"Those Wutuo people are stupid but cunning. After this lesson, they will only be more suspicious in the future. Anyway, it's night time and there's no harm in hanging the straw man. Why don't you give it a try, Lord Li? If they are still willing to be fooled, it would be good to collect more arrows."

"What if they don't fall for it?"

"That's even better."

Li Kuang shook his head: "Brother He, I don't understand what you want to do?"

He Yan looked at Li Kuang. She had fought side by side with Li Kuang in the past. Li Kuang was a serious and old-fashioned man. He fought in a methodical way. Although he was capable, he didn't like to use tricks. He Yan turned around and looked at the map hanging on the wall in the room. She said, "Master Li, if you were a Wutuo person, and you knew that you were fooled last night, and you used the same trick again today, and it was still the same tomorrow, what would you do?"

"I will be furious and never be fooled again!"

"You will no longer shoot arrows at people coming down from the tower?"

"Of course."

"That's great." He Yan turned around, stared at him and smiled, "Then the third time, our people can leave the city directly. Anyway, they will think that the people coming down from the city tower are just fake straw men."

Li Kuang was stunned.

Everyone has heard the story of the wolf coming. If you are fooled once or twice, even a fool will not believe it the third time. The same is true for the Wutuo people. They wasted so many arrows in vain. No matter how many times they came, they would not shoot arrows at the straw men. Little did they know that in the last time, those straw men were quietly replaced by real Rundu soldiers, who sneaked into their tents under the cover of night.

Li Kuang understood what He Yan meant, but he still didn't understand something, "You mean, you want to let people leave the city?"

"Lord Li, I have said it before, it is better to attack than to defend. If we continue to defend like this, the Wutuo people will attack the city sooner or later. The borrowing of arrows yesterday has already angered them. Now that they are the most restless, we can still find an opportunity. After they have rested, we can attack the city again. The few troops in Rundu cannot stop them from breaking down the city gate."

Li Kuang was horrified and couldn't help saying, "Of course I know that, but even if we launch a sneak attack at night, we still don't have enough troops!"

"It's not about catching all the Wutuo soldiers in one fell swoop. That's simply impossible. What we need to do is burn their food and grass to break their morale. Without food and grass, the Wutuo people will panic and their morale will be unstable. They will be more hesitant about Rundu. We need to buy time," He Yan said, "Lord Li, please ask Jinling for help."

"Jinling?"

He Yan looked at him and said, "Master Li, don't place your hopes on hopeless people. General Feihong will not come. If he came, he would have come long ago. If Rundu wants to hold on, it must find another way to survive. Even if you trust He Rufei again, the lives of tens of thousands of people in Rundu are worth your trust."

The young man's eyes were firm and his tone was unquestionable. For a moment, Li Kuang's heart was also shaken. After a moment, he looked at He Yan: "It's easy to say, but even if you sneak attack at night, how can you guarantee that you can burn the food and grass of the Wutuo people? They have many soldiers and horses. If they are guarding the food and grass, I'm afraid they will be discovered by the Wutuo soldiers before they get close."

"Five hundred people."

"What?"

"I need 500 elite soldiers," the young man said, "Lord Li knows better than me what the vanguard battalion means. With me at the head, the 500-man vanguard battalion will definitely burn their food and grass. Even if we die on the battlefield or under the swords of the Uto people, it doesn't matter. Lord Li, please continue to defend the city and don't waste everyone's sacrifice."

"Of course," she said, "it would be even better if we could bring back Huyat's head."

…

After the grass man borrowed arrows that day, for three consecutive days, every day at night, dozens of ropes would slowly lower from the bottom of the building in Rundu City, and people hanging on the ropes would fall to the ground. Not long after, another group of "people" would do the same thing.

At first, the Uto people would try to shoot dozens or even hundreds of arrows, but in the end, they were too lazy to be fooled and only shot a few arrows here and there before stopping.

All the craftsmen in the city gathered together and made masks overnight. Wang Ba dragged a cart of boxes over, and he and the others moved all the boxes to the ground, saying to He Yan, "They are all here."

Under everyone's gaze, He Yan walked forward, bent down and opened the lid of a box. The box was filled with densely packed masks. Zhao Shiming picked up one and saw that the mask had a green face and fangs, and eyes like copper bells, which was very scary. He couldn't help but screamed "Ah!" and his hand loosened, and the mask fell back into the box. He muttered, "It's scary."

