In a fury, Heshima ordered the army to attack, but the officers in the tent merely looked at one another. Not a single one prepared to rise and summon his troops.
Heshima noticed that these men had not obeyed his order and fixed them with a dangerous look.
The leading officer grew tense under Heshima's gaze. Left with no choice, he braced himself and advised, "Great Chieftain, it is still snowing outside, and our men are exhausted from days of marching. They are all resting.
Moreover, only your Vanguard Army has arrived here so far, fewer than twenty thousand men. With such a force, it may not be enough to attack the territory of that Marquis Golden Sunflower of the southerners."
Heshima suddenly nodded as though he had been persuaded, then beckoned to the officer.
But the officer who had offered the advice looked as if he had seen a ghost. He turned and tried to run for the entrance.
At that moment, a small squad of guards blocked his path and shoved him back.
Heshima walked over as well, speaking as he approached. "Wuqida, when I led you through hail to launch a surprise attack on the Blood Scorpion Tribe's camp, you showed no fear at all. You fought bravely and charged ahead. Why are you so resistant now over a little wind and snow?
Have you grown old and lost your courage?
Or are you unwilling to carry out my orders?"
Those two questions left Wuqida frozen. He realized that either answer was a trap.
If he said he had grown old, Heshima would immediately strip him of his military command. For a warlord within the Iron Bone Tribe like him, losing his army meant that his former enemies would tear both him and his clansmen apart.
But