Jing Yuan was no fool. The moment Pan Yun looked northeast, he guessed that the emperor had changed his itinerary again.
Since setting out from the Capital City over a month ago, what he had experienced most were ever-changing orders that reversed from morning to evening.
So he was not at all surprised when the emperor suddenly changed direction and withdrew northeast.
Who cared what the reason was? What had he not seen before?
He only wanted to find the emperor as quickly as possible.
And in the northeast, the only place that could draw the emperor was Huailai City.
With Xuanfu serving as its defense line, Huailai City should have been safe in theory.
With Wang Zhen's meager military knowledge, he really might have urged the emperor to turn north from the south, wasting even more time by retracing their steps.
Thus, Jing Yuan kept his head down and raced toward Huailai City.
Before he arrived, when he was only thirty li from Tumu Fort, he caught sight of a flash of bright yellow amid thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
The personal guards following him were so furious their eyes nearly split. Pointing at that bright yellow figure on horseback, they shouted, "His Majesty is surrounded!"
Jing Yuan reined in his horse and looked down from afar. He was anxious too, but the enemy clearly outnumbered the Ming Dynasty forces, while he had only a little over a hundred personal guards.
"We need to think of something..."
Jing Yuan's heart felt as though it were on fire. Just as he was suffering through his anxiety, dust suddenly rose in the northwest.
His heart jolted. "Do the Oirats have reinforcements?"
One of the guards was a scout with exceptionally sharp eyesight. After staring for quite a while, he said, "They're