Chapter 867

"Yinzhou has changed."

After Yuwen Ze finished these three words, his gaze withdrew from the street and fell on the contour of Chen Yan's side profile.

The wind on the city wall carried the rice fragrance from the porridge sheds, mixed with the noise of the commoners lining up at the salt distribution stalls in the distance, pouring onto the city wall in waves.

Chen Yan pulled the collar of his great cloak together, rested his elbows on the brick surface of the crenel, and tilted his chin toward the direction of the ten thousand lights in the city.

"What has changed?"

Yuwen Ze walked to his side, rested both hands on the crenel, and looked down for a while.

The line outside the porridge shed turned three corners, the end of the line stretching all the way to the mouth of Willow Lane; no one was making noise, no one was cutting in line, and the soldiers serving porridge scooped one bowl and handed it over, each bowl steaming with white heat.

"When this younger brother set out from Lingzhou, I heard people at the post station say that Yinzhou commoners would walk around when they saw government soldiers, fearing being pressed into labor."

Yuwen Ze's voice was pressed into the wind, sounding a bit muffled.

"Entering the city today, commoners knelt by the roadside shouting 'Long live the Pillar of State', and an old lady chased my carriage for half a street, insisting on stuffing two eggs into my hands."

Chen Yan did not answer, his gaze crossing the lights in the city to look at the pitch-black wilderness to the north.

Yuwen Ze took a sheepskin scroll from his bosom, spread it on the bricks of the crenel, and pressed the four corners with his waist blade and water bag.

"A Xiong, the deployment map of the Lingzhou army, this younger brother drew it personally."

His finger pointed to a location marked with a red dot on the sheepskin.

"This is Lu Ming Pass at the junction of Lingzhou and Yinzhou; Governor Helian has already sent one thousand five hundred cavalry to garrison it, all merchant caravans entering and leaving the pass are checked three times, and any smuggled convoys that slip through the net won't be able to go fifty li east before hitting a patrol post."

His finger moved south by half an inch.

"This is the Wei River ferry; before the water surface froze, the pontoon bridge was already sealed, leaving only one official ferry, and political commissars of the One Heart Society set up inspection sheds at both ends of the ferry, checking people and goods separately."

Chen Yan looked down twice and reached out to knock on the location of Lu Ming Pass.

"Is Governor Helian's cavalry enough?"

Yuwen Ze nodded.

"Enough, both sides of Lu Ming Pass are mountain ridges, cavalry cannot go around, and only that one road at the pass can take large carts."

"One thousand five hundred cavalry guarding this opening, even if Qian Wansan's remnants drill out from underground, they will have to crack their brains in front of the pass."

Chen Yan pulled his waist blade back from the corner of the sheepskin and inserted it back into his waist.

"The Yinzhou matter, leave the subsequent liquidation to Zhao Tiezhu and Zhang Wenqian."

Yuwen Ze raised his head.

"A Xiong is not sitting in Yinzhou to hold the fort?"

Chen Yan turned around, leaning his back against the crenel, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Zhao Tiezhu has hatred, Zhang Wenqian has brains; one dares to chop people, the other knows how to calculate accounts, Yinzhou cannot be overturned."

Yuwen Ze thought for a while and did not refute.

"Then A Xiong is preparing to return to Xia Prefecture?"

"Leaving tonight."

Yuwen Ze's brows twisted.

"So urgent?"

Chen Yan's gaze crossed Yuwen Ze's shoulder to look at the pitch-black wilderness to the north for a long time.

"Yinzhou's mess is cleaned up, this knife of internal politics has cut to the bone, next it's time to move the outside."

Yuwen Ze's finger pinched into the brick seam of the crenel.

"A Xiong is talking about the grassland?"

Chen Yan did not answer, wrapped his great cloak tighter around himself, and stepped toward the stone steps of the city wall.

"Go back and explain the Lingzhou business to Dou Luling and Huan Jing, you guard the Yinzhou east road for this Duke, this Duke will wait for your news in Xia Prefecture."

