General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

On the rugged mountain road, Cui Zhi galloped wildly on horseback, completely unaware that someone was following him.

Nineteen rode his horse silently behind, marking the route every so often.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

When Jiang Qiqi returned to the mansion, Thirteen and his troops had already assembled at the gate and were preparing to depart.

Shen Luo sat in the carriage next to him.

"Has he already left?" Jiang Qiqi asked.

"He" naturally refers to Cui Zhi.

Shen Luo nodded: "He just rode out of the city on horseback, and Nineteen is with him."

"Wow, they're really fast!" Jiang Qiqi exclaimed in surprise. She thought it would be at least midnight.

She hesitated, "But I'm not done here yet."

Wu Ming has not yet sent over the evidence of Cui Zhi's crimes.

Although she really wanted to go to the battlefield to help, in her heart, avenging Lin'er was equally important.

“I might be two days late,” Jiang Qiqi said.

Shen Luo frowned in disapproval: "I've already arranged everything, you don't need to go."

He knew she was intelligent, but he was far more experienced on the battlefield.

He said, "I just sent a message to Twelve. His three thousand elite troops will bypass Longcheng and head straight for Liyuan. They should arrive in less than a day. At that time, a full-scale war will break out. On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes. It would be too unsafe for you to go."

"What are the chances of winning?" Jiang Qiqi stared intently at Shen Luo and asked.

Shen Luo fell silent.

Jiang Qiqi understood.

"Still less than 50%, right?"

Even though they made so many preparations in advance.

Seeing that he couldn't hide it from her, Shen Luo nodded.

“Those counties were deliberately given to them by Cui Zhi, and the rebels took them almost effortlessly. So we still don’t know how many troops the enemy has, so we can only take a gamble and try to encircle Liyuan.”

"Let's take a gamble; they didn't leave many troops in Liyuan."

A gentle evening breeze blew as Shen Luo, clad in armor, sat in his wheelchair, calmly gazing at Jiang Qiqi.

It didn't seem like they were talking about a war that could wipe them out, but rather about what to have for dinner.

Jiang Qiqi felt a sudden pang of sadness.

How many times must he have escaped death to become so indifferent?

Both of them knew it.

Even if the number is small, as the rebel stronghold, at least seven or eight thousand people remained.

Shen Luo had already gathered all the guards defending the city, and even with three thousand elite soldiers, the total number was less than five thousand.

This nearly 50% difference is not something that can be easily dismissed.

But this is already the best outcome Shen Luo could achieve.

He started setting up this scheme the moment he left the capital.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At first, Shen Luo and the others thought that Cui Zhi concealed the fact that the rebels had captured the county town because he was afraid of being punished by the imperial court.

That's actually wrong; he never intended to report it in the first place.

Cui Zhi has been an official for more than ten years, and he considers himself to be talented, capable, and ambitious.

The only thing lacking is a bit of luck.

Since being promoted to governor ten years ago, he has been going around to different cities and has achieved a lot of political achievements, but the higher-ups have not promoted him.

He thought he hadn't given enough gifts, so he used all his salary to give them away.

If his salary wasn't enough, he would embezzle money and use the embezzled funds to give gifts.

Years have passed, and the hard-earned money is like throwing meat buns at a mute dog.

Not only did they never return, but they didn't even hear a sound.

Later, by chance, he met Wang Liang.

As the Vice Minister of Revenue, Lord Wang held the rank of a third-grade official in the imperial court, a position he could never reach in his lifetime.

But to his surprise, the official said he valued him highly and was willing to help him rise rapidly in his career.

Therefore, Cui Zhi naturally joined Wang Liang's camp.

He secretly rejoiced in his good fortune for half a year before realizing something was amiss.

Wang Liang never talked to him about his political achievements or his promotion; every letter he received was just asking him for money.

Even a year ago, when the Longcheng area suffered a severe drought, he embezzled nearly 80% of the disaster relief funds, and 70% of them were transported back to Wang Liang.

But instead of receiving his help, he demanded even more money from her...

He later learned that Wang Liang had more than a dozen subordinates who were just like him, waiting for promotions from above.

Cui Zhi gave up.

He had a big argument with Wang Liang over a trivial matter and then gave up entirely.

But fate is cruel. Before Cui Zhi's heart could completely sink, a servant came to report: "There is a group of unruly people in Liyuan County who seem to be plotting a rebellion. They have now grown to nearly a thousand people."

A rabble of less than a thousand men was naturally no match for Cui Zhi's forces.

Soon their leader, a middle-aged man named Shi Hui, was brought before him, bound hand and foot.

"Why did you rebel?" Cui Zhi asked him.

The man's face was full of hatred: "The imperial court doesn't care about the lives of us common people. A drought starved my mother to death, and my wife and daughter barely survived, but they were killed because of some nonsense about 'offering tribute to the Dragon King'."

The seven-foot-tall man began to sob and cry.

Shi Hui stared at the man opposite him, gritting his teeth as if he wanted to devour him alive: "The imperial court doesn't care about the lives of us common people, and corrupt officials will treat human life like dirt. If we don't rebel against you, it will be against all reason!"

Cui Zhi chuckled: "You think you can defeat the imperial court?"

Shi Hui spat: "Even if we can't win, we have to fight! If we rebel, at least we can die with the name of a rebel army, which is better than dying a cowardly death in the ground."

Rebel army?

These words woke him up, and Cui Zhi immediately came to his senses.

If there are no opportunities, then create them!

Under Shi Hui's wary and suspicious gaze, Cui Zhi untied his ropes.

“I can pretend I don’t see your rebellion, and I can even give you several counties, but you must listen to me.”

"Is listening to you the same as listening to the imperial court? Ha, you corrupt official, do you think I'll fall for your tricks?"

Cui Zhi smiled, raised his hand, and chopped off the other man's left arm with a single stroke.

He glanced disdainfully at the person kneeling on the ground in pain, and wiped the blood off his knife.

"Do you think I'm discussing this with you?"

……

Cui Zhi promised Shi Hui that once the rebels had grown to a certain size, he would send them three county towns to accelerate their development.

He would report to the imperial court only after they had fully developed and grown in strength.

If the imperial court sends someone to quell the rebellion, it will surely fail.

He, Cui Zhi, could make the rebels return the city without firing a single shot when everyone else was helpless, and then disappear without a trace.

Such a great achievement deserves a promotion of three ranks.

"As for you, Shi Hui, I will recommend you for the position of Prefect of Longcheng after I am promoted."

Cui Zhi's plan was flawless.

To prevent their power from becoming too great and uncontrollable, Cui Zhi even made an agreement with Shi Hui that their base, Liyuan, must be under his control.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Liyuan County on the map is located between Longyou and Longcheng, connecting the two places.

"Perhaps the rebels didn't capture Liyuan County not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't capture it in order to maintain a certain balance with Cui Zhi," Shen Luo analyzed.

Having guessed this, his first step was to disrupt the balance between them.