After the attack on Cui Du was successful, Qin Gu asked the captured Wei men to tell General Fei outside Maling that if he did not leave Maling within two days, he would kill all the captured Wei soldiers in Cui Du. General Fei didn't take Qin Gu's words seriously at first, but when the informant said that there was a handsome general with extraordinary sword skills in the Qi army, it immediately attracted his attention and he decided that the general was Zhong Li Chun, the Queen of Qi, and if he could capture Zhong Li Chun, Sun Bin would retreat without a fight. But General Fei didn't dare to act on his own, once again he sent his guards to ride a fast horse back to Daliang to report Pang Juan.

  Seeing that General Fei didn't move, Sun Bin had the Wei soldiers captured in Cui Du each write a letter to a relative or friend in General Fei's barracks, those who couldn't write could get someone to write for them, and then shot them into General Fei's barracks with a bow and arrow. The content of the letter was nothing more than recounting sentiments and talking about nostalgia. After General Fei read the letter, he thought Sun Bin was shaking the heart of the Wei army and cursed Sun Bin, immediately ordered his generals to collect and burn all the letters shot in by the Qi army and punish those who didn't hand them over by military law.

  The soldiers were very disgusted with General Fei's order, many of them refused to hand over the incoming letters, and a young soldier pleaded with his general, “General, just let me keep this letter, it's my brother's last letter .......”

  Other soldiers interceded for him:

  “General, let him leave the letter, he is dependent on his brother and he is sad enough that he can't go to his brother's rescue ......”

  “General, let him leave the letter, so that if his brother is killed by the Qi, he may have a thought.”

  That general didn't listen at all, he said very sternly to the young soldier, “This is a military order, not to mention the elder brother, even your father's letter can't be left, hand over the letter, or I will kill you if you don't.”

  The young soldier couldn't hold back any longer, he said angrily, “Kill, my elder brother can't live, I don't want to live either!”

  The general drew his sword: “I'll ask again, will you hand it over?”

  The young soldier's heart crossed and he said, “No.”

  “Then I have to act according to the military order ......” The general's eyes showed killing intent, and he said that he raised his sword.

  A burly pawn captain walked over quickly and grabbed the general's hand with the sword. The pawn captain said to the general, “General, your sword should cut at the Qi people, not your own soldiers!”

  The general said indignantly to the pawn commander, “You want to disobey military orders too?”

  The pawn commander was not subdued and said, “I just want to say a fair word for the soldiers.”

  The general was getting angry and said viciously, “I can't kill you with this sword, so say ...... more.”

  The general raised his sword and stabbed at the pawn commander, who hastily dodged, but the sword still stabbed him in the shoulder and blood flowed out. When the soldiers saw this, they could not help but be enraged, and they picked up their weapons and surrounded the general.

  The general looked at the group of angry soldiers in horror and said, “What do you ...... want?”

  The young soldiers said with red eyes, “When people are pushed, they dare anything!”

  The pawn commander covered the wound on his arm and said to the general, “General, the soldiers' relatives and friends are being held hostage by the Qi people in Cui Du, they are already anxious, you not only don't try to rescue the hostages, but also force your own soldiers to hand over letters from their relatives, once the soldiers are forced by you to be anxious, we will be in chaos without a fight.”

  The general said, “What do you know, this is a plot by the Qi.”

  “As a general, you should try to thwart the conspiracy of the Qi, not suppress the hatred of the soldiers.”

  “Tell those words to General Fei, I'm just carrying out his orders.”

  The Pawn Commander came to General Fei with his angry soldiers, and he said to General Fei, “My brothers want to know how the General intends to free the brethren of Cui Du?”

  General Fei said, “The Qi people just want to use this to transfer us back, they will not kill them.”

  “What if they are killed?”

  “I will avenge them.”

  “It's better to avenge people's deaths than to save them alive.”

  The young soldier shouted from the sidelines, “If my elder brother dies, I'll seek your life!”

  General Fei said angrily, “How dare you!”

  The young soldier also said angrily, “We're just being reckless, if you don't promise to return to Chui Du, we'll take your life now!” As he said that, he drew his sword in his hand, and the other soldiers also drew their swords.

  General Fei faced this group of extremely angry soldiers and once again cursed Sun Bin in his heart for being hateful and cunning.

