After Zhang Qilan led his army to rendezvous with Ye Lifeng at Jiantian Cliff, another fierce battle naturally ensued. However, the situation was far better than initially expected. At least they were also positioned on Jiantian Cliff rather than being attacked from above again. Moreover, Lu Jinxian’s original force of thirty thousand had already been reduced by more than half, while their forces had lost less than ten percent. Just thinking about this, Zhang Qilan couldn’t help wanting to laugh triumphantly to the heavens.

Dozens of li away outside a small city, Mo Xiuyao stood before the main camp, gazing at the isolated city with its tightly shut gates standing alone in the wilderness. He let out a helpless sigh. Cloud Ting and Chen Yun, who stood beside him, looked at their prince with puzzlement, not understanding why he sighed. Cloud Ting, unable to contain himself, spoke first: “Your Highness, is something troubling you?”

Mo Xiuyao shook his head and said, “Lu Jinxian’s forces likely won’t last more than a few days.” Not just Cloud Ting, but even the usually steady Chen Yun didn’t believe this. Frowning, he said, “Jiantian Cliff is a natural fortress. Even with a hundred thousand troops, General Zhang would find it difficult to deploy them effectively. Why would Your Highness…”

Mo Xiuyao casually handed the battle report to Chen Yun and said, “First, Ali and Feng San haven’t been seen in Zhang Qilan’s army since the beginning. These two have likely led forces to circle behind Lu Jinxian. If so, Lu Jinxian’s defenses twenty li before Jiantian Cliff are essentially useless. Once both armies are on Jiantian Cliff, even if Zhang Qilan’s hundred thousand troops can’t deploy fully, they can wear down Lu Jinxian’s ten or twenty thousand men through rotation.”

Hearing Mo Xiuyao’s explanation, Chen Yun and Cloud Ting’s expressions changed. Cloud Ting said, “Your Highness, I volunteer to reinforce General Lu!” Mo Xiuyao turned to look at him calmly and said, “Reinforce? Where would we get the troops for reinforcement? Besides, even if I gave you ten or twenty thousand men, what difference would that make against a hundred thousand troops?”

Cloud Ting was speechless. “Then… what should we do?” Mo Xiuyao turned his gaze toward the isolated city ahead and said in a deep voice, “Attack the city with full force. We must take this city before Zhang Qilan’s forces arrive.” Chen Yun and Cloud Ting’s expressions grew solemn as they rose and said, “We accept your command!”

Although Mo Xiuyao ordered a full assault on the city, this small city wasn’t so easy to capture. Yuan Pei was a veteran general of the Mo family army, especially skilled in defending cities. Given that Mo Xiuyao didn’t have superior numbers, as long as Yuan Pei focused solely on defending and waiting for reinforcements, Mo Xiuyao truly couldn’t do much about him for the time being. No matter what thousand strategies Mo Xiuyao had, Yuan Pei remained as steady as a mountain, neither hearing nor asking. Even though Cloud Ting and others shouted insults below the city walls daily, those above the walls simply refused to open the gates and fight, and there was nothing they could do about it.

On Jiantian Cliff, after four or five days of confrontation, Lu Jinxian’s force of over ten thousand was finally annihilated, with Lu Jinxian himself captured by Zhang Qilan. These two had worked together for over ten years, often competing back and forth with wins and losses on both sides. Though defeated by Zhang Qilan this time, Lu Jinxian didn’t feel too shamefaced about it.

Watching his subordinates being annihilated, Lu Jinxian, exhausted from battle, frankly threw down his weapon and said to the triumphant Zhang Qilan, “I’ve lost.” Zhang Qilan, with a face full of smiles, personally helped him up, chuckling, “Victory and defeat are common in war, don’t take it to heart.” Lu Jinxian snorted lightly and said, “Just based on your abilities, you couldn’t have broken through my defenses so quickly. Where is the Princess Consort?”

The young officers watching from the side were all startled. Although the Mo family still had a previous generation’s Princess Consort who refused to leave Da Chu and was secretly protected by Mo Xiuyao’s orders through Cold Haoyu, remaining in the Chu capital, in the hearts of the Mo family army officers, there was only one current Princess Consort. But… how did they not know the Princess Consort was among their forces?

