{"id":3835,"date":"2026-06-05T01:28:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T01:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/pursuit-of-jade-78\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T01:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T01:28:42","slug":"pursuit-of-jade-78","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/fr\/chapter\/pursuit-of-jade-78\/","title":{"rendered":"Pursuit of Jade 78"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 78

While beacon fires blazed across the distant battlefield, the command tent atop the mountain remained calm and silent.

Gongsun Yin strode into the tent, unable to conceal the excitement in his voice.

“The plan worked! You had the soldiers at the foot of the mountain strip bark from trees and dig up grass roots to create the illusion that our supplies had run out. The rebels fell for it completely! They think we’ve been starving for days, so they’re deliberately slaughtering pigs and sheep and roasting meat in plain sight to shake our morale!”

Xie Zheng’s injuries were still serious.

His complexion remained pale.

A loose outer robe hung from his shoulders, revealing glimpses of the white bandages wrapped around him beneath.

Holding a mountain terrain map between his fingers, he leaned lazily against the head of the bed.

His handsome features carried a faint air of weariness.

Looking up, he asked,

“Has the message been delivered to the reinforcements below the mountain?”

“It was sent yesterday by sea eagle.”

Xie Zheng tossed the map aside.

“Create some commotion. Keep the rebels occupied so the reinforcements below can burn their grain stores.”

He seemed about to stand, but the movement immediately tugged at the wound in his chest.

Pain flashed across his face.

A frosty expression settled over his features.

“How has Sui Yuanqing been lately?”

Gongsun Yin replied,

“Still being left out in the wind and rain. We keep him alive with one bowl of thin porridge a day. He seemed feverish yesterday, but I didn’t think he was dying, so I didn’t bother calling the physician.”

Cold wind repeatedly stirred the tent flap.

Weak daylight slanted inside, illuminating Xie Zheng’s face.

A cold smile tugged at his lips.

“Take Sui Yuanqing to the front lines.”

He added coolly,

“If the rebels are roasting meat, then roast some yourselves.”

Gongsun Yin immediately understood.

Chuckling, he shook his head.

“This fire will burn on Sui Yuanqing’s body, but it’ll scorch Prince Changxin’s heart.”

His smile widened.

“With such perfect bait in hand, the rebels won’t be able to resist.”

The strategy was simple.

They first created the illusion of starvation, luring the rebels into attempting psychological warfare.

Then they revealed Sui Yuanqing, forcing the rebels to focus their attention on rescuing him.

Meanwhile, the Yanzhou and Jizhou reinforcements waiting below the mountain could strike directly at the enemy’s supply depots and burn their grain.

Once the rebels lost their supplies as well, it wouldn’t matter how many troops they had.

After another day or two, the balance of power would reverse completely.

After leaving the tent, Gongsun Yin was preparing to escort Sui Yuanqing to the front when a personal guard suddenly sprinted over.

His face was deathly pale.

“Master Gongsun, this is bad!”

Gongsun Yin frowned.

“What happened?”

“The Young Lady Fan… she went to attack the enemy camp behind the mountain!”

Gongsun Yin’s expression changed dramatically.

He immediately glanced back toward the command tent.

After confirming that Xie Zheng was too far away to hear, he barked,

“Wasn’t she supposed to be hunting? Why is she attacking the enemy camp?”

The guard replied,

“On the way back from hunting, we heard the alarm horn from the foot of the mountain. When Miss Fan learned that the rear defenses were weak, she charged straight over there.”

Gongsun Yin paced back and forth.

Soon he came up with a response.

“The Marquis’s injuries haven’t healed. Don’t let him hear about this yet.”

He pointed at the guard.

“Take a hundred light cavalry immediately and catch up to her.”

His voice hardened.

“No matter what happens, keep her safe.”

The guard didn’t waste a second.

He rushed off to gather troops.

Meanwhile, Gongsun Yin rubbed his forehead and muttered,

“At a time like this, please don’t let anything go wrong…”


—

At the rear mountain pass…

Fan Changyu, the remaining personal guard, and eight soldiers lay hidden atop a dirt mound concealed by thick bushes.

