Before the formation, Deng Jiugong saw his beloved daughter captured with his own eyes, and his heart burned with anxiety, yet he was pinned down by Xiqi's fierce generals and had no way to split himself in two.
He could only lead the remnants of his troops in a desperate breakout, retreating in defeat all the way to the foot of Mount Qi before finally gathering the scattered soldiers and setting up camp.
Looking at the soldiers under his command, grievously wounded and demoralized, then thinking of his daughter fallen into enemy hands, her life or death unknown—
Deng Jiugong's beard and hair bristled, his heart filled with regret and torment. He lifted his face to the sky with a long sigh, and overnight, several locks of his hair turned white with grief.
Inside the Xiqi main camp, Jiang Ziya had originally intended to deal with the captured Deng Chanyu according to military law, but Tu Xingsun hurried forward, dropped to his knees before Jiang Ziya, and kowtowed again and again, pleading bitterly.
He admitted frankly that he and Deng Chanyu had long had a marriage agreement. Moved by Deng Chanyu's fierce and unyielding nature, and even more unable to bear seeing the woman he loved lose her life here, he begged Jiang Ziya to open the net on one side and spare Deng Chanyu's life. He was willing to guarantee it with his future military merits, vowing never to let her harbor rebellious thoughts again.
Jiang Ziya considered Tu Xingsun's loyalty, and also knew well that Deng Jiugong was a renowned general of Yin Shang, while Deng Chanyu was likewise a fine commander whose valor as a woman yielded nothing to men.
After thinking it over again and again, he ultimately agreed to Tu Xingsun's request. For the time