He turned his head toward the black-robed strategist: “Such an obvious flaw shown to us is nothing more than to lure us into climbing the mountain from another route. If this heir’s guess is correct, this Great Zhou Emperor must have already set up an ambush.”

The black-robed strategist was about to speak when Prince Xiping raised his hand to stop him.

“Military tactics involve deception… truth mixed with falsehood. I wager this Great Zhou Emperor is revealing such a glaring flaw precisely to lead us into an even greater trap!” Prince Xiping was extremely confident. “This Great Zhou Emperor must be at his wits’ end by now!”

After speaking, Prince Xiping drew his sword and shouted: “Charge up!”

“My lord! You mustn’t!”

The black-robed strategist’s voice was drowned out by the high-pitched shouts of the Xiping army soldiers. He could only watch helplessly as Prince Xiping led the Xiping army charging up the mountain.

The Great Zhou archers, hidden high in the trees, watched the Xiping soldiers rushing one by one toward the area on the mountain where flames soared into the sky. Some drew their bowstrings taut, others aimed their crossbow bolts at the targets below, but none fired, quietly awaiting Bai Qingyan’s whistle command.

Bai Qingyan and the other Great Zhou soldiers were all hidden behind trees, holding their breath and waiting…

Hearing the sounds of the Xiping army charging up, Bai Qingyan poked her head out from behind the tree and looked down the mountain. She could already see the vanguard soldiers of the Xiping army holding torches high, about to charge up.

Bai Qingyan bit the bone whistle in her mouth, nocked an arrow to her bow, and steadied herself…

She needed more of these Xiping soldiers to come up, even more!

The Xiping army was fifty paces away from where Bai Qingyan had ordered her soldiers to pile the snowballs… thirty paces… twenty paces…

Bai Qingyan bit down hard on the bone whistle, blew it forcefully, and suddenly released her grip. The arrow whistled through the air.

Hearing the whistle, the archers lying in ambush in the trees all released their arrows. A rain of arrows descended from the heights of the forest like a slaughter, and screams erupted everywhere.

Before the Xiping army could react and raise their bows to shoot at the dark, high trees, the soldiers controlling the logs stretched across the road with ropes shouted and pulled the logs to both sides.

Snowballs packed with stones inside rolled down one after another from the high slope…

The snowballs rushing downward crashed into the large trees with tremendous sounds. The giant trees swayed, and snow fell like scattered salt, forcing the Xiping soldiers to be unable to see clearly what was happening in the trees.

The snowballs, weighted with stones and rolling faster and faster, crashed into the Xiping soldiers, immediately knocking down a large number of them…

Arrows rained down, snowballs rolled continuously, and screams rose and fell.

“Ambush! Ambush!” the Xiping army’s vanguard general shouted. “Retreat! Retreat!”

Bai Qingyan seized the opportunity, drew her bow… and shot an arrow following the sound!

That Xiping army vanguard general never had the chance to voice another “retreat” command. He clutched his throat and knelt to the ground, his eyes wide open, staring at the distant flickering flames that seemed within reach.

Her eyes were cold and deep. She bit the bone whistle and blew it again…

The bone whistle sounded in the pitch-black dense forest, and the crossbow operators and archers in the high trees immediately stopped shooting downward.

“Kill!”

At Bai Qingyan’s command, the Great Zhou army hidden behind trees all drew their swords and charged toward the Xiping soldiers who had been knocked down by snowballs and couldn’t get up. They swung their blades like harvesters, and amid the continuous screams in the night, they killed all the first batch of Xiping soldiers who had charged up the high slope, then quickly retrieved the arrows that could still be used.

Prince Xiping watched his remnant soldiers rolling and crawling, supporting each other as they fled down the mountain in disarray. He was so shocked that he stood up: “How… how could this be?”

The black-robed strategist gritted his teeth and said to Prince Xiping, “My lord, this Great Zhou Emperor has always been formidable in military tactics. We might as well trap this Great Zhou army at the foot of the mountain until they die, and send people to request aid from other feudal princes to resist the Great Zhou reinforcements!”

