"Hahaha, how imposing! How imposing!"
The snow atop Shuo Fang Platform lay three feet thick. The sky was freezing and the ground frozen solid; the dry, cold wind was like a great cleaver, each gust hacking at bone and flesh. Pingyang Prefecture had only a thin, drizzling snow. When it fell onto the deck, it froze into grain after grain of snow-white salt. The cold tide mixed with dampness and burrowed up trouser legs like sharp daggers, shaving flesh and skin away slice by slice.
Even weather like this could not dampen some people's enthusiasm.
Whoosh~
A silver-white fishing line swayed through the air. Xu Yuelong sat steadily atop the railing, sighed with feeling, flicked his rod, then breathed out mist and tossed a booklet through the window to the others.
"Hey, let me see!"
Xiang Fangsu was quick with her hands and snatched the booklet first.
Ran Zhongshi, Ran Ying, Ke Wenbin, and the others poked out their heads, forming a semicircle, their eyes unblinking.
From top to bottom, Xiang Fangsu read aloud.
"Since His Majesty ascended the throne, the Northern Court has invaded in full force. From River Source to Hexi, there has not been a year of peace.
"At year's end, He Ningyuan was appointed marshal to campaign against them. Liang Qu conquered three of the Eight Beasts in succession within ten days, then returned in great victory."
"Hiss!"
Everyone sucked in a breath, their expressions going dazed.
If the great battle of the twelfth month were recorded in the history books, it would likely be reduced to such a simple sentence—perhaps even shorter. Millions of soldiers and countless spilled lives, yet only two names would remain in the annals of history. Unless one specifically sought them out in individual biographies, one would never know what Liang