Li Zhongwu stood in front of the map and slowly ran his finger across the route marked on it.

His eyes were deep and calm, as if he could see the battle situation thousands of miles away through the map, the Northern Barbarian Army hidden in the fog, and the prince who was waiting for news in the distance.

“Brother Jingxin,” he said in a low voice, his voice full of heaviness and determination, “we must take a risk.”

His finger stopped at a mountain forest on the map, and a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes: “Send an elite team to bypass the reconnaissance route of the Northern Barbarians and try to get in touch with His Highness.”

These words hit Yuan Jingxin’s heart like a huge rock.

He was slightly stunned, then looked up at Li Zhongwu, his eyes filled with complex emotions – admiration for the decision, but also deep worry about the risks of the mission.

“General, what you said is absolutely right.” Yuan Jingxin nodded slowly, but there was a hint of hesitation in his tone, “However, how can we ensure the safety of the messenger?

The Beiman’s reconnaissance network is extremely tight, and if you are not careful, you may be exposed.”

Li Zhongwu smiled slightly when he heard this, but there was no sense of relief in his eyes. His smile was filled with calmness and determination, as if he had weighed the pros and cons countless times in his mind.

“We can create confusion,” he said slowly, his tone revealing an unquestionable power, “Send out several teams to set off at the same time to distract the Northern Barbarians.

The real messenger will take the most secret route, avoiding the sight of the northern barbarians.”

He paused, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes, and his voice became deeper: “In addition, we can also create some false information to make the Northern Barbarians mistakenly believe that our target is not His Highness, but other directions.

This way, even if the messenger is intercepted, your highness’s exact location will not be exposed.”

When he said this, there was a hint of deep fatigue in his eyes, but more of it was an invisible pressure.

This is not only a game against the northern barbarians, but also a battle for time and destiny.

He knew that any mistake could put them in an irretrievable situation.

Of course, he didn’t know whether Hu Yanhuan could see through his tricks.

But now he has only this one way to go, and he is absolutely unwilling to be the one who surrenders without a fight.

When Yuan Jingxin heard this, he looked at Li Zhongwu deeply, his eyes full of admiration and confidence.

He knew how difficult it was to make this decision. Compared to him, it was already very difficult for Li Zhongwu to make such a decision.

He stood up slowly and looked at Li Zhongwu firmly: “General, you are absolutely right. I will arrange for someone to ensure the safety of the messenger.”

There was a hint of determination in his tone, as if he had already put his own life and death aside: “General, rest assured.
I will personally select the most reliable brothers to ensure that this mission is foolproof.”

Li Zhongwu nodded, his eyes revealing a complex emotion.

He slowly walked up to Yuan Jingxin, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a heavy and trusting tone: “Brother Jingxin, this mission is of great importance, so you must be careful.

Once the messenger successfully contacts His Highness, our situation will change fundamentally.”

Yuan Jingxin nodded heavily, with a firm look in his eyes: “Please rest assured, General, I will definitely fulfill my mission!”

After Yuan Jingxin left, silence returned to the tent again.

Li Zhongwu stood in front of the map, his eyes fixed on the red line marking the messenger’s route, and he did not move his eyes away for a long time.

The night wind whistled past the tent, lifting a corner of the curtain and bringing a biting chill.

But this chill was far less than the heaviness in Li Zhongwu’s heart.

His hands slowly clenched into fists, his knuckles turning slightly white, as if he was using this method to suppress the complex emotions in his heart.

“Northern Barbarians…” He murmured in a low voice, with a touch of complicated emotions in his voice, “In this game, who will have the last laugh is still unknown.”

He slowly closed his eyes, and the figure of Lin Zhongyun appeared in his mind.

That was their hope, the future of the rebels. No matter what, he could not let His Highness fall into danger, and could not let the hope of the rebels be annihilated in this storm.

Suddenly, the wind howled outside the tent and the cold became even colder.

The whimpering sound of the cold wind brought his thoughts back to reality.

He slowly turned around, walked to the front of the tent, and looked up at the night sky in the distance.

The moonlight shone on his face, making his shadow look hideous and lonely.

