Yang Wu Ce sat mounted on his horse without dismounting, gazing down at Cao Renyi with a low chuckle. He felt that this Cao Renyi had turned out exactly as Princess Zhenguo had predicted—trying to use Daming Prefecture to negotiate terms with Princess Zhenguo. However, Princess Zhenguo had already given instructions that Cao Renyi was arrogant and prideful, so they should leave him hanging for now and wait until after taking Daming Prefecture before meeting with him.

Yang Wu Ce said, “Princess Zhenguo has already sent General Zhao Sheng to lead troops toward Daming Prefecture. With Daming Prefecture’s forces having come out in full force, presumably… General Zhao Sheng will capture it very soon.”

Cao Renyi’s eyes widened in shock, stunned speechless for a long moment before loudly asking, “How many men did Zhao Sheng bring?”

“Less than sixty thousand! General Cao, rest assured… Princess Zhenguo has given orders, so… after General Zhao enters the city, he absolutely will not harm the common people!” Yang Wu Ce cupped his hands toward Cao Renyi, “Princess Zhenguo has other instructions as well. General Cao, we’ll discuss them later!”

Cao Renyi felt a surge of frustrated blood in his chest. Discuss? What was there to discuss? Discuss the friendship of my surrender and capture by you?!

The disarmed Liang army gradually followed the Jin army as they departed, detained in separate groups.

Because Cao Renyi was an old acquaintance of Yang Wu Ce, the Jin army still showed some consideration and sent military physicians to bandage Cao Renyi’s wounds.

Just before dawn, news arrived from the direction of Daming Prefecture: Zhao Sheng and Zhao Ran had captured Daming Prefecture and respectfully welcomed Princess Zhenguo to enter the city.

On the first day of the first month of Xuanjia’s eighteenth year, the Jin army captured Daming Prefecture, and Princess Zhenguo Bai Qingyan led her forces into the city.

As soon as Zhao Sheng entered the city, the local officials were extremely compliant… they had already moved their entire families out of their residences, vacating the houses for Princess Zhenguo to live in.

Zhao Sheng had the soldiers thoroughly search through everything once before inviting Bai Qingyan to move in.

Physician Hong and the other military doctors also followed into the city, first going to the treatment centers to care for the common people suffering from the epidemic.

The soldiers had fought fiercely all night and were already exhausted, but being able to capture Daming Prefecture in a single night still filled them with unstoppable excitement and surging emotions. Especially after entering the city, when the common people came out to welcome them, kneeling and begging the Jin army to help treat their family members’ epidemic diseases, the soldiers endured their fatigue and managed the treatment of plague victims according to Princess Zhenguo’s previous orders, only departing after Physician Hong and the other military doctors took over.

Bai Qingyan hadn’t slept all night. After entering the city, she followed her usual practice of inspecting the camps. Xiao Rongyan didn’t try to persuade Bai Qingyan to rest either. He followed beside Bai Qingyan, visiting the wounded soldiers’ camps one by one.

The wounded soldiers had already been brought into the medical camps and were having their wounds cleaned. When the wounded soldiers saw Bai Qingyan, who had led them to great victory in last night’s surprise attack on the Liang army, they hurriedly stood up to respectfully welcome her.

Bai Qingyan waved her hand, indicating they should sit down and continue cleaning their wounds, paying her no mind.

Most of these soldiers were originally from the Liang army. Previously, they had only heard that Bai Qingyan was invincible in battle. Later, when they came under Bai Qingyan’s command at Jianye City and Yong’an City, one was through surrender, and the other hadn’t truly demonstrated Bai Qingyan’s capabilities.

This time, Bai Qingyan had been able to predict Cao Renyi’s surprise attack, prepare them for defense in advance, and command Zhao Sheng to capture Daming Prefecture. In the soldiers’ eyes, Bai Qingyan’s control over the battle situation was practically supernatural. Fighting under such a commander gave them confidence.

