A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Four guards rushed up, grabbed Chen Yuan's arms, and dragged him out.

Chen Yuan did not struggle; his steps even matched their rhythm as he walked out, as if attending a pre-arranged banquet.

The curtains were lifted, and the morning light streamed in.

Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes.

In the eastern sky, the pale white of dawn is gradually being swallowed up by the golden-red of the sunrise.

On the distant city wall of Yanmen Pass, banners fluttered and the large banner with the character "Wei" (卫) billowed in the wind.

Further away, the faint sounds of warhorses neighing and weapons clashing could be heard.

Liu Jingshuang's 20,000 elite cavalry have already breached the Northern Rong vanguard's defensive line.

Chen Yuan was pinned down on an open space.

His knee slammed into the frozen ground with a dull thud.

He didn't say anything, but simply straightened up and raised his head as high as possible.

Five Northern Rong axemen surrounded them, the cold light of their scimitars gleaming in the morning sun.

"etc."

Chen Yuan suddenly spoke.

The axemen hesitated for a moment and looked at Fang Shigeru.

Shigeru Inuya stared at him coldly.

"Let me kneel facing south."

Chen Yuan's voice was unusually calm.

Shigeru Inuya didn't speak.

The silence lasted for a few breaths.

Finally, he waved his hand in frustration.

Chen Yuan turned around and went in a different direction.

South.

Yanmen Pass is located in Beijing, which is to the south.

The direction he was facing, beyond thousands of mountains and rivers, led to the heart of the Great Wei.

He couldn't see the walls of Kyoto, the desks piled high with books in the Hanlin Academy, or the cries of vendors and the laughter of children in the streets and alleys.

But he knew those things were still there.

As long as we win this battle today, those things will continue to exist.

"Let's get started."

Chen Yuan said.

The scimitar was raised.

Chen Yuan stood ramrod straight, the wind whipping the hem of his robes.

He suddenly opened his throat and uttered his last words, facing south.

"My name is Chen Yuan! A second-class Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the first year of the Jingyuan era of the Great Wei Dynasty!"

The first cut landed.

It slashed across his left shoulder, and blood splattered everywhere.

His body swayed, but he didn't fall.

"I'll sacrifice myself to bring down 500,000 Northern Rong soldiers!"

The second cut. Right arm.

The pain was excruciating. But the sound didn't stop.

"I have come to this world once—"

The third and fourth blows landed almost simultaneously.

"Read the classics once—"

His voice began to blur, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, mixing with the sand and wind and pouring into his throat.

"To be a citizen of Wei for once—"

The fifth cut.

Chen Yuan's body finally collapsed.

He lay on the frozen earth, facing south, his eyes open.

The lips were still moving.

There was no sound, but Shigeru could clearly see the shape of his mouth.

Worth it.

Shigeru Inuya stood still, his scimitar hanging at his side, the tip dripping with someone else's blood.

He stared at the mangled corpse on the ground, his chest feeling as if something was blocking it.

It's not guilt.

It was a fear he had never experienced before, one that he couldn't quite explain.

This person is clearly afraid of death.

Having been in the Northern Rong army for so long, Quan Ya Mao could tell that he was afraid of the cold, hunger, and being beaten.

My hands were shaking when I tried to bark like a dog.

But he still came.

What's the point?

Shigeru couldn't understand it.

He will never understand.

In the distance, three red whistling arrows shot into the sky with a sharp whistle, exploding in the rosy dawn.

That was a signal for Huo Qingluan.

Fifty thousand heavily armored soldiers are about to press in from behind.

Quan Ya Shigeru suddenly turned around, and his one eye met a white-clad figure on the top of Yanmen Pass.

He couldn't see the person's face clearly from three miles away.

But he saw that person laughing.

She smiled slightly at him.

……

After that laugh, Shigeru's brain exploded.

He couldn't explain the feeling.

At a distance of three miles, one should theoretically not be able to see the other person's facial features clearly.

But that smile seemed to be magnified countless times by some force, and was directly etched into his eyes.

Contempt.

Naked, undisguised contempt.

It's like the white-clad man standing atop the city wall, looking down at an ant and finding it amusing.

The evil fire in Quan Ya Mao's chest suddenly blazed up to the top of his head.

He originally had a way out.

Although the 200,000 cavalrymen had been starving for two and a half days, they still had enough horses to run away if they wanted to.

