Chu Yao had meant to say that Chu Jie was more or less won over.
Yonggu Pass had held, and, by a stroke of luck, they had dealt the Ten Crows a devastating blow, leaving them too afraid to send troops again for years. That meant several years of peace. If they could stay put and keep living in peace, why create friction with Shen Tang and start over somewhere else?
With Chu Jie's attachment to the past, he couldn't bear to leave, either.
If they could live in peace, who would choose a life of wandering and hardship?
But the words had reached his lips before he swallowed them back.
What they wanted wasn't for Chu Jie to submit and acknowledge her as the head of the commandery. They wanted him to submit to her wholeheartedly and without reservation.
Otherwise, why would she have risked venturing deep into Ten Crows territory?
He changed tack. "My lord really took thirty thousand heads?"
Shen Tang said, "Not exactly. The army was so secretive that we even marched by night and hid by day. How could we drag thirty thousand heads through the streets for everyone to see? So I used ears in place of heads. I doubt Chu Jie would dare dispute the count. Let him send people to tally them at his leisure."
Chu Yao: "..."
The scene must have been quite something.
It certainly was—but the most remarkable sight had been Chu Jie's expression.
He'd drunk heavily the previous night and gotten up an hour later than usual. The camp kitchen had brought his breakfast: millet porridge, white buns, and a plate of cooked pig's ears. He'd polished it all off with a few slurps.
On that freezing day, he'd trained with his spear bare-chested.
He'd worked up a