“This subordinate receives the order!” Liu Pinggao accepted the command and immediately issued orders, but being positioned in the center, it was difficult for him to charge to the very front.

“Elder sister! Let me lead the Bai Family Army to attack the left side!” Bai Jinzhi clenched her fists tightly. There was no reason for her to cower in her elder sister’s carriage during battle.

“Bai Jinzhi…” In the jolting carriage, Bai Qingyan’s unfathomably deep eyes looked at her. She pressed down firmly on Bai Jinzhi’s shoulder with one hand while untying the iron sandbags from her body with the other, her voice both urgent and steady: “The enemy’s purpose is clear – they’re after me! Elder sister commands you to kill your way out alive, no matter what, and bring reinforcements! The cities throughout Yan territory are full of our Great Zhou generals who can be used!”

Upon hearing these words, all the hair on Bai Jinzhi’s body stood on end. How could she not understand her elder sister’s meaning: “Elder sister, you can’t go draw the enemy away! You are Great Zhou’s backbone – I’ll go! Elder sister should go get reinforcements!”

Bai Qingyan knew this carriage couldn’t hold out much longer. Moreover, the carriage was too large a target – almost all the arrows were aimed at it. Setting aside the fact that this carriage would soon catch fire, although the steeds pulling the carriage were all wearing chain mail and not easily struck by arrows, these arrows carried fire. If any blind arrow injured the horses’ eyes and the beasts went mad… if the carriage lost control, everyone in it would be dead or wounded.

“Can’t you understand your elder sister’s words? These people are coming for me! Only I can draw them away!” Bai Qingyan gripped Bai Jinzhi’s shoulder forcefully. “Xiao Si, how much chance elder sister has of surviving depends on how fast you break out! How fast you bring reinforcements! Xiao Si, don’t let elder sister down!”

Tears welled up in Bai Jinzhi’s eyes. The window curtains inside the carriage had already caught fire, and the bright flames turned Bai Jinzhi’s pale face orange-yellow. She couldn’t spare time to nod and hurriedly helped her elder sister untie the iron sandbags with trembling hands.

Perhaps because the Bai Family Army had charged up and suppressed the ambush forces so they could no longer shoot arrows, during the brief respite from the arrow rain on the right side, Bai Qingyan grabbed Bai Jinzhi’s collar, pushed open the carriage door, and leaped down from the still-moving carriage.

Having removed the iron sandbags from her body, Bai Qingyan protected Bai Jinzhi as a blind arrow from the left side aimed at the carriage struck her arm… and hit the eye of one of the steeds pulling the carriage. The horse reared and crashed about. Even though the other trained steeds remained relatively stable, they were knocked into a frenzied gallop by the collision.

Fortunately, Wei Zhong pulled Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi aside, preventing them from being struck by the carriage as it swung wildly due to the horses losing control.

Bai Jinzhi was not inexperienced in battle, but this was the first time she had been caught like a turtle in a jar. With her elder sister pressing her head down and protecting her in her embrace, she was filled with frustration and could only see the Bai Family Army soldiers drawing swords and raising blades to surround and protect them. The ground was covered with flaming arrows and the corpses of their comrades.

The Bai Family Army had always been invincible. In every battle… wherever her gaze fell, though there were bodies of their comrades, there were always more enemy corpses. But this time… she saw only the bodies of their comrades, no enemy corpses.

This made Bai Jinzhi feel angry and powerless on a battlefield for the first time. Looking at the ground covered with Bai Family Army corpses shot full of arrows like porcupines, she couldn’t help but think of when Grandfather and the others were trapped in Lingchuan Valley – was it like this, like meat on a chopping block, slaughtered at will?

Bai Jinzhi’s palms were covered in sticky sweat, completely unlike her usual self, who would be filled with boiling blood whenever there was a battle to fight!

Because her elder sister was here!

And these people’s target was precisely her elder sister!

She wanted to protect her elder sister but was powerless to do so. After so many years of high spirits, this was the first time Bai Jinzhi felt her heart was willing but her strength insufficient, and tears were almost forced out of her eyes.

Bai Qingyan protected Bai Jinzhi tightly in her arms, looking around in all directions, and spotted the snow-white, exceptionally handsome horse Taiping among the cavalry. She put her fingers to her lips and whistled a high, clear note.

Taiping heard its master’s whistle, twitched its ears, and charged toward Bai Qingyan.

“Your Majesty!” Seeing a flaming arrow pierce through Bai Qingyan’s arm and her sleeve catch fire, Liu Pinggao disobeyed the imperial command and turned his horse back. Without a word, he rode swiftly to Bai Qingyan, leaped from his horse, wrapped her arm with his cloak to extinguish the fire, then immediately began removing his armor, not caring whether it would fit Bai Qingyan properly, trying to put it on her.

He was a soldier of the Great Zhou, and this opportunity to accompany His Majesty had been earned by Liu Pinggao himself. No matter what, he had to keep His Majesty safe.

Bai Qingyan blocked Liu Pinggao’s hands, putting the oversized armor on Bai Jinzhi while looking around and listening to the enemy’s whistle signals.

Seeing that Taiping had arrived, she immediately pushed Bai Jinzhi onto the horse’s back and commanded in a calm, raised voice: “Bai Family Army, listen to orders! At any cost, escort Prince Gaoyi and kill your way out!”

All around were Bai Family Army soldiers. Bai Qingyan was their Young Marshal Bai, and they obeyed her every command without exception, responding in unison: “Yes!”

“Elder sister!” Bai Jinzhi, pushed onto the horse’s back by Bai Qingyan, instinctively gripped the reins. The ill-fitting armor made her appear even more petite. She finally began to cry: “Let’s go together!”

“We can’t go together! Remember elder sister’s words! Go!” Bai Qingyan slapped the horse hard. The spirited horse neighed and galloped along the right slope where no arrows were flying, heading toward the path they had come from.

“Pass the order for all soldiers to ascend the right slope! Enter the forest!” Bai Qingyan commanded loudly.

Since the enemy had positioned archers in ambush on both left and right sides, and had the ambush forces at the entrance show themselves first to drive them toward the exit, Bai Qingyan chose to attack up the right slope and enter the forest…

First, once in the forest, the dense trees would make archery ineffective, and close combat would be their advantage.

Second, amid all this killing and shouting, Bai Qingyan heard whistle commands coming from the right slope. To capture the thief, first capture the king – naturally, Bai Qingyan chose the right side.

Third, since heavy troops were at the exit, she couldn’t charge toward the exit but had to find another way to break through the encirclement. Fortunately, this slope was high but not steep – exactly like a gate of life that Heaven had left for Bai Qingyan.

“All soldiers ascend the right slope and enter the forest!” Liu Pinggao passed on the command loudly.

As Bai Qingyan’s orders were passed down wave after wave, she picked up a spear from the ground and broke it over her knee to the right length to use as a lance. Spotting a riderless warhorse galloping by, she grabbed the swaying reins on the horse’s back and nimbly mounted, while Wei Zhong also immediately found a horse to mount, wielding a long blade alongside Liu Pinggao to protect Bai Qingyan.

Seeing Lu Yuanpeng, Bai Qingyan didn’t even look at him as she charged up the high slope, saying: “Lu Yuanpeng, escort Prince Gaoyi and kill your way out through the entrance. There must be no mistakes!”

Only then did Lu Yuanpeng realize that Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi had already left the carriage. He accepted the order, turned his horse, and charged toward Bai Jinzhi’s direction.