Save Them? No!

"They're really here." General Nan Ke's face darkened with gravity. "How many men and mounts do they have?" "We couldn't get close enough for a precise count, but there are at least—at least seven thousand!" "Seven thousand!" Everyone's face went pale, and even General Nan Ke was taken aback. "How is that possible? The entire Baling garrison stationed at Weicheng barely numbers over two thousand men! Did you misjudge?" The scout replied with absolute certainty, "If anything, there are more, not less! If I have misjudged, I willingly submit to military law!" Just then, a sparrowhawk descended from the sky, perching on General Nan Ke's shoulder and speaking with human tongue: "I came from the northeast. I saw clouds of dust rising from the ground—nearly ten thousand enemy troops are approaching!" With even the raptor in the sky confirming it, there could be no mistake. The deputy generals gazed anxiously at General Nan Ke, whose mind raced at lightning speed. He had anticipated an enemy raid, but he had miscalculated their numbers. Seven thousand enemy soldiers could easily rewrite the outcome of the battle. What now? The enemy was bearing down aggressively and would be upon them in the blink of an eye, while the Panlong City army was escorting several hundred freight carts, making a quick flight impossible. No matter how valiant the troops of Panlong City were, it was ill-advised to battle an enemy force six or seven times their size across the open, exposed plains, to say nothing of protecting the merchants and supply carts. Not only him—even if General Red were here in person, there might be no guarantee of emerging unscathed. General Nan Ke hesitated no longer. Turning around, he pointed toward the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. "Turn the column around! Enter the stone forest at once!" An obtuse adjutant gasped in surprise. "General, there might be an ambush inside!" "Nonsense, do you think I don't know that?" General Nan Ke said coldly. "Only there can we buy time and fight to our full potential! Even if it's a trap, we must hold our noses and jump into it!" Time was of the essence. Order after order was barked down the ranks. The entire force immediately reversed direction, sprinting toward the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. At the same time, General Nan Ke fed a small piece of dried meat to the sparrowhawk, murmured a few words to it, and patted its head. "Trouble you to make another trip." The sparrowhawk spread its wings and took flight. Clad in speckled, brownish-red plumage, it was larger than ordinary birds of its kind. Once airborne, it shot toward the north like a meteor, outpacing normal falcons by a wide margin, moving as swiftly as wind and lightning. Yet no one noticed that high above, two great eagles circling the skies wheeled around and quietly shadowed it. *** Puxigou. Like the other settlements scattered across the Panlong Wasteland, Puxigou had modest grounds and a sparse population, but years of warfare had honed high walls and deep trenches into its defenses. The Baling forces had assaulted it multiple times without ever taking it. Today, Puxigou's gates were tightly barred, with no one permitted to enter or leave. Yet many unfamiliar faces had appeared in the town, all clad in sturdy armor, bearing sharp blades, and radiating murderous intent. They made no clamor and caused no trouble. They did not even speak with the local townsfolk, merely remaining in the open spaces at the foot of Puxigou's walls, whetting their blades, watering their horses, and resting with closed eyes to gather their spirits. This army possessed an extraordinary demeanor—standing upright as pines, deep and still as an abyss, yet seeming to harbor a blazing inferno ready to erupt and tear into flesh at any moment. The vibrant crimson armor they wore drew reverent gazes from the civilians. The Gale Army. No one would have guessed that while General Nan Ke was escorting the merchant caravan two to three hundred li away on the wasteland, the Gale Army had quietly slipped into Puxigou. Xiao Maoliang was adjusting the saddle and bridle on his favorite warhorse when he suddenly heard the whirring flutter of wings above. He looked up to see a very familiar sparrowhawk tuck its wings from midair and land atop the parapet. *It's here.* Xiao Maoliang's chest tightened. Taking the stairs two at a time, he dashed up to the battlements just in time to hear the avian demon speak: "Report! General Nan Ke has encountered an enemy attack at the Ghost Needle Stone Forest!" The master to whom it reported stood on the ramparts facing the southern wasteland. Aside from the crimson armor, onlookers could see only a billowing, snapping cloak. Standing behind this figure were seasoned generals who had conquered enemies with ease and laughed in the face of slaughter, yet here they stood with hands solemnly at their sides and deferential expressions, as if not daring to breathe too loudly. The hawk demon continued its report: "The Baling enemy force numbers close to ten thousand! General Nan Ke has taken refuge in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest and sent me to ask you for reinforcements!" *Close to ten thousand?* Xiao Maoliang and the other deputy generals exchanged startled glances. The entire Baling garrison in Weicheng totaled less than three thousand men. Even if they had poured out in full force, where had the other six or seven thousand come from? When the hawk demon finished, the figure turned their head slightly. The wind howling across the ramparts abruptly died. The air seemed to freeze, and the fluttering cloak smoothed down instantly. With effortless ease, this presence altered the surrounding atmosphere. Yet this anomaly lasted only a fleeting breath. The figure raised a hand, pointing toward the west, and a cold voice rang directly inside everyone's minds: "Prepare to strike." A sentry standing just five feet away heard nothing at all. The deputy generals were slightly taken aback. "General, are we not detaching troops to reinforce the Ghost Needle Stone Forest?" "General Nan Ke can hold out." A single understated sentence sealed the fate of the Patrol Guard to the south for the next several hours of life-and-death struggle. Fortunately, the sparrowhawk received another instruction from its master: "Fly back to Panlong City now and fetch reinforcements for General Nan Ke." From Panlong City to the Ghost Needle Stone Forest was about three hundred li. Even galloping at full speed would take six to eight hours. The roads across the Panlong Wasteland were far from smooth, and darkness would fall in an hour or two. That