Chapter 50: The Hunting Party!

  Night, very quiet.

  The soldiers of the Allied Army who were on night watch found that the Qin army was unusually quiet tonight, without drumming or killing shouts. Such silence made the Allied Army very uncomfortable. The Qin army had used this trick before, and after the Allied Army became numb, they suddenly attacked the city, causing not a small loss to the Allied Army.

  "Tonight, does the Qin army want to use their old trick again?" The violent bird in charge of tonight's watch was very suspicious.

  A peaceful night with nothing out of the ordinary happening.

  At dawn, the voice of the Imperial Guard woke up the dozing Emperor.

  "General! There is someone outside who says he has an urgent military report and requests to enter the city to meet with the Crown Prince."

  "Huh? Did he say what military information it was?" Now that Qin's army has surrounded the city on three sides, what military information could be so urgent?! Could it be that Bai Qi sent a detached force to attack Xinye? Bao Yi was puzzled.

  "That's not it. He just told me to give this to the general, saying that the general will know at a glance." The imperial guard said as he handed over a jade pendant to Bao Ying.

  Bao Ying took the jade pendant and looked at it, her expression changed greatly. She immediately said, "Quickly bring that person over, no, quickly take him to the Crown Prince's side. I will go notify the Crown Prince right now."

  The jade pendant just now is the prince's token. The prince had once told himself that if someone came to him with this jade pendant, he must inform him immediately. This involves the outcome of this war and the future of Korea, and there can't be any carelessness.

  "The crown prince, the crown prince, the jade pendant has appeared." Bao Yan exclaimed with surprise.

  "Where is he? Where is he? Take me to see him quickly!"

  Fan Yi succeeded! He really succeeded! The Crown Prince had previously agreed with Fan Yi that if he successfully drove a wedge between the Qin state, someone would bring this jade pendant to inform him; otherwise, it meant that things had leaked out and he would die in a foreign land.

  "I've already sent someone to fetch him, he should be here any moment now."

  Outside the governor's mansion, a dusty and exhausted messenger saw the crown prince and his eyes turned red as he fell to his knees.

  "Crown Prince!" The newcomer was already sobbing uncontrollably.

  "Hurry up, hurry up! You've had a hard journey!" The prince helped him up with three quick strides.

  "Fortunately, we have not disgraced our orders! The task entrusted to us by the Crown Prince has been successfully completed. King of Yiqu is dead in Xianyang, and now Yiqu and Qin are like fire and water. Now, I'm afraid the great army of Yiqu must have set out already."

  "Good! Good! You are all great contributors to Da Han! When you return triumphantly, I will personally request rewards for you from the Emperor. Haha!"

  "The Crown Prince..." The onlookers burst into tears.

  "What? Did something unexpected happen?" The crown prince asked curiously.

  "Almost all of our brothers have been killed, and only thirty or so are left."

  "What?! How can there be such heavy casualties?" Fan Yi finished his task so quickly that the Crown Prince thought everything was going smoothly.

  The newcomer told the story from beginning to end, and only then did the prince understand the whole cause and effect. In order to cover up the safe withdrawal of Yiqi Chengxiang, Fan Jie sacrificed more than 400 guards! However, these costs were all worth it.

  "Don't cry, don't cry. Today is a day of great joy. You should rest for a while. Your burden is still heavy, and next you will need to help Yi Qu and the State of Qin deal with each other. The deceased soldiers were all good sons of my country, Korea, and I will not forget them. Once the war is over, I will personally erect monuments for them, and their families will be well taken care of. I won't let them suffer any injustice."

  "Thank you, Prince! I thank the prince on behalf of my fallen brother!"

  After opening the silk letter sent by Fan Yi, the Crown Prince knew more deeply about the current situation. The Yiqu country now has 150,000 troops that can be fought, but the equipment is not good, especially lacking armor and arrows.

  Fan Ju has now gained the trust of King Hui of Wei, pretending to be a relative of Chancellor Zhang Ping named Zhang Lu. In order to resist Qin's great cause for a long time, Fan Ju suggested that Crown Prince Ran support Wei with the above-mentioned weapons and equipment. Of course, he is now a "merchant" and will not let Han suffer losses. Wei has many livestock, and Han exchanges weapons for war horses, cattle, and sheep, actually making a big profit. It's worth knowing that what Han lacks most now is war horses.

