The lieutenant found the granary in the stronghold and sent for Wei Lan. Wei Lan had not entered the large building yet when the lieutenant came out to meet him, saying, “There’s only half of the grain left inside. These barbarians may have transported some of the grain away and left yesterday.”
“Bastards,” Wei Lan muttered through gritted teeth.
“The barbarians didn’t expect us to come at this time,” the lieutenant followed Wei Lan into the granary and said, “So they probably transported the grain in the rain yesterday.”
Wei Lan stood inside the large building, which was half empty, but there was still a considerable amount of grain inside.
“What should we do, General Wei?” the lieutenant asked.
Wei Lan circled the building, noticing that several large wooden barrels were empty, but the bags of grain were neatly tied with ropes and stacked neatly. “This grain is probably meant to be transported,” Wei Lan said to the lieutenant beside him.
“The mountain roads are difficult to traverse,” the lieutenant said. “The barbarians couldn’t possibly transport so much grain all at once. We are stationed ten miles away from their stronghold. Even a fool would know what we would do.”
“They will come back,” Wei Lan said, walking outside.
“After all this killing here, will those barbarians really come back?” the lieutenant asked, following behind.
“We just need to tidy up,” Wei Lan said. “We’ll wait for the owner to return.”
General Liu waited from early morning until sunset. None of the men Wei Lan took out returned with any news. General Liu also sent out people to investigate, but none of them returned either. General Liu sat anxiously in the empty camp. Had Wei Lan failed? Or had something else happened?
“General,” as it approached midnight, a central officer ran into the tent.
“Has General Wei returned with any news?” General Liu asked anxiously.
“Commander Luo has arrived,” the central officer shook his head, “His people are already outside the camp gate.”
General Liu hurried out of the tent to greet them.
By this time, Luo Ze had already ridden into the camp. “Where is everyone?” he asked the people in the camp, “Where is General Wu Yanji? Has he gone out to battle with the troops?”
“Commander Luo,” General Liu ran to Luo Ze’s horse.
Luo Ze dismounted. He recognized this General Liu as one of Wu Yanji’s trusted men. “Where is General Wu Yanji?” he asked.
General Liu gestured for the others to retreat and whispered to Luo Ze, “Commander Luo, there has been an incident in the camp. General Wu Yanji was killed by the barbarians, and General Wei Lan led most of the troops to pursue the killers.”
The news of Wu Yanji’s death surprised Luo Ze, but he didn’t feel any sorrow. Wu Yanji was Qiu Che’s man and had caused him trouble. His death was for the best. It seemed that the barbarians could occasionally do something good. “What happened? Tell me everything,” Luo Ze said to General Liu.
General Liu then recounted the events of the past two days to Luo Ze.
This time, Luo Ze had come to settle the score with Wu Yanji. Wu Yanji had delayed the military situation, and Luo Ze intended to personally issue Wu Yanji’s military orders. Now that Wu Yanji was dead and there was no news from Wei Lan, Luo Ze didn’t linger in the camp. He told General Liu, “I’ll go take a look myself. You stay and guard the camp.”
General Liu hurriedly said, “I’ll go with Commander Luo.”
“No need,” Luo Ze said, “Find a way to prepare General Wu’s body and transport it back to my command camp.”
“Yes,” General Liu replied.
Luo Ze hadn’t brought a large number of troops this time, only his personal guards. They left the camp and headed south. After two rainfalls, the further they went along the mountain road, the more difficult it became to advance. Eventually, the horses were unable to move forward.
“Dismount,” Luo Ze dismounted first.
“General,” one of his followers asked, “Are we going to proceed on foot?”
“If Wei Lan can go in, why can’t I?” Luo Ze replied. He had already found out that the stronghold in the mountains was the largest grain depot for miles around. It had to be eliminated. “Leave a team to watch the horses,” Luo Ze ordered. “The rest of you, follow me on foot.”
