Chapter 201: Assassinating the Strategist
The strategist looked at the direction Bai Xiangxiu was pointing at, but saw nothing.
“The light is so dazzling! How mysterious!” The strategist figured that he must’ve missed something. He naturally had to take a closer look since the beauty was so enamored by this mysterious object. Unexpectedly, a dark figure suddenly rushed out from the shadows. The dark figure was swift, but his sword swifter.
The strategist’s reaction was quick enough for him to pull out his weapon and deflect the sword, but he never expected that there would be another person behind him as well. He took a palm strike to his back just as he deflected the sword coming at his front. It was a lethal blow, shattering the arteries to his heart immediately. He didn’t even have enough time to scream before blood spilled from his mouth, dying without a sound.
Bai Xiangxiu was shocked. Why would they murder him in cold blood like that? She only wanted them to knock him out so they could escape! It never crossed her mind that things would end so violently. She knew from past experience that she would now have to resist the urge to pass out no matter what. She placed one hand on her chest, using the other to hold on to Yu Kuang. He lifted her onto his back and carried her out of the army camp under the cover of the night sky.
The three of them had snuck into the enemy camp and murdered someone without even being detected. They were very lucky not to have met with misfortune. If Bai Xiangxiu hadn’t bewitched the strategist, or if they had hesitated about killing him for even a second, then they might not have been able to escape from the enemy camp in one piece.
All three were surprised that they’d come out of this unscathed. Bai Xiangxiu then proceeded to faint immediately after arriving at their hiding place. She remained unconscious for quite some time before she finally woke up. The symptoms for my blood phobia is so inconvenient! This is a warzone! I can’t afford to faint all the time, alright? She never had this problem in modern times. Bai Xiangxiu furrowed her brows and spoke to Ah Quan, “Hand me a dead chicken.”
“But you faint at the sight of blood.” Song Jiaoyue said while creasing his forehead.
“I cannot afford to have this fear anymore. How am I supposed to save the prince if I keep fainting all the time? My body wouldn’t be able to take it.” Bai Xiangxiu was beginning to hate her physique of a female supporting character.
Song Jiaoyue held onto her arm and said, “No need to hurry. You should rest for now. Try to think of a way to defeat the chained horses formation first. Didn’t you come all the way here to solve this issue in the first place?”
“Yes! But I’ve already come up with a plan!”
“So quickly?”
“Yes. But I need to enter the city. There’s likely no way for us to defeat the formation with just us.”
But how are they supposed to enter the city? There were enemy troops stationed all around the city walls, and the gates were tightly shut. They wouldn’t open the city gates without proper reason. This was the first issue they had to tackle. Yu Kuang thought for a moment, “I can go in by myself. Write anything you have to say on a letter. I will bring your message to them.”
“This is no time for joking. The city walls are tall beyond measure. The enemy will surely unleash their arrows upon you if they see you trying to scale the walls. I’m afraid that you’d be in danger then.”
“We can do something to create a distraction so that the enemy wouldn’t notice him! Let’s kick up a storm in the opposite direction to help him sneak in!” Bai Xiangxiu immediately suggested. It was an acceptable reaction from a lady who grew up watching period war films. However for Song Jiaoyue and Yu Kuang, those were incomparably shocking words. Normally, the highest achievement for a concubine from the rear court would be to give birth to a son. But this lady could actually deliver advice for a battlefield’s strategy, and a good suggestion at that too! Things weren’t as simple as they looked.
“You… How do you know about all these things?”
“I’ve read some books.” Bai Xiangxiu said with a straight face. Surprisingly, everyone was fine with her reason.
Song Jiaoyue opened his mouth. He’d read many books too alright?
“You’ve read military books?”
“Mm. I have.” Bai Xiangxiu had indeed read military books before. She wasn’t lying. Song Jiaoyue looked up into the sky. As expected of a person born in a family of scholars. There are all sorts of books in the world!
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Yu Kuang didn’t have that many worries. He agreed to the plan without any hesitation. Song Jiaoyue had no choice. His thoughts were now focused on thinking of a way to draw the enemy’s attention.
However, Bai Xiangxiu had already come up with a plan. She first wrote a letter to Long Heng detailing the method to defeat the chained horses formation. She took a long time to write the letter because she was trying to be as thorough as possible. Song Jiaoyue didn’t dare to check the contents of the letter because he thought that she’d been writing sentimental words of love to Long Heng. He was morosely sitting in a corner with a sad look on his face. However, Bai Xiangxiu immediately asked him to check the contents of the letter when she was done. “Sir Song, can you take a look? Tell me if I missed anything important.”
“Eh? Have me take a look?” Is it really okay for me to read her love letter? But he was taken aback when he read the contents of the letter. For a woman, Bai Xiangxiu’s letter was surprisingly detailed and straight to the point. There wasn’t even one line of sentiment in it. The entire letter only contained straightforward, formulaic training instructions, the training method for a troop armed with sickles, and how they were supposed to kill the war horses by letting the horses from the back trample the horses in the front to death, etc. etc. This love letter had no love in it at all, just pure violence.
Her letter was so detailed and easy to understand that he couldn’t help but praise her. “This is a good idea! No, a great idea! How did you come up with this? Not only will your idea help defeat the chained horses formation, it will also greatly affect the enemy’s morale!”
His eyes lit up. He no longer viewed Bai Xiangxiu as the kind of girl from the rear court that needed to be protected all the time. At the same time, he also realized why she’d dared seduce him in the past even though she was just a concubine. She was actually someone who knew precisely what she wanted and how to get her hands on it. Since he’d rejected her, she hadn’t dwelled on it for too long and had given up on him. She’d courageously get back onto her feet even when she was sad. For some reason, this made Bai Xiangxiu look even more dazzling to Song Jiaoyue. He was satisfied to just be standing by her side.
“Have you finished reading the letter?” Bai Xiangxiu thought that she’d made a mistake or something. Why else would he stare at the letter for so long?
“Mm! It’s very well written. Long Heng will be elated when he reads this.” He’ll be elated that he has a girl like you by his side. It’d be better if you were his wife instead of just a concubine. The position of a lowly concubine does not suit a woman like you.
Bai Xiangxiu was extremely happy when she heard his feedback. She immediately handed the letter over to Yu Kuang. “I’d planned for us to make our move after I’d gotten a little more used to things, but since you can make it over the wall by yourself, I can save the effort of using the chicken. Let’s use the enemy!”
“What do you mean?” Song Jiaoyue asked while smiling. He could see the confidence in her eyes. She must’ve come up with a way to distract the enemy.
Bai Xiangxiu pointed at Ah Quan. “Ah Quan, tie a very big tree branch to the back of a horse and ride around the front of the enemy camp later. Try to make it look like there’s a lot of people over there waiting in ambush. As for Sir Song… You can handle a bow and arrow right?”
“Yes.” For some reason, Song Jiaoyue was burning with eagerness.
“I want you to dip a cloth in oil and shoot it at the enemy camp to set it on fire. The enemy is surely in a panic right now because their strategist was assassinated. They’ll be on high alert if we attack them now, and they’ll surely think that an attack is coming. Once we gain their attention, Yu Kuang will be able to make it into the city safely.”
Song Jiaoyue nodded his head over and over again as he listened to Bai Xiangxiu’s plan. “We must make our move immediately. They might already be on guard if we choose to make our move tomorrow night.”