  The Pawn Leader told the soldiers to put away their weapons and then calmly said to General Fei, “General Fei, you should understand how the soldiers are feeling at this time, if your loved ones were captured by the Qi people and were about to die, you wouldn't just sit back and do nothing.”

  General Fei said, “I will refrain, as the general in charge of the army, I will not disregard the whole situation because of this.”

  “General Fei, if I were you, I would take into account the whole situation as well as saving lives.”

  “Easier said than done na.”

  The Pawn Leader said, “Not difficult, we can sneak attack the Qi's camp and capture the Qi as hostages in exchange for our brothers.”

  “Sneak attack?” General Fei smiled disdainfully, “It's not that easy, Sun Bin has already prepared for it.”

  “General can try to transfer Sun Bin's army out of the camp, then sneak attack, it'll be easy.”

  “How can Sun Bin listen to you?” General Fei sneered.

  “The general can pretend to return to Chui Du and Sun Bin can leave the camp.”

  General Fei was stunned and looked at the Pawn Commander and asked, “Who came up with this idea for you?”

  “Sun Bin.” The Pawn Commander said in a deep voice, “We've fought with Sun Bin many times and Sun Bin's victory relies on falsehoods and striking the west with the east, I was inspired by him.”

  General Fei didn't expect to have such a Pawn Leader under his command who was willing to use his brain, to defeat a strong enemy one must be good at thinking, he knew what he should do. General Fei's spirit was suddenly lifted and he said to his soldiers, “Go back, go back to sharpen your blades and prepare for a bloody battle with the Qi.”

  At the same time General Fei was planning to use a ploy to retake Cui Du, Pang Juan finalized his plan to deal with Sun Bin, he told the guards who reported the news to go back to Maling quickly to relay the message to General Fei: hold on to the camp at Maling to stall Sun Bin, and he immediately ordered Pangcong to rush to Cui Du at a fire rate with 30,000 men.

  Pangcong didn't expect to send troops to Liudu so soon, when Pang Juan sent for him, he was standing alone in the woods on the outskirts of the countryside, his hot eyes looking at Zhong Liqiu by the creek outside the woods. Zhong Liqiu had come to wash her clothes, and her newly washed clothes were hitched up on the shrubs beside her, and she was sitting on the grass beside the river, silently looking at the white clouds reflected in the river water. That piece of white clouds, from time to time changing different forms, slowly floating in the sky in the river water.

  Zhong Li Qiu sighed softly and said to himself, “If I were a cloud, it would be good ......”

  “Too bad you're not.” Pangcong had walked behind Zhong Liqiu.

  Zhong Liqiu stood up violently and looked back, alertly at Pangcong, asking, “What are you doing here?”

  Pangcong walked forward while saying, “Looking for you to speak your mind.”

  “Don't you come over ......,” Zhong Liqiu stepped backward.

  Pangcong stood still and said with concern, “Be careful, the river is behind you.”

  Zhong Liqiu subconsciously looked back at the river behind him.

  Pangcong suddenly pounced over and hugged Zhong Liqiu.

  Zhong Liqiu was shocked and struggled, screaming, “Let go of me, let go of me!”

  Pangcong held the struggling Zhong Liqiu away from the river and smiled colorfully, “You're going to be my wife ...... This is sooner or later ......”

  Zhong Li Qiu angrily cursed, “You bastard, I won't marry you, let go of me, let go of me!”

  Pangcong held Zhong Liqiu behind the shrubs by the river and said, “You've promised me, you can't not marry me ......” He said as he lowered Zhong Liqiu onto the grass, one hand pressed down on Zhong Liqiu's chest, and the other unlocked the lapel of Zhong Liqiu's coat.

  Zhong Liqiu clutched the opening of the lapel with both hands and cursed in a loud voice, “Pangcong, you damned bastard son of a bitch, I'm just going to die, I'm not going to marry you!”

  Pangcong forcefully pulled away Zhong Liqiu's hand grasping the front lapel, gasping for breath, “It's useless for you to curse, if I want to get you today, I have to get it!”

  Zhong Liqiu, in his haste, inadvertently saw the sword on Pangcong's waist, gradually stopped struggling, and said to Pangcong, “Pangcong, I promise you ...... you let go of your hand ......”

  Pangcong onion watched Zhong Liqiu's body slowly loosen up and let go of Zhong Liqiu's hand, a smug smile appeared on his face as he said, “That's right, there's no use in not agreeing, the one who suffers is yourself ......” He said as he removed the sword from his waist and placed it on the ground before undoing his belt.