Everyone’s gazes simultaneously shot toward Zhang Qilan, since he was the commanding general. If even he didn’t know the Princess Consort’s whereabouts, no one else would. Zhang Qilan gave a couple of dry laughs and looked toward Ye Li, who was approaching alongside Feng Zhiyao. Lu Jinxian was stunned for a moment, not immediately recognizing Ye Li. However, he was very familiar with Qin Feng and Wei Lin who followed behind Ye Li. The identity of someone who could have both Qin Feng and Wei Lin following at their side was obvious without words. Looking more carefully at Ye Li standing beside Feng Zhiyao, he immediately realized it was indeed the Princess Consort.

“This subordinate greets the Princess Consort,” Lu Jinxian stepped forward and bowed.

Ye Li smiled helplessly, looking at the petrified crowd before her, and said, “General Lu, please dispense with the formalities.”

Lu Jinxian clasped his hands and smiled, “To be defeated by the Princess Consort, I am thoroughly convinced.”

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, “The General overpraises me. I merely did what little I could.” Lu Jinxian didn’t mind, after all, he absolutely wouldn’t admit defeat to Zhang Qilan, at least not to his face. “There’s nothing more for me to do here, so I’ll take my leave with my men. I wish the Princess Consort smooth sailing ahead.” Ye Li nodded and said, “Thank you for your kind words, General.”

Watching Lu Jinxian gracefully depart with his soldiers who had been declared casualties, those who remained were silent. Was it all alright to wish the enemy commander smooth sailing?

Beyond Jiantian Cliff, though the road couldn’t be called completely level, it was quite manageable. Not daring to delay at all, the group rushed toward the distant isolated city to reinforce Yuan Pei.

At this time, on the tower of the small isolated city, Mo Xiuyao stood leisurely in white robes, not even wearing battle armor, looking at the aging General Yuan Pei with a smile and said, “Old General, this time I’ve won.”

The gray-haired General Yuan Pei looked at the man before him, whose hair was white as snow yet still proud as the wind, his eyes flashing with gratification and joy as he nodded and said, “Indeed, Your Highness has won. This old one admits defeat.” In terms of military strength, Mo Xiuyao only slightly exceeded Yuan Pei and attacking a city was originally far more difficult than defending it. Back then, Western Ling’s hundred thousand troops couldn’t breach the small city of Jiangxia, yet now the Prince of Ding had captured it in just a few days – this was his capability. Yuan Pei wasn’t someone who refused to admit aging or defeat; he only felt immense gratification that the Ding Guo Prince’s household had such a worthy successor.

“If this were a real battlefield, I wouldn’t have taken this city so easily.” This isolated city was truly isolated – it was a newly built city that hadn’t even had time to move in residents. And on a real battlefield, there wouldn’t be such an essentially empty city. Yuan Pei laughed heartily and said, “Thank you, Your Highness, but if this were a battlefield, you wouldn’t have brought just these few tens of thousands of troops to attack the city, would you?” They looked at each other and smiled, clearly both in good spirits.

“Reporting to Your Highness, troops are approaching from this direction!” A soldier on the lookout rushed to report.

“Oh?” Mo Xiuyao looked into the distance, where indeed the sound of hoofbeats and rising dust could be faintly seen. Within half an hour, Ye Li, Feng Zhiyao, and Zhang Qilan had already arrived below the city with their army. Mo Xiuyao looked out – at least ten thousand troops remained – and praised, “To annihilate Lu Jinxian’s forces while losing less than twenty thousand, that’s quite good.” Looking down at the crowd below with a faint smile, he said, “General Zhang, Feng San, Ali, you’ve come too late.” Feng Zhiyao regretfully gnashed his teeth – looking at the situation, if they had been just an hour or two earlier, things would have been very different. But on the battlefield, often just half a quarter hour’s difference could completely change the outcome of a battle. “Princess Consort?”

Ye Li raised her eyes to look at the white-robed man standing on the city tower, her lips slowly curling into a faint smile. Her right hand raised slightly, her voice clear and carrying across the entire battlefield: “Attack the city!”

On the city tower, Mo Xiuyao helplessly watched the army below already preparing to attack. Standing beside him, Yuan Pei couldn’t help but burst into laughter, looking at Mo Xiuyao with a smile and saying, “Your Highness, it seems this battle isn’t over yet.”

Mo Xiuyao smiled wryly and said, “The Old General speaks truly. I rejoiced too early.” According to the exercise’s rules, naturally, when the city fell it would count as the end of the exercise, and they would have won. But since this was training, they should naturally train these new soldiers to the maximum extent. Moreover, there was no rule on the battlefield saying a fallen city couldn’t be recaptured. Thus, another magnificent siege battle began anew.

