The Third Party

Watching the dark mass of troops close in around them, Yuanjiu Shidi's face turned livid.

"Where are the reinforcements King Dong Sheng promised? How much longer until they reach Bumi Prefecture?"

"They should be here soon, my lord." The strategist beside him wiped away his sweat. "The vanguard passed through Upper Horse City yesterday and will certainly arrive before sunset today. As for you, you should return to the main camp and take command. Once the fighting begins, the top of the walls will become exceedingly dangerous..."

"This is a seaport," he said grimly.

"My lord?" The strategist failed to understand at first.

"You're not from Bumi, are you?" Yuanjiu Shidi said coldly. "The enemy cannot truly encircle this city. But precisely because of that, I must remain in everyone's sight."

This was an ancestral precept of the Yuanjiu Family.

A path of retreat gained too easily was also the dead end that buried everything.

If he left the walls, rumors that he had boarded a ship and fled would spread before the soldiers could hold out for long. Once morale collapsed, the city would be handed over without a fight. Even if he survived, with his family's legacy of a hundred years swept away clean, what face would he have left to meet his ancestors?

Sending his children onto the ships was already the limit of what he could do.

"I'd like to see whether those Eastern Mechanical Beasts are truly as difficult to deal with as they say." Yuanjiu Shidi gritted his teeth. "Tell the artillerymen to prepare!"

No matter what, Bumi Prefecture was far larger than any of the cities the enemy had taken before. He refused to believe they could break through its gates in a single day.

Once King Dong Sheng's cavalry arrived, he could