  Zhong Li Qiu suddenly reached out and grabbed Pangcong's saber, her body rolled and stood up a few steps away, the sword in her hand was already sheathed.

  Pangcong froze and immediately reacted, standing up with a cold smile, “Worthy of being Zhong Li Chun's sister, in the end, she still practiced a couple of hands ......” he said as he slowly walked towards Zhong Li Qiu.

  Zhong Li Qiu pointed his sword at Pangcong, his body stepped back and said, “Don't come over, if you come over I will ...... not be polite.”

  Pangcong walked towards Zhong Liqiu step by step, smiled slightly and said, “It's useless, although I'm barehanded, I can still catch you again.”

  Zhong Liqiu suddenly backhanded the tip of his sword to his abdomen and said, “If you go any further, I'll die in front of you!”

  Pangcong stood still, looked at Zhong Liqiu and said helplessly, “Miss Zhong Li, why do you have to do this ...... You'll have to marry me sooner or later ......”

  Zhong Li Qiu said hatefully, “You dream, I won't marry you bastard even if I die!”

  Pangcong was silent for a moment and said, “Zhong Li girl, don't be angry, just now I had a whim and couldn't help myself ...... In the future, I will never force you again.”

  “Then good, please go away now and never come to pester me again.”

  Pangcong stood there without moving.

  “You go away, go away!” Zhong Liqiu roared.

  Pangcong opened his mouth and said, “There's something I need to make clear ......”

  “Say it.”

  “I know that it was you who told the spy from Qi the ins and outs of the fake Noble son JiaoShi Feng Error ......”

  “So what if it is?”

  “This is the crime of treason, you will be executed.”

  Zhong Li Qiu laughed coldly, “I am not from your Wei country in the first place, why would I commit treason?”

  “You are the wife of Wei's Gongsun Yue.”

  “I never admitted to being his wife, I married him to save Sun Bin, and I came to your Wei once again because of Sun Bin.”

  After a moment of silence, Pangcong said, “So you are a spy?”

  “I'm glad you call me that.”

  “A spy would die a much worse death.”

  “I can die now if you want!”

  Pangcong hurriedly said, “No, I don't want you to die, if I wanted you to die, I would have told my uncle about this long ago ...... ‘ He stared at Zhong Li Qiu, his gaze filled with longing, ’I don't want to lose you. ” Pangcong turned around and walked away after he finished speaking.

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  Zhong Li Qiu looked at his far away figure and had an indescribable melancholy in his heart.

  Pangcong heard that Pang Onion came late because of a woman, and with a sulky face scolded Pang Onion, “For the sake of a woman, you're delirious and depressed, and you can't find any trace of you ...... three times you'll sooner or later delay great things!”

  Pangcong bowed his head and said, “Uncle, I was wrong ......”

  Pang Juan snapped in a commanding tone, “You are not allowed to look for Zhong Li Qiu in the future!”

  “Uncle, I can't live without her ......” Pangcong still had his head down.

  Pang Juan, with a majestic face, said with a straight face, “As a general who fights in the battlefield, there is no woman in the world that you can't leave.”

  “Uncle, I really can't ......”

  “Then well, you from today, you leave uncle, leave the army!”

  Pangcong was silent, as a general, even more so, he could not leave his army.

  Pang Juan looked at him for a moment, eased his tone a bit and said, “You've already heard about what happened in Cui Du, right?”

  Pangcong nodded and said, “I've heard.”

  Pang Juan said, “You immediately lead 30,000 men and horses, traveling day and night, and rush to Cui Du, and I will lead the army to follow.”

  General Fei, in order to recapture Cui Du and calm the soldiers' resentment, wrote to General Gao and told him: in order to retaliate against Sun Bin, he plans to pretend to return to recapture Cui Du and transfer Sun Bin's main force to leave the camp, General Gao can take the opportunity to attack Sun Bin's camp so Sun Bin can't take care of both the east and the west.

  General Gao could see that General Fei had a plan in his plan but he didn't say anything on his mouth, he said to Wei Brothers “I made an appointment with General Fei to attack Sun Bin's camp, in order to be prudent I'm going to send dozens of daredevil soldiers to touch into the enemy camp first, if Sun Bin is really defenseless, then set fire as a signal, I'll then troop out of Maling and completely destroy the enemy camp.” He looked at the Wei brothers, “Except for you brothers, no one can take on this task. But this is a dangerous trip, nine deaths and one life, if you guys don't want to go, I'll never force you.”

