Zhang Tie's Plan

On November 9, after several days of forced marching, the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe's hundred thousand iron cavalry finally entered the range of one thousand kilometers from Eskil City. To the various tribes of the Ice and Snow Wilderness, if an army of a hundred thousand approached menacingly to within one thousand kilometers of a tribe's core territory, then at the cavalry's charge speed, that distance basically meant the two tribes were already within range to meet face-to-face and cross bayonets.

This was a distance dangerously close to the warning red line of most tribes—a distance of war.

The Icefield Giant Bear Tribe's army was still about one thousand kilometers from Eskil City, while its vanguard was less than four hundred kilometers from Shata Town west of Eskil City.

By this point, Zhang Tie could basically confirm that Erqida had not deceived him. The entire Icefield Giant Bear Tribe was the gift Erqida had left for him. As someone confirmed to be destined to become the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe's chieftain, he received sufficient respect from the whole tribe, from the most ordinary warriors to figures like High Priest Shalin. Every order of his—even one absurd beyond belief, one that appeared to demand an enormous price from the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe—would be carried out firmly and without compromise.

Take this time, for example. Neymar of the Spencer Family had guessed the original intent behind Zhang Tie's order to have the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe race toward Eskil City. Zhang Tie truly only wanted to confirm his authority over the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe. If Erqida's prophecy had lost its sanctity within the Icefield Giant Bear Tribe, then Zhang Tie had no time to waste on a group of people who wanted to make him their puppet.

Erqida wanted him