He knew that this war was not only a contest of strength, but also a test of wisdom and patience.

“Your Highness…” His voice was so low that it was almost inaudible, and there was a hint of complicated emotions in his tone, “Please hold on. We will definitely hold on to the end.”

The light from the bonfire danced on his face, casting a deep shadow.

His hands slowly clenched, his eyes showing determination: “No matter what the cost, we must win.”

……

Inside the Northern Barbarians’ tent, Hu Yanhuan sat on a high platform, his eyes as sharp as an eagle’s as he scanned the generals and soldiers below.

There was a sneer on his face, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a sense of confidence that he was in control of the overall situation.

The light from the bonfire reflected on his armor, flashing a cold light, as if indicating his control over the situation.

He leaned back in a tiger-skin chair on the high platform, holding a glass of strong liquor in his hand, shaking it gently, with a determined gleam in his eyes.

The corners of his mouth rose slightly, with a hint of contempt in his tone: “Lin Zhongyun…how long can you endure it?”

He slowly raised his head and his eyes fell on the night sky outside the tent, as if he could see the movements of the rebels through the darkness.

His voice was low and calm, yet it carried an unquestionable power: “I have set up a trap for this game. No matter how you struggle, you can’t escape from my grasp.”

The generals below all nodded in agreement, with awe and conviction on their faces. A deputy general stepped forward, bowed and said, “General, you are wise!
The rebels are just a bunch of rabble. No matter how cunning His Highness Lin Zhongyun is, he will eventually reveal his flaws. As long as they dare to act rashly, they will fall into the trap!”

Upon hearing this, Hu Yanhuan smiled slightly, picked up the wine glass and drank it all. The spicy taste of the liquor burned in his throat, but made him feel extremely refreshed.

He slowly put down his wine glass, his tone revealing a touch of certainty: “Lin Zhongyun has always been known for his calmness, but this time, he will definitely not be able to hold back. The food and grass have been cut off, and the morale has been frustrated. If he does not take the initiative, he can only sit and wait for death.”

He paused, his eyes showing a hint of coldness: “As for me, I only need to wait quietly for him to jump out, and then I can destroy him in one fell swoop.”

As time passed, the atmosphere in the big tent gradually became quiet and depressing.

Hu Yanhuan was still sitting on the high platform, his eyes deep and calm, like a dormant beast waiting for its prey to appear.

However, as time went on, his brows furrowed slightly.

There was no news on the rebels’ movements, which made him feel a little uneasy.

He slowly turned his head and looked at a scout below, and said in a low and cold voice: “Did the scout bring any news?”

“Strange, what’s going on? Could it be that the rebels are really so confident?”

He frowned, and suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. He was extremely confident and believed in his plan.

However, his repeated defeats at the hands of Lin Zhongyun had already eroded his self-confidence and left an indelible shadow in his heart.

With each plan, he considered more and more.

To put it nicely, this more consideration is called far-sightedness, but to put it in a bad way, it is called being cautious.

Hesitation leads to defeat.

If a general hesitates before looking back, he will surely be defeated.

And now he is in this situation, even though he knows that he is not confident, he begins to hesitate.

But so what?
Whenever he faced Lin Zhongyun, he would unconsciously overthink about it, and he couldn’t change it.

Faced with Hu Yanhuan’s harsh questioning, the scout beside him did not dare to hesitate for a moment.

After all, although Chagan Uli has not abdicated yet, everyone understands that Huyanhuan has taken over the courage of the Northern Barbarians from Chagan Uli, and Huyanhuan is the future Khan of the Northern Barbarians.

Therefore, he didn’t dare to delay even a little.

So he hurried forward and reported in a low voice: “General, the rebel army is still standing still and there are no unusual movements.”

“Stand still?”

The rebels’ words made Hu Yanhuan frown even more tightly, his eyes full of confusion and impatience.

“Does Lin Zhongyun really think that I don’t dare to take the initiative to attack?”

He muttered to himself as he slowly stood up and walked to the map.

His eyes were fixed on the current situation of the entire Northern Barbarian Grassland. His fingers tapped lightly on the map, making a “tapping” sound, as if he was thinking about something.

