Isolated town in northern border region

The air in the lobby was almost frozen.

Several military officers' fists were clenched so tightly they cracked.

Shen Chongyuan, the commander of the Northern Frontier, was in his forties with a weathered face. He was personally promoted by Emperor Wu. Now, the late emperor's only son was being humiliated in front of him. How could he bear to watch?

He suddenly stood up, about to speak, when Xiao Lie raised his hand to stop him.

Xiao Lie didn't get angry, and his expression didn't even change.

He just stared at Zhao Mingyuan as if he were looking at a clown jumping around.

"Are you done talking?" Xiao Lie asked.

Zhao Mingyuan was taken aback.

"Now that you've finished speaking, listen to what I have to say."

Xiao Lie took out a bright yellow imperial edict from his pocket and gently placed it on the table.

"Lord Zhao, do you recognize this?"

Zhao Mingyuan's expression changed slightly, and he finally stood up, but only gave a perfunctory bow.

"This is... His Majesty's decree."

Do you know what it says on it?

"This humble official... has not yet read it."

Xiao Lie unfolded the imperial edict and read aloud:

"Prince Ning, Xiao Lie, was ordered to pacify the soldiers and civilians in the northern border region and resist the northern barbarians."

"You, as the provincial governor, claim that my vast northern frontier has no food!"

He put away the imperial edict and looked at Zhao Mingyuan.

"What? Are you trying to demoralize the army and incite the people to rebel?"

Zhao Mingyuan frowned slightly, his lips moved, but he didn't speak.

"And this too..."

Xiao Lie removed the late emperor's sword from his waist.

"Is that enough to chop off your head?!"

His voice suddenly turned cold, like the north wind sweeping across the ice.

Zhao Mingyuan's face finally turned pale.

Xiao Lie stood up, walked up to him, and looked down at him.

"You just asked me, 'Which kind of prince?'"

He leaned down, brought his face close to Zhao Mingyuan's, and spoke in a voice as soft as if he were talking about something trivial.

"I am the kind of prince you can't afford to offend."

Zhao Mingyuan's legs went weak, and he knelt down with a thud.

"Your Highness, please calm your anger! This humble official...this humble official misspoke! This humble official was blind to your greatness! Your Highness, please forgive me!"

Xiao Lie straightened up, looked at him kneeling on the ground trembling, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

Where did his arrogance go? Where did his airs of a high-ranking official go? Where did his "No need for Your Highness to trouble yourself" go?

No more.

Only an old man remained, lying on the ground, his face ashen and his body trembling.

"stand up."

Xiao Lie turned around and walked back to the main seat to sit down.

"I am not here to interrogate you. I only have one question for you."

"How much grain can you gather for me within three days?"

Zhao Mingyuan stood up shakily, cold sweat dripping down his forehead and nose.

"Your Highness... Your Highness, the northern frontier indeed has limited grain reserves. I will do my best, at most... at most three thousand shi."

Three thousand piculs of grain.

Xiao Lie glanced at him but didn't say anything.

That's enough.

Zhao Mingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and returned to his seat. A hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes as he lowered his head.

Xiao Lie saw this hint of ruthlessness, but he didn't say anything.

He turned to look at the military officers.

"General Shen."

Shen Chongyuan stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a deep voice, "Your subordinate is here."

How many soldiers do you have?

Shen Chongyuan paused, glanced at Zhao Mingyuan, and then at Xiao Lie.

"Your Highness, Cangzhou has 12,000 registered soldiers, but the actual number..."

He gritted his teeth.

"Less than six thousand! And most of them are old and weak; there are no more than two thousand soldiers capable of fighting."

Xiao Lie frowned slightly: "Why is there such a large shortage of soldiers?"

Shen Chongyuan didn't speak, but just glanced at Zhao Mingyuan again.

Xiao Lie understood.

There was a shortage of soldiers, the food and pay were being embezzled, and the weapons were being sold off privately. This situation was much more complicated than people had imagined.

"We'll discuss the personnel issue later."

"Let's deal with the food supplies first."

After the meeting, Xiao Lie thought Zhao Mingyuan was just being perfunctory, but he didn't expect that the old fox was still causing trouble behind his back.

That afternoon, he sent his guards to "Yongfeng," the largest grain merchant in northern Xinjiang, to buy grain, but they refused outright.

"The shop's grain reserves are empty; there is no grain to sell."

Then the second store, the third store... without exception, none of them would sell.

When the guard returned to report, Xiao Lie was looking at a map of the northern frontier.

He put down the drawing and gave a cold laugh.

"Zhao Mingyuan acted quickly."

Needless to say, Zhao Mingyuan must have given prior notice.

To feign submission while secretly stabbing someone in the back—that's a very cunning tactic.

"Your Highness, why don't we just seal up their granaries!" Bisu suggested angrily.

"Seizure?"

Xiao Lie shook his head.

"I have only just arrived and have not yet established myself properly; it would be inappropriate to draw my sword."

He thought for a moment, then continued to ask.

Who is the largest grain trader in northern Xinjiang?

"Your Highness, it is the owner of the 'Yongfeng' ship, surnamed Qian, named Qian Wanli."

"He is related to Zhao Mingyuan by marriage, and the two have a very close relationship. Zhao Mingyuan's daughter married Qian Wanli's son."

Xiao Lie nodded.

"Go and send an invitation to Qian Wanli, saying... Prince Ning, Xiao Lie, is hosting a banquet."

