Chapter 293 - Collapse of the Frontline

Ye Fan still went to the opera every day, timing his visits precisely just to catch a glimpse of Miss Mei, but Su Yi didn't have the leisure of watching Ye Fan's courtship.

An urgent dispatch from eight hundred miles away was delivered to the capital and stirred an uproar in the court.

In the Su residence study, Su Yi and Yue Dou sat across the table from each other, poring over the war report lying between them.

Su Yi rubbed his aching forehead and said, "This was three days ago. The Five Tiger Mountain pass has fallen, and the Northern Qiang army has poured in. As for the previously impregnable Jibei and Ningye frontlines built by Qi Zongbi... they are likely to completely collapse."

Yue Dou was no expert military strategy, so he asked, "In your opinion, what should be done next?"

Su Yi looked weary after staying up all night. He blinked tiredly and groaned, "At this point, there’s no good solution. The only option is to retreat, shrink the frontlines, and consolidate the defenses. However..."

"However, what?"

Su Yi sighed. "Losing territory is inevitable. The question is how much of Ningye and Jibei will we lose this time. If Qi Zongbi acts quickly, as long as he can hold onto the critical majority, there might still be room to maneuver in Ningye and Jibei..."

Eunuch Yue’s eyes shifted as he asked, "And if he can’t hold onto the majority, what then?"

Su Yi raised his eyes to look at Yue Dou and shook his head. "If too much of Ningye and Jibei is lost, Qi Zongbi won’t be able to extend his defensive line, and it will naturally become indefensible... At that point, Ningye and Jibei might as well be part of Northern Qiang."

Yue Dou opened his mouth and murmured, "If we lose Jibei and Ningye, it would truly expose the center of our Ruen Dynasty to the curved blades of Northern Qiang..."

Su Yi gazed at the blue skies and white clouds outside the window and said softly, "It all depends on how Qi Zongbi handles this."

Yue Dou went silent as well.

It was only then that the two realized just how troublesome Qi Zongbi had become. Originally, they had reassigned command of Liangzhou Prefecture to Qi Yanzhu in order strip Qi Zongbi of his military authority, allowing enough time to justify summoning him back to the capital.

Once Qi Zongbi was back in the capital, they would have plenty of means to control him. However, Qi Zongbi had found a brilliant counter and left Liangzhou Prefecture to rush a thousand miles westward to the frontline of Ningye.

At this moment, every detail of the Jibei and Ningye frontline, every order and strategy tied to the war effort, had to pass through Qi Zongbi’s hands. The entire war plan resided in his mind. In short, Jibei and Ningye could not do without him, making it even more impossible to summon him back to the capital.

Thus, neither Su Yi nor Yue Dou brought it up.

Su Yi shook his head. "If the situation were clear and we held the advantage, we could justify summoning Qi Zongbi back under the pretense of urgent matters in the capital. But at this point... the entire frontline has collapsed, and the troops are at a low ebb. Changing commanders now would only worsen morale."

Yue Dou’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. After thinking for a long while, he suddenly lowered his voice and asked Su Yi, "Do you think... that old dog Qi Zongbi did this on purpose?"

"On purpose? On purpose for what?" Su Yi was taken aback.

Yue Dou squinted his eyes. "A deliberate defeat! So he can stay in Jibei. He knows that returning to the capital would be like willingly holding a blade to his throat. Of course, he wouldn’t want to come back, so he schemed this plan."

Su Yi fell silent in thought, his fingers strumming the table rhythmically. "The war report didn’t detail the specifics of the collapse that day, nor do we know how Qi Zongbi commanded his troops. War reports usually only record the outcomes... Besides, I don’t think Qi Zongbi would stoop to such actions."

Yue Dou raised an eyebrow and stared at Su Yi.

"It’s not his style," Su Yi asserted.

***

Jibei, Guangding Prefecture

.

Qi Zongbi was busy overseeing an army encampment.

Qi Zongbi’s face looked grim. The constant traveling had left him much thinner, and his disheveled hair grew greyer by the day. A ring of painful sores had formed around his mouth, further souring his mood.

The only thing unchanged was the sharpness in his eyes, which seemed even fiercer than before.

The fall of the Jibei and Ningye frontlines were not due to any scheme on his part. At its core, it was simply inevitable. On that fateful night, traitors emerged from the camp defending the Five Tiger Mountain Pass.

The night guards had been bribed to set fire to the tents. Amid the chaos, a Northern Qiang cavalry force unexpectedly charged through the defenses, marking the beginning of the total collapse.

By this point, Qi Zongbi was no longer worried about being summoned back to the capital. He knew that Jibei could not do without him now, and Su Yi would surely understand this as well.

Qi Zongbi also understood that the Chen family father and son wanted him dead. Chen Kaiming viewed his unchecked power as external prime minister as a threat to imperial authority, so the late Emperor had believed that his death was necessary to uphold imperial dignity. Chen Xun, on the other hand, sought his death due to his undeniable connection to Chen Kaiming’s demise.

One way or another, death came for everyone.

Qi Zongbi surveyed his surroundings, seeing nothing but Ruen Dynasty soldiers clad in sturdy armor and armed to the teeth.

He knew he couldn’t escape death, but his time had not yet come.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Qi Zongbi took a deep breath. He knew better than anyone that he could have been summoned back to the capital to face execution while still in Liangzhou Prefecture, but his wife had sacrificed herself to buy him some time. Qi Zongbi fully understood why she had done it; they had always placed the nation before their family.

Lady Qin understood his lofty ambitions and had always supported him without complaint. She knew he had unfulfilled aspirations and so much to accomplish, so she chose to exchange her life for more time for him.

It seemed... like time was running out.

An ache surged in his chest, so overwhelming that Qi Zongbi found it hard to breathe. He shook his head, forcing himself to stop dwelling on it.

Leaning against a wooden stake, he gasped for air. A trusted aide approached and asked with concern, "My lord, what’s wrong?"

Qi Zongbi waved his hand, signaling that he was fine.

The aide continued, "My lord, you’ve been overworked these days. You should return to the tent and rest properly."

"It’s nothing," Qi Zongbi said, shaking his head before coughing again.

Having served Qi Zongbi for years, the aide recognized his stubbornness and immediately supported him, trying to guide him back to the tent.

Qi Zongbi stopped him, took a sealed letter from his robe, and handed it over. "Take this letter and keep it safe. I need you to travel overnight to Liangzhou Prefecture and deliver it to Strategist Qi Yanzhu... Do not make any mistakes."

The aide glanced at the letter in his hand, then at Qi Zongbi.

Qi Zongbi didn’t intend to hide anything and said, "I’ve been thinking about the battle three days ago and have some guesses... That day, the movements of the Northern Qiang army were unlike usual, their morale unnaturally high, and there was that brilliant cavalry maneuver... If I’m not mistaken, that person has followed me here."

"Who?"

"Yelü Zhige."