The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

Han Sui watched Bian Zhang's figure disappear into the night before turning and entering his own tent.

He picked up his pen and wrote a note with only seven characters: "Tonight, Beigong Boyu will launch a night attack."

He folded the note and handed it to his trusted confidant: "Send this to the Han camp secretly. Remember, only say this one sentence, and nothing else."

"Yes, ma'am."

The confidant took the note and slipped out of the city gate under cover of night, heading towards the Han army camp.

The night was not beautiful; darkness enveloped the Han army camp outside Ji County.

The candlelight flickered inside the tent. Liu Bei stared at the map on the table, his brows furrowed.

In just over ten days, the rebel army's strength surged from 40,000 to nearly 100,000!

Every day, groups of Qiang and Han people came to join Beigong Boyu, and his influence grew stronger and stronger.

Looking at our side, 15,000 men are trapped in the east of the city, unable to advance to attack, yet unwilling to retreat!

"Fourth brother, how about... we retreat to Longguan first, and wait for General Huangfu's army to arrive before making our move?"

Liu Bei sighed; now he had no choice but to retreat.

Just as Li Chang was about to speak, footsteps sounded outside the tent.

"My lord! Strategist! A secret message has arrived from the city!"

The guard lifted the curtain and came in, holding a letter sealed with wax.

Li Chang took it, opened it, and glanced at it. There were seven characters scrawled on it: "The Northern Palace will launch a night attack tonight."

No time, no place, no troops!

This is utterly untrustworthy!

Liu Bei's eyes lit up:

"It's a letter from Han Sui! He really didn't lie to us! Luckily he warned us in advance, otherwise we would have suffered a great loss tonight!"

Li Chang held the letter in his hand.

Given Han Sui's tendency to kill his own people and accuse them of rebellion in Liangzhou, would he really be so kind?

Li Chang pondered.

They only mentioned the night raid without going into details, clearly trying to curry favor while also not wanting the Han army to win too easily or suffer a crushing defeat.

He didn't say it out loud.

Liu Bei firmly believed Han Sui's explanation of being "forced to rebel," and now whatever he said would only make his elder brother think he was being too suspicious.

"Brother is right." Li Chang put down the letter.

"I suggest that the entire army sleep without removing their armor and with their weapons at hand. Xu Rong, take five hundred elite troops and set up double guards around the camp, patrolling every fifteen minutes."

Liu Bei nodded, "Then we will follow Fourth Brother's plan!"

"Yes, sir!" Xu Rong clasped his hands in a fist salute and went out.

Zhang Fei scoffed, "Han Sui is such a dragger! He only said 'night raid,' and didn't explain anything else. Once we've entered the city, I'll definitely find him and get to the bottom of this!"

"Third brother, don't talk nonsense." Liu Bei glared at him. "It's already very kind of Mr. Han to risk his life to deliver the message to us."

Li Chang didn't reply. He walked outside the tent and gazed at the dark direction of Ji County. He had a feeling that tonight's events weren't so simple.

……

At midnight, all was quiet.

Suddenly, a battle cry ripped through the night sky.

"Kill! Break through the Han camp! Capture Liu Bei alive!"

Countless torches surged from the direction of Ji County, rushing straight towards the Han army camp like a fire dragon.

"Enemy attack!"

The patrolling soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs. The Han soldiers inside the camp were immediately awakened, grabbed their weapons, and rushed behind the camp wall.

"Release the arrows!" Xu Rong gave the order, and a rain of arrows was unleashed, heading towards the rebels charging at the forefront.

The rebels charged less than a hundred paces, leaving behind dozens of corpses, and then turned and fled.

Zhang Fei, wielding his eighteen-foot spear, rushed to the camp gate. Watching the rebel army's departing figures, he cursed:

"Damn it! You dare to launch a night raid with such meager skills?"

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, put away their weapons, and planned to go back to their tents to continue sleeping.

"Wait!" Li Chang shouted sternly, "You're not allowed to remove your armor even while sleeping tonight!"

Everyone was stunned.

A captain asked, "Strategist, the rebels have all fled!"

"They ran away?" Li Chang shook his head. "It was a feint. Beigong Boyu wanted to use a strategy of exhaustion to make us relax our guard. His main force will only come when we're truly asleep."

This tactic has been used far too many times throughout history!

Liu Bei's expression changed: "Then should we continue our defense?"

"Let's turn the tables on them," Li Changdao said. "Everyone in the front camp will retreat to the central camp, emptying the front camp out. Prepare plenty of rockets, grease, and hay, and pile them up in the front camp. Everyone will ambush on both sides of the central camp, and set them on fire when the rebels come in."

"Alright!" Liu Bei nodded. "Let's do as Fourth Brother says!"

"Wait!" Li Chang suddenly waved his hand, still feeling it wasn't enough, "Also release some from the rear camp."