Yuwen Ze followed two steps.

"A Xiong, how to handle the secret letter from Chang'an?"

Chen Yan's footsteps paused for a breath on the third step of the stone stairs.

"The copy of that iron box, take one copy back to Lingzhou and lock it in your secret room, hang the key around your neck."

Yuwen Ze's Adam's apple rolled.

"A Xiong is worried that someone in Chang'an will make a move?"

Chen Yan glanced back at him, the line of his mouth dragging very long in the light of the torches on the city wall.

"Worried about what, this Duke just doesn't like putting eggs in one basket."

He patted Yuwen Ze's shoulder, the force not light.

"You are this Duke's younger brother, and also the master of Lingzhou; holding these things, your backbone will be hard enough."

Yuwen Ze's throat choked.

"This younger brother understands."

Chen Yan turned and went down the city wall, the hem of his great cloak dragging an arc on the stone steps.

Two hours later, the sound of horse hooves came from the direction of Xia Prefecture.

Five hundred Beiwei Death Guards protected Chen Yan's carriage, crushing over the blue stone road of Yinzhou's west gate under the cover of night, disappearing into the shadows of the loess plateau.

Gu Yuci rode on his horse, his long spear horizontal beside the saddle, and looked back at the few points of torchlight on the Yinzhou city wall.

"Pillar of State, Yinzhou to Xia Prefecture is four hundred li, we won't make it before dawn."

Chen Yan lifted the carriage curtain, and half a gust of cold wind poured in.

"If we can't make it, rest for an hour on the road; this Duke is in a hurry to go back, not to rush the road."

He put down the carriage curtain, and the inside of the carriage returned to darkness.

Under the pillow was pressed the blood-stained arrow cluster picked up from the battlefield, the secret pattern of the Great Zhou Military Equipment Bureau on the arrow tail pressing against his fingertips.

The next evening, the carriage crushed over the thousand-jin lock of Tongwan City's west gate.

When the door of the Xia Prefecture Governor's Office secret room closed behind Chen Yan, the room was already full of people.

Gao Jiong stood on the left side of the sand table, clutching a newly arrived grassland intelligence report, the edges of the paper still stained with the mud from the carrier pigeon's claws.

Gu Yuci sat on a long bench, his long spear leaning in the corner of the wall, his armor not yet removed.

Ye Zhuxi leaned against the pillar on the right side of the sand table, arms crossed, her wheat-colored face showing sharp angles under the lamp light.

Hongye guarded the doorway, a short sword hanging behind her waist, her shoulder against the door frame.

Chen Yan walked to the sand table, his gaze sweeping over the grassland terrain piled with fine sand in the north, his fingers picking up a red bone chess piece marked with the Rouran, turning it twice in his palm.

"Read the intelligence."

Gao Jiong unfolded the paper, his voice lowered to a level that only these few people in the secret room could hear clearly.

"After the Jinshan meat-grinder battle, the Turkic combat losses were forty percent, retreating to the west of Jinshan, the main force weakened, even after such a long period of recuperation, they have no strength to expand eastward in the short term."

He flipped to the second page.

"As for the Rouran, Nuhe Ti gathered the remnants and retreated to the hinterland of the eastern grassland, currently holding between 130,000 and 150,000 troops; although they lost a large number of elites and equipment, their foundation still exists."

"Especially after such a long period of recuperation, they should have recovered seven or eight out of ten..."

Chen Yan put the red bone chess piece back on the position of the Rouran territory on the sand table, his fingers drawing a long mark on the sand surface.

"More than a hundred thousand people, a centipede that dies but doesn't stiffen."

Ye Zhuxi straightened up from the pillar.

"Is the Pillar of State thinking of making a move on the Rouran?"

Chen Yan's fingers tapped three times on the edge of the ironwood frame of the sand table, each tap heavy, the intervals even.

"The word 'making a move' is not accurate."

