The battlefield had descended into utter chaos.
Across the plains of Choyou, tens of thousands of soldiers were locked in desperate combat. The clash between Qin and Wei had reached its climax, every commander committing their final reserves in a struggle that would decide the fate of the campaign.
Far behind the frontlines...
Within the heavily fortified Wei Main Headquarters, Great General Gohoumei calmly observed the battlefield through the reports arriving one after another.
Around him stood his strategists, officers, and the elite headquarters guards. Though the fighting outside had grown increasingly fierce, the atmosphere inside the command tent remained composed.
Until….
A messenger burst through the entrance, his armor stained with blood.
"REPORT!!"
The entire headquarters turned.
"Enemy forces have appeared from the eastern and southern approaches!"
Gohoumei narrowed his eyes.
"Identify them."
"The eastern army is the Gyoku Hou Unit under Ou Hon!"
"The southern army... it is General Rokuomi's army!"
A murmur spread across the headquarters.
One of the officers immediately stepped forward.
"They intend to converge upon the headquarters!"
Gohoumei merely smiled.
"So they have finally begun."
He walked toward the campaign map.
"The headquarters still possesses over ten thousand garrison troops alongside the reserve army."
He calmly pointed toward the eastern and southern approaches.
"Dispatch the headquarters garrison to the east."
"The reserve army shall reinforce the southern defenses."
"Those two armies are not enough to threaten this headquarters."
"Yes, Sir!"
The officers immediately rushed out to relay the orders.
For a brief moment...
Silence returned.
Then….
Another messenger stumbled inside.
His face had turned pale.
"URGENT REPORT!!"
Everyone froze.
"The northern defensive line has been breached!"
Gohoumei's eyes widened slightly.
"...What?"
"The enemy has passed through Earl Shi's battlefield!"
"They are advancing directly toward the headquarters!"
"And the commander leading them..."
The messenger swallowed.
"...is Kyou Kai of the Hi Shin Unit!"
The entire headquarters erupted.
"Impossible!"
"Earl Shi was holding that direction!"
"How did they pass him?!"
Before anyone could gather their thoughts…
Another messenger arrived.
"The southern interception force has failed!"
"General Rokuomi continues advancing!"
Almost immediately….
A fourth messenger.
"The eastern defensive line is collapsing!"
"Ou Hon is steadily forcing our troops backward!"
Then….
Yet another.
"The northern first defense line has completely collapsed!"
"Kyou Kai's unit is less than two li away from headquarters!"
One report.
Then another.
Then another.
The calm atmosphere that had defined Gohoumei's headquarters shattered completely.
Every direction was under attack.
Officers rushed about frantically while runners sprinted in and out of the command tent carrying increasingly desperate reports.
For the first time since the battle had begun...
Even Gohoumei's expression darkened.
"...I see."
His gaze slowly fell upon the campaign map.
"So this..."
"...was Duke Hyou Ren's true strategy."
His fingers tightened.
"I made a fatal assumption."
"I believed the largest army would naturally become Qin's main spear."
"I devoted nearly all of my attention toward Hyou Ren."
He slowly closed his eyes.
"But Hyou Ren never intended to strike this headquarters himself."
Instead...
He had become the bait.
While the entire Wei command watched the massive Hyou Ren Army clash with Reiou and Gai Mou forces...
Three separate blades had quietly advanced toward the headquarters.
"The Gyoku Hou Unit..."
"Rokuomi Army..."
"Kyou Kai Unit..."
"They were never independent attacks."
"They were one coordinated offensive."
Gohoumei let out a quiet laugh.
"...Magnificent."
"The largest army on the battlefield..."
"...was merely the hand distracting my eyes."
"The true killing blow..."
"...was hidden within the smaller armies."
Outside the headquarters...
Chaos had fully erupted.
The headquarters garrison shifted east.
The reserves hurried south.
Fresh reinforcements rushed north.
Every available soldier was redirected to meet the attacks.
In doing so...
The once-impenetrable headquarters began stripping away its own layers of defense.
The rear...
Was left frighteningly exposed.
At that exact moment….
Dust exploded across the western horizon from the main battlefield of Duke Hyou Ren.
A massive Qin banner emerged through the smoke.
One officer stared in disbelief.
"...No..."
Another shouted.
"Enemy army approaching from the west!!"
The soldiers turned.
Golden banners fluttered proudly beneath the blazing sun.
The unmistakable insignia of Qin.
General Tou.
