Ning Chen smiled. "If it'll work, get ready tonight. Tomorrow, before dawn, you set out first... I'll follow with the army and pretend to hunt you down."

Yuan Long hesitated. "My lord prince, can that Si Xiuyong be trusted?"

Ning Chen nodded. "He can! First, his family is in Bianzhou.

Second, don't forget those two thousand-odd prisoners. If he tries anything, all they have to do is step forward and point him out, and he'll die an ugly death.

This prince hears Leng Wenyan is a deeply suspicious man, and a ruthless one.

Think about it. If he found out Si Xiuyong led us up the mountain to wipe out Ruan Wei's force, what would Leng Wenyan do? He'd have Si Xiuyong and his whole family put to death by a thousand cuts, no question.

So Si Xiuyong has no choice."

Yuan Long and Lei An nodded.

Then Ning Chen went through his plan in detail.

After that, he sent the two of them off to get ready!

The next day.

Before dawn, the Ning'an Army dressed up as the soldiers Ruan Wei had brought, and the modao army as men of the baggage train.

Led by Si Xiuyong, they went through Wangfeng Pass and headed straight for Bianzhou.

About two hours later, Ning Chen ordered the army to march... in pursuit of Si Xiuyong.

The soldiers passing through Wangfeng Pass kept glancing to the side.

Kneeling beside the road was a human ice sculpture. It was Ruan Wei.

Every soldier who went by spat on it.

If Ruan Wei had still been alive, he'd have drowned in spit long ago.

Si Xiuyong led the disguised Ning'an Army in a ragged, panicked flight, throwing away helmets and armor as they ran.

Ning Chen followed with an army of a hundred thousand.

Oddly enough, the two sides always stayed a dozen or more miles apart.

Snow covered everything, and the roads were hard going.

It took Si Xiuyong nearly two weeks to get back to Bianzhou.

As he neared the city, Leng Wenyan's scouts spotted them and reported back at once.