was not even counting the time it would take for the sparrowhawk to fly back to Panlong City. By rough calculation, it would be a blessing if reinforcements arrived by dawn; General Nan Ke's force would have to hold out entirely on their own for at least eight to ten hours. "Understood!" The sparrowhawk reported further, "On my way here, two giant eagles tracked me from high altitude. It took me eighty li to shake them off." "Did you recognize them?" "No. They did not seem like demons from the wasteland, either." Six to seven thousand enemy troops falling out of nowhere, and avian demons of unknown origin. With such new variables arising, several deputy generals sensed trouble. "Shaking them off was pointless," the figure said to the sparrowhawk. "Panlong City lies to the southeast, yet you flew straight north instead. That already indicated to the enemy that Nan Ke's reinforcements are to the north. And to the north... there is only Puxigou." The sparrowhawk bowed its head in dejection. Having received General Nan Ke's plea for aid, it had naturally flown with all its might; how could it have considered things so thoroughly? The figure waved a hand, and the sparrowhawk could only spread its wings and take off toward Panlong City. The sooner it arrived, the sooner General Nan Ke could receive assistance. "In other words, the newly arrived enemy will soon know we are at Puxigou, and it will not be hard for them to deduce that our objective is Weicheng." After all, it was only a few dozen li to Weicheng from here—a distance cavalry could cross in no time. From the Baling forces' perspective, Panlong City's army was split into two prongs, with one hidden away in Puxigou. The intention was glaringly obvious. Therefore, "Our strike now can hardly be considered a surprise attack." Only by catching the enemy off guard could victory be assured. Their original battle plan had been to lure Hua Mucuo—desperate to avenge his slain younger brother—into launching a full-scale assault on General Nan Ke and the caravan, while the Gale Army concealed in Puxigou seized the opportunity to recapture Weicheng, removing that thorn in their side once and for all. A place like Puxigou could not sustain an army of several thousand for long, but holding out for a few days posed no problem. The plan might sound simple, but warfare always demanded simple strategy paired with meticulous execution, coupled with feints and deceptions to achieve decisive success. Ever since taking Weicheng, Hua Mucuo had come out on the losing end in several clashes against Panlong City, nursing a burning resentment, and three days ago his own brother had met a gruesome death... When one's own flesh and blood was murdered, who could claim they could endure it, restrain their rage, withhold their troops, and forego revenge? When blinded by fury, people were most prone to blunders and deaf to counsel. Looking at it from the other side, even if Hua Mucuo had kept his head and refused to take the bait, the Gale Army would at most march back to Panlong City, while General Nan Ke successfully escorting the merchant caravan back to Puxigou was a major victory in its own right. As for reclaiming Weicheng, that would just be a matter of time. Yet the sudden appearance of over seven thousand Baling troops threw the entire plan into disarray. Serving as the bait, General Nan Ke and the cargo were now in mortal peril. If the Gale Army sat idly by and pressed ahead with seizing Weicheng according to the original plan, two major problems arose: First, how long could General Nan Ke, leading just over a thousand men and several hundred carts, hold out against seven thousand foes? Second, was it certain that the Gale Army could capture Weicheng? Xiao Maoliang's brow furrowed tightly. "If they could dispatch nearly ten thousand troops to intercept General Nan Ke and the caravan, they might have stationed troops in Weicheng as well. It may no longer be an empty city." They had better not end up with their bait swallowed while catching no fish, which would make them a laughingstock. The figure ahead asked them, "If you were the new commander of the Baling forces, knowing that General Nan Ke's reinforcements are at Puxigou, what would your next move be?" Xiao Maoliang froze. "A new commander?" Then realization struck him. "Right! Hua Mucuo has barely over two thousand men under his command. This newly surfaced Baling force must be led by someone else." Otherwise, General Nan Ke would not have been caught so completely off guard. The generals pondered and offered their opinions. In essence, if they were the Baling commander, their decision would depend on how many men remained in hand: if they had plenty, they would march on Puxigou; if few, they would firmly defend Weicheng and deny the Gale Army any chance of success. "Where do you think this force came from?" "From within Baling!" This time, the officers needed no discussion; their conclusion was unanimous. "The western wasteland is barren and water is scarce; it simply cannot sustain so many troops and horses. This army must have come from within Baling's borders." Was it that the Baling Kingdom had never wished to deploy more troops into the wasteland? Far from it. All of the Baling Kingdom's outposts across the western wasteland combined could barely sustain five to six thousand elite soldiers, and Weicheng was already among the wealthier garrisons. Unlike Panlong City, which was blessed by having the Chipa Plateau at its back—a thousand li of fertile land owned by a single power—allowing it to train strong, well-provisioned armies. For so many Baling soldiers to suddenly appear on the wasteland, they had to have been temporarily mobilized from the homeland. "Do you think Baling's new commander mobilized such immense forces to ambush General Nan Ke merely to defend Weicheng, avenge Hua Mucuo's brother, or seize the modest merchandise at Puxigou?" A military campaign required a clear objective; without a focused and unwavering aim, how could a commander direct thousands of troops? Xiao Maoliang drew a sharp breath, understanding dawning upon him. "His objective is Puxigou—or more likely, us!" While they were scheming against Weicheng, the Baling forces were scheming against them just the same. "Perhaps he also wants to cross blades with me," the figure said calmly. "Since he harbors such ambitions, how could he hide in Weicheng like a turtle in its shell? Whether we detach troops to aid General Nan Ke or mount a sneak attack on Weicheng, they will not miss the fray. It is very likely his plan is identical to mine—circling behind to seize the city. "Fortunately, they do not know our troop strength either."