A Difference in Paths

When the sky was clear and the air crisp, if you stood on the flat land along the south bank of the Three Rivers and gazed northward, you would see a long, narrow stretch of loess plateau running from north to south at the edge of your vision, with countless valleys and ravines wedged between its ridges.

The place where these plateaus and ravines crisscrossed was Eight Paths Slope.

Conversely, if you came from the south and traveled north, you would find that as you climbed higher, the plains beneath your feet gradually became canyons. The tops of the hills you passed grew flatter and flatter, until they became stretches of loess plateau that eventually merged into an entirely new landscape.

Once these plateaus had joined together, they formed the Northern Plateau.

That was the basic terrain of the Northern Plateau where it rose between Eight Paths Slope and the Three Rivers: to the north lay an open plain with no natural defenses, but commanding high ground; to the south, plateaus and canyons interwove into narrow terrain that blocked the way in. Even from the heights, an army couldn't force its way through.

While the Fearless Vanguard rested, Uwol personally led the Guard Cavalry to the northern entrance of Eight Paths Slope. After a brief survey of the terrain from dragon riders, the acting commander of the Fearless Vanguard felt his scalp go numb.

It was no exaggeration: if a fortress had been built at the northern entrance to Eight Paths Slope, it would have been a perfect choke point, where one man could hold off ten thousand. As long as the Northern rebels blocked the pass, the Imperial Capital Army could do nothing but halt beneath the fortress walls.

Thank goodness there was no such fortress here.

Perhaps the