The hooves were wrapped in fur, concealing the dense pounding sounds. Yet one could still feel the trembling of the ground. In the night, the incoming troops surged like a wall, getting closer and closer, becoming more and more distinct.

Even with his eyes closed, Liang Qiang could feel that wall almost touching the tip of his nose. He wanted to ask why, but then realized he had no right to ask. He had seen this scene before, when at a life-or-death moment, the Western Liang soldiers had halted their advance and stood at attention, like a wall. That time, he had preserved his life at the edge of the wall, but this time—

“What are they going to do?” he heard himself ask in a hoarse voice.

Or perhaps he should have asked, What are you going to do?

The guard standing beside him said, “General, don’t be nervous. They’re just borrowing a path, that’s all.”

Borrowing a path, that’s all? Liang Qiang turned his head to look at the guard: “You all are committing treason.”

The guard smiled: “What treason? If we’re talking about that, they’ve already committed treason long ago.”

Last time, he had only seen a Great Xia soldier take out a token, and at that life-or-death moment, the Western Liang soldiers had stopped, obedient as if they were the right and left arms of the Great Xia soldier.

“This isn’t treason,” the guard continued. “This is merely a transaction.”

A transaction, using the border army soldiers and the safety of the people as bargaining chips? Liang Qiang clenched his hand hanging at his side: “Is this transaction meant to lead to defeat in battle?”

The guard frowned, seemingly a bit impatient, while another guard beside him was more gentle, saying: “General Liang is overthinking. How could our Great Xia ever lose a battle? It’s just that, sometimes, we need both victories and defeats to navigate the world properly.”

How could there be talk of proper navigation when two countries are at war? Liang Qiang was somewhat stunned.

“What does it matter if two countries are at war?” The gentle soldier said with a smile. “Countries are made up of people, and since they’re all people, naturally there are ways to navigate relationships.”

“Don’t bother explaining all this to him.” The previous guard impatiently interrupted, saying, “General Liang, someone in Western Liang needs a victory, and giving this victory to the Western Liang people won’t affect our overall war situation. That’s all.”

Is that all? Liang Qiang felt his palm being pierced by his fingernails: “So this time, do you want to cut off one of my arms or both?”

At this point, he gave a self-mocking smile.

“Failing to defend the pass, letting the enemy break through, as an officer, only fighting to the death and having my head cut off would suffice.”

Only then would Liang Qiang be considered to have died heroically in battle, and everything he had gained could be preserved.

The guard smiled: “This time you don’t even need to move your arm. Just stand here quietly and pretend you didn’t see anything.”

“Everything has been arranged. No one will discover that you directly let them through,” the other soldier explained further. “At most, you’ll be charged with negligence in defense.”

The previous guard reached out and patted Liang Qiang’s shoulder: “General Liang, previously, losing an arm could ensure that you remained valorously fighting in battle with honor and wealth. Now, even if you’re guilty, it doesn’t matter. You can still bravely kill enemies, and even achieve merit despite your guilt, making your reputation even greater. Don’t you believe that?”

Whether he believed it or not didn’t matter. Having come this far, did he still have a choice? Liang Qiang looked at the Western Liang soldiers concealed by the night ahead. If he shouted now, could he stop all this?

What did he have to stop it with? He had nothing.

Perhaps before he could even shout, he would be killed by these close deputy generals.

Liang Qiang looked into the darkness. The black wall moved forward, passing through his line of sight, like a silently rising river, overflowing its banks and spreading toward the vast land behind.

The lookout posts and hidden sentries all around were silent.

This wasn’t surprising. He had come here to replace the sentries, and naturally, the other sentries had also been replaced by the guards he had brought.

Liang Qiang didn’t look back. The night behind him was quiet, but he seemed to already hear the sounds of fighting breaking out.

He said hoarsely: “Next time, when it’s our turn to win, please let me behead them.”

…

…

“Great King—”

“Great King—”

The Qina chieftain rushed from the vanguard to the Western Liang King’s main camp.

The royal tent guards were all the fiercest warriors of Western Liang. Due to the heat, they were bare-chested, strong as mountains, intimidating anyone from approaching.

Even though the Qina chieftain was the Western Liang King’s son-in-law, he was stopped outside the royal tent and couldn’t easily see the Great King.

However, being the son-in-law, he was allowed a bit closer, kneeling at the entrance of the royal tent.

“What are you here for again? Are you here to persuade me to withdraw the troops again? You lot, one after another, afraid of death and impatient.”

“Do you know why we Western Liang have been constantly defeated? It’s because we only want to fight a little and then stop.”

“Our valor comes quickly and leaves just as quickly, which is why the Great Xia people can take advantage.”

“The Great Xia people want me to kneel and negotiate, cede territory, and pay tribute. They can keep dreaming.”

“This time, I’ll let the Great Xia people know that we can also endure.”

“Even if there is to be peace, it will be them coming to beg me for it!”

The Western Liang King’s angry voice came from the royal tent, making the ground tremble slightly.

The Qina chieftain waited until the Great King had vented his anger, then called out loudly: “Great King, the Third Prince has led troops into Great Xia’s Yunzhong Commandery—”

Before he could finish, he felt the ground seem to shake. There came the sound of heavy footsteps from inside the tent, then the tent flap was lifted, and the equally bare-chested, mountain-strong Western Liang King appeared before him.

“Is it true?” he bent down to ask.

The Qina chieftain nodded repeatedly: “Absolutely true! Right now, Yunzhong Commandery is in chaos because of the Third Prince!”

The Western Liang King laughed loudly, deafeningly.