  "The Crown Prince, who was that person just now?" Bao Yan listened to the conversation between the two and was confused. Why did Yi Qu suddenly want to rebel against Qin? It seemed like it was still the Crown Prince's doing after all.

  "It's like this, General. I knew that once we retake Yique, the King of Qin will surely become enraged and send troops. In order to minimize our losses for the state of Han, I sent someone with a large amount of gold to Xianyang to sow discord. I didn't think it would be successful, but unexpectedly it was." The Crown Prince said with a smile.

  Actually, Taizi Ran didn't say a word, which meant he didn't want Han Jun to be careless in fighting the enemy because of his own divisive plan.

  "The Crown Prince is indeed brilliant! Every step is tight! The end will thoroughly convince. However, Qin Guo must have also known the news of Yiqu's dispatching troops, why hasn't Bai Qi made a move yet!"

  "Ah! Not good! The news from Xianyang should have been transmitted faster, Bai Qi might have already withdrawn his troops. General Pu, was there anything unusual with the Qin army last night?"

  "Strange?" The violent bird suddenly realized, patted its head and shouted, "The Qin army didn't harass us last night!"

  "The general immediately sent someone out of the city to investigate! I'll go find General Lian Po and General Jin Bi now." The crown prince hastily said.

  When Lian Po and Jin Bi heard the news of Prince Yan's attack on Qin, they were both overjoyed. Prince Yan did not tell them that he had orchestrated everything, but only said that a Korean spy from Xianyang had transmitted the news to him overnight.

  After the initial joy, the two were shocked. Xianyang was in trouble, and Bai Qi grasped a large army, which might have come to reinforce them. This time, no matter what, they couldn't let the Qin people run away, that's Bai Qi! The great general of Qin! Beheading Bai Qi would be a huge blow!

  "The crown prince, something's gone wrong! The scouts say that the Qin army's main camp is empty." Bao Yi said this astonishing news without even dismounting his horse.

  "What? Let him escape?" was Lian Po's reaction.

  "What? The Qin people have run away?" This was Jin Bi's thought.

  "Yes! The crown prince, the south gate, north gate and west gate of Yique have all been checked by scouts, the Qin army's large camp is completely empty." Baoying said dejectedly.

  "Pursue! The Qin army has marched for at most half the night, a distance of several dozen li. We can still catch up with them!" said Lian Po resolutely.

  The Qin army is now like a mourning dog, if we don't go and kick it a few times, it's really unforgivable for the humiliation of being besieged for several days.

  "Pursue! Our Wei army means the same thing." Jin Bi nodded in agreement. The state of Wei had been bullied by Qin for so many years, and now that they finally had a chance to avenge themselves, how could they easily give it up?

  "It's settled then. General Lian, please lead the Zhao Iron Cavalry ahead, our Han and Wei armies will follow shortly." The crown prince laughed loudly.

  "General Lian, don't hit us too hard, at least leave us some soup to drink." Jin Bi opened his joke.

  "Haha! Then you'd better hurry up, or I really can't guarantee anything!" General Lian Po let out a hearty laugh.

  Field battles are the strong point of Zhao's iron cavalry. As long as Bai Qi dares to rush into battle, Lian Po has confidence in defeating the Qin army. If the Qin army advances cautiously, that would also be in line with his wishes. If the King of Qin knew that his savior was being surrounded by himself, his face would definitely be very interesting!

  The four of them laughed and then suddenly changed their expressions, raised their fists and said: "Farewell!"

  Jokes aside, no one thought the Qin army would be defeated so easily, even in the wilderness, even if they were not prepared to fight, because they had a commander named Bai Qi, because they held black large flags!

  At the fastest speed, they used up dry rations, 700,000 Zhao cavalry were like fierce tigers out of a cage, rushing straight to the west. Slightly later, the city of Yique issued an even louder sound, 30,000 Han troops and 30,000 Wei troops rode on rumbling war chariots, closely chasing after the shadow of the Zhao army.

  It was a sunny day. The 130,000-strong armies of Zhao, Wei and Han gathered at Izhong for a hunting expedition, with the prey being Bai Qi's army.