After the Fake Noble son's identity was revealed, there were more and more deserters in Maling city, General Gao strengthened his patrols to stop the increase of deserters and sent Wei Shu to Chengdu to convince General Fei to lead his army to support Maling in order to stabilize the army.
General Fei was afraid of Sun Bin and worried about being ambushed by Qi troops on the way, he said to Wei Shu: “You go back and tell General Gao to break out towards Tui Du, I'll lead my army to meet you.”
Wei Shu said, “The army of Maling is floating, if we leave Maling, most of the soldiers will take advantage of the opportunity to escape, at that time, not only can we not break out, but we will also be wiped out ...... General Fei, you can't see death to save ah!”
General Fei said with difficulty, “I'm not seeing death to save me, I'm worried that Sun Bin will do another ‘Siege Wei to Save Zhao’ and ambush my army on the way.”
“General Fei is overthinking it, Sun Bin only has 50,000 men, surrounding Maling is beyond his strength, he doesn't have any extra troops to ambush General Fei.”
“That's hard to say, Sun Bin has always been false and real.”
Wei Shu knew that General Fei was really scared by Sun Bin and sighed, “Or General Gao is right ......” He saluted General Fei, “General Fei, it's not hard for you, I'll go back and tell General Gao to surrender Sun Bin. ”
“You're blackmailing me!” General Fei's face immediately clouded over.
Wei Shu said, “General Fei, I in no way have the intention of blackmailing ...... me to be honest with you, I came to ask for help, General Gao was not in favor of it, he said that General Fei was afraid of Sun Bin and didn't dare to send out his troops, and that he was planning to surrender Sun Bin. The three of us brothers are the people that General Fei recommended to him, we think about General Fei and argue on the basis of reason, General Gao finally agreed to let me come to Chengdu to try, I didn't realize that General Fei is indeed what General Gao said, and the three of us brothers no longer have any reason, to stop him from surrendering ......”
General Fei is silent, if he loses the Qi rebels, Pang Juan won't forgive him, but in his heart he doesn't want to fight Sun Bin. Seeing General Fei's hesitation, Wei Shu got up to leave, General Fei stopped him and said through clenched teeth, “Go back and tell General Gao to hold on to Maling, my army will be here later.”
After Wei Shu left, General Fei didn't move his troops immediately, he sent his men back to Da Liang to ask Pang Juan to decide.
Pang Juan agreed with General Fei to go out to Maling, let him have a small group in the front and a big group in the back, step by step, advancing cautiously, so that Sun Bin has no chance to take advantage of it; after arriving at Maling, set up camp twenty miles outside of Maling city, echoing with the defenders inside of the city, don't fight Sun Bin easily, drag him down, drag him down to the point of exhaustion, then Pang Juan will lead the Wei army of Daliang to attack.
It's dawn, a cloud of morning mist floats over the city of Maling. General Gao came to the city wall early in the morning, patrolling the city while closely watching the direction of Chengdu. He was eagerly awaiting General Fei's arrival; if General Fei's army came a few days later, the city of Maling would fall apart.
A sudden shout came from the front, “Catch him, catch the deserters!”
General Gao looked up as a bearded soldier came headlong in his direction.
General Gao drew his sword and stopped in front of the bearded soldier, shouting, “Stop.”
The bearded soldier froze, but it was too late to stop and simply raised his sword and charged at General Gao. General Gao swung his sword to block the opponent's sword, dodged sideways, and kicked in the process. The bearded soldier was kicked to the ground and his sword flew out of his hand.
Before the bearded soldier could get up, General Gao's sword was already pressed against his throat. The bearded soldier wasn't afraid and got up from the ground, saying, “You kill me, I don't intend to live anyway!”
A pawn commander came after him with a few soldiers, and the soldiers went up and tackled the bearded soldier.
General Gao put away his sword and asked the pawn commander, “How many is he?”
The pawn captain said, “Does the general mean in total, or today?”
“Today.”
“The third ......” The pawn captain looked at General Gao timidly.
The bearded soldier on the side sneered, “I'm the sixth!”
The pawn commander quickly corrected, “General, this is the third one caught.”
General Gao gave a “hmm” and said to the pawn commander, “You guys go, leave him to me.”
The pawn commander left with his soldiers.
General Gao said to the bearded soldier, “Do you know what I will do to you?”
“It's not just beheading.” The bearded soldier smiled coldly.
