The intensity of the Yan-Zhao War battlefield had fallen.
It had been fierce at first, because Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming had not understood Niu Youdao's intentions and had carried out his order to fight to the bitter end.
The business of deploying troops and fighting on a battlefield was not something one could understand by reading about it on paper. It required accumulated combat experience. Niu Youdao was utterly ignorant in this regard and had no energy to immerse himself in such matters, so he left it entirely to Shang Chaozong and the others.
Once they understood Niu Youdao's intentions, Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming swiftly adjusted their deployment. There was no need to pay too steep a price in a head-on struggle with the Zhao army. They only needed to pin down its eastern forces. Once the time came, the troops on Zhao's eastern front would collapse without a fight!
The Yan army's offensive slackened, and now it was the Zhao army's turn to be desperate for battle. The situation had completely reversed from when Zhao had provoked the war with Yan.
Commander-in-Chief Pang Teng was frantic, with the fire practically licking his brows. The Imperial Court kept pressing him, and he too wanted a swift battle and swift victory so he could free his hands to deal with the rebel forces of Tian and Ma in the west.
He also knew that this sudden turn in the situation concerned the very survival of the Zhao Kingdom.
It was not only the Imperial Court. The three great sects of Zhao Kingdom were pressing him as though their lives depended on it, and many within Zhao had fallen into panic.
So many people had opposed it at the time, saying that war was perilous and battle must not be