Chapter 1341: Do Not Stop

The opportunity arrived quickly. First, scouts reported that the traces of the Shu-Han army had been discovered on the Baoxie Trail, and the commanding general was none other than General Who Pacifies the East, Zhao Yun.

When the news reached Chang'an, Xiahou Mao immediately summoned his generals to discuss the situation. After a heated debate, Xiahou Mao decided to leave two thousand men to guard Chang'an and personally lead ten thousand men to Muxian County, preparing to meet the enemy.

Although Xiahou Mao held the titles of General Pacifying the West and Commander of Guanzhong, he actually knew nothing about warfare. If the Cao-Wei regime were not currently undertaking major military operations with the main army dispatched to Yangzhou, General Cao Zhen, who was originally in charge of the Northwest Theater, would have had to remain in Luoyang, and Xiahou Mao would never have left Chang'an. However, with the Emperor now authorizing him to command all military operations in the entire West, his duty was unquestionable and entirely legitimate. Even Princess Qinghe, who had always been wary of him, found it difficult to obstruct him from going out to establish military achievements.

Xiahou Mao left Princess Qinghe and Xiahou Hui in Chang'an, and Wei Ba also left Peng Xiaoyu in Chang'an, following Xiahou Mao to Muxian County himself. No one noticed that, aside from the troops of Tian Fu and Xu Ran, two young and pretty personal guards had been added to his retinue.

Thirty li east of Muxian County stood the Mu Fort, originally built by Dong Zhuo. It measured four li in circumference, with walls seventy cubits high, and was known as the Long Life Fort. When Dong Zhuo built this fort, he stored enough grain within it to last thirty years, intending to retreat and hold the fort to await peace under heaven if his bid for supremacy faltered. Unexpectedly, he was later killed by Wang Yun and Lü Bu, and neither the mountains of gold and silver jewelry nor the grain piled high within the fort could save his life. After Dong Zhuo's death, the Mu Fort suffered a certain amount of damage, but it remained majestic and towering. Given that the Mu Fort sat directly at the northern exit of the Baoxie Trail, it had also become a key fortress for Cao-Wei forces entering and exiting the Baoxie Trail, and had been extremely well maintained.

Upon arriving at the Mu Fort, Xiahou Mao hurriedly arranged the defense of the Baoxie entrance and immediately summoned Wei Ba. As a surrendered general, although Wei Ba held the rank of General of the Central Standard Bearer Who Honors Righteousness, he was actually a man of leisure. Xiahou Mao's heavy reliance on Wei Ba during wartime also provoked opposition from some generals, who repeatedly reminded Xiahou Mao to maintain sufficient vigilance against Wei Ba. Should Wei Ba harbor malicious intentions and make a move against him, the supreme commander, the Wei army would be in grave danger.

Such warnings were not without reason. Given Xiahou Mao's intelligence, it was impossible for him to be unaware of this point; however, his mind was currently so clouded by lust that he could no longer care about such things. If others did not know what was going on with the two personal guards behind Wei Ba, how could he not know? Those were the little beauties he had been longing for day and night. The moment he first laid eyes on them, he had longed to summon them into his carriage to first pour out his feelings about their separation. Now that they had arrived at the Mu Fort, not only were there towering city walls, but there were also fiercely loyal confidants. Was he still worried about Wei Ba alone? Even if Wei Ba and the Dun Wu beside him possessed the might of ten thousand men, could they truly contend against more than twenty fiercely guarded, ruthless soldiers?

Xiahou Mao waved his hand righteously and said, "The Master has taught us: if you doubt a man, do not employ him; if you employ a man, do not doubt him. Wei Ba has genuinely surrendered, how can I treat him with suspicion? I appreciate your concern, everyone. But at this moment, attending to your own duties is the correct course of action."

The generals were helpless and had no choice but to withdraw. Facing a noble general of such high status and power as Xiahou Mao, they possessed only the right to advise, not the right to decide. Let alone them, even for the millennia to come, Chinese politics remained a matter of the boss making the final call while the second-in-command stood to the side—unless the second-in-command hollowed out the boss and became the boss himself.

At present, no one possessed such qualifications or strength, so facing Xiahou Mao's "confidence," they could only sigh.

Dismissing the generals, Xiahou Mao had no time to say much to Wei Ba. He offered a couple of perfunctory words of praise, told him to wait outside, and embraced the personal-guard-disguised beauty into the inner chamber. Before long, deeply suggestive laughter echoed from the room.

Wei Ba sat in the outer hall, sipping tea while lost in thought. He felt somewhat amused and exasperated. He recalled a movie from his past life: a low-level punk in the underworld who had no other skill than raising the mistresses of his boss, yet despite having nine women around him, not a single one belonged to him—all of them subordinate to some untouchable big brother. On the surface, he was surrounded by beauties in his arms, but in reality, he was a virgin who could touch none of them. His current situation was somewhat similar to this: Princess Qinghe had bestowed Xiahou Mao's women upon him, and he had in turn offered them back to Xiahou Mao as a sign of filial devotion.

However, he was not simply acting as a pimp; he intended to utilize these five beauties precisely to achieve his own goals. The greatest characteristic of autocratic centralism was that a weak ruler led a useless pack. With a weak general like Xiahou Mao, how could the Wei army possibly win a battle this time? These five beauties were his five fingers, which would tightly grasp this foolish bird of a Xiahou Mao in the palm of his hand, ultimately driving him to foam at the mouth, exhaust his physical strength, and submit entirely to orders.

As for those Wei generals who still retained their vigilance, he felt only internal pity for them while paying them no heed. Aside from the Emperor far away in Luoyang, the only person who could influence Xiahou Mao was Princess Qinghe, yet she remained behind in Chang'an, completely unaware of what was happening here.

