The guard secretly sighed in his heart and nodded: “This subordinate will immediately send someone to deliver the horse to Miss Bai. Does Master have any message to convey to Miss Bai?”

A message?!

Xiao Rongyan gazed at the white steed before him, whose eyes seemed washed by rainwater, thought for a moment, and said: “Just tell her, thank her for taking care of me along the way!”

From Qu Feng, when he traveled alongside Jin’s expedition army until he parted ways with Jin’s forces, Bai Qingyan had never revealed his identity to the Crown Prince. Wasn’t this considered taking care of him along the way?

Although even if Bai Qingyan had truly exposed his identity to the Crown Prince, he had ways to handle it, Bai Qingyan ultimately never did such a thing.

“Besides that, is there anything else… You want to convey to the Bai family’s Fourth Miss?” the guard carefully probed his master.

Xiao Rongyan turned back to look at his guard’s meaningful expression and raised an eyebrow: “Then please ask Fourth Miss to take good care of Miss Bai.”

Guard: “…”

Had their master gotten his message backward?!

Xiao Rongyan turned back to look at that snow-white steed, thought for a moment and said: “Never mind, have someone help me deliver a letter to the Bai family’s eldest miss…”

·

The Xiliang army was utterly defeated. Yun Poxing overnight first lost over a hundred thousand troops, then lost his son and grandson, spitting blood in rage, and still hadn’t awakened to this day!

The Xiliang forces didn’t dare linger even in Feng City, bypassing Feng City to retreat to Luofeng Gorge. Who knew that just as they were preparing to set up camp, they saw the black sails and white python banners of the Bai family army approaching, and immediately retreated to the border between the two nations.

The Nanyan army that had been slowly retreating toward Yao Pass heard that the Xiliang army had fled with their tails between their legs to the border between Xiliang and Jin. Nanyan’s commander Zhang Tiansheng instead had the Nanyan army stationed at Fengming Mountain, not far from Yao Pass.

Zhang Tiansheng always felt that, having expended such great national resources on this expedition, they couldn’t return empty-handed. He wanted to wait and see… when Jin’s army all went to pursue the Xiliang forces, he would seize the opportunity to capture Feng City, at least demanding some benefits from Jin and making Jin compensate them for their deployment costs!

Who knew that just as night fell, news came from Yao Pass that the grain and supplies being escorted by Zhang Tiansheng’s son for the Nanyan army’s winter provisions had been intercepted by the Bai family army at Yao Pass!

Zhang Tiansheng’s face instantly turned white. He gritted his teeth, inevitably feeling both fear and hatred for the seemingly inexhaustible Bai family army.

“Commander, this can’t continue! Our Nanyan army has no winter grain and supplies. If we keep dragging this out in Jin, sooner or later we’ll end up like the Xiliang army, with over a hundred thousand elite troops buried in flames!” Zhang Tiansheng’s deputy commander mentioned the Battle of Weng Mountain Gorge with lingering fear. “I heard that this time Jin’s Crown Prince led the troops, and the one providing strategies was Bai Weiting’s eldest granddaughter – the very Bai Qingyan who once… beheaded Shu’s fierce general Pang Pingguo! Though Bai Qingyan is a woman, she’s ruthless, completely different from how Bai Weiting led troops. She’s simply like a killing god descended to earth – not to be provoked!”

Zhang Tiansheng stroked his beard, sitting in the commander’s tent, thinking for a long while. Finally, still fearing the great fire at Weng Mountain Gorge that hadn’t been extinguished to this day, he nodded: “I’ll write a memorial. You send someone by fast horse back to the capital, let His Majesty decide whether to withdraw the troops!”

Zhang Tiansheng’s deputy general thought for a moment and nodded: “That’s good!”

However, before Zhang Tiansheng could send out this memorial, scouts suddenly came to report that the Bai family army flying black sails and white python banners had departed from Feng City heading toward Fengming Mountain.

