Qu Bai was taken aback, clearly not expecting that the Jinyang Army derived its name from the princess’s title.
But recalling the woman’s spirited bearing, he came to understand.
Still, it was too strange—how had the Yan Kingdom possessed such a princess without him ever hearing of her before?
“Who are you?” he asked.
That sigh felt oddly familiar, but unfortunately, aside from the firelight on their side, everything around was pitch black.
“You’re Yun Ci of the Northeastern Army?” he finally recognized the voice’s owner.
Yun Ci had no desire to speak further. “Kill him.”
Back then, when their Northeastern Army was besieged, Qu Bai had been a major force behind it, and countless soldiers of their army had died by his hand.
So when Jiang Jin sent him a message saying someone might flee to Zhou County and asked him to cooperate in intercepting the enemy,
he didn’t hesitate to personally take action, because he wanted to witness how the once-arrogant Qu Zhao army would collapse.
But he never expected to catch such a big fish as Qu Bai himself.
Thinking it over, it made sense—Jiang Jin was formidable; only a skilled general could escape her encirclement.
Perhaps it was fate that allowed him, a veteran whose soldiers had been wiped out, to watch one of his former enemies die at his hands.
Now that the moment had truly come, he found himself slightly ridiculous, almost obsessed, and wondered, what difference did it make to witness it?
The departed were gone, and the living carried on.
No sooner had Yun Ci spoken than Yun Yu raised the Dragon Feather Crossbow in his hand, hatred and fury burning in his eyes, and pulled the trigger at Qu Bai.
The arrow shot out like lightning, piercing Qu Bai’s neck with a dull thud.
He was already gravely wounded, his trusted greatsword of over a decade destroyed; he didn’t even attempt to dodge before being shot clean through.
“General!” Qu Cong stared wide-eyed, nearly splitting his eyes from rage.
As he moved forward, he felt a chill at his throat, and a sharp pain shot through him. He looked down to see the fletching of an arrow quivering in front of him.
Thud, thud.
Qu Bai and the other man fell to the ground one after another.
Qu Bai felt his whole body grow numb; the pain wasn’t severe, but a cold, uncontrollable sensation spread through him, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth.
Staring at the hazy stars in the sky above, his thoughts drifted. In his dying moments, he no longer thought of Qu Zhao’s grand ambitions; instead, he remembered his family and relatives far away on the grasslands.
He slowly closed his eyes—this was probably the best decision he had ever made: keeping his family off this land of the Han people.
Yun Yu pressed his thin lips tight, the rims of his eyes reddening. He thought of his older brother, of the comrades and brothers he once had,
of the humiliation the Qu Zhao people had inflicted on them when they were captured, and of the despair and helplessness he felt as he watched his father’s legs be broken in torment.
All of it found a measure of solace in this moment.
And this was only the beginning!
He believed that one day, under his lord’s leadership, they would reclaim all the lost Han territories and loudly console those departed spirits.
“Let’s head back. Find a place to bury the bodies,” Yun Ci murmured.
He had no taste for defiling corpses. Besides, Qu Bai had been a worthy opponent; it was fitting to let him and his men be buried together, honoring their bond as soldiers.
Yun Yu gave a soft “Mm,” then pushed his wheelchair slowly down the slope. The terrain here wasn’t steep and had few bushes, making it relatively flat.
Behind them, soldiers cleaned up the battlefield and disposed of the bodies, especially the two hundred or so fine horses.
On the watchtower of Shan’guan County, seeing the distant flames, Xie Nanxiao smiled and shouted, “Open the city gates!”
The city gates swung open, and the medicine boys and able-bodied men who had been waiting inside rushed out with stretchers to carry the wounded back to the city for treatment.
On that pitch-black night, it was impossible to set up a temporary medical station outside, so they had to bring the injured back, thankfully not too far.
Jiang Jin rode on horseback leading the way into the city. Dong Si waited for her at the gate: "My lord, you should rest. I'll handle the grain supplies and cleanup."