“No, I'm going to cut you into pieces!” General Gao intended to scare him.
“It's all the same, it's all the same death, just a little more suffering.” The bearded soldier looked indifferent.
General Gao stared at his face for a moment before saying, “I won't kill you this time, are you still running away?”
The bearded soldier answered decisively, “Flee.”
“Are you not afraid of death?”
“No, I am afraid of death. A mole cricket still knows how to steal life, let alone a human being. Moreover, I have an old man on top and a young man under me, how can I not be afraid of death?”
“Then why are you still running away?”
“Live to have something to look forward to, I had thought that Noble son JiaoShi had the support of the Empress Dowager, and would someday dominate Qi, and at that time, I could get an official position, and return to my hometown to glorify my ancestor ...... But who would have thought that this Noble son JiaoShi was an impostor ... ...General Gao, you say, what hope do we have?”
General Gao was silent for a while and spoke, “Living is better than dying.”
The bearded soldier shook his head and said, “That depends on how one lives, if one deceives one's ancestors and betrays one's country in order to live, living is better than dying.”
General Gao was speechless.
“General Gao, kill me, kill me and I can still have the reputation of preferring death to betraying my country!”
“You've already betrayed the country, and by capturing Maling, we're working against the country.”
“I don't know it's not strange, I was deceived by you guys, my family and ancestors will forgive me. Now, if I know the truth of it and still don't abandon the darkness, not only will my family despise me, but also my descendants and grandchildren will spit on me!”
General Gao silently looked at the bearded soldier for a moment before saying, “I am by no means a heartless person, nor am I someone who abandons his ancestors and country. I would love to let you go, but I can't, I'm a general leading soldiers, a general can't tolerate his soldiers betraying him even if he's on the wrong path, only if he kills the betrayer will the soldiers under him let him drive them away in righteousness.” General Gao drew his sword, “I'm sorry, strong man ......” he said as he raised his sword.
“General, wait ......”
“You regret?”
“No. Please General kill me from behind.”
“You don't dare to face death?” General Gao asked in disbelief.
“No, I am not the General's enemy, but a deserter under the General; an enemy should die facing the General, while a deserter should die with his back to the General.” The bearded soldier said turning his back to General Gao, “Please General, do it.”
General Gao raised his sword once again, hesitated for a moment, and once again lowered it, sighing, “I'll let you go, you go.”
The bearded soldier froze, he turned back and asked, “Why is the General letting me go?”
General Gao said, “It's rare to have such an understanding soldier under my command, it's too much of a pity to kill you ...... If I had found you earlier, I would have let you become a general, but it's too late now ...... You go. ”
The bearded soldier was very touched and said, “The general said so, if I leave the general again, it would be too heartless.”
“Then you stay?” General Gao could not help but be pleased.
The bearded soldier shook his head and said, “It would be treasonous if I stayed.”
General Gao was disappointed and said, “Then you'd better go.”
The bearded soldier kowtowed to General Gao and saluted, saying, “For the kindness of the general's knowledge, I will definitely repay you in my next life.”
General Gao urged, “Go, if you don't go, I won't be able to talk well if others see you.”
The bearded soldier got up and went to the city wall and mounted the battlements.
General Gao shouted behind him, “Rope.”
The bearded soldier turned back and smiled faintly, “No need.” After he finished speaking, he turned his head down and jumped off the city wall.
General Gao walked over to the battlements and let out a long sigh as he looked at the bearded soldier who fell to his death under the city wall.
When the sun was in the sky, General Fei's army arrived, and a stone finally fell to the ground in General Gao's heart. General Fei set up camp twenty miles from Maling and put up a solid defense. He told General Gao to tell him that Pang Juan's army is coming and before Pang Juan arrives, if Sun Bin attacks Maling, he will take the opportunity to attack Sun Bin's camp so that Sun Bin can't take care of his head and his tail; if Sun Bin is bluffing and sends only a small amount of troops to attack the city, he will ignore it; if Sun Bin attacks his camp, he will hold his position; and if Sun Bin withdraws his troops, he will go back to Chui Du together with General Gao.
“Wonderful!” General Gao laughed, “Sun Bin will be helpless against us.”
Since the Empress Dowager was injured at the bottom of Maling City, Zhong Li Chun has been living with the Empress Dowager, feeding her medicine, bringing her food, getting up, dressing her, and taking care of her in every way, and within a few days, the Empress Dowager was able to get off the ground and walk around. She was very grateful to Zhong Li Chun and loved her very much, treating her as her own daughter.
