♂,
The Liberation Zone had already been developed as far as Dingshan Commandery. It was the commandery closest to Lanzhou in the west among the prefectures and counties controlled by our army. I did not know the commandery governor who had come after hearing the news; the only person I knew was Qin Rongxue, the highest-ranking defender in charge of these smaller commanderies.
The commandery governor had probably heard of my reputation. When he saw me, his forehead was covered in sweat, and he became somewhat tongue-tied. Qin Rongxue stood there, studying me seriously as she delivered an immaculate report on the military situation. "Dingshan Commandery connects to Sanbao, Beijiao, and Xianan Commanderies. They're all our territory now. We've stationed an army of five hundred thousand across these commanderies, under my centralized command, serving as Marshal Ruan's horns and flanks."
"Mm, very good. What's the situation with Ruan Qiushui, Zhao Yu, and Jing Yun?" I stroked my chin while looking at the sand table in the commander's residence. It was covered with flags of several colors. The bright yellow ones should belong to the dog emperor, while the flags of every other color belonged to our side. I was familiar with all those colors, having seen them many times before. However, there were now some white flags mixed in beside the yellow ones, so I could not help asking about them.
"Marshal Ruan is currently commanding from the center here. Marshal Zhao, Marshal Jing, and I have divided our forces into the left, center, and right routes, leading our troops to expand in each direction. Since my route connects to Lanzhou, the pressure is relatively light. I only have five hundred thousand troops, all elite forces. Of course, the prefectures and commanderies also have around two million garrison troops." Qin