At the head of several thousand elite cavalry, Tou calmly drew his sword.
His expression remained as gentle as ever.
"Fufufu..."
"So this is the opening Lord Hyou Ren prepared."
He slowly lowered his blade.
"Advance."
The cavalry exploded forward.
Like a spear of lightning, Tou's personal army crashed straight into the exposed rear of the Wei Headquarters.
The exhausted defenders had no time to reform.
Barricades shattered.
Command tents collapsed.
Headquarters guards desperately threw themselves forward.
Tou's sword flashed only once.
A dozen men fell.
Another swing.
More bodies scattered across the ground.
No one could stop him.
He continued riding directly toward the command platform.
At its center...
A man wearing Gohoumei's armor stood surrounded by elite guards.
The guards screamed.
"Protect the Great General!!"
Tou's horse never slowed.
His blade swept horizontally.
One clean strike.
The armored man's head flew into the air.
Blood sprayed across the headquarters.
The Wei guards cried out in horror.
"Great General!!"
"No!!"
Tou caught the head by its hair before calmly examining the face.
"...Hmm."
He smiled faintly.
"This is not Gohoumei."
He tossed the severed head aside.
"I have never actually seen the man's face."
"But..."
He looked toward some of the panicked guards. Hidden among them were faces that were relief and strangely calm.
"Their reactions tell me everything."
He glanced around the abandoned command center.
"So..."
"You escaped."
Tou sheathed his sword.
"...Very prudent."
His gaze swept across the burning headquarters.
"Very well."
"If the master has fled..."
"...then let the world believe he has fallen."
Tou raised his sword high.
"Set fire to the headquarters!"
"Burn every command tent!"
"Raise the smoke signal!"
His officers roared.
"AT ONCE!"
Torches flew.
Within moments...
The Wei headquarters was engulfed in flames.
Towering pillars of black smoke pierced the heavens.
Signal fires rose one after another until they merged into a single massive column visible across the entire battlefield.
Every Qin soldier still locked in combat looked toward the sky.
For an instant...
No one spoke.
Then someone shouted.
"The Wei Headquarters has fallen!!"
Another voice echoed.
"Victory belongs to Qin!!"
The cries spread like wildfire.
"THE HEADQUARTERS HAS FALLEN!"
"GOHOUMEI IS DEAD!"
"QIN HAS WON!"
The morale of Qin surged beyond anything seen throughout the three-day battle.
Meanwhile...
Far from the burning headquarters...
Gohoumei rode alongside a small escort, looking back at the towering pillar of smoke.
His expression remained unreadable.
"So..."
"They've chosen deception."
He understood immediately.
Tou had realized the truth.
Yet instead of exposing it...
He had allowed the illusion to spread.
If Wei believed their commander dead...
The entire battlefield would collapse into panic.
Gohoumei slowly closed his eyes.
"...Well played."
He looked toward his surviving officers.
"For the sake of Wei..."
"...I cannot die here."
His voice became resolute.
"Reiou has fallen."
"Earl Shi has fulfilled his purpose."
"The Choyou campaign is lost."
"But the wars of the future..."
"...have only just begun."
He tightened the reins of his horse.
"I, Gohoumei..."
"...shall inherit all of Reiou's military assets."
"I will rebuild Wei's strength."
He raised his command staff.
"Signal every Wei army."
"The headquarters has been abandoned."
"Order a complete withdrawal."
"No further sacrifices."
The horns of retreat echoed throughout Choyou.
One by one...
Wei's armies disengaged.
Reiou's remnants.
Ranbihaku.
Ryuuhan.
Gaimou's soldiers.
The surviving commanders all withdrew beyond the river, accepting the bitter reality.
The Battle of Choyou...
Had ended in Qin's victory.
With Gohoumei's withdrawal, the strategically vital region of Choyou finally fell into Qin's hands.
It was a victory purchased with countless lives.
Yet its value could not be measured merely in casualties.
By securing Choyou, Qin had torn open the gateway deeper into Wei.
Immediately after the campaign, Duke Hyou Ren ordered the construction of an immense fortress upon the natural defensive terrain surrounding the region.
Mountains, rivers, and cliffs were incorporated into a colossal military stronghold unlike any previously built by Qin.
From this day onward...
Choyou would become Qin's shield against Wei...
And the spearhead from which future invasions into the Central Plains would begin.
The flames that consumed the Wei headquarters slowly faded beneath the evening sky.
But the fire ignited by Qin's victory...
Would spread across all of China.