General Xie Yaofang, upon arriving at Huyue Pass, immediately complained of his predicament. He found the living quarters too simple and damp, insisting on staying at an inn in a small town closest to the pass. Only after Wei Xun's earnest persuasion did he reluctantly agree to stay, on the condition that two young maids accompany him to attend to his needs. Wei Xun had no choice but to agree. Later, he complained about the noise of the morning drills and demanded that the soldiers stop their daily training. Wei Xun tried to persuade him for several days before finally settling on a compromise, ordering the soldiers to resume their drills later.

Five days passed in this way. Xie Yao, unable to endure the hardships of the military camp, repeatedly requested to send troops to repel the Northern Rong. Wei Xun, however, insisted on holding the line and not fighting. He explained the situation to Xie Yao, saying that the Northern Rong had been guarding outside the pass for nearly four months. In just one month, the Northern Rong army would surely run out of food and retreat. We could take advantage of their retreat to lead troops to pursue them. At that time, the Northern Rong army would be focused on retreating and would have no will to fight. We would be sure to win the battle.

However, Xie Yao was already at odds with Wei Xun because Wei Xun was close to his brother Wei Yan, so how could he listen to Wei Xun?

Under Xie Yao's forced order, Xu Wu had no choice but to lead 10,000 troops out of the pass to fight the Northern Rong army. Before leaving the pass, Wei Xun instructed Xu Wu that he only needed to test Xie Yao to understand the ferocity of the Northern Rong army.

Xu Wu accepted the order and led his troops out of the pass. Yelü Yan mustered his troops to meet the enemy, but they were routed in the first battle. The 30,000 Northern Rong cavalry were completely overwhelmed by the mere 10,000 Dasheng Kingdom troops led by Xu Wu. They were defeated as soon as the battle began and scattered to escape for their lives.

When Wei Xun met Xie Yao at the pass, Wei Xun's heart sank. He knew this was a ploy by the Northern Rong to feign weakness. However, Xie Yao was very pleased with himself. He glanced at Wei Xun and walked away triumphantly with two maids on his left and right, leaving Wei Xun alone at the pass with a sorrowful face, shaking his head and sighing slowly.

The next day, Xie Yao once again asked Xu Wu to fight. Wei Xun could not stop him, so he could only secretly incite Xu Wu to anger Yelü Yan when he went into battle, so that Yelü Yan would not pretend to be weak again.

Unexpectedly, after Xu Wu left the pass, he provoked Yelü Yan with his words. However, no matter how harsh Xu Wu's words were, Yelü Yan was restrained by a black-clad scholar beside him, and even though he was furious, he did not act rashly.

Subsequently, the Northern Rong army suffered a major defeat as soon as the two sides clashed.

After three days of this, Xie Yao concluded that the Northern Rong army was utterly ineffective. He believed Liang Yimo's refusal to engage in battle at Huyue Pass was merely due to a secret deal with the Northern Rong. As for Wei Xun, he was clearly preventing him from leaving the pass to avoid accumulating military merit and overshadowing Wei Yan. Perhaps Wei Xun was even plotting to keep him guarding the pass indefinitely, hoping to earn the same reputation as Liang Yimo as a "rat general," and even incur the wrath of Emperor Rui!

Therefore, he insisted on sending all his troops out of the pass to attack the Northern Rong army, vowing to defeat them so that he could return to the capital to claim his credit as soon as possible.

Wei Xun, Xu Wu, and others knelt on the ground and begged Xie Yao, but they could not stop him. In the end, Xie Yao decided to personally lead his troops out of the pass to fight.

After Xie invited him to muster all the troops in Guanzhong to fight, not long after he left, Wei Xun looked up to the sky and sighed three times. Because he had failed to protect his lord's second son, he had no face to face his lord. He then drew a dagger and committed suicide.

In this battle, the Northern Rong army displayed its fierce nature, with each soldier capable of taking on ten men and being unstoppable. The soldiers of the Dasheng army quickly lost their composure and revealed signs of defeat.