Every day when the Empress Dowager gets up, the first thing she talks about is attacking Maling, she wants to see that fake son of a bitch on the ground to solve the hatred in her heart, but Sun Bin is delaying to use his troops, so the Empress Dowager can't help but be a bit anxious. That night, the Empress Dowager dragged Zhong Li Chun to Sun Bin, she had to ask Sun Bin to give a clear answer.
Sun Bin said to the Empress Dowager, “Empress Dowager, I'm going to hold off on attacking Maling for the time being, and go along for the ride, attacking Wei's border city of Dui Du, which is empty of troops and easy to win.”
The Empress Dowager was very upset and asked, “The False Prince is in Maling, what's the point of you occupying Chengdu?”
Sun Bin explained, “Chui Du is a major town on the border of Wei, occupying Chui Du will add another barrier to the border of Qi. In addition, it can also mobilize Wei's army, if they return to recapture Dui Du, we can look for an opportunity to defeat them on the way, and if Wei's army is defeated, Maling will be broken without attack.”
The Empress Dowager said, “This is wishful thinking on your part, what if the rebels in Maling take advantage of the opportunity to escape?”
“The rebels of Maling have become birds of prey, if they escape from Maling, we will just avoid the difficulty of attacking the city, and without a bloody battle, we can destroy them in the wilderness.”
“You think very well, but there is no certainty, if the false male son escapes in the chaos, he will continue to use my son's name, beckoning and deceiving, and corrupting the reputation of the old woman ...... In short, you can not go to attack the pendant capital, you must go all out to besiege Maling, and can not let the false male son have the slightest opportunity to escape. ”
“Empress Dowager, if we attack Maling, the Wei army twenty miles away won't wait around, we will be attacked on two sides.”
“What did you do long ago? Why didn't you attack Maling before the Wei army came?”
“Empress Dowager, the casualties of a strong attack are too great, if we can't capture it quickly, the Wei army from Dui Du will arrive and it will be even more unfavorable for us ......”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The Empress Dowager waved her hand and interrupted him, saying, “You don't need to explain anymore, the old woman only has one sentence, you must take Maling as soon as possible and get rid of the false eunuch. If you are not sure, the old woman will let the king transfer a large army to come to Maling. Tell me, do you want to transfer a large army to come to Maling?”
Sun Bin said, “No need.”
Empress Dowager asked, “So, how many days can you take down Maling?”
Sun Bin thought for a moment and said, “Three days.”
The Empress Dowager asked again, “What if you can't take down Maling in three days?”
“If you can't take Ma Ling, take the head of the humble servant.”
“Good, we have a deal.”
Zhong Li Chun worriedly said to Sun Bin, “Warlord, don't put words in your mouth.”
Sun Bin smiled faintly and said, “The Art of War says: Trapped in death and then alive.”
After the Empress Dowager and Zhong Li Chun left, Tian Guo asked Sun Bin: “Military Master, are we still going to fight Chui Du.”
Sun Bin said, “Of course we should fight.”
“What if the Empress Dowager blames it?”
“If the general is out there, the king's orders can go unchecked, let alone the empress dowager.” Sun Bin said to Qin Gu: “Mr.Qin, both General Tian and I can't leave the camp, how about we just ask you to lead our troops to Tui Du?”
Qin Gu smiled brightly, “There's no need to be courteous, since the military commander needs me, I'm obliged to serve.”
Sun Bin asked, “How many men do you need?”
Qin Gu thought about it and said, “Five thousand.”
“Five thousand men is a bit less, I can give you another five thousand.”
“Five thousand is already quite a lot, the military division must leave enough troops to take on General Pay's army as well as to encircle Maling's rebels.”
“If the sneak attack does not succeed quickly, not only will you be in a dilemma, but it will also affect the whole situation.”
“Well ...... if Miss Zhong Li can accompany me, I can win.”
“I'm only afraid that the Empress Dowager won't agree.”
“I will go and negotiate.”
Qin Gu paid a visit to the Empress Dowager and asked, “Is the Empress Dowager eager to get rid of the false prince as soon as possible?”
The Empress Dowager said, “That is certainly ...... difficult for the old woman to tolerate even if he lives one more hour!”
Qin Gu asked again, “Does the Empress Dowager think that Military Master Sun can conquer Maling and get rid of the False Duke within three days?”
