"I know, the Jin people still have two families left."
"No, they're gone. Those two Jin families have now been swallowed up by the Yan people. They have taken over their territories, captured their people!"
"And so? If those Yan people dare to set foot on the snowy plains, I will lead my warriors to shred them. I want to make a circle of their skulls for the star sacrifice!"
Angda tapped his forehead.
This Que Wood before him, whose power was significant, was one of the most formidable warriors under the king's command. However, his mind…
Angda was reminiscing about the ti he spent with the king in Beifeng Prefecture, as images of the Black Armored Northern Border Army flashed in his mind.
"Que Wood, please put away your ignorance and arrogance!"
"I..."
"Yes, I also believe the Yan people would not co to the snowy plains, because I can't figure out why they would co here. Neither can our king. Those disturbances in the Skybreak Mountain range are likely due to the Yan people clearing nearby settlents, which is completely normal. The Helian Family of the Jin people did the sa from ti to ti when they were around, entering the mountains to clear out settlents. However, precisely because they are the Yan people, the king insisted on sending you and here to keep watch. You have no understanding of how significant the Yan people are to the King, nor have you ever witnessed the power of the Yan people!"
Back then, when both the king and I were still relatively young, we would rest after our labors, leaning against a tent outside the residence of the Earl of North Border, gazing at the stars together. The stars in the desert were as bright and clear as those of the snowy plains. Angda rembered the king asking him: Who is stronger, our sacred race or the Barbarians? After a long silence, he gritted his teeth and answered: The Barbarians are stronger. Their horses are taller, their warriors more robust, their mounted archery more deadly. The King then asked: What if we compared ourselves with the Yan people? Angda was left speechless. The imnsely powerful Barbarians were suppressed by the Yan people in the vast desert. The result was all too clear.
Despite the king's later assertion that our sacred race would also rise in power, that we would reclaim the ancestral lands seized by the remnants of Xia from our ancestors, and that we would beco as strong as the Barbarians, as mighty as the Yan people... The shadow that the Yan people had cast in Angda's heart was still too profound. And her... the little girl who had scarred the king's face.
That day, when the king was nearly executed, he returned after being flogged but showed no signs of anger or pain. Instead, he pointed to the scar on his face and said to : "That little girl will beco my 'queen' in the future."
"Angda, Angda!"
Que Wood's shouts woke Angda from his reverie.
"Que Wood, you may choose not to obey my orders, but you must respect the will of the king. Before we set out, do you rember what the king told you?"
"I rember..."
Angda took a deep breath and said gravely, "Then rember, when you see the Black Dragon flag, you must put aside all your arrogance."
Que Wood clenched his fists, making a CREAK CREAK sound. Evidently, he was far from reconciled.
Angda placed his hand on Que Wood's shoulder and said reassuringly, "All right, you will have a chance to fight the Yan people once the king's army invades Snow Sea Pass. Then, you can fully demonstrate your bravery. Now, please help send soone to inform the leaders of the nearby tribes. Ask if the tribal warriors I had them send into the mountains have reported any news back."
"Hmph."
Que Wood turned and left the main tent.
Angda exhaled, then pursed his lips. There was one thing Que Wood did not know, or rather, that almost no one in the tribe knew besides the king and a few others... The king had once dispatched a delegation to Yanjing, hoping to launch a joint attack on the Situ Family with the Emperor of Yan. But that envoy team had not been heard from since.
...
After leaving the mountain range, the Yan Army did not imdiately rush into the snowy plains. Instead, they took ti to regroup and rest, waiting for the subsequent left and right armies to catch up, not necessarily for all to erge together, but at least to close the distance between them.
anwhile, Zheng Fan had returned to his own troops and sought out Liang Cheng.
"My lord?"
"No more idle chatter. I don't have much ti. I have to go back to Lord Jingnan."
"That is Tian Wujing intentionally cultivating you, my lord."
Taking you along in battle, there's no more indulgent form of hands-on learning available.
"Dammit, the force I've painstakingly ford, I can't command myself. After mustering a detachnt, I have to act as a personal guard."
Zheng Fan wouldn't have been so aggrieved if this topic hadn't co up. After all, he'd spearheaded the formation of this detachnt. It was like buying a toy with hard-earned money only to be forbidden from playing with it. Instead, an older brother snatches the toy and shalessly tells you, "Here, let your elder brother teach you how to play. Watch closely, okay?"
"My lord, this ti you've co because..."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Quickly, tell how we should approach this, don't get into specifics, just the general strategy. I have a feeling Tian Wujing will quiz on this later."
These past few days, Tian Wujing had kept Zheng Fan with him in the central army. He would occasionally pose military-related questions to Zheng Fan, so of which were quite profound, sotis deliberately making him think things over thoroughly before he answered.
It was just like when teachers assigned howork back in school, and you had to turn it in the next day.
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