Each wore a crude camouflage hat woven from branches and vines.

Fan Changyu had been staring at the narrow mountain path leading downhill for quite some time.

Finally, she couldn’t help asking,

“Are there really no guards here?”

The personal guard replied,

“They’re hidden throughout the forest.”

“Oh.”

Fan Changyu nodded thoughtfully.

She was wondering whether they’d need permission from the hidden defenders before attacking the enemy camp when a patrol of allied soldiers suddenly appeared on the winding mountain road.

Their uniforms were stained with fresh blood.

They constantly scanned their surroundings as they walked.

Arrows were already nocked on their bows.

Something felt wrong.

Fan Changyu stared at the road for a while.

She couldn’t figure out where they had come from.

Quietly, she asked,

“Changing shifts?”

The guard also found the situation strange.

He covered his mouth and made several sharp bird calls.

The next instant\u2014

Arrows poured toward them like a swarm of locusts.

The guard’s face instantly changed.

He reached for Fan Changyu, intending to drag her into cover.

She reacted faster.

Rolling across the ground, she dove behind a tree.

Several soldiers panicked and tried to run.

They were immediately turned into pincushions.

Fan Changyu watched men who had hunted beside her only a short while earlier collapse to the ground.

Blood flowed from their bodies.

Their eyes remained open even in death.

Her lips tightened.

An unpleasant feeling settled in her chest.

Her gaze shifted toward the archers.

Even she could tell something was wrong.

Those bloodstained uniforms were almost certainly stripped from dead Yanzhou soldiers.

After the arrow volley ended, the disguised rebels advanced with swords and sabers.

They intended to verify that everyone was dead.

The guard hiding behind a tree opposite Fan Changyu silently mouthed a message:

Run when you get the chance.

Fan Changyu simply pressed her lips together.

She didn’t respond.

When the disguised rebels came within several paces, the guard suddenly roared and charged out.

The surviving soldiers followed.

Their hands trembled around their weapons, but they shouted anyway, using courage to suppress fear.

Fan Changyu noticed that one of them was barely more than a boy.

As he rushed forward, she grabbed him by the collar.

The teenager kicked furiously.

“You’re a girl! Run!”

His eyes blazed.

“A son of Yanzhou will die before surrendering! At least I’ll take one enemy with me!”

Fan Changyu glanced at him.

Then she said,

“You.”

The boy froze.

“Go back and report this.”

She grabbed him and hurled him away.

The boy flew several yards through the air.

Several rebels immediately noticed her and approached with weapons drawn.

Fan Changyu calmly pulled out both her bleeding knife and bone-cleaver.

She scraped the blades together.

A harsh metallic screech echoed through the forest.

Instead of retreating, she charged straight at them.

One knife in each hand.

The personal guard fought fiercely.

After forcing back the rebels surrounding him, he glanced over his shoulder in concern.

What he saw left him stunned.

Fan Changyu cut one rebel down with every swing.

Though she avoided fatal strikes, anyone she hit stayed on the ground for a very long time.

Alone, wielding two butcher’s knives, she whirled through the enemy ranks like a miniature tornado.

A moment ago, the rebels had been hunting them.

Now it almost looked like Fan Changyu was hunting the rebels.

The guard stared blankly.

Then he silently thought:

The woman our Marquis likes really isn’t ordinary.

The boy Fan Changyu had thrown out of the battle also stopped in shock.

Only after recovering his senses did he scramble to his feet and run back.

The rebels had used a two-pronged strategy.

They openly challenged the army at the front mountain while secretly infiltrating the rear.

Not far away, he encountered the other guard who had gone for reinforcements.

The boy nearly cried with relief.

“Hurry!”

He pointed behind him.

“The rebels disguised themselves as our men and infiltrated the mountain!”

Remembering Gongsun Yin’s orders, the guard immediately led a hundred light cavalry toward the battlefield.

