The imperial court is ceding territory from our northern border? Then we'll rebel!

Eastern Xinjiang.

In a secluded valley deep within the endless mountains and forests.

Thousands of ragged, weathered soldiers were gathered around several campfires, silently warming themselves and gnawing on dry, hard jerky.

Their eyes were mostly numb.

Since the disastrous defeat at Broken Soul Valley, the capture of Commander Wei Yong, and the annihilation of a million-strong army, they have become homeless wolves.

Under the leadership of General Chen Jing, they hid in various places, relying on robbing small grain transport teams of barbarians to survive, struggling to survive on this land.

Nobody knows where the future lies.

General Chen Jing, a burly man with a full beard, was sitting on a large rock, wiping his broadsword, which already had several nicks.

His brows furrowed into a knot.

The troop's food supplies are almost gone again.

The wounded soldiers' medicine has also run out.

If this continues, they will collapse on their own without the barbarians even needing to come and annihilate them.

Just then, a soldier on lookout duty rushed over.

"General! A troop of men has arrived from the mountain! There are about a hundred of them, and they look like the Northern Frontier Army!"

"The Northern Frontier Army?" Chen Jing suddenly stood up, a hint of wariness on his face.

What are the Northern Frontier Army doing here?

Were they sent by the imperial court to recruit them, or...?

"The leader identified himself as Lei Lie, a general under the Marquis of Zhenbei. He said he had important business to discuss and requested an audience with the general!"

Lei Lie?

Chen Jing searched his memory for a moment and remembered the name.

He is the fiercest general under Marquis Zhenbei, Xiao Jingchen, and is known for his bravery in battle and his fiery temper.

What is he here for?

"Let them come up!" Chen Jing said in a deep voice.

Regardless, since the other party is using the name of the Marquis of Zhenbei, we still have to give them face.

Soon, Lei Lie, accompanied by several guards, strode into the valley.

He spotted Chen Jing standing out prominently in the crowd at a glance.

"You are General Chen Jing?" Lei Lie's voice boomed.

"That is me. Are you General Lei Lie?" Chen Jing looked him over and answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"That's right!" Lei Lie nodded, and without saying a word, placed a wooden box that his personal guard was carrying on the ground.

"By order of my lord, I have delivered a great gift to General Chen."

Chen Jing frowned, his mind filled with doubt.

Xiao Jingchen gave him a gift? They had never met before and had no relation to each other, so why would he give him a gift?

He waved his hand, signaling his trusted aide to step forward and open the wooden box.

The moment the wooden box was opened.

A strong, pungent smell of blood wafted towards us.

A severed head, its eyes wide open in death, appeared starkly before everyone's eyes.

"This...this is..."

Chen Jing's pupils contracted sharply. He stared intently at the severed head, his entire body frozen in place.

The defeated soldiers from the Eastern Frontier behind him all gasped in shock when they saw the severed head.

"Marshal Wei!"

"It's the commander's head!"

"Those damned barbarians! They actually killed the commander-in-chief!"

A furious roar filled the valley instantly.

Countless soldiers, their eyes bloodshot, gripped their weapons tightly.

Chen Jing was so angry that he trembled all over. He grabbed the severed head and looked at Wei Yong's terrified and distorted face, his tiger eyes filled with tears.

"General!!"

He suddenly turned his head, staring at Lei Lie with bloodshot eyes.

"General Lei! What on earth is going on! Where did you get the commander's head?"

Seeing his grief and indignation, Lei Lie sighed and took out a letter from his pocket.

"General Chen, please accept my condolences. Take a look at this first; my lord asked me to give it to you as well."

Suppressing his grief, Chen Jing took the letter and opened it with trembling hands.

The letter was written in Xiao Jingchen's own hand.

The contents of the letter were not complicated.

Xiao Jingchen first briefly recounted how Princess Chang Le arrived in the Northern Frontier ostensibly to reward the army, but in reality to seize power, and how Liu Changqing used a scheme to deceive the princess and the allied forces of the three tribes.

