"Li Ru!"

Wugu Lu's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly drowned out the sound of the wind outside the tent: "Tell me, how do you want to live now?"

"Live, kill Han dogs."

Li Ru looked up and spoke, his voice calm, yet carrying a chilling stubbornness.

"Oh?" A playful smile appeared on Wugu Lu's rugged face. "How do I kill you? With your rotten flesh?"

Li Ru was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke: "The Han army appears strong, but in reality, it is plagued by internal strife. The border troops' rations and pay are often embezzled, and morale is low. This is one reason..."

He paused, then continued, "Secondly, the roads are difficult to traverse in the deep snow of winter, making it hard for the Han army's heavily armored troops to move, and the supply lines are long and slow. Thirdly..."

Li Ru raised his finger and sketched a vague outline of the terrain on the fur-covered ground: "I observed it when I came here. Seventy miles south of here, there is a stone gorge with high mountains and dense forests on both sides and a narrow valley."

The leader can lure the enemy deep into the valley with a small force of elite cavalry. Once their supply train reaches the middle of the valley, the leader can block both ends with rolling logs and rocks, and then shoot their supply wagons with rockets…

"This is a method to cut off their supply lines and exhaust their morale..."

The tent was completely silent, save for the crackling of the burning charcoal in the brazier and the howling of the wind and snow outside.

The playful look on Wugulu's face vanished, and the generals who were drinking also stopped what they were doing, looking at each other with surprise in their eyes.

The ragged, barely breathing Han Chinese prisoner was not spouting nonsense, but rather delivering a clear and incisive tactical analysis, even pointing out Black Stone Gorge, a place they hadn't previously paid much attention to!

"You understand military strategy...?" Wugu Lu asked in a deep voice, a hint of seriousness creeping into his tone.

Li Ru twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that was more like a grimace: "I have read a few books, though..."

Wugulu stared at him for a long time, his eyes shifting with uncertainty, before finally slamming his hand on the low table in front of him: "Good! Batu!"

"exist!"

"Treat his wounds, then get him some food, and move him to a warmer place!"

"yes!"

...

A few days later, a hundred-man elite team led by Batu himself, following Li Ru's instructions, ambushed a Han army convoy transporting winter clothing at Black Stone Gorge and successfully intercepted it.

When the news reached the camp, Wugu Lu was overjoyed and rewarded Li Ru with a bowl of hot mutton soup and a slightly thicker old fur coat.

Li Ru drank the soup with a smile on his face, but a sense of bitterness rose in his heart.

The victory of the Wuhuan people meant losses for the Han army. I couldn't help but think of the Han army's supply train soldiers struggling through the wind and snow, their faces filled with despair.

However, these things are all unavoidable.

He also knew that in order to realize his previous plans, he had to demonstrate his "value" in order to gain a foothold here.

In order to achieve future victory, he had to endure the torment and pain that came from his soul.

In the days that followed, Li Ru also carefully revealed his "value".

As a sudden blizzard was about to sweep through the camp, Li Ru approached Batu with great concern.

Then, pointing to the gloomy sky and the low-flying flocks of birds, he said, "The wind is not right, and the snow is heavy. The yurts need to be reinforced, and the horse stables need to be able to block the wind!"

At first, no one paid attention to his words, until midnight when a fierce wind howled and heavy snow fell, several poorly reinforced yurts were overturned, and several people suffered frostbite, while the horse pen, which had been prepared in advance, suffered only minor damage.

Afterwards, Wugu Lu patted Li Ru on the shoulder in front of everyone, the force of which almost made Li Ru fall over, and laughed loudly: "The eyes of this Han dog are more venomous than those of an eagle in the sky!"

Trust, like water slowly dripping, seeped into the hearts of the Wuhuan people little by little.

Li Ru became a special presence in Wugu Lu's life.

He remained taciturn with a sinister gaze, showing no respect to any Wuhuan person. However, his words, especially those concerning the Han army's movements, weather changes, and even minor oversights in the tribe's management, moved Wugu Lu.

Gradually, Li Ru gained limited freedom of movement within the camp and was no longer constantly watched.

He often stood alone on the snow-covered hill at the edge of the camp, gazing towards the Han lands to the south, sometimes for a long time.

The cold wind blew his tattered fur coat, his back view lonely and silent. The Wuhuan people were used to it and just thought that this mad dog was "homesick" again.

Only Li Ru himself knew that every time he stood alone, it was a silent torment.

He noted down every detail he saw: the patrol routes, the changing of the guard times, the approximate locations of the camp's provisions, and the rotation patterns of the guards in Wugulu's main tent...

This information, along with the movements of the Han army revealed by the "good strategies" he had previously offered, needed an opportunity to be transmitted.

That evening, Li Ru arrived at the edge of the camp, behind a sheltered earthen slope.

He cautiously scanned his surroundings, and after confirming that no one was paying attention, he quickly pulled out a small piece of sheepskin, no bigger than his palm, from his body, and then took out a small, charred twig. At his fastest speed, he sketched a few short lines on the sheepskin scroll.

This is intelligence that Wugulu is preparing to assemble an elite cavalry force to launch a surprise attack on a Han army outpost called "Feihukou".

Feihu Pass was isolated and its garrison was weak, which was exactly the "Achilles' heel" that Li Ru had pointed out to Wugu Lu when he "offered his plan" in order to gain Wugu Lu's trust.

At this moment, the intelligence he sent out was the departure time and approximate route of this elite Wuhuan force.

He had just carefully hidden the parchment scroll and covered the charcoal marks on the ground with snow when a rude voice rang out behind him: "Mr. Li, Lord Wugu Lu is looking for you!"

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