  When Sun Bin first arrived at Maling, the three brothers proposed to attack Sun Bin's camp three times, General Gao was worried that if the three brothers missed, there would be no more people available around them, so he never agreed to do it, at this time by General Gao's point of view, the three brothers couldn't refuse even if they didn't want to go, so they had to agree to do it in one go.

  At night, when the moon was in the middle of the sky, General Fei's army quietly left the camp without a sound from the horses or a word from the people. Sun Bin then also led his army to leave the Qi camp. General Gao also sent the Wei brothers on their way, he specially selected fifty strong soldiers to be the helpers of the three brothers.

  Wei Bo and Wei Zhong pulled the ropes and slid down the city wall one by one, and Wei Bo was the last to leave, as he said to General Gao, “If you dare to cheat our brothers and turn into ghosts, we won't spare you.”

  Looking at the Wei brothers who disappeared under the city, General Gao felt ashamed of them, but he could no longer change the situation and had to do so.

  A fire finally lit up in the distance, it was a burning tent in the Qi army camp. General Gao could not help but shout, “Well done Wei brothers!” He ordered the general beside him, “Leave a thousand men to guard Maling for show, the other generals will go out the west gate and head straight to Tui Du.”

  Fake Noble son JiaoShi asked in confusion, “General Gao, we're not going to attack Sun Bin's camp?”

  General Gao laughed bitterly, “General Fei has already gone to Cui Du, if we don't leave, we will be taking our own lives.”

  “Didn't you say that General Fei's return to Chui Du was just for show?”

  “I was saying that to the Wei brothers.” General Gao sneered, “Hmph, I've seen through General Fei's true purpose long ago.”

  “Then ...... aren t the Wei stalwarts and them going to send death for nothing?”

  “If they don't go to send them to their deaths, how are we going to leave Maling safely?”

  Wei's three brothers strutted around the empty Qi army camp, surrounded by tents that they had set on fire, they were very proud of themselves, they had never been so happy after following General Gao. Wei Zhong said to Wei Shu, “Lao San, didn't you say there was an ambush, why aren't they out yet?”

  Wei Shu looked around vigilantly and said, “They'll be out in a while.”

  Wei Zhong laughed and said, “It's that there are ambush soldiers, when they see us, they would have run away in fear ...... long ago.”

  Before the words fell, there was a drumbeat, and a row of archers suddenly appeared in front of them.

  Wei Shu shouted “Run”, Wei Zhong casually threw a few stones, several archers were hit by the stones, the three brothers took the opportunity to turn around and fled in the direction they came from.

  Wei brothers with the dozens of rebel soldiers, a breath of running to the camp's fence wall, they suddenly stopped and looked at the fence wall in horror.

  Rows and rows of Qi soldiers stood outside the fence, bows and arrows in their hands aiming at the Wei brothers and the rebel soldiers.

  The Wei Brothers' group turned around, and the Qi archers behind them were already catching up. They looked to their left, and there were archers on their left; they looked to their right, and there were still archers on their right.

  One of the Qi generals on the right shouted, “You have no way to escape, if you don't want to die, surrender!”

  Wei Bo looked up to the sky and laughed wildly, saying, “Surrender? I won't!”

  Wei Zhong laughed coldly and said, “It's no big deal, it's just a death, if we die, you won't be able to survive a few, General Gao's army will be here in a while.”

  Wei Shu laughed softly, “It's better to let us out, we can make General Gao retreat back to Maling.”

  The Qi general scoffed, “Wei brothers, you're still in the dark, General Gao has already led his army to Tui Du, you've been abandoned by him!”

  Wei Bo laughed disdainfully, “You're lying, General Gao won't abandon us!”

  General Qi said, “If he didn't abandon you guys, he should have arrived a long time ago, but listen, there's no movement in the direction of Maling.”

  Only then did the Wei brothers pay attention to the direction of Maling, there was indeed no sound at all there, they were dumbfounded.

  General Qi laughed, “However, he can't run away, Military Master Sun has already laid a dragnet.”