With reinforcements arriving, the disguised rebels were quickly subdued.

Scouts soon returned from investigating the rear defensive positions.

Their expressions were grim.

“Our men were all killed by arrow volleys.”

The guard who had fought alongside Fan Changyu became furious.

He punched the captured rebel leader twice across the face.

The man spat out blood and laughed.

“So what?”

His grin was savage.

“We came up the mountain and took plenty of your men with us. Worth it!”

The guard responded by smashing another punch directly into his nose.

After interrogation, they quickly learned how the infiltration had succeeded.

The rebels had stripped uniforms from fallen Yanzhou soldiers and pretended to be the detached reinforcement force operating below the mountain.

Once the defenders lowered their guard, they were slaughtered by a surprise arrow attack.

Their mission had been simple:

Rescue Sui Yuanqing while the fighting at the front distracted everyone.

Both guards suggested transporting the prisoners back to camp for Gongsun Yin and the Marquis to deal with.

Fan Changyu, however, looked again toward the smoke rising from the enemy camp below.

“If they’ve all come up the mountain…”

She tilted her head.

“Then there’s probably nobody left down there, right?”

One of the guards immediately became nervous.

“Miss Fan, the rebels still have numerous troops below the mountain. Their deployment is complicated. It wouldn’t be wise\u2014”

“Wait.”

Fan Changyu interrupted him.

Then she dragged one of the captured rebel soldiers away.

Throwing him behind a tree, she pointed downhill.

“How many soldiers do you still have below?”

The man sneered.

“I’m not some coward who’s afraid to die\u2014”

His speech ended abruptly.

Fan Changyu’s fist smashed into his nose.

The crack echoed clearly.

The rebel screamed.

Blood immediately poured from both nostrils.

Fan Changyu glared at him.

“Talk.”

“The mountain pass only has one thousand men left.”

He spoke instantly.

“They’re stationed below the mountain waiting for orders.”

Fan Changyu dragged him back.

The other prisoners had only heard the screams.

They hadn’t heard the questions.

Seeing their comrade return with blood covering his face, they all turned pale.

Fan Changyu grabbed another prisoner.

Then another.

Then another.

This was a method she’d learned from Constable Wang.

Criminals were questioned separately so they couldn’t coordinate lies.

After interrogating several men and receiving identical answers, she finally turned to the guards.

“There are only one thousand troops left below.”

The guards exchanged glances.

One of them finally said,

“Please wait here, Miss Fan. I’ll go bring more reinforcements.”

After he departed, Fan Changyu and the remaining guard led roughly a hundred elite cavalry personally trained by Xie Zheng down the mountain.

They hid themselves and observed the rebel forces.

The path was steep, so nobody rode horses.

Still, cavalrymen were far stronger than ordinary infantry.

Most could fight two enemies at once.

That was the main reason the guard felt comfortable bringing Fan Changyu down here.

They had originally planned to wait for additional reinforcements before attacking.

Then something unexpected happened.

A scout came galloping toward the rebel camp.

After exchanging several words with the enemy commander, the entire force of one thousand rebels suddenly turned and marched away.

Fan Changyu blinked.

“Why are they leaving?”

The guard didn’t know either.

“Something probably happened at the front mountain.”

Fan Changyu understood one thing perfectly.

When fighting broke out, people called for backup.

Immediately she said,

“Then we need to stop them.”

The guard hesitated.

“What if the people at the front mountain can’t win?”

Before he could answer, Fan Changyu had already identified her objective.

The enemy camp.

She sprinted toward it.

The guard nearly died of fright.

He immediately followed.

The other soldiers rushed after them.

Fan Changyu stormed into the enemy tents.

She ignored everything else.

Instead, she began searching frantically.

Not for gold.

Not for weapons.

For salt.

When she finally found the enemy grain and salt stores, she hoisted two massive sacks of salt onto her shoulders and ran.

The soldiers stared.

Then they started grabbing grain sacks.

The rebels hadn’t gone far before noticing Yanzhou soldiers looting their camp.

