Hunting the Realm, Part 4: The Unorthodox Army

The two greatest military geniuses of the north and south, Er Zhu Rong and Chen Qingzhi, face off in a clash that will change the course of Southern and Northern Dynasties history. Their struggle forges the fathers and forebears of the future Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang dynasties, and gives rise to the military theories that will one day guide the Sui and Tang conquests. Their names will be renowned throughout the history of Chinese warfare. Hundreds of residents of Fangtou Fort send Liu Li to Luoyang to marry Song Jingxiu, a Southern Liang general. Chen Qingzhi and Ma Fonian plan to detain Emperor Yuan Hao and stage a coup to restore the Han dynasty, but abandon the plan when Emperor Wu of Southern Liang, Xiao Yan, hesitates. After Acharya opens his eyes to the situation, Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization policies and what Chen Qingzhi sees in Luoyang make him question the political slogan of “driving out the northern barbarians.” Entering Luoyang is Chen Qingzhi's finest hour, but it also leaves him trapped in a desperate situation. Yuan Hao uses gold, silver, and beautiful women to buy the loyalty of the Liang army, refuses to send reinforcements, and bars Southern Liang troops from entering the country. He even plans to marry Mingyue to Yang Zhong to divide the Liang army. While fleeing, Yuan Ziyou and Er Zhu Ge endure hardship together. They set aside their feud for a time, then join forces with Er Zhu Rong once more. Er Zhu Rong's three hundred thousand troops cross the Yellow River to face Chen Qingzhi in a decisive battle. Song Jingxiu pretends to be escorting the people of Fangtou Fort home, while secretly setting up defenses at Taigu Pass to secure an escape route back to Liang. Yang Zhong is once again badly wounded while protecting Mingyue, and is taken to Taigu Pass for treatment. Yuan Hao pretends to send soldiers as an escort, but exposes the Liang army's escape route, planting the seeds of disaster. Gao Aocao fights Er Zhu Zhao one-on-one. From his martial arts, Chen Qingzhi grasps the ingenious strategy of using the crescent formation as the main force and the arrowhead as the surprise attack, uniting as the orthodox and dividing as the unorthodox. At last, he understands Acharya's painstaking intentions. Chen Qingzhi pretends to retreat, luring Er Zhu Rong's army to the battlefield of his choosing for a decisive clash. Yuan Hao flees to save his own skin, wrecking the crescent formation and cutting off the Liang army's escape route. At the crisis point, Acharya rescues Chen Qingzhi. Yuan Hao is left utterly alone and meets his end in a bloody slaughter at the Heavenly Mandate Altar. Ma Fonian is killed, while Yang Zhong and Little Monkey are captured. In the year that follows, Er Zhu Rong puts down Han Lou and the others, and appoints He Ba Yue to defeat a force ten times his size with just a thousand men. After crushing Moqi Chounu and suppressing rebellions on every front, he is granted the Nine Bestowments, becoming a grave threat to the Northern Wei dynasty. Meanwhile, a plot to assassinate him is already underway...