“What do you think?” The Empress Dowager asked in return.
“I think that within three days, he cannot capture Maling.”
“If he can't, the old woman will take him to task!”
“Empress Dowager, I have a plan that will ensure that the false eunuch is eliminated within three days.”
“What plan?”
“This plan is very simple, ask the Queen to disguise herself as a rebel soldier, sneak into Maling, and assassinate the False Prince.”
“Queen Wang?” The Empress Dowager was stunned at her words, she looked at Zhong Li Chun beside her and said, “No, she's a woman and a queen, how can she take on such a dangerous thing.”
“Empress Dowager, the Queen's sword skills are so strong that not only within Maling City, but even amongst the Qi army, there is no one who is a match for the Queen.” Qin Gu said and cast a wink at Zhong Li Chun.
Zhong Li Chun said, “Empress Dowager, Mr.Qin is right, there is no opponent for my concubine within the city of Maling, and my concubine enters Maling like no one's land.”
The Empress Dowager said, “The rebels are numerous, even if your sword skills are superior, it will be difficult for you to defeat the crowd.”
Zhong Li Chun laughed and said, “Empress Dowager, don't forget that my concubine entered the city disguised as a rebel, the rebels couldn't recognize my concubine, so what's the use of them even if they have more people?”
“Your Highness, this is too dangerous, the old woman really can't rest assured, in case the rebels find out, how can the old woman explain to the Great King?”
“Empress Dowager, even if the rebels find out, they won't be able to catch my concubine. Empress Dowager, you forget, the assassin Cao Yang sneaked into Linzi alone, such a large number of Qi guards, but could not help him, if not my concubine's sword skill is higher than him, he would have escaped long ago.”
“Well ...... what you guys said is also true.” The Empress Dowager nodded and said to Qin Gu, “Such a simple ploy, why didn't you think of it earlier?”
Qin Gu said, “It's not that we didn't think of it, before the empress dowager didn't recognize the fake eunuch, without the empress dowager's permission, we didn't dare to assassinate the fake eunuch; after the empress dowager was injured, the empress dowager was too busy taking care of the empress dowager and couldn't get out of the way, so it was inconvenient for us to come up with this plan.”
The empress dowager sneered, “So many of you men are not worth one of us women.”
The next morning, when the morning light crept in through the door of the tent, the Empress Dowager woke up, and called out “Queen” several times, but no one answered inside the tent. She looked around her with bleary eyes, then at the door, sat up, and clapped her hands.
“What are your orders, Empress Dowager?” A guard asked respectfully as he walked into the tent.
“Where is the Queen, where did the Queen go?”
“The queen left last night ...... Empress Dowager, don't you know?”
“Oh yes, she left.” The Empress Dowager remembered and said, “Let's go, let's go to the gate of the camp and wait for the Queen to come back.”
“The Queen can't come back today.”
“How do you know she can't come back? Maybe the Queen killed the fake male last night and is now heading back.”
After the Queen Dowager had freshened up, she came to the camp gate with the help of her guards, and she looked through the fence gate into the distance.
The soldier guarding the gate asked, “Empress Dowager, who are you waiting for?”
The Queen Dowager said, “The Queen.”
The soldier guarding the gate said, “The Queen can't come back, she may not be able to reach the Dropping Capital yet.”
The Empress Dowager was stunned and asked, “What did you say, the Queen has gone to Taru Capital?”
The guard hurriedly gave a wink to the soldier and corrected, “He said it wrong, the queen didn't go to Dui Du, the queen went to Maling ......”
“He didn't say it wrong,” a soldier who didn't know the inside story came over from the side and said honestly, ”The Queen did go to Tui Du, yesterday at midnight, I saw the Queen leaving the camp with Mr.Qin.”
The Empress Dowager asked the guard with a stern face, “Tell me, what is going on here?”
The guard stammered, “I ...... Mr.Qin won't let me say ......”
The Empress Dowager angrily came to Sun Bin, she angrily pointed at Sun Bin and said “Sun Bin, how dare you, how dare you conspire with Qin Gu to deceive the old woman ...... You're being deceitful!”
Sun Bin had a puzzled look on his face and said, “Empress Dowager, I didn't deceive you.”
“Good,” the Empress Dowager questioned as she calmed down, ”Qin Gu told the old woman to let the Queen go and assassinate the false Duke, but you let her go to Tui Du, what is this not deception?”
