"Grandpa, isn't this asking a bit too much of me?"
Zhu Zhanjun pulled a long face, trying to bargain with Zhu Di.
"Three thousand men against fifty thousand, and I'm supposed to take their home base too? Th-this isn't realistic."
"How is it not realistic?"
Zhu Di glared, once again assuming the unquestionable bearing of an emperor. "Can't your three thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders take on a hundred thousand?"
"Now I'm only asking you to take on fifty thousand, and I've even cut your numbers in half. What could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"
"Besides, didn't you say you wanted people? The Oirat Royal Court must have over a hundred thousand people, young and old, men and women alike."
"They're all a mountain of labor!"
Zhu Di coaxed him along, dangling an enormous carrot.
Zhu Zhanjun looked at his grandfather's "I'm only doing this for your own good" expression and cursed the old fox a thousand times in his heart.
He knew he'd been thoroughly played.
The old man thought he was too idle and was afraid he'd cause trouble if he went back to the capital, so he'd found him the hardest job possible and was sending him far away.
"Fine. I'll go."
In the end, Zhu Zhanjun gritted his teeth and accepted the assignment.
He had no choice.
If he didn't go, he'd have to stay behind and face his two uncles, who were eyeing him like tigers, along with the tangled mess of troubles at the Imperial Court.
By comparison, riding out onto the grasslands to kill and burn was a whole lot simpler.
"However, I have one condition."
Zhu Zhanjun said.
"Name it."
"I need absolute autonomy."
"From this moment on, no one is to interfere with any of the Great Snow Dragon Riders' actions, and I won't have to report to anyone."
"We go as far as we go."
"Whatever we capture is mine."
"Approved!"
Zhu Di agreed with unusual alacrity. "I'll give you an imperial decree authorizing you to act as you see fit! You can command every soldier and requisition all the grain and fodder in the northern border garrisons!"
"Good. It's a deal!"
Early the next morning, before dawn.
The three thousand Great Snow Dragon Riders slipped out of the Ming army's camp in silence, like a black whirlwind disappearing into the vast snowfield.
They didn't take the main road. Instead, they chose a more remote and difficult mountain path.
The Commander of a Hundred beside him asked in confusion, "Your Highness, why are we taking a detour?"
"Wouldn't the main road be faster?"
"Faster?"
Zhu Zhanjun sneered. "Faster at getting ourselves killed?"
He opened the system map. Ahead on the main road they'd planned to take, a narrow valley was thickly covered with red dots marking enemies.
In the middle of that cluster, one especially prominent red dot—marking a general—was labeled with two characters.
—Yesen.
"My two dear uncles sure are willing to spend big."
A murderous chill flashed in Zhu Zhanjun's eyes.
He didn't need to guess. Prince Han and Prince Zhao had undoubtedly leaked his whereabouts.
They were determined to use Oirat blades to kill him.
"Your Highness, what do we do now? Should we turn back and report this to His Majesty?"
The Commander of a Hundred's expression had grown grave.
"Turn back? Why would we?"
A cruel curve lifted the corner of Zhu Zhanjun's mouth. "They've prepared such a grand 'gift' for us. If we don't accept it, wouldn't that be rude?"
"Pass on my order! Full speed ahead! We're going around and hitting them from behind!"
"They like setting ambushes, do they? Today, I'll teach them what it means to be...surrounded in turn!"
Meanwhile, in that narrow valley.
Yesen paced back and forth, agitated.
All that remained at his side were fewer than fifty thousand battered, defeated troops. Their morale was low, and they were like birds startled by the twang of a bowstring.
A Commander of Ten Thousand said anxiously, "Taishi, are we really going to ambush that Ming army here?"
"That army...there's something sinister about them."
"We...we're no match for them."
"What are you afraid of?"
Yesen forced himself to stay calm, bolstering both himself and his men. "Last time, we underestimated them! We were on open ground, where they could take advantage of those strange crossbows!"
"This time is different!"
He pointed to the towering cliffs on either side, a crazed glint in his eyes. "The terrain here is narrow. Their cavalry won't be able to build up speed!"
"Once they come in, we'll block the way with boulders and logs! Then the archers will shoot down from the mountain!"
"They may be invulnerable to blades and spears, but I refuse to believe they can stop rocks falling from the sky!"
"He only has three thousand men! We have fifty thousand! The advantage is ours!"
Yesen's plan seemed flawless.
Using the terrain to their advantage and relying on superior numbers was, after all, sound military strategy.
But he'd calculated everything except one thing: his opponent was a player with cheats enabled.
And he'd never imagined that the prey he'd been waiting for so desperately had already crept quietly around behind him.
The snow fell harder and harder.
The wind grew colder and colder.
Yesen pulled his fur robe tighter and glanced at the sky, a ferocious, confident grin spreading across his face.
"By my reckoning, they should be here soon."
"Pass on my orders! Everyone, stay sharp! The moment that Ming army enters the valley, hit them with everything you've got!"
"Today, I, the Taishi, will make sure none of them leave alive!"
In the valley, the Great Snow Dragon Riders picked up speed.
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