Prince Xiping clenched his fists. Requesting aid from other feudal princes, having other feudal princes come to jointly eliminate Bai Qingyan… this was different from his father’s original plan.

His father had said that only if the Xiping army killed the Great Zhou Emperor could they intimidate the other feudal princes and establish the Xiping Prince’s mansion as supreme.

Now that his father was already dead and he was still young, if he couldn’t kill this Great Zhou Emperor with the Xiping Prince’s mansion’s strength alone, he would have even less voice among the feudal princes in the future.

“My lord!” The black-robed strategist saw Prince Xiping’s hesitation and stepped forward: “Now is not the time for momentary pride or to compete for the merit of killing the Great Zhou Emperor. We should think of ways to kill the Great Zhou Emperor! Otherwise… if we let this Great Zhou Emperor escape and return to Great Zhou’s cities, the first one the Great Zhou Emperor will seek revenge against will be our Xiping army!”

Prince Xiping remained silent for a moment, then raised his eyes again. His hate-filled gaze looked toward the dense forest on the mountain as he said: “I refuse to believe that after they’ve shot all their arrows, this Great Zhou Emperor can somehow conjure arrows out of thin air! Charge up! Everyone, charge up!”

Without giving the Great Zhou army time to catch their breath again, the second wave of the Xiping army forces charged up the mountain.

At this time, a squad of Great Zhou soldiers that Bai Qingyan had sent to find an escape route returned.

“Your Majesty, only the area near the great river at the foot of the mountain has no one blocking it, but the river water hasn’t frozen and is turbulent…” the squad leader who had returned from scouting gasped as he reported.

Bai Qingyan nodded, already having a plan in mind…

“Report!” A scout from the Bai family army returned and knelt on one knee to report to Bai Qingyan: “Xiao Bai Commander, Prince Xiping has ordered his entire army to climb the mountain!”

Bai Qingyan’s palm tightened. Though reluctant, she had to make a decision: “Leave people to cover the rear, protect the remaining soldiers as they retreat along the river, including myself and everyone else…”

“Your Majesty!” Before Bai Qingyan could finish, Liu Pinggao stepped forward, cupped his fists, and requested orders: “Your Majesty, let this subject lead men to stay behind and cover the rear!”

Seeing Bai Qingyan’s thin lips pressed tightly together, Liu Pinggao stepped forward and looked earnestly at Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty, the opportunity to follow you out this time was something this subject fought General Cheng Yuanzhi of the Bai family army for! This subject… knows that Your Majesty always leads from the front in battles, but this subject absolutely cannot let Your Majesty take risks! That Your Majesty encountered danger this time is due to Liu Pinggao’s lack of caution! This subject only wishes to redeem itself somewhat! I beg Your Majesty to grant this!”

After Liu Pinggao gave Bai Qingyan a deep bow, he raised his head to look at Bai Qingyan. The high leaping flames made Liu Pinggao’s expression appear even more resolute as he said: “Your Majesty… for Liu Pinggao to be able to follow Your Majesty in battle in this lifetime is the ultimate honor! If there is a next life… Liu Pinggao would still wish to follow by Your Majesty’s side!”

“Your Majesty! Let this subject stay behind…”

“This subject is also willing to stay behind!”

The soldiers surrounding Bai Qingyan stepped forward one after another, saying they were willing to stay behind to cover their comrades’ retreat.

They knew clearly that staying behind… the outcome would be a dead end, yet they were still willing to stay and face death so that more of their battle companions could live, so that their Emperor could escape with her life.

Among the wounded soldiers placed at a distance, a centurion who had his leg severed by enemy forces heard these words. Supported by a soldier beside him, he stood up and came toward Bai Qingyan’s direction, requesting orders: “Your Majesty! Let us stay behind… we’re all wounded and can’t cross the river anyway. We would only drag down the main army! Let us wounded soldiers stay behind to cover the rear!”