  General Gao led the rebels to flee Maling in a hurry, countless soldiers fell out along the way, he couldn't care about this much, he only had one idea, leave as soon as possible to catch up with General Fei. But he never thought that Sun Bin's army would block their way when they were only 20 miles away from Maling. General Gao didn't dare to think too much, he turned around and led a part of the rebel army to escape back to Maling.

  At this time, the city gates of Maling were closed, the city walls were silent, and only two men with rebel symbols were patrolling the city. A soldier shouted to the rebels below the city, “Who are you people?”

  General Gao didn't answer immediately, he had a premonition that something seemed to have changed within Maling City, but he couldn't see it for a moment, he looked around warily.

  The soldiers on the city added, “If you don't reply, we will release our arrows.”

  General Gao signaled to a general on horseback next to him, who said in a loud voice, “I am General Gao, open the door.”

  “You're not General Gao, General Gao has gone to Cui Du.”

  “I am back again.”

  “It's impossible for General Gao to come back. You guys hurry up and leave, if you don't, I'll release the arrows.”

  That general whispered to General Gao, “It seems that nothing has changed in Maling.”

  General Gao was still a bit hesitant, when the sound of shouting and killing came faintly from behind him. The false son Noble JiaoShi in the same car couldn't hold his breath any longer and said, “General Gao, don't hesitate, if you don't enter the city, it will be too late.”

  General Gao finally spoke up and said to the city, “Open the door, I am General Gao.”

  The soldier on the city said, “I hear you, you are General Gao, the one from the party is not. General Gao, why are you back?”

  General Gao said, “Let's talk inside, open the door.”

  The city gates slowly opened, General Gao drove his car into the gates first, and the fake eunuch exhaled a long breath.

  Suddenly there was a sound of drums, General Gao froze, the city gate was heavily closed, many Qi soldiers crowded out from both sides of the city wall, surrounding General Gao and False Duke. General Gao's premonition was not wrong; he had just left Maling when it fell into Tian Guo's hands.

  Tian Guo stood on a carriage and shouted, “General Gao, this plan of the military division is called closing the door to be a thief, the Wei brothers were locked up in the camp by the military division, you guys were locked up in the city of Maling, and only General Fei escaped, however, his fate is no better. General Gao, you guys are completely finished, if you want to live, you can only surrender, otherwise, there is no way out of death!”

  General Gao drew out his sword with a grave expression, and let out a long sigh, “One wrong step, every step is wrong ...... ” He drew out his sword, slowly raised it, and violently stabbed it towards his abdomen. His stout body, just like this, fell heavily.

  The false eunuch had been scared out of his wits, and he obediently surrendered to Tian Guo.

  Tian Guo handed the fake male son over to the Empress Dowager, who raised her hand and slapped him twice, and angrily said to the fake male son kneeling in front of her, “Why did you pretend to be my son and smear the old woman's face?”

  The fake eunuch bowed his head and said nothing.

  The empress dowager gave two more slaps and said, “Why did you make an enemy of Qi and work for the people of Wei?”

  The false eunuch still bowed his head and did not speak.

  The Empress Dowager raised her hand and hit again, saying, “Why did you assassinate the old woman? You deserve to die!”

  The Empress Dowager's slaps kept hitting the False Prince, and the False Prince hung his head and let the Empress Dowager's slaps fall on his face. The Empress Dowager got tired of hitting, gasping for breath, pointing at the fake Prince: “Even if I kill you, it's still hard for the old woman to get rid of the hatred in her heart!”

  Sun Bin asked from the sidelines, “Empress Dowager, should we execute him on the spot, or escort him back to Linzi and then execute him?”

  The Empress Dowager gasped and looked at the False Duke for a moment before sighing, “Forget it, leave him alive.”

  Fake Noble son froze and looked up at the Empress Dowager.

  The Empress Dowager murmured, “It's rare that he looks so much like my son, Suburban Master, let him stay by the old woman's side and serve her.”

  The fake eunuch heard this and quickly kowtowed: “Thank you Empress Dowager for not killing me, I will serve the Empress Dowager with my liver and brain!”

  Note: “Catching a Thief by Closing the Door” is the twenty-second of the 36 stratagems, this stratagem means to surround the weak enemy on all sides, gather and annihilate them, just like “Catch a thief by closing the door, catch a chicken by blocking the cage”. Sun Bin used this plan to eliminate the rebels and pacify Qi's civil unrest, and gained time for Qi's army to rest and reorganize. For more information, please read next time: “The Stratagem of Self-Inflicted Injury”.