Guoqiang's army had captured the Yanmen pass and was guarding it. As the Shenzhou army had set camp outside the walls, waiting for assistance from the capital. A flag of Shenzhou royalty could be seen from the distance, at close range everything unfolded. Appearance of ninth prince of Shenzhou, Wu Liang made Guoqiang realise the ploy. This was the turning point for the blind chase, an arrow shot in the fog.
Shenzhou and Tianxia maintained quite borders, they were of mutual understanding and did not intervene, for past many years. And suddenly Shenzhou attacked with no prior warning. It was designed and orchestrated by Wu Liang. He was not in power at Shenzhou, even as a prince. He did not even have a fief under his name. To gain supremacy and to prove his father the emperor of Shenzhou, as a rightful candidate for the throne. He masterminded this act. Wu Liang, himself charged a battle at Niangzi pass. But he lost. Now when you look at it one can see that this was just preplanned enactment. He purposely lost to Wang's army, to win at Juyong pass and Zijin pass. If he were to win at the Niangzi pass, the emperor would have known about him colluding with the enemy. He was not of military genius, therefore he lost to the enemy to show his lacking and emerge a victor in the later battle to show his impressionable valour. The ploy depended on two people, prince and general Wang. Wang wanted the power of the tiger tally that Guoqiang held. While Wu Liang wanted to have easy access to throne. Given Yanmen's location as an important pass, it was to be defended by the crown prince himself. But Wu Liang came with his army. That is because the crown prince contacted an undiagnosable disease out of the blue. It would be no surprise if the ninth prince was behind it. He was ambitious, with him leading the battle himself. He would defeat Guoqiang, behead him and this way he will be recognised for his talents. And with the crown prince almost towards dead bed, Emperor Wu of Shenzhou would be compelled to ascend him to the rank of crown prince. While his assistance from Wang would be rewarded with tiger tally. It served two purposes.
Guoqiang from the watch tower stormed to his men, and without being heard commander to Yan, "Commander Yan, send one of your best men who practices extreme stealth to find any evidence on prince Wu Liang, regarding the war at Niangzi and Juyong."
Commander Yan : "General we already have a man keep a watch at the deployment map send to the capital. You think prince would have received it?"
Guoqiang : "If my assumptions are right than, he must be in possession of the deployment map and will play exactly according to the map I send."
Commander Yan : "Then general aren't we going to change our plan?"
Guoqiang : "No need, it was a fake map, we will go according to Commander Yuan's strategy."
Commander Yan : "Yes, General.
At the Tianxia royal court.
General Wang : "Emperor, please allow me to monitor, general Guoqiang's movements. His actions are erratic. Due to losing at Juyong pass, he attacked the Yanmen pass in the Shenzhou's territory. He does not want to admit defeat, his actions will make Tianxia pay heavily."
Military advisor Qin : "I believe in general Guoqiang's choices. Shenzhou did not think of consequences when they attacked our borders simultaneously at two different locations on the same day. This is counter attack to show that we are equally strong."
Emperor : "I am with Guoqiang for this one. He has indeed put up a fight that Shenzhou should fear Tianxia for."
Prime minister Xu : "Emperor is wise. Tianxia was paying unreasonable tribute for several years. This will put an end to Tianxia's depleting treasury."
It was a nice cover up Emperor was under the impression that the tribute paid annually was the cause of low treasury, but in reality it was the prime minister that had been giving officials freedom to steal form the state to fill their own pockets. Many of the welfare never made way to the poor regions of the nation. Starvation was rampant and the drought in the southern regions made it worse. But the officials were living their best life. This dire situation, made the entire nation erupt in rebellion movement. Only Wang in the court was tensed. Everyone else was happy with the outcome. He colluded with prince for this turmoil. Prince would think that Wang backstabbed. The prince will send assassins to kill him, he was aware and soon he was the traitor will also come to light. His family will be beheaded for being a traitor. After the morning court session, he made a copy of the deployment map Guoqaing had send. This copy was for the prince to use and defeat Guoqiang. The spy that Guoqiang had appointed to tail the maps movement was witness to this act. He sneaked in the Wang's cabin to look for other proofs and gather everything followed Wang to see anymore suspicious activity and finally departed to Guoqiang's camp at Yanmen pass.
Ninth prince frantically reached the Yanmen pass, he understood the situation. He had send his men to kill Wang for his disloyalty. But instead he received the deployment map. This made him very proud. He had an upper hand in this battle. Slaying the all powerful general Guoqiang would earn Wu Liang prestige. What he did not know that he was walking into his own doom.