"Brother, what should we do?"
Zhai Le listened to the snoring drifting into his ears, growing more and more restless.
If the enemy attacked now, how many of these people could immediately be ready to fight? Would they just wait to be captured and sit there awaiting death?
He wanted to warn them, but Captain Yang was so hostile toward the brothers that stepping in would probably only earn him resentment and criticism.
Zhai Huan didn't even lift his eyelids. "We've done all we can."
The unspoken meaning was that all they could do now was "leave the rest to fate."
Seeing Zhai Le's downcast expression, Zhai Huan gently comforted his cousin. "The villains haven't shown up yet. Maybe the divination was wrong."
Of course, even he couldn't convince himself of that.
The enemy lurking in the shadows was definitely plotting something.
Perhaps they had fallen into the trap as far back as that landslide.
Zhai Huan lowered his eyelids and pondered. He didn't deny that their scout was seasoned and had done everything he could to gather intelligence. But no matter how experienced a scout was, he could still stumble into a trap set by a veteran hunter.
Everyone bore some responsibility for the predicament they were in.
He asked, "Has Captain Yang arranged patrols and sentries?"
Zhai Le replied, "He has."
When an army camped outdoors for the night, it had to guard against jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards even if there were no enemies to fear. They were sure to assign people to stand watch and patrol.
But in Zhai Le's eyes, these soldiers were far too lax.
It was hard to say how much good the night patrols would do.
"Sit down and rest," Zhai Huan said. "The latter half of the night..."
He swallowed the