"Brother He, are we going to wear these masks to fight the Uto people?" Xiao Mai asked nervously, "These... are all masks of evil spirits! They are really too scary."

He Yan smiled: "Is it scary? Not really."

In Jiyang, a "lie" mask would have made Ling Xiu and the others avoid it. If they saw what they saw now, they would probably be scared out of their wits. When Zhao Shiming recruited all the craftsmen in Rundu to make masks for her, He Yan had only one request: the more weird and terrifying it looked, the better. It would be best if it looked like the little ghosts in the eighteen levels of hell in the Buddha statue, hideous and ugly.

When she looked at these things, she thought they were ugly indeed, but not scary. This was probably because in her life, people were much scarier than ghosts, and the truly horrible and bizarre things she had seen were far greater than this.

Among the masks in the box, the one on top looked particularly different. It didn't seem to have any fancy patterns painted on it. The entire mask seemed to be cast in iron, airtight, with only a pair of eyes and a chin exposed. He Yan picked up the mask and gently placed it on his face.

Wang Ba was dissatisfied: "Why does yours look so much better? Can we treat them equally? Why do we have to wear what these dogs think is ugly?"

Li Kuang on the side took a breath of cool air and said, "General He!"

Everyone looked towards Li Kuang, and Jiang Jiao smiled: "Sir Li, Brother He is only a Wu'an Lang now, and has not yet been promoted to a general."

Li Kuang then realized that his words had been misunderstood by others, and explained: "I meant that this mask is the mask of General Feihong."

When he and He Rufei fought side by side, He Rufei wore a mask that looked very similar. He wanted to take it off several times, but the mask seemed to be attached to He Rufei's face and could not be removed. Later, his concubine Qiluo told him that He Rufei was very concerned about the scar on her face, so it was better not to expose someone's shortcomings, so Li Kuang gave up the idea.

A few years later, He Rufei returned to the capital. It was said that he took off his mask in front of His Majesty, revealing a handsome face, which was quite stunning. Li Kuang was very angry when he heard the news. He thought this man was sick, and the so-called "ugly and saltless" was all a lie. Maybe he was just looking for a gimmick to create a contrast.

Except for the one time when he met He Rufei during the court session in Beijing, they had not seen each other for several years. But now, he saw the shadow of He Rufei in the young man in front of him. He was as brave and generous as ever.

But he would never be He Rufei.

Li Kuang wondered if He Rufei had a brother at home. This boy was still young, but he already had the bearing of a great general. And they both had the surname He... Did He Yuansheng also raise an illegitimate child outside like Chu Linfeng?

He Yan didn't know that Li Kuang's thoughts had drifted so far away. Jiang Jiao asked, "General Feihong's mask? Lord Li means that this mask is very similar to General Feihong's mask, right?"

It had been so long that he could no longer remember the details of the mask He Rufei wore, but he thought it was similar, so he nodded and said, "Very similar."

He Yan smiled slightly. Ever since He Rufei helped her become "Feihong", she had never expected that there would be a day when she would wear this familiar mask.

"Brother He, what exactly are you going to do?" Huang Xiong wondered.

"Real and fake, true and false, Huyate has never seen the real General Feihong. But he must have heard about the fierce battle between the masked general and the Western Qiang people. I wear this mask and kill into the enemy camp. They don't know who is under the mask. They are jealous and their morale is in chaos. That is our opportunity to take advantage of."

"You..." Li Kuang suddenly realized.

"I want to pretend to be General Feihong." said the young man.

…

The night gradually deepened and a light drizzle began to fall tonight.

The sound of insects could be heard from the fields. In the camp, the Uto soldiers were resting.

A few days ago, Li Kuang's "borrowing arrows from a straw man" in Runcheng wasted 100,000 feather arrows. They have been cleaning up these days. 100,000 feather arrows is not a small number, and the original plan must be changed. Hu Yat was so angry that he killed several archers.

Li Kuang's "straw men to borrow arrows" continued. Every night, straw men would hang down from the top of the city. At first, the Wutuo soldiers were wary and shot arrows, but later, they were no longer fooled and even felt that Li Kuang was mocking and insulting them. Hu Yat said angrily: "When the city is captured, I will bury all the Rundu soldiers alive. I will cut that bastard Li Kuang into pieces in front of the people of Rundu!"

