Luring the enemy deep and dividing them to strike was a good tactic for the relatively weaker side, but when the disparity in strength between the warring parties was too great, this tactic became useless after being used a few times, as human stamina had its limits.

After Yun Wenfang led his subordinates in killing five to six hundred enemies, his side had also lost nearly half their men. The remaining half were either wounded or completely exhausted. Finally, they were cornered by the court’s troops in a grove of trees. If not for the cover of this large patch of woods and their familiarity with the terrain, they would probably have been annihilated long ago.

When entering this grove, they had already abandoned their horses.

Yun Wenfang had been struck by an arrow in his left shoulder blade, and his abdomen was also wounded by a sharp blade—the wound was quite deep. Excessive blood loss had made his complexion extremely pale. At this moment, he was leaning against a tree, his expression unusually calm as he allowed his subordinate to bandage the wound on his abdomen. After the subordinate finished simply treating the major wound on his abdomen and wanted to also treat the arrow wound on his back, Yun Wenfang raised his hand to stop him.

“Leave it for now. Go check on the others.”

The subordinate glanced at the wound where the arrow shaft had been cut off, leaving the arrowhead still in his body, and wanted to say something more, but Yun Wenfang had already coldly closed his eyes. The subordinate ultimately didn’t dare disobey orders and withdrew to check on the other wounded.

The steady young man who had been fighting alongside Yun Wenfang walked over with slightly slow steps: “General, we have sixty-eight men left, and more than ten have serious injuries—I’m afraid they…”

He bit his teeth, his eyes red, as he lowered his head. Though they had been prepared to die wrapped in horse hide from the day they became soldiers, these were all brothers who had fought bloody battles with them. They had experienced countless dangers together at the border and survived, only to die at the hands of their people in the end. There was inevitably some resentment in their hearts.

Yun Wenfang opened his eyes and looked at the soldiers sitting or standing around him. His cold gaze finally showed a trace of emotion, and he said in a hoarse voice: “I have wronged you all.”

Upon hearing this, tears almost fell from the young man’s eyes. He quickly held back his choking voice and said: “General, what kind of words are these? If you hadn’t blocked that blade for this subordinate earlier, where would I have the life to stand here now? Moreover, as Yanbei soldiers, protecting the people and the Yanbei Prince’s residence is our duty. Why does the General need to take responsibility upon himself? We all followed you willingly. If we can let the people of Yunyang City live to wait for reinforcements to arrive, then like you, General, we would not refuse even if it meant ten thousand deaths.”

Yun Wenfang tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile filled with exhaustion and mockery: “I’m not as heroic and selfless as you think. I just…”

Just what? Yun Wenfang’s gaze became somewhat unfocused.

He felt that leaving the city to meet the enemy was just to protect the person he wanted to protect, wanting her to be safe and sound, not to die an unnatural death like in his dreams. He never thought of himself as someone with great magnanimity. Even if Yanbei Prince’s residence fell before his eyes, he wouldn’t feel much emotion—he might even secretly feel pleased. Everything he did was merely following his own heart.

But looking at these young faces around him, looking at these subordinates who had fought life and death battles with him and placed their complete trust in him, Yun Wenfang ultimately couldn’t voice that “just,” even though he never cared what kind of person he was in others’ eyes. At this moment, Yun Wenfang still chose silence.

Just then, those standing on the outer perimeter became somewhat agitated. The young man beside Yun Wenfang was about to shout a question when someone hurried over: “General, smoke is rising ahead. Those cowards probably don’t dare enter the woods to face us directly, so they’ve set fires to force us out.”

By this time, Yun Wenfang also smelled smoke and faintly saw the fire. Fortunately, the wind wasn’t currently blowing in their direction, or they would probably be quite uncomfortable.

The steady young man went to observe and quickly ran back, his face ugly as he said: “These people are simply despicable and shameless! If they have guts, they should come fight us with real weapons.”

Yun Wenfang smiled coldly: “Using small tricks when facing life-and-death enemies is understandable, especially since we killed so many of their people. Do you still want them to treat us with courtesy?”

Though the young man’s expression still looked unpleasant, he ultimately said nothing more.

“General, what do we do now?” a subordinate nearby asked worriedly, looking at the increasingly thick smoke in the distance. “Though it’s still a southwest wind now, the wind direction might change soon.”

Yun Wenfang stared at the distant smoke for a while, then stretched lazily with his usual carefree smile. With his movement, the arrow wound on his back split open again, and even the freshly bandaged wound on his abdomen seeped blood, but Yun Wenfang acted as if he felt no pain.

He looked around in a circle, then smiled: “Men, are you willing to be smoked out like turtles, gray-faced and disheveled, and then crawl out yourselves?”

“No!” Though most of the remaining dozens were already wounded, they still shouted these three words with overwhelming momentum.

Yun Wenfang picked up his sword, slightly curved his fingers to lightly flick the blade, and said quietly: “Then follow me out?”

As soon as Yun Wenfang’s words fell, those who had been sitting and leaning on the ground all stood up. Whether seriously or lightly wounded, as long as they could still move, they all picked up their weapons and shouted solemnly: “Let’s go out!”

“Let’s go out!”

“Let’s go out!”

For a moment, these passionate words echoed throughout the woods.

Yun Wenfang slowly revealed a smile, one tinged with relief.

The enemy’s strength far exceeded theirs. They all knew they might be buried here today, yet no one retreated. Yun Wenfang’s heart was filled with a heroic spirit he had never truly experienced. For some reason, he suddenly felt somewhat ashamed of his former self, because at this moment, standing here, hearing these sounds that belonged to real men, he finally understood something.

Even now, he didn’t regret falling in love with a woman destined not to belong to him, nor did he plan to let his heart submit. He just felt that perhaps he truly hadn’t been like a real man before, which was why the only person he had ever truly cared about in his life looked down on him.

Though his realization seemed to come too late.

Yun Wenfang closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his gaze no longer held any trace of weakness. The solemn aura forged on the battlefield emanated from him, his eyes sharp and determined.

“Men, follow me—”

Yun Wenfang roared and charged out first with his sword, the steady young man who had always followed him immediately behind, with the others following closely.

Those setting fires everywhere seemed not to have expected these Yanbei soldiers, already driven to desperation, to charge out. They had long been terrified by the previous battles. These Yanbei soldiers, if not capable of fighting ten enemies each, were still individually fierce and brave. Even when two or three of them attacked one, they weren’t guaranteed to win. So even knowing these soldiers were at their last gasp, they still didn’t dare risk entering the woods.

So, hearing the battle cries, most of these court soldiers chose to throw down their torches and retreat. But for Yun Wenfang and his men, this battle should be their last in this lifetime—naturally, it should be fought heartily. How could they allow the enemy to flee from battle?

These Yanbei soldiers, already exhausted or seriously wounded, laughed heartily like fierce beasts just released from cages as they pursued the enemy.

This was a strange battle—the few, heavily wounded chasing the many, lightly wounded, yet still making the side that should have had the advantage tremble with fear and retreat step by step.

In the end, it was these Yanbei soldiers themselves who exhausted their last bit of strength, falling one by one, though each took at least two enemies with them as they fell.

Yun Wenfang had always charged at the front—this was his consistent style and the reason he could gather such loyal subordinates at such a young age.

But he felt the strength in his body leaving him bit by bit, his body temperature gradually growing cold, his vision beginning to blur.