His gaze moved away from Ye Zhuxi's face and fell on the tribal distribution area marked with crushed stones of different colors at the northernmost end of the sand table.

"This Duke does not want to spend a single soldier or a single general."

Gu Yuci stood up from the long bench.

"The Pillar of State means..."

"The Rouran are not a single piece of iron."

Chen Yan's finger pointed to a cluster of small tribal marks arranged closely in the northeast corner of the sand table.

"Nuhe Ti's Royal Court occupies the best sheltered pastures and water sources in the eastern grassland, and the surrounding large and small vassal tribes pay pasture taxes every year, providing people and horses to fight for the Royal Court, and the return they get is the nominal protection of the Royal Court."

Gao Jiong took over the conversation.

"After the Jinshan battle, the Royal Court elites suffered heavy losses; in order to replenish troops, Nuhe Ti issued new conscription orders and material apportionments to various vassal tribes, the numbers more than doubling compared to previous years."

The corner of Chen Yan's mouth pulled to the side.

"Doubling, can those small tribes handle it?"

Gao Jiong shook his head.

"They can't handle it; the eyes and ears of the Mingjing Si on the grassland report that at least seven or eight marginal tribes have already shown signs of famine, and the herdsmen can't even gather enough winter rations."

Ye Zhuxi frowned.

"Won't these tribes resist?"

"Resistance needs courage, and also needs blades."

Chen Yan picked up the tea bowl from the low table beside the sand table and took a sip; the tea was already cold.

"They have no blades, and no courage, but this Duke can give it to them."

He put the tea bowl back on the low table, the sound of the bowl bottom hitting the wooden surface echoing twice in the secret room.

"Gao Jiong, this Duke asks you one thing."

Gao Jiong leaned forward by half.

"Pillar of State, please speak."

Chen Yan's fingers circled two tribal marks that were very close together in the northeast corner of the sand table.

"Which tribes are these two?"

Gao Jiong leaned over to identify the color of the crushed stones.

"The one on the west is the Qifu tribe, the one on the east is the Helan tribe."

"What is the relationship between them?"

Gao Jiong's voice lowered by half.

"Blood feud, a blood feud of two generations, the cause was a dispute over pasture boundaries thirty years ago; the Qifu tribe lost the direct son of a leader, and since then the two tribes have raided each other more than a dozen times."

"Later, the Royal Court came forward to suppress it, and judged the best sheltered pasture to the Helan tribe, because the Helan tribe's clan leader married a noble from the Royal Court, and the Qifu tribe was squeezed into the worst barren land on the leeward side."

Chen Yan's finger pressed on the mark of the Qifu tribe, not with much force, but the sand surface sank into a pit.

"Gao Jiong."

"This subordinate is here."

"You go to the grassland."

The secret room was silent for two breaths.

Gu Yuci looked at Chen Yan, his lips moving without making a sound.

Ye Zhuxi put her arms down from her chest.

Gao Jiong's breathing did not change during these two breaths, but the light in his eyes brightened by a layer.

"What does the Pillar of State want this subordinate to do?"

Chen Yan turned around, walked behind the narrow long desk in the corner of the secret room, took out a few ingots of gold and a stack of grassland trade certificates forged by the Mingjing Si craftsmen from the drawer, and pushed them to the front edge of the long desk.

"You take a group of people, disguise yourselves as black market smugglers from the Central Plains, and infiltrate the Qifu tribe."

His voice was unhurried, but every word carried weight.

"Use grain and salt to exchange for Qifugu's trust, use silver and weapons to feed his greed, use intelligence and lies to provoke his old feud with the Helan tribe, and let him move to grab the Helan tribe's pasture himself."

The corner of Gao Jiong's mouth lifted by half.

"Once the Qifu tribe starts fighting with the Helan tribe, the Royal Court will inevitably send troops to suppress it."

Chen Yan nodded.

"Suppression needs troops, where do the troops come from? Drafted from other tribes."

He drew a large circle on the sand table, circling all the vassal tribe marks in the eastern grassland.