After all, being played around is too embarrassing. He was just laughing at Maka, but he didn't expect it would be his turn so soon.

"General, what should we do if Li Kuang releases those straw men again tonight?" asked the subordinate.

"What should I do?" Huyate asked with a gloomy face: "Do you want me to be a fool again? Idiot!"

The subordinates hesitated and dared not respond.

On the city wall, He Yan, dressed in black, was tying a rope around her body. Behind her were the five hundred elite soldiers that Li Kuang had selected for her from the Rundu army, all of whom were very skilled.

Xiaomai and Hongshan were not originally members of the Liangzhou Guards Vanguard Battalion, and their skills were mediocre. Looking at the brothers who were preparing, Xiaomai said worriedly: "Brother Ahe, those Wutuo people, will they really not shoot arrows here? If they shoot arrows here, wouldn't it be too late for us to turn back?"

He Yan stood on tiptoe and touched his head. Although Xiao Mai had grown taller than her, he was more like a child most of the time, which always reminded He Yan of He Yunsheng. She said patiently, "Everything in the world is born from existence, and existence is born from non-existence. On the first day, we used straw men to borrow arrows to create such an illusion, and deliberately let the Wutuo people see through it. They thought they knew our plan and relaxed their vigilance. After that, they turned non-existence into existence, falsehood into reality, and illusion into reality. When our people really attack them at night, Hu Yat will definitely think it is fake and will not be on guard. We will take advantage of this opportunity, and they will be unable to defend themselves."

"But how can you be sure?" Xiao Mai insisted.

He Yan said: "Nothing in the world can be confirmed. I can only guess Hu Yat's thoughts to the greatest extent possible."

This is a psychological warfare and also a gamble.

He Yan turned around and looked at the people behind him. These carefully selected Rundu soldiers looked thin and haggard due to the long-term consumption with the Wutuo people, but their eyes were burning with fire. Being beaten at their doorstep, now they finally have the opportunity to fight back, even if the price is their lives, the men of Wei are willing to do it.

"When we go down, maybe the Wutuo people won't be able to shoot arrows, but maybe, they will. The brothers who are shot by arrows must not make any sound or move." He Yan paused, and then continued: "Only if we regard ourselves as 'straw men', will the Wutuo people believe that we are really 'straw men'."

Li Kuang's face was solemn. He naturally knew what He Yan meant. There would be sacrifices in war, especially for these five hundred elite soldiers tonight. If they made a sound or moved after being shot, it would be very likely that the Wutuo people would find out, and by then, all their efforts would be wasted.

But it is too difficult, too difficult to endure the pain of being shot by an arrow.

"Maybe we will be injured or even die from this arrow." He Yan looked at everyone and said calmly, "But we all have to remember our purpose. Even if we die, we will die to defend Rundu. The arrows of the Wutuo people have no specific target and may stab anyone, including me. I need you to understand the possible results. If anyone can't accept it now, you can stand up and leave. Otherwise, if the whole night raid fails because of one person, I will never let him off!"

The young man had a cold look in his eyes. He was usually gentle and easy to talk to, but when he really showed his coldness, no one dared to contradict him. No one stood up.

Li Kuang was surprised to find that he had unknowingly handed over the command of Rundu to this young man. He was still young and he didn't even know this Wu Anlang named He Yan before.

But he just has the ability to convince people, just like that year when he was still the deputy general, General Feihong.

"Are you all ready?"

"alright!"

"Very good." He Yan curled his lips and covered his face with the mask in his hand.

The mask covered the boy's face, and along with it, his youthful childishness disappeared, leaving only a pair of beautiful eyes, as sharp as a knife, hiding all the sharpness.

She walked up to Li Kuang and snatched the sword from his hand before he could react.

"Master Li, please lend me your sword."

"Hey..." Li Kuang was slightly annoyed. This guy was acting too naturally.

Li Kuang's sword was a good sword. Although it was not as good as Qinglang's, it was sharper and lighter than ordinary swords. He Yan weighed the sword in her hand. For a moment, she seemed to be back on the battlefield in the past. She was still the general who led the Transcendence Army to charge into the battle array, her blood still hot.

"General Feihong cannot be without a sword." She turned her head and said coldly, "My men, put on your masks and follow me!"