What he needed to consider now was how to lure away the Wei troops guarding the Baoxie Trail exit. These ten thousand-plus men, resting while the enemy toiled, would pose a considerable danger to the Shu-Han army, which had been trudging through the nearly six-hundred-li-long Baoxie Trail for over a month. If they were allowed to construct heavily fortified positions for interception, then let alone Zhuge Liang having an army of one hundred thousand, even if he had five hundred thousand, their numerical advantage would find no room to be deployed.

He had to use Xiahou Mao to transfer these men away from the Baoxie Trail exit, clearing obstacles for Zhuge Liang to smoothly break out of the Baoxie Trail.

This was a very dangerous proposal. Prior to this, the reason he had won Xiahou Mao's trust was precisely because, apart from a trip to Tongguan, he had not taken a single action inconsistent with the identity of a surrendered general, nor had he uttered a single word that would arouse suspicion. Now, all the Wei generals—including Xiahou Mao himself—believed that the main force of Shu-Han was within the Baoxie Trail, yet he was advocating for the removal of defenses. This was clearly a proposal that easily invited doubt.

All the truths spoken earlier were merely to cover up this single falsehood. All the groundwork had been laid; whether it would succeed in the end depended entirely on this move.

How to make Xiahou Mao believe him was the urgent problem Wei Ba needed to consider. The Shu-Han army was advancing toward Guanzhong along the Baoxie Trail; for every day delayed, the chances of success would decrease by a fraction.

In the inner chamber, Xiahou Mao embraced the panting beauty, his entire body floating as if resting on a cloud. Several months of semi-celibate life had made him vigorous and fierce like a young man. Gazing at the beauty who had melted into a puddle of mud, Xiahou Mao felt a dual satisfaction, both physiological and psychological.

Naked and with his hands on his hips, Xiahou Mao smiled as he looked at the beauty, gazing at her rounded buttocks. A fresh wave of desire stirred within him; he reached out to stroke them, his hand slipping into the deep crevice and slowly probing.

The beauty breathed with feeble weakness. "General, this concubine can no longer endure the campaign; I beg the General to show mercy."

Xiahou Mao raised an eyebrow and said with deliberate displeasure, "So fragile and unable to endure? Is your body perhaps too weak?"

"He wouldn't dare." The beauty recalled Wei Ba's cautious reserve and let out a chuckle. "He was extremely polite to us, not even daring to take an extra glance, let alone touch us. General, he is fine in every other way, except that he is terribly stingy. Whenever he gets a little money, he hands it over to that little maid with the large greenish-blue birthmark to keep, spending it either on household goods or inspecting houses."

"Is that so?" Xiahou Mao's gaze narrowed slightly. He sat down beside the beauty, pulling her into his arms. With one hand reaching around from her back to caress the plump breasts on her chest, and the other stroking her smooth, uptight buttocks, he weighed the situation. Sharing the pleasures of fish and water with the beauty today was only one of his objectives; on the other hand, he also wanted to use her to find out whether Wei Ba's surrender was truly genuine. Wei Ba spending money on furniture and inspecting houses everywhere suggested he genuinely intended to settle down in Chang_an for the long term. If he were a feigned surrenderer, how could he possibly divert his thoughts to such matters?

"Of course." The beauty pouted, her leek-like fingers sliding across Xiahou Mao's chest and slowly stretching toward his lower abdomen. Her apricot-shaped eyes drifted toward him like ripples of water as she said coquettishly, "The General is so mighty; could it be that the Princess is too noble and has not allowed the General to enter her bedchamber?"

"She would certainly like me to enter, but I have no desire to do so." Xiahou Mao thought to himself while smilingly kissing the beauty's cherry lips. "Fortunately, thanks to Wei Ba's foot-soaking remedy, she falls asleep early every night, sleeping like a log, and only comes to torment me once every half-month or ten days. That allows me to conserve my energy and properly nourish a little vixen like you."

"Hehe..." The lingering flush on the beauty's face deepened. She buried her delicate head in Xiahou Mao's embrace and said pitifully, "General, you have no idea how much hardship I endured just to be the first to see you."

"Hardships? What hardships?" Xiahou Mao stroked the beauty's fragrant shoulders and said affectionately, "Was it Wei Ba? Tell me, and I will punish him when the time comes."

"Yes. In order to disguise ourselves as personal guards to see the General, he forced us to run around the courtyard in heavy iron armor every day. The armor was so heavy that just wearing it made even walking a struggle, yet he still forced us to run, refusing to stop until we were too exhausted to even stand."

Hearing this, Xiahou Mao burst into laughter. He glanced at the beauty's slender and firm thighs and said with deep implication, "No wonder you gripped so tightly today; you nearly broke the General's waist in half. Wei Ba has done well; I must reward him, truly reward him."

"He punished us with running, and yet the General still wants to reward him?" The beauty feigned anger, writhing in Xiahou Mao's embrace like a pale, slithering beauty-snake. Xiahou Mao was so enchanted by her twisting movements that a surge of heat rushed straight to his lower body. Unable to help himself, he flipped the beauty over, making her press flat against the bed, and entered her once again from behind. Thrusting forward, he shouted, "You've worked hard, my beauty. The General will reward you once more, and I guarantee it will satisfy you."

As the beauty swayed her body and panted softly, she pleaded in a broken, breathless voice, "General, no... no more! Stop! No! Stop!"

Gritting his teeth, Xiahou Mao drove forward with all his might and roared, "My beauty, do you want it or not? Are you telling the General to stop, or telling the General not to stop?"

The beauty wailed like a song in the wind: "General, no... don't stop!"