They immediately turned back.

This particular camp was only a small supply depot.

There wasn’t much grain.

Even so, the hundred or so soldiers couldn’t carry everything.

The guard who had fought under Xie Zheng for years immediately ordered everyone to retreat.

He also set fire to the empty tents.

Seeing Fan Changyu struggling under two sacks of salt, he took one from her.

Fan Changyu instantly looked like a bandit returning from a successful raid.

With one hand free, she suddenly remembered that neither Changning nor Yan Zheng had proper blankets.

So she ripped two cloaks from nearby tents and took those too.

Then she passed the cooking area.

There, rotating over a fire, was a whole roasted sheep prepared specifically to tempt the starving Yanzhou soldiers.

Fan Changyu’s eyes lit up.

She draped the cloaks over the salt sacks.

Then she grabbed the entire roasting spit.

The pursuing rebels watched in stunned silence.

In her left arm she carried a sack of salt.

In her right hand she held an entire roasted sheep.

And somehow she was still running incredibly fast.

The rebel commander atop his horse became furious.

He drew his bow and fired.

A scout racing toward him shouted,

“General! The Yanzhou and Jizhou forces below the mountain are burning our grain stores! Don’t waste time!”

The commander exploded.

“The mountain rats are stealing my food!”

He pointed furiously.

“They’ve burned my camp too! Are you blind?”

Meanwhile, the arrow streaked toward Fan Changyu.

Fortunately, the distance was great.

Hearing the guard shout a warning, she simply lifted the sack of salt on her shoulder.

The arrow embedded itself harmlessly into the salt.

The rebels nearly caught up several times.

Then the guard who had gone for reinforcements returned with more Yanzhou soldiers.

A storm of arrows forced the rebels to stop.

Powerless, they could only watch as Fan Changyu and the others carried their loot safely back up the mountain.

By the time they reached the mountainside, thick smoke was rising in the distance.

Panting, Fan Changyu asked,

“Are the rebels burning that mountain?”

The guard looked toward the smoke.

Then he laughed in delight.

Dropping his sack of salt, he sat down on the ground.

“It’s not the mountain.”

His grin widened.

“Recent rains soaked everything. They can’t burn the forest.”

He pointed toward the smoke.

“Our people burned the rebels’ grain stores!”

By leading everyone to steal supplies, Fan Changyu had accidentally delayed the thousand rebel soldiers.

Without realizing it, she had helped the allied operation succeed.

The guard looked at her with genuine admiration.

“Miss Fan, you’ve accomplished a great service today.”


—

Unfortunately, the truth couldn’t remain hidden forever.

When Gongsun Yin suddenly dispatched a large force toward the rear mountain, Xie Zheng immediately sensed something was wrong.

“Did something happen at the rear?”

Gongsun Yin froze.

Then he answered carefully,

“Some rebels disguised themselves as our men and infiltrated the mountain. They’ve all been captured. The extra troops are only there to strengthen defenses.”

Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes.

“She still hasn’t returned from hunting?”

Gongsun Yin sighed.

There was no hiding it anymore.

“Miss Fan is at the rear mountain.”

Xie Zheng’s expression instantly darkened.

“Ridiculous!”

His voice was ice-cold.

“If you knew it was dangerous, why leave her there?”

Ignoring his injuries, he tried to stand.

Gongsun Yin hurriedly pressed him back down.

“I already sent Xie Qi and Xiao Wu after her, along with a hundred light cavalry. They’ll bring her back soon\u2014”

Before he could finish, a personal guard burst into the tent.

“Houye!”

He was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Miss Fan is back!”

Xie Zheng’s expression immediately eased.

Gongsun Yin also released a breath of relief.

A moment later, both men turned toward the entrance.

Then they simultaneously fell silent.

Fan Changyu walked in carrying a crimson fur-lined cloak under one arm and an entire roasted sheep in the other.

The tent became very quiet.

Both men’s eyes slowly drifted toward the cloak.

A cloak bearing the Chongzhou military insignia.

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