Chapter 97: What Exactly Is Your Relationship? Part 1

The cheers rippled from the foot of the city walls all the way to the battlements. The returning warriors shouted in triumph, the garrisoned soldiers roared in response, and the civilians within the city, hearing the news, joined the cacophony of joy.

For a moment, the air was thick with the clamor of voices, a scene of extraordinary fervor.

Gu Huaiyu rose slowly, his black cloak fluttering lightly in the morning breeze. He squinted toward the distance, watching the lingering dust of battle that had yet to settle.

Han Ding’s face was flushed with excitement, his hands rubbing together restlessly. “Chancellor! We’ve won the opening battle!”

Gu Huaiyu’s expression remained calm, betraying nothing, though he secretly let out a breath of relief.

A slight curve touched his lips as he turned to his attendants. “Go, bring the gold and silver I prepared. Reward the three armies.”

Han Ding’s admiration deepened. He ventured a careful question, “Could it be that… all of this was also within the Chancellor’s expectations?”

“Did the Chancellor already foresee that Marshal Pei intended to lure the enemy out on purpose? That he used the three routes of the Provincial Army as bait to make the Eastern Liao think our main force was at the front, while he led the Northern Frontier Army’s light cavalry on a night-long detour to raid the enemy’s rear camp?”

Gu Huaiyu smiled but said nothing, offering neither a confirmation nor a denial.

This composed demeanor only made Han Ding more certain that the Chancellor had seen through the situation as clearly as fire.

Han Ding pondered for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh in a moment of clarity. “That boy even had the Foreign Auxiliaries lying in ambush on the path the Eastern Liao reinforcements had to take to leave the city!”

In a battle between two armies, how could the Eastern Liao Imperial Court Army inside Heshuo City sit idly by while their own Iron Cavalry was being ambushed?

However, the city was mostly occupied by infantry, as it was difficult to station cavalry there. Once they sent infantry to help, they fell right into the ambush of the Foreign Auxiliaries.

The Foreign Auxiliaries feared the Eastern Liao, but they feared them when they were mounted. If both sides were fighting on foot, who would fear whom?

Having completely unraveled the layers of the plan, Han Ding couldn’t help but burst into hearty laughter. “Three birds with one stone! Brilliant! The Chancellor truly has an eye for talent!”

This “three birds with one stone” strategy was indeed masterful.

First, the initial victory struck like a thunderclap, shattering the myth of the invincible Eastern Liao Iron Cavalry.

Second, although the Northern Frontier Army took the top credit, they didn’t forget to let the Provincial Army and the Foreign Auxiliaries “share the spoils.”

Those soldiers who had once been as timid as mice were now red-eyed with greed, scrambling for enemy heads—it turned out the blood spraying from an Eastern Liao neck was just as crimson and hot as any other. After this battle, the cowards had finally been forged into a pack of wolves.

Third, Pei Jingyi’s victory was beautiful. It not only established his prestige but proved to the three armies that Chancellor Gu’s appointment was not an act of cronyism, but a stroke of brilliant insight.

The “Pei” commander’s flag hanging high was the most powerful proof.

While Gu Huaiyu might not understand the finer points of tactics, the protocols for rewarding merit after a battle were clear to him—

Those who killed enemies were rewarded by head-count, the wounded were compensated based on the severity of their injuries, and the families of the fallen were given extra care.

As for the captured horses, grain, and weapons, which should have been handed over to the imperial court by tradition, he didn’t take a single coin. He simply said, “Whoever seized it, keeps it.”

A war had to be fought battle by battle, and rewards had to be distributed every time. By setting such a grand precedent today, the soldiers would fight even more valiantly in the future.

As for the captured Eastern Liao men, those who needed to be imprisoned were imprisoned, and those who needed to be executed were killed. He never equivocated on such matters.

The area outside the city gate was a scene of chaos and noise. With the first victory achieved, the morale of the three armies was like a surging tide. The young, hot-blooded soldiers waited by the gates to welcome their brothers back to camp.

Gu Huaiyu, of course, had to be present for such an occasion.

He stood before the city gates, surrounded by civil and military officials like the moon encircled by stars. His slender figure seemed out of place against the rugged backdrop of the battlefield, yet he appeared strangely harmonious within it.

The first to return were the commanders of the Provincial Army. A burly man rushed to his front, kneeling on one knee with a cupped-fist salute. “Chancellor! This subordinate has not failed his mission!”

Gu Huaiyu reached out to support his arm, and as the man stood, he patted him on the shoulder. “I shall remember your merit today.”

The man was so moved he didn’t know what to do with his hands; his lips trembled, but he couldn’t find his voice.

Suddenly, the rapid thundering of hooves echoed from a distance, approaching like muffled thunder.

A dark mass of cavalry returned, kicking up clouds of dust. At the head of the formation, Pei Jingyi galloped fiercely, leaving his soldiers far behind.

He reached the city gate and jerked the reins. His warhorse reared up with a long neigh. Before the horse had even settled, he tossed the reins aside and leaped off its back in one smooth motion.

He threw his iron helmet backward; it traced an arc through the air and landed perfectly in the arms of a personal guard.

Pei Jingyi strode through the cheering crowd, his gaze fixed like a torch on the figure at the center of the throng.

He still carried the killing intent of the battlefield, his armor stained with wet blood. Ignoring the generals who came to offer their congratulations, he walked straight toward Gu Huaiyu.