“Empress Dowager, the Queen she went to assassinate the False Duke after she came back from Pendant Capital.”
“Last night, Qin Gu Ke didn't say that the Queen went to Dui Du first.”
“Empress Dowager, Mr.Qin didn't say last night that he wouldn't allow the Queen to go to Dui Du either.”
The Empress Dowager was speechless for a moment, then said, “Last night he said that within three days, he would get rid of the fake Prince... Since the Empress has gone to Draped Capital, how can she get rid of the fake Prince within three days?”
Sun Bin stated, “Don't worry, Empress Dowager, within three days, we'll definitely be able to get rid of the Fake Noble son.”
“And if we can't?”
“That would be committing the crime of deceiving your superior.”
“Good, the old woman will settle the score with you after three days!”
After daybreak, a tired Qi army arrived outside of Dui Du City under the banner of the rebels. The Wei soldiers on the city had their arrows on their bows and halberds in their hands, watching the uninvited guests below the city with a hundredfold vigilance.
A Qi general standing on a carriage shouted loudly to the city, “Don't shoot arrows, we are here to join Noble son JiaoShi, please let us in.”
The Wei general on the city sneered, “Noble son JiaoShi is in Maling, what are you guys doing in Chengdu?”
“Ma Ling is surrounded by Sun Bin, we can't enter the city.”
“You guys can go join General Fei, his military camp is just outside of Maling.”
“General Fei's department is within sight of Sun Bin's military camp, General Fei is worried that we'll fraudulently surrender and won't let us enter the camp.”
The Wei general laughed and said, “You think I'm not worried?”
The Qi general said, “The general doesn't need to worry, Sun Bin is a hundred miles away and we are less than a thousand men, if we surrender fraudulently, wouldn't we be throwing ourselves into the net?”
The Wei general thought for a moment and said, “Do you have any proof?”
“I have a recruitment letter from Noble son JiaoShi.”
“Send someone to send it up.”
Zhong Li Chun, who was pretending to be a general, jumped off his horse and walked to the bottom of the city wall, at this time a rope was hanging down from the city, Zhong Li Chun was about to climb the rope and go up, when the general of Wei said from the top of the city, “You don't need to come up here, tie the letter to the rope.”
Zhong Li Chun looked up towards the city, several Wei soldiers' bows and arrows were aiming at her. Zhong Li Chun pulled out the letter, tied it to the rope, left the city wall and returned to the group. Zhong Li Chun whispered to the Qi general beside her, “Act according to the second hand.”
The Wei general read the letter and said to the city, “I'm still uneasy.”
“What do you say?”
“Please put down your weapons.”
The Qi general threw his weapon on the ground and then shouted to the soldiers behind him, “Put down your weapons.”
The soldiers lowered their weapons, but the shields were still in their hands.
The Qi general said to the city, “Is that okay?”
The Wei general said, “Soldiers fall back a hundred paces, generals go into the city first.”
The Qi general ordered the soldiers, “Fall back a hundred paces.”
The soldiers retreated backward in a piecemeal fashion, and Qin Gu, who was dressed as a soldier, was among them. Only seven or eight Qi generals remained in front of the city gates, and among them was Zhong Li Chun.
The gates to the city of Dui Du slowly opened, and Zhong Li Chun and the generals led their horses towards the gates. When they reached the city gate, Zhong Li Chun suddenly stopped and casually pulled out a short sword from under the saddle of his horse, and with a smooth wave of his hand, a piece of cold light flew up, and in an instant, the Wei soldiers inside the gate fell to the ground and died. The Qi generals picked up the weapons of the Wei soldiers from the ground, jumped on their horses and followed Zhong Li Chun into the city.
Outside the city, the flag in the hands of Qin Gu dressed as a soldier swung violently, and the soldiers, as if they had heard the order, with their shield bearers in front and other soldiers behind, rushed swiftly to the place where they had just thrown down their weapons, picked them up on the ground, and crowded into the city gate with cries.
Note: “Steal the sheep as you pass by them” is the twelfth of the Thirty-six Stratagems, the meaning of this stratagem is to discover the enemy's tiny loophole, as long as it's not too small to lose, it should be utilized in a timely manner, even if it's a small victory, should not be let go of. When Sun Bin was at a standstill with the enemy and couldn't win, he realized that Chui Du was empty and seized Chui Du by hand. To know how Sun Bin turned a small victory into a big one, please read the next installment: “Catching a Thief by Closing the Door”.