Xie Yao had no choice but to order a return to Huyue Pass, but the two groups of Northern Rong troops who had been lying in ambush attacked at the same time, cutting off their way back.

After a day of fierce fighting, the Dasheng army suffered a crushing defeat under the combined attack of the three Northern Rong armies. Hundreds of soldiers escaped in the chaos, more than 20,000 soldiers were captured, and the rest were all killed. Commander Xie Yao was killed, and General Xu Wu, who vowed to never surrender, was also killed.

The Northern Rong army took advantage of their victory and entered the pass. After several months of fierce fighting, Tiger Leap Pass was finally breached!

--

With the Tiger Leap Pass breached, no city in the Central Plains could stop the advance of the Northern Rong cavalry.

At that time, among the several rebellious forces, Wei Nan, the former governor of Sizhou in the south, and Tan Xin, the leader of the Green Forest heroes in the west, were suppressed by the imperial court. Only three forces remained: Yelü Yan, the King of the Northern Rong, Hai Linqin, the Heavenly Gift General, and Wu Xiao, the former leader of the Qishan bandits, who called himself the Fierce Dragon General.

Just as Yelü Yan was advancing towards Yingyang City with unstoppable momentum, General Hai Linqin's army had expanded to nearly 100,000 men. A mysterious force had been supporting his army from behind the scenes, and a young general who was said to be resourceful was also assisting him. Furthermore, Liang Yimo, the former General Who Conquers the North who was mysteriously rescued, was appointed as a valiant captain and led more than 10,000 men in two armies under Hai Linqin's command to serve the rebel army.

The fierce Northern Rong cavalry was unstoppable, and the numerous and powerful Hai Linqin was conquering cities and seizing territories, which was enough to keep Emperor Rui busy. However, at this moment, another piece of news came back to Yingyang City, which made Emperor Rui furious.

Qishan was originally located within the fiefdom of King Hua Lie. Wu Xiao led his troops to the city where King Hua Lie lived. After staying there for nearly a month, he suddenly enthroned King Hua Lie as emperor, changed the country's name to Hua, and named himself Pei, meaning to bless the people like rain and dew.

Emperor Hua Pei issued a proclamation listing more than a hundred crimes committed by Emperor Rui, including evidence of Emperor Rui's collusion with Zhang Chao to harm his brothers. Under the pretext of acting on behalf of Heaven and avenging his brothers, he raised the banner of righteousness and led his troops to Yingyang City.

However, Xuan Yuanlie, who was said to be seriously ill and weak, was in high spirits and personally led the central army. He showed no signs of weakness whatsoever.

When the news reached the Northern Rong camp, which had already attacked deep into the Central Plains, Yelü Yan held a grand banquet in the central command tent after the Northern Rong army's great victory. He invited Li Molin, Liu Li, and many other generals to the banquet. The atmosphere was lively with toasts and laughter, and it was impossible to tell that they were on the march.

When the wine was flowing freely, a soldier came in to report the news. Yelü Yan was stunned for a while, then sighed, "This Prince Hua Lie is so capable and cunning. Could it be that he has been faking his illness all along?"

Behind the first low table to his left, Liuli, holding Ahua in her arms, sat with Li Molin. At that moment, Liuli was scrunching her little face, vying with Li Molin for the food on the table. Li Molin's lips curled into a playful smile, his chopsticks seemingly racing against Liuli's. Whatever Liuli wanted to pick up, he would snatch it away, happily shaking her around. So he didn't hear Yelü Yan's words at all.

Sitting opposite Li Molin and Liuli were Yu Ke and Ji Jue. Upon hearing Yelü Yan's words, Yu Ke first looked up at Li Molin. Seeing Li Molin's appearance, he was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and sighed. After a moment of silence, he turned to Yelü Yan and replied, "If it wasn't for the divine physician who saved him, then it can only be that he was faking it, but there is a high probability that it is the latter."

Yelü Yan nodded and pondered, "If that's the case, then this Prince Hua Lie is not easy to deal with."

Yu Ke nodded, remaining silent.