"Could it be..." Lan Yu murmured, his voice low and his expression desolate. "Am I truly inferior to Zhu Ying?"
As he spoke.
A complicated glimmer flashed through Lan Yu's eyes, an indescribable sense of defeat.
It was like suffering a crushing defeat on the battlefield without any chance to fight back.
"Could it be that Huai West is truly destined to decline in the future Ming Dynasty?"
The thought was like a sharp dagger stabbing straight into Lan Yu's heart, leaving him with an inexpressible lingering fear.
As one of the remaining men of Huai West, and one of the Huai West generals who still held military power.
Lan Yu understood the value of military merit all too well. It was a talisman that protected one's life.
He thought of Hu Weiyong, who had also come from Huai West. Though a civil official, Hu Weiyong had still seen his entire clan exterminated before the current Emperor.
Lan Yu thought, if Huai West truly declined to that extent, would the Emperor spare them?
"Alas."
"I never imagined that after dominating the battlefield for so many years, I would be surpassed by a brat still wet behind the ears."
"If my brother-in-law were still alive, he would probably laugh at me if he knew." Lan Yu gave a bitter laugh in his heart.
A general not yet twenty had repeatedly won great military merit. From Liaodong to the current Northern Expedition, Zhu Ying's name had gradually emerged within the army and throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, growing ever more dazzling.
At first, when the battle in Liaodong began, Zhu Ying's appearance and his achievements—
Lan Yu had thought there might have been an element of luck involved. Yet as time passed, Zhu Ying repeatedly distinguished himself, producing shocking results time after