Su Zhao!

The abandoned farmstead lay plainly before them; it was impossible not to spare it a second glance. Its collapsed walls and broken ruins caught the group's attention.

Yet that was all it did. In places ravaged by war, such sights were common. They did not stop and continued racing onward.

"Are we sure this is the only road through this area?" someone asked from horseback as they sped along.

"At the very least, this is the shortest route. Madam is eager to see the Commander-in-Chief, so she should come this way."

"A woman daring to sneak away from home into a war zone—she's simply making trouble, nothing but trouble! If anything happens to her, we won't be able to answer to the sect, much less to the Commander-in-Chief!"

"Alas, her feelings are understandable. Two million troops defending the river were wiped out, and another six hundred thousand Song Kingdom soldiers were buried alive. The Commander-in-Chief returned from Yan Kingdom without success, and now there is word that Meng Shanming may well prevent him from returning safely. Naturally, she is worried and anxious, terrified that something might happen to the Commander-in-Chief."

"Women truly cannot be reasoned with. What use is there in her coming here? You never should have let her learn that the war was going badly. Otherwise, how could she have run away?"

"Martial Uncle, there was no way to keep it from her. We couldn't very well place her under house arrest, could we? The people she associates with are either wealthy or distinguished, all well-informed. If she had wanted to ask around, how could she possibly not have learned the war was going badly? Her husband was fighting abroad, so she had already been paying close attention to the matter. We couldn't hide it from her. Besides,