In the valley, by the following morning, the barbarians who had gone out to transport grain had finally returned.
The stronghold looked normal, with a few lights and cooking smoke rising, just like any other day.
“General, they’ve arrived,” a soldier whispered to Wei Lan behind the gate.
Wei Lan nodded slightly.
The barbarians outside the stronghold began shouting loudly.
“They’re asking for the gate to be opened,” a soldier who understood the barbarian language said to Wei Lan.
The gate slowly opened.
The barbarians didn’t notice anything unusual as they walked in, chatting loudly and laughing occasionally.
“Ask them if their journey was smooth,” Wei Lan instructed the soldier who spoke the barbarian language.
The soldier walked out.
At first, the barbarians couldn’t see the soldier’s face clearly. As he approached, they realized something was wrong. They were familiar with everyone in the stronghold, but they didn’t recognize the soldier’s accent. When they asked for his name, the soldier ignored them.
Seeing that the barbarians were armed and the soldier couldn’t advance, Wei Lan commanded, “Light the torches!”
As the torches lit up, the barbarians were momentarily stunned. At that moment, archers from the rooftops appeared, raining down a shower of arrows. Then, soldiers hidden in the streets and alleys charged out.
Realizing the situation was dire, the barbarians turned to flee from the stronghold.
At that moment, the gate came crashing down, instantly killing two barbarians who happened to be underneath.
The Zhou soldiers lying in ambush outside the stronghold surrounded the barbarians who were still outside. Inside and outside the stronghold, the sound of killing merged into one.
At that moment, Luo Ze and his men were almost in the valley. They could clearly hear the sounds of battle echoing through the valley. One of his officers immediately reported to Luo Ze, “There’s a fight inside.”
Instead of rushing into the valley, Luo Ze led his men up a hill to gain a higher vantage point and scout out the village. The village was nestled deep in the forested valley. With such a location, it was understandable why they had struggled to locate the barbarians’ grain depot.
“We have the advantage,” one of his officers remarked to Luo Ze.
Although they couldn’t see the situation within the village clearly from the hill, they could see clearly what was happening outside the village— their Zhou troops were surrounding the barbarians.
“Let’s give them a hand,” Luo Ze finally ordered his men.
As the Zhou soldiers rushed into the valley, the battle soon came to an end.
When Luo Ze arrived outside the village, Wei Lan came out to greet him, calling out, “Second Young Master.”
Luo Ze patted Wei Lan’s shoulder and said, “Lan, good to have you here!”
Walking into the village together, Wei Lan informed Luo Ze, “We’re a bit late. Most of the provisions here have already been moved.”
“This is all the fault of Wu Yanji, that short-lived ghost,” Luo Ze remarked.
“I’ve kept three people alive. I intend to question them about where the provisions were taken,” Wei Lan said.
Glancing at the corpses littering the village, Luo Ze asked Wei Lan, “What about the other people in the village?”
“Besides the captives, I didn’t leave anyone else alive,” Wei Lan replied.
Rubbing his hands together, Luo Ze inquired, “Where are the captives?”
Wei Lan led Luo Ze to see the three prisoners they had taken, asking as they walked, “Second Young Master, how much longer will this battle go on?”
Luo Ze responded, “Until we capture the leaders who started this uprising, the battle won’t be over. Lan, you’ve performed admirably in this battle. When we return, I’ll make sure you’re rewarded.”
“Second Young Master,” Wei Lan’s expression remained solemn, “I’m not concerned about rewards. I only wish for this battle to end quickly. You’ve said it yourself, only when there’s peace here can he return early.”
At Luo Wei’s mention, the smile disappeared from Luo Ze’s face. He said absentmindedly, “I am a useless brother… I can’t protect him. I wonder how Xiao Wei is faring in Northern Yan?”
Wei Lan looked up, only to see a vast expanse of dark clouds rolling towards them, covering the sky and the earth.
Boundless Dao 
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