“Lin Zhongyun…” He murmured in a low voice, with a hint of chill in his voice, “What on earth are you planning?”

Now that the rebels have successfully captured the prisoners, are they really not going to do anything?
However, just when he was overwhelmed by doubts, a messenger suddenly rushed into the tent in a panic.

The messenger knelt down in front of everyone with a thump. His face was sad and his voice was trembling. He said, “General! Urgent news came from Hailanhak – the food and grass were burned. Hailan’s army abandoned the front line and is attacking us!”

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a sudden silence in the tent.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the messenger, with shock and disbelief written all over their faces.

“What?!” Hu Yanhuan turned around abruptly, his eyes revealing an undisguised anger.

He strode up to the messenger and said in a low and cold voice: “Say it again!”

The messenger lowered his head, his voice trembling a little: “Hailanhak’s food supplies were burned by the rebels. He had no choice but to abandon the front line and is leading his troops to attack us.”

Hu Yanhuan’s face turned pale in an instant, his fists were clenched tightly, and his knuckles made a “cracking” sound.

His eyes were burning with rage, as if he wanted to tear everything in front of him to pieces.

“Bastard!” He slammed his fist on the table, making a loud “bang”.

The map on the table trembled slightly, and the wine in the glass splashed out.

His gaze was fixed on the messenger kneeling on the ground, his sharp eyes seemed to penetrate him.

“What happened to Hailanhak? Isn’t he known as the iron wall of the northern barbarians? Why did the rebels succeed so easily?!”

Hu Yanhuan’s voice was terribly low, and every word was like a cube of ice squeezed out from between his teeth, bringing with it a bone-chilling chill.

There was total silence in the tent; one could hear a pin drop.

The messenger knelt in front of the desk, his forehead on the ground, his voice trembling so much that he could hardly speak: “Replying to the general, I don’t know the specific situation either.
I just heard that the rebels sent an elite team to sneak into Hailanhak’s food camp under the cover of night. They set fire to all the food.”

“hateful!”

When he heard this, anger suddenly surged in his heart. He tried to close his eyes and take a deep breath to calm the surging blood in his heart.

However, even in this brief moment of silence, his fists were still clenched tightly, and his knuckles turned white from the effort.

The sound of horses neighing could be heard outside the tent; it was the soldiers on duty patrolling on alert.

He could feel his back soaked with cold sweat, but he still sat there motionless.

You know, the consequence of doing so would be that all his previous efforts would be wasted.

It is even more likely that because of this one incident, his Northern Barbarians will suffer a complete defeat.

This was what made him most angry. He never expected that the flaw in the entire plan was caused by Hailanhak who cooperated with him so well.

At this time, all the generals in the big tent looked at each other with horror on their faces.

At this moment, the anger seemed to be dripping out of water.

Wuyangcuoxi, who was Huyanhuan’s confidant, quietly raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and whispered, “General, Hailanhak is a famous general of the Northern Barbarians after all, how could it be…”

“That’s right, General, could this be fake news?” Someone immediately stood up and echoed.

“If this is true, doesn’t it mean that the rebels on the front line can advance straight ahead?”

“Won’t this mean that our current good situation will be completely ruined?”

“This is not the worst. The worst is if the rebels join forces with Lin Zhongyun, the consequences will be disastrous…”

……

For a moment, the entire tent was filled with discussions and different opinions.

Originally, they were thinking of trying their best to stabilize Hailanhak, letting the rebels consume Hailanhak’s strength, and thus benefiting from it.

However, they never expected that Hailanhak would be so weak and would be forced into a corner.

Now that Hailanhak has abandoned the front-line battle with the rebels and turned to attack them, this is definitely not good news.

In the past, they would not have blinked an eye when faced with such a situation.

But the current situation is that once the Hailanhak front-line troops withdraw, the rebels outside will come in.

This will cause the situation at Hailan Ranch, which was originally under their control, to be completely thrown into chaos.

At that time, no one knew what would happen, and it was still unknown who would win. Everything became confusing.

(End of this chapter)