Black smoke rose in wisps from inside Rongsha Fortress. Flames engulfed the walls, and screams rang out from within—the cries of the civilians who lived there.
Rongsha Fortress was even less durable than Su Xiao had imagined. Twenty minutes later, squads of Flame Sand soldiers began rushing out of the fortress through the cracks in the walls.
The time had come. If he waited any longer, the soldiers would be slaughtered. This state of rout was exactly what Su Xiao wanted.
"Ao, take some men and intercept those deserters."
"Should we drive them back to hold the fortress?"
"Intercept them."
Su Xiao looked at Ao with a smile, and Ao suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
"This subordinate understands."
Ao took three thousand soldiers and began intercepting the deserters in the surrounding area. Using the name of a rear-guard unit, he shouted the men to a halt. He did not merely threaten them—Ao also soothed the soldiers, calling their retreat a strategic withdrawal.
These deserters were actually desperate. They knew they were finished. Even if they survived, they would face brutal punishment. At worst, they would be executed; at best, they would become laborers. Deserters during wartime never came to a good end unless their direct commanding officer ordered them to retreat.
Rongsha Fortress could not be abandoned. The military commander stationed there did not dare order a retreat. The reason the fortress had fallen was too humiliating. If that commander dared order the soldiers to withdraw, then after the war, as long as he was still alive, Grand Marshal Niboso would flay him alive.
The number of soldiers under Ao's command rose at an astonishing speed. Before long, he had intercepted more than five thousand routed troops. Morale was a strange thing. After those five thousand-plus routed