"Yes, sir!"

The entire army immediately sprang into action.

Half an hour later, the front camp was empty, with the ground covered in dry grass and grease.

Everyone hid behind the camp wall in the middle camp, taking a nap to rest and recuperate.

Another half hour later.

Without torches or shouts of battle, ten thousand rebel soldiers, who were not night-blind, silently crept to the outside of the Han army camp.

With a wave of his hand, the leading general sent the rebel army rushing through the camp gate and surging into the front camp.

"Nobody here?"

"Did the Han army escape?"

"The gatekeeper is a scarecrow!"

It wasn't until they got closer that they realized something was wrong!

The rebels looked at each other, thinking that the Han army had been scared away by the feint attack, and relaxed their guard.

"Chase! Don't let Liu Bei escape!" the general shouted, and led his men to charge towards the central camp.

At that moment, Xu Rong gave the order: "Fire arrows! Set fires!"

In the blink of an eye, countless rockets shot out from behind the camp walls and landed on the hay in the front camp.

"boom!"

The fire suddenly burst into flames, the towering flames illuminating the night sky as if it were daytime.

The rebels who rushed into the front camp were engulfed by flames, and screams of agony filled the air.

"We've fallen into a trap! Retreat!" The rebel general was terrified and turned to run.

It's too late!

The Han troops, who had been lying in ambush on both sides, charged out and hacked at the chaotic rebel army.

The two sides engaged in fierce fighting at the forward camp.

The rebels had the advantage in manpower, but the Han army was well-prepared and held the advantage of terrain.

After fighting for half an hour, the two sides were deadlocked and neither could gain the upper hand.

Just then, a scout rode up at full speed:

"Strategist! A large rebel force has been spotted to the east! Approximately 12,000 men, including about 2,000 cavalry! They are flanking us from the rear!"

Liu Bei, sitting in the center of the army, remained completely calm.

He turned and ordered, "Light the fire!"

The Han soldiers, who were already prepared, immediately set fire to the firewood around the rear camp.

"boom!"

Flames shot into the sky, instantly illuminating the entire night.

The rebel cavalry, who were flanking this area, were suddenly exposed to the firelight and became easy targets.

"Loose arrows! Shoot the cavalry!"

The Han archers turned and fired wildly at the rebel cavalry.

The cavalry were large targets in the open field, and blinded by the firelight, they fell in droves in an instant.

"Zilong! Lingming!" Liu Bei shouted, "Take your cavalry and charge out! Drive their cavalry back!"

"Yes, sir!"

Zhao Yun and Pang De simultaneously mounted their horses, each leading a thousand cavalrymen, and charged out with shouts.

Silver and iron spears flew up and down, and wherever they passed, rebel cavalrymen fell from their horses.

The rebels' encirclement plan completely failed.

The surprise attack turned into an open attack, and with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei entering the battlefield, the rebels' advantage turned into a disadvantage.

After fighting for two hours, the rebels suffered heavy casualties and were still unable to capture the Han camp.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the rebel commander had no choice but to order a retreat.

The Han army did not pursue them and could only let them escape back to Ji County.

The sky gradually brightened.

The camp was in a mess, with bloodstains and corpses everywhere.

Liu Bei looked at the list of casualties, his face grave:

"In this battle, we lost 427 men and suffered over 800 wounded!"

The number of corpses left behind by the rebels was over a thousand, along with nearly two thousand seriously wounded prisoners.

In retrospect, Liu Bei still felt he had lost out big time!

Enraged, Zhang Fei slammed his fist into a pillar.

"It's all that bastard Han Sui's fault! He only told us about the night attack! If he had told us the time and the strength of his troops, we wouldn't have lost so many men!"

The crowd was abuzz with discussion. Some were filled with resentment towards Han Sui, while others were grateful, saying it was all thanks to Han Sui for delivering the message.

Liu Bei looked at Li Chang: "Fourth brother, what do you think?"

Li Chang: "I had a suspicion from the moment I saw that note."

"I have always believed that he was not unaware of the rebels' attack plan; he deliberately kept it to himself."

"He wants us and Beigong Boyu to both suffer heavy losses. He wants to do us a favor so we feel indebted to him, but he also doesn't want us to win too easily, so he can elevate his own status. Once we defeat Beigong Boyu, he will be the biggest contributor."

The tent was completely silent.

Is this really the case?

Since the strategist says so, then it must be true!

That despicable Han Sui!

"So what do we do now?" Liu Bei asked. "Should we still trust him?"

"I believe you." Li Chang smiled. "Why wouldn't I believe you? He wants to use us, and we can use him too."

"He wants to reap the benefits without sowing, so let's give him a chance."

"We'll head to the outskirts of Ji County early tomorrow morning."

"We need to have a good talk with Han Sui in front of Beigong Boyu."