“Good, good, Hun Ye is indeed the most valorous.” He praised loudly.

The surrounding guards followed, waving their arms and shouting “The Third Prince is mighty!”

This made the other princes, who had come upon hearing the news, envious, but they could only join in the shouting.

The Western Liang King pointed at them: “None of you should be idle either, all of you go and charge!”

The crowd cheered again in unison.

The cheers were like a fierce wind.

…

…

The fierce wind swept through Yunzhong Commandery.

Everywhere on the roads of towns and villages, civilians were fleeing. Regardless of whether the Western Liang troops were headed in their direction, everyone was in panic, escaping to mountain valleys and dense forests, rushing toward the interior.

Galloping troops were everywhere.

Soldiers stood at attention, the atmosphere tense. Once again, the commander’s flag appeared at Jiezi Pass, and before the flag with the character for “commander,” came the sound of whipping.

Mobile Infantry General Liang Qiang was receiving punishment.

He knelt bare-chested on the ground, while behind him, soldiers wielded long whips, striking down fiercely.

Liang Qiang’s back was already covered in blood. He firmly supported himself with his hands on his knees, not letting himself collapse to the ground, his face pale.

“Why didn’t you garrison the castle! Why did you lead troops wandering about? Causing the central army to be empty!”

Accompanying the whipping, Zhong Changrong’s roaring voice echoed.

Liang Qiang gritted his teeth and responded: “This subordinate is guilty!”

“General Zhong, now is not the time to assign blame.” Imperial Inspector Fu, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, saw this scene and angrily rebuked, “With so many soldiers not going to kill the enemy, but gathered here watching a punishment.”

Zhong Changrong turned his roaring toward him: “Such a waste, such laxity, what use is it to merely shout about killing the enemy! Imperial Inspector Fu has been supervising for so long. What discipline have you established?”

With the war situation unfavorable, was he trying to shift the blame to him? Imperial Inspector Fu’s face reddened with anger: “Zhong Changrong! If it weren’t for you arguing with me for authority, conducting what camp inspections, making the soldiers distracted in their responses, wouldn’t it have allowed the Western Liang soldiers to exploit?”

As the two men in front of them started arguing again, Liang Ji, who had come with Imperial Inspector Fu, glanced at the wounds on his son’s body. By now, Liang Qiang was already swaying, unable to support himself.

“General!” Liang Ji stepped forward with a salute, kneeling on one knee, “Now that it has come to this, it is Liang Qiang who is guilty, but currently, the Western Liang troops are attacking from all sides, and Third Prince Hun Ye’s forces have passed through Jiezi Pass, approaching Shipo City. Please allow Liang Qiang to atone for his crimes by achieving merit—”

The swaying, about-to-fall Liang Qiang struggled to kneel upright and said to Zhong Changrong: “This guilty officer requests to kill enemies at the front, please—”

Zhong Changrong looked at the father and son with a cold smile, about to say something, when another messenger rushed in.

“General—Shipo City—has fallen—”

It had fallen.

There was an uproar all around. Liang Qiang also felt his ears buzzing. Although he had guessed it earlier, when he heard it, his mind instantly went blank.

The clamor around him seemed distant, then close, but some words still clearly reached him.

“—The garrison at Shipo City was attacked with poisonous smoke, and couldn’t resist—”

“—Western Liang troops have stormed into Shipo City, three hundred thousand civilians are trapped—”

They said it was just an exchange for a victory, with no impact on the war situation.

They said that later, they could valiantly kill enemies again, atone for crimes through merit, and that would be fine.

For him, it was an exchange; it had no impact, and he could atone for his crimes later. But for those soldiers who were killed or injured, for those civilians who fell into enemy hands, it wasn’t just that, it was life.

Once gone, it was gone, irreparable.

Liang Qiang’s body bent more and more, until he heavily fell to the ground, his head striking the earth.

…

…

The sound of killing shook the heavens.

It was as if they were treading on mountains of swords and rivers of blood, but not a single person retreated. Amid the flashing of blades and swords, and the flying of flesh and blood, after an unknown amount of time, there was nothing left to cut with the swords. In the distance, the troops that were originally surging forward receded like the tide, turning into black dots and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

“The Western Liang bandits have fled,” Xiaoshan shouted, waving his sword.

Xie Yanlai, standing on a corpse, lowered his long sword and spat out a mouthful of bloody water: “Blind bastards, coming to your young master’s place to seek death.”

The surviving soldiers also howled and shouted, “Seeking death—” “Don’t even think about breaking through the pass, you can’t even touch the entrance—”

Xiaoshan was about to bandage his injured arm when he saw that the bandage on Xie Yanlai’s wound had come undone. He hurriedly went to wrap it up for him again.

Xie Yanlai kicked him away, “Get lost, take care of yourself.”

Xiaoshan chuckled, wiping away blood while nimbly bandaging his wound.

Xie Yanlai leaned on his long sword, looking ahead, then turned to look behind. This place was still some distance from the pass they were guarding. It could be said that when the Western Liang soldiers came to kill, they were waiting here to ambush them.

After just one battle, they had destroyed the vanguard, and those Western Liang soldiers ran away.

“Young master, these Western Liang soldiers are quite cowardly,” Xiaoshan said while bandaging his wound. “How could they have broken through Jiezi Pass?”

“Don’t underestimate the Western Liang soldiers,” Xie Yanlai said. “Fish and shrimp each have their way.”

At this point, he looked ahead, his eyes flickering slightly.

“Xiaoshan,” he said, “Do you dare to go with your young master to play something big?”