The post has been sent out.

Qian Wanli replied that he would definitely attend the banquet that night.

Just as Xiao Lie was about to change his clothes, a series of muffled thunderous hoofbeats suddenly came from outside the city.

It's not thunder... it's the northern barbarians!

He grabbed his sword and started to walk out, with Bisu calling after him.

"Your Highness, you haven't put on your armor yet!"

Shen Chongyuan was already on the city wall.

His face was ashen, and he pointed outside the city, his voice deep and resonant.

"Your Highness, they are the vanguard of the Northern Barbarian Tartars."

Xiao Lie lay on the edge of the battlement and looked down.

It was broad daylight, and the sunlight was blinding.

On the plains outside the city, a dark mass of cavalrymen stood, their horses neighing and their men shouting, raising clouds of dust.

They were carrying all sorts of random flags and dressed in all sorts of different clothes.

Some were wearing the military robes of the Great Chu, some were wearing fur coats, and some were shirtless, all cursing and swearing incessantly.

They lined up outside the city gate, not in a neat and orderly military formation, but loosely scattered like a pack of hungry wolves surrounding their prey.

Some people were dancing on horseback, some were shooting arrows at the city walls, and some were cursing in broken Chinese.

"You piece of trash from Great Chu, come out and face your death!"

"A cowardly turtle!"

"I'll flatten this city in half a day!"

A northern barbarian chieftain rode a tall horse to the moat, reined in his horse, raised his hooves, and made a throat-cutting gesture towards the city wall.

Xiao Lie frowned as he watched that arrogant attitude.

Damn it! Are the Great Chu border troops just sitting around doing nothing?

They actually managed to make those northern barbarians so arrogant!

Shen Chongyuan gritted his teeth.

"Your Highness, the Northern Barbarian vanguard numbers approximately five hundred cavalry. I will lead my personal guard out of the city, vowing to defend Cangwu City to the death!"

"Your going out is exactly what they want."

Xiao Lie interrupted him, his gaze sweeping across the city below.

"They are light cavalry. Once they leave the city, there's an endless plain. Your two hundred guards are doomed!"

He stared at the armor on the northern barbarian cavalry and suddenly laughed.

"General Shen, look at what they're wearing!"

Upon closer inspection, Shen Chongyuan's pupils constricted slightly.

The armor worn by the northern barbarian cavalry was tattered and worn. Some were missing shoulder guards, some were missing breastplates, and some were wearing the standard armor of the Great Chu border army, which still bore arrow holes and knife marks.

"They were all seized from the four states that had previously fallen."

Shen Chongyuan gritted his teeth.

"Our comrades-in-arms have been betrayed!"

Xiao Lie nodded and then asked.

What are they most afraid of?

"Infantry spears and chevaux-de-frise."

Shen Chongyuan did not hesitate.

"Light cavalry cannot break through a well-prepared infantry regiment head-on!"

"As long as the formation remains intact, with the archers holding the line and the spearmen in front, no matter how many come, they will all die."

Xiao Lie's lips curled up slightly.

"Then why do they still dare to be so arrogant?"

Shen Chongyuan's face flushed red as he turned and glanced at the trembling, routed soldiers on the city wall.

"It's all because of these useless cowards! Their legs go weak at the sight of the Tartars, and they run faster than anyone else!"

"Every time battle begins, one deserter can take ten with him, and ten can take a hundred!"

"The Northern Barbarian Tartars didn't even need to charge; our Great Chu army's formation crumbled on its own!"

Xiao Lie narrowed his eyes and smiled like a fox.

"General Shen, even defeated soldiers have their advantages."

Shen Chongyuan was taken aback.

"Your Highness, what did you say?"

Xiao Lie did not explain. He turned around and looked at the pale-faced guards on the city wall, and then at the two hundred soldiers of the personal guard battalion below the city wall.

They were Shen Chongyuan's confidants and the last fighting force in Cangwu City.

He looked at the fifty honor guard soldiers. They stood at the foot of the city wall, some gripping their sword hilts tightly, some pale-faced, but not one of them retreated.

Are you scared?

Xiao Lie asked.

No one spoke.

"Being afraid is the right thing to do."

Xiao Lie smiled.

"Come, I'll assign you some tasks, and I guarantee you'll never be afraid again."

The northern barbarian cavalry swaggered around outside the city for half an hour, but didn't fire a single arrow from the city walls.

They started to get impatient.

The leader pointed his sword, and a dozen cavalrymen rushed to the city gate, slashing with swords, ramming with horses, and lassoing with ropes.

The city gate was only slightly ajar, not fully secured. With a loud crash, the gate was forced open.

At the city gate, several guards were so frightened that they dropped their weapons and ran into the city screaming.

"The useless piece of trash from Great Chu has escaped!"

The northern barbarian cavalry roared with laughter. Their leader brandished his sword.

"Charge in! Seize the food! Seize the women!"

Five hundred cavalrymen surged into the city gate like a flood bursting its banks.

They galloped along the main street, their hooves shattering the ice shards in the cracks of the cobblestones with a sharp, grating sound.

The doors and windows on both sides of the street were tightly shut, and there wasn't a soul in sight. The cavalryman at the front was already howling with excitement!

Just like the four cities they had conquered before, the soldiers of Great Chu only knew how to run away.

As Xiao Lie put on his armor, he peered through the window at the city gate.

"Hey, these defeated soldiers are all method actors! You can't see a single trace of acting in them!"