Liang Prefecture, one month earlier.
As reinforcements arrived from all sides and the demons' front lines collapsed, most of the cities seized in their lightning offensive were swiftly reclaimed.
Battle flags fluttered across Liang Prefecture. To prevent the demons in certain cities from slaughtering too many civilians, Li Tiangang discussed matters with Li Xuanli and detached light cavalry units from the main army. Bearing the Haotian Battle Flag instead, they rode ahead to the various cities to intimidate the enemy and scout out the situation.
If things looked grim, they would wait for the main army. If the battle flag alone could cow the demons occupying a city, they could rescue its people ahead of time.
After all, each extra day of waiting meant tens of thousands of civilians becoming demon fodder.
Thus, the faster they reclaimed territory and rescued civilians, the better.
Once the call for this sweeping counteroffensive sounded, the many small and medium-sized demon factions that had joined the three great demon powers, hoping to pick up scraps and fish in muddy waters, were thrown into panic. None had expected the front lines to collapse so quickly.
From all the favorable intelligence Tianji Hall had released earlier, the demons' conquest of Liang Prefecture had seemed as certain as a nail driven into iron, a sure thing. Yet the situation had reversed.
For a time, the fearful memories of this ancient dynasty, branded into their blood, resurfaced once more.
Many factions with elderly demons among their clans chose to withdraw, taking advantage of the chaos in Liang Prefecture to slip away without being easily tracked.
If they became wanted fugitives, they would have little room to survive beyond the border and would have to keep scurrying from one hiding place to another.
"Why? Why were we defeated so