Chapter Thirty-Three: True Flame

  It was nightfall, and the two camps that were far apart from each other had vastly different scenery. Qian Buli's camp was brightly lit with lanterns, while Jamukha's camp looked gloomy and lifeless. The surviving soldiers who escaped after the defeat couldn't help but think of revenge, but they were no match for the victorious army in terms of morale. Moreover, their military supplies were extremely scarce. Jamukha's personal bodyguards only had some dry rations at nightfall, while Qian Buli gave each soldier a piece of cured meat and half a cup of warming liquor. The gap between rich and poor was enormous.

  Qian Buli climbed up the hastily built watchtower, gazing out into the distance. He immediately understood the awkward situation that Jamukha was in. A sudden thought occurred to Qian Buli, and he pondered for a moment before lifting his head to gaze at the sky. A full moon hung suspended in the air, surrounded by twinkling stars, without a single cloud in sight.

  Forget about the sneak attack, Qian Buli reluctantly gave up on the idea. If he had a brave and well-trained army under his command, what would it matter if there was a full moon in the sky? This would be a surefire profitable deal! Qian Buli was filled with regret as he watched the soldiers searching for campsites everywhere, waiting to see how he would torture them into becoming elite soldiers in the shortest amount of time. The feeling of having an opportunity but being unable to seize it was really frustrating. The only thing that made him happy was that he thought his opponent, Zha Muhe, must be even more frustrated than him.

  After making a round of inspection, nothing unusual was found. Qian An retreated to his tent for rest, but before he had been asleep for long, a sudden shout of "Kill!" came from outside the camp.

  "Do they want to launch a sneak attack?" Qian Buli smiled and turned over, continuing to sleep. What a joke, who can sneak into such a tight defense? And today, Wang Rui was on night watch outside, Qian Buli trusted Wang Rui very much. Zha Muhe would not bet all his capital at once, at most he would just send one or two hundred-man teams, this little trash Wang Rui could deal with himself.

  Besides, breaking through the camp is not as easy as it is said in the novel. Can the deer horn be moved just by saying so? Were the trenches dug in vain? Can the wooden fence be destroyed in an instant? Are the soldiers on the arrow tower all blind? Did the night patrol soldiers go to sleep together? Even if all of the above are true, there is still one thing that is impossible: well-trained soldiers immediately became disorganized as soon as they heard the enemy rushing in? Before, Qian Bu Li thought that the things in the novel were too absurd. Now, the facts he saw with his own eyes proved his correctness. The infantry of Xueyuan City was divided into small teams, and several tents surrounded the team leader's tent in a plum blossom shape. The cavalry was divided into five units, and the horse stalls and soldiers' tents were built next to each other. In case of an emergency, as long as the team leader and the unit leader shouted loudly, their soldiers could immediately gather around them. Blasting the camp? It would be better to say that it was those soldiers who had been resentful of the general for a long time and were venting their anger under the pretext.

  Qian Buli fell asleep again, but not long after, the sound of killing shouts rose outside the camp. Qian Buli sat up in annoyance. Unlike ordinary soldiers, who could ignore the shouting and continue sleeping as long as the war drums didn't sound, as a general, he had to consider every detail.

  You don't think you can fool me with a false alarm, do you? Qian Buli listened for a while and found that the shouting was not getting closer and closer. He lay back on his bed, covered his head with the quilt, and continued to sleep.

  After a while, the shouting and killing sounds rose again outside the camp, along with the earth-shaking sound of bugles, causing a huge commotion.

  "My god!!" Qian jumped out of bed, put on his outer garment, and strode out of the tent in big steps. This time he was really furious.

  "Sir, just now General Wang sent someone over to say that the enemy is using a harassment tactic, please rest assured and go back to sleep." A night watchman from the Imperial Guard hastily came forward.

  "I don't give a damn!" Qian pushed away his personal guard and strode forward: "Today, nobody sleeps!!"

  In the front camp, Wang Rui stood on the arrow tower, quietly observing the enemy situation. Seeing Qian Buding hurry over, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Commander, how did you get up?"

  Qian Buli hummed a sound with his nose, looked up at Wang Rui without saying a word, and climbed up the arrow tower. Under the moonlight, Qian Buli could see clearly that there was only one hundred-man team in front of him. They were shouting and galloping around the camp, but they didn't enter the range of the arrow tower's shooting.

  Qian Bao observed for a while, and then made up his mind. He climbed down from the watchtower and ordered one of his personal guards: "Bring Du Bing... No, let him rest instead, go and call Qin Chong." The safety of tomorrow's march mainly relies on Du Bing's cavalry team, so he must be allowed to rest well.

  Wang Rui also climbed down from the arrow tower: "Sir, this little clown is not worth your majesty's wrath, you should go back and rest."

  "Hmph! I was going to make peace and unite, with a spirit of mutual benefit, and let them escort us to Liancheng Fortress. But these guys don't know the meaning of shame!" Qian's face revealed a sinister smile: "Provoke the army? Fine! If we're going to play, let's play big!"

  Wang Rui didn't quite understand what Qian Buli was getting at with his "what's-his-name spirit", but he could clearly see the sly smile on Qian Buli's face, and couldn't help but excitedly rub his hands together: "Sir, you've got another great idea, haven't you? Good, good!"

  "Just wait and see." Qian Buli said calmly: "What news does the scout have? Are there many enemy scouts near our camp?"

  "Not too many, there are both left and right wings, but no rear."

  Time was not long, Qin Chong led the fully equipped cavalry to Qian Buxin: "Report to the commander! The squad has assembled, please give orders!" According to the military system of the Ji Zhou Kingdom, as long as the general who received the summons from the commander-in-chief, he must first assemble his own troops. Therefore, all three teams of Qin Chong's cavalry followed him.

  Qian waved his hand, signaling Qin to come before him: "Have your cavalry wrap their horses' hooves with cloth and proceed quietly out of the rear camp, then do this and that..."

  "Yes sir!" Qin Chong turned his head and waved his hand, leading his cavalrymen away to make preparations.

  "Pass the order down, extinguish all torches and bonfires!" Qian Buding began to give orders: "Distribute the large flags, each soldier on night patrol will have one flag. After the torches are extinguished, you will run around in front of and behind the camp with the flags."

  What is this command? Wang Rui looked at Qian Budan in shock, but... perhaps it was because he didn't understand, so he was just a small general, while the other side was the commander-in-chief? Or maybe he should just watch the show, Wang Rui shifted his gaze forward.