Zhang Tiansheng was so startled he stood up, pacing back and forth in the camp tent several times, considering whether to fight or flee…

But thinking of fighting, what appeared before his eyes was the great fire at Weng Mountain Gorge that was still burning to this day and hadn’t been extinguished. He immediately felt his spine turn cold. His deputy general was also terrified, carefully advising Zhang Tiansheng from the side.

“From Feng City to Fengming Mountain is only four or five hours. Commander… you must decide quickly! If we’re to fight to the death, immediately summon the generals to arrange defenses against the enemy! If we’re to return to Nanyan, we must break camp immediately!” the deputy general said with clasped fists.

Fight to the death?!

Zhang Tiansheng closed his eyes, thinking of those hundred men from the Bai family army who first charged into Feng County’s Huying Camp, so valiant they could each take on a hundred enemies!

When their army set out on expedition, His Majesty had told Zhang Tiansheng… their participation alongside Xiliang this time was actually just to boost Xiliang’s momentum. They hadn’t planned to truly expend their own military strength – at most it was to let these warriors come to the battlefield for good training and observation.

Now that Xiliang had been defeated so thoroughly, they’d retreated to the border between the two nations. Should they, Nanyan forces who were just there to wave flags and cheer, remain here to take a beating from the Bai family army?!

Soon, Zhang Tiansheng made his decision: “As long as the green hills remain, there’s no fear of lacking firewood. Order the army to break camp and ride fast straight to Yao Pass, ensuring we reach Yao Pass before dark!”

Once at Yao Pass, they’d reach the border between Nanyan and Great Jin, and they wouldn’t fear any Bai family army.

The mighty allied forces of Xiliang and Nanyan, after killing all of Bai Weiting’s descendants, had all nations favoring the Xiliang-Nanyan alliance. Who would have thought that after Jin’s Crown Prince led fifty thousand troops to reinforce the southern frontier, he would cause the two nations’ forces, supposedly numbering a million, to be routed and flee?

This also focused all nations’ attention on Jin’s new Crown Prince. Though the Battle of Weng Mountain was a great victory for Jin, burning and killing surrendered prisoners in Weng Mountain Gorge had already aroused the dissatisfaction of all nations. They felt Jin’s new Crown Prince was too brutal, not a benevolent ruler, and if he inherited Jin in the future, he would surely bring calamity to all nations.

The Great Liang Emperor, who had maintained friendly relations with Jin on the surface for these years, wrote a letter to Jin’s Emperor. In the name of friendship, he very tactfully raised the concerns of all nations, suggesting that Jin’s Emperor punish the Crown Prince to ease the hearts of all nations.

After the Great Liang Emperor finished reading this letter, he remained silent for a long while, then had someone send this letter from the Great Liang Emperor unchanged by express delivery to the Crown Prince.

After this letter reached the Crown Prince’s hands, the Crown Prince collapsed into his chair after reading it and hurriedly summoned his three advisors.

Qin Shangzhi, Old Fang, and another advisor who always remained silent, Ren Shijie, read through this letter.

“What can we do now? Burning and killing surrendered prisoners… I fear my reputation for brutality has already spread throughout all nations!” The Crown Prince’s face was deathly pale, his fingers gripping the chair’s armrests forcefully, filled with regret for previously handing the military command seal to Bai Qingyan and letting her freely deploy Jin’s forces.

These past days, sitting in Weng City, every time news from the front reached him, it wasn’t Bai Qingyan’s requests for instructions, but Bai Qingyan’s reports after taking action!

For instance, forcing the burning and killing of surrendered prisoners, for instance, deploying Pingyang City’s garrison to guard Tianmen Pass, Feng County, and Feng City, for instance… already leading Jin’s army and the Bai family army to press toward the Xiliang border. All of this was beyond his control. He even felt somewhat anxious and uneasy, not knowing whether he had come to command this expedition or serve as decoration.

“The one who burned and killed the surrendered prisoners was Duke Zhenguo’s eldest legitimate granddaughter, Bai Qingyan, not Your Highness, the Crown Prince. Your Highness can write a factual memorial to His Majesty, requesting that His Majesty issue an edict to execute Bai Qingyan, thus clearing the Crown Prince’s name!” Old Fang said.