Chapter 106: Everyone, cross the river at once!

"Hiss! It hurts like hell!"
"My stomach..."

Inside the rebel vanguard camp, cries of agony erupted from numerous tents. Outside, junior officers and their trusted men were in a state of frantic chaos, rushing about with nervous expressions. They hovered around the few physicians, bombarding them with questions about what had befallen the soldiers.

"General!"
"General!"

Seeing Yang Boyue approach with his men, the physicians and officers turned to him with desperate eyes.

"What exactly is going on?" Yang Boyue ignored the others and walked straight to the lead physician.

"General, they all show symptoms of severe food poisoning!" the old physician reported, his eyes wide with terror, fearing that Yang Boyue might order his execution on the spot.

"Food poisoning?" Yang Boyue frowned and turned toward a junior officer. "Who was responsible for the provisions tonight?"

A man with a deathly pale face stepped out from behind the physicians. "It was me, General!" He looked at Yang Boyue with trepidation. "General, it is not the food! The physicians have already checked!" He bowed his head, terrified of being blamed.

The old physician, noticing Yang Boyue’s gaze, raised his hand in a salute. "General, although there are no leftovers, it is truly not the grain. Judging by the symptoms, this is an acute onset, not a slow-acting toxin! If it were the food, there would not be so many soldiers falling ill all at once at this hour."

Yang Boyue’s brows locked together as he listened to the endless wails of pain. Not the food! Then what could possibly cause so many men to suffer such abdominal distress?

Just then, another physician hurried over. "We found it! It’s the water! Someone poisoned the water supply!"

Yang Boyue and the others were stunned. The water! How could someone poison the water supply to affect so many? It wasn't as if everyone drank at the exact same time...

His pupils constricted as he suddenly remembered the site where the siege equipment had been set ablaze earlier—the soldiers had all been busy using water to fight the fire!

*No!* The infiltrators who set the fire had a dual purpose. It wasn't just to destroy the siege equipment; it was to exhaust the camp's water supply and make the soldiers thirsty enough to drink the tainted water!

"Immediately send men to inspect the water source!" Yang Boyue commanded sharply.

"Yes, sir!" The officers scrambled to obey.

At that very moment, rebel sentries on the watchtowers were suddenly felled by a hail of arrows. As the rebels on the ground looked up, they saw a dense shower of arrows raining down from the dim night sky.

"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"

The screams rippled through the camp, alerting everyone. Yang Boyue heard the commotion and turned toward the sound, frowning. *Enemy attack?* At first, he dismissed it; the outskirts of Jinyang East City had been patrolled, and the surrounding mountains searched twice. Where could an enemy force come from? He assumed it was just a few infiltrators trying to escape after poisoning the water.

"Bring me..." Yang Boyue began, but he was cut off by a thunderous roar of battle. The sheer volume of voices indicated a massive force. His expression shifted as he looked toward the camp gates. *Impossible! How could there be so many enemies?*

***

Recovering from his shock, Yang Boyue stood stunned. At the camp gates, Fu Zihou led Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong, and their men in a frantic charge, weapons drawn, flooding into the rebel camp.

"Kill!"
"Kill!"

Fu Zihou fought at the forefront, his sword flashing in the night. He was a whirlwind of violence. Having already survived a bloody skirmish, his face was splattered with gore, and his eyes burned with a terrifying intensity. Those who knew Fu Zihou—the members of his clan or the Li household—would have been shocked; he was usually a man of gentle, refined demeanor. But now, he was a different person, his expression icy, his blade reaping the lives of the rebels.

"Don't kill me!" A rebel soldier threw down his weapon, looking at Fu Zihou with sheer terror.

"Where is your general?" Fu Zihou demanded, his blade dripping with blood against the man's throat.

"Over there!" The soldier pointed toward Yang Boyue’s position with a trembling hand.

"Cover your head and stay down!" Fu Zihou, blinded by the heat of battle, spared the man and charged toward his objective.

The Sui army soldiers tossed torches into the tents. The rebels, already suffering from cramps and caught off guard by the night raid, could form no effective resistance. The men following Fu Zihou were elite veterans of the Yingyang Prefecture, emboldened by their earlier victory. They swept through the camp like a scythe through wheat.

Yin Tianzong and the other commanders followed Fu Zihou, matching his ferocity. They were desperate to prove themselves, knowing that this night would determine their military standing.

Flames spread through the camp. With the soldiers incapacitated by pain and others fleeing in panic, the camp descended into chaos. Fu Zihou and his men fought their way to within striking distance of Yang Boyue.

"Don't let him escape!" Fu Zihou roared.

The rebel guards loyal to Yang Boyue fought desperately to protect him, a testament to how well he had treated them. But they were no match for the surging Sui forces. Yin Tianzong hacked his way through the defenders, clearing a path for Fu Zihou to close in on the rebel leader.

Fu Zihou lunged. He dodged a strike, drove his sword into an attacker, and used the weight of the dying man to shove himself forward toward Yang Boyue. He ducked under a flurry of blades, his movements fluid and lethal, before finally pinning Yang Boyue with the tip of his own sword at the leader's throat.

"Yield!"

With their commander captured, the remaining rebels, already lacking the will to fight, dropped their weapons.

"Victory!"
"A great victory!"

The Sui soldiers erupted in cheers. They had done it—three thousand men had successfully raided the enemy camp and won! As the fires illuminated the scene, the soldiers looked at the young man who had led them with unbridled adoration.

***

On the walls of the East City, Cao Yong and his men watched the horizon. True to Fu Zihou’s orders, they had gathered all the city's residents, old and young, at the gates.

Cui Wenjin stood among them, her heart pounding. *Please, come back,* she thought. *The people of the East City cannot lose you.*

"Someone is approaching the city!" Cao Yong announced.

Cui Wenjin saw the flickers of torches moving across the plains. As the figures drew closer, she could no longer wait. She rushed down the stairs, her eyes fixed on the gate. When the heavy wooden doors finally creaked open, she saw him.

Fu Zihou stood there, covered in blood, followed by his exhausted but triumphant soldiers. Seeing him, Cui Wenjin’s tears finally spilled over. She ran to him, her voice trembling. "Are you hurt?"

The other commanders looked on with bemused expressions. Fu Zihou had been the one doing the killing all night; he was barely scratched, yet the girl acted as if they were parting at the gates of death.

"I am fine," Fu Zihou said softly, unable to hide a faint smile at her concern. He turned his gaze toward the city and the waiting crowd.

"Pass the order! Everyone, cross the river! We move to the West City!"