The Doubts About the Tiger Leopard Cavalry

Two days later, Chen Yan left the Left Garrison Army's outpost and returned to Dingyuan Pass, far behind the main battlefield.

This was the last line of defense for Great Yan's border forces. Beyond Dingyuan Pass lay Great Yan's thirteen cities in the Western Regions.

If Dingyuan Pass fell, all of Great Yan's western territory would be left wide open, allowing the barbarian tribes to burn, kill, and pillage at will.

More than a hundred years ago, Dingyuan Pass had fallen once before.

The land had been ravaged, and millions of Great Yan's people had been slaughtered by the barbarians or taken as slaves.

Great Yan had suffered grievous losses, and the price it paid to reclaim the west afterward was even more devastating.

To this day, Great Yan had yet to recover the strength it possessed at its peak.

One had to remember that in those days, Great Yan had charged out of the Haomo grasslands and chased the barbarians down to kill them.

Now, it could only hold the line.

The Governor's Mansion of Great Yan's border forces stood within Dingyuan Pass.

Dingyuan Pass sat proudly between two mountains. Its walls were built from enormous blue-black stone blocks; weathered and mottled, they looked all the more imposing and treacherous.

Those walls had weathered countless battles of blood and fire, and it was impossible to know how much barbarian and Great Yan blood had stained them.

Escorted by guards from the Governor's Mansion, Chen Yan passed through checkpoint after checkpoint and finally entered the residence. There, he met Gao Yu, the border forces' governor—a civil official by background and a Principal First Rank official of Great Yan's court.

The meeting was brief.

Gao Yu first lavished praise on Chen Yan for the achievement of killing Saurur, then granted him