The grasslands were so vast that the Wei family army's infantry simply couldn't keep up.

As long as he takes the elite cavalry away and rests on the grasslands for half a year, Quan Ya Mao will still be the young prince of the Northern Rong, and he will still have the capital to make a comeback.

The thought lingered in his mind for less than a moment.

Then he was burned to ashes by that smile.

run?

Laozi, with his canine teeth, roamed the grasslands for twenty years, killing more Wei people than his entire Wei family army!

A sickly fellow who crawled out of a Taoist temple dares to smile at me?

"All troops, prepare for battle!"

The roar of Fang Shigeru tore through the morning breeze, his single eye so bloodshot it almost bulged out of its socket.

The guards beside him were stunned for a moment.

The deputy general, Jamukha, rushed up and grabbed his arm.

"Your Highness! We can't fight! The brothers haven't had enough to eat for two and a half days. A direct confrontation now would be disastrous!"

"Let go!"

Muja Shigeru flung Jamukha's hand away, his curved blade held against the man's neck, his single eye bloodshot.

"Anyone who dares to say 'retreat,' I'll chop them down first!"

Jamukha opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed the rest of his words.

He had followed Inuya Shigeru for twelve years and had never seen the young prince look like this before.

It's not anger, it's madness.

That kind of madness that emanated from his very bones was so intense that even his personal guards dared not approach him.

The bugle call rang out again.

The Northern Rong camp was in complete chaos.

Without formation or coordination, they were like a pack of hungry wolves, pouncing at the smell of blood.

Wei Zhao stood atop the city wall, looking at the chaotic scene outside, the smile still lingering on his lips.

It became.

The skill description for "Slight Smile" had faded on the panel, but the effect was still clearly displayed.

That one-eyed wolf, Shigeru Inuyasha, has completely lost his mind.

The most logical choice would have been to break out with the cavalry.

Two hundred thousand elite cavalrymen ran off to the grasslands; what could the Wei family army possibly use to pursue them?

It is common sense that a foot soldier's two legs cannot catch up with a four-legged warhorse.

But Shigeru Inuya chose the stupidest option.

Head-to-head.

Send a group of taxi drivers who have been starving for two and a half days and can barely hold a knife to ram into the well-fed and well-fed Wei family army.

Wei Zhao turned his head and glanced at the sky above the city wall.

The trails of smoke from the three red signal arrows still lingered in the air, leaving faint red lines in the rosy dawn.

Did Huo Qingluan see that?

You should have seen it.

Thirty miles away, the sound of the whistling arrows could not be heard, but the three red lights shone as brightly as three shooting stars against the dawn sky.

Half an hour.

The old lady gave a time window of half an hour.

Liu Jingshuang's 20,000 elite cavalry tore open a gap from the front, followed closely by 150,000 infantrymen who crushed them, while Huo Qingluan's 50,000 heavily armored troops blocked their retreat from the rear.

They attacked from both sides, trapping the fish in a jar.

A 500,000 experience point pack—not a single one can escape.

Wei Zhao gripped the bricks and stones of the city wall crenellations tightly, the force of his fingertips leaving faint white marks on the brick surface.

With a strength of 105, he could almost crush a brick.

"Commander, should we go down into the city to take command?" a guard behind him asked.

"Need not."

Wei Zhao shook his head.

He didn't need to command this battle; the Old Madam and Liu Jingshuang had already arranged every step clearly.

What he has to do now is stand on the city wall and watch as Inuya Shigeru walks step by step into a dead end.

Then—the harvest.

Inside the city gate, the sound of horses' hooves thundered.

Liu Jingshuang rode a black warhorse, a white wax spear hanging diagonally beside the saddle, its tip gleaming coldly in the morning light.

Twenty thousand elite cavalrymen formed a wedge formation behind her, their iron hooves crushing the frozen earth with a thunderous roar.

The moment they rushed out of the city gate, they were met with a nauseating stench.

Horse manure, blood, and sour smells—the Northern Rong camp hadn't moved for three days, with 500,000 people eating, drinking, and relieving themselves all within a few miles. The stench was so strong it could overwhelm anyone.

But Liu Jingshuang's nose had long been accustomed to the smells of the battlefield.

She had smelled things that smelled even worse than this.

"Charge in!"