The Tyrant of the Great Qian Dynasty: Not only will I refuse to arrange a marriage alliance, but I w

In a dark, damp alleyway that reeked of rancid water, Xu Liang ran desperately.

He ripped off the prison uniform that symbolized shame and guilt from his body, the movement so violent that it almost tore his skin.

Then, he pulled out a set of civilian clothes that he had prepared beforehand from under a pile of miscellaneous items and put them on haphazardly.

His chest heaved like a broken bellows as he gasped for breath, still reeling from the shock of narrowly escaping death.

He actually managed to escape from the heavily guarded imperial city.

On the way to be escorted by the two guards, he was already despondent.

But as they passed through a secluded palace road, he made an excuse that he needed to relieve himself and was taken to a simple outhouse.

The two guards remained outside the door and did not follow them in, their expressions lazy.

It was this moment of carelessness that gave him a glimmer of hope—there was a small hole in the back wall of the outhouse, big enough for an adult to squeeze through.

Without the slightest hesitation, he squeezed through with all his might and then began to flee without looking back.

What he didn't know was that along the escape route, several city defense posts that should have been there were left unattended due to "handover and rotation".

He ran all the way without encountering any checks or obstructions.

This unexpected success felt eerily smooth, sending chills down his spine.

But he dared not think about it too much, nor did he want to.

He had only one thought in mind: escape! Escape the capital, escape Su Zhe, that man who held absolute power!

He fled all the way to a slum in the south of the city, a place where all sorts of people mingled, which was the hiding place he had prepared for himself long ago.

He pulled out all his savings from years of work—several large banknotes and some loose gold and silver coins—from under a loose floor tile.

He dared not linger for a moment and found a smuggler who operated in this underground network.

He paid a high price to buy a seemingly unremarkable fast horse and a forged merchant's identity document from the smuggler.

As night fell, he disguised himself as a herbal medicine merchant in a hurry and slipped out of the city through a relatively weakly guarded small gate, blending into the procession leaving the city.

He looked back at the capital city, which resembled a crouching behemoth in the night, overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

He was once the guardian of this city, but now he has fled in panic and is in a sorry state.

After escaping the capital, Xu Liang headed west, avoiding official roads and choosing instead secluded paths.

He hid during the day and traveled at night, enduring wind and rain, sleeping in the open, never daring to stop for even a moment.

His goal was clear—Xiliang.

In his view, since Su Zhe wanted to send him to Xiliang as a pawn to carry out a mission that was bound to end in death, then conversely, the Xiliang royal court must be extremely interested in him, a person who "understands" Su Zhe and has just escaped from the capital.

He wanted to use Su Zhe's "secrets"—those terrifying intelligence about the Great Snow Dragon Riders, the Mo Dao Brigade, the Shenji Battalion, and even the artillery—as his pledge of allegiance, to exchange for wealth and glory in Xiliang, and for a chance to make a comeback.

He wanted to make Su Zhe pay a heavy price for his contempt today!

Unbeknownst to him, several ghostly figures were always following him from a distance.

They are the Shadow Dragon Guard's top secret agents, skilled in tracking and stealth.

Xu Liang's every move, where he went, who he met, and even the changes in his facial expressions were all recorded by these secret agents and sent back to the capital as intelligence through special channels, where they were placed on Su Zhe's desk.

The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Study.

Wei An looked at the latest intelligence report, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Your Highness, I am foolish," he bowed and asked, "We had countless opportunities to easily capture Xu Liang, so why did we let him head west to Xiliang? He was once the garrison commander of the West Gate, and he knows our city's defenses well. He has also witnessed the power of the Mo Dao Brigade and the Shenji Battalion. Isn't this... isn't this aiding the enemy?"

Su Zhe was intently studying the book he had acquired, "The Military Manual of Yue Fei," at his desk.

He was completely absorbed in the exquisite battle formations and strategic concepts drawn in vermilion ink on the yellowed pages.

Hearing Wei An's question, he didn't even look up, but simply replied, "He knows, but I just want him to know."

He turned a page and continued, "Do you think the King of Xiliang would completely believe what a general who deserted in battle, failed in the flag-cutting mission, and fled in disgrace would say to someone in the enemy country?"

Wei An was taken aback, as if he had realized something.

Su Zhe put down the book in his hand, picked up the teacup next to him, and gently blew on the steam.

"A man like Xu Liang, in order to survive and gain the trust of the King of Xiliang, will inevitably exaggerate the strength of our army to the best of his ability. He will describe the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry as heavenly soldiers and generals, the Mo Dao Brigade as hellish demons, and the Shenji Battalion and artillery as world-destroying divine weapons."

"What will be the consequences if his words reach the Western Liang royal court?"

Su Zhe put down his teacup, his tone calm yet exuding an undeniable confidence.

"Within the Western Liang Kingdom, there is already a stalemate between the pro-war and pro-peace factions. Xu Liang's appearance will only exacerbate their internal suspicions and disputes. The pro-peace faction will become even more fearful because of the terrifying scenes he describes, and will be even less likely to take any rash actions against our Great Qian. As for the pro-war faction, they will think that this is alarmist talk, that we have sent a spy to scare them, and that it is another conspiracy by Su Zhe."

"Whether they believe it or not, Xiliang will be in chaos for a while because of this. And what I need most right now is this precious time."

Su Zhe's strategies are no longer limited to the gains and losses of a single city or place, or even the outcome of a single war.

He began to treat enemies and traitors as pieces on his chessboard, placing them wherever he pleased.

An insignificant deserter, under his control, is about to be transformed into a source of chaos in the enemy country, buying him precious time for strategic development.

This sense of control, of strategizing and winning from afar, captivated Wei An, deepening his awe of the young emperor.

He finally understood that Su Zhe's decision to let Xu Liang go was not a mistake, nor was it out of kindness, but rather a more cunning move.

Several days later, after enduring countless hardships and looking emaciated, Xu Liang finally arrived at Yumen City, the capital of Xiliang.

He dared not delay, and used the connections he had made at the border in his early years to report the "important intelligence" he had brought to the King of Xiliang.

As Su Zhe had predicted, Xu Liang's appearance, along with the half-true and half-false "insider information" about the battle of the capital that he brought, stirred up a huge wave in the Western Liang court.

A heated debate ensued, revolving around the "real and virtual aspects of the Great Qian Dynasty" and the "strategy of war and peace."

Just as Xiliang was plunged into internal strife due to Xu Liang's arrival, Su Zhe turned his attention to another direction in the capital of Daqian.

--north.

The siege of the capital has been lifted. Although the main force of the Northern Barbarians has been annihilated, their base on the grasslands remains.

Given time, those scattered tribes will soon produce new leaders, gather new armies, and march south again.

Su Zhe didn't want to give them any more chances.

He summoned all the core generals, including Chen Baipao and the commander of the Mo Dao team, and they stood in front of a sand table.

On the sand table, beyond the territory of the Great Qian Dynasty lies the vast and boundless northern grassland.

Su Zhe's finger pressed heavily on a spot deep in the grassland marked "Northern Barbarian King's Court".

He said something to his generals that invigorated everyone:

"That's enough defense. From now on, it's our turn to attack."