Jiang Jin nodded and headed toward the county office with Yun Chengyang, where she had been staying in the rear courtyard.
As she arrived, Li Qiu came out to greet her: "My lord, you're back."
Jiang Jin dismounted and turned to see Yun Chengyang sitting motionless on his horse. In the dim lamplight, he had his head lowered, and his expression was hard to read.
Frowning, Jiang Jin stepped over and patted him: "Yun Chengyang, what's wrong?"
Only when she got closer did she realize—this guy had actually fallen asleep again?
Wait, riding on horseback the whole way, and he could sleep so soundly?
She had to admit, that was an incredible skill.
The next morning, Jiang Jin rose early. After practicing a set of blade techniques, she washed up and headed to the front courtyard of the county office.
Luo Qingci smiled: "My lord, why not rest a little longer?"
She knew well that the battle had ended only in the small hours of the night.
Jiang Jin waved her hand: "No need, I'm used to it. Have the city's residents been fully registered?"
Luo Qingci’s expression grew serious: "All registered. Including the nine thousand refugees brought in later, plus the original residents, the total is about fifteen thousand. It's a bit tight for housing."
Shanguan County’s previous buildings hadn’t been well planned, and many vacant houses were damaged. Now with the sudden population increase, accommodations were strained.
Jiang Jin nodded: "We’ll start construction soon, no rush. For now, set up tents wherever it’s crowded—it’s only temporary."
Just then, Ding Ying entered: "My lord, a letter from Ge Feng."
Jiang Jin took the note. It was written by Yun Ci, and the content was straightforward: "Qu Bai and his troops, all annihilated."
Jiang Jin smiled with satisfaction.
Zhou Sui, Dong Si, and others gradually arrived at the county office.
They gathered for a meeting.
Jiang Jin looked at Zhou Sui: "Have the bodies been burned? Were the numbers counted?"
Zhou Sui nodded: "Counted. A total of over twenty thousand. I've already sent people to move the corpses to the burning site. Rest assured, my lord."
The bodies were not easy to transport this time—many were badly charred, and some were broken apart.
Dong Si sighed: "The pile of corpses will need another two days of burning."
The smell, to be honest, was unpleasant, but fortunately there was little wind.
Burning sites had been chosen at some distance from Shanguan County, considering such situations.
To fuel the fires, over a hundred civilians had spent two days cutting dead wood in the hills outside the city. Now it seemed they would have to cut for two more days.
Luckily, the drought this year meant plenty of dead trees on the mountains.
Jiang Jin’s expression grew solemn: "Have we tallied our own casualties?"
Zhou Sui replied somberly: "Five hundred and sixty-nine dead, over a thousand wounded. Most are lightly injured, with about ninety severely wounded. They are all receiving treatment."
Compared to wiping out over twenty thousand enemy troops, these losses were negligible.
But for the Jinyang Army, this battle had incurred the greatest casualties so far.
Zhou Sui and the others looked at Jiang Jin with admiration—thanks to her dragon-scale crossbows and sound command, their losses had been kept so low.
Although among Qu Shaojun's more than twenty thousand troops there were many wounded, nearly twenty thousand were still combat-effective, while their Jinyang Army had only just over three thousand soldiers.
This was undoubtedly a tremendous victory, achieved with fewer forces defeating a larger enemy.
Jiang Jin nodded. "All fallen soldiers are to be transported back to the Ges Mountains in Gefeng for burial. If they have families, be sure to distribute the pensions. Use the best medicines for the wounded. If you lack any medicinal herbs, just let me know."
Everyone quickly acknowledged.
Jiang Jin continued, "The next step is conscription. Now that we control three counties with about sixty thousand civilians, it's time to recruit more soldiers."
No one objected to this. With the three counties, their forces were now even more spread thin, so expanding the army was indeed necessary.
"Second, we need to start constructing watchtowers, roads, and houses. Time is tight—we must mobilize all available civilians and get them involved in the construction..."
While Shanguan County was bustling with construction work, Qu Shilang of Ze'a Commandery had smashed two cups in a fit of rage.
