"So soon?"
Chu Jie was taken aback when he received the news.
He had dealt with the Ten Crows for years and thought he knew those damned pests well. He hadn't expected to misjudge them this time. They weren't going to use their usual sneak-attack tactics; instead, they were openly leading troops to attack the city.
Thinking it over, he understood what the Ten Crows were plotting.
A sneak attack would certainly reduce their losses, but it wouldn't make nearly as great an impression as openly smashing through the National Border Barrier and breaking the border city's defenses—even if that barrier was already as flimsy as tissue paper. The Ten Crows were planning to use them as stepping stones...
Heh. Had they even checked whether they were wearing shoes?
Wouldn't those stepping stones burn their feet?
Chu Jie asked again, "How many are they sending into battle?"
Though the Ten Crows had claimed to be fielding two hundred thousand elite troops this time, that number included cooks and inflated figures. The number who could actually fight was at most eighty or a hundred thousand. How many of those they sent into battle would determine how much pressure they faced today.
The scout replied, "Judging by their formation, there are a full eighty thousand."
"Eighty thousand? Heh. So they've dragged out everyone who can fight?" Chu Jie sneered. Then, his face expressionless, he crushed the paperweight on the table, casually scattered its "ashes," and conjured a weapon. "Anyone who wants military merit, follow me!"
Outside the tent—
Drums boomed, banners snapped in the wind.
Standing atop the city wall, everyone was buffeted by a bone-chilling wind. Chu Jie and the other generals hurried up onto the wall. When he saw Xun Zhen and Chu Yao arriving with Kang Shi, the hand