When Chen Jing saw that Princess Chang Le had colluded with the three-clan alliance in order to get rid of Xiao Jingchen, and used Shuobei City as a bargaining chip to have Ashina Sun kill Wei Yong, and was preparing to frame Xiao Jingchen, he was shocked.

His breathing suddenly stopped.

His hand holding the letter trembled like a leaf falling in the autumn wind.

"No...impossible...this is absolutely impossible..."

He muttered to himself, feeling his worldview completely overturned at that moment.

Your Highness...colluded with foreign enemies to murder our own marshal?

This...this is simply unheard of and absurd!

"Nothing is impossible!" Lei Lie's voice was filled with anger. "Princess Chang Le and that woman in the capital have long disliked my Marquis! What despicable and shameless things wouldn't they do to get rid of him!"

"My lord said that although Marshal Wei suffered a defeat, he is still the marshal of the Great Yan! He can die on the battlefield, but he absolutely cannot die due to the schemes and plots of his own people, and bear the stigma of being tortured and killed by barbarians!"

"We must not allow the princess and those treacherous officials in the court to use General Wei's death to frame loyal ministers!"

Lei Lie's words were like heavy hammer blows, striking Chen Jing's heart hard.

He looked at the letter in his hand, then at Wei Yong's severed head, overwhelmed with grief and indignation, and nearly fainted from exhaustion.

"The court... How could the court be like this! How could His Majesty be like this!" he cried out in anguish.

"Hmph, who can fathom the Empress's thoughts?" Lei Lie sneered. "General Chen, now is not the time for grief and indignation. My lord has said he needs your help."

Chen Jing forced himself to calm down and looked at Lei Lie: "What does the Marquis need me to do?"

"Let's put on a show," Lei Lie leaned forward and lowered his voice, "a grand show for the whole world."

"My lord's plan is as follows..."

Lei Lie told Chen Jing about Xiao Jingchen's "open scheme" exactly as it was told.

"...What you need to do is immediately reorganize your troops and raise the banner of 'Avenge Commander Wei, Purge the Emperor's Corrupt Officials, and Punish the Traitors!'"

"Then, you must 'accidentally' seize a 'confidential letter' from the three-race allied forces on the battlefield." Lei Lie then took out another letter from his pocket, which he had prepared in advance and which was written in the style of barbarian handwriting, and handed it to Chen Jing. "The contents of the letter are Ashina Sun's letter to Princess Chang Le. The letter will describe in detail how they conspired to kill Commander Wei Yong and intend to frame Marquis Zhenbei."

"You must make public Commander Wei's head and this letter! Let all the soldiers and civilians of the Eastern Frontier, and all the people of the world, know who is colluding with foreign enemies to persecute loyal officials!"

Chen Jing was stunned.

His mind raced, and he instantly understood the ruthlessness of Xiao Jingchen's plan!

This is an open conspiracy!

A blatant conspiracy!

Once this play is performed, Princess Chang Le's crime of colluding with foreign enemies and plotting to kill the commander-in-chief will be completely confirmed!

The imperial court and the empress will be caught in an unprecedented crisis of passivity and trust.

Meanwhile, Marquis Xiao Jingchen of Zhenbei will transform from a prince who "holds up his own army and disobeys imperial orders" into a lone hero who is framed by treacherous officials but still fights for his country!

The hearts of the people, the army, and the greater good will all be on Xiao Jingchen's side overnight!

How ruthless! How vicious! What a brilliant plan!

Chen Jing looked at Lei Lie, then at the two letters in his hand and Wei Yong's head. The grief and indignation in his heart were gradually replaced by a strange excitement.

He thought he had reached a dead end, but unexpectedly, Xiao Jingchen pointed him to such a great path!

"Good!" Chen Jing slapped his thigh, his eyes blazing with renewed passion. "Let's do as the Marquis says!"

He turned to face his thousands of brothers who were still immersed in grief, and raised Wei Yong's head high.

"Brothers!"

His voice echoed throughout the entire valley.

"Our beloved Commander Wei wasn't killed by the barbarians!"

"He was murdered by treacherous officials of the court, by that Princess Chang Le, who colluded with the barbarians!"