Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the autumn of the Yongjia Seventh Year, Xie Changgeng officially raised his banners in revolt.

He marched under the slogan of “Clearing the Sovereign’s side and eliminating the treacherous,” targeting the Chen Clan (maternal relatives) who held the imperial court in a stranglehold.

The Chen Clan dominated the government, commanding the Imperial Guard and thirty thousand elite troops stationed around the capital. Furthermore, the King of Qi provided clandestine support from the east-they were more than happy to watch Xie Changgeng and the imperial court exhaust one another so they could reap the spoils of the aftermath.

As for us, we had three thousand men.

During a council of war in the command tent, Qin Mu spoke bluntly. “My Lord, three thousand against thirty thousand… this isn’t a battle we can win.”

Xie Changgeng looked at me.

Everyone’s gaze followed his.

I walked over to the map, crouched down, and used a twig to point at three specific locations.

“We don’t fight them,” I said.

Qin Mu blinked. “What?”

“We don’t attack the capital region.” I moved the twig to the north. “We strike here.”

Everyone crowded around to look.

“Hongnong?” Qin Mu’s eyes widened. “Why strike Hongnong? That place is a ruin!”

“Hongnong is the ancestral land of the Chen Clan,” I explained. “Grand Commandant Chen’s ancestral graves, his family shrine, his fertile lands, and his tenant farmers are all in Hongnong. If you gut his home base, he’ll be forced to send half his troops back to save it, even if he has a hundred thousand men.”

The tent fell silent for several heartbeats.

Xie Changgeng asked, “And then?”

“And then-” I moved the twig to the west of Hongnong. “The moment he splits his forces, his flank will be exposed. You will cut in from here, My Lord, and sever his supply lines. An army without food cannot last more than half a month.”

Han Xi, standing nearby, sucked in a sharp breath. “You intend to starve them to death?”

“Not starve them to death.” I stood up and brushed the dust from my hands. “I intend to give them a choice-surrender, or starve.”

Xie Changgeng stared at the map for a long time before looking up at me.

His eyes shone with a terrifying intensity in the candlelight.

“Good,” he said, uttering only a single word.

But I could hear what was wrapped inside that word. It wasn’t just agreement; there was a certain emotion I couldn’t quite name, something almost akin to satisfaction.

It was as if he had been waiting a long time for someone to finally voice the thoughts in his heart.

The Battle of Hongnong lasted thirty-seven days.

I will not dwell on the details of the fighting, only the result: after the main force of the Chen Clan was cut off from their supplies for nineteen days, their morale collapsed. More than half surrendered. Grand Commandant Chen’s nephew, Chen Yu, led the remnants to retreat and hold Hangu Pass, making a desperate final stand.

Xie Changgeng did not launch a direct assault on Hangu Pass. Instead, he did something I hadn’t expected-

He wrote a letter to Chen Yu.

He wrote it himself, without asking me to ghostwrite it for him.

“What are you writing a letter for?” I asked.

“To urge his surrender.”

“Chen Yu won’t surrender. Surrendering means death for him.”

“He’s dead even if he doesn’t surrender.” Xie Changgeng set down his brush. “But the manner of death will be different. If he surrenders, I will spare his entire clan. If he doesn’t, on the day Hangu Pass falls, not even a chicken or a dog will be left alive.”

I looked at him. “Would you really do that?”

He didn’t answer my question directly. He only said, “Once the letter is delivered, he will believe me.”

“Why?”

“Because I never lie.”

He spoke with a tone as flat as if he were commenting on the day’s weather. But it was that very flatness that sent a chill down my spine.

Because he was serious.

Three days later, Chen Yu opened the gates and surrendered.

The flags atop Hangu Pass were changed. Xie Changgeng’s cavalry drove straight through, pressing toward Chang’an.

Standing upon the pass, I saw the sunset in the direction of the capital for the first time.

The horizon was scorched into a deep crimson-purple, looking as if someone had overturned a bowl of blood and mixed in half a bowl of ink.

Xie Changgeng stood on the gate tower, his hand resting on the railing as the wind whipped his robes.

He didn’t make any grand proclamations; he simply stood there quietly, looking toward the west.

I suddenly remembered my grandfather’s words-

A man willing to die.

This world has never lacked people who want to live. What it lacks are those who hold their lives in the palm of their hands and walk forward even when they know it’s a near-certain death.

It’s not that they aren’t afraid of dying; it’s that they believe some things are more important than death.

Xie Changgeng was that kind of man.

And I, by some strange twist of fate, had become the one standing behind him.