In Yan's northern frontier, winter arrived, and as far as the eye could see, the land lay wrapped in silver.
Within the military camp, the new recruits' training grew ever harsher, while the atmosphere became increasingly oppressive with spring's approach.
Scouts in the north brought news from the Wu Dynasty: Wu was gathering troops, preparing to launch a massive southern campaign once the Spring Festival arrived.
This was hardly good news for the fifty thousand recruits in the new recruit camp. Though they had improved greatly after three months of training, they were still far from ready for the battlefield.
War was different from training, after all. Once war began, it meant death; no matter how grueling the training, it could never compare.
Ning Fan and Zhu Ye were nervous as well. Neither had ever experienced war, and their hearts were filled with fear at the thought of the coming great battle between the two dynasties.
Still, compared with Ning Fan, Zhu Ye, who yearned to earn merit in battle, fared somewhat better. Amid his fear, he also held a trace of anticipation for war.
As everyone either feared or awaited what was to come, spring gradually arrived in the north.
Winter passed, and all things welcomed their season of revival. Yet in this early spring, when life returned to the world, the northern Wu Dynasty finally began to move.
Having prepared throughout the winter, the Wu Dynasty sent endless streams of grain and supplies to the front. Behind them, the Eldest Princess Yue Ling led two hundred thousand troops south in a mighty procession, its astonishing scale shaking the world.
At the Yan court, the Emperor Yan flew into a rage upon receiving news that the northern Wu Dynasty had sent its forces south, and immediately dispatched Yan's Grand