An old soldier who had lost an ear in the siege battle and had it bandaged was sitting against the wall, sharing with similarly bandaged recruits his techniques for surviving several campaigns. He was completely unaware that Bai Qingyan had already entered the medical camp, speaking with great animation.

“Speaking of it, this old fellow of mine ain’t good at anything except eating—I’m number one at that! But I can’t rely on just that—this old fellow knows how to dodge, and this dodging… requires experience! Otherwise, if you dodge right into the enemy’s embrace, that’s a swift chop, and your head parts company with your body! What a waste that would be!”

Seeing several recruits craning their necks wanting to hear his experience, the old soldier deliberately created suspense, drawing out his words. He took off his shoe that had gotten sand in it, knocked it against the ground a few times, put it back on, then continued, “I’ll tell you, this battlefield survival skill—I don’t usually tell just anyone! Since we have this connection, I’ll share it with you. This technique… is that when the two armies start fighting, while everyone else charges straight ahead… hey, I don’t! I run diagonally toward the edges and corners. This way I can both avoid the supervising officers’ attention and save my life! You must remember… those enemies who kill most fiercely are usually the ones charging straight ahead. Those running toward the edges and corners are fellow kindred spirits who value their lives! Few of them dare to swing their big swords at people! It’s not like everyone is the fearless Princess Zhenguo!”

“Besides… you see, we were all originally common people of Liang, conscripted into the army out of necessity. Now we have to fight our fellow Liang people for Jin—there’s no need to fight to the death! I’m planning to take the compensation money for losing an ear in this injury and find a chance to run away as soon as possible! Otherwise, next time it won’t just be an ear that I lose—it’ll probably be my head!” the old soldier continued with a laugh. “Since we’re all Liang people who were wounded together, considering this connection, I’ll tell you my techniques for surviving so many great battles! Be smart on the battlefield from now on, don’t waste my good intentions!”

Several new recruits listened and nodded repeatedly. Just as they were about to ask the old soldier how to escape, they saw Bai Qingyan standing behind the old soldier and startled, hurriedly standing up: “Princess Zhenguo!”

Even if they had never seen Bai Qingyan before, in this military camp, who else could the woman in silver armor and red cloak be but Princess Zhenguo Bai Qingyan?

The old soldier first thought these recruits were fooling him and laughed as he turned around. Seeing Bai Qingyan, his face immediately turned pale, terrified and shaking in both legs. Afraid that his words about wanting to desert had been heard by Bai Qingyan and that his life was over, he hurriedly tried to stand up while supporting himself against the wall, but was pressed back down by Bai Qingyan’s hand on his shoulder.

Xiao Rongyan stood with his hands behind his back beside Bai Qingyan, observing the new recruits around them who had clearly been influenced by this old soldier… their intention to desert practically written on their faces. His gaze fell on Bai Qingyan again.

By normal reasoning, at this moment a commander should make an example by killing one to warn the rest, killing off these new recruits’ thoughts of fleeing and ensuring they would never dare harbor thoughts of retreat again.

But Xiao Rongyan observed that Bai Qingyan wasn’t angry at all; instead, there was a smile at the corners of her lips. He was somewhat looking forward to… whether Bai Qingyan had a better way to handle this.

“Princess… Princess Zhenguo!” The old soldier quickly knelt, kowtowing to Bai Qingyan to beg forgiveness. “This… this humble one was just talking nonsense! Please forgive me, Princess Zhenguo!”

Bai Qingyan smiled and said to the nearby recruits, “Help him up!”

Bai Qingyan with her smiling expression, though her armor was stained with fresh blood, showed none of last night’s murderous aura. Her approachability was surprisingly unexpected.

The lightly wounded recruits quickly stepped forward to support the trembling old soldier, standing him to the side. If not for the two recruits holding up the old soldier who had lost his right ear, he would have collapsed to the ground.

“Fear of death is human nature. On the battlefield, if one lacks the ability to raise a sword and kill enemies, seeking ways to preserve one’s life is also reasonable.” Bai Qingyan’s voice was light and smiling, her posture relaxed, which actually made many soldiers relax as well.