This siege battle was fought more bitterly than Mo Xiuyao’s previous attack on the city, with both sides fighting for seven days without deciding victory.

In the end, they could only declare a draw, because Mo Xiuyao’s city had run out of military provisions. This was a completely isolated city – though no civilians were consuming extra food, it also meant they absolutely couldn’t find any food beyond the military provisions they had brought themselves. On the day the city fell, Yuan Pei had already “destroyed” the provisions that originally belonged to the defending army. Mo Xiuyao’s forces not only suffered casualties but didn’t even have food to eat, forced to defend the city on empty stomachs. The army outside wasn’t much better off – through carelessness, they had let Mo Xiuyao’s dispatched forces destroy more than half their provisions.

In the end, neither side was willing to concede defeat. Seeing that everyone was nearly exhausted, Old General Yuan Pei had to call for a halt. Finally, both sides agreed to call it a draw.

When the Prince and Princess Consort of Ding announced the end of the exercise from the city tower, many soldiers burst into tears of joy. This wasn’t because they felt they had won, but because they could finally eat. Although there were still large stockpiles of provisions both inside and outside the city, they had to watch their “fallen” brothers eating and drinking well while deceiving themselves that they had run out of food. This experience was truly ten or a hundred times more difficult than actually running out of provisions. Once the exercise ended, no one cared about anything else – they made camp right there and started cooking, and soldiers who had just been fighting fiercely were now all getting along well. Especially when seeing how the other side was also starving with green eyes, a unique sense of comradeship naturally arose.

In the small city, the commanders who had just eaten and drunk their fill also gathered together. Because the siege battle had lasted so long, even Lu Jinxian, who had already left, came back to observe. Now that it was over, both sides had their victories and defeats, so no one lost face, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

However, the young officers from the Eastern Army who had followed Ye Li kept looking at her, still in white male attire, with somewhat dazed expressions. During the previous days, they had been too caught up in the battles to think much about it, but now that the fighting was over, the young men realized that the white-robed young master they had deliberately or unintentionally ostracized and mocked was the Princess Consort they had always deeply respected. This intense realization left the group of young men completely unsettled.

“Pri… Princess Consort…” After pushing and shoving each other, the young men finally pushed forward an unfortunate soul, “Princess Consort, we were previously blind and offended you. Please punish us.”

Zhang Qilan glanced sideways at these immature juniors and said, “You boys have the nerve to speak? I told you countless times to be respectful to the Princess Consort – what did you all do?” Everyone silently glared at him – you said Master Chu, not Princess Consort! Seeing the young men’s wronged expressions, Zhang Qilan also fell silent, then grinned and looked at Ye Li, saying, “Well… Princess Consort, this was my fault for not explaining clearly to them. Please don’t take offense.”

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, “General Zhang takes it too seriously. This was originally my intention. Besides, young people are naturally hot-blooded, and General Zhang and the other generals have taught them well – these young officers are all promising talents.” Though praised by the Princess Consort, everyone only felt their mouths twitching. They were young, true, but compared to the Princess Consort who was just twenty-one or twenty-two, most of them were older. Being called hot-blooded by such a Princess Consort made everyone’s faces flush red with embarrassment. On the side, Cloud Ting silently complained: What’s this compared to us? When I met the Princess Consort, she was only fifteen or sixteen!

With Ye Li’s praise, the other commanders also showed smiles on their faces. Although these young men had all followed Zhang Qilan this time, they weren’t all his subordinates. Among them were also subordinates of Lu Jinxian, Yuan Pei, and even Sun Yan who was stationed at Feihong Pass. They were all elites of the younger generation, and when they were praised, their commanding generals also felt honored.

Hearing that the Princess Consort wouldn’t blame them, the young men finally relaxed. Young people being curious, although they kept their distance, they all secretly observed the Princess Consort. After all, they had heard tales of the Princess Consort of Ding even before joining the Mo family army – how could they have imagined they would one day see her in person and even fight alongside her? However, they didn’t know that their supposedly secret behavior had already displeased someone. As a result, when they returned to their units before they could even catch their breath, they were thrown into various training camps and tormented for two or three months. They could only assume it was because the generals were dissatisfied with their performance in the exercise.

