come from a place of pampering and luxury.”
The Wei general’s face flushed even redder.
To a man, especially a soldier, being told he had delicate, fair skin was far more humiliating than being called ugly.
“You came from the capital of the State of Wei, didn’t you?”
The Wei general’s eyes widened in shock.
“It seems I guessed right again.” Meng Yao’s long eyes narrowed slightly as her whip tapped against his rigid armor. “Though stained with blood, your armor still gleams brightly, without a single dent or scratch from blades or axes. And your soldiers only know how to fight in rigid formations; once scattered, they flail in a panic, completely powerless to resist. I imagine they are usually just drilled for ceremonial parades and have never experienced true bloodshed. You lot… come from the Wei Capital Patrol Camp, don’t you?”
The Wei general was struck utterly dumb.
“What? Did your capital lose an important figure, and fearing the old emperor’s wrath, you put on an act by dashing to the border to fight a battle just to have something to report back?”
Meng Yao’s voice was crystal-clear, yet in the Wei general’s ears, it sounded like the whisper of a demon.
All his shock was lodged in his throat; he was terrified to the point of being unable to make a sound.
It was true.
The hostage prince of the State of Chu, held captive in the capital for six years, had escaped, throwing the Emperor of Wei into a furious rage.
Disaster had been about to fall upon the patrol camp, leaving them no choice but to travel thousands of miles under the pretense of a pursuit to put on a show.
Yet, was this woman a human or a ghost?
He hadn’t uttered a single word, so how did she know everything?
Meng Yao’s expression shifted abruptly, and she cupped her fists politely. “My thanks to you, General. Without your assistance, how could we have stood one against ten and defeated the renowned Wei Capital Patrol Camp!”
Wei General: ???…
In the next instant, glares filled with venomous hatred shot at him from all directions, threatening to tear him to pieces.
He turned his head to look. Every single Wei captive was glaring at him through gnashing teeth.
Understanding dawned on him. “You set me up?!”
“Why, yes.”
Meng Yao gave a sincere smile. “You are now a traitor to the State of Wei, General. Even if I don’t kill you, your own people will never let you off.”
“What in the world do you want?!”
“I wish to offer you a way out alive, General.”
“Would you really be so kind?”
“Of course. I truly am a kindhearted soul who simply wishes to know about the situation in Luoyang Camp.”
Meng Yao selected a hundred cavalrymen and launched a night raid on Luoyang Camp.
Deputy General Liu Chuang rode abreast with her. “Luoyang Camp has thirty thousand garrison troops. With only a hundred of us, does Eldest Miss really think we have a chance of winning?”
“Are you stupid? We’re going there to snatch some easy military merit, not to throw our lives away,” Meng Yao said, rolling her eyes at him.
Liu Chuang: “…”
He fell back half a horse’s length and said no more.
Meng Yao led them straight toward Luoyang Camp’s granaries.
She had learned from the captured Wei general that although Luoyang Camp held thirty thousand troops, barely seventy men guarded the provisions.
What was more, most of them would be sound asleep at this hour.
Within moments, soaring flames lit up the night sky for ten miles around.
Alerted by the news, the Commander-in-Chief of Luoyang Camp rushed out of his concubine’s quarters in a fluster, hurriedly throwing on his clothes while barking orders to put out the fire.
He cursed furiously, “Those fools from the capital! Everything was fine, yet they had to go and provoke the Chu people! They pulled down their pants and took a massive dump, and now they expect me to wipe their asses!”
His deputy general urged, “A scout reported that over three thousand men from the capital’s patrol camp have fallen into enemy hands. Should we dispatch troops to rescue them, General?”
“Rescue my foot! Do you think the Chu people raided our provisions just for fun after fighting for a day and a night? He is trying to intimidate me! Besides, it was those useless bastards from the capital who caused this disaster. Even if someone has to save them, let the capital fools do it themselves. I don’t have the time!”
Meng Yao pulled back with all one hundred riders, entirely unscathed.
Reining in her mount on the nearest hilltop, she looked back at the fruits of her labor.
This single fire had incinerated an entire year’s worth of provisions for Luoyang Camp.
In her past life, she had wiped out fifty thousand Wei troops, yet Luoyang Camp had not marched out for revenge because they had believed all along that the Chu Commander-in-Chief facing them was Meng Liang.
In this life, however, her identity was out in the open.
The Commander-in-Chief of Luoyang Camp would soon realize that the opponent he had failed to best over the past two years was her, not Meng Liangping.
If she returned to the capital in the future, the Wei Army would surely test Meng Liangping. If that happened, the commoners along the State of Chu’s border would never know peace again.
Tonight’s fire was her deterrence.
She wanted to send a message to the commander of Luoyang Camp:
If she could burn his provisions, she could take his wretched life just as easily!
If they dared provoke Changshan Military Camp again like they had today…
She, Meng Yao, would ride thousands of miles to claim her vengeance, no matter the distance.
“Back to camp!” Meng Yao raised her silver whip, vanishing into the thick veil of night with her hundred riders.
Back in Changshan Military Camp, Meng Liangping was not having an easy time.
He was supposed to be “away on campaign,” so the Main Command Tent was naturally presumed “empty.”
Because of this, he had starved for two whole days!
Meanwhile, the chamber pot was filled to the brim.
If Meng Yao didn’t return soon, he feared he would be trapped to death right inside this tent.
“Commander-in-Chief, our army has crushed the Wei Army and will soon return in triumph!” A scout’s joyful shout came from outside the tent entrance.
Meng Liangping: Who? Who is calling for him? How does this person know he is inside the tent?
His face drained of color in panic.
“Commander-in-Chief? Commander-in-Chief, can you hear me?” the scout called out twice more.
He recalled Eldest Miss’s instructions before leaving camp:
“I had no choice but to lead the troops into battle myself. Grandfather is unwell; when you go back to deliver the report, keep a close eye on his condition. If anything seems amiss, summon the military physician immediately.”
Why wasn’t the Commander-in-Chief responding? Could it be…
Panic gripped the scout’s heart, and he swiftly threw open the tent flap.
The guards stationed outside exchanged puzzled glances, utterly bewildered—
What? Someone is actually inside the main tent?
Curious, they all crowded forward.
As the tent flap parted, what met everyone’s eyes was Meng Liangping’s terror-stricken face, accompanied by an indescribably foul stench.
“BLUUURGH—!!”