Bai Qingyan charged swiftly up the right slope on horseback, reined in her mount, and the steed reared and stood firm with her robes fluttering. She called out against the wind: “All soldiers, listen to orders! Once in the forest, bows and arrows will be useless. Follow me… charge into the forest! Swear to annihilate these bandits!”

Bai Jinzhi turned back to see her elder sister in tight-fitting warrior garb, wielding a spear with her back straight, accompanied by Liu Pinggao and Wei Zhong, exposing her identity and position in the most conspicuous spot on the high slope…

This was clearly elder sister using herself as bait to draw the enemy, leaving the hope of survival to her!

“Elder sister!” Bai Jinzhi gripped the reins tightly. Through her blurred vision, she saw that her elder sister had already spurred her horse into the deep forest.

Soon, Lu Yuanpeng, on his swift horse, caught up with Bai Jinzhi with his men and began fighting the Xiping Army blocking the entrance.

Bai Jinzhi gripped her long blade, swinging her arm in full circles to hack and slash. She had steadied her mind – she must break out quickly… only by breaking out could she bring reinforcements to save her elder sister as soon as possible!

Bai Jinzhi was too anxious and charged too fast, with no comrades protecting her flanks. An enemy spear pierced the belly of the steed beneath her. Lu Yuanpeng suddenly spurred his horse and charged over, grabbing the oversized armor on the falling Bai Jinzhi and pulling her onto his own horse’s back, wielding his silver spear to kill enemies.

When the Xiping Army faced the Anping Army in close combat, they indeed held no advantage, but the Xiping Army had superior numbers.

This breach was much harder to tear open than imagined!

Lu Yuanpeng and Bai Jinzhi on horseback were trapped like caged beasts, with enemies on both sides. Sharing one mount, one dealt with enemies on the left while the other handled those on the right.

Lu Yuanpeng looked up at the entrance not far away and shouted: “Quickly cut a bloody path! Hurry!”

Soon, the Great Zhou soldiers charged forward one after another, sacrificing their lives in fierce battle, finally cutting a bloody path. With Bai Jinzhi on his mount, Lu Yuanpeng was escorted by cavalry as they charged outward…

“Hyah!” Lu Yuanpeng spurred his horse and charged out fiercely.

“Stop them!” The enemy general, seeing someone break through the encirclement, cried out in alarm: “Don’t let anyone escape alive! Stop them quickly!”

The enemy general also knew that if these people escaped, Great Zhou would soon bring reinforcements – all those Yan cities were full of Great Zhou soldiers!

Arrow rain followed. Lu Yuanpeng dared not turn back to look at his emperor!

He was Bai Family Army and should have sacrificed his life to protect His Majesty. Even if His Majesty held a blade to his throat… as a subject, he should prioritize His Majesty’s life above all.

If Bai Qingyan had ordered him to escort someone else, Lu Yuanpeng would never have left Bai Qingyan’s side even unto death… but Bai Qingyan had ordered him to escort Bai Jinzhi!

He had followed the order, yet felt guilty toward his emperor!

“Faster!” Bai Jinzhi’s voice carried a sobbing tone. “Go faster! As long as we bring reinforcements, elder sister will be saved!”

Bai Jinzhi understood clearly that by exposing herself and leaving the path of life to her, her elder sister was placing her survival in Bai Jinzhi’s hands. Elder sister had said… the faster she brought reinforcements, the greater elder sister’s hope of survival.

“Ugh…”

Lu Yuanpeng suddenly groaned, his entire body stiffening. His grip on the reins tightened, his knuckles turning white.

Bai Jinzhi, worried about her elder sister, only focused on urging Lu Yuanpeng to go faster: “Lu Yuanpeng! Faster!”

“General Lu!” A Bai Family Army cavalryman following closely behind Lu Yuanpeng cried out in alarm.

“Quick! Ride at full speed to the city ahead for reinforcements to save His Majesty!” Lu Yuanpeng shouted.

“Yes!” The Bai Family Army cavalrymen followed Lu Yuanpeng at full speed.

With Bai Qingyan, the Great Zhou Emperor, leading the charge, the neighing of warhorses mixed with screams and battle cries. The Great Zhou soldiers, seeing their emperor charging at the front, seemed to have their blood ignited and rushed into the knee-deep snow to fight hand-to-hand with enemies just rising from the snow.

Prince Xiping originally had the advantage of five times more troops than the Great Zhou, but he was too greedy. Wanting both to reduce his losses and cut off Bai Qingyan’s escape route to annihilate her and all the Great Zhou forces here, he had positioned archers on both sides, heavy troops at the exit, and a small force at the entrance. He had waited until the army reached the center before having the forces at the entrance attack, making his intention to drive the Great Zhou army toward the exit painfully obvious to Bai Qingyan!

Therefore, Bai Qingyan had spotted Prince Xiping’s weakness!

Despite having numerical superiority, he had scattered his advantage.

Judging from the earlier arrow rain and how the Bai Family Army and Anping Army had suppressed the right-side arrows after charging up the right slope, there were many archers positioned there, while the close-combat soldiers were probably all waiting at the exit to block them.

In that case… Bai Qingyan would first eliminate the archers on the right slope.

While archers had extraordinary killing power in ranged combat, in close quarters, bows and arrows had no room for effectiveness, unless using archery to capture the king. Therefore, after Bai Qingyan exposed her identity, Wei Zhong and Liu Pinggao were extremely careful.

Whether the Bai Family Army or the Anping Army, both had truly rolled through mountains of blades and seas of fire. How could these Xiping troops be a match for the Great Zhou forces? Moreover, most here were archers, while the close-combat soldiers were still dutifully guarding the exit.

Prince Xiping had never expected that this Great Zhou Emperor Bai Qingyan would not follow his plan – becoming panicked after the surprise attack and leading her troops toward the unguarded exit seeking survival – but instead attacked the right slope where he was hiding…

This was completely beyond Prince Xiping’s expectations. He could only watch helplessly as his archers were slaughtered by those fierce Great Zhou soldiers, his men’s hot blood pouring onto the snow, mixing into bloody slush.

Originally, Prince Xiping had not equipped his soldiers with armor, both to hide their forms and for light equipment, thinking they would lie hidden in snow hollows. He had his soldiers wear thick cotton clothing against the cold, never expecting that now… without armor and being archers inexperienced in close combat, they had become cattle and sheep under Great Zhou blades, to be slaughtered at will.

Under his close guards’ protection, Prince Xiping kept retreating deeper into the forest to avoid the fierce Great Zhou soldiers. He gritted his teeth and said, “Go send orders! Have the heavy troops guarding the exit come for reinforcement!”

Prince Xiping saw that Bai Qingyan was already gasping for breath – the fall from her horse must have injured her badly. She was just barely holding on!

“Yes!” The messenger accepted the order and ran off frantically.

The makeshift spear Bai Qingyan wielded, broken from a longer weapon, was not ideal, but it didn’t hinder her from killing enemies. Prince Xiping did want to shoot Bai Qingyan, but with the dense forest and trees, and not knowing what divine protection this Bai Qingyan had, despite wearing no armor, somehow none of the shots could hit her.