After the exercise ended, leaving Zhang Qilan and Lu Jinxian to handle the aftermath, Mo Xiuyao took Ye Li, Feng Zhiyao, and others back to Li City.

Just after returning to the Prince of Ding’s mansion, before they could reach the study, they encountered Master Qingchen coming toward them. Just by his expression, it was clear Master Qingchen was very dissatisfied with a certain irresponsible prince who had dumped the Northwestern administrative affairs on him as soon as possible. His eyes calmly swept over Mo Xiuyao, whose complexion looked better than usual despite nearly half a month of campaigning and fighting, and Xu Qingchen asked lightly, “It seems Your Highness has had a good time these days?”

Mo Xiuyao smiled pleasantly and said, “I haven’t moved around for several years – it was quite nice to get some exercise.” Xu Qingchen smiled faintly, “Oh? Then congratulations to Your Highness – you can exercise frequently from now on.”

Eh? What did that mean? Mo Xiuyao looked at Xu Qingchen in confusion. Xu Qingchen sighed, waving the battle report he had just received, and said, “The Da Chu army has suffered continuous defeats on the northern border. In less than a month, they’ve already lost four cities to the northern army.”

Mo Xiuyao was silent for a moment, then raised his head and smiled faintly at Xu Qingchen, “That has nothing to do with us.” The Mo family army and Da Chu had long since severed all ties – whatever happened to Da Chu had nothing to do with them.

Xu Qingchen nodded and said calmly, “As long as Your Highness understands. Also, news has come from the Northern Rong – their army is also stirring. Once Da Chu’s northern campaign goes badly, the Northern Rong will certainly move south when spring comes next year.” While listening to Xu Qingchen, Mo Xiuyao continued walking toward the study, asking, “Any news from Nanzhao?” Xu Qingchen replied, “The Crown Prince of Zhennan leads an army of three hundred thousand, already deployed at the Nanzhao border. The two countries are in a standoff – it’s unknown when fighting will break out.”

“Will there be war?” Mo Xiuyao turned back to ask.

Xu Qingchen was silent for a while, then answered gravely, “Yes.”

Mo Xiuyao paused and said, “Good, once war breaks out, Xi Ling will likely have no time for other matters for now.”

Following behind, Feng Zhiyao frowned and asked, “Your Highness, shouldn’t we also prepare?”

Mo Xiuyao thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “After Nanzhao and Xi Ling go to war, issue conscription orders within the Northwestern border.” Feng Zhiyao acknowledged this, and Xu Qingchen, receiving Mo Xiuyao’s glance, shook his head and said, “I don’t understand military matters – you handle it as you see fit.”

Mo Xiuyao nodded and said to Feng Zhiyao, “Go prepare.”

After the Prince of Ding’s household took control of the Northwest, the implemented conscription system went through multiple explorations and reforms, differing somewhat from the current military service system. All youths within the Northwestern border who reached eighteen had to serve two years of military service, after which they would lay down their weapons and return to farming. However, they still had to undergo one month of military training during the agricultural off-season each year afterward. Most importantly, this two-year service wasn’t just for common people – merchants and even scholars had to participate. Though scholars could have their service reduced to one year at discretion. So now all students studying at Lishan Academy who were eighteen or older had already completed their military service.

Additionally, the Mo family army had nine hundred thousand regular troops. These soldiers had all served over five years and would serve for thirty years or even longer. They were the Northwest’s true fighting force. Moreover, unlike the two-year conscripts who received no pay and unlike most soldiers in various countries who received no pay, they received a fixed amount of military pay each month and death benefits if they fell in battle. Although this created some financial pressure on the Prince of Ding’s household, it also secured the Mo family army’s combat effectiveness and cohesion from another angle.

Although compared to the million-strong armies of the other three countries, the Mo family army’s nine hundred thousand troops caught between them didn’t seem impressive. However, once war broke out, with conscription orders issued, the Prince of Ding’s household could instantly organize an army of over a million troops who had received formal training. Though their combat effectiveness might not compare to the real Mo family army, they were not comparable to armies that had just been drafted and sent to the battlefield – at least they had all been trained by real Mo family army commanders.

Watching Mo Xiuyao’s departing figure, Feng Zhiyao sighed lightly and looked up at the sky. Once Nanzhao and Xi Ling went to war, the Northern Rong would certainly try to take a piece of Da Chu. And the Prince of Ding’s household absolutely could not remain uninvolved. After preparing for so many years, was it finally about to begin?