"Drafting troops from this tribe to fight that tribe, the drafted tribes will be dissatisfied, and new cracks will appear; this Duke will then stuff a few stones into the cracks, and the cracks will get bigger and bigger, so big that Nuhe Ti won't be able to block them with his fists."

"The Royal Court will be exhausted from suppressing internal chaos, and won't be able to spare hands to recover their vitality, let alone reintegrate their strength to go south and threaten the Great Zhou."

Gu Yuci's voice carried a hint of roughness.

"Cutting meat with a dull knife, letting the Rouran people cut themselves into pieces."

Chen Yan walked back to the sand table, picked up the Rouran bone chess piece, and looked at it in his palm.

"Without spending a single soldier or general of the Great Zhou, without letting the crossbow strings on the Great Wall ring once, the Rouran will rot from the inside."

He threw the bone chess piece back onto the sand table; the bone rolled twice on the sand surface and stopped on the boundary line between the Qifu tribe and the Helan tribe.

"Gao Jiong, how much certainty do you have?"

Gao Jiong raised his head, the lamp light shining on the right side of his face, the left side hidden in the shadows.

"This subordinate has been in the Mingjing Si for three years, pried open the mouths of more than twenty dead spies, forged national letters for six countries, and made a poison scorpion vomit its intestines clean in the dungeon."

His voice had no ups and downs.

"The barbarians on the grassland are easier to deal with than poison scorpions; their greed is written on their faces, and this subordinate doesn't need to spend effort to find it."

Ye Zhuxi glanced at Gao Jiong, then looked at Chen Yan.

"Pillar of State, is it really safe to let Chief Clerk Gao go to the grassland alone, in case his identity is exposed..."

Chen Yan's gaze swept over Ye Zhuxi's face and paused for a breath.

"There are many things this Duke is not at ease about, but whether I am at ease or not doesn't affect him going."

Gao Jiong lowered his head to Chen Yan.

"This subordinate will not let the Pillar of State down."

Chen Yan walked behind the long desk, picked up a brush, and wrote a few lines on a blank sheet of paper, the ink thick enough to seep through to the back of the paper.

"Come get the hand order before you leave, grain and weapons will be transferred from the north warehouse of Tongwan City, go out of the city through the secret tunnel, don't alarm anyone."

Gao Jiong took the hand order and tucked it into his bosom.

"This subordinate will set out tomorrow."

Chen Yan raised his hand.

"Set out tonight."

Gao Jiong's footsteps paused for half a beat, then he turned and walked toward the door of the secret room, the dull sound of armor plates colliding echoing in the stone walls several times, getting further and further away, getting heavier and heavier.

Hongye stepped aside at the doorway, her gaze following Gao Jiong's back as it disappeared into the corridor corner.

Only four people remained in the secret room.

Chen Yan stood by the sand table, his fingers resting on the edge of the ironwood frame, his fingertips slowly rubbing back and forth against the rough wood grain.

Ye Zhuxi did not rush to leave, her gaze moving from the Rouran bone chess piece on the sand table to Chen Yan's side profile.

"Is the Pillar of State really at ease letting Chief Clerk Gao go alone?"

Chen Yan did not turn his head.

"There are many things this Duke is not at ease about, but whether I am at ease or not doesn't affect him going."

Outside the window came the sound of the horn for the changing of the guard at the Xia Prefecture camp, the low sound wave dragging a long tail in the night.

Chen Yan picked up the small tribal mark chess pieces scattered on the sand table one by one, rearranging them to where they should be, the time he spent on each piece not exceeding one breath.

His lips moved, his voice only audible to himself.

"Go, stir this game of chess to pieces for this Duke."

The next day.

When Gao Jiong went out from the north city gate, the sky was not yet bright.

The official robe of the Chief Clerk on his body had already been changed into a tattered fur coat stained with oil and sheep smell, the hem of the coat torn in several places and wrapped messily with hemp rope, and on his feet were old leather boots with worn-out soles.