“You—” Zhao Ming stamped his foot. “At a time like this you’re still arguing with me? The clan can only continue if we preserve more children.”

“Haven’t you already sent away the seeds of hope?” Zhao Hanzhang said. “What a coincidence—our main branch also has a child outside. Now each branch has its share. The rest can defend the stronghold with peace of mind.”

Zhao Ming: …

Zhao Hanzhang turned to face the bedraggled clan members and said in a deep voice, “I know you don’t know how to kill, don’t know how to wage war, and can’t compare to those desperate outlaws outside. But who was born knowing these things?”

“Those people outside were once just like you—they all made their living from the fields. They’re vicious because they’ve starved before, so they want to take our grain, take our homes, take our stronghold!”

Zhao Hanzhang said loudly, “But can’t we become just as ruthless? Behind us are our parents, our wives and children! Once we fall, every single person behind us will die. So tell me—can you repel the enemy?”

The clan members gripped their weapons tightly and responded loudly, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Zhao Ming: …

Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at Zhao Ming and spread her hands. “You see, they’re all willing to fight with their backs to the wall.”

Zhao Ming looked at her quietly for a moment, then turned to enter the stronghold. “Clean the battlefield!”

The clan members immediately began scraping together all the visible weapons into the stronghold and pulling arrows from the corpses to collect.

Zhao Hanzhang had Ji Ping go get his wounds bandaged, leaving the rest to help the clan members clean the battlefield while she pulled Fu Tinghan along to catch up with Zhao Ming. “Shi Lei should be active in the Jizhou area at this time. How did he end up in Runan?”

Zhao Ming: “I don’t know.”

“Who is the enemy force in the direction of the county seat? Are they also Xiongnu soldiers?”

“I don’t know either,” Zhao Ming stopped and said. “I don’t even know when Shi Lei colluded with the Xiongnu. How would I know how they appeared?”

Zhao Hanzhang stopped. “You don’t know that Shi Lei pledged allegiance to Liu Yuan?”

Zhao Ming looked at her with surprise. “You know? When did this happen? Where did you get this information?”

At this moment, Zhao Ming began to suspect—could it be that Uncle gave Sanniang the intelligence network as well? But that shouldn’t be. Uncle wasn’t the type to confuse priorities like that.

Zhao Hanzhang: …Could she say it was written in the history books?

Zhao Hanzhang rubbed her forehead and thought carefully before asking, “Jizhou—no, that’s not right—Yanzhou. The Governor of Yanzhou, Gou Xi—where is he now?”

Zhao Ming silently looked back at her. Fu Tinghan, who had spent the day terrified and exhausted, and was now both tired and hungry, couldn’t help but say, “Do you think he would know?”

Though he indeed didn’t know, Zhao Ming still glanced at Fu Tinghan. Fu Tinghan quickly bowed and explained, “What I meant was, with roads cut off and news delayed, tracing back to the source now would be extremely costly. Why not think about the current predicament first? Shi Lei definitely hasn’t gone far. Unless he also turns to attack the county seat, he’ll certainly return immediately. How should we defend the stronghold?”

Zhao Ming said, “Tinghan is right. Sanniang, let’s go discuss this. The clan elders are still waiting.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, but her mind was still on Gou Xi. Historically, Shi Lei only turned to Liu Yuan after being beaten by Gou Xi and reduced to nothing but himself.

At that time, he couldn’t go south, so he went to Shangdang to recruit soldiers. Yet now he had run to Runan—did this mean something had gone wrong on Gou Xi’s end too?

If Shi Lei was already Liu Yuan’s man, then who was attacking Quyang?

Could it really be the Xiongnu?

If it was truly the Xiongnu, then the Prince of Donghai had actually allowed the Xiongnu to come down into the Central Plains—was he planning to give up half the realm to the Xiongnu?

Zhao Hanzhang ground her teeth and followed Zhao Ming aggressively to meet the clan elders.

The clan elders similarly couldn’t rest easy and were all waiting in the front hall. Seeing Zhao Ming leading Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan back, they immediately stepped forward two paces, only to be met with Zhao Hanzhang’s imposing aura. They paused and asked weakly, “Why has Sanniang returned?”

Seeing Fu Tinghan, the elders immediately became enthusiastic, stepping aside to invite him to sit. “Thank you, son-in-law, for coming to our rescue. This has been hard on you, child.”

Zhao Ming poured himself a cup of water and drank it in one gulp, taking time to respond, “Sanniang led them here.”

He still couldn’t forget the scene of Zhao Hanzhang leading household soldiers, charging in and out three times, weaving through the rebel army.

Fu Tinghan also nodded. “My martial skills are weak. It was Sanniang who led the army.”

The elders’ eyes widened.

Zhao Hanzhang cupped her hands in salute to the elders, which served as her greeting. She walked to the table. “How many men do we have left?”

Zhao Ming said, “The seriously wounded have come down. Of those still able to fight, about eighteen hundred remain.”

“Our household soldiers…”

Zhao Ming sighed. “The losses were severe. They attacked into the city three times. Though we ultimately repelled them, our losses were great.”

Zhao Song added, “Our household soldiers haven’t seen blood in a long time, while theirs are extremely fierce. There’s no comparison.”

Zhao Hanzhang recalled Shi Lei’s troops and felt a headache coming on. “Most of my men have never seen blood either. Though they’ve trained, they certainly can’t compare.”

Fu Tinghan, as an outside observer, said clearly, “If it comes to a direct clash, both sides will suffer mutual destruction. We should be able to hold the stronghold, but…”

Fu Tinghan continued, “Not only the young men in the stronghold, but even the men we brought might all perish here.”

By then, leaving behind a stronghold full of old, weak, women and children would make survival equally difficult.

At that point, the stronghold would attract not just bandits and brigands like Shi Lei.

Zhao Song quickly said, “Right. That Shi Lei can lose all his men and then go somewhere else to recruit new troops and start over, but the Zhao clan can’t do that.”

Zhao Hu asked, “Then what do we do? We can’t surrender, and we can’t fight head-on. Should we flee too?”

He kept glancing at Zhao Hanzhang with his eyes. “If the whole clan moves to Shangcai…”

Zhao Hanzhang said generously, “If the clan needs it, I can offer my manor in Shangcai to settle the clan members. However, once we leave the stronghold, can we escape their pursuit?”

Zhao Ming said impatiently, “At a time like this you’re still teasing him. Seventh Uncle, if you’re tired, go rest first.”

Zhao Hu protested, “Zhao Zinian, what do you mean? Fifth Brother, aren’t you going to control your son?”

No one paid him any attention.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “Surrendering is impossible, but we also can’t fight them to the death.”

She glanced outside. “Dawn will break soon, and our men should arrive shortly. We’ll fight one more battle. Uncle, prepare some grain. I’ll try to persuade him to leave.”

Zhao Ming raised his eyelids. “Persuade? How will you persuade him?”

Zhao Hanzhang replied, “With my spear.”

At this moment, Shi Lei was sitting on the ground eating cooked rice and beans, his face covered in black ash. But he felt no fullness at all—only choking discomfort.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He stood up and shouted toward the stronghold, “Damn it all! Where the hell did that miss come from?”

Just when success was within reach, a miss suddenly appeared.

—