Li Man'er wanted to neutralize the guards below quickly and efficiently, without alerting them or giving away any signs to the Iron Gallantry Camp in the distance. Her plan was to knock them out with a potent sedative and then seal their ventilation shafts with snow, ensuring a silent and undetectable operation.
She circled around to the back of the pit where the guards were hiding and, as expected, found a ventilation opening there, one that was rather large.
With ventilation front and back, the temperature inside the pit must have been extreme. As Li Man'er crawled over, she saw that the Barbarian guards were huddled in the pit like quails, wrapped in layers of fur coats, their charcoal braziers barely embers, serving more as decoration than for warmth.
Li Man'er took out the highest-grade sleeping potion from her spatial dimension; a tiny amount would be enough to incapacitate everyone in the pit. She was in no hurry. When the wind subsided slightly, she slowly opened the packet and scattered the powder into the air.
The seven or eight men in the right-side pit quickly succumbed. Li Man'er crawled over, retrieved an entrenching tool from her spatial dimension, and used snow to seal the ventilation opening, packing it down firmly.
Once that was done, she crawled to the left-side pit and followed the same procedure, quickly knocking out the two guards within using the same method, and then sealing the pit with accumulated snow. With this, the hidden sentries had been neutralized.
With no one around, Li Man'er flipped over and entered the main camp. She was a mere flash in A'si's vision before disappearing.
"Ah..." A'si couldn't help but feel frustrated. He searched the area again but still couldn't find anyone.
"Fourth Miss, have you seen the General?"
"I only saw a shadow, and then it was gone." A'si lowered his binoculars and advised, "Drink some wine if you're cold. Don't freeze to death out here."
"Understood." The weather was indeed frigid, but for some reason, after a sip of the wine prepared by the General, one wouldn't feel cold, even after lying in the snow for a long time.
Li Man'er had already infiltrated the camp. At the entrance of each tent, a wooden rack was placed, and although the fires in the brazier had extinguished, it didn't prevent Li Man'er from leaving behind a spark.
She placed explosives inside; a tiny spark would be enough to ignite them, triggering a chain reaction.
The camp was eerily quiet. It was likely that everyone believed that with such heavy snow and deep drifts, the people of the Zhen Kingdom wouldn't dare to attack, so many were shirking their duties, and some were simply sleeping soundly under their quilts.
Li Man'er followed her previous route, intending to capture Qi Li first. However, when she reached the spot where she'd been before, she found that the tents seemed to have been rearranged. The main tent was gone, replaced by several ordinary small tents.
Li Man'er lifted a corner of a tent flap and peered inside. She could vaguely see Barbarian soldiers wrapped in blankets, sleeping soundly.
The snowy night, the biting wind, and the knee-deep snow made the Barbarians extremely complacent. They believed that unless the Zhen Kingdom forces could fly, they wouldn't be able to reach them.
Li Man'er quietly searched the entire camp and finally had some success.
In a tent of moderate size, she found Qi Li and Ha Yue Zhu.
The newlywed couple were wrestling in the middle of the night instead of engaging in proper marital activities, and Li Man'er caught them red-handed.
The scene was a bit too passionate, and not wanting to reveal her identity, she simply administered some sedative, knocked them out, wrapped them in their quilts, and then collected them into her spatial dimension.
However, as she was leaving, she almost bumped into an old woman. Fortunately, Li Man'er was quick-witted and immediately entered her spatial dimension, narrowly escaping.
The old woman appeared quite elderly, her skin wrinkled like dried bark. She eavesdropped at the tent for a long time, then muttered something unintelligible, and left grumbling.
This was most peculiar.
Li Man'er grew suspicious and quietly followed her.
The old woman, completely unaware she was being followed, walked into a secluded tent, lit a brazier, and then, with trembling hands, took out two hard steamed buns from her bosom and threw them into the basin to roast.
Li Man'er frowned, thinking that with the old woman having so few teeth left, how could she chew on roasted buns?
The old woman mumbled as she ate the buns. Li Man'er listened intently for a moment, and her expression changed drastically.
She hadn't expected that a casual follow would uncover such a bombshell.
This old woman was not a Barbarian, but a person from the Zhen Kingdom. She had been in the Barbarian country for over ten years, and it was even she who had brought Qi Li to the desolate grasslands.
Although she hadn't come from the palace, she had a very close connection to those who had conspired against the Second Prince years ago. For over a decade, she had lived in constant fear, aging prematurely to appear as if she were in her seventies or eighties when she was only in her forties.
What Qi Li and Ha Yue Zhu, along with Ti Heya and his daughter, had said might not have been entirely truthful. At the very least, Qi Li had never revealed the old woman's identity, nor had he mentioned their escape from the Zhen Kingdom together.
Li Man'er felt that she had, unknowingly, stumbled upon something significant.
She lifted the tent flap and barged in, quickly approaching the old woman. The old woman was startled, dropping the bun in her hand. Before she could speak, Li Man'er struck her down with a palm.
Li Man'er placed the old woman into her spatial dimension and then searched the tent. Soon, she discovered an ancient wooden box hidden in a secret compartment. The box was made of rosewood, inlaid with gold and painted lacquer, clearly a valuable item.
Without even looking at it, she put the box into her spatial dimension.
Outside, the wind and snow raged, but it seemed to be abating. Li Man'er sat by the charcoal basin, warming herself by the fire, quietly waiting for something.
About half an hour later, Li Man'er's eyes suddenly snapped open. She rose abruptly, wrapped her face with her scarf, then took out a simple explosive device, lit the fuse, and quickly ran a few steps before throwing it into the distance.
An explosion sounded, shaking the surrounding tents until they collapsed. Countless Barbarian soldiers scrambled out of their tents in panic, seemingly searching for the saboteur.
Li Man'er, with her agile movements, threw a lit torch into the brazier at the tent entrance, quickly engulfing the Barbarian camp in flames.
This was a signal. A'si received the signal and was overjoyed. He put away his binoculars, drew his long staff, and shouted, "Brothers, charge in and support the General!"
The others had already been impatiently waiting. They all got up from the ground, drew their weapons, and charged forward rapidly.
The Barbarian camp was engulfed in fire from all sides. Many didn't even understand what was happening before they were blown away. Li Man'er drew her long saber and met the enemy, killing one after another, each blow drawing blood, a truly satisfying engagement.
A'si and